DCC #14: Part 1 “The Eye of the Night” – “C&C Style”

[JediOre]

This is an ongoing adventure. If you're interested (or really bored) about their previous adventure, here is the link:

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... php?t=2568

The group of PCs:

Nightwing is playing Greyson. He is a 4th level human ranger.
JediWife is playing Alura. She is a 3rd level fighter (archer).
Ragnar1965 is playing Madriel. She is a 3rd level witch (cleric/magic-user) class we pulled from one of the Crusader Magazines.

This thread will have SPOILERS! Please don’t read further if you have any hope of playing through this wonderful DCC.

Ragnar1965 wanted to know what module was next so I showed him the cover. They all knew this is a series of linked adventures. I will be interested to see if the players take notes or keep in mind other parts of this adventure can pop up unbeknownst to them.

The characters walk past the lonely and crude stone “throne” that Logbrag the ogre erected and the remnants of the broken cart and the rotting corpse of a horse; the sole witness to the world of a foiled scheme by the Outer Gods. They continue to travel along the road heading north to return to the druidic commune of Fairweather. After all, their horses were there.

Sadly something horrible has happened to Fairweather. Destruction is everywhere. A band of raiders had attacked this small group of farmers and the dead bodies of the farmers were everywhere. The stench was horrible. The PCs move about looking for anyone they recognize. They find the rats are everywhere, eating on the bodies and on anything and everything. The partially eaten corpse of Gurt the hobgoblin was seen. Nightwing almost held a mock moment of silence.

Near a large tree they found the body of Sheryn-ella, the young druid the party first met in Dundraville (DCC #0). In the tree was her great horned owl. It had a wounded wing. Nightwing had his ranger climb the tree and spent quite a while coxing the owl over and befriended it. Nightwing made sure I knew his ranger had the heavy leather gloves on when he worked with the owl. The ranger brings the owl down from the tree and Ragnar1965’s spellcaster cast a cure light wounds spell which fixed the wing.

The owl took flight and landed back in the tree over its dead mistress. It would look at the body and then at the party. A burial occurred beneath the tree. Ragnar1965 was a bit sad this young lady had died.

Meanwhile the elf has been examining the various bodies and has come to the conclusion none of the farmers died from these nasty rats and she has no idea how so many have appeared. Remember, the party had spent a night in this commune earlier. It was both clean and neat. These rats are out of place. These folks were killed by sword. She spies one of the raider’s bodies near the collapsing barn that had stabled the party’s horses.

The raiders were men and both wore red and black leather armor. Why did these raiders attack Fairweather? This was not a rich cluster of farms. Where is Thistle, the plant-man leader of this commune?

The party heads into the barn looking for their horses knowing full well they wouldn’t be there. Sure enough the barn has no animals. On the southern side near the collapse are more bodies, several farmers and a couple more raiders in their distinctive armor. The ranger edges up to a sizable hole in the floor looking down it. Where on earth does this go and what does it have to do with the raider????

The party is about to find out since the floorboards give way beneath the curious ranger and he tumbles into the hole and darkness.

Thus begins a new adventure!

[Nightwing]

The party is about to find out since the floorboards give way beneath the curious ranger and he tumbles into the hole and darkness.

I might still be a new player but if you need me to fall from a rope, ledge, hole or a stairs I seem to be the go to guy.

[ragnar1965]

Which is, of course, why we have Nightwing in the lead!

[JediOre]

The ranger lands in a heap atop the carcass of a man whose red and black leather armor has been torn up. It’s dark and the sound and sight of numerous rats force him to pull Whisker. Once Nightwing caught the irony of a cat-inspired magical blade killing rodents, his bastard sword never saw any combat in this little adventure.

The rats, all normal in appearance, began attacking the ranger. I told Nightwing and the party his ranger had never heard of such aggressive actions by rats against a full grown man unless rabies where involved. Nightwing asked if his ranger could tell at a glance if the rats had rabies so I had him roll an ability check. I’ve seen rabid animals and they simply don’t “act right.” His ranger concluded these rats didn’t seem to have rabies, but something was making them far too aggressive.

While this was going on, Jediwife had her elf scoot down the hole as fast as she could and still land on her feet. Ragnar1965 has his witch follow suite.

They quickly dispatch this rats and the remainder seems to have lost their battle lust, fleeing into numerous rat holes. The PCs search the dead raider and find the cold-iron expert scimitar. I told them this scimitar was of outstanding work and from the fashion of the blade and hilt, was not native to this part of the world. How a lowly raider came upon it would be an interesting tale to be sure. I think, correct me if I’m wrong, that Nightwing wanted his ranger to have this as a souvenir.

This time Ragnar1965 asks Nightwing to pick the direction the party should travel, and he chose the southern passage. He picks the southern way since his ranger has discovered the trail of something dragging a prone body leads south. They came to a fork in the tunnel and Nightwing opted for the right hand passage, onward they traveled. This place was dark, dank, and reeked of rat droppings. Nightwing’s PC used Whisker to light the way. The witch followed closing behind which wasn’t normal as the party normally has her at the rear. Bringing up the rear was Jediwife’s elf with a silver arrow notched in her bow. She had a bad feeling about what was behind this rat warren.

[JediOre]

They entered the “Maze of Mud.” For those who know this adventure, turning to the right would make this a long and arduous encounter for the PCs. His ranger continued to track something being drug through the mud. So they turned left.

As they slowly traipsed along through this muddy clay trying to keep their feet, four horrible beasts burst through one of the mud walls and launched a viscous attack. I errored when I described these large, red-eyed rats. I compared their size to collies. Bad visuals. Boy did I hear about how unscary rats are, regardless of how big they are and how red their eyes glowed, whenever the sweet collie dog is brought into the mix. Regardless, melee started and the ranger lost his footing. It was a hoot. Here he is trying to get up, he’s covered in wet clay and he continues to roll poorly, so keeps falling back down. These demonic rats are all over the party. The elf begins shooting silver arrows at point blank range, causing the rats to focus on her until the spellcaster begins using her wand of magic missiles which is doing just as much damage with two missiles a turn. The rats go crazy and zig-zag back and forth attacking both women. I can’t remember if Nighwing ever got his ranger off the ground or gave up and begin stabbing with Whisker at a minus to give the ladies some relief. With the rats dead and all of them incubating filth fever (not knowing for sure) the party “dusts themselves off” so to speak. The witch cures wounds and they proceed ahead.

[Harley Stroh]

Once Nightwing caught the irony of a cat-inspired magical blade killing rodents, his bastard sword never saw any combat in this little adventure.

Gray Mouser would have been proud.

//H

[JediOre]

Gray Mouser would have been proud.

//H

Sadly, I doubt Nightwing even knows who Gray Mouser is.

I'm working on him though. Had him read some of Howard's Conan stories last month.

[Harley Stroh]

We all have to start some place.

Your PCs will probably be too high in level by the time the adventure comes out, but I've written in an parrying dagger --- a companion-blade to Whisker --- into a little adventure that will be out in 2008.

And as for Mouser ...

[Nightwing]

We all have to start some place.

Your PCs will probably be too high in level by the time the adventure comes out, but I've written in an parrying dagger --- a companion-blade to Whisker --- into a little adventure that will be out in 2008.

And as for Mouser ...

I want that parrying dagger........

[JediOre]

We all have to start some place.

Your PCs will probably be too high in level by the time the adventure comes out, but I've written in an parrying dagger --- a companion-blade to Whisker --- into a little adventure that will be out in 2008.

If you can, would you share a bit more information? Will this be something being prepared for 4th edition? Or perhaps something a bit more "old-school"?

***Nightwing & Ragnar1965 look away at this: Harley, I'd love to know. Whisker will remain an important blade for the party. I have plans for it! Check your inbox for what I have in mind.***

[JediOre]

They come to a deep pit. At the bottom of this pit is a pool of murky water. Almost in unison all three declare their PCs stay well away from this pit. They don’t need to read the module to feel something very vile lurks below. It was eerie in a good way. The ranger relocates the tracks they had been following and these tracks lay along a ledge around the pit. This ledge leads further south into darkness. One by one, they carefully travel the ledge. The elf lost her footing but the ranger was able to catch her and they all made it safely beyond the ledge.

Moving along the corridor the party hears movement further down the passage. It’s loud enough to rise above the increasingly loud sound of rats. Whatever lies ahead isn’t for the squeamish.

The party arrives in someone/something’s lair. Three things are of interest, “a simple straw bed lays to the west and a series of crudely constructed chests and crates lines the eastern wall.” The main item of interest is a bubbling “fountain” of rats that is amazing and disturbing to behold. Rats by the score seem to pop out of some sort of hole or pit at the north end of this room. Partially obscured by the rodents are a staff, a tattered green cloak, a coil of rope, and a leather satchel. The elven archer recognizes the cloak as belonging to Thistle.

After a quick discussion the players do something that many advise against, but one that I enjoy for, if nothing else, the cinematic style of it; they split up.

Jediwife has her PC draw her cold iron blade and quickly jog over to this rat problem. Ragnar1965 has his witch carefully approach the chests and crates. Nightwing’s ranger moves along the west wall, moving by the straw keeping his eyes on both the ladies while approaching the elf. He has no weapon drawn, for the spellcaster and the elf have torches light.

This is when Blood Whisker makes his appearance. He surprises the ranger and gets a backstab. I roll well and do good damage. Two of Blood Whisker’s “pets” are sent to attack the obvious magic-user. He isn’t concerned about the fighters for his experience has been he isn’t easily hurt. However, three of the giant rats surrounded the ranger.

[As written, 3.X rules have Blood Whisker at a damage reduction of 10/silver. As everyone who reads this should know I play by Castles & Crusades rules. I’m not happy with the were-creatures lack of immunity to normal weapons as written or the “silver does double damage” idea either. I have dipped back into AD&D for the complete immunity to anything but silver or magical blades. Thus Blood Whisker, while careful, hasn’t had much need for concern in previous encounters. By the way, silver sheen doesn’t exist in my game. I had replaced the vials of it with cure potions.]

Explaining the villain to the players was fun. Nightwing had never met a wererat before. He knew the drill about werewolves but this was an eye-opener. The moment I asked for initiative rolls I’ve also begun asking what the PCs are doing before the roll is done. Jediwife declares she drops her blade and pulls the bow. The silver arrows are back in play. Ragnar1965 toys with the idea of sound burst but realizes one hit from these evil giant rats would ruin the spell. He opts for the wand again. Nightwing, in true form, smiles his smile and says he pulls out his magical blade, Whisker. He had his PC make commits to Blood Whisker through out the combat about his cat blade ending the life of the wererat.

This was a fun and climatic combat. The archer fires silver arrows into the large rats attempting to keep both the ranger and the witch able to focus on the wererat. The witch continues to pump charges from her wand into the rats. The main duel was between Nightwing’s ranger and Blood Whisker. Although Nightwing sometimes gets aggravated about his PC being in the fore and falling in pits, etc. He is also the toe-to-toe warrior for the group and gets the glory in these fights. Both combatants do damage almost each round. Nightwing continued to roll “to hit” very well. My rolls weren’t as good, but I was getting bonuses since the ranger had to contend with giant rats for several rounds until the elf killed them off.

Blood Whisker found himself out classed by the ranger and Whisker. He realized it when Nightwing got a maximum damage hit, running him through. The combat would have gone on for several more rounds but both the elf and the witch hit him with missiles the previous round.

They find Thistle and I explain to the players what was going on. Thistle gave the party the Eye of the Night and also rewarded Ragnar1965’s PC with his magical staff. It seemed to me the plant man would “donate” his staff. Thistle knew something evil was hunting for the gem and needed to insure the PCs had a chance at protecting it. I also told the players Thistle had heard the raiders speak of a giant black pearl that had recently been plundered from a wizard’s tower. Several of the raiders had asked their superior if the Master wanted it as well. As the main group departed upon horse, Thistle remembers the leader stated the pearl would be opaque. He asked the party if any of it made sense. Of course the players realized their gnomish friend may be in terrible danger.

Thistle and the players traveled further north about thirty minutes to come to Taggart’s End. Here the party recouped for a day or two. Thistle got them good deals on horses and insured the party was free from the rat’s infection before they set out for Portown and Jonas the gnome gem merchant, who, last they had seen him, was still giddy about the Black Pearl.

Alura, Jediwife’s elven archer, moved up to fourth level at the end of this mini-adventure, mainly due to her PC acquiring the Eye of the Night. The others didn’t go up a level.

This concludes chapter one of Dungeon Interludes, “The Eye of the Night.” I’ll spring chapter two upon the party when the time is right. Heh-heh-heh.

[JediOre]

A quick note about this "interlude."

As a DM, I have no compaints. It is short and to the point.

The adventure hangs together well and can be very deadly. The fact that my player's characters were third and forth level made the last encounter tough, but not impossible. It would have been a slaughter had they been second and third level in my option. The characters simply wouldn't have had the hit points to survive Blood Whisker's assualt. I hope my gamers would have had the wisdom to fall back, but sometimes the "heat of the moment" can cause the time for retreat to pass by and death awaits. Especially in lower level modules.

The Castles & Crusades rules set made running the adventure simple and fun. This was a fast paced scenario and that's how we played it. Not much bogging down in rules since the rules are not cumbersome.

I am looking forward to the next "interlude" and encourage all DM/CK/GMs who would like to have a pre-made thread weave through a campaign to look at DCC #14. All five interludes appear to me to be fun adventures.

[ragnar1965]

You may be right about Blood Whisker, but don't overlook that fact that we are only 3 pc's either. I'm sure that it was geared for 4-6 as most modules are. I enjoyed the module though. It was short and sweet and to the point. Of course turning the right direction helped.

[ynnen]

Thanks JediOre for the very detailed and very entertaining recap of the adventures... I love reading about what took place and how the players react to encounters I develop -- and I especially love seeing how DMs weave the Interludes into their ongoing campaigns.

The wererat Bloodwhisker is indeed a very formidable opponent - if you stick with 3.5, the DR alone is daunting to overcome. So I've had PCs attack him with torches and alchemist fire. And a few spells will rattle his bones, too.

A strong melee character with a two-handed weapon and power attack could also cause some serious problems (raging barbarian with natural Str 16 now up to 20 with a falchion and power attack 2 suddenly ends up doing 4d4+22 damage -- that'll ruin anyone's day at lower levels).

For many parties though, the silversheen is essential. Even if they don't use it, it gets them suspicious and nervous, and hopefully has them tread a bit more carefully the rest of the way.

One of the best groups that ran the adventure at GenCon ages ago lured Bloodwhisker out by the pool so the dwarf fighter could bull rush him into what lurked in the water. Great fun.

[JediOre]

Thanks JediOre for the very detailed and very entertaining recap of the adventures... I love reading about what took place and how the players react to encounters I develop -- and I especially love seeing how DMs weave the Interludes into their ongoing campaigns.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really like the way the various interludes work together and look forward to part two.

Well, here is the link to the next installment of the group of three...DCC #24: Legend of the Ripper:

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... php?t=3109

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this thread.