Nappendixia Campaign 2.0- session 72

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  72 Session Date-  1/17/24

Time Passed-  6 days (1/17-1/22)

Roll Call-  Kenny- M/U5

Boyo- C3 Hench

Mayfly- M/U1 Hench

Godhard- C6

Stigr- F4

Finnigan- Halfling T1

10 Med Cav

14 Lt Cav

Adventure Log-  1/17-  Kenny and Godhard start the day with some information gathering and spell acquisition in Bartertown.  The visit Beirut the mage in the common area, negotiations go well due to the Iron company’s good reputation.  He casts Clairvoyance for them and views the scene at Papagallo’s fort under siege.  Beirut views for a few minutes a scene of the marauders camped outside Papas walls, possibly parlaying with him or just taunting him.  The siege appears to continue, but Papas forces are resisting and they believe to see evidence of food and water supplies.  They then use Beirut’s Contact outer plane ability to ask the planes several questions about Papas chances to resist the siege and also they get some information that there may be more dungeon areas to explore under some of the newly risen Cubic gate locations.  Lastly Beirut bestows a scroll of Clairvoyance to Kenny, knowing it will be added to his spellbook and used to help the people of Bartertown.  Later that day they bump into Finnigan, a halfling thief adventurer who arrived from the west.  He learned of the Iron Company’s reputation and sought them out as an ideal adventuring group to join.  He reports seeing a militarized force of Gorillamen heading east, further away from the Megadungeon than they usually roam.  They also hear reports of an organized force of troops emerging from the jungles south of Bartertown, near where Stigr and his men were captured by bandits then massacred nearly to a man by dinosaurs.  The reports state there is a smaller scout force out ahead bearing the banner and heraldry they have seen before of a 2 headed snake.  They recall what they know of Resheph and his strange jungle snake cult, and decide to investigate the next day.

1/18- The party brings some light and med cav, mounts up and travels south searching for Resheph’s forces.  The first day of travel goes uneventfully, nothing but the Nappendixian badlands are revealed.  After breaking camp the next day they decide to search around the area looking for tracks or any sign of the snake cultists.  The morning’s light rain ends in a misty layer of fog hugging the low ground, midday as it dissipates, 7 hungry giant geckos skulk out of the mist looking for horseflesh.  Fortunately the party spies them from 70 yards and wins initiative and hoofs it away before any combat can occur.  In their haste they speed off only to cross a group of at least 20 moving both on foot and on horse.  They follow the tracks for several hours, noticing its meandering path headed largely NE closer to Bartertown.  That night they make camp thinking they are making time on the group, hoping to catch up to them in the morning.  That night however on Finnigan and Godhard’s watch a den of 11 wolves pounces on one of the horses resting furthest away from camp.  Godhard begins rousing the troops to holler and throw debris at the wolves as Finnigan grabs a torch and tries to shoo them off.  Kenny rouses and positions a fireball to go off on the wolves, consuming the horse that was already bitten, but not hitting any other horses or party members.  The wolves are incinerated and the smoldering patch of burned ground keeps away any other intruders.  

1/20-  Following the tracks, by late morning they are on the group of about 25, 10 of which are mounted.  They see their pursuers and prepare to receive a charge, with longbowmen positioned to get off volleys of arrows from behind the footman's shield wall.  The party decides to approach cautiously, seeing if parlay is an option.  The snake cultists are silent as both Godhard and Finnigan attempt negotiations, unable to get a response despite speaking in several different languages.  They hold to negotiating, and eventually the cultists slacken their bows and the leader heads out to reluctantly negotiate.  The negotiations go surprisingly well, largely due to the cultists being a smaller and slower force.  They state they have no plans to march on Bartertown, only they have mobilized some troops in response to other troop movements in the area.  They warn of the Gorilla men to the NW and of a group to the east that worship a strange slime god and are fanatically obsessed with its odd religion.  The party remembers encountering that group and their bizarre temple and the basin of living slime.  It seems war and rumors of war are all around the Nappendixian badlands.  2 groups of cultists, the gorilla men, Bartertowns own internal forces including the Iron Company, plus the scalphunter orcs they know are out there somewhere and the siege at Papagallo’s 100 miles away, make for quite a tense situation in the area.  The party shares some intel with Reshaph’s minion and he cements the positive interaction by giving them a golden serpent charm inset with 2 gems for eyes.  It is both a  valuable trinket, but also will prove a symbol of diplomacy for any future negotiations with the snake cultists.  They depart cautiously.  

1/21-  The party heads back to Bartertown, no significant encounters occur.  They rest and recover and the following day visit the Master’s sage to get some more intel on Resheph and the snake cult.  It is known to be of ancient origin, with the historical record telling of several powerful evil persons taking the mantle of cult leader and wreaking havoc for a period.  The cults' power seems to be derived from ancient stone ziggurats hidden in the jungle.  Kenny later visits Beirut again to do some spell trading and acquires the spells of mending and floating disc. 

Session Notes-  So  the amount of factions that have been generated through both emergent play and patron play has created a situation where a wargame type experience can come about organically from session play.  The PCs have been discovering the different troops and their numbers and locations.  They have their own troops that they have been mustering and managing, and there are other Bartertown troop units they could potentially ally with.  All of this will proceed or not proceed based on player interest.  The campaign is at the point where there are so many different areas and hooks and rumors that have been generated there is no way to interact with all of them.  This sort of buffet style play allows players to poke around at whatever interests them, and the rest just melds into the background.  Should this wargame option go nowhere, if the players don’t develop much of an interest in pursuing it, then it will take place more in the background.  Maybe the PCs will stumble across battlefields of recent combat, maybe encounter rolls will be influenced by there being marching armies in the area.  As Dm I can over time find a way to simply and quickly resolve some of these army interactions, some will get crushed and others will achieve their goals and become a possible future threat.  If the players lean into this then we can move in a more wargame direction with armies being placed in real time on the map and we can track when they encounter each other and resolve combat using AD&D combat at a 1:10 scale.  Only time and player interest will tell how things develop.  To be self-critical you could argue that this type of play creates a lot of situations where a storyline develops through player interest and play, but then fizzles out due to player turnover or simply changing focus in game.  You could counter this argument however, because any errant storyline left unresolved can immediately come back to life through player autonomy, as soon as they remember, re-energize interest in that area, that aspect of the story comes back to the forefront.  Note the use of the word story in this discussion makes no reference to a DM derived story that he courses his players through, but quite the opposite.  In this type of play player interest drives the direction of the game.  It’s always a work in progress, and time and real life will always work against maintaining a robust game, but I still feel confident in saying low/no prep emergent gaming is still the best recipe for a long lived and active campaign.  It keeps things fresh and interesting for the DM because he’s not coaxing the game along on rails, but instead learning how the story develops in real time as the players respond to the world.  The DM gets to be surprised by the direction of the game as the group discovers collectively what will happen next.  Only time will tell if the wargame elements become the focus for a while, either way we will continue to have a lot of fun with this campaign.

Treasure and XP-  Monsters-  11 Wolves 748xp,  Treasure-  Resheph jeweled serpent totem 1500gp/xp=  2248xp/ 4 PCs= 562xp each.  Kenny gets 394xp and the henchmen get 84xp each.

Graveyard-  1 Lt Foot and 1 Camp Follower to spitting snakes and 1 Lt Foot to wraiths in the dungeon south of Bartertown.  (session 69)

3 Spearmen to Wraiths in the subway dungeon south of Bartertown  (session 70)

Spanish Civil War 20mm minis from Irregular Miniatures

 Started my Spanish Civil War collection by painting up these beauties from Irregular minis.  Painted up my Student Revolutionaries and Anarchists, a Republican officer, 2 clergy and 2 peasants.  

Using this awesome osprey book to approximate the uniform colors.

Happy New Year! Started a Toy Collection

 Ad&d toys

Eagle Force

Nappendixia Campaign 2.0- session 71

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  71 Session Date-  12/27/23

Time Passed- 7 days (adventuring 12/27-1/1, rest 1/2)

Roll Call- Godhard- C6

Boyo- C3

Mayfly- M/U1

20 Spearmen

10 Lt Cav

  

Adventure Log-  12/27-  Godhard and Boyo continue to ponder over the strange yellow paged book that holds keys to how the cubic gate structures operate.  They consider taking the long journey out to Papagallo’s new site to see if his sage knows how the devices work.  They instead decide to visit Auntie’s sage who tells them to recount everything they know of the structures and all the information they may have gleaned from the strange writings.  They converse back and forth and the sage contacts supernatural forces and gives them confirmation on many things.  They learn that the cubic gate structure as it has become to be known in the local vernacular, is but one of many “cubic gates”  scattered around the Nappendixian badlands.  The structures serve as stations along a linear path that traverses the land.  They get confirmation that the cubic gate near Bartertown, the metal tower near the Megadungeon, The metal tower near Papa’s new site, and the structure connected to the “subway” dungeon are all stations that can be traveled to.  From any station you can travel “uptown” or “downtown” to the next adjacent station.  They also get confirmation that the gates operate with an initial input of magic by the pilot, who then uses a control panel on the side to engage a portal on the top of the structure that travelers walk through to the next station.  They are told that the machines run on the cycles of the moon, only a certain amount of uses and travelers per day may go.  Bolstered by all of this information from the sage, they decide the most important thing to do is get the spell comprehend languages so they can better attempt to get information from the book, particularly how to use magic to start the devices.  Due to their excellent reputation from the magic darkness plague, several mages are willing to trade spells so the party can learn comprehend languages.  They spend the rest of the day setting up a contact and transferring over the spell.  The next day Mayfly memorizes it and has several minutes to skim the book.  He finds it to be a repair log of sorts, different repair jobs are recorded here, and the location and type of work.  The party is able to get a few references to different spells that were cast into the operating panel on the side to begin its operation.  It seems both arcane and divine spells will start the portal, and the controller seems to have time to climb up to the top and go through the portal also, as long as a rope or ladder are set up.  Excited at the prospects of possibly figuring out how to operate these devices, they gear up their men and head off south towards the subway dungeon and the strange kiosk they found down there.  

12/29-  After travel and camping the party arrives at the subway dungeon, they employ the spearmen down into the underground while the cav guard the camp.  The chambers where they fought the wraiths are empty of any enemies, and they investigate the kiosk and find a 3 section control panel with buttons and switches.  They cast comprehend languages again to read the words written on the panels, each has a large button labeled Start/On as well as other switches that read uptown and downtown.  They elect to push the central on button and a loud rumbling shakes the whole underground complex.  The troops are shaken and dismissed back up topside while the party continues to search.  Minutes later several troops return demanding the PCs come to the surface to see what happened.  They emerge to see that a cubic gate structure has risen up out of the loose sod and now stands mostly exposed where before there was just a hole to enter the underground.  They return to the underground kiosk to see if it can be operated from there, but they can’t get any response.  They go back to the surface structure to see if it has a secret compartment on the side like the one near Bartertown has.  They search but find nothing.  That night Godhard decides to prepare locate object for the next day and try to locate a control panel on the new structure.  The following morning he is successful, and finds a 3x3 compartment on the side.  There is a curious map on the compartment and a potion.  The map seems to be of the cubic gate stations, and the party makes some notes as to guessing where the stations are located.  The map is ripped and incomplete, but a lot of information is revealed.   He decides to cast light into the compartment, and in response a swirling portal of energy forms on the top of the stone structure.  Also a panel slides back revealing a dial that can be turned, they decide to turn it clockwise, hoping that will take them to the cubic gate near Bartertown.  Godhards is able to encourage 3 spearmen to try the portal with them, And Boyo, Godhard, and the 3 step through and arrive on a different cubic gate structure after telling Mayfly and the troops to wait 1 day for them then return to Bartertown.  They get their bearings and realize they are at the cubic gate near Bartertown, as they predicted the dial would take them.  Feeling like they are starting to understand the machine, they bivouac and rest, figuring they need to wait a lunar day to operate the machine again.  The next morning they do, only this time, using the map, they figure that they can take this cubic gate one stop further east, hopefully to Papagallo’s site many days travel away.  

12/31-  The small party of 5 arrives near Papagallos site at the location of the spindly metal tower.  Here however, a cubic gate structure has unearthed itself and risen to reveal another station.  There is a rocky outcropping blocking a good view of Papa’s location, but the party sees a lot of swirling dust in that direction.  They sneak to the outcropping to get a view and see Papa has built a fortress out of the surrounding debris from the wasteland and is defending as best as possible against a horde of filthy marauders riding and sieging the fortress on horse, battlewagon, chariot, and a few strange metal horseless machines and several huge wood and stone rolling structures.  Knowing they are way underpowered to do anything to help Papa, Godhard casts speak with animal on a nearby bird, and writes a note to Papa telling him they have traveled near by a strange portal, and they hope to return soon with enough men to help defeat the marauders.  The next morning, after watching a marauder patrol investigate the newly unearthed gate, the party steals to it and sets it in operation again, returning to the Bartertown gate and promptly heading back to town, happy to find Mayfly and the troops made it back alive.  Knowing they still have much to learn and prepare for they begin downtime activities on the 3rd.

Session Notes-  this session a lot happened, the small party did a lot to reveal how the gates work, they still have lots of secrets to uncover, but they now have a pretty powerful means of long distance travel that gives them a lot more options as to places they can get to without getting bogged down with random wilderness encounters.  It is also making them re-evaluate where they should be basing their operations at, wondering if these new gates need to be protected or if any constructions could aid in their use and defense.  I’m starting to see more thoughtful use of spells and more aggressive attempts to acquire useful spells.  Clerics in particular have access to lots of spells that rarely get memorized on a daily basis, but given a day of prep a cleric can really memorize a useful repertoire of spells.  Study those spell lists, and of course look up every spell at least the first 3 times you use it,  AD&D spells almost always work differently than you think.  It was definitely to get some important groundwork laid during this month of lighter attendance.  Next month should we get some of our regulars back there will be lots of new information and ideas, and I won’t have to take the lead on parsing out all that information, the players can do it amongst themselves.

Treasure and XP- Treasure-  Cubic Gate Map 2000xp, potion of treasure find 600= 2600xp/ 3PCs= 867xp each add % bonus if appropriate

Graveyard- 1 Lt Foot and 1 Camp Follower to spitting snakes and 1 Lt Foot to wraiths in the dungeon south of Bartertown.  (session 69)

3 Spearmen to Wraiths in the subway dungeon south of Bartertown  (session 70)

Nappendixia Campaign 2.0- session 70

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Report

Session #-  70 Session Date-  12/20/23

Time Passed-  8 days 12/20-12/27 (training can begin 12/28)

Roll Call-  Godhard C6

Kenny M/U4

Boyo C3

Mayfly M/U1

20 Spearmen in wagons

10 Lt Cav

Adventure Log-  While resting on the 19th Kenny and Godhard get a better read of the book with yellow pages that they found.  It seems to be a tradesman's manual of sorts, a log book referring to different repairs at different sites as best as can be determined.  There are also several pages of parchment woven into the book that seem to be a traveling spellbook containing about 6 spells, and a few pages of explanations on how to read and interpret the yellow book, as best as the writer can figure.  It seems at some point there were different structures similar to the Cubic Gate scattered around the plains of Nappendixia and there seemed to be some kind of means of travel between the structures through some kind of portal.  They decide to head back to the dungeon with the strange railway and try to slay the undead.  With a plan of preparation including lots of holy water, bless and chant spells, and equipping the spearmen with silver tipped spears, they head back south looking to exterminate the undead.  They spend the next 2 days equipping the troops and prepping wagons for the trip.

12/22-23rd-  They travel south, encountering an errant merchant group weary and lost from the magical darkness.  The party takes an hour to share their water and reorient them on the path back to Bartertown.  Otherwise they make it to the stone they rolled back to cover the dungeon entrance and set to rolling it open.  They enter the afternoon of the 23rd.  As soon as they descend to the main room, they begin casting protection from evil, and it immediately triggers the anger of the wraiths and they attack the spearmen's shield wall and slay 2 as the party casts bless and magic missile.  One wraith makes it through the wall and reaches out at Kenny, but fails to touch him.  The party reacts and a wraith is slain, but 2 wights begin charging out of the darkness into melee.  Kenny reacts with a web spell which seriously impedes their approach.  Several volleys of holy water douse the undead and they are slain, but not before one more spearmen falls to the wraith's touch..  In the aftermath, the party searches and finds a few low quality gems and a magic mace.  They also get a look inside the wights kiosk lair and find a control panel which they elect not to touch.  They also find several posters showing some locations and names of the cubic gate stations, and some more pictures of the secret side compartment where the operator seems to be controlling the device.  They take the posters with them and pull back out of the dungeon depleted of spells.  They travel a few hours from the site and rest and rememorize spells and return the next day.  The travel and rest take the 24th and 25th and they return to the dungeon on the 25th to search it better and see if there are any more enemies down there.  They search the rear of the chamber to see that it is a descending gravel shaft with some kind of wide railway built onto it.  It descends into layers of gravel that would have to be excavated to be searched better.  There are several tight caverns that could lead to more passageways, but they decide to search the main chambers for secret doors, and find none after a thorough search.  They travel back to Bartertown on the 26-27th.  Kenny begins training on the 28th.

Session Notes-  We’ve been a little light on attendance this month, December usually does this between work and holidays.  We will see how attendance changes after the new year, but this is a great time for a new person to get involved.  If you’re one of the people who regularly read these reports consider getting involved even if for only a few sessions.  The players that have been showing up have been maximizing output however, making good use of mercs and henchmen.  Also there have been mostly clerics and magic users showing up to sessions, and the access to lots of spells has helped the party a lot.  They have had great success using men in small formations, last session a cav charge eliminated some ogres in 1 round, and this session they made good use of the spearman's shield wall at a choke point in the dungeon, seriously minimizing the amount of wight and wraith attacks the party had to endure.  Kenny did come very close to losing a level, but the wraith that got past the spearmen rolled a 1.  I do appreciate the real danger in game, but at the same time am glad when a PC doesn’t lose a level.  

The Pcs are doing well figuring out the cubic gate structures and how they may work.  I’ve pretty much got it figured out how it’s going to possibly work, but not without lots of in game influences helping guide the process.  It will be interesting to see if the PCs remain interested in this development, and what they will do with a potential travel aid.  With our shorter sessions I want to avoid the rut of wilderness travel- brief dungeon delve- wilderness travel back, which can be very fun and episodic and give the players lots of freedom, but a means of longer distance travel will open up more options for them.  

Treasure and XP-  Monsters Wights 1325xp, Wraiths 1546xp Treasure- Mace +1 350xp, 4 gems 80xp = 3301xp/ 2 PCs= Godhard gets 1651xp, Kenny gets 1155xp, his 2 henchmen get 248xp each. add % bonus if appropriate

Graveyard-  1 Lt Foot and 1 Camp Follower to spitting snakes and 1 Lt Foot to wraiths in the dungeon south of Bartertown.  (session 69)

3 Spearmen to Wraiths in the subway dungeon south of Bartertown  (session 70)

Nappendixia Campaign 2.0- session 69

 Nappendixia Campaign Session Reports Chapter 5

Session #-  69 Session Date-  12/13/23

Time Passed-  7 days (12/13-18 adventuring, 19th resting)

Roll Call-  Godhard- C6

Kenny-  M/U4

Boyo- C3 henchman

Mayfly-  M/U1

Morsov- C3

20 Lt. Foot in 6 wagons

10 Lt Cav

20 Camp Followers in   

Battlewagons

4 Elite Cav

Adventure Log-  12/13-  Godhard and Kenny decide to do some research before heading off with a potentially small party.  They start off seeking an audience with Master, but are curtly told by the guards that guard his underground area that he is far too busy to meet at this time.  Stymied, they move about the Master’s quarter and stumble across Tom Sholz and his makeshift Bartertown Library.  They dig into the manuscripts available and first find some skins and hides with images and stories that tell the Bartertown origin story, and trace some family lineages up to the more current times.  They find some of the early pamphlets and periodicals that were produced throughout Bartertown’s history to find out that the Cubic Gate, the stone structure outside of Bartertown, and several other structures in the area are somehow linked and allow for some kind of fast travel.  They learn of an expedition that headed out from Bartertown ages ago that located an underground structure 30 miles to the south.  There they somehow found the knowledge to operate the Cubic Gate and use it for travel.  They decide the location is close enough for investigation, and after prepping the troops and gathering supplies, they head out south on the morning of the 16th. 

12/17-  Their over one day of travel goes uneventful, and after going 30 miles south, they spy an outcropping that has a strange depression in it with a large stone rolled into it.  They set up the followers to dig the boulder out, and the foot fan out to guard them should anything disturb the work camp.  In the excavation 2 spitting snakes are disturbed from their nest and they manage to hurl gobs of poison onto a follower and a footman poisoning both to death.  The snakes are eventually slain and the boulder removed revealing a slanting passage sloping down into darkness, upon entering the rough hole, the wide corridor is of smooth stone with shallow steps inset at the far edges of the corridor.  It descends about 2 stories and opens into a round vestibule.  At the southern end of the chamber there is a series of waist high pillars spaced a few feet apart across the opening.  Kenny begins to investigate, concerned of a type of trap, but beyond in the room 2 filthy gore caked creatures emerge, as well as 2 shadowy ghostlike creatures with glowing eyes.  They attack.  The 3 clerics gather there is some kind of undead present and pull their symbols to ward them off.  Only Morsovs attempt is successful, and the shadowy creatures seem unaffected.  They reach out and grasp one of the foot and suck the soul essence from his body leaving a husk collapsed on the floor.  Concerned, Godhard digs into his pack and produces a scroll of protection from undead, and the  wraiths retreat before any more men are killed.  They were unnerved by the fact that their weapons were totally useless, prompting the party to have a discussion on the location of magic weapons and the need to procure more silver weapons.  With the undead pushed back, the party has a minute to search the chamber, finding a kiosk of some kind in the room as well as several placards posted about.  The placards and posters seem to have signage about locations and directions and there is a poster of the cubic gate structure being operated by someone by manipulating controls in the secret compartment on the side.  They manage to tear it successfully from the wall and carefully roll it up for travel.  They also grab from the kiosk a thick book of yellow pages dense with text, 5000ep and 4000gp in sacks that the wights must have collected from their victims.  They party retreat before the protection spells wane.  They travel a few hours back home before camping and returning to Bartertown on the 18th and resting and checking out the book on the 19th.  Along the way they cross a scout party of 3 ogres heading west.  The cav, angry at the loss of the lt footmen, charge them in a rage, scoring 2 critical hits and several other wounds, skewering them and taking their heads as bounty to Auntie.

Session Notes-  Starting a new chapter, I wanted to kick off this chapter with the opportunity to develop some kind of accelerated travel for the party.  They are getting quite familiar with the Nappendixian badlands and we have been very true to the travel rules. I wanted to have the option for them to move about with less random encounter rolls but still have some constraints and follow the lore we have been developing.  I think I have it figured out, player speculation and feedback definitely drives my process.  We will see how the players figure out how to work the travel option, and what they do with it.  It will lend itself to more options and still run our shorter sessions.  I still feel we pack a lot of gaming in our 2 hour sessions.  This session also pointed out that the many magic items the party has acquired over sessions has been unrealized or unclaimed and they definitely had an eye opener on fighting monsters that only can be harmed by solver or magic.  That’s on the players however, there have definitely been a lot of items and weapons given out, there are solutions and they have the resources.  

Treasure and XP-  Monsters- 2 Spitting Snakes 960, 2 Wights turned 331, 3 Ogres 495xp   Treasure- 2500ep, 4000gp, 24gp= 8310xp/ 3PCs= 2770xp each, Kenny gets 1940, his henchmen get 415 each.  Add % bonus if appropriate.

Graveyard-  1 Lt Foot and 1 Camp Follower to spitting snakes and 1 Lt Foot to wraiths in the dungeon south of Bartertown.  (session 69)

The Complete 6mm Sci Fi Collection

 Minis from Irregular Miniatures