Pages

The World of Georic 1989-Present

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

(Hackmaster) Burning Trogs Rule! #23 Slaughterhouse Indigo

Our Roster, en route to Barthey for some "interesting" jobs

Zorin Redrock - Gnome Titan Fighter.  Veteran of the Barbarian Wars, and hero of Marakeikos due to the retaking of Frandor's Keep.
Janus Redrock - Gnome Titan Priest of Pangrus.  Cousin of  Zorin Gnome Titan of loose morals and  a hero of Marakeikos.
Gwendalyn Lorax  - Half Elf Druid.
Turvel Sit - Half-Elf Mage
Godfrey the Great - Human Charlatan
"Whitey"  - Albino Halfling Priest of Yondalla.   Zorin's sidekick.
Coreena - 9 year old halfling torchbeare.
Ramsa - Mute Halfling Fighter - Gwen's Protege.

15th HepDec 1135, Mirros
Looking for adventure the Trogs decide to take a long land route to Barthey to get a job scouting and fighting Yarbay raiders.  They leave three days later.

28th of HepDec, 1135, Grubal, Barthey Empire
The Trogs have little troubling finding a long route from Mirros to Celsior to Verge to the Jerred and along the Danaan border that would ultimately loop to the far western border of the Barthey Empire.

After a leisurely travel from Verge, the Trogs decided to be on the look out for a quick caravan job, and they encountered Leonald.  Leonald was a gnome merchant looking at making a delivery to the south entrance of the Dwarven City of Jerred.

31st of HepDec, 1135, On the Road in Barthey
They had previously seen roadmarkers for House Indigo, and this excited Leonald.  "They'll give us fabulous hospitality"   The four wagon caravan gets ambushed by orcs.  Leonald badly wounded, one wagon set aflame, and a rockslide damaging the rear wagon.  Orcs are all dispatched  even a few watching at a distance, and it looks best to head to House Indigo. 

The eight foot high walls unguarded walls hid an vacant looking, but very sturdy main house of the estate, outside of the burned ruins of a church, little seemed problematic on the grounds.  The front door was unlocked, so they decided to seek shelter in the entrance to the great hall. 

32nd of HepDec, 1135, House Indigo, Barthey
When the Trogs awoke, they found Leonald dead, despite the first aid and magical healing he had received the night before.  They wrapped in up in a blanket and laid him inside the main doors before searching the building.   

It appeared that the gnomes of House Indigo had not been here in quite some time, yet there was little dust, and the structure of the building was far stronger than Dwarven/Elven construction combined.  The windows presented their second worry, after Leonald's demise.  They were barely opaque and made of a near stone-like substance.

33rd of HepDec, 1135, House Indigo, Barthey
Despite their best intentions, they could not escape the house.  Something was controlling it and making things extremely durable, if not unbreakable.  Undead and grudge beasts created by wizards littered the corridors.  Even thesimple act touching flesh to the floor (taking off boots) stuck the Trogs with feelings of ennui.  Most decided to sleep on their gear that night.

34th of HepDec, 1135, House Indigo, Barthey
That morning, they found Godfrey dead on the floor, having rolled off his gear and sleeping face first against the floor.  He appeared to be drained of life.

Time passes....


10th of SepDec, 1135, the ruins of House Indigo, Barthey
It took many weeks, rations ran out, and things looked grim,but The Burning Trogs discovered that the power of their once uber clingy, naive druid Gwen, was unmatched.

Upon the death of Godfrey, the Trogs observed that his face had been absorbed into the floor.   A another day or four  of searching confirmed things, the manor house itself was alive in some way and feed off of other life forms.  Windows were sealed shut and rock hard and the doors themselves could move to different locations.  They barricaded themselves in one or two "safe" rooms.  With enough time, with enough treasure obtained throughout the manor, Gwen managed to discover the 'curse' of the house and a long, drawn out solution to kill it.  With the clerics full of healing  and warding spells, the druid managed to reverse poison the Undead Living Tree that created the foundation of the building.  With the creature crippled, Zorin saw fit to burn the whole thing to the ground.  The Trogs stayed on the property for awhile, the clerics consecrating the land and Gwen restoring the health of the area.

Have a party full of Gnomes/Gnome Titans?   K1 Slaughterhouse Indigo might be a great option for you.   For the Burning Trogs, they showed an uncanny ability to get around most of the scenario.  Having a druid two levels higher than the module's 4 to 6 created a few outs.  Having a small army of clerics against the undead helps as well.

This was one of the "lost" adventures that somehow didn't make it into the journal.  With the composition of the group and the climax of the campaign nearing, this was the only logical space it could occur.  To be honest, the next episode in the journal starts "already in progress."

Next:  #24 Against the Desert Nomads

No comments:

Post a Comment