Hill Cantons - Session 05

This ended up being quite a long session played over five hours or so, though packed to the brim with action. I have provided some thoughts on the conclusion of the session, what I mean by this will become evident after having read the play report I'm sure. In any case - happy reading!

Characters

• Asim "Ace" Bakir - Level 3 Mountebank
• Lasryn Thunderhammer - Level 2 Cleric
• Luka Winograd - Level 1 White Wizard
• Frankopan Vladislav - Level 1 Psychonaut

Followers

• Nosewise - Old but loyal dog
• Mojo & Mavi - Baboons
• Sir Duke - Squirrel Monkey
• Tom - Trained Badger

Graveyard

• Roald Holzhausen - Level 1 Magic-User 
• Illya Ushenko (New) - Level 1 Thief
• Fido - Blink Dog

Action Report

With the last couple of days spent in the city, the party heads out to find the reputed frog demon temple, seeing if they can find any news regarding the expedition which had gone there previously. 

Breaking off from the main road and following a trail leading into the hills, the party come into a large valley with a marshy lake in the middle. As they follow a causeway leading out into an island at the lakes centre, it quickly becomes clear that the lake is swarming with amphibians as there is a cacophony of croaks as the party step onto the island. The party is able to make out their own names being whispered amidst the noise. 

After entering a large doorway leading into the temple proper, the party are hit by a wall of warm and humid tropical air. Finding a large circular staircase leading down, the party forms into marching order putting Fido the blink dog at the front of the formation. After walking 10ft down the staircase one of the steps gives way, sending Fido falling down the stairwell to the floor 50ft down. His ability to teleport saves him however as he is able to dampen his fall taking only minimal damage. Lasryn proceeds to smack her chain against the staircase as the party descends. Through this she detects a new false step every 10ft, safely leading the party to the bottom - reuniting with Fido and looting a dead body of a previous explorer.  

As the party leave the stairwell they come into a hallway 100ft or so long. Lasryn continues smacking the floor in front using her chain which detects a pit trap filled with urine-soaked stakes. After spending a lot of time debating how to get across the pit, the door at the far end of the hallway is opened. 

Three tadpole like creatures come through the door and approach the party, carrying long poles and bear traps. The party try speaking with them after which one of the tadpoles reaches out their pole for the party to grab. After Lasryn grabs it the creature attempts to yank her into the pit, though she stands her ground and turns the tables on the creature by smacking the tadpole into the pit. The party uses their ranged weapons to shoot and kill one other tadpole before the last one flees back where it came from. 

The party eventually uses the door leading into the hallway as a walkway, climbing down and walking across the stakes in the pit trap. As they come across another pit trap further down the corridor the party resorts to simply carefully climbing down the pit and the up again on the other side. 

In the chamber beyond the hallway the party finds four statues of frogs stod facing each other in a cross shape. Using their newly found pole they poke the centre, after which laser beams proceeds to shoot from diamonds set into the mouths of the statues. The party wisely avoid messing with the laser beams and instead scout ahead through the many doors leading out from the chamber. 

Through the western and eastern doors the party finds L-shaped corridors each leading to a door. Through the northern door the party finds a large chamber with pools of water containing pillars on either side of a causeway going through the middle, at the end of which a large mural has been painted. Luka (being the one to open the door) makes out the shape of a person sitting facing the mural and immediately decides to leave the chamber behind for the moment. 

the party head through the western hallway and into a large room with a pool of water in the southern portion with a pillar placed in the middle and croaking coming from it. On top of the pillar the party can clearly see what looks like a solid gold statuette of a frog. Roald throws caution to the wind and decides to walk into the shallow water and grab the idol. As he does so he is attacked by three giant frogs that leap from the water and kill him immediately. Lasryn reacts quickly and successfully manages to use her chain as a lasso, grabbing the statuette from the pillar. Before the giant frogs can attack her, Luka uses his darkness spell to confuse the frogs and allow the party to flee the room. Fido is lost and killed in the confusion, though before the party can close the door a dishevelled man runs out of the room. 

The man introduces himself as Illya Ushenko and explains that he had been hiding in the room after being separated from his fellow explorers - the very same expedition the party had come to find out more about. 

The party progresses to the room at the end of the eastern L-shaped hallway finding it near identical to the previous room although "flipped" to be facing north and with a distinct lack of croaking. Using the chain the party grabs the golden idol at the top of the room's pillar finding it to be significantly lighter than the last. This time no giant frog leap from the water. 

At last the party decides to enter the large chamber finding the figure sitting at the back to be another human being! The party recognizes him as the imperial surveyor whom had led the previous ill fated expedition to the temple. After some questioning the party reluctantly brings him along though not fully trusting him. Like the previous two rooms the pillars in the large room also have golden idols placed upon them. The party decides to take these with them before leaving the temple. As the party avoid a spring trap to grab the first idol the mural on the wall suddenly starts moving. The three large frog-demons depicted all start moving and playing instruments. As the party grabs the second idol the frog-demons burst from the wall coming alive and attacking the characters!

The party manage to evacuate the room and barricade themselves in the long hallway, although not before Illya is bludgeoned to death with a banjo after unsuccessfully attempting to parley with the demons. The GM rolls and decides that the party have a couple rounds before the door is broken down and the demons reach them. Attempting the placate the frog-demons the party try to offer up the surveyor as a sacrifice, only for the man to reveal himself as yet another frog demon in disguise who rears up to attack the party! Thinking quickly, the party throws a potion of gaseous form into the giant mouth of the "not-surveyor" turning him into a cloud of gas (though not before he drops a traditional Himyari wooden medallion on the floor). After managing to get the baboons to carry two of the idols, the party throw themselves across the pit with the monkeys following as quickly as they can as the door behind them breaks off its hinges. 

Whilst the party had been holding the door and dealing with the trojan frog-demon, a hooded shape had been approaching from behind. Now as the party seems to be about to be run down by the demons he reveals himself as Glamdalf the wizard! Immediately aiding the party with a much needed haste spell and in a subsequent round destroying the instruments of the demons with a well placed lightning bolt. With this increased speed the party are able to escape the temple, though not before Frakopan is unfortunate enough to sting himself on one of the piss-soaked stakes and the monkeys are nearly run down by the demons. 

Well on the surface the party thank Glamdalf for the timely rescue and he likewise tells them to beware of the temple, making vague references to his own supposed death. He finishes by warning them that he cannot be around to save them, before leaving the party to lick their wounds. 

The party head back to Marlinko to rest up and spend some of their money carousing. Ace returns the wooden amulet and which is taken as proof enough that the merchants brother is no more. Whilst carousing Luka manages to not get into too much trouble whilst Frankopan has a rough time, getting both swindled and having to fight off several muggers in the street. This is not the worst though, as both Ace and Lasryn find themselves in the company of the enigmatic Lady Szara, with whom they share a lovely evening. The only issue comes in the morning as the two wake up they find themsleves not in a bed, nor even in the gutter, but behind bars with no memory of how they got there... 

Demon Frog by Alexis Politz

GM Thoughts 

This session was a wild one! A lot of adventuring and dungeoneering, a big shift from the previous two sessions. Now, lets the talk a bit about the elephant in the room, the deus ex machina that was the appearance of Glamdalf at the eleventh hour in the fight against the frog-demons. 

First off I should mention that most of the group is either very new to roleplaying or new to the style of old school dungeon delving. They have been learning fairly well so far, but many of the decisions made this week still show that they are new to this style of play. Thusly, when it became clear to me that the party had gotten way in over their heads I naturally looked for a way to throw them a bone as it were. 

The player who had played both Roald and Illya had at this point finished making another magic-user with which to join the party. I took this player aside and asked that instead of this 1st level nobody they could temporarily play the role of Glamdalf and help out their fellow players. The player being a good sport said quote; "Omg yes!" and so it was decided. 

Although it doesn't come across in the play report, this was still fraught with danger as even though Glamdalf is a a 6th level magic user, I decided to randomly generate half his prepared spells (including the haste spell which ended up being the most critical). The player in question still also had to decide which decisions to make without any help from me the GM.  

All in all, as the intervention of Glamdalf didn't instantly solve the partys problems, instead only making them solvable, as the party had no real way of outrunning the demons. The players I don't think found the thing to be a cheap "get out of jail free card", and instead cheered as Glamdalf tore off his mantle and revealed he was there to help them.  

Perhaps the lessons drawn from the session are twofold; Always be clear to the players when there is a possibility of them getting in over their heads; if  a powerful NPC intervenes in the partys favour make sure that there is still a chance of failure and preferably put this NPC under the control of the players themselves.