My D&D campaign

[Alex]

His eager eyes devoured passage after passage of the old tomes. Worm-eaten pages still had ancient knowledge to impart. Things that were forgotten to modern times. He would be his burden to bring this knowledge back into the light. He had the skills and knowledge he needed to bring forth an army to serve him and aid him in this task. He grinned at the thought of the work ahead, his smile almost rictus-like. Food was hardly a priority in this place and he often forgot to eat, leaving his already slender frame emaciated.

[ER]

Novelize this, sir!

[Alex]

The Ballad Of The Band Of The Icky Hand. Part 37.

Colesta opened the door which slowly creaked open to reveal....

A wide, stone-floored corridor running north/south. Several door were set in the same wall the party were peering out from, and at the southern end a staircase led both up and down. In the opposite wall only a single door could be seen, although the room with the stairs to the south did get wider beyond the parties ability to see from the current vantage point.

They are going to find a plethora of magical items tonight. One of which could go horribly wrong in so many ways. I've not included this item in any of my games before so it will be interesting to see how that all works out.

[Alex]

Searching this floor, the group found that it seemed to consist of rooms for officers of various ranks and a trophy room with many battle standards and relics of past conflicts, not to mention a book wherein the names of all of those who had fallen in the defence of the city had their names written (although somewhat out of date given it hadn't been written in, in the past 70 years). The next floor up contained a chapel to the Irilian gods (one of which Zolis drew a 'tache and monocle on). The other rooms indicated this was where the nobles of the castle lived. In one room, evidently, one where women spent time Colesta found a strange device (which is the fault of one of the women on this forum who will remain nameless), which had the following description...

"You see something about the length of a dagger in one of the drawers. It has an unusual 'wavy' design. On the base is inscribed 'Bino's Love Emporium. Sword of Pleasure +5. Ribbed for her pleasure."

I'll save her blushes and let the deviant who inadvertently suggested this item remain nameless.  

Old clothes once grand but now moth-eaten hung in wardrobes. Unusually a somewhat plain brown dress alone was untouched. This tested as having magical properties, but since no one had identify prepared they were unable to tell what those properties were.

Unable to access the area above the feast hall from this part of the building, the party continued on their way upstairs. Firstly they found a sort of sitting room, with a bearskin rug, some comfortable looking chairs, and a large fireplace, with a door leading further in. Moving through that, the party found themselves in a bedroom, with two large glass doors opening up onto a balcony. The balcony had a view of the mountain a few feet away, and down to the Night Garden. Also, the group could see a tunnel leading into the mountain just past the Garden. The bedroom contained a truly massive bed some 15 feet long and ten feet wide. On a desk in the room, the party saw five rings, each bearing the seal of the royal family (a Wyvern bursting forth from a burning jewel). They left these on the desk and continued on to the next room. This turned out to be a nursery, although it did not seem to have been in use at the time of the castles fall. A box of wooden toys sat forlornly in one corner which Nigel decided could be donated to the orphanage back in Irilian. The nursery also contained another door which led to a room with a spiral staircase leading upwards. The room also contained all sorts of magical items, evidently the personal property of the lord and lady of the castle. Suits of armour, weapons, crowns and royal regalia filled the room. Unable to identify any of the items at the moment, however, they left them alone for the moment and climbed the stairs. This took them to a room with a heavily reinforced trapdoor, but no other decoration. A search for traps or secret doors revealed nothing, but an attempt to detect any magic in the room revealed it was a magical dead zone. With no other options to continue this way, the party returned to the sitting room and went up the spiral stairs there.

The first room on the next level took them to a guard room, with a single heavily constructed door. Val examined the door and found several magical traps which she did her best to disarm, then picked the lock to the door. The lock itself seemed magical and changed its workings every few seconds, but Val's skills were up to the task. She unpicked the lock, and somewhat less confidently announced that she had disarmed the trap (she disarmed one of the three magical traps on the door).

[Alex]

Opening the door, the party realised they had found the royal treasury. Chests full of jewels and a pile of gold coins deep enough to swim in greeted their eyes.

Somewhere in the hearts of the party a choir of angels was singing hallelujah!

Then Nigel remembered his vow of poverty and cried.

Deciding to test if she had made the room safe or not, the rogue entered the room and picking up a handful of gold pieces attempted to leave.

This room had multiple traps and alas Val had only managed to disarm one of them.

Glowing arcane purple bolts manifested from the very walls and slammed into the luckless woman, while from the door a thin green ray that is the calling card of a Disintegrate spell hit her. She staggered backward, dropped the coins and then safely fled the room without further disaster. It occurred to Colesta at this point that perhaps the rings with the royal seals she had seen downstairs could possibly be of use in this room. She ran back downstairs and came back with the five rings. She and Zolis took one each while Val held onto the other three. Repeating their experiment, Colesta was this time able to remove some treasure with no ill effects.

[Trevor]

In December last year, my nephew was telling me about certain characters in D&D who live in the shadows, so Uncle Zombie told him about the scary, blind and insane nun who lives in the dark in the eerie The Crimson Rivers. 



Now he wants to see that movie too: Oy.

[Alex]

Estimates on the treasure trove ranged from 300,000 gold up to a cool 1,000,000. Combined with the magical items from below this would mean a significant advance in the parties fortunes. What could possibly go wrong now.

Well for a start, the money in that room technically belongs to Irilian. Perhaps I'll let the party spend it before they find this out. Still, when you are top of the world the only way you can go is down.

Excited by their finds and wondering what else lay ahead, they headed up the stairs to the tall tower. These stairs went on for quite some height, eventually ending in a trapdoor. Opening it, they climbed through onto the top of the highest tower, from where every night a bright light glowed.

Climbing through the trapdoor, the group found themselves in a strange looking green stone room. The ground felt slightly unpleasant and it felt like their feet would sink slightly into the stone each step they took, although to the touch the stone seemed solid enough. The room itself was larger than the dimensions of the tower would suggest. It was square with large double doors set in each wall. It was decided to open the northern doors first. They were locked, but once again Val was up to the task of unlocking them. All the while the party could smell some stench emanating from behind the door. Somewhere between rotting meat and a cesspool.

Opening the door, the party were confronted by a massive, roiling blob of what seemed to be living material. It was perhaps twenty feet wide and half that toil. Noisome eyes would appear on the surface of the mound, blink and disappear back into its huge bulk. Val quickly slammed the door shut and decided to investigate elsewhere first. Whatever the creature was it either couldn't follow or chose not to. Working their way around to the eastern door, they tried this one next. Unlike the first door, this one wasn't locked. The room it revealed had a floor where black and red colours swam like lava. Two circles surrounded by arcane writing lay on the floor and at the far end of the room a plain, unmarked altar sat (lacking any bloodstains or any other signs of nefarious activities). The floor was carefully probed, but was found to be safe enough to stand on. Looking at the symbols, Zolis announced that they were used in the summoning of creatures from the higher and lower plains.

[Alex]

Although Nigel wanted Zolis to summon something immediately, he demurred, saying he hadn't learned any summoning spells for the days. The group was forced to move on without any divine forms, or demonic ones gracing them with their presence.

The next room (the southernly door), was a large stone-floored room. Some of the stones bore markings of fire or lightning being scorched and partially melted. Two small doors, in the south and east led to some gently glowing white rooms that gave anyone entering a supreme sense of peacefulness and contentment. In the western wall sat a large pair of double doors and it was through this door everyone went next.

Some of the rooms they had thus far encountered had surprised them. However, when they opened this door and entered into a large, open field on a sunny day, it truly shocked them.

[Alex]

To the south, a rectangular window hung unsupported in the air. Between the group and them lay a sparkling pond, sheep, cows, pigs, chickens... Elsewhere a large double bed sat on the grass. Beside that was a large pile of books.

As the doors opened, the noise attracted the attention of a singularly unusual figure. He was dressed in the motley of a fool, and one hand swung a stick on the end of which danced an inflated pigs bladder. He cappered, leaping into the air, clapping his feet together before he landed, then lept and jigged his way over to the party. The man looks around fifty years old, give or take. As he reached the party, he puffed out his skinny chest and declared "Ah! You must be my new advisors. An Emperor cannot rule his Empire without advisors after all. No no no he can't. You shall attend me in council shortly. I am the Emperor. Everyone else was killed, left me all alone they did. Since no one else was here that makes me the boss it does. Oh yes. I am the man in charge."

Asking him what his empire is brought the answer "Well, the entire world of course. I started out as the king of just here, but as time passed my holdings increased and now the world belongs to me. It does, doesn't it? See, they all agree with me." as he gestured to a non-existent crowd around him. As he spoke he resumed his dancing, jumping from foot to foot, the bells jingling with every twitch.

[Alex]

Eventually, the figure seemed to bore of talking to his minions and jumped in his bed, pulling the covers over his head from under which emerged the sound of fake snoring.

Somewhat non-plussed, the party decided to continue with their explorations. Looking out the window, they could see out over the castle and the lands to the south (If anyone casts detect magic on this window they will discover it can do a bit more than just show the view to the castle approach)  along with the camp where the workers awaited the party clearing out the castle before they would enter it and go to work.

With only the old man snores and the various animals around them, the party decided to leave the pleasant meadow and continue onwards. The door in the north wall beckoned and the lords of the castle were keen to finish exploring their domain. Opening these doors brought the party into a large room filled with heavily loaded bookshelves. Eager to see if any of the books contained any new arcane knowledge both Colesta and Zolis started searching the books. They were somewhat disappointed when all the books had titles like "The Greek Billionaires Mistress Who Was Bought By The Sheik" or "Half a hundred colours between black and white".

Evidently, a previous inhabitant was a fan of trashy romance novels.

Further doors in the north and east walls led on from this room, which it has to be said was something of a disappointment to the party, who failed to see the potential profits to be made from a collection of romance novels gathered from across multiple dimensions.

The north door led to a simple if sizable bedroom. The only notable thing about this room was the carpet appeared to have to naked image of a four-armed and four-legged man inside a square and circle. They returned to the library and the east door which took them back to the unpleasant green stone room. This left only the northern door with the blob behind it.

[Alex]

Once again, the door was opened, revealing the monstrous, putrid blob lurking behind. Nigel and Colesta stood at the front, while Zolis and Val stood behind. Zolis immediately unleashed his most powerful spell, a multicoloured spray of beams leaping from his fingertips to strike anything in their path.

Including Nigel...

Although the paladin took some painful damage from the careless mages' spell, the massive blob bore the brunt of it. Its body began to hiss and pop, shriveling and shrinking as it did so until it left behind a greasy looking stain on the ground and a noxious odor. Now the beast was gone, the rest of the room could be explored. The blob had been standing on a circle of arcane writings (which had held the monster in place, so it couldn't have attacked the party unless they entered the circle). The rest of the room was evidently a wizards workshop and a virtual treasure trove of magical scrolls and potions, not to mention many items which gave off a magical aura although the party could not at the moment tell what their abilities actually were, or even if the items were beneficial or cursed.

It was with some delight that Zolis found a pack of cards. He squealed and insisted that everyone draw some cards, saying he recognised what this was.

Nigel pulled a card out, saying he would draw another later. On drawing the card, Nigel was shocked to find he was suddenly naked, and his mace vanished. Giggling and laughing, the wizard insisted Colesta try next. She drew out a card and was immediately struck by a curse, weakening her resistance to spells. Zolis himself drew a card and found he had grown in power and gained a magical item, although he didn't know its powers. Val now decided she would draw a card only to find all her magical possessions vanished!

This included the bags of holding which contained the last of the masks the party had found and the party treasury.

Oh just wait until the party find out what else they have lost.

Nigel now took a second card, and vanished from sight. Although the party don't know it, Nigel has been trapped, frozen in an underground prison deep under the earth. There are ways he could be rescued, but this would require much higher level magic than the party currently has.

And on that note, the game ended for the night.

[Alex]

So, time for a bit of behind the scenes stuff. Since the castle is a group possession and two of the party have lost all their possessions, has the castle now vanished too? The rooms the party are in just now are an interdimensional space. If the castle is gone, they are now trapped there without a way out. This would very much end the campaign, although equally since the party has managed to lose all the masks they had collected and have no way of tracking down any other ones it is difficult to see the campaign continuing.

So should I continue it, or call an end to it? Hmm.

[Alex]

The Ballad of the Band of the Icky Hand. Part 38.

Into the pit.

Everyone stood in open-mouthed amazement staring at the space Nigel used to occupy, a single card slowly drifting to the ground. The group demanded Zolis tell them what he knew about the cards. He explained they were powerful and every card could bring the user fortune or misery.

Nigel had just gotten a bit unlucky. It would take more higher powered magic than the group currently possessed to bring him back but perhaps in the future, something could be done to return him.

Val and Colesta wanted to search the castle and see if they could find any trace of the paladins. Humphrey the dog that had adopted Nigel whined and looked sadly at the party wondering where his human had vanished to. Heading to the stairs in the green room the pair were shocked to discover the staircase appeared to have vanished with an inky black void having replaced it. Zolis explained that they seemed to have left the dimension of existence they had occupied previously, and well not entered another one. They were somehow in a place between dimensions, a place thinner than a piece of paper, existing only in the moments between seconds. The rooms they were in had been created by magic, and the cards removing the castle had left them adrift in space-time.

The rest of the group had no idea what he was talking about.

Colesta suggested heading back to the field to look out the window. As they moved through the next room, they ran into the self-proclaimed Emperor of the World. He said "Ah, my subjects. Have you finally came to swear your fealty to me?"

Zolis questioned him somewhat, but the group decided to they might as well. He promised as the ruler of the world he would give his loyal subjects each a boon. He had the power to restore anything they had lost. Each of the group, in turn, swore to serve the Emperor. As the last vow was taken, the world seemed to spin and dance. The old man transformed. No longer old and bent over, this figure was inhumanly tall, and clad from head to toe in black leather, with long brown hair tumbling from behind a mask. Many sheathed daggers decorated his costume.

With a harsh intake of breath, Colesta recognised the figure as an avatar of the dark god Mask, patron to thieves and assassins. He bowed to the group telling them he'd be in touch in the future with instructions for them and then with a clap of thunder, he vanished. In the silence that followed, they could hear the sounds of fake snoring drifting through from the field in the next room.

[Alex]

They went through to the field to question the old man, however they received only grumpy answers and demands to be left alone to sleep. He threatened to have his men-at-arms behead the party if they did not leave him alone.

(The group had entered a realm where Mask was hiding from a creature called Kezef, the chaos hound. Detecting the intruders immediately, and realising they were too weak to help against Kezef, he decided they might be useful in the future and therefore moved to secure their services as potential tools.

Giving up on the old man, the party searched the castle from top to bottom looking in vain for any trace of Nigel.

Meanwhile, outside the castle a stranger was wandering into the camp ~(which having seen the castle vanish and then reappear was in some degree of turmoil).

[Alex]

The stranger told the others he'd been part of a caravan ambushed by Ogres. They had been sent by Counsielman Tirouv with supplies for the rebuilding of the castle. Only the stranger had survived, forced to flee for his life. Few though would stop long enough to chat to him and hear his story, or come to the realisation that to return to Irilian would mean braving those same Ogres.

Sooner or later, the party would have to face that threat.

The party finished searching the castle with no clue as to where Nigel had disappeared to. The saw the camp in disarray, many packing up to go home. Longeron was talking to the stranger. Many were saying the castle was cursed and wanted to abandon it.

The party is curiously unconcerned about the workers wanting to leave, or for their welfare. This kind of thing may bite them in the ass shortly, especially should they find themselves in the middle of a war and trying to raise or train an army.