Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 136

 

Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  136 Session Date-  7/17/26

Time Passed-  1 week

Roll Call-   The Goblins and their Dragon leader Faction

Atagon and the Sun Shard Order Faction

Fort Dawnbreak Faction

Guidon's Evil Brigand Faction

The Amazons of Myrinna Faction/ Kenny’s Cave Hideout Faction

Adventure Log-   Julystein Week 3 Events and Wrapup-

Saturday-  THE MEXICAN STANDOFF

The Loc-Nar stands in the middle of a field, all eyes on the prize. Atagon and Kenny begin negotiation with the gnomes, discussing how to banish the Loc-Nar. Meanwhile, Amber Lynn, Diana, and Slither begin to make a definite move for the Loc-Nar! Diana is first to the field. As she rushes for the Loc-Nar, fear overtakes her, and she flees! Amber Lynn, in eagle form, dives from the sky and attempts to grasp the Loc-Nar in her talons, but she too succumbs to fear and flees. Then, with a moaning ROAR, Slither's Corpse swoops down and grasps the Loc-Nar in his mighty claws, utters something in dragon, and then dissappears! 

Monday-  A CHAOS STORM over Myrina!
Eldritch clouds and green lightning could be seen hovering over the Amazon settlement. It cleared once and then happened again for five minutes as bolt after bolt came down, and then cleared.... ten minutes later it happened a third time! Now most of the amazons have green pulsing lines of power on their skin and a faint green glow to their eyes while some have even transformed into ogres of the same. The Many Mothers have formed a council of war!

Tuesday-  A MESSAGE FROM THE HILL GIANT’S CHIEF

There is a giant cloud of green light over the Hill Giants’ Steading and a booming voice saying "Hill Giants of Chieftain Nosnra!" is heard in the five hex area. It continues: "Your chieftain has been gifted untold power by the Locnar! Return and receive a gift as well. Join us!" Green lighting strikes down but once and the cloud dissipates. 

Wednesday-  Gord, Ranger of the Sunshard, returns to the Bandit Keep in a hurry and onlookers hear him speak of seeing "something awful green". 

Thursday-  Troops flying the banners of Lancebrass, Waygate, Hartford, and the Khazarian Khagan are seen marching into Fort Dawnbreak. 

Friday-  A call has gone out across the five hexes for all disreputable and unsavory types. 

• THE GROUND SHAKES!

There is another massive green cloud over the area where Atagon's tower was as the earth under it is heaved upwards, creating a fortified mesa with battlements and a ramp leading towards the tower. Xena's voice booms through the area, "Think you can take the Loc-Nar? Come and take it!” 

It turns out that when the reanimated dragon took the Loc-Nar and disappeared he went to the N Warrior Maidens of Myrina to try to negotiate an alliance seeing how he was so low on troops.  Xena, the leader jumped at the chance to wield the power of the Loc-Nar and immediately used it to turn her people into orcs and some even ogres.  Some resisted including Diana the 2nd in command, and she fled to join the Coalition of the Good.  Xena took her evilly buffed army to meet up with the remaining brigands and goblins at Atagon’s ruined tower.  From there she put out her challenge for the good army to come meet them in battle.  This is where things start out on Friday with Xena’s evil army defending in Atagon’s transformed keep, with the hill giants coming in as allies to hurl rocks. They also have been affected by the Loc-Nar.  On the other side the forces of good amass, anchored by the Iron Company, but the allies have reached far and wide and gained allied contingencies from Lancebrass, Hartford, and even the Kazarians have given some troops.  The battle begins and Godhard and his paladins begin praying, and are amazingly heard from his god.  A LG Angelic creature comes forth from the planes.  Some fireballs are traded and some cavalry hidden amongst a hallucinatory terrain emerge and engage.  Some invisible ogre magi allies reveal themselves and unleash cones of cold on the good army, but the angel manages to dominate one of them and another dies.  Xean begins using the powers of the Loc-Nar and it begins throwing out things like stinking clouds and fields of darkness on the battlefield, as well as blinding Atagon and several henchmen.  Seeing this Kenny drives the Bronco over to the blinded Atagon and gives him the robe of eyes and begins firing off spells into the battle while Atagon drives to a tactical spot where he can then levitate up over the walls and target the brigand’s wizard with the Sun Shard, incinerating him.  The many magical attacks coupled with the rock onslaught from the giants nearly decimates the forces of good outside the keep walls, but then the angel creates a massive earthquake on the keep and tower, destroying them and cruising many of the evil troops inside.  Xena emerges from the ruins still wielding the Loc-Nar, and Diana challenges her in combat.  She cannot get control of the Loc-Nar and soon the Demon Bear shows back up to see who the group has put forth as his new herald.  Seeing Xena with the Loc-Nar he asks her if she is ready to become the herald and she agrees.  He looks around at her ruined army and says she has one week, and will grant her one favor towards raising a new army.  He will return in one week and assist her in a final confrontation for the final fate of the Loc-Nar.  Only a wounded and invisible Guidon escapes from the aftermath as the angel departs with the forces of good nearly completely wiped out, but victorious.  They too will need to gather forces and resources this week to prepare.  

Session Notes-  Again godhard’s player did an excellent job running a complex mass combat, he went with a 30;1 scale and it worked great.  I got to assist looking up rules and rolling dice for different units, it was definitely fun for all.  I’ll publish the final casualty tables he made up, very thorough, and he had a cool interactive map that really gave just the right amount of visual aid.  It was super fun and creative and something I could never do or would even think to do.  

Treasure and XP-  Ringtail’s items- Ring of Protection +1, Figure of Wondrous Power- Owl, Wand of Illusion x10, Dagger +1, Spellbook- RM, Sleep, MM, Enlarge, Message, Charm Person, Web, Stinking Cloud, Invisibility, Levitate, Fireball, Invisibility 10’, Clairvoyance

Graveyard-  10x Gnomes killed by Guidon’s Brigands cavalry charge into the siege camp outside the western brigand Keep.  (session 134)

109x Troops of the Coalition of the Good killed at the assault of the Brigands Western Keep (session 135)

30x Lt Foot, 180x H Foot, 30x Lt Cav, 30x med Cav, 15x Crossbowmen (Coalition of the Good troops), Zalde- M/U5, Seth F6 (raised), Foyt- M/U5 (raised) killed at the siege of the Loc-Nar forces at Atagon’s ruined tower. (session 136)

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 135

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  135

Session Date- 7/10/26

Time Passed- 1 week

Roll Call-  The Goblins and their Monster leader Faction

Atagon and the Sun Shard Order Faction

Fort Dawnbreak Faction

Guidon's Evil Brigand Faction

The Amazons of Myrinna Faction/ Kenny’s Cave Hideout Faction

Adventure Log- Julystein Week 2 Events and Wrapup-

• Saturday Guidon’s search party finds the Loc-Nar in a hex adjacent to their eastern keep.

• Monday Atagon’s Tower is assaulted by the brigands with their secret green dragon ally.  The dragon breathes poison gas on the tower but is quickly slain by Atagon’s magic Sun Device.  The brigands make entry and slaughter many before being driven back by an insect plague.  

• Guidon uses the Loc-Nar to crack open Atagon’s tower, then some goblin scouts arrive at the location, and Guidon allows them to use it to resurrect the dragon’s corpse as an undead, along with some undead minions.  

• Cowpens is attacked by goblins but they are repelled, about 30 goblins are captured and the force is routed.  

• An army of the good factions is forming north of the brigands western keep.  A force of over 300 is observed.  

The Coalition of Good factions army moves south to assault the western brigands on Thursday.  They send some invisible PCs forward to plant a bomb and create a breach in the wall.  Having seen the approaching army, the Brigand’s mage conjures an Air Elemental, and when the bomb goes off the elemental unleashes a tornado that crushes the light foot charging the breach.  Several fireballs and flame strikes destroy the elemental as more troops begin assaulting the walls and archers on both sides let loose.  The brigand’s mage then creates a wall of ice to further block the breach.  A final fireball turns the wall to steam, and the Brigand leader runs into the foggy breach to take on the incoming troops personally.  The mage thinks better and casts fly and flees.  Stigr and Seth, 2 PC fighters on the battlefield, move through the breach to engage the brigand leader who is too strong for the rank troops.  The fighters along with a well placed hold person spell manage to take down the leader.  The assaulting forces of good rout the brigands and many flee into the countryside.  The forces of good rest and calculate their next move.

The following day, after getting bad news about the destruction of the goblin forces at Cowpens, Guidon moves west to attack the good army’s camp with only a few goblin wolf riders and their undead dragon and zombie minions as allies.  They get to the camp and find it devoid of troops, only camp followers and blacksmiths and armorers.  Furious to have missed the army, the dragon and brigands attack the camp and level it.  All equipment, resources, and specialists are destroyed or routed.  

Seeing as how blood was shed and battle raged, but the wielder of the Loc-Nar had no hand in the combat, the ire of the Demon Bear was roused.  It appears huge in the sky before Guidon- “Puny man, you have possessed the Loc-Nar for a week and what have you done with it?  Cracked open an empty tower and missed a huge battle.  You don’t deserve the Loc-Nar.”  And with that the bear snatches the magic orb and teleports itself along with the goblins and undead dragon to the brigand’s newly captured keep, where the armies are resting.  He addresses the leaders of all the factions-  Guidon has failed as a worthy herald, I put this Loc-Nar on the ground before all of you.  In one week I will return to see if one of you is worthy to wield it and be my rightful aide.  He summons a symbol of fear in the air above the Loc-Nar and disappears, leaving everyone pondering their next move.  

Session Notes-  This was a session we tried to do too much maybe, but it was a fun and productive session.  The guys had spent a few days coming up with an assault plan on the keep, so they had a pretty elaborate plan and executing it took some time, plus adjudicating the mass combat, and then adding in the individual combat, plus a lot of spells were being thrown around so there was time taken up to look up lots of spell rules.  In all the DM running got us through it and everything was adjudicated mostly by the book without getting too bogged down, we definitely eyeballed the morale rules at the end of the session, but with the breached wall, dwindling force, and leader incapacitated, they likely would have broke morale.  We probably should have allowed the good guys one final swing to represent their running away, but you can’t get everything in a session.  So far we have been using session play during this braunstein to roll out the bigger battles of the week.  Now that the Loc-Nar is up for grabs for a week I wonder who will attempt to wield it and what they will do with it.  Hopefully the week's events will set up for some kind of cool opportunity for session play.  The low level PCs haven’t really gotten involved yet, maybe now that some of the bigger threats on the board have been eliminated they will take a bigger role, we will see.  

Treasure and XP-  Plate +3, Shield +2, Longsword +3, Elven Cloak, Potion- superheroism, animal control, Ring of mammal control, Javelin +2- Brigand Leader’s magic items

Graveyard- 10x Gnomes killed by Guidon’s Brigands cavalry charge into the siege camp outside the western brigand Keep.  (session 134)

109x Troops of the Coalition of the Good killed at the assault of the Brigands Western Keep (session 135)

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 134

 Chapter 12 Nappendixia Session Report

Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #- 134 Session Date- 7/3/26

Time Passed- 1 week

Roll Call-  The Goblins and their Monster leader Faction

Atagon and the Sun Shard Order Faction

Fort Dawnbreak Faction

Guidon's Evil Brigand Faction

The Amazons of Myrinna Faction/ Kenny’s Cave Hideout Faction

Adventure Log-  Julystein Week 1 Events and Wrapup-

•  Goblins massacred a thorp of LG villagers in the SE of the realm.

• A siege camp is forming around the Brigands keep in the west.  

• 2 large contingents of brigands have moved from the east- one moves to aid the besieged keep, the other sits outside Atagon’s tower spoiling for a fight.  

• Atagon’s divine force creates a spirit of vengeance, causing the brigands to flee for several days.

• Rumors are that the gnomes have tamed some dinosaurs in the SW.

• Guidon, the leader of the brigands defeats 2 Bandit leaders to earn a tenuous rule over them.

• Lars, Guidon’s 2nd in command arrives with a force of archers and combined with some cav from the keep fight back the siege camp killing 10 gnomes.  They retreat North.

• Ian F2 leads a diplomatic force to Ted Nugent’s faction to negotiate breaking the forming brigand’s siege.  The Nuge lends him about 55 foot troops and 20 lt cav.

• The low level PCs so far are staying at Fort Dawnbreak taking in reports of all the troop movements around the realm. Pentagon stays inside Atagon’s Tower to help with the siege.

• Hill giant movement is seen near Ted Nugent’s faction, rumors trickle in to him that the Steading Chief is drunk and despondent at the loss of his wife (she ran away with some stone giants). He sells entrance fees to the dungeon below his steading to wanting adventurers.  

Session Notes-  First week of the month-long event went great.  The Fort Dawnbreak player has been handling the vast majority of the game and is doing an excellent job communicating with players, tracking info and resolving encounters and player requests.  The players are doing great too- super engaged and having a fun time but not overbearing the ref with lots of particulars.  These guys get it.  I have been really enjoying just interacting as a player during the week, and then on our Friday sessions I can resolve any remaining actions and be a second set of eyes on anything the ref wants.  We’re generating some story, and I think it's brewing up for some kind of big battle.  It’s great all of these factions were generated through real session play off the random tables.  They may not all be the most interesting factions, or balanced, or equally representative but it’s what our game produced through emergent play.  I’m excited for the remaining weeks, I hope the momentum and energy remains high but subdued.  I feel like the stein may need some kind of points system to represent success in player actions, but regardless, the factions are interacting in real time in an area we are already in process of clearing.  It seems more fun and efficient to run the groups into each other in this fashion rather than just grinding through them individually in session play.

Treasure and XP-  5000gp- Guidon to the bandits- failed bribe.  10x gnomes to Guidons faction for mass combat.

Graveyard-  10x Gnomes killed by Guidon’s Brigands cavalry charge into the siege camp outside the western brigand Keep.  (session 134)

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 133

 

Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #- 133

Session Date- 6/26/26

Time Passed-  2 days

Roll Call-  Trotter- R1

Ard- M/U3

Pentagon- C2

Primus- F1

Ralph- F1

Adventure Log-  After resting at Atagon’s tower, the party heads back into the buried step pyramid.  Dropping down into the second tier via the trapped stone floor flagstone, 7 goblins blunder into the chamber surprised.  5 are cut down with missile fire while the remaining 2 try to bolt but are also chased, caught, and slain before they can get back to the stairs down.  They make their way to the chambers of the Brothers of Gorm.  Relations remain good, and 2 brothers are granted to the party for assistance.  They descend into the third tier and manipulate the revolving corridor to head east.  It opened into a short corridor that ends in a door.  Forcing it open and ready for combat, they disturb 11 warrior maidens gathered around a table.  They attempt diplomacy as Primus turns away and removes his Brotherhood mask.  They introduce themselves as the Warrior Maidens of Madura and their leader Pandora is neutral but disappointed there are no women among them to join their ranks.  They tell them of all of the creatures they have slain in the pyramid, along with the cult of mages they eliminated.  They are impressed and when asked why the mages were so immediately aggressive they are told it’s possible the party disturbed one of their magic rituals, which they are very protective of.  In exchange, the maidens tell them of a nearby corridor where they can find a secret door containing snakes, but also a store of treasure.  They make their way to the location and find the secret door.  They prepare some flaming oil and a sleep spell and kick in the door.  A launching pit viper bites at Trotter’s armor, but immediately after the sleep spell puts the pair of snakes to sleep.  Inside a wicker basket they find thousands of silver pieces and 5 fine gems.  They offer the heavy silver to the brothers as tribute, and keep the gems.  Pleased to have good relations with 2 factions, and seemingly pushing back the third faction, they return to Atagon’s to rest, encountering and slaying a strange beetle crawling through the underbrush on the way home.  That night as they sleep, all are visited by strange dreams of a demonic bear.  

The upper level PCs, as well as the leaders of all the factions in the area-  Fort Dawnbreak, the Rustic Gnomes, the Hill Giant Gang, Atagon’s Sun Shard Order, the Evil Brigands, the Amazons of Myrinna, Kenny in his cave lab, and an unknown monster faction, all are plagued with visions and dreams all week, formless at first but eventually coalescing into a massive demonic bear adorned with a feathered headdress and warpaint.  On the evening of the 28th all are awoken at 3 am to a disturbance in the sky.  The massive Demon Bear, or some kind of image of it hovers in the sky above hex 3008, all can see and hear it somehow.  It proclaims itself the greatest source of evil in the universe, and is thankful for being summoned by the succubus formerly Nelson the Dragon’s aide many months ago.  While growing in power on this fertile world he was able to summon a powerful artifact from another time and place-  the dreaded Loc-Nar.  He holds the glowing green sphere fitted into a wooden sceptre.  He holds aloft 2 pitiful human prisoners and touches each to the Loc-Nar’s glowing power.  The first human is immediately disintegrated, while the second is tossed helplessly through a portal that must lead to another world.  Demon Bear proclaims-  Witness the power of the Loc-Nar.  Find it hidden in your lands.  The first faction to return the Loc-Nar to me will earn immeasurable power from me.  With that he tosses the sceptre, and streaks of light emanate from his hand in a thousand different directions as the Loc-Nar hurtles off to be hidden and found by a competing faction.  The faction leaders buzz with energy, knowing they must mobilize and act immediately to secure the Loc-Nar.  Thus begins the Great Race for the Loc-Nar.  This ends Chapter 11.  

Session Notes-  We began our July Braunstein this session.  I’m keeping it very loose since I have no idea what I’m doing.  I’ve recruited a player to help me adjudicate things, and he made a very nice digital starting map that really helped the players orient to the area, terrain, and faction locations.  All players were agreeable to running a faction, plus we recruited another member of our online crew to run a faction.  The giant faction will run on some kind of autopilot/oracle system.  Players will submit their weekly orders on Sundays for the month, and we will resolve things over Discord, and have weekly sessions on Fridays for any further adjudication, and for adventuring that may/may not also affect the braunstein. Factions will have 5 weeks to search the hexes for the Loc-Nar and decide what they will do with it.  Competing armies that battle will be resolved with AD&D combat scaled to 10 or 20 to 1.  This is all an experiment to see if we can run this and if it will be fun.  We will see.   

Treasure and XP-  Monsters- 7 Goblins 98xp, 2 Pit Viper, 436xp, 1 Bombardier Beetle 139xp= 673xp.  Treasure-  5 gems 1160xp= 1833xp/4 PCs (Ard is maxxed out until he can pay for training)= 458xp each.  Add % bonus if appropriate.  

Graveyard-  Garrick Thislteflare- Triggered a trap and fell down the brass shaft in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 127) raised by the nearby cleric, indebted to 1500gp.  Alignment changed to NG.

Ard- Killed by Fire Beetles in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 127)  raised by the nearby cleric, indebted to 1500gp.

2 Brothers of Gorm- killed by mages of Usimigaras in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 131)

Pylon- died by poison needle trap in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 131)

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 132

 

Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  132 Session Date-  6/12/26

Time Passed-  5 days

Roll Call-  Party 1

Godhard- C10

2x P5 hench

Laurentis- C9

10x Lt Cav

Party 2

Trotter- R1

Ard- M/U3

Pentagon- C2

Primus- F1

Adventure Log-  Party 1 plans to check out the newly built road that leads from Fort Dawnbreak south into the domain.  It currently ends at the ruined moathouse they had previously discovered, and upon getting there after a days journey on fast horse, they notice that the moathouse has a den of wolves nesting in and around it.  They avoid the wolves as it is coming on dusk, and instead push on west around some hills to the village of Myrrina.  This is a community of CN Amazon type women ala Wonder Woman, but a little aggressive and unpredictable.  LG Godhard tries to parley at the gates of Myrrina for lodging, but the women don’t like the cut of his jib.  Laurentis offers to cure disease on a citizen, and Godhard tries to explain that he is responsible for building the new nearby road and the women’s attitude change and they offer them a nice patch of ground within their walls to stay on this Summer night.  The next morning they head south to reveal some unexplored terrain.  It turns out to be over a mile of marshland, and in the muck and mangroves 2 constrictor snakes try to drop down in surprise, but are quickly slain by the party.  With relations to Myrrina begun, and a new direction of unexplored terrain located, the party heads back to Dawnbreak for rest and resupply.  (5 days in the field)

Party 2-  Ard is gone for 2 weeks training with Boldvay.  On the 15th he returns with some new skills via teleport from Boldvay’s domain to the east.  He rejoins his colleagues at Atagon’s Tower, and they head out to their favorite delving location- The ruined pyramid.  Their rigging of the front door remains intact and they enter.  While staging on the first tier to descend down into the 2nd, 4 cave locusts come leaping out of the brass tubes in the center of the room.  The party squashes one and the other 3 are scared off leaping down into tier 2 and scuttering away.  They climb down to tier 2 and make their way back to the Brothers of Gorm, who welcome Primus, but have no brothers to spare to join the party.  They head off to explore more corridors connected to the strange spinning corridor area.  Upon getting to the spinning corridor and promptly opening it, the party comes face to face with a party of gnomish adventurers.  They are a bit lost, but still somewhat armed and supplied.  Primus makes a pitch that they should join forces, and they really take to the idea.  After some greetings, they fall in to further explore the dungeon with the party.  They use the rotating corridor to explore the SW portion of the tier, and discover a storeroom infested with Oil Beetles.  Trotter and one of the gnomes are both covered in the beetle's oil and the painful blisters make it difficult for them to continue.  Pentagon steps in and cures the affliction with some magic healing, and the party notices that the crates of food and wine in here are not that old, the crates that are still intact contain edible food and wine.  They leave this area and go west to check on the temple room where they fought the magic users last time, and find it empty.  The bodies from their previous combat have been removed, but the room is otherwise the same.  They find the nearby bunk room where they assume the mages were sleeping, and manage to find a secret door on the southern wall.  After much time figuring out how to open the door, they enter to find the quite desperate mage of Usimigaras waiting in his personal quarters with his pet guard wolf.  The party makes no haste in peppering him with arrows and javelins as Ard casts Sleep on the wolf and after resting after the combat, tries vainly to tame the wolf pet and tempt it with rations.  He keeps it muzzled and struggles to corral it back to Atagon’s Tower and secures it in a simple pen behind the stables.  The party returns to Atagon's with a locked box heavy with coins they secured from under the mages bed, and pry it open to discover 2500sp and 400gp.  Ard finds the mages spellbook and is pleased to find the spell Phantasmal Force.  

Session Notes-  Our group is developing a timing thing where we have about a half hour of time before everyone can get there, so we’ve been running quick mini sessions with the people present.  So far it’s been a good time to send out a scouting party to reveal a hex or 2 of unrevealed terrain to complete the hex clearing process, but I’m interested in exploring other ideas.  That half hour is also a good time to resolve player downtime actions, as needed.  This week we reread the rules for learning spells, and had 2 good surprise with missile opportunities. The ranger noted he will need to carry many more arrows in the future.  I don’t think there are arrow recovery rules RAW, but I allowed a 50% retrieval rate after combat.  I think some PCs made level 2 this week, or are very close.  

Treasure and XP-  Monsters- Cave Locust 38xp, 4x Oil Beetles 280xp, M/U3 of Usimigaras 165xp= 483xp.  Treasure- 2500sp/125xp, 400gp/xp= 525xp.  Total 1008xp/ 4 PCs= 252xp each.  Ard gets 400xp from spellbooks/scrolls.  Add % bonus if applicable.  

Graveyard- Garrick Thislteflare- Triggered a trap and fell down the brass shaft in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 127) raised by the nearby cleric, indebted to 1500gp.  Alignment changed to NG.

Ard- Killed by Fire Beetles in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 127)  raised by the nearby cleric, indebted to 1500gp.

2 Brothers of Gorm- killed by mages of Usimigaras in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 131)

Pylon- died by poison needle trap in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 131)

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 131

 

Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  131 Session Date-  5/29/26

Time Passed-  2 days (5 days upper level group)

Roll Call-  Trotter- R1

Pylon- G F/T1

Ard- M/U1

Pentagon- C1

Primus- F1

Adventure Log-  The session begins with an expedition by the higher level party exploring the SE of Godhard’s future domain.  Much of the terrain in that area is revealed, including a small range of mountains connected to a small dry desert, and a forest that shows signs of a goblin lair.  They avoid the lair with their swift horses, and believe they scared off some pegasi in the desert on the way back.  They benefit greatly from the newly built road that connects Dawnbreak into the domain area to the south.  They also discover a small thorp of NG villagers that share that the goblins often travel north through the swamps and seem to be beholden to a stronger monster somewhere north of there.  After 5 days in the field they return to Dawnbreak to rest.  Meanwhile Kenny finishes his gunpowder research and begins setting up his lab to produce a 6d6 bomb every month.  

Meanwhile the low level party uses their downtime to think about the rotating corridor with the strange symbols they discovered lower in the step pyramid.  They manage to figure that the symbols correspond to compass directions and the corridor can be spun in that direction by pressing the proper symbol.  Pylon also is able to retrieve a nicely cured stirge beak from his forest hiding spot.  They set out on the 29th to delve the step pyramid again.  They make it to the Brotherhood’s area again and have continued good relations maintained mostly by Primus.  They agree to allow 5 Brothers to accompany them on their search of the next level down.  They begin by working their way around clockwise searching the corridors beyond the rotating area.  First they locate a locked door, and smashing through they discover the stairs back up to the next tier.  Next they discover a corridor that ends at a door and pushing it in they disrupt a ritual being performed by mages of Usimigaras.  They see Primus and the Brothers in their Gorm garb and immediately rush forward to attack and begin casting.  Missile fire disrupts several spells and takes down several mages.  Both parties get off Sleep spells and all of the Brothers as well as Primus are brought down, and several mages are sent to sleep by Ard’s spell.  Later in the fight, Ard and Trotter are knifed quite badly, and 2 sleeping Brothers are given a coup de grace, but the remaining mages are slain and their leader gets away by casting Hold Portal on the door blocking his retreat.  The battle over, they rest and search, finding a hidden compartment in the stone altar in the large room of the mage cult.  Pylon opens it but fails to find the poison needle trap and perishes right there on the floor.  They collect treasure from the altar- gold coins, a magic mace, a wand and silver masks from the mages.  The injured party polices their dead and returns to a dismayed Brotherhood, then back to Atagon’s tower to rest and mourn.  

Session Notes-  There is truly a psychic/spiritual connection between Appendix N fiction and the AD&D 1e rules.  I have been wanting to reread the PHB and DMG to really affirm my rules knowledge and run tighter games.  Instead last week I dug into appendix N fiction, reading The Phoenix on the Sword, the Mound, and Jewels in the Forest, and I ended up running a really tight, rules forward session.  In each of those stories I saw direct connections to the rules Gygax wrote.  Helmet rules, thieves using slings and not bows, light rules, time and encumbrance- all have direct roots back to the old Appendix N fiction.  I will this summer target getting back into the rulebooks, but don’t neglect the impact of having fresh doses of Appendix N rolling around in your brain while you run and play.  Kudos to my elite level players who helped me clarify some rules this session such as daggers going twice on simultaneous initiative, and space required for weapons in respect to marching order and corridor width.  

Treasure and XP-  Monsters- 12 mages of Usimigaras 216xp.  + Treasure-  12 silver masks 240xp, 500gp, large tapestry of constellations 300gp, Mace +1 350xp, wand of magic detection (to be sold later)= 1390xp=  1606xp/4PCs= 402xp each.  Ard gets 1200xp for 12 1st level spellbooks/scrolls.  Add % bonus if applicable.

Graveyard-   Garrick Thislteflare- Triggered a trap and fell down the brass shaft in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 127) raised by the nearby cleric, indebted to 1500gp.  Alignment changed to NG.

Ard- Killed by Fire Beetles in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 127)  raised by the nearby cleric, indebted to 1500gp.

2 Brothers of Gorm- killed by mages of Usimigaras in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 131)

Pylon- died by poison needle trap in the hidden step pyramid.  (session 131)