Scourge of the Slave Lords IV: The Temple at Zoshai
I placed the slave lords' Highport Temple outside Zoshai, a major port in the southern half of Changshai in the realms eastwards of the Young Kingdoms. It is badly damaged, but still functionally intact, as the volume of traffic going there and back from the slave galleys of Zoshai amply demonstrates.
Campaign Narrative
Sir Blanque, Destiny and Marion decide to investigate the temple complex outside the town, which they know hosts a base and staging post of sorts for the slave trade. This will be a dawn raid, taking place immediately after they leave the slave galley that raided the Aurea estate. They don't want to give the Dharzi captain time to think more on their visit in case he puts two and two together, so they decide to strike at once.
They take a roundabout route, skirting the forests surrounding the cleared ground at the temple proper until they reach the rear of the place - proper scouting is always a good idea. This is how it looks to them from a wooded hill at the point furthest away from the city and the temple's main gate:
It's not all that easy to see, but there is a slight anomaly in the rear wall just underneath the third statue niche from the left as you look at it, so the characters sneak up to that just as the sun starts to rise, and discover a secret door into the complex. They reckon it's an escape route for the garrison, but they also hear something extremely large - several somethings, in fact - moving around the open courtyard area nearest the rear wall. Destiny is intrigued and uses Marion's grapple and line to climb onto the top of the rear wall. This is rather precarious, but Marion previously had Destiny bind an earth elemental into her grappling hook, making its hold very strong indeed, as well as extra safe.
From her location on top of the rear wall, Destiny can see that a wall has been constructed across the courtyard near her end, presumably to keep in whatever those large moving things are; in the dawning light, she also catches a glimpse of a few very realistic looking statues. Even she decides that discretion is the better part of being turned to stone by whatever is lurking in there, so she climbs back down to rejoin her comrades.
They enter via the secret passage, which has materials for a rather nasty spiked log trap; presumably this is intended for to be set by those escaping to slow down pursuit from anyone who has invaded the main part of the building. They leave that as it is, and take the corridor to their left and go through a door into what might have been an abandoned old guard post. It is inhabited by some nasty ghoul things, but Destiny remembers the silence effect she recognised at a road block intended for them, and orders her air elemental to keep the noise down while the group eviscerates the creatures. Several properly dead ones and a few crawling bits later, the adventurers go through another door that leads to a room with a collapsed floor; someone has placed a sturdy plank that leads to an opening on the far side of the room - presumably another part of the escape route.
The players have a quick confab; Sir Blanque remembers a detail from the conversation they had with the Dharzi sea captain about prisoners being taken to cells underneath this temple - perhaps there will be a way to surprise the slavers from their own basement complex? Marion lowers herself into the cellarage beneath the room with the plank, and is able to make out a collapsed section of wall to her right - which would lead straight under the main part of the temple. The group decides this is the best way to go, and Destiny has a couple of earth elementals excavate a way through the rubble and soft earth, again using her air elemental to keep things quiet. This pays dividends, as the group emerges into a three-way intersection. One narrow rough tunnel leads to their left, which would be underneath the walls of the temple complex and off towards the northwest; another leads straight ahead in the direction of the main gatehouse; and a third leads to the southeast, again towards an area outside the walls of the complex. They do hear some scrabbling noises from this direction, though, so this is the way they go.
They move into a warren of rough tunnels, and meet a couple of creatures they have never seen before:
The two weird insect men look at Destiny, and then salute, which is rather disconcerting when one has four hands. They then usher the players further to the southeast, taking them to the presence of what can only be their Queen, an enormous slug-like thing (sort of like the leaders of the bugs in the film version of Starship Troopers). She is surrounded by several bodyguards, and the sounds of workers going about their business can be heard nearby - these are the noises that first attracted the players' attention. One brightly coloured guard, presumably a champion of some sort, steps forward, bows, and chirrups at Destiny in an insectoid version of High Melnibonean. "Greetings!" it says, 'O great one who freed Lord Nnnn'uuu'rrr'ccc! How may we be of assistance?"
It looks like a parley is in order, and the friendly insect men explain that they have lived here for countless years, undisturbed. Until recently, that is; rough men have moved in upstairs, and have extended their domain in the areas to the northwest of the Aspis warren (that is what the insect people call themselves). It is only a matter of time before war breaks out, and the Aspis fear the power of the blackrobes - the players surmise that these are the Chaos cultists. The insect men tell the adventurers that the bad men have a barracks in the old sewers to the west of their warrens, as well as a command point to the north. They also tell the players of a secret way up and into the main temple itself. The players hold a quick discussion amongst themselves, finally deciding to destroy the cult's headquarters before taking the slavers' command from an unexpected direction underground. Divide and conquer, if you like. Destiny also muses about the origins of the Aspis - they look like Dharzi creations that have bred true, something that has been theorised by Melnibonean sorcerers, but never proven. The players declare an alliance with the Aspis, and ask to be shown to the secret passage leading up to the main temple.
This is a properly constructed shaft made of dressed and fitted stone. In a niche just under the trapdoor leading up is a large bag; they will collect that later. They spring up and into the temple, emerging right underneath a large statue of Xiombarg of Chaos wielding some rather sharp-looking giant swords. They immediately give these a wide berth and engage the surprised cultists, who certainly were not expecting an attack from this direction. The room contains three bodyguards in full plate armour wielding halberds and a high priestess, also in plate mail; Marion also senses a sneaky assassin person behind the main altar itself. In one corner of what used to be the main chapel is a huddle of ten slaves, all chained together.
A confused scrap breaks out. The priestess and one of the guards are engaged by Sir Blanque, while Marion goes for the assassin. Destiny orders an earth elemental to break the shackles of the slaves because it looks as though one of the guards is going to butcher them; the final bodyguard is heading towards a rather ominous looking box on a pedestal near the grand entrance to the temple, which is emanating all sorts of Chaos magic. This guy fails in his mission, and is eventually cut down [he kept missing it with his halberd]; the freed slaves rip apart the one guard who was going in their direction. All of the bad guys are mercilessly slaughtered, and the temple successfully desecrated. Fortunately, there is no sound of intervention from beyond the giant doors - one of the slaves tells them there is a long trapped corridor leading to another substantial set of doors; it is unlikely that any noise has penetrated those.
The players take the now free slaves down to the relative safety of the insect men. On the way, they collect the hidden bag and take a look at its contents: coin, gems, and parchment notes. These last are very interesting, referring to a stockade to the southwest 'on the way to Suderham' - whatever that is. There is also a copy of a short message saying the the Aurea woman is being taken there to be further processed - sounds ominous. So it looks as though the slave lords have been busily building up a powerful infrastructure: a stockade, and that Suderham place.
There is, though, another surprise: The Aspis present the players with Bomilcar and Nadjana, two other members of their diplomatic trade mission. The Aspis say they found these "other odd-looking people, just like you" approaching the location of the temple, so they introduced themselves and mentioned the names of their new friends. The Aspis must obviously have some secreted exits to the surface of their own. Bomilcar explains their presence: "Once your scout returned to report your intentions, the council of Elwher sent a series of raiding parties into Changshai. They returned with news of the total lawlessness of the country, so the council decided to strike. The city's own forces are marching straight for the capital of Changshai, and most of the navy has invested the port; internal militia are being mustered to protect Elwher itself in the meantime. We were sent ahead with a marine force, and have captured Zoshai by sea; many slave galleys were burned in the assault. These easterners sure know how to attack when they decide it's a good idea!"
Of course, there is still no sign of the whereabouts of Stalman Klim, but the players are beginning to suspect that the hidden base called Suderham is the lynchpin of his plans; it is also very clear now that he is a major player in the cult of Xiombarg. Leaving their old friends to conduct the freed slaves to safety, the three PCs head off to strike the remaining leadership here from behind in the tunnels; they suggest that Nadjana rides back to Zoshai proper and brings a detachment to attack from the front - they'll take the place in a pincer assault.
The area highlighted in red almost in the centre of the map is where the players emerged from their own tunnel. The Aspis warrens can clearly be seen to the bottom right; the tunnel furthest to the bottom right is where the shaft up to the temple is located. Other sets of stairs highlighted in yellow lead to separate parts of the temple complex above ground. The regular sections are old sewers that have been partially repurposed by the slavers; their main complex is in the northern section. There are cell blocks and a circular room that serves as their headquarters.
The three characters sneak along the secret tunnel that leads directly to the main circular room. Stopping at the concealed exit, which is presumably another escape tunnel, they have a good listen and catch their breath. They hear what sounds like one voice near their door, talking to some odd animals of some kind - they are not quite barking, and there seem to be four or five of them. Pets of some kind? The adventurers throw open the secret door and Destiny unleashes a fireblast from her elementals. This pretty much fries the lead bad guy and four of his giant weasels (!?), the last of which does a runner to try to escape as quickly as it can.
Taking stock quickly, the characters scan the room; they are on a raised dais above a circular platform. A sloping chute runs from a door in the far wall down to this circle - presumably a trap for anyone approaching from the opposite direction. On a raised ledge around the room are located ten archers, five on each side, who were presumably on guard against any intrusion from the expected doorway. Their ledge runs above a wide trench of sewage that looks very deep indeed.
The players order their water elementals to sweep the ledges clean, and a combination of this plus Marion shadow jumping takes care of the guards, who either leap to safety, or are thrown into the sewer itself - one of them never to rise again. That's what happens when you wear partial plate armour...
Two of the other guards are killed, one by Sir Blanque and one by Destiny; the survivors drag themselves out of the muck and collapse exhausted onto the floor. A very effective surgical strike.
Umpire's Comments
The isometric drawing of the temple proved very useful in helping me describe the visuals of the temple and its adjoining buildings; Beth (Marion) spotted the possible secret passage. Sneaking around the rear of the building was the right thing to do, and was also fortuitous because it enabled them to infiltrate the complex as opposed to having to fight their way through it. The players like the occasional scrap, but they get bored if a session is simply a series of combats. This one had elements of everything: sneaking, diplomacy, sorcerously created creatures, and some fighting. Thomas (Sir Blanque) had the notion of checking out the cellar. This is not in the module, but it was such a good idea that I felt it needed to be rewarded. Cate (Destiny) got her turn in the limelight in the negotiations with the insect people. The PCs are individually very powerful indeed, but there are only three of them, so they still feel the need to be very careful. They almost never blunder straight in anywhere, instead preferring to feel their way around a problem and use diplomacy and tact if they can. I also decided that Destiny would like to encounter the Aspis, which are in fact a part of the module - her previous encounter with the Lord of Insects stood her in good stead here.
Campaign Narrative
Sir Blanque, Destiny and Marion decide to investigate the temple complex outside the town, which they know hosts a base and staging post of sorts for the slave trade. This will be a dawn raid, taking place immediately after they leave the slave galley that raided the Aurea estate. They don't want to give the Dharzi captain time to think more on their visit in case he puts two and two together, so they decide to strike at once.
They take a roundabout route, skirting the forests surrounding the cleared ground at the temple proper until they reach the rear of the place - proper scouting is always a good idea. This is how it looks to them from a wooded hill at the point furthest away from the city and the temple's main gate:
Isometric drawing of the (partly) ruined temple. Source: https://blog.obsidianportal.com/obsidian-portal-campaign-of-the-month-november-2017-the-gaelean-chronicles-heroes-4-hire/
It's not all that easy to see, but there is a slight anomaly in the rear wall just underneath the third statue niche from the left as you look at it, so the characters sneak up to that just as the sun starts to rise, and discover a secret door into the complex. They reckon it's an escape route for the garrison, but they also hear something extremely large - several somethings, in fact - moving around the open courtyard area nearest the rear wall. Destiny is intrigued and uses Marion's grapple and line to climb onto the top of the rear wall. This is rather precarious, but Marion previously had Destiny bind an earth elemental into her grappling hook, making its hold very strong indeed, as well as extra safe.
Coloured map of the entire ground floor; the characters are at the bottom left of the picture. Source: http://www.halfblogre.com/2013/06/a1-slave-pits-of-the-undercity/
From her location on top of the rear wall, Destiny can see that a wall has been constructed across the courtyard near her end, presumably to keep in whatever those large moving things are; in the dawning light, she also catches a glimpse of a few very realistic looking statues. Even she decides that discretion is the better part of being turned to stone by whatever is lurking in there, so she climbs back down to rejoin her comrades.
They enter via the secret passage, which has materials for a rather nasty spiked log trap; presumably this is intended for to be set by those escaping to slow down pursuit from anyone who has invaded the main part of the building. They leave that as it is, and take the corridor to their left and go through a door into what might have been an abandoned old guard post. It is inhabited by some nasty ghoul things, but Destiny remembers the silence effect she recognised at a road block intended for them, and orders her air elemental to keep the noise down while the group eviscerates the creatures. Several properly dead ones and a few crawling bits later, the adventurers go through another door that leads to a room with a collapsed floor; someone has placed a sturdy plank that leads to an opening on the far side of the room - presumably another part of the escape route.
The players have a quick confab; Sir Blanque remembers a detail from the conversation they had with the Dharzi sea captain about prisoners being taken to cells underneath this temple - perhaps there will be a way to surprise the slavers from their own basement complex? Marion lowers herself into the cellarage beneath the room with the plank, and is able to make out a collapsed section of wall to her right - which would lead straight under the main part of the temple. The group decides this is the best way to go, and Destiny has a couple of earth elementals excavate a way through the rubble and soft earth, again using her air elemental to keep things quiet. This pays dividends, as the group emerges into a three-way intersection. One narrow rough tunnel leads to their left, which would be underneath the walls of the temple complex and off towards the northwest; another leads straight ahead in the direction of the main gatehouse; and a third leads to the southeast, again towards an area outside the walls of the complex. They do hear some scrabbling noises from this direction, though, so this is the way they go.
They move into a warren of rough tunnels, and meet a couple of creatures they have never seen before:
Otherwold Miniatures Aspis - not painted by me, I hasten to add! I really should buy some of these, you know, just in case...
The two weird insect men look at Destiny, and then salute, which is rather disconcerting when one has four hands. They then usher the players further to the southeast, taking them to the presence of what can only be their Queen, an enormous slug-like thing (sort of like the leaders of the bugs in the film version of Starship Troopers). She is surrounded by several bodyguards, and the sounds of workers going about their business can be heard nearby - these are the noises that first attracted the players' attention. One brightly coloured guard, presumably a champion of some sort, steps forward, bows, and chirrups at Destiny in an insectoid version of High Melnibonean. "Greetings!" it says, 'O great one who freed Lord Nnnn'uuu'rrr'ccc! How may we be of assistance?"
It looks like a parley is in order, and the friendly insect men explain that they have lived here for countless years, undisturbed. Until recently, that is; rough men have moved in upstairs, and have extended their domain in the areas to the northwest of the Aspis warren (that is what the insect people call themselves). It is only a matter of time before war breaks out, and the Aspis fear the power of the blackrobes - the players surmise that these are the Chaos cultists. The insect men tell the adventurers that the bad men have a barracks in the old sewers to the west of their warrens, as well as a command point to the north. They also tell the players of a secret way up and into the main temple itself. The players hold a quick discussion amongst themselves, finally deciding to destroy the cult's headquarters before taking the slavers' command from an unexpected direction underground. Divide and conquer, if you like. Destiny also muses about the origins of the Aspis - they look like Dharzi creations that have bred true, something that has been theorised by Melnibonean sorcerers, but never proven. The players declare an alliance with the Aspis, and ask to be shown to the secret passage leading up to the main temple.
This is a properly constructed shaft made of dressed and fitted stone. In a niche just under the trapdoor leading up is a large bag; they will collect that later. They spring up and into the temple, emerging right underneath a large statue of Xiombarg of Chaos wielding some rather sharp-looking giant swords. They immediately give these a wide berth and engage the surprised cultists, who certainly were not expecting an attack from this direction. The room contains three bodyguards in full plate armour wielding halberds and a high priestess, also in plate mail; Marion also senses a sneaky assassin person behind the main altar itself. In one corner of what used to be the main chapel is a huddle of ten slaves, all chained together.
A confused scrap breaks out. The priestess and one of the guards are engaged by Sir Blanque, while Marion goes for the assassin. Destiny orders an earth elemental to break the shackles of the slaves because it looks as though one of the guards is going to butcher them; the final bodyguard is heading towards a rather ominous looking box on a pedestal near the grand entrance to the temple, which is emanating all sorts of Chaos magic. This guy fails in his mission, and is eventually cut down [he kept missing it with his halberd]; the freed slaves rip apart the one guard who was going in their direction. All of the bad guys are mercilessly slaughtered, and the temple successfully desecrated. Fortunately, there is no sound of intervention from beyond the giant doors - one of the slaves tells them there is a long trapped corridor leading to another substantial set of doors; it is unlikely that any noise has penetrated those.
The players take the now free slaves down to the relative safety of the insect men. On the way, they collect the hidden bag and take a look at its contents: coin, gems, and parchment notes. These last are very interesting, referring to a stockade to the southwest 'on the way to Suderham' - whatever that is. There is also a copy of a short message saying the the Aurea woman is being taken there to be further processed - sounds ominous. So it looks as though the slave lords have been busily building up a powerful infrastructure: a stockade, and that Suderham place.
There is, though, another surprise: The Aspis present the players with Bomilcar and Nadjana, two other members of their diplomatic trade mission. The Aspis say they found these "other odd-looking people, just like you" approaching the location of the temple, so they introduced themselves and mentioned the names of their new friends. The Aspis must obviously have some secreted exits to the surface of their own. Bomilcar explains their presence: "Once your scout returned to report your intentions, the council of Elwher sent a series of raiding parties into Changshai. They returned with news of the total lawlessness of the country, so the council decided to strike. The city's own forces are marching straight for the capital of Changshai, and most of the navy has invested the port; internal militia are being mustered to protect Elwher itself in the meantime. We were sent ahead with a marine force, and have captured Zoshai by sea; many slave galleys were burned in the assault. These easterners sure know how to attack when they decide it's a good idea!"
Of course, there is still no sign of the whereabouts of Stalman Klim, but the players are beginning to suspect that the hidden base called Suderham is the lynchpin of his plans; it is also very clear now that he is a major player in the cult of Xiombarg. Leaving their old friends to conduct the freed slaves to safety, the three PCs head off to strike the remaining leadership here from behind in the tunnels; they suggest that Nadjana rides back to Zoshai proper and brings a detachment to attack from the front - they'll take the place in a pincer assault.
Map of the tunnels and sewers beneath the temple complex, and even extending beyond that.
The area highlighted in red almost in the centre of the map is where the players emerged from their own tunnel. The Aspis warrens can clearly be seen to the bottom right; the tunnel furthest to the bottom right is where the shaft up to the temple is located. Other sets of stairs highlighted in yellow lead to separate parts of the temple complex above ground. The regular sections are old sewers that have been partially repurposed by the slavers; their main complex is in the northern section. There are cell blocks and a circular room that serves as their headquarters.
The three characters sneak along the secret tunnel that leads directly to the main circular room. Stopping at the concealed exit, which is presumably another escape tunnel, they have a good listen and catch their breath. They hear what sounds like one voice near their door, talking to some odd animals of some kind - they are not quite barking, and there seem to be four or five of them. Pets of some kind? The adventurers throw open the secret door and Destiny unleashes a fireblast from her elementals. This pretty much fries the lead bad guy and four of his giant weasels (!?), the last of which does a runner to try to escape as quickly as it can.
Taking stock quickly, the characters scan the room; they are on a raised dais above a circular platform. A sloping chute runs from a door in the far wall down to this circle - presumably a trap for anyone approaching from the opposite direction. On a raised ledge around the room are located ten archers, five on each side, who were presumably on guard against any intrusion from the expected doorway. Their ledge runs above a wide trench of sewage that looks very deep indeed.
The players order their water elementals to sweep the ledges clean, and a combination of this plus Marion shadow jumping takes care of the guards, who either leap to safety, or are thrown into the sewer itself - one of them never to rise again. That's what happens when you wear partial plate armour...
Two of the other guards are killed, one by Sir Blanque and one by Destiny; the survivors drag themselves out of the muck and collapse exhausted onto the floor. A very effective surgical strike.
Umpire's Comments
The isometric drawing of the temple proved very useful in helping me describe the visuals of the temple and its adjoining buildings; Beth (Marion) spotted the possible secret passage. Sneaking around the rear of the building was the right thing to do, and was also fortuitous because it enabled them to infiltrate the complex as opposed to having to fight their way through it. The players like the occasional scrap, but they get bored if a session is simply a series of combats. This one had elements of everything: sneaking, diplomacy, sorcerously created creatures, and some fighting. Thomas (Sir Blanque) had the notion of checking out the cellar. This is not in the module, but it was such a good idea that I felt it needed to be rewarded. Cate (Destiny) got her turn in the limelight in the negotiations with the insect people. The PCs are individually very powerful indeed, but there are only three of them, so they still feel the need to be very careful. They almost never blunder straight in anywhere, instead preferring to feel their way around a problem and use diplomacy and tact if they can. I also decided that Destiny would like to encounter the Aspis, which are in fact a part of the module - her previous encounter with the Lord of Insects stood her in good stead here.
Well that was a fun read, nice to catch up, they seem to be a very sensible bunch!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Hi Iain, thanks for looking in on us. They are indeed worryingly sensible most of the time. The player of the Melnibonean is the only one who might take excessive risks, but the others usually manage to reign her in...
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