Attronarch's Athenaeum

Before the dawn of man ...

... there was a covenant between the land and the sea people – a covenant long forgotten by those who stayed on shore, but indelibly etched in the minds of others – the dolphins of Altair.

Now the covenant had been broken. Dolphins were being wantonly sacrificed in the name of scientific research, their waters increasingly polluted, their number dangerously diminished. They had to find allies and strike back. Allies willing to sever their own earthly bonds for the sake of their sea brothers – willing, if necessary, to execute the destruction of the whole human race ...

Margaret St. Clair's novels Sign of the Labrys and The Shadow People are cited in the Dungeon Master's Guide “Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading.” I've read the former couple of days ago, and enjoyed it quite much. It was also fascinating seeing how much of it read like an old-school dungeon delve.

When I researched the author, I read that the latter, The Shadow People, is part of loose trilogy comprised of The Dolphins of Altair (1967), The Shadow People (1969), and The Dancers of Noyo (1973). Since all three are relatively short (~200 pages each), I decided to simply read them in publishing order.

Mild spoilers ahead.

The story is presented from the perspective of a psionic dolphin historian. He narrates how the sea people—dolphins—used Udra (psychic powers, similar to psionics in OD&D) to find and collaborate with three splits—humans—to flood the world.

The writing is punchy, especially in the first half. Everything moves fast, and I enjoyed the implicit writing style. There is action, there is a little bit of mystery, and there are surprises and turns. Some of the hallucinations / visions are quite trippy, which I liked as well.

The Dolphins of Altair is not listed in the Appendix N, so I did not expect any D&D tropes. There is a lot of psionics, and some of the techniques are well described. Only 1-in-100 000 are receptive to it; there are mentions of ESP. If this was an OD&D module or setting it would be labelled as gonzo for sure.

At its core, The Dolphins of Altair is an ecological doomsday book infused with psychedelic and psionics. I found it to be quite a quick and enjoyable read, and am looking forward to discovering how exactly it relates to The Shadow People.

#Reading #Fantasy #ScienceFiction

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rootring
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For years I've been seeing mentions of Margaret St. Clair's Sign of the Labrys and The Shadow People. Both appear in the “Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading” of the Dungeon Master's Guide, and both are relatively obscure. I was always attracted to their covers, but was unable to just walk to the local library and borrow them.

Something had gotten into me yesterday, and I decided to hunt both down—in their ebook form. I am quite confident there was nothing special in the print version, besides beautiful covers that is, since they were plain small-sized paperback.

Few hours later, and I procured Sign of the Labrys (1963), The Dolphins of Altair (1967), The Shadow People (1969), and The Dancers of Noyo (1973) novels. According to St. Clair's Wikipedia page, the last three form some sort of loose trilogy. Their ebook covers are quite underwhelming so I downloaded the originals from the web instead.

I opened the Sign of the Labrys, “just to check it out,” read first few paragraphs, and realised I couldn't just put it down. I finished it in a couple of hours.

Mild spoilers ahead.

I greatly enjoyed the “implicit” writing style, atmosphere, and post-apocalyptic setting. Things are casually introduced without too much—or any—explanation, leaving it up to the reader to fill in the blanks.

The whole thing reads like an extended dungeon delve, with main character sometimes being alone, and sometimes allying with one or more individuals. Exploration is very focused on corridors, doors, chambers, and implied threat.

D&D tropes I noticed:

• Character(s) travel down and up the tiered levels of a large subterranean complex.
• It is explicit that deeper levels hold more resources than the upper levels but are also more dangerous.
• Each level has “guardians” of various sorts.
• Exploration is described by providing lengths of corridors, doors, and sizes of areas; almost reading like an example of play, and eerily similar to how I write in the session reports.
• Secret doors and passageways that shortcut the dungeon levels or lead to secret areas with treasure.
• Thematic dungeon levels: a workers' level, laboratory level, pleasure level, engine level, etc.
• Factions: each level has at least one dominant faction, plus several smaller factions.
• Spellcasting. Mostly illusory magic.
• Main character levels up as he travels deeper. He also then has to spend time training to unlock new abilities.
• There is a lot of resting.

Perhaps I read it too quickly, but I do not remember any single character that fits the description of hairy monster featured on the cover.

The novel didn't feel dated at all. In fact, a plague that make peoples' lungs fill with liquid, resulting them in choking to death, sounded very contemporary.

All in all, Sign of the Labrys was quite an enjoyable read. It was fascinating witnessing what might have contributed to Gary's view on dungeons and dungeon delving. I am very much looking forward to reading The Shadow People too.

#Reading #AppendixN #Fantasy #ScienceFiction

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Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Tarkus the Promising	Human	Cleric level 5	Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom.
Beorg the Gravedigger	Human	Fighter level 5	Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 2	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Thorinda Bung	Human	Monk level 2	She has blonde hair done up in a tight pony tail and wears light, loose suit.
Jacob Vin	Human	Assassin level 1	Slick black hair, inconspicuous dress, youthful for his age, and of keen instincts.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 4	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.
Tam o' Shanter	Human	Cleric level 4	A boisterous wine-lover of Losborst on a Great Crusade of the Grape.

Willowind 20th, Spiritday

“Close the doors, let's check the east ones instead.”

Adventurers had just spent hours in a circular chamber with a levitating fire and four doors—except that doors vanish once they are closed.

Ignaeus figured out the trick—one must approach the doors from the opposite side, walking through the flames—and he was now the true Doormaster.

The elf obliged and closed south doors. He then walked to the west side and crawled through the flames heading east. The doors appeared and did not dodge his opening attempt.

Before them was a short corridor, some forty feet, that turned right. The party moved forth, coming to a square chamber with a statue of an ugly, winged figure crouching atop of a stone pedestal.

“Haha, look, a gargoyle!” some of the adventurers laughed.

The statue opened its eyes, spread its wings, and bared its talons.

The statue was indeed a gargoyle.

It clawed and chewed on Kenso. Then it clawed and gored Beorg.

Adventurers' weapons did nothing to it.

So they did the next best thing.

Beorg, Tam, and Tarkus wrestled and grappled with the gargoyle.

Stone monstrosity cried out as it was brought down and pinned.

Ambros tried to burn it with the torch, but it hurt the creature not.

Then Ignaeus played shibari with it, while the brave trio kept it pinned.

Syd and Thorinda kept in the back, providing light from the furthest safe distance they could muster.

Ambros, never to be the one to miss out on good action, began canvassing the room for secret passages and doors. He begun with south-west corner.

Wall slid to the side, an a sea of giant rats fell into the chamber.

Rats swarmed the room. Beorg, Tam, and Tarkus let got of the tightly bound gargoyle, and began stomping. Crunch cracks echoed aplenty.

Gargoyle broke through the ropes, flew up, and escaped through the open secret passage.

Familiar husky voice spoke from the darkness, dripping with vitriol and contempt.

“I have traded rats for a gargoyle! Well, isn't that nice!”

Ignaeus cast Sleep, knocking out still intact giant rats, Tam, Thorinda, and Syd.

Insults could be heard no more.

Ignaeus instructed adventurers to wake up the sleepers and then fall back to the door leading into the circular chamber.

Then he walked up to the secret passageway and cast Fire Ball into the chamber before him.

Flames filled the volume of the large room, leaving the elf unscathed.

When everything calmed the party spilled in, weapons drawn.

At the far south side was a charred skeleton. The only thing that survived the Fire Ball was a melted sword inlaid with gems. Next to the charred remains were stone fragments, including a horn and an ear. Adventurers reasoned those must have belonged to the gargoyle.

Tam undid his pants in order to air his manhood. Then he proceeded to urinate on the blackened bones of the enemy.

“Come on, just one more door!”

Kenso pleaded with others as he put his ear against the south-west doors.

“No!”

But no came too late as the doors in front of Kenso swung open. Six confused pig-faced orcs stared at him. Neither side was surprised.

Ignaeus stepped in and slayed three, Beorg skewered one, Tam rushed in, dangling all around. Somehow he managed to miss. Orc, on the other hand, delivered a surgical strike, leaving Tam circumcised. While cleric sobbed other adventurers mopped up the survivors.

“Now, let's get out!”

They reached Ironburg by noon of Redleaves 1st, Airday.

Redleaves 4th, Fireday

Altanian sun still burned bright, as if winter were not just around the corner. Party of eight advanced to Castle Yukanthur.

Jacob Vin replaced Syd Grundy. The latter was badly wounded on recent expedition and must rest for at least two full weeks before adventuring again.

Specter of recent conversation haunted them all, but perhaps Ambros most of all. He was the one whom had commissioned Xaver, a cheerful dwarven junk trader residing in Ironburg, to travel to Hara and procure him a set of plate mail, two bastard swords, and few other pieces of gear.

Xaver was initially late, but did eventually return to Ironburg. He brought disconcerting news—chief among them that mentioning Ambros “opened doors” for him, and that he was able to get everything because of that.

Plate mail that he brought back was the ceremonial type that adventurers recovered more than a year ago from a tomb near Midway. They were the only ones with such armour. And the only remaining suites of it used to be stored in the vault beneath the adventurers' townhouse. Yes, same townhouse that first burned down to the ground, and was then flooded.

What that might mean was anyone's guess.

But that was then, and now was now—with adventurers descending into the ruins once more. Goblin corpses were still ever-present, albeit mostly consumed by carrion gobblers.

Party went straight down, to the first level. Past the warning statue, through the illusory wall, into the room with four doors, down the long corridor and into a large chamber, through two secret doors, past the shooting gnome statue, around the guardian with the morningstar, and down the stairs.

One the second level they turned right, through the doors upon which Arnulf's face was rotting away, then left where Tam left a piece of his skin, then right through doors yet unopened.

A square chamber, some thirty by thirty feet, with little to show for but a three-foot-tall pedestal in the center. Atop the pedestal was a gold statuette of a spider with glittering red gems for eyes.

Inspecting the statue revealed little information, for it had no inscriptions, writing, or symbols. Touching it triggered a horrific metamorphosis. Statuette shook and shivered as it molted and flaked away the gold. Long bristles emerged, and huge spider broke out.

It was promptly hacked by Thorinda, Beorg, Ignaeus, Kenso, and Jacob. The spider crumpled back into a gold statuette.

Adventurers touched it again. The process of metamorphosis repeated. This time Beorg, Thorinda, Tam, Ignaeus, and Ambros smashed it. Once more, the spider remains on top of the pedestal reformed into gold statuette.

“Wanna touch it for the third time?!”

“Maybe later.”

Party decided to proceed through north-west doors. This led them to an irregular corridor and another doors diagonally across. Going through they found yet another large square chamber. This one was completely bereft of anything. Another doors were at the far side, again diagonally across.

Breaking through led into a chamber that was not empty.

Fire crackled in a stone bowl resting in the center of the chamber. Besides it laid an unconscious woman. Above her crouched a monster most foul; beaked and spindly. It held a curved, glowing dagger high above, about to strike at the woman's exposed torso.

Behind it sat a stone statue of a lizard with two large green gems for eyes. Before them three similar beastmen laid prostrate. The chamber reeked of dried pus and vomit.

Adventurers charged in; monsters reciprocated.

Which side will emerge victorious?

Poster by Lord Jubalon Flux.

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

#Wilderlands #SessionReport

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Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Tarkus the Promising	Human	Cleric level 5	Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom.
Beorg the Gravedigger	Human	Fighter level 5	Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 2	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Thorinda Bung	Human	Monk level 2	She has blonde hair done up in a tight pony tail and wears light, loose suit.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 3	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.
Tam o' Shanter	Human	Cleric level 4	A boisterous wine-lover of Losborst on a Great Crusade of the Grape.

Willowind 20th, Spiritday

A murder of crows blocked the sun above Castle Yukanthur, as they crowed and feasted on decomposing corpses littered throughout. Twelve feet tall mounds of goblinoid corpses—smashed, ripped, gutted—emitted horrible stench. Syd made his way around them, observing that castle portcullis have been bent out of shape. The corpses were most definitely of goblins. And they were everywhere.

Party of eight adventurers were back, intent on discovering great riches hiding beneath the castle. Ambros and Ignaeus were relieved to be rejoined by two experienced adventurers, namely Tarkus the Promising and Beorg the Gravedigger. They spotted something was off from quite afar, and bravely sent Syd the Ranger to scout ahead.

Upon hearing that it was naught but corpses, the party approached the dilapidated gatehouse. Cracks in the walls they used to go through were jammed with goblin remains. The only way in was through the bent portcullis.

“Hey, look!”

A trail of corpses and remains led to the cave opening—the one that was blocked by a large boulder. Broken pickaxes and shovels were mixed with goblin limbs, heads, and torsos. A whole in the boulder was filled with more corpses and remains, buzzing with flies and maggots.

“Uh, let's ignore this and go down the stairs.”

And so they did. The party entered the ruins through bent portcullis, and then descended down, past the statue uttering its warning. As they moved they brought Tarkus and Beorg up to speed, telling them about illusory walls, gnomish statues, and what not.

Following their hunch that there must be a shortcut through secret passageway, they investigated the chamber where they rescued the ungrateful hobbit. Indeed, they found secret doors in the south-east corner of the chamber, connecting to the chamber with dark walls, which was adjacent to the gnome statue chamber which shoots at peoples' backs.

But not only peoples', as attested by two goblin corpses with bolts in their backs. Adventurers moved further south, following the long corridor, past the statue with morningstar, and then down the stairs.

The corridor reeked of death. Nothing but dried blood and one ear was left of Idris. Turning right, adventurers approached the Ratmaster's chamber. A horrific sight greeted them—Arnulf's skinned face was pinned to the doors.

Adventurers sighed and turned right.

“I'll open the secret doors. Mind your step!” Ignaeus warned as he pressed on the flagstone. Portion of wall slid open, as did the trapdoor to his left. Party moved into the dark, long corridor.

“Look!”

A sword levitated in the air, surrounded by dozens of gold pieces.

“Attack!”

First exchange went shameful for the party full of experienced warriors. Kenso got slapped by acidic jelly. He retreated to be healed. Ignaeus cut into the cube, slashing it in half. Beorg then moped up the remains.

They were left with ooze covered sword, gold pieces, and a vial of liquid. All were cleaned and packed away. Then the party continued forward, following the long corridor until they reached a bend. Before them were two doors opposite each other, as well as a corridor stretching onwards into darkness.

Party fanned out—some listened at right doors, some at left, others watched guard on both sides. Nothing noteworthy was heard.

Ignaeus forced the left doors open.

A seven-headed hydra roared at him.

No one was surprised.

Ignaeus cast Web. Beorg charged in. Others opted to remain outside.

Great glob of webbing engulfed hydra's lower body. The Gravedigger approached, swinging his halberd. He slashed right through three of the heads. Hydra vanished in a puff of smoke.

“Ha!” Beorg declared victoriously.

Unsure what to make of it, several adventurers came into the chamber to investigate further. It was a sixty by thirty room, illuminated by four smoke-less torches in sconces. Syd, Thorinda, Kenso, and Tam remained outside, watching guard.

Syd gagged as he inhaled an offensive mix of dried vomit and rotten fish guts. The source in the form of six reptilian creatures armed with wicked barbed spears revealed themselves. Both sides clashed.

Adventurers were overcome with horrible stench, many heaving and retching, feeling weakened. Syd was repeatedly brutally stabbed. He succumbed to the assault. Monsters hooked him and pulled him.

Ignaeus cast Sleep, downing all six monstrosities, as well as Thorinda and Kenso. Beasts were promptly executed. Ambros healed Syd, but the ranger will forever carry the scar of feeling abandoned by more experienced and better armoured allies.

Everyone moved to the chamber formerly inhabited by the seven-headed hydra. Searching walls did not produce anything of interest. Forcing the west doors only led to another doors. Second doors led to a circular chamber with high domed ceiling. The chamber was thirty feet in diameter. There was an open flame, much like a large campfire, burning in the center. It was levitating a feet or so above the ground. Pure flame.

This chamber, my dear reader, perplexed the adventurers for the time it takes three torches to burn through.

From outside, the chamber had four doors, one at each cardinal direction. From inside, there was only one door—open door they came through. But once that doors were closed, another appeared, opposite of the entrance.

These new doors would avoid anyone whom tried to open them—they would slide to the side and up, way out of reach. When looking through the flame one could see all four doors.

Adventurers caressed all the walls, left no stone unturned (there we no stones in the chamber). They tried bathing in the fire, dancing in circle around the fire, first clockwise, then counter clockwise. Kenso kept yelling “I DISBELIEVE!!! NONE OF THIS IS REAL!!!” his voice echoing. Alas, the doors remained elusive.

Finally, Ignaeus walked to the side they came through. He looked through the flame, his eyes locked on the opposite doors. Then he went through the fire, walked up to the doors confidently, and opened them.

Adventurers now faced yet another dark, long corridor.

Will they keep playing with the flame or move on?

“Never Mind the Troglodytes Here's Thorinda” by Lord Jubalon Flux.

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

#Wilderlands #SessionReport

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A zine chronicling the Conquering the Barbarian Altanis D&D campaign.

This issue details sessions 103, 104, and 105.

Fresh adventurers go on three different side adventures.

You can download the issue here.

Overlord's Annals zine is available as part of the Ever & Anon APA, issue 10:

#Zine

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Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Arnulf Hetzer	Human	Thief level 1	A highly ambitious young man, aiming for great riches, awesome adventure, and not get broiled.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 2	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Thorinda Bung	Human	Monk level 2	She has blonde hair done up in a tight pony tail and wears light, loose suit.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 3	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.
Tam o' Shanter	Human	Cleric level 4	A boisterous wine-lover of Losborst on a Great Crusade of the Grape.
Idris	Elf	Fighter level 1 / magic-user level 1	An elf wielding a greatsword.

Willowind 3rd, Earthday

Tam fondled his grapes as he called upon Losborst to turn the skeleton cheerfully approaching him. Idris rushed toward the undead, wielding his greatsword. Awed by such display of power, the skeleton jumped, as if spooked, and ran as fast as it could into the darkness.

At the same time Ignaeus and Thorinda choked the doors leading into chamber with thirty-six rotten zombies. Ambros's holy voice thundered, and soon all the zombies crawled away, seeking respite from such awesome divinity.

Elf and monk each managed to kill naught but one zombie. Then the party shut the doors.

“Somebody else can deal with THIS problem.”

The party returned to the grinning gnome statue chamber. This time they went for south doors, following another long corridor. They reached a T-junction splitting left and forward. Doors to the left led into web-ridden chamber. Tam managed to stumble through and straight into thick webs.

“Help...”

Ignaeus, Arnulf, and Kenso stepped in to help. Thief quickly abandoned poor Tam, opting to focus on various silver and gold pieces strewn around. Returning to the corridor, adventurers turned left, and faced a statue of a warrior holding morningstar high above its head.

Ignaeus led the way, for he recognised the statue. Tam stumbled right next to him, careless and carefree. Statue guarded the staircase leading further down. Stepping on the first step produced an audible clang as statue shook. Nothing ill happened. Adventurers descended.

After some time they reached a landing adjoined to a corridor. To their left the corridor turned left again. To the right the corridor stretched some fifty feet, turning right. There were also doors straight ahead.

Exploring the right turn led to another door and a left turn leading to dead end. Elves sensed something might be there. Arnulf and Idris went to investigate the dead end. Ignaeus explored the space just before the dead end. Others listened at doors.

“Ah, here it is.”

Ignaeus found a flagstone that stuck out. He pressed it, opening sliding secret doors in front of him. Alas, same flagstone also opened the pit trap underneath Arnulf and Idris. The duo fell down and got proper messed up. Idris broke his tailbone, while Arnulf shattered his ego. Doors in front of Tam swung open—and four ravenous ghouls assaulted him.

No dead are much of a threat in presence of Ambros. When he gets to act in time that is. He turned three of four, leaving one to face Ignaeus and Tam. The duo managed to dispose of it, but not before Tam went paralytic.

Idris massaged himself. Then he moved to jumping jacks. Arnulf rummaged through his backpack, red in cheeks. He recovered the rope and then threw it up to Ambros. He missed. Twice. During that time Ambros was passed the rope from another adventurers and lowered it down. Idris used the opportunity to climb up. Arnulf threw the rope again. It did reach above.

“See. I could have done it.”

“AAAAAAAAAA!”

Thorinda screamed as two more ghouls charged from the darkness, from whence they earlier had arrived from. Ambros turned them, sending them back to darkness.

Adventurers consolidated in the corridor. Both Arnulf and Idris have been pulled up. Tam was still stiff on the ground. Secret doors led down a corridor. Ghoul chamber was a dead end without any treasure. But there were just one more doors to be checked.

Forcing them open led into an elongated rectangular chamber. As few adventures stepped in, Ambros heard two “woosh” and then “thwack” sounds just above him. Two broken arrows fell to the ground just behind him.

The party flooded the chamber, fanning out. There was no one to be seen. They spread out to seek secret doors and passageways, for elves' senses were tingling. Alas, nothing was found. Ignaeus did hear something that could best be described as footsteps.

“Hiya!”

Kenso started jumping right and left, swinging his sword into nothing.

“Let's spread out and swing left and right!”

The plan to find the invisible assailant was put in place.

And then Arnulf heard the sound of stone sliding over stone. And then a horde of giant rats flooded the chamber. There were dozens of them. Dozens of dog-sized, disease-ridden, starved rodents.

Kenso and Arnulf were closest to the source. Each soon had a dozen of giant rats badgering them. Idris legged it, fleeing the chamber. Then he felt bad for the paralysed Tam that was eaten alive so he went back in and dragged him out.

Kenso dropped his blade due to surprise. He stomped on rats right and left, but recognised the untenability of his position. He fled, shedding last shards of honour that might have been attached to him.

“Mess with the Ratmaster” a hoarse whisper followed him “and get ratted!”

Ignaeus, Ambros, Syd, and Thorinda retreated from the chamber as well. Arnulf, having recently suffered a great physical trauma, miraculously dodged many rats. He too fled. Then he felt sharp pain in his back. His legs gave in, and he felt to the ground face first. He blacked out for a moment

Arrow in his back must have severed some of the nerves, for his body did not obey his mind anymore. He could feel burning, sharp pain, as dozens of giant rats feasted upon his exposed flesh. He watched his allies shut the doors, leaving him in darkness, to be consumed alive.

Arnulf Protects by Jan.

“AAAAAAAAAA!”

Thorinda screamed again as the ghoulish duo returned. Both assaulted Idris, whom managed to dodge and parry the attacks. Ignaeus decapitated one of the ghouls with a single swing. The remaining ghoul was turned. In an act of surprising heroism, Idris went around and blocked the undead's path. He attacked with his greatsword. Alas, the pain from his broken tailbone was too distracting, and he failed to do any damage.

Ghoul reciprocated by jumping at the elf, tearing off both of his ears with its sharp claws. Then it proceeded to jam its rotten, bulbous, festering thumbs into Idris's eyes. The elf fell down on his back as the ghouls gored his eyes. Then it smashed his head upon the stone floor. And then it fled into darkness.

“Pick up Tam and get out of here!”

Ambros led the retreat out of Castle Yukanthur. He led the party into a dead end chamber, where they were attacked by three giant rats. Syd took over and successful led the party outside. Then they found a safe spot an hour or so away from the ruin and camped there.

During night they spotted a goblin warband counting hundreds advancing toward the castle.

“I am convinced they are having raves down there.”

“We should have killed those gnomes when we had the chance.”

The party reached Ironburg by noon of Willowind 4th.

Will they ever recover the many riches resting within the Castle Yukanthur?

'Rapping' Syd presents Leave and Let Die by Lord Jubalon Flux.

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

#Wilderlands #SessionReport

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Adventures Dark and Deep by Joe Bloch of BRW games is an alternative AD&D second edition, imagining how might AD&D evolve if Gary Gygax remained at the helm of TSR.

Joe is a great scholar of AD&D and it shows. Adventures Dark and Deep consists of two thick core books (rulebook and bestiary), but now there is also Adventures Dark and Deep Lite which is a single tome to get people started with the system. PDF is available as PWYW, while PODs are at cost.

System aside, I am a great fan of Joe's supplemental books, which are easy to use with OD&D and AD&D:

• Book of Lost Lore
• Book of Lost Beasts
• Book of Lost Tables
• Swords of Cthulhu
• Swords of Wuxia

Book of Lost Tables sees a lot of use with its 348 random tables for generating random wilderness terrain, random wilderness encounters, random dungeon terrain, random dungeon encounters, random urban terrain, random urban encounters, character parties, and more.

#News #OSR #ADD

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Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Arnulf Hetzer	Human	Thief level 1	A highly ambitious young man, aiming for great riches, awesome adventure, and not get broiled.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 1	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Thorinda Bung	Human	Monk level 1	She has blonde hair done up in a tight pony tail and wears light, loose suit.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 3	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.
Tam o' Shanter	Human	Cleric level 3	A boisterous wine-lover of Losborst on a Great Crusade of the Grape.
Percy	Human	Fighter level 1	A career soldier dishonorably discharged due to his charismatic ways.
Idris	Elf	Fighter level 1 / magic-user level 1	An elf wielding a greatsword.

Blackmoon 20th, Spiritday

Ambros, Tam, and Ignaeus stood at the junction, soaked wet from recently tumbling down a pit trap into an underground river. To their right five zombies shambled towards them, and from their left a pack of ravenous ghouls were charging.

Ambros held his Gavel of Justice and thundered the holy words. Four zombies turned to dust. Ignaeus counter-charged the ghouls, preventing their advance. He fought on the defensive, well aware of his natural immunity.

Once the elf moved on the offensive he had slain two ghouls with great ease. Remaining two fled in the awesome divinity of Ambros, after he had destroyed the last zombie.

The soaked trio opted for a simple strategy—follow corridors, ignore doors. They walked left, passing doors, and then at the T-shaped junction they turned right, straight, left, ignored doors to the left and turned right again, past the doors to their left and turn right again. They followed the corridor until they reached another t-junction, where they turned left, straight past another junction, and into a square chamber. They cut it straight across, exited and turned left, then right, and then stopped at another junction.

To their right were stairs leading up!

⁂

Percy gingerly stepped forward through the doors that have opened for him. The corridor went left and right. He chose the former. He advanced carefully, ready for violence at any moment. He passed a T-junction, ignored the doors ahead of him, and turned right. Past another junction, straight ahead, towards stuck doors.

Forcing them open revealed a square chamber, some thirty by thirty feet, full of debris. Three of the walls were lined by crooked and bowed shelves. Inspecting the chamber did not reveal much beyond the following curiosities.

There was a chipped teacup resting on the shelf along the wall opposite where Percy came from; there were tattered spiderwebs to his left, with desiccated remains of humanoid shape; potter shards and fragments were scattered in one corner of the room; and there was a deformed brass candlestick, without candles, on the middle of one of the shelves.

Percy abandoned the chamber and backtracked to the first T-shaped junction he had passed. He turned right and followed a long corridor until he reached bloated doors. Oh how they stank! It was a mix of dried vomit, decaying flesh, and festering filth—truly eye watering..

Veteran decided to fall back to the cavern with the underground river. He swam across and rummaged through his backpack.

⁂

“Quickly, rope!”

Arnulf instructed Kenso, Thorinda, and Syd how to tie all the rope thy have so he can safely descend down the well. It took them some time, but they soon had a single piece of one hundred and fifty feet of knotted rope.

Thick Thorinda and Scrawny Syd held the rope while Keen Kenso stood guard and Agile Arnulf descended.

Alas!

The rope was still too short to reach the bottom! In fact, it was barely enough to reach slightly above the opening that Arnulf crawled through before—the one where the pit trap leads to—so thief tugged on the rope.

As he was draw up he heard whistling sound from below. Initially it was barely audible. It became stronger and stronger with each second, reverberated by the well acoustics.

“There is someone down, must be one of ours!”

“We must go back into the dungeon! Down the pit trap and then reach them!”

“But we are so weak, and so pathetic! We are the weakest adventurers in the party!”

All four agreed and ran back into Castle Yukanthur.

⁂

Percy's cheeks puffed and puffed, turning rose red.

He blew on the whistle intermittently.

First it was just long lines.

Then it was melodies he learned.

Then it was sad blows.

Then he stopped.

The stench was back.

Percy put away the whistle.

He took out his sword.

Being a left handed, he held torch in his right.

He advanced down the tunnel stench was coming from.

His stomach churned.

He entered the cave.

Three reptilian creatures were hunched over a river, stabbing at it with their barbed spears.

The stench was unbearable.

Percy heaved audibly.

He tightened his grip and charged the monsters.

They were not surprised.

Veteran parried their attacks.

But he could not see well.

His attacks did not connect.

One of the wicked spears got past his defenses.

It sunk deep.

It stung as the beast pulled it out, ripping chunks of flesh.

Percy jumped headfirst into the river.

Beastmen jumped after him.

He swum in pitch black.

He swum along the stream.

Then he felt hitting something hard.

And then all was black.

⁂

“Oh no!”

Arnulf, Syd, Thorinda, and Kenso reached the corridor where the pit trap was. Or at least they thought so, for now there was nothing but solid floor.

Arnulf tapped.

Arnulf jumped.

Arnulf tried.

But the floor was solid, and it did not give in.

⁂

Ignaeus led the ascent, with Ambros and Tam right behind him.

At the top of the stairs they could see a statue of warrior, very similar to the one at the entrance of the dungeon. Except this one held a wicked morning star above its head.

Elf slowly approached it, hugging the right wall. As he stepped on the last stair, the statues released an audible clang and its arms rotated downwards—but were immediately stopped as if the arms were stuck.

The trio quickly moved past it and advanced down the long, long corridor. They ignored one doors, and moved until they reached the end of the corridor, where another stuck doors greeted them.

Forcing them inward they entered a thirty by thirty chamber. There were two more doors in the chamber, one to their left, and one straight ahead. A grinning gnome statue was in the center of the chamber, holding a crossbow. The statue rested on a plinth.

Two adventurers rotated the gnome towards the wall, while another pulled on the left doors. The statue promptly turned around and shot at the adventurer pulling on the doors.

The doors led into a corridor turning left and then right. They ignored this corridor and opened other doors. Gnome turned again, released an audible click, but fired nothing since his crossbow was not loaded.

This doors led to a corridor heading straight and T-junction splitting left. The trio turned left and went on until they reached another doors. Forcing them open revealed a rectangular chamber with an elf wielding a greatsword.

After exchanging brief pleasantries, the trio grew into quartet. They exited the chamber into yet another long, winding corridor. They turned right, straight, left, straight, right, then few steps forward and then left again, until the reached a junction. There they turned right and walked straight for quite some time, passing doors, then turned left, right, left, right, and then straight until stuck doors.

They forced them open and entered a square chamber with many doors—four in total. They crossed the chamber diagonally across, where they entered serpentine corridor leading to hacked doors which opened up in a chamber with slain warrior, mage whose skeleton got free, a sack of plundered books, and two work benches.

“How did we end up HERE?!”

Tam cried in exasperation.

Knowing where they are, the quartet was able to head out.

⁂

“It's been a while...”

“We should head out before something nasty comes our way...”

Arnulf was still hopping on the pit trap.

Perhaps he was too light.

Perhaps he was not committed enough.

Perhaps the odds were not in his favour.

But he had no choice but to agree with his allies.

Adventuring life is not for everyone. And it is certainly not without peril.

Syd, Thorinda, Kenso, and Arnulf abandoned their efforts and exited the dungeon of Yukanthur.

They were delighted to find wet, but alive, Ambros, Tam, and Ignaeus. And were happy to meet the new elf, Idris, as well.

It was evening, with few hours before nightfall. The party found a safe spot an hour or so away from the castle ruins. Then they camped for the night. Around midnight Idris spotted seven gnomes whistling and singing as they marched in the direction of Castle Yukanthur. Judging they were of no threat, nor aware of the adventurers, he did not wake others up.

The party reached Ironburg by noon of Willowind 1st.

Willowind 3rd, Earthday

Adventurers returned to Castle Yukanthur once more. Its allure was too strong to ignore. They headed straight down, past the statue uttering its warning for the hundredth time.

They marched on and into the many doored chamber. From there they followed doors south-east, successfully identifying corridors that Ambros, Ignaeus, Tam, and Idris had traversed just days ago.

They managed to find the rectangular chamber where they met the elf with the big sword, they explored a chamber with nothing but black walls, and they had fun with the gnome chamber.

Adventurers pushed through west doors, and followed a long, winding corridor. “Just one more door.”

Thorinda and Ignaeus forced them open. Heavy stench of death and rot assailed them. A horde of lumbering corpses animated at their horror.

At the same time, Tam in the corridor observed a single, jaunty skeleton approaching from total darkness. It had a confident, if a little careless, gait.

Adventurers gripped their weapons.

“Thorinda’s View by Ironburg’s finest artist, Andrija Warhol” by Lord Jubalon Flux.

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A zine chronicling the Conquering the Barbarian Altanis D&D campaign.

This issue details sessions 99, 100, 101, and 102.

Adventurers hunt the glowing hunters. Then they revisit an old favourite, which goes as every time before that.

You can download the issue here.

Overlord's Annals zine is available as part of the Ever & Anon APA, issue 9:

#Zine

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Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Arnulf Hetzer	Human	Thief level 1	A highly ambitious young man, aiming for great riches, awesome adventure, and not get broiled.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 1	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Thorinda Bung	Human	Monk level 1	She has blonde hair done up in a tight pony tail and wears light, loose suit.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 3	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.
Tam o' Shanter	Human	Cleric level 3	A boisterous wine-lover of Losborst on a Great Crusade of the Grape.
Percy	Human	Fighter level 1	A career soldier dishonorably discharged due to his charismatic ways.

Blackmoon 20th, Spiritday

“Where shall we go to next?”

“There’s still stuff to explore under Castle Yukanthur, and Thorinda wants to go for a third knock-out in a row.”

And thus a party of eight adventurers set out once more for Castle Yukanthur, that old run just a watch northeast from Ironburg.

Environs were as before—overgrowth and moss—and adventurers had little patience for Syd's rubble inspection. Down and down the spiral staircase they went, with drunken Tam stumbling ahead. On and on, past the statue booming “WHO DARE ENTER THE CASTLE OF YUKANTHUR?!” and through the illusory wall.

Straight they went, and then left, and then into the chamber with four doors, and then through south west doors. They followed a long corridor until reaching a T-shaped junction splitting left and forward. To the left were doors, which the adventurers eventually forced open.

A ghastly sight!

A child dressed in chain shirt lying prostrate in the center of the large room. Besides it two pony-sized abominations lashing the child with their tentacles. Tubular bodies, a dozen of tentacles, disgusting slimy sheen.

Ignaeus cast Web and captured them all. While others fanned out, Arnulf approached the webbing and began stabbing one of the monsters. The abomination writhed and attempted to set itself free, but to no avail. It soon expired under the thief's cruelty. Encouraged, Ignaeus and Percy slayed the other one.

A locked chest, promptly smashed open—releasing a crunchy sound as it was struck—revealed a broken rat skeleton, six thousand copper pieces, and one thousand electrum pieces.

Adventurers carved a path through the web to reach the child. But it was no child! It was a male hobbit! He did not move and was unnaturally stiff.

“Must be paralysed.”

Party discussed at length what to do with him. Some were in favour of robbing him of his belongings and leaving him be. Others were in favour of at least leaving him in the corner of the room.

“Ugh... oooh... thank you for saving me. I am Bopo Oldhearth, and I am a warrior.”

He offered to join the party for a full share of treasure.

“A full share? For half a man?”

Hobbit left as the adventurers brutally ridiculed him.

Finding nothing else of interest, the party returned to the junction and explored further left, down another long corridor until they reached yet another t-shaped intersection. To the left was a winding corridor and to the right straight corridor terminating with bloated doors.

They chose the latter, bursting in like the great liberators they are. A volley of arrows hit them from darkness. Four penetrated Tam, contributing to his “drunken hedgehog” look. Thorinda the Lightbearer rushed in and illuminated the whole fifty by fifty chamber with her bullseye lantern.

Five pig faced orcs were crouching in the corner, shooting at adventurers.

Percy shot one dead. Others hacked the remaining four to death.

There was nothing of value nor interest in the room. Even the orcs hadn't had anything beyond their scimitars and short bows. Adventurers pushed onwards, through the doors opposite those they came through. This led them to another square room of equal size.

The walls were lined with smooth black stone that seemed to soften and dim the light. Four chest were arranged along the west wall. All four had broken padlocks and were entirely empty. Second from the south had a carving of stumpy, penile shape, under the lid.

Percy stood outside the whole time, worried that the whole chamber might be trapped. Once everyone else left the room through opposite doors he quickly ran up to rejoin them.

Another long, winding corridor.

“You know, long corridors like these usually have pit traps–”

Tam opined as he, Ignaeus, Ambros, and Percy fell through a pit trap at the bend of a corridor.

The quartet tumbled straight down, hitting a slide, then rolled and tumbled down the sharp slope. Roughed up, they emerged through a hole in the wall into yet another pit. For a brief moment they could see daylight way above them. Within a bat of an eye all four fell into ice-cold water. Current was strong and carried them on as they fought for air.

Unlike Ambros, Ignaeus, and Tam, Percy was lightly armoured. He remained composed in the face of adversity, and swam up, breaking the surface of water. This was an underground river and he was being carried toward cave wall! He pushed and swam, his muscles burning, until he reached the shore. He grabbed onto the jagged rocks and pulled himself up.

Two clerics and an elf were nowhere to be seen.

Percy looked around. Shy daylight shone through a hole in the ceiling, providing some illumination. He was in a large cave, bisected by an underground river. He could see there was some sort of exit on the other side of the cave. And there was a tunnel straight behind him, leading into darkness.

Veteran rummaged through his soaked belongings. A grappling hook and some rope. Exactly what he needed. Alas, even when he struck the opening in the ceiling his hook fell straight down. There was nothing he could anchor it to, at least not from where he stood.

His light sources survived, so he made good use of them to explore the dark tunnel behind him. Yet another cave, albeit slightly smaller. It connected to a much larger one, but access to it was cut of by the river. The current here was much stronger and Percy decided to backtrack instead.

He returned to the larger cave. Then he went to the far side. The river wasn't that wide, maybe some twenty feet or so, but the current was strong. He reasoned that he would have most time if he began swimming from the far side. That would mean least risk to get pulled under the rock.

Percy's plan worked as intended. He followed the ascending tunnel into a worked chamber, some twenty by twenty feet. There were single doors in the south east corner.

Percy listened at the door.

Then he tried to force them open.

He failed.

He tried again.

He failed again.

Then the door swung open.

⁂

Arnulf, Syd, Thorinda, and Kenso watched as their allies fell down the chute. They had no time to react nor to help them. Arnulf was the quickest, asking for some rope and light to descend after the unlucky four.

He clambered twenty feet down. Then he carefully slid down the slope. He poked his head through the opening. High above him was a circular opening, through which daylight shone. Down below him was darkness and sound of rushing water. He could also see a little bit of light—perhaps from torch or lantern. He tried shouting but no answer came back.

The thief returned and informed Kenso, Syd, and Thorinda.

“It must be the well!”

“Let's head there and drop down some rope!”

Indeed, the four rushed through the dungeon, ascended the stairs, and then through the ruined castle, through the woods, and towards the well.

“How much rope do we have?!”

⁂

Ambros sank like a sack or rocks. He tried to untie his plate mail. He found that very difficult while being rolled around in total darkness, his lungs burning with lack of oxygen. He tumbled along the river bed, scrapped and battered.

The situation was grim. The cleric didn't have much more to live. He wiggled his hips, he undulated his belly, he shook his shoulders—and the armour came off. With seconds to go, Ambros pushed himself off the floor, and exploded through the river.

He trashed around until he grabbed onto something solid. He clawed his way out. Then someone—or something—grabbed him by the heel and pulled him. The voice was ranting and quite audible through the noise of running water. But it was a friendly voice too. It was Tam. The clerics helped each other out.

⁂

Ignaeus fell almost face first. He dove into the chilly river, nearly hitting the bedrock in the process. He instinctively attempted to swim. It was difficult, but possible due to magical nature of his plate mail. He reached the surface just in time to take a healthy gulp of fresh air.

The river current was carrying him towards a cave wall at great speed. He outstretched his arms, grasping for something to hold to.

Success!

But not for long.

The current was to strong and it pulled him back in, sucking him through cold darkness. He tumbled and rolled, hitting stone and flesh, trying to swim.

He broke the water surface once more. He flailed around in total darkness, until he grabbed someone! He pulled himself up, and crawled upon something flat enough to rest on.

The voices were familiar—Ambros and Tam.

The soaked trio rested on a piece of dryish cave floor. Ignaeus cast Light on his person, illuminating the cave. It was some forty by fifty feet, bisected by the river. They were on a small piece of rock jutting out on the north side of the cave. Hewn corridor connected to the south side of the cave.

“Blargh! Water!” Tam roared as he took a tankard of ice cold, chilly, all natural, mountain water.

A rotted chest with three skeletons next to it were on the same piece of rock. One of the skeletons held a rusted shortsword. Chest contained five hundred gold pieces, a moldy red cloak, and a wand.

Tam took of his armour and hurled it across. Then he swam over, as did Ambros and Ignaeus. Following the corridor led them to a chamber some forty by thirty feet.

There was an open pit in the center, with rope hanging down. The rope was anchored by three iron pitons. Adventurers pulled up the rope and retrieved the pitons. Then they went through the south doors.

T-junction splitting left and right. They went left, then turned right, and then reached another junction. A horde of zombies grunted to their right. A pack of ravenous ghouls howled to their left. Ambros squeezed his gold gavel.

Newspaper by Lord Jubalon Flux.

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