D&D An American Institution- What I'm Reading This Weekend

 

Just got it from Drive Thru.  Compelling, well-researched, can't put it down.  Get this.

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 142

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  142

Session Date-  9/25/26

Time Passed-  5 days

Roll Call-  Party 1

Roland- P5

Jirel- P4

Fletch- F6

Foyt- M/U5

Party 2

Ard- M/U4

Father Iniri- C1

Ferge- D F1

Adventure Log-  Chapter 13-  In the aftermath of the Plague of Lice, Godhard forms a plan to bring order back to Fort Dawnbreak-

“Here’s a four point plan for dealing with the lice crisis:

Clearing

The first response to the infestation will be to assess the camp and begin dismantling the tents as well as moving livestock. We’ll determine who is afflicted and quarantine them from the rest of the camp. As for the rest, we’ll create a temporary staging area at the pond in hex 3501 where bedding, tents, clothing, etc are boiled or burnt. Men who are currently deployed in the field will be moved to the Pelorsburg site on return.

Cleansing

The priority at Dawnbreak will be cleansing the permanent structures (the barracks, settlers’ settlement, and the merchants quarter) with smoke and lime-wash. Once these are cleaned, the afflicted will be quarantined in the barracks. All Dawnbreak personnel will be shaved to prevent reinfection and follow strict quarantine procedures to prevent reinfection. Kenny has promised to work on providing ample soap and shampoo so as to prevent the “filthy conditions” modifier from DMG 13.

Curing

From then on, assuming Godhard, Laurentis, and Atagon along with the two paladins work together to cast cure disease, they can cure 10/day and 72/week. Those with severe cases will be magically cured first. Alongside that, afflicted people are to be shaved and given hot baths then moved to a clean structure.

Compensation

• All personnel’s wages will be doubled during the infection as hazard pay.

• The Merchants will be granted tax pardons for six months (which could save them between 1,500gp-9,000gp/caravan!) as they rebuild their lost inventory.

• The leader of the Gorge settlers will be granted 1.3mi hex 3412 and the status of manor lord for his people’s troubles, giving him a say at the annual Thing.

Soon I’ll calculate the amount of infected and the time it will take to cleanse the fort. Hopefully this plan can retain the troops and merchant’s loyalty as I was betting on them staying around as I built the new site. “

Meanwhile, after assisting for a few days, a party of mid level adventurers, mostly assistants of Godhard and Kenny, travel about to see how the plague has affected the area.  They investigate the 2 columns of green eerie light that extend up into the sky.  The smaller one is coming up from the ground near the entrance to the Sandpit Dungeon, and the larger is centered over the Lost City- the buried step pyramid, which has now sunken deeper into the muddy depression, now completely covered and in need of excavation to access.  Only the heads of the 3 statues built atop the pyramid remain exposed.  They move on to investigate the Hill Giant Steading, and find the chief, now a fomorian giant as a result of the taint of the Loc-Nar, still drunk and despondent, alone and offering adventurers entrance into his lower dungeon.  They pay the fee and deliver him another cask of cheap wine and descend down an L shaped stairwell.  They are about to investigate the first large open chamber, but one of them inadvertently finds a secret door, and they proceed to find the means to open it.  It opens into a small treasure room filled with coins and coffers, but as they move into the room to investigate, Foyt triggers a pit trap and falls to his death, impaled on poison spikes.  At the same moment Jirel, on watch, sees 3-4 manticores enter the room and eye her hungrily.  They decide to flee, Roland climbs down and retrieves the body while Fletch investigates a barrel that turns out to be an illusion.  Behind the illusion he finds a large rock and grabs it as well as a case of gems as the party retreats back up the stairs before the manticores can pounce.  They head back to Dawnbreak where Godhard is able to raise Foyt.  He begins rest and recovery.  The rock they recovered appears to be the same type of rock that makes up the huge mesa faces to the south.  It must be further investigated, as it could reveal some secrets of the mesas.  

The lower level party is in a jam.  Rumors are spreading that they were seen returning from the sandpit dungeon just after the strange columns of green light appeared and the lice plague occurred.  Accusations that they may be responsible for the lights and subsequent plague are starting to become known.  Ard makes contact with Kenny and pleads his case, they were simply adventuring in a local dungeon, and triggered some kind of magic statue.  They tell what they know about the Eyeless Void statue, and its seeming connection to the residual Loc-Nar energy that seemed to activate it.  This information is shared with Godhard and the rest of the leadership and the higher level adventurers understand their position.  Concerned that the average citizenry will be less accepting, they decide it may be a good time to get out of town and see some other sights and explore some other settlements.  They have heard from several sources of a small desert village far to the north, and think that may be their long-term goal, but decide to check in on Bartertown first to see how they are faring in their cleanup after the destruction of the Blood Thing monsters.  They arrive there after a day's travel on horse, and goings are slow in Bartertown.  Few travelers are hiring on to help with the cleanup efforts despite offers of full citizenship and a residence from Papagallo. The whole area is still caked in gore from the explosion of the monsters.  They are unable to get an audience with Papagallo but they are welcome to help with cleanup.  They feel like they may get more traction if they made a name for themselves locally, and set out the next day to the north to the Crevasse dungeon, a dungeon location known to be carved into the side of a large rock crevasse.  They arrive after a day and a half of travel, and cautiously survey the lowlands surrounding the crevasse finding signs of an orc warband on the flat wastelands, a few crude standards and skeletal remains litter the grounds.  They have heard rumors of the legendary Headhunter Orcs that are known in this area and are considering returning to Bartertown right when they are surprised by a column of 10 orcs huddled at the base of the slope.  They charge on foot, but the party on horse are able to turn and retreat before they can engage, suspecting more orcs in tow.  In the rush to escape they take a different route south, and discover an old rickety hunting cabin out in the middle of nowhere.  They approach and call out to the cabin, hailing any occupants and asking for water, but they get no response.  About to leave, they decide to open the cabin door, and find 2 nomads, starving and dehydrated inside.  They give them aid, and offer to take them back to Bartertown to recover.  They ask if the nomads are of the famed tribe of nomads known as the Kazarians, and they confirm they are.  They get the men who had lost all their gear and horses in a battle back to Bartertown to convalesce, and in thanks one of the men produces a fine pearl he was secreting in his cheek and gives as payment for their rescue.  The party is pleased to make inroads with this powerful tribe of nomads, should they ever encounter them again in force.  After rest and resupply, they decide to investigate another nearby settlement, the twin villages of Wore’s Rest and Oak Cross, located east of Bartertown.  They arrive in the strange village and find the rumors to be true, the area's people are known as Juggalos, a crude filthy culture rife with moronic behavior.  They cautiously secure lodging in one of the many taverns/inns and tactfully begin gathering information about the area to see what adventure they may find.  

Session Notes-  This was an odd session in that we had lower attendance, and a late arrival so we ended up doing 2 shorter delves with 2 different parties, and the players took some time to do some future planning.  They decided to check out some of the closer settlements nearer to Godhard's domain before ultimately heading north to the desert village of Leibitz.  We all decided it would be cooler to have more separation between the lower level PCs and the higher level ones.  Plus there’s so much going on in Godhard’s domain, the guys are doing lots of stuff there, clearing lairs, preparing for stronghold construction, and dealing with all the after effects of the Julystein battles, the Loc-Nar, and the lice plague.  I absolutely cannot keep up with it all and that is so cool, I hope in the future we can get some session play involving all of these cool elements happening run by Godhard or others in the know.  I myself am in a better position with a new settlement to be running out of; I have no constraints, there’s plenty of room for new things to develop from emergent play, and I’m not ignoring all the stuff the players are doing in their home hex.  Plus they can go back at any time.  I’ve got some new ideas for that northern part of the campaign map that no PCs have explored yet, and not much exists yet except a few ideas and starting locations.  We will see how things develop.  For next time I’ll be pulling out my old notes from Whore’s Rest and the nearby dungeons and rolling out some new stuff. I was a little disappointed in myself this week.  I thought I had done a correct deep dive into raise dead and all the steps and after effects, but upon looking it up again last session, I was incorrect on some things.  I guess that’s just the nature of  AD&D 1e, you can’t always get everything right, even with consistent earnest effort.  And that’s OK, correct and move on.  

Treasure and XP-  Party 1-  Treasure- gems 4x 100gp, 13x 500gp, 8x 1000gp= 14,900gp/xp/ 3PCs= 4967xp each.

Party 2-  Treasure- Pearl 500gp/xp/3 PCs= 167xp each.

Add % bonus if applicable.  

Graveyard-  Foyt the magic user, who fell on poison spike in a pit trap in the Fomorian Giant Chief’s Steading dungeon. (session 142) (raised by Godhard)

Nappendixia Campaign 3.0- Session 141

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  141

Session Date-  9/11/26

Time Passed-  10 days

Roll Call-  Party 1

Laurentis- C10

Trotter- R2

Godhard- C11

2x Pal hench

C3, C4 hench

Party 2

Trotter- R2

Ard- M/U4

Bakarit- I1

Primus- F2

Ferge- DF/C1/1

Adventure Log-  The one where the upper level guys delve a wraith's tomb, and the lower level guys delve the Sandpit Dungeon and trigger a plague.

After tending to some work at Fort Dawnbreak, Godhard assembles a party of holy men to eliminate the evil undead presence in the SW they learned about from the hermit Illusionist Old Ben.  Trotter the ranger accompanies them as a guide.  They arrive at the location safely, using the newly constructed road south.  They stay the night in the village of Marshfield, dispensing cures and healing, further improving relations.  The next day they head west and find a low sandy area and find a flat rectangular structure jutting out from the dunes.  Digging through the opening, they begin staging in the opening T intersection, but a wraith moves forward and touches Jirrel- chilling her and draining her life energy.  It is quickly turned and destroyed.  In another roughly dug out room they are attacked by 2 more wraiths, and defeat them.  Pushing past a heavy stone door they enter the tomb's main chambers and 6 more wraiths descend on them.  Their holy might and heavy armor protect them, they are dispatched and in the main chamber find 9 ruined sarcophagii and a huge hoard of treasure consisting of coin, gems, jewelry and magic items.  They take what they can and when they arrive back at Dawnbreak send a team of troops and wagons back to gather the remaining hoard.  The Wraith’s Tomb

On the 19th the low level team heads back to the Sandpit Dungeon to try to locate the stolen bolts of silk.  They arrive and drop down into the sandy hole, avoid the sound of scurrying critters and head to the stone door they had not investigated the last time they were here.  They push it forcefully and it glides forward and slides to the side, revealing a 30x30 room containing a statue of the horrific Eyeless Void-  a cloaked figure with one hand pointing up, one hand pointing down, a massive close lidded eye where its head should be. Wherever the party moves about the room, the stature appears to be facing each of them.  It sits upon an iron base, and when manipulating it, it swings to the side on a hinge point and reveals an opening down, down into what can only be an entrance to the Mythic Underworld.   Before they can react or investigate, swirling green energy the same color as the Loc-Nar’s energy begins swirling into the room and 3 small demonic creatures form from the swirling energy.  Ard casts Scar and one of them jumps down into the Mythic Underworld in fear.  Trotter launches a volley of silver arrows but finds them to be ineffective.  A Sleep spell puts the other 2 out (demons sleep?) and when they dissipate  the swirling green energy forms a pillar that extends up into the ceiling.  Low on spells, they forge ahead hoping to find the goblins that stole the bolts of silk.  They make their way to some rough hewn stairs down and Trotter silently guides them to the first lower chamber and finds it full of lizard men.  They surprise them with a volley of arrows and javelins, but they hold.  Bakarit stuns on with Color Spray, but is clawed by a lizard man and forced to retreat.  They are overcome by the claws and bites form the creatures, and Trotter bravely holds the line as the party retreats back up the stairs heavily wounded.  They emerge from the sandpit and see a horrific sight.  The pillar of green energy extends up from the ground into the sky.  Above them hovers a massive hooded figure who points to the southwest where a few miles away an even larger pillar of green Loc-Nar energy extends upwards into the sky.  The huge floating figure then regards them and turns to point out into the distance towards Fort dawnbreak.  Upon doing this they see a cloud of debris fall down and cover the fort.  They quickly mount up and head to the fort.  When they get within a mile or so, they notice tiny white dots wriggling across the ground.  Just then their horses begin nipping and scratching at themselves.  As they investigate closer they realize that the whole area is covered in a plague of lice.  They fell from the sky and covered the entire fort, infecting everyone.  The lice carry a painful ear disease that infects 14% of the fort’s population.  The vile plague also causes some troops to desert and some residents to leave the area.  It also ruins all of the merchant’s perishable goods and the fort will become a pariah of the area for at least the next 3 months, no new residents will arrive, and troops and mercenaries will not look for work there.  The party worries if the triggering of the plague will ever be traced back to them, and they begin discussing if they should also depart the area until the heat cools down.  Godhard and crew have much work to do to remediate the area of the plague of lice.

Session Notes-  So this session we did have to look up and discuss if demons can be put to sleep.  As we read it, only the HD cap and any demon magic resistance would preclude a demon from being affected by sleep.  These measly manes had no MR, and were only one HD so it appears they can be affected.  I guess the way to look at it is- it’s not so much about whether or not demons need to sleep, but more can these weak demonic creatures be affected by magical slumber the same way they could be affected by magical holding.  Makes more sense framed that way.  I do enjoy doing a deep dive occasionally during a session, but generally I think it’s more important to keep things moving.  Our group particularly enjoys the rules discussions, and it over time helps with rules knowledge and clarity.

Treasure and XP-  Wraith Lair- Monsters- 9x Wraiths 6255xp.  +Treasure- 20k sp (1000xp), 10kgp/xp, 3300pp (16500xp), 7x gem 3500xp, 40x jewelry (20x 1000gp, 10x 700gp, 10x 1600gp= 43000xp), shield +1, Crossbow of Accuracy, Plate +1, Potion animal control= 77,900xp= 84,155xp/3 PCs= 28,052xp each.  Hench get 15% each from Godhard.

Sandpit Dungeon- Monsters- 3x Manes 66xp, 2x Lizard Men 130xp= 196xp + Treasure- Gem 1000gp/xp= 1196xp/4 PCs= 299xp each.

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/failed, permanently deceased), Foyt- M/U5 (raised) killed at the siege of the Loc-Nar forces at Atagon’s ruined tower. (session 136)

Pentagon the cleric killed by Brigands outside the gnomes keep.  (session 137) (revived, 1 week bedrest)

Pentagon the cleric slain by carnivorous apes outside Slithers keep lair.  (session 140)

Jirrel the Paladin level drained by Wraiths in the buried tomb. (session 141)