Don't Read These Play Reports

Intro

Note that these are pretty short sessions mostly. The last session was just under 2 hours and the other sessions were 3 hours. The in person game tends to run longer, the IRL pickup games even run longer, but I don't want to write the results of that campaign out since others might be playing through the same content.

This takes place after a break from a previous campaign. The characters are all upper mid level and have survived the imprisonment of the Dream Cult, the stronghold of the brain entity (a very modified T1), the horrors of the Howling Exile, Melan's Smuggers Run (the gravewight is still out there!), fought through the Crystal Caves to the Undercrypts of the Imprisoned Vampires, rid themselves of the Thrice Cursed Sword from the Red Mound (also Melans), through to the proud stag-warriors of the Northern Needle, travelling through to multiple outer planes (a near endless staircase inside a ziggurat in a blasted hades, a icy wastes of the frost wurm, etc), the underdungeon of the elven shrine, and finally putting the Dream Cult to rest. 

The resumption of the campaign would bring them across continents. From the campaign world we've been using for decades, across the sea to north of the Spire Kingdom. Choosing not to travel the wastelands and then the oceans, the group opted for a remote elven shrine in the mountains where it was rumored that a teleporter was once in use to connect the continents. It was a rough idea I had two years ago and I had to get a bridging adventure set up since I knew that's where they'd head. 

I wrote the Elven Shrine that surrounds the top of a waterfall in a few nights and figured it would be a good back-in-the-saddle adventure to get our group back into the groove and transition us to the content of Lich Valley properly (which they didn't actually touch until the third session, so I was about right on target).

Part 1

On a rainy journey, the group traveled through the mountain pass north of their keep. Before a small valley, they encountered Lasher, the sometimes-helpful giant Mimic who exchanges information for meat. They learned about Ogres and Trolls in the small valley.

They came across a camp of ogres outside of a cave roasting and cannibalizing one of their own. The party quickly thins out the ogres as a pair of trolls bound out of the cave and get roasted by a wall of fire and a rain of arrows. The caves and corpses were looted and the party was on their way.

The party made their way through the rest of the valley to the wedge between two mountains that lead up to a roaring waterfall topped with a pair of statues of the Elf Sovereigns. A staircase fashioned out of the stone leads a long way toward the waterfall, where a small worn cave allows for some convenient resting before entering the Elf Kings Tomb in search of the way to Lich Valley.

Entering the complex, the group surmises three possible paths. One through the calcified dead, one past the marble cloaked statues with faces of swirling black smoke, and across the cavernous lake to a glowing winged statue. Daisy, flying above the lake, sees the heat form of something massive swimming counter-clockwise under the surface. 

The group decimated the calcified dead and entered the hall where they came across the chained door and a door bas-reliefed with an ornate elfin crown. They vanquished a pair of priestly wights before any level drains can occur then proceeded through the room to the north.

Advancing through the room, the statues moved to intercept the intruders. Combat is joined and the Undead Elf King awoke from the sarcophagus, paralyzing Jaque and Daisy in fear. Bastian and Kira fought in the room as the Elf King attempted to blast them with magic. Doran hurled some high tier magic missiles at it while Bastian rushed to melee it in. Finally, Daisy and Jaque freed themselves in fear after the King went down and finished the remaining statue.

Treasure total:

• Gems total value: 3560 gp.
• 900 gp
• elfin chain
• 8000 gp, Potion, Scroll, Potion, Magical Plate Armor , Magical Splint Mail, Wand

Monsters defeated:

• 5 Ogres
• 2 Trolls
• 9 Calcified Dead
• 2 Wights
• 2 Greater Stone Guardians
• 1 Elf King

Part 2

The party left the crypts to hear, through the sounds of rushing water to the west, an echoing screeching. A cacophony of hoots answered it. The chained door still sat to the south.

They investigated a locked and stuck door. Once they made enough noise trying to knock it open, after a failed lockpicking, the hooting started up again from the north west.

A voice from behind the chained door spoke. "It sounds like you need my help." The party considered it as they talked through the door at the thing.

They finally set their eyes on the door to the north and got through the lockpick with Bastians luck. Inside, two high back chairs sit on opposite sides of a round table, ashes and bone sit in a pile on each. Empty torch sconces along the east and west walls show an origin point to a massive flame.

The party found a fork.

The hooting got louder and the thing behind the door talked the party into freeing them, prompted by the appearance of a single orange-black demon orangutans, the Bar-lgura. Dorian stone shaped the door to free the thing.

One Bar-lgura charged and realizing Kiras protection from evil, deviated towards Bastion. Jaques and Bastian faced off against it as more appeared out of thin air. One telekinesis'd Kira, sliding her up and down the wall against her will.

The stoneshape spell of Dorians completed and out stepped a huge cloaked form, cords of muscle on his night-black skin. A stained blindfold covered his eyes but he steps forward with clawed feet confidently.

On the next round he lifted his blindfold and death-gazed a bar-lgura. The parties strength quickly overwhelmed the weaker demons readily and the proceeded to the next room to the north after the Bodak left on his own, advising of the direction to the portal they were after, and giving them a final warning:

"Whatever it is you're doing here, you might make haste. I can smell their sickening fur."

In room to the north, Wooden elven mannequins are posed as people having some sort of dinner party. Some are are frozen in mid-gesture as if caught mid-conversation. They saw dust patterns that led them to see that there was a secret door to the north where a crazed wizard dwelled.

They ended up knocking out the wizard, taking his wand and spellbook, and came back for him later as they further investigated. They also found he had a magical table that produced fresh food daily, but excremented gleefully in the halls of the elven tomb only for something to come along and take it.

They found a room of pine coffins, corpses smashed inside. They found a letter on a corpse that detailed the crazed wizards mistake on summoning the Bodak and has been in hiding ever since and how knight that accompanied him fell, but knew he was doomed.

They also found the room of pillars and quickly surmised the puzzle of spelling O P E N to find the way towards the main chamber foyer. This chamber was littered with dried wine casks where rats have nest in the corner, seemingly tunneled in from a break in the north.

In between, they discovered some rats hoarding a severed hand with a magic ring. Bastion used his animal speech to convince them to give it to him. And they warned them of the vengeful elf spirits in the main chamber beyond.

They retrieved the wizard and the fighter was able to pretend he was the fallen companion of his from long ago. It was not difficult, given the wizards crazed state. He agreed to accompany them, lamenting how long it's been since he's seen the sun.

They proceeded into the main chamber and the phantasmal elven dead rushed to attack, attempting to age them with their vile touch. They had a cloaked one among them, who positioned itself to cast spells.

But the party had spells of their own. Melee was met by some, as other phantasmal elves started melding through the walls of the carefully chosen chokepoint. Melee flurried as the halfling, Daisy, rained arrows from above. A fireball finished off the bulk of the vengeful dead, but the cowled figure had a perfectly lined up lightning bolt that singed the party badly. 

Some charges occurred in the next round and the caster lost it's spell and fell to the flurry of blows. Seeing that they could go back south to the water where a great beast dwelled, or north, they also noticed that a door to the east had an oily black pooling seeping out. Recognizing this as a black pudding, the party wasted no time to the north, through double-doors flanked by marble elven statues with the heads replaced by crude granite arachnid heads.

Heading through the north hall, they found two eastern branches. One roughly eroded that had the sound of rushing water, no doubt leading back to the central waterfall. The other leading to a room with an apparent barrier of white light, filled with motes of thick dust. A table and rectangular object floating within. Straight ahead was a blue translucent barrier, which behind held a horribly monstrous arachnid form with cleaver-like fore-legs. It seems that no magic could go through the barrier and the creature could not cross it, himself. The portal the party sought was right behind the monster, a wall of force in between them.

Treasure

• Wand of Wonder 16 charges
• Spellbook of Thrubora, The Magnificent
• 13 sapphire 100 gp ea
• 6 ceremonial dagger 150 ea
• Magical ring

Monsters defeated:

• 5 Barlgura
• 1 Very depressed Wizard
• 6 Phantasmal Vengeful Elves
• 1 Phantasmal Wizard

Part 3

Very short session...

The group was resource dried and in need of a round of healing. They decided to take their chances camping out in the secret living quarters. Able to avoid random occurrences through the night, the party directly confronted the Retriever, the massive spider-like beast that guarded the portal. While Jaques took a heavy heat ray directly, the action economy of 5 adventurers versus one thing did not let him get a second round.

The party stepped through the portal, blinded by the light, and finding themselves a few hours short of twilight on the mountain side overlooking a massive tortoise with buildings set on top of it in the distance.

Making their way through the forested trails down the mountain, the party encountered a clearing where moss-covered stones carpeted the ground. At the center sat a stone fire ring. Encircling the fire ring were three majestic elven statues, carved from shimmering marble. Each statue held a space where something once resided in their clasped hands. 

Eventually, Kira fashioned make-shift torches that were placed into the hands of the statues. This caused a flame to spring forth from the stone ring accompanied by the smell of pines and lilacs. It lasted for 10 hours, keeping some shadow mastiffs at bay later that night. Though a few did get fireballed to chase them off.

Finally, they arrived at Glenhaven. A lower town under the massive tortoise with a portal that transported to the upper town. Along the way, town crier walked down the street ringing a bell. He announced that the Glenhaven has placed a bounty of 3000 gold pieces for the capture of a thief named Derthag Alk. Derthag has stolen the symbolic scythe from The Jagged Scythe.

In the upper city, Bastion learned about the dwarven saying 'skin of the snake' as a way to remember how the snake-men and troglodytes took their homeland long ago in the north edge of the valley.

Kira, working with Priestess Isabelle of the Light learned of  farmers to the north, south of the Heribyr river bend, have banded together, giving offerings to the spirit of the tall grass to protect the healthy livestock and crops.

Hooks are in bold.

Treasure

• Magic Quiver
• Magic Short Sword
• Magic Dice

Monsters defeated:

• 5 Shadow Mastiffs... kinda
• 1 Retriever

Spire Development Log 2 - The Campaign Seed

As mentioned in the first log, I had started by generating extra content out of what was being written for Carcass of Hope. I had a home campaign world that I had been using with a ill-defined continent over the west sea. I decided at one point that this would start fleshing out that western continent.

With the content in Carcass, here are some of the rough maps I was operating with that I ended up using in playtesting with a hexes added:

A very rough start, but you can see what area I was honed in on at first.

As I started fleshing out other content that would fit in the world, the draft of the central area would take place.

Still ugly, scale unsure. I needed a better solution to generate hexes, which was when I switched to Worldographer.

Deviating from the Carcass of Hope derived content, I would start putting together ideas for the region when my eyes could no longer look at drafts. I ended up making an entirely new ziggurat, related to it was a church with a depraved basement that had hallucinogenic moss that eventually turned people feral as well as the sealed off two levels of dungeon below. Together, that was done as one connected adventure. At the same time, I had the Tower of Exiles done, a place where the ancient clergy of the sun-god would use the mirrored tower to concentrated sunlight to bake sinners. 

The Tower of Exiles

I had done some smaller hex entries to build around the few cornerstone dungeons as well as out of the way. Things that adventurers would at least be interested in. Some of those were tiny adventure sites. A small beach cave, barrowmounds, a destroyed outpost, graves with magical runes that beckon you to read them outloud, a ghostly bride that you can reunite with her husband, a cult of farm-folk attempting to commune with a dead god (which they just might), etc. With more ideas, came enough room to let them breath. 

I had already fleshed out the towns of Mirfield and Felnarr. I had a solid grasp on what I wanted Salt Keep to be, which led to Glimton, the Gnomish Junk town build out of shipwrecks and shipping containers. I knew Spire as the capital to have in terms of the three spires (one each to royalty, the magi, abd the sun-god). The rest, I would have to circle back to.

Then finally, the Megadungeon. That concept took shape fast, then took on different shapes after each time I did a new floor. The first floor being the actual prison floor of the Orc armies of Castle Harland, the Duergar and Derro working the mines to the south, the zealot cultists to the north east, and some other fun things to various directions. It went down to the sacred foundry, a place where the firebrand dwarves lost their homes, but kept the forges burning. A place of fire surrounded completely by death. Which meant a lot of crypts and sub-levels of crypts.

This map was on track for about a week before it started being something very different.

The third level took more of a mixed theme that I felt provided a good transition. Very distinct areas, but a channel running through all of what was once a settlement to the elves and their strange teleportation magic (to above levels, below levels, our outside). Originally, it was meant to be a menagerie but, as with a lot of floors, they kept changing. Which is what I think Megadungeons should do.

At this point, I had a baseline. I could run a campaign for the most part. But I wanted to expand adventure site ideas away from the cornerstone factions and undead in holes. You need some of those, but I wanted to make things a bit more interesting. I started with an adventure I called The Tide, a seaside mini-hex that has three adventure sites. The centerpiece of the hex being a subservient race of Molemen under the control and occupation of evil Goatmen. The molemen crave that, though. They want to be oppressed and controlled. If they are oppressed, then they don't have to defend themselves which is something they aren't great at.

The moose antler wearing oppressors.

The first, a oceanic cliffside mausoleum that went down into a dungeon where the tides would fill the floors during high tide. The lower levels are partially submerged in spots, but there is plenty down there to navigate the water, or escape a flood if the players are engaged well enough. The second resides under the city of molemen, which has been sealed off for centuries. And the third is off on a lighthouse island off the coast, an old fishing town, long since lost.

There was a dungeon underneath a ruined tower, where drunken skeletons drink their gaseous booze, that has a cult-like mongrel-men served Asmodeus in tending to the disgusting subterraining pool of oil these tiny exploding devil's spawned from. 

I wrote a green dragons forest lair, not meant to simply walk into. The area around it toxic and riddled with plant-creatures that serve at the great Thirth. The three hags had their own miniature adventures, the Witch of Libby, The Swamp Witch, and The Mother. Towns got purpose, locations became important to those purposes, and mechanics for moving the world on their own started to take form for the games.

I wrote the island chains of the north west, populated sea-beasts and ghost ships. And had fun with some of the islands, some of which had a small resemblance to the Isle of Dread. One very south island, dominated by a volcano, still had prehistoric life on it.

I even wrote a number of outer plane locations, blasted fields and angelic weirdness. I really let myself have fun with it.

Spooky gally

The desert stretched on to the south, where armies of Hobgoblins came from and buried Pyramids could still be uncovered. That is, if the desert doesn't literally swallow adventurers first.

Then the campaigns started. Notes and maps, I ran two groups through some of the content which took very different directions. 

But that's not what I want to finish first, even though Spire 1 is fully operable in it's print form along with Lich Valley. I can make them better, so I will. And these copies have already become very outdated. But I'll have to stop sometime.

The first three books will be more adventure hexes that can be dropped in any campaign. As much work, testing, and love that has gone into Spire as a campaign setting, almost nobody uses these wholly. And if people want settings, there's already some amazing ones out there. So Lich Valley, The Tide, and Sylfthalore will be the first books I finish up. Each will be an expanded hex (or in the case of Lich Valley, a set of hexes) that are in the Spire campaign, but can be independently moved to peoples home campaign without much fuss.

The main spire maps are arranged thusly, each map being 26x16 hexes at 6 miles each:

After I am done with those three books, I am still on the fence about how I want to release them, which depends on where I land on a number of things. I could release Spire 1 and Spire 2 separately, then Spire 3 (with the centerpiece Welcome to Stratford), then Spire 4 with the Megadungeon eventually. Or I might just combine Spire 1 and Spire 2. 

With that out of the way, the next Spire Development Log will be about art. How I went from not drawing for over 25 years, to creating work that I hope will bring Spire alive.