The Floundering Queen

 

This inn is so named after an event in the past that occurred during the visit by the Queen. After slipping into the sulfur mud pool to the north of town, the Queen managed to pull in her aides until they were able to drag her wet, muddy, and smelly butt out. A local artist's rendition of the event reside above the mantle in quite elaborate mosaic.

The tavern was hand built by the current owner and operator, Thornton Eckelstone. As Thornton is not an exceptionally skilled carpenter, he made a few notable mistakes when laying out and constructing his tavern. Most notable among these is the height of the ceiling. Due to his own short stature, he did not notice the fact that his ceiling was shorter than the norm. Many visitors will bang their heads on the aged, dark wood of the ceiling.

Regardless of how many people are here it feels crowded and has a claustrophobic feel. Favorite place of the sailors who visit the village. 1 in 6 chance every turn a fight will break out. At any one time there are d6+2 sailors here, 4 in 6 they are already drunk (and rowdy like sailors get).

Woodrowe's Elixirs

Woodrowe's Elixirs is a shop the boys have been to in Shiteton. He's a bit eccentric and if I had to pigeonhole how he looks, sounds and acts, it would be Sean Connery. Just imagine a older Sean in a fancy medieval robe, fidgeting over a table filled with tiny bottles.

Potions, elixirs, salves, etc. If it can be made into some sort of ointment, powder, or drink, Woodrowe probably knows how to do it. He occasionally has magic items that he will let go to people that he likes. Will often pay ridiculous finder fees for mushrooms of unusual species. He also seems to have an affinity for elves, attempting to continue conversations with them beyond what would be normally expected, some times to the point of awkwardness. My guess is he hasn't seen that many in his life...

Barrowmound 5

The Darrowdeep Kickstarter just began and it inspired me to do up a quick barrow map. Nothing super special, just giving of while I listen to Erik & Bad Mike interview Greg to discuss his new KS. Gotta say, I like Greg and his adventures.  ;-)

The Marshall Barony

For those following along at home (and to help my players visualize) I made a map of the local area. I added all the locations we have explored thus far to the map. As we explore more of the wilderness I will be adding to it. Below is the black and white version for printing at home.

Adventures in Marshall Barony, ep 19

 

THE CAST O' CHARACTERS:

CURRENT ROSTER
Vance - Yozzat, a dwarf
Joe - Olwen Door-Hinge-Bane, a human ranger
Tim - Raymondo M., human thief
Seana - Marigold, best class ever....HALFLING
Steve - Dosta Grimm, a fucking elf
Shane - Ralgar the average beetcake  ;)

Ep 19.  Bandit battle - 4 Mar
The party continues the desperate battle to regain their stolen treasure...and things immediately go downhill. Yozzat is nailed by the troll, nearly killing him. Dosta pulls out one of his magic cards and attempt to sway/distract the troll but the troll resists the trolly womanly ways (we all have a good joke about Dosta not knowing what a 'sexy trollbabe looks like'. Olwen gets blasted by the troll, rendering him to zero hit points and launching him into the bushes. 

As this was going on Ralgar joins the fray and attempts to hit the troll from the rear, but misses. The party suddenly realizes they have hirelings (this is a constant problem with us) and they rush headlong into the battle. Bluto, Joe's favorite hireling, charges in, tosses his spear, misses, then attempts to grapple, misses and ends up behind the troll next to Ralgar. Raymondo sets himself up on a boulder just out of reach and starts taking shots at the troll, landing a few solid hits.

Bluto grabs his spear and joins the attack. Dosta pulls out a flask of oil and dowses the troll from behind, but no one has a torch ready. Raymondo begins lighting a torch while Yozzat tosses another oil on the troll. Moments later, the troll is engulfed in flames.

Catching their breath, the party realizes that one of the bandits and that darn mage have slipped away! Luckily though, the party recovers all their gold and treasure, plus some additional items (see the previous post about a map) and additional gold. The party has come ahead in this, though they lost one of the longest running party members, Owlen. 

DM's Thoughts: 
For a hastily thrown together encounter, I think this went ok. There were some issues (yeah the troll was a mean DM moment) and a certain mage cast one more spell than they are actually allotted, but overall, it went well and in the end the party came out pretty good.

I have done a little 'soul-searching' as a DM. While I have achieved the goal I set out way back, "Run a campaign with quick little trips" I have become a little jaded with it. The original goal was to simply get us playing again and now that has happened and party members are starting to level up. I feel a yearning for a more involved storyline, a real 'goal' for the party besides murderhoboing all the time. I counted it out and we have entered four dungeons and left, never to return.

With Shiteton I have given the party a few NPCs that have story plots that could be developed but so far, the party has seemed to be content with slash and grab tactics on local dungeons. The village is situated along the 'frontier' in a land rich with ruins, dungeons, and places to clear but for whatever reason we lack the stick-to-itism to finish a place. I feel this getting a bit stale and I have a grand adventure in the works with a goal in mind for the party if they take the bait. I have some work ahead of me to finish up this dungeon but it is already planned out in outline form, so this should not be too hard to complete.

For now, the party is planning to return to the well (ep 16 & 17) and complete this dungeon. After that, who knows.

A map discovered! (overland style)

Last week the players stumbled upon a map in the bandit's treasure (a horde really...and they claim I'm a mean DM!) 

During Zinequest 3 this year one of the projects featured an overland map that reminded me of the maps I had often used during my tenure in the Army and I was curious if I could pull one off. Here is the result.

I dressed up the map with some filters for the players so it looked like folder piece of parchment they discovered, so here is the "clean" version.