Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: Scions of Niramuth

The the darkened passage-way ended in a small natural cavern honeycombed with tiny holes apparently dug out by tiny persistent paws. At the far end of the chamber squatted a loathsome statue of an enormous rat flanked by a trio of iron braziers giving forth a dull flickering light. Piled between the rat's paws was a king's ransom of gold, silver, and jewels. The statue's eyes were a pair of scintillating crimson rubies. An arched doorway revealed another set of stairs spiraling up and out of sight. The distinctive smell of smoke and soot drifted down from the stairs.

Mina moved into the room and approached the stairs assuming the mysterious assailant had headed that way. She did not notice Drazen the drow thief hiding behind the statue, but he noticed her. Drazen got off another pair of crossbow shots at Mina, wounding her. The party quickly closed in on the thief and overpowered him.

The party then turned their attention to the statue. They pooled their knowledge and identified it as Niramuth, an ancient godling associated with rats and thieves. The godling and his followers were long ago cursed by a more powerful god who Niramuth had angered. Niramuth became an enormous rat and his followers were changed into normal rats, although still retaining their sly intelligence. Today the rat god is the patron of rat-catchers, were-rats, pick-pockets, cut-purses, cat-burglars, and assassins. Offerings to the rat god are often guarded by horrible curses to anyone who would dare to steal from him.

Undeterred by the legends and myths surrounding Niramuth, the party decided to investigate the pile of treasure. Aletha prodded a single coin away from the pile with a long pole. When nothing appeared to happen Vismund laughed at Aletha's caution and bent to pick up the coin. As soon as he took it in his hand he was struck with an overwhelming dread of anything small and furry. Just then the sound of thousands tiny scrabbling claws and chittering voices was heard as a wave of rats came pouring out of every hole in the cavern, quickly surrounding and engulfing the party. The group was forced to use their limited supply of area of effect powers to try to disperse the swarm as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, being surrounded meant they could not efficiently target the whole swarm. The fight drug on and on and threatened to bring down the group who had already taxed themselves to the limit and was low healing surges and out of daily powers. Vismund struggled with his new phobia of vermin, alternately running away from them, recoiling from their touch, and then charging back into the fight with almost a berserker like frenzy to destroy the hated beasts. Eventually the swarm was worn down and the remaining rats seeing the tide of battle turn against them melted away into their tunnels.

The party licked their wounds and gathered up the treasure, including another magical dagger +1 which was buried under the pile of coins and gems. They decided to rest and regain their strength before continuing on.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: An Occurance at Beggar Creek Bridge

In the next room the party found a dirty barracks lit by a large firepit that had something cooking over it that smelled vaguely of meat. Obvious signs of hurried packing and looting were visible. A few coins were scattered on the floor near a loose pair of flagstones that covered a pit large enough for two large coffers. A passage led around the corner to the east and the sounds of rushing water could be heard from that direction. The party split up at this point. Jym, Regnor, and Aletha continued after the fleeing slavers down the passage while Vismund and Mina stayed behind to thoroughly search the room for anything they may have left behind.

Mina discovered a loose brick in the wall, which was weakly plastered in place by what appeared to be dung. Choking back bile, she removed the stone and discovered an amulet of protection +1 in the secret niche behind the brick. Vismund found a suspicious section of wall in one of the corners, and a set of what looked like finger holes along the floor. Vismund used the finger holds to easily lift a false section of the wall. Behind was a small secret chamber with a large chest at the back of the room. Suspecting a trap he brought forth a light and found suspicious marks on the floor and the ceiling. A set of hollow spears were poised to skewer anyone walking underneath them and then deliver a fatal dose of acid through their tubular innards. Vismund cautiously skirted the room to get to the chest and then brought it out into the larger area to examine. Inside were a handful of coins. Apparently it had been mostly empty sometime beforehand. Mina discovered a false bottom on the chest but was unable to unlock it. Vismund crushed it with his hammer and he heard the muffled sound of glass breaking beneath his blow. When they removed the splinters of wood they found a folded damp tapestry of black and gold thread and shards of broken glass tightly wrapped inside it. Whatever potions the vials once held were ruined. They took the damp tapestry, the coins, and the amulet and then quickly chased after the rest of their party.

At the end of the passage Regnor, Jym, and Aletha saw it open up over another part of the underground river which rushed rapidly below them. A narrow wooden bridge extended out over it and to the other side where another dark passage was carved into the cavern wall. Below it on the other side of the river was short sandy beach. Currently a small raft was moored there and a group of figures was hurriedly loading it with ill-gotten goods. Standing on the raft giving orders was Vermouth an eladrin wizard. A pair of burly gnoll overseers, Raiko and Wrix, worked side-by-side with four remaining goblins to haul chests and coffers onto the raft. Riako was easily carrying the largest chest under one arm while liberally apply a whip to the backs of the four goblins who were struggling together to lift a smaller chest onto the raft. Wrix was holding a maul with both hands and scanning the bridge for anyone coming up behind them.

Not wasting any time, Regnor charged across the bridge and dove off of it into Wrix before he got a chance to bring the bridge down under him. Aletha sent forth her scorching burst to engulf the goblins, three of whom died and dropped the chest on the foot of the remaining goblin. Riako tossed his chest onto the raft and then turned to heave the last one on board. Vermouth struck Aletha with a burst of force. Vismund and Mina joined the fight and began to cross the bridge. A pair of crossbow bolts came shooting out of the darkened passage across the river from an unseen assailant which struck Mina. Angered, Mina went in search of her attacker in the darkness. Aletha used her curse of the dark dream to throw Vermouth off of the raft and into the rushing river. The river carried him downstream for a bit before he was able to fey step back onto the safety of the sandy shore. Meanwhile Regnor, Jym, and Vismund were able to defeat Wrix and the remaining goblin before engaging Raiko who stepped off the raft and lashed them with his whip, dragging Regnor's feet out from under him. Vermouth struck Vismund with another force blast, so Vismund charged him and crushed his skull with his warhammer. Raiko was blasted to death by Aletha. Mina was unable to locate the secretive attacker so she came back to join the party.

On the raft were three large chests and two coffers. After disabling the traps and unlocking the locks they found the slavers loot consisting of coins, uncut gems, silver ingots, and a set of stolen equipment bearing the mark of Vadicion Cainnae, an assassin of no small renown. Mina claimed these as hers.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: The Slave Masters of Punjar

The party only had enough time for a short rest after the battle with the giant ape guarding the slave pens before they proceeded with caution further into the underground network of caverns. During the short rest Mina and Jym leveled up. Jym picked up the "Shake it off" power and trained in the usage of the bastard sword so he could wield the magic bastard sword he looted off Irocar the Warcaptain. Mina chose the "Fleeting Ghost" power and "Backstabber" feat.

They picked up and moved on beyond the underground lake and slave pens area. The next area was a small empty stone chamber presenting them with a choice of two exits. A short and wide flight of stairs with an obvious set of well worn tracks led to the north. To the east was an irregular opening in the stone wall revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading into darkness. Rubble lay on the ground in front of the opening, giving the impression that the stairs had been concealed and then the wall had been torn down sometime in the past. Many of the rubble stones had been piled into a make-shift altar complete with numerous humanoid skulls and melted candles.

Aletha and Vismund discussed their knowledge of the area and decided that these caves were once part an ancient coven of warlocks who performed dark rituals and who then mysteriously disappeared. In recent history, slavers and smugglers moved into the subterranean passages in order to move their illegal cargo more easily and they most likely made changes and additions to the network of tunnels and caves. Aletha and Vismund reasoned that the dark narrow stairway must lead to a much older part of the caves and that the current batch of slavers must be to camped the north.

The party decided to come back here after dealing with the slavers first. To the north the short flight of stairs terminated in a small antechamber. Across from them was a rough brick and mortar wall including numerous humanoid skulls mortared into the wall in place of bricks at regular intervals. A large pair of bronze bound wooden doors were set in the center of the wall and apparently locked with a fancy mechanism cast in the shape of a demons snarling head reminiscent of the one Mina was poisoned by at the entrance to the alley above them. Muffled voices could be heard coming from beyond the doorway.

The party's perceptive eyes found a portcullis set in the ceiling that when lowered would cut off the stairs from the antechamber. Since Aletha knew she could easily fey step back to the other side of the barrier if it came down to separate the party, she volunteered to enter the chamber and have a look around. As predicted, not long after Aletha entered the antechamber the trap was sprung and the portcullis came crashing down cutting her off from the rest of the party. She also hear the sounds of the door unlocking and angry voices rising beyond the threshold. She quickly fey stepped back behind the rest of her party and waited. Everyone prepared for battle. The doors came open and the first wave of slavers came pouring into the antechamber. Hobgoblin slavers with swords and shields were supported by goblin archers with short bows. They came to a confused halt when they found that no one was in the antechamber with and then the party let fly with a volley of arrows, bolts, daggers, hammers, and eldritch blasts. Several slavers fell to the first exchange of missiles and the remaining goblins returned fire on the party. The angry voice of Orlis the Goat, the slavers' battle commander, was heard shouting "Raise the gate, you fools, and then rally to me!".

As the gate began ponderously to rise, Regnor rolled under it to engage the slavers toe-to-toe. Orlis the Goat, a dragonborn with distinctive ram-like curling horns wielding a magical greatsword, strode into the chamber surrounded by more hobgoblin soldiers and goblin reinforcements. The slavers outnumbered the party 2-to-1 at this point. The slavers formed up in a rough line extending to either side of their leader and attempted to block the party's progress.

The rest of the battle was short and bloody. Mina was able to sneak in behind many of her opponents gaining combat advantage and dealing extra damage with her new backstabbing ability. Regnor, Vismund, Aletha, and Mina took advantage of their opponents' tightly packed ranks and used their area of effect powers, blasting them with acid breath, scorching blasts, spike wires, and blinding barrages. Orlis retaliated with his own fire breath but was soon overwhelmed by the groups concentrated attacks. The few remaining goblins in the back of the room fled as soon as their leader was killed. Regnor took the magical greatsword from Orlis' corpse before following the rest of the group in pursuit of the goblins.

GM Commentary: Session 3 wrap-up

This time around only Kat, Chris, and Austin showed up. Austin was playing remotely via the internet. We had him up on Kat's laptop sitting on the window seat like a disembodied head. I had set up my webcam so he could see the game table. It worked out pretty well except for the sound quality which garbled his words at times. I'm curious to hear how it worked out from Austin's side of things and if he'll want to do that again some time.

It was a bit troublesome running two PCs as NPCs during this session. Characters have so many options on what to do each round of combat, and I am still pretty new to all the character powers of 4th edition. I wasn't fully prepared to run two characters in addition to all the enemies who have their own special lists of powers. I think that made a couple of the encounters more difficult, since Jym and Mina were not being played very effectively. In hind-sight, Mina and Jym should have been the ones caught by the pit trap near the end of the session to neatly take them out of the last couple combats which would have lightened my load quite a bit.

I think the discovery and encounter with the slaves wasn't very impressive. It was nearing the end of the session and I hadn't prepared fully for any dialog. I should have realized that the Black Shet encounter would flow directly into the slave encounter. Rather than dragging it out I opted to quickly resolve the encounter without much input from the players. The beggars I took out of the equation, since they would have just betrayed the party at the first opportunity. The party isn't the most trusting group and would have ended up killing them anyways. They wouldn't be worth any XP in that case. I thought Crox and Vismund could have had an interesting exchange being two dwarven craftsmen, maybe with some distant connection, a friend of a lost sibling or a shared clan affiliation, but I was unable to develop this properly. Since Sunny wasn't present I didn't develop the background of the Baroness's mysterious abduction. No one had chosen the side-quest to rescue Lorilass and his apprentice so there was no need to develop that story either.

Progress was made on many side quests. Regnor had already completed his quest of recovering his sponsor's brooch. Aletha took a trophy from Zeb'oltha to prove her death, Vismund found his stolen goods, and Jym discovered the missing Baroness. All that remains is to find the Beggar-King and slay him. After the module is finished I'll remind the characters to go claim their rewards. I'll have to remember to give quest experience to the party at the beginning of the next session. I also need to give more experience for the traps and hazards the party overcame in the last session. I'm hoping the characters can get to 3rd level before we are done with this module.

The party is almost through with the module. There are about six encounters left, not counting traps and hazards. They will be much more difficult than any that have come before so I hope the full party will be there to enjoy it. I may end up rearranging the dungeon a bit to space out the encounters. I may also tinker with the ending to make it more interesting. Either way I'll need to spend some time considering how to end the game gracefully.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 3: The Slave Pens of Punjar

Vismund and Regnor were trapped in a cage, swinging suspended by a chain from the ceiling far above. Below them they could hear the sounds of rushing water echoing off the sides of a sizable cavern. Regnor exerted himself in an attempt to bend the bars, but only managed to make the cage swing more pendulously. A monstrous roar echoed across the cavern and then the cage began to move, slowly being pulled toward the sound they had just heard.

Mina, Jym, and Aletha were still above in the Beggar-King's chambers. Mina discovered a hidden trap-door in the floor in the corner of the room. Jym and Aletha made her open it, just in case it was trapped. Beneath the door was a ladder leading to a rocky ledge. They descended into the chill of the cavern. The ledge overlooked an underground river that ran swiftly far below. Suspended high above them, an iron cage pitched drunkenly from side-to-side with Regnor and Vismund inside. Through the mist the party could see that the cage was being pulled slowly towards a series of slave pens raising to a platform, cast red in the flickering light of braziers. A huge desert ape, shackled to an equally enormous windlass, was feverishly working the crank.

A hobgoblin slaver stood nearby cracking a whip over the ape's head menacingly, and he watched as the iron cage was wheeled in. He caught sight of Jym, Mina, and Aletha approaching along the rocky ledge, placed a warhorn to his lips and blew a single long low note of warning. A pair of similar hobgoblins appeared, carrying short bows, and began firing on the intruders. Aletha, Regnor, and Vismund fired back as Jym and Mina closed the distance.

At this point the cage was directly over one of the open slave pens. The hobgoblin with the whip and horn ran to a lever on the wall and pulled it, releasing the floor of the cage. Vismund and Regnor were unceremoniously dropped into the pens among the other slaves. Next the slaver removed a pin from the ape's shackles and then the three hobgoblins quickly retreated down a connecting passageway. The ape, seeing that it was now freed of the hated windlass and it's tormentors had disappeared, leaped in ferocious anger towards the party. He landed in front of Jym and Mina, roared and pounded his chest, and with an almost casual backhand, slammed Mina off the ledge and into the slave pits below. Jym lashed out with shield and scimitar, but was pounded into unconsciousness on the stony ground by the desert ape's strong fists.

Regnor, Vismund, and Mina recovered enough from their falls to launch a barrage of missiles at the beast on the ledge above them. Aletha hurled fey magic at the creature, blinding it to her presence and blasting it in turn. Before long the creature fell under their concentrated attacks. Mina was able to pick the locks on their cage and Vismund made it to the aid of Jym before he passed into death.

Among the other captured they met two miserable human beggars covered in weeping sores, an aging dwarven tinker name Crox, Baroness Lady Constance and her two ladies in waiting, and an ancient and sickly sage named Lorilass and his lovely half-elf apprentice Neveril. The beggars seeing a chance for escape quickly ran off. Crox thanked the party for the rescue and offered to help carry the sage, who could not move under his own power, back to civilization. The party let all the captives go, and would only have come calling to claim their rewards back on the surface after they had dealt with the Beggar-King and these slavers.

At this point the party had earned enough experience to level up. Regnor traded spinning sweep for the passing attack encounter exploit, gained the dragon frenzy feat, and learned the unstoppable utility exploit. Vismund gained the dwarven weapon training feat, and gained the arcane springboard utility spell. Aletha gained the ethereal stride utility power, and used her feat to become an arcane initiate which granted her access to the wizard spell scorching burst as an encounter power. Jym and Mina have not yet trained in new abilities.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 3: Court of the Beggar-King

Mother Zeb'oltha's room had a pair of dingy windows overlooking a small courtyard that fronted a rotting warehouse. A door led to a short flight of stairs leading down to the courtyard. All was suspiciously quiet below. The party pushed Mina in front and down the stairs, in the hopes she would spring any waiting traps or ambushes. None came.

The courtyard was ringed by a high wall. The ground was muddy from pouring rain and bits of trash, broken bottles and cast-off crates stood in the shadowy corners of the yard. A well worn path ran between the warehouse's double-doors and another flight of stairs leading back up to the common quarters. A black swirling fog could still be seen clinging to the remnants of the ancient charnel tower situated behind the warehouse. A single small window overlooked the courtyard from a loft built over the warehouse.

The party moved across the courtyard cautiously. Aletha spotted a watcher in the small window above. The sound of a bar being drawn back from the warehouse doors alerted the party to the approach of more enemies. The doors flew open as an angry mob of beggars armed with daggers and short swords screamed and charged into the courtyard. The watcher from above broke out the window panes and fired a crossbow upon the party.

Despite the ferocity of the attacking hobos, the party was easily able to mow them down. One last beggar attempted to run away but was shot in the back with Regnor's new dragonhorn bow. Once the riffraff were slain the party moved into the warehouse for cover from the rain and the bolts of the crossbowman.

Scattered piles of moldy hay littered the warehouse floor. The walls and ceiling were charred black with soot from some past fire. Streams of water dripped from holes in the ceiling, pooling in cold puddles on the muddy floor. A ladder stood in one corner of the warehouse, rising to a closed loft door.

The party searched the goods in the warehouse and found more weak beer and wine in barrels. Aletha pilfered some of the wine to mix with her magical powder and make healing potions. Vismund exclaimed with joy when he discovered his stolen arms and armor hidden under a filthy tarp. Aletha was sceptical of Vismund's claimed ownership, even after he showed her is "personal mark" on each of the items. Vismund offered to split the profits from the items with the party if they all worked together to kill the Beggar-King.

Once again the party elected to send Mina up the ladder and through the loft door first, in the hopes she would set off any nasty surprises. At the top of the ladder was a chamber bedecked in moldering splendor. Stained tapestries, lit by flaming tapers and bronze braziers, glistened with mold and rainwater. Pillows and blankets, black with mildew, covered the floor. Cracked mirrors and tarnished copper shields hung from a fishing net strung along the exposed rafters of the roof. The air was thick with incense, but no amount of scent or perfume could conceal the oppressive reek of sweat and spilled wine.

Past a low table strewn half-empty jugs of wine and nibbled sweetmeats, Mina spotted an ancient divan hung with furs at the far end of the chamber. Apparently asleep in a drunken stupor atop the divan was a bald and portly figure in an embroidered robe. A glittering crown, topped with gems, sat nearby on a small gold coffer. A trio of hooded guards, dressed in the formless gray cloaks of executioners, stood watch over the sleeping form. Mina could see the window looking out over the courtyard, but there was no sign of the crossbowman.

Regnor was next into the room, and seeing that the guards hadn't noticed him yet, drew a bead on one of them with his bow. The shot struck one of the guards in the chest with a wooden sounding "thunk" and the guard went crashing to the floor. The other guards didn't make a move. Jym fired a shot at another one of the guards, which when struck collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap. Aletha wasted no time, on entering the chamber, and immediately cursed and struck the sleeping figure with an eldritch blast. The scream of a young girl escaped the body before it died.

Seeing that the party was distracted by the decoys, the crossbowman, known to the other beggars as Black Shet, attacked from his hiding place in the rafters. Mina returned fire and winged him. Wounded, he retreated to the far corner of the room. Vismund charged across the room, but a portion of the floor under him gave way. He fell for a while and then struck the metal floor of a hanging cage. Regnor also attempted to charge across the room at Black Shet, but stepped into another pit trap, landing hard next to Vismund in the cage. A spring loaded lid, triggered by their combined weight, slammed into place above them, and locking them in.

Having learned from their companions' mistakes, Jym, Mina, and Aletha carefully edged around the sides of the chamber to get at the assailant, taking shots at him as they went. Jym closed in and attempted to dislodge him from the rafters. Black Shet ignored Jym and found Aletha to be an easy target, hitting her with a well placed shot. Aletha cursed the marksmen and then burned him with eldritch fire, causing him to scream in pain and fall dead to the floor.

The trio quickly searched the room before attempting to locate their missing party members. Black Shet was wielding a magical duelist's dagger +1, etched with the name "Felis" on the blade. The guards were simply mannequins dressed in robes and hung with weapons. The dead figure on the divan turned out to be that of a young girl with a shaved head and wearing a padded robe in order to better play the part of the missing Beggar-King. The tapestries, furs, crown, and coffer turned out to be a fakes, but the jingle of coins could be heard from within the coffer. Mina attempted to pick the lock on the coffer and triggered a fusillade of darts to fire on the party, stinging all three of them. After they picked darts out of their skin they opened the coffer to find it filled with worthless tin coins.

At that moment a metallic rumbling came from below, causing the floorboards to rattle. Time was running out for their companions. Finding nothing of worth in the room they began searching around for a way below.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 3: Mama Zeb and her boys

After dealing with the mercenaries and their war captain, Irocar, the party searched the loft area. The captain was wielding a bastard sword +1, and an ornate longbow carved from a black dragon horn. The bow was not magical, but Regnor took it as a replacement for his short bow. No one could use the bastard sword without special training so they threw it on the pile of treasure to sell on the black market.

The loft also contained an ancient crumbling chimney that had gone long unused and was clogged with debris. Vismund discovered some suspicious looking bricks and began pulling them loose. Disturbing the bricks brought the entire pile down around him, covering him in brick dust and leaving him cut and bruised, but not seriously hurt. Sifting through the wreckage the party gathered together the mercenaries hidden treasure horde which consisted of a bag of various coins, a large jug containing the equivalent of five healing potions, and a quiver of javelins (4 silvered, 3 normal, and 1 javelin of lightning +1).

Further searching of the loft revealed a secret door. Regnor tried to pry it open, triggering a vicious trap, as a pair of spears shot up from the floorboards, piercing him in the ass and thighs. Enraged and embarrassed, Regnor tore the barbs from his body and slouched off to a corner to recover. Mina rigged the trap to fire if anyone came through the door. With the secret door trapped and the stairs alarmed, the party felt comfortable enough to take an extended rest. Vismund performed a brief ritual to summon a wizard's curtain to hide them from casual viewers and the settled in for some rest.

Six hours later the party was fully rested, healed, and ready for more action. Mina disabled the spear traps and opened the secret door. Beyond was a store room, piled with crates and barrels. Glittering eyes of chittering forms crowding the tops of the stores reflected the torch light. Before the swarm of hungry rats could react to the intruders, the party attacked. The rats were dispersed after a brief melee. The store room was filled with moldering foodstuffs and weak wine souring to vinegar. Vismund discovered a small cache of copper coins and a pair of silver earrings someone had hidden there earlier.

One door led from the store room into a larger room. Regnor and Aletha recognized it as the common quarters where they caught up to and killed Arthuro the fence as he tried to flee. His corpse was still lying in the room undisturbed so it did not appear that anyone had come through here in a long time. There were two exits from the common quarters, a set of stairs leading down or a short passage leading to a door. Mina listened to the door and heard a woman's voice chanting in the tiefling tongue. After describing what she overheard, Aletha recognized it as being part of an infernal warlock ritual. The party prepared for a fight and burst through the door.

The chamber behind the door was littered with the remnants of eldritch witchery. Shattered vials, broken canopic jars exposing the viscera inside, bits of bone, and the glowing slime of demon-kin were scattered about the rough wooden floor. The walls of the chamber were covered in bizarre diagrams drawn in chalk and blood, the obvious signs of an infernal witch's lair. In the middle of the room crouched a corpulent tiefling, engrossed in her current ritual. Aletha recognized Mother Zeb'oltha, witch-for-hire, from a description she was given by "The Sisters". With one talon-like finger she pointed at the party and croaked, "Kill them, my eunuch thralls."

A towering, muscled figure cloaked in hooded black robes and swinging a vicious spiked chain stepped between the party and his mistress. His twin moved up to intercept anyone who pushed past the first bodyguard. Regnor engaged the first eunuch, and struck a solid blow and marked his opponent. The bodyguard swung his chain and tripped up the dragonborn, spilling him onto the floor. Aletha placed her fey curse on the witch, but the tiefling resisted the eladrin's eyebite. Mother Zeb'oltha cackled evilly as she retaliated, cursing Aletha and then burning her with the flames of Phlegethos. Aletha was overwhelmed by the attack and collapsed in a flaming heap, nearing death. Jym brought her back with an inspiring word before being forcibly dragged into the room by Zeb'oltha's diabolic grasp spell. This put him in a dangerous position, flanked by the bodyguards. Regnor, Aletha, Vismund, and Mina teamed up on the eunuchs to bring them down and rescue their warlord.

Regnor was first to reach Mother Zeb'oltha, blasting her with acid breath and then reaping her with his axe. She shrieked in pain, pointed her rod topped with a ram skull at him and struck out with a hellish rebuke. Regnor was forced to quaff the dregs of a healing potion to regain his strength. Aletha hit the witch with an eldritch blast which backfired causing Regnor to be burned again so that he was rendered unconscious. Vismund was able to hit him with a healing admixture that brought him back to his feet.

With the bodyguards out of the way the party was able to focus their attacks on the witch. Vismund charged into melee and struck Mother Zeb'oltha with his warhammer which had been itching for the taste of tiefling blood. Aletha finished the witch off with a final blast of eldritch power and then made a trophy of one of her gnarled horns as proof of her death.

Vismund took the witch's skull rod +1 to add to his arsenal. Her sweat-stained cloth armor +1 was rejected and added to the pile to sell. Amongst the trappings chaos of the room the party found a few rare treasures: a pseudodragon egg kept warm on a bed of coals, a glass orb containing a living black dragon eye which watched the party warily until Vismund covered it with a spare cloth and slipped it inside his pack, Regnor discovered a worn unicorn horn, and Aletha found three jars containing a finely sifted powder that could be combined with wine to make effective potions of healing.

GM Commentary: Session 2 wrap-up

Jenny was nice enough to let us invade BYOB again. It took us longer to get set up and started than I liked, but we were still able to plow through four encounters and still have time to play apples to apples before the night was over. There were a few newbies at BYOB that night that were a bit confused by what we were doing. One guy actually sat down with us and started coaching and giving advice. He'd never played before and seemed very interested because he kept asking questions. I thought it was cool to see someone totally random get excited about the game. It was a bit annoying, though, at the same time.

Sunny was not able to join the rest of the group that night so I had to run Jym as an NPC this time around. It was fun playing the warlord and supporting the group, even though I really didn't get a chance to put his unique combat abilities to good use. I offered Jared the chance to play in Sunny's place, but he didn't want to break his streak of no DnD during football season. Regardless, I gave Jym a full share of the party experience and tried to make sure he didn't get completely excluded from the treasure.

Austin was in town and filled out the party nicely with his artificer. I was excited to see this new playtest class in action. It strikes me as a cross between a cleric and a wizard, with a heavy focus on ranged combat abilities that grant allies bonuses while hampering enemies. We haven't yet seen some of the unique features of this class, like mobile artifices and recharging magic items. I meant to work more of Vismund's back-story into the game. Austin tried to prompt me at one point, but I had decided before-hand that his special hammer would magically appear mundane to the casual viewer so as to avoid awkward questions and distractions.

I had spent some time beforehand preparing copies from the Player's Handbook for each of the players' racial bonuses, class features and powers. I'd written in some pre-calculated bonuses and highlighted the powers that were available to each player. I'd hoped this would help clear up some confusion and speed up the game a bit. It had mixed results, since it meant more papers for everyone to flip through. People are getting the hang of it though. When everyone gains a level it will come in handy to have the available utility powers right there.

The otyugh encounter went better than planned. The grub minions served their purpose by temping the characters into violence and then got in plenty of hits before being obliterated. The old otyugh didn't get a chance to hit with it's bite, but it still got to infect the fighter with filth fever. I'll have to remember to have Chris roll an Endurance check when the party takes it's next extended rest.

I was surprised that people didn't want to spend more time searching the flea-market area. I had to replace some of the mundane items in the chest of drawers with important items they had missed, although it made the logbook entries make even less sense. At least the quest item in the trash pit was found. I'll have to remind Regnor that he needs to return that item for his reward at the end of the adventure.

I need to become better at taking advantage of situations where skill challenges could be introduced so that I can try them out. The whole chest of drawers encounter and flea-market search could have been more engaging and involved more character skills.

Irocar died much quicker than I expected. Afterwards I realized that he was not supposed to enter the combat until later when the characters would be focused on the mercenaries. I was surprised at how fast the damage stacked up with just two strikers blasting away at him. I'll have to play my leader-types much more conservatively next time.

Over all this session went better than the last. Drawing out the map by hand on the wet erase mat gave everyone the chance to spread out and take part in the fights, and gave me the chance to change the layout slightly. I packed much lighter this time around and only had one bag of minis preselected for the encounters I knew were coming up. I'll have to remember to remove the minis I've already used. Many of the characters have used up their daily powers and most of their healing surges so I will encourage the party to take an extended rest.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 2: the black dog brotherhood

The narrow wooden stairs were stained with black spots of mold and the entire stair well smelled of mildew and rot. At the top of the stairs was a closed wooden door. Mina spotted a cord running under the door and weaving in and out of the treads of the stairs. Suspecting a trap or an alarm of some sort she attempted to delay the device and then led the party up the stairs. As they neared the door on the top someone made a misstep and a stair groaned loudly. Mina shushed the party and called a halt as she put her ear to the door. Voices on the other side confirmed what she feared, that they had been heard. Someone was giving orders to grab weapons and make ready for intruders.

The party decided that the best defense in this situation would be a good offense so they drew weapons and prepared to charge into the room. Regnor was the first through the door and into the smokey chamber beyond. Empty jacks of wine littered the floor, amid discarded crusts of bread and poorly tied bedrolls. The chamber was also occupied by a group of cruel, grim-faced brigands wearing leather armor and what appeared to be short cloaks fashioned from the pelts of black dogs. From that telling symbol Regnor gathered that these must be the black dog brotherhood, a notorious band of cold-hearted mercenaries. There were five of them here, three in formation with short swords drawn and two hanging back with throwing daggers in hand. Behind them a ladder rested on the far wall, leading up to a dark loft. At the edge of the loft stood a figure clad in dark-mail, wearing a fierce great-helm and wielding a blackened longbow. This figure could be none-other than Irocar the War Captain and master of the brotherhood. He called out a challenge to the dragonborn warrior and fired a shot at him.

Regnor ignored the arrow stuck in his shoulder and continued his charge into the midst of the mercenaries, cleaving with his great-axe and burning them with acidic dragonborn breath. They retaliated with slashing blades, cutting an slicing him.

Jym took up his scimitar and shield next to Regnor, leading from the front and delivering vicious strikes to the mercenaries. Jym took many grievous wounds and came very close to death during the battle, but was able to recover afterwards.

Mina snuck into the room, ducked a dagger thrown by one of the sharp-eyed mercenaries. She launched her own dagger back at him, then drew her crossbow and with a sly flourish shot Irocar in the arm.

Aletha strode confidently into the chamber, singled out the war-captain for her warlock's curse and then struck him with witchfire and eldritch blasts using her new magic wand. Between Aletha's enhanced fey-powers and Mina's repeatedly well-placed bolts, Irocar did not last long.

Vismund sent forth his spike wire to entangle and soften up the line of mercenaries, then with a word and a flourish enchanted Regnor's armor which resonated and with thundering force blew one of the mercenaries backwards.

Jym and Regnor worked together to slay a pair of the mercenaries, but their ranks were filled again by the dagger wielding menaces. Vismund grew impatient and charged into the melee swinging his ensorcelled warhammer with a rage fueled battlecry, downing one with a critical blow. The remaining two guards were quickly dispatched by the group and the room was cleared.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 2: Rats' treasure horde

After another short rest the party decided to move on. The next room appeared to be a study of some sort, lit by two greasy fat flickering candles set on a large table converted into a work desk. The desk was crowded with scrolls, spilled inkpots, a grimy scale, and stacks of copper coins. On the floor was an over-turned desk-chair and a sack half-filled with more copper coins. A set of rickety stairs led up to a closed wooden door and beyond the desk on the far wall was a ratty, moth-eaten blanket pinned to the wall, covering a door-shaped hole. Aletha searched the desk and found Arthuro the fence's logbook detailing the comings and goings on pilfered goods. The last few entries caught her eye, but they were largely indecipherable due to the personalized shorthand the fence used. She decided to hang onto the list in any case.

Vismund investigated beyond the blanket and found a cramped and dirty sleeping nook. Roaches scurried away from the candle-light and under a simple cot covered with a matted quilt. An unlit lantern sat near one side of the bed, atop a rotting wooden crate. The walls were made of cracked plaster, yet one wall looked suspiciously newer than the others and the sounds of furitive scratching and squeaking could be heard behind it. Vismund found a sack of coins and a silver cloak pin in the shape of a wyvern hidden inside the bed-side crate and then moved to take a closer look at the suspicious wall. With some skilled prodding of his hammer, Vismund was able to locate a sliding section of wall, which he pushed to the side revealing a hidden storage area almost completely taken up by a massive chest of drawers. Before he could inspect the chest further a mass of fur and teeth came pouring out of the secret closet as a swarm of angry rats surrounded his feet and began clawing and climbing up his boots and legs.

Regnor hurried into the room only to be swarmed by the rats. He swung his great-axe down at the swarm, but they only seemed to melt away from the narrow edge of the blade. Vismund jumped up onto the cot in an attempt to get out of the rats' range. As his weight came down on the cot a razor sharp spearhead ripped upward through the bedding and narrowly missed his foot. Apparently the paranoid Arthuro had even trapped his bed. Vismund recovered from his near skewering and hurled an artificed hammer at the rats, which trailed a line of barbed wire formed of arcane energy which wrapped about the swam. The swarm screamed as one entity and tried to escape the barbs, but everywhere it turned found only pain. Burst attacks seemed to be much more effective than other kinds of attacks. Regnor took a hint and summoned forth another great gout of acid from his stomach to sprayed the rat swarm with, and they hissed and scream in redoubled pain, biting and scratching at the dragonborn in self-defense.

Mina, Jym and Aletha rushed into the room. Aletha placed her curse on the swarm and shot a bolt of dark crackling energy at it, but most of the rats escaped her eldritch blast. Mina fired a blinding barrage of crossbow bolts at the swarm, killing many and sending the rest running to disappear in cracks in the floor and walls.

Once they were sure the swarm was dispersed the group turned their attention to the chest of drawers. There were seven drawers in the chest. Each drawer had a symbol, code, or pictogram scratched or drawn on the front of them. A few of the codes matched those Aletha found in the logbook. Vismund looked more closely at these drawers and detected the presence of traps on them. Mina set to work with her new tools to disable the traps and unlock the drawers.

The first drawer was marked "O7" and was trapped with a poison needle. It contained a fine green cloth cloak folded into a neat bundle. Aletha used her knowledge of arcana to detect its magical aura and identified it as a cloak of resistance +1 which the group chose to give to the fighter.

The drawer marked "A3" was protected by a spear trap. It contained a wand fashioned of wood and iron and was carved into a dragon head on one end. Aletha detected magic, identified it as a +1 magic wand and claimed it for herself.

A drawer with the code "T11" was trapped with a scything blade. Curiously it did not contain the item listed on the logbook. Aletha lifted a dusty leather waterskin out of the compartment and sniffed at the half-drunk contents, which turned out to be the dregs of a potion of healing. She gave it to the fighter.

A drawer bearing a sword pictograph contained the broken haft of a ceremonial great-sword. Elvish runes could barely be made out on the remaining portion of the blade. Aletha examined them and determined it had come from the tomb of a forgotten fae-lord. Maybe she would be able to locate the tomb in the future and the restore the blade...

The next drawer was marked with the picture of a skull and contained a pair of sealed vials containing a smoky liquid. Vismund and Jym examined them and determined that they held the antitoxin to shadowstuff toxin, which was still plagued Mina. Vismund attempt to barter with Mina to trade one of the antitoxins for her cloak, but eventually softened and gave it to her.

The drawer marked with a dragon pictogram contained a sack of coins and four sheets of vellum bearing the Beggar-King's wax stamps used as bankers' notes for fencing particularly expensive goods. These items were shared amongst the whole group.

The last drawer bore the image of a crescent moon and contained a small wooden box containing seven needles, poisoned with stormclaw scorpion venom and sealed with wax. Mina took this and squirreled it away among her belongings.

After distributing their pilfered treasure and making sure the chest was emptied the party decided to continue their adventure and headed back into the study to examined the stairs...

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 2: Another day, another garbage monster

Aletha, Regnor, Jym, and Mina took a short rest in the beggars' flea-market area. While they were recovering a new figure arrived on the scene. A disgruntled dwarven blacksmith by the name of Vismund was on the rampage. Word on the street was that the Beggar-King had been bragging about getting a "steal of a deal" from this particular craftsman. Vismund had toiled over several suits of armor and weapons on a commission for the Beggar-King and then came home one evening after having one too many ales to find his shop ransacked and his goods stolen. He'd spent the better part of a week trying and failing to gather information on where the Beggar-King could have stashed the stolen items, when finally he got lucky. While having his usual evening ale at the "Horny Hippogriff" and eavesdropping on the locals he overheard a group of odd individuals discussing their own plan for assaulting the beggars' lair. This was the best lead he'd had yet, but experience had taught him patience and discretion so he decided to follow the group in secret rather than reveal himself right away.

His patience was rewarded as the pair of tieflings, the dragonborn, and eladrin led him to the Beggar-King's rotting demesne. He watched from a safe distance as they dealt with the gate and the guards before cautiously following them farther in. As he approached he caught sight of one of Mina watching from the crack of a doorway. Once Mina realized she'd been spotted she verbally accosted the dwarf in the alley. Vismund explained his situation to the party and after some initial skepticism they agreed to work together as long as it furthered the goals of all.

Some time was spent searching through the beggars' flea-market for anything of value. Vismund discovered a pair of worn leather boots who's heels appeared to be loose. Closer inspection revealed that the beggars had missed hidden compartments built into the hollowed heels, containing a set of masterwork thief's tools and an antique platinum coin which would fetch a decent price from the right collector. The artificer gave the tools to Mina in the hopes that later they would come in handy, but kept the coin for himself. Jym brushed the dust off of an old battered lantern and it proved to be of high quality with silver filigree, inside was the partially mummified corpse of a pixie that had become trapped. Mina spent the most time searching through the clutter and was rewarded by finding an gold tooth on an intact fleshless orc skull and an enormous white wolf hide. She removed the gold tooth from the skull and used the wolf fur as an effective cloak.

Regnor wasn't interested in the random trinkets in the front room, but Mina's description of the glint of gold in the trash heap did intrigue him. He stepped behind the rotting curtain to investigate. The smell of decay and filth was almost overpowering. After only a few moments of digging through the top of the trash heap, a pair of large and fat grub-like creatures crawled out towards Regnor, gnashing their razor-sharp rings of teeth at him. He gave a cry of surprise before mightily cleaving through the pair of repulsive carrion beast larvae. Regnor's shout brought the rest of the party to investigate. Before they arrived a muscled and sharp spined tentacle shot out of the pile of garbage and wrapped itself around Regnor and dragged him bodily into the trash and towards the tooth filled maw of an old otyugh. More grubs surfaced and surrounded the fighter, trying to burrow into any exposed flesh.

The other party members rushed into the smelly room to find Regnor thrashing in the grasp of an abomination and set upon by six ravenous grubs. Vismund bolstered Regnor's armor with a wave of his rune inscribed hammer. Mina and Jym focused on killing the biting grubs, while Aletha cursed the otyugh and scortched it with witchfire in an attempt to keep it from devouring the dragonborn. Regnor, using his bloodied fury, slashed viciously around him, damaging the otyugh and killing more grubs. The otyugh was not able to bite the prey squirming in its grasp, but it was slowly squeezing the life out of him. Vismund blew an enchanted healing admixture onto Regnor and Jym gave him an inspiring burst of energy, bringing him back from the brink of death. Once the grubs were all destroyed the party focused its attacks on the mother-beast which died quickly under their combined force. Regnor survived the ambush, but came away feeling ill and feverish from the filthy wounds he received.

Holding their noses, the party searched through the heap of garbage for that promise of gold. Mina was able to locate the source of the glint and pulled out a finely wrought golden pendant with a large ruby set into it and bearing a family crest of some sort. Aletha recognized it as belonging to the wealthy Tianass family. Vismund recognized the craftsman's mark on the back of Tovias Hammerkien, a gnome jeweler of some note. Regnor informed the party that Lady Tianass had asked him to recover this particular heirloom in return for a reward and possible further employment, so he took it.

GM Commentary: Session 1 Wrap-up

I don't think we've quite seen the best 4th edition has to offer yet. The players had some difficulty with the module and I have some theories on this.

First of all it's designed for 5 players and we only had 4 on the first session. The module gave some hints on how to reduce the difficulty for a smaller group, but I didn't think they'd be taking on all of the enemies at once. I didn't foresee the party heading straight into the flea-market area without first scoping out the end of the alley-way or dealing with the sentries. Once they started the encounter with the street-toughs and Arthuro the fence I couldn't just leave the sentries standing dumbly around. It may have been better to have made the sentries come running and engage the party out in the street when they loudly broke the gates down. That would have spaced the encounter out a bit.

In addition, the difficulty classes for skill tests seemed a bit high and under further inspection it looks like the writers designed the module before the first set of errata and updates came out for the PHB. All the DCs should have been about 5 less than they were. I think the players were getting a little frustrated with failing their skill-checks at the very beginning of the game.

The full-color battle-map that came with the module first struck me as a neat aspect of the module, especially with the removable roof tiles to hide the unexplored areas. While playing the map proved to be small and cramped. There wasn't even enough room on the map to put all five sentries in the sentry post so I had to put two of them at the far end of the alley-way. The alley was only one miniature wide, which felt way too narrow given the grand depiction of the entry gate and the description of the fountain. The battle in the flea-market was packed tight. The toughs were supposed to try to bull-rush PCs into the trash pit, but there was no room to maneuver. The stairs are the only reasonable sized things on the map. I think next time I will resort to drawing the map myself and in the process I'll double the size of everything.

In the confusion of character generation I failed to inform Kat of a couple of additional features of the warlock. She managed to deal with her adversaries easily enough without these aspects, but it would have been nice for her to have access to them. First of all I didn't quite understand that the warlock's curse could be active on multiple enemies at the same time during the course of the encounter. I mistook it for having the same mechanic as the fighter's mark, the paladin's challenge, and the ranger's prey abilities which can only effect one enemy at a time. In addition warlocks are granted an ability called "prime shot" which gives them a +1 bonus to attack rolls when they are alone with an enemy, which would have given her an advantage in her situation. Oh well, next time I will try to make sure those features don't get overlooked.

There were a couple of problems with new 4th edition rules. Action points were a little confusing I think. I handed out poker chips to represent action points, but I still had to remind the players what it was and when they could use it. To complicate things, many warlord abilities only accessible when action points are spent. On the other hand, all action points were spent and granted the PCs a slight advantage in the fight. Things could have gone much worse without those extra attacks and second winds. I did forget to give the players a +2 bonus to all their defenses when they used their second winds, which may have made the difference on a few hits.

Halfway through the combat I realized that tumbling is completely different in 4th edition. Heidi wanted to tumble past one of the street-toughs and I made the ruling that she could use the acrobatics skill to do this. She ended up missing the roll and getting swatted for it, but what I didn't realize was that Tumble is now a rogue-only 2nd level utility encounter power. Acrobatics doesn't have any rules regarding tumbling past enemies. Tumbling used to be a stand-by in 3.5, almost all characters wanted to train in it to basically move freely around the battlefield without fear of opportunity attacks. I get the feeling that tumble will be sorely missed by the PCs, but as a GM it means I can threaten the PCs more with enemy formation tactics and they won't be able to just move past the front line of soldiers to target the squishy back-fielders.

Related to that, I thought shifting 1 square was a minor action, but I reread the rules and discovered that shifting 1 square is a movement action. This means catching fleeing enemies will be a bit easier next time.

Another staple of our 3.5 game was the use of the intimidate skill. My players would use it relentlessly to put fear into their opponents hearts and weaken their resolve (-2 penalty on rolls). Now it seems this skill has been "nerfed" and only grants advantage outside of combat or only if the opponent is bloodied. The way I read the skill description it has no use on an unbloodied hostile opponent. This caused me some consternation when the players had killed all but the last sentry who was relatively safe in his hiding place. I eventually let the players coax him down, but this seemed improbable to me. I should have had him attempt to flee by climbing onto the roof and running away yet be graphically slain by the "black fog" to serve as an additional warning to the PCs. As it played out I used the last sentry to divulge a few more useful rumors that the PCs hadn't picked up back at the tavern.

Austin promises to join the party next time, so the game balance should be better. I hope the next session goes well and we get more accomplished.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 1: Beggars' Fleamarket

Mina led the group down the alley and around a rain-filled stream of filth and debris as red-eyed rats squealed and ran underfoot. She spotted a group of bedraggled sentries on a second story platform further along the alley, neglecting their duties. Nearby was a warped wooden door leading into one of the tenements. Mina pointed out the sentries to the rest of the group and then decided to try the door. It was not locked.

Inside was a shadowy chamber crowded with a crazed menagerie of items. Broken barrels topped with rotted wood served as a table in the center of the floor while boxes and crates lined the walls and stacks of junk filled every other available space. Strings of silverware, cloth, chains, ropes and lanterns hung from the cracked and sagging rafters. A doorway on the left was covered by a stained and moth-eaten curtain. On the right was an open doorway leading into another shadowy chamber. A pair of street toughs were rifling through the junk, apparently taking inventory and calling out any important finds to someone in the next room who would shout back in acknowledgement. Mina quietly closed the door and headed back down the alley.

Mina conferred with the group and they chose to get the drop on the street toughs instead of trying to sneak past the sentries. Regnor burst through the door and charged the tough on the left, smashing him into a pile of rusty and broken weapons in the corner. Jym engaged the surprised tough on the right, while Mina attempted to vault over table to gain combat advantage on him. The weakened piece of make-shift furniture cracked under her weight and dumped her on the ground amid a pile of useless trinkets. A call of alarm went up and the voice from the other chamber queried angrily "What's going on in there you oafs? If you damage the goods I'll take it out of your hides!"

Aletha was left to deal with a pair of guards that came around the corner of the alley. They spotted her and alerted the sentries lounging above before attacking. She proceeded to lead them on a running fight, using her warlock curse, eyebite, witchfire, and misty-step powers to good use. Aletha took a few cuts from the guards' short sword and longspear before one was cursed, blinded, blasted and burned to death.

One of sentries came down from the perch and joined the fight running into the flea market area to support the street-toughs. The street-toughs recovered from their surprise enough to grab shields and maces and brought the fight back to the party. Jym was struck prone by a heavy blow, Regnor took a glancing blow while Mina moved into position for a backstab. A slovenly thief called Arthuro the Fence joined the fight from the side-chamber. Mina made for a convenient target so he slashed her with his magical dagger. Jym got back to his feet and finished off his opponent and called encouragement to his allies, granting Mina a much needed surge.

Regnor used his dragonborn breath to belch forth a spray of acid, spattering one of the toughs and Arthuro the Fence, and then followed up with a reaping strike of his great-axe, killing the tough. The sentry joining the fight made an ineffective slash at the fighter. Arthuro the Fence moved in to slash at Jym while Mina moved to cut off his escape. Arthuro noticed that the odds were against him and decided to run. Using his tumbling ability he rolled past Jym, through the alley door and tried to escape.

The sentry in the flea market was quickly dispatched by Jym, Regnor, and Mina who then ran out into the alley to catch the fleeing thief. Aletha used her daily power to destroy the guard chasing her before misty-stepping back up the alley to rejoin the rest of the party. Arthuro turned and ran around the corner. The last pair of sentries stationed up above the alley tossed weighted nets down towards Arthuro's pursuers. Regnor dodged the nets and continued after the fence who was currently trying to reach a door at the far end of the alley. Nearby a vile looking and filth-covered fountain leaked rust-colored fluid onto the alley floor.

Jym moved under the sentry post and waited for them to peek out over. They grabbed longspears and poked at him from above. Jym grabbed one of the spears and hauled the attached sentry off of the platform and brought him crashing down onto the wet cobblestones. Mina took advantage of his helplessness and sliced his throat. The remaining sentry backed into a dark corner of the post. Aletha hurried past the melee and attempted to catch up with Regnor and the fence. Regnor made a passing swipe at Arthuro before he flung the door open and rushed up a rickety set of stairs. Regnor charged up after and caught him at the top in a large room crowded with greasy and flea-ridden cots, and lit by melting candles crammed into every nook and cranny. None of the cots were occupied at the moment, but there wasn't more time to investigate. Regnor struck Arthuro with a vicious blow bringing him to the brink of death but before the fence could retaliate he was struck by an eldritch blast from Aletha at the base of the stairs. The blast was enough to kill the fence, and Aletha used her fey-pact boon to misty-step to the top of the stairs with Regnor.

Jym and Mina harried the last sentry with crossbow bolts and intimidated him into coming down from his perch. Jym questioned and threatened him in to revealing what little he knew about the inhabitants of the complex before stripping him and chasing him off down Rat Catchers' Row away from the Beggar-King's lair. Regnor looted Arthuro's corpse before heading back to the alley with Aletha. The party took a moment to examine the creepy looking fountain, and when some of the filth was scraped away it was revealed to be a kind of shrine to Orcus, an evil demon-prince of the underworld and lord of the undead, decorated with precious gems. The fact that the stones had not already been stolen by beggars was sign enough that it was ill advised to tamper with it.

Back inside the flea market area Mina peeked behind the grimy curtain and was assaulted by the stench of rotting garbage. A sink-hole in the dirt floor occupied the small room and was filled with trash and cast-offs. Before Mina closed the curtain and retreated from the stench she thought she spied the glint of gold amid the trash, and also got the distinct impression that something else moved down there...

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 1: Smashing the Gates

The adventure takes place in a crime-ridden city Punjar, specifically in a slum district alternately known as Old Punjar or Smoke. It is a densely populated and poorly patrolled area of Punjar where many nefarious deeds take place away from the watchful eyes of the masters of the great city. Two factions that vie over control of the district, the Thieves' Guild and the Beggar-King, are in all but open war with each other. Rumors abound that the ridiculously arrogant and self-styled Beggar-King has begun hiring mercenaries in the hopes of bolstering is poorly equipped and untrained vassals of beggars and finally defeating the Master of Smoke (the leader of the Thieves' Guild). So far all of his attempts have failed and he grows ever more desperate. Who knows to what depths he may go in search of allies.

Aletha, Jym, Mina, and Regnor all found themselves at a disreputable watering hole called the "Horny Hippogriff" seeking drink and information. They overheard many tall-tales and rumors listening to the other patrons and the ever-present owner and bartender, Six-fingered Sam.

"The Beggar-King makes his lair in the slums surrounding an ancient charnel tower on Rat Catchers' Row. Once the tower was sacred to the Thieves, who used it to cremate their most honored thief lords. Truth is, the spirits of the old Canting Crew still haunt the tower. Foolish is the soul that would dare disturb their resting place..."

"I hear tell the Beggar-King is looking to hire a few good swords to his cause. Must have a king's ransom, for the purses he's offering to mercenaries. 'Course, what good is gold if you don't live long enough to spend it?"

"The smog lurking over the slums? A magical plague says I, sent by the gods to punish those over-reaching beggars. Only ill can come from dabbling in black magic, but them beggars was never the wise sort. If they were, wouldn't be beggars now would they?"

"Stories hold that somewhere in the rat's nest of tenements is a fountain dedicated to the Old Gods. Dark, forbidding thing, where warlocks used to meet to work their wicked rites in days of yore. Solve the mystery of the fountain, and you'll solve the mystery of the Thing that haunts the slums, if the stories are to be believed."

"'Ware the smoke lurking over the Beggar-King's lair. I've seen it take a man and reduce him to nothing but bones and gristle in the time it took me to tell you as much! Stay low and stick to cobbles and you should be safe, but avoid the slate-road at all costs!"

"I've heard tell that Old Mother Zeb'oltha herself answered the Beggar-King's call for allies. If you're wondering why the Thieves haven't moved on the beggars, don't look any further. Mother Zeb'oltha is a nasty one, a demon-blooded black sorceress, who ain't above using folks for spell components, if you get my drift. You'll know her by the eunuch bodyguards she keeps, but by then it's usually too late."

"Truth of the matter is, the beggars are all dead. Their boss sacrificed his kin weeks ago; all to earn the patronage of some fell power. Don't know if it worked, but it seems a beggar's soul ought to be worth as much as any other."

"Many people of varying importance have gone missing. Word on the street says the the Beggar-King has been paying for his mercenaries by selling slaves to a third party. It may be that slavers are once again working out of a hidden underground network of caves and tunnels. Wasn't so long ago when the slavers preyed on us common folks, was it?"

After gathering information and pooling their knowledge the party decided to investigate the Beggar-King's lair together, each for their own ends. It was not hard to find his rotting demesne on Rat Catchers' Row. The only accessible entrance appeared to be a narrow alley blocked by a tall iron gate topped by sharp spikes and leering gargoyles. The heavy lock securing the gate was cast into the face of a snarling devil. Over and above the patchy slate tiled roofs of the complex of dilapidated tenements hung a black swirling cloud concentrated around the top of an old charnel tower. Heeding the warning against taking the "slate-road" the party opted to not try and climb over the walls and roofs. and inspection of the spikes revealed them to be trapped cautioning against trying to scale the gate either.

The rogue inspected the lock in the mouth of the devil's face and not seeing any obvious traps attempted to pick it. The first attempt failed which set off a well hidden trap and the jaws of the mouth slammed shut around Mina's hand and arm. One of the sharp canines pierced her skin and she felt a toxin course through her blood. The rest of the party watched in horror as Mina's skin and eyes turned gray from the poison. Aletha and Jym helped Regnor pry apart the metal jaws of the trap far enough for Mina to withdraw her damaged arm. Jym examined the wound and determined that the symptoms matched those of "shadowstuff toxin" a rare and magical poison that slowly change the infected into mere shadow and they cease to exist. Jym gave her his expert opinion that she had only a few hours to live unless they could find an antidote.

Aletha, tired of watching her companions be stymied by the locked gate, used her Eladrin fey-step ability to teleport onto the other side of the gate. From the inside she was able to target the vulnerable gate hinges with eldritch blasts, causing the whole thing to come crashing down into the rain-slicked cobblestones. After the echoes of their violent entry died away the party attempted to salvage what remained of their stealth and headed deeper into the complex down the alley.