Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is designed as a sandbox. And not just in name only. It’s the real deal: A campaign where the players are empowered to either choose or define what their next scenario is going to be.

In the latest Advanced Gamemastery video, I simulate the opening sessions of a campaign in Icewind Dale, walking you through how a master GM brings the Forgotten Realms to life.

ICEWIND DALE ARTICLES
Review: Icewind Dale – Rime of the Frostmaiden
Icewind Dale: Running the Sandbox
Icewind Dale: Travel Times
Icewind Dale: Goat-Ball
Sandbox & Simulation

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When spellcasters prep a spell, they are creating an entanglement between their souls and the quantized fields of ley energy which permeate the cosmos. (Or, more accurately, they shape their spiritual valence – the “surface” at which the soul’s energy interfaces with the rest of reality – to create specific desmata, or channels, which are entangled with the ley fields. Hence, channeling magic.)

This process is incredibly dangerous. If the entanglement goes wrong, a spellcaster can essentially “ground” themselves – becoming (very briefly) a living conduit through which unrestrained magical energy pours into the Material Plane. At best, this can burn out some or all of the caster’s magical potential, creating a scar on their soul. Usually such events simply kill the caster outright.

In practice, arcanists have learned very stable configurations of entanglement. Different bodies of arcane theory feature different stable patterns through which they progress, but, for example, wizards have perfected patterns for creating two entanglements with the first sphere of energy (1^st level spells), another for four entanglements with the first field of energy and two with the second field, and so forth.

Magical theory believes that the nature and shape of the ley fields are due to the configuration of the major planes. The “turning of the Great Wheel” or “branchings of the Great Tree” are really just metaphors for how arcanists believe energy flows through the multiverse. (This is also why you may hear some arcanists referring to the “first sphere” or “seventh sphere” of magic, while others refer to the level or branching or so forth.)

If you were to truly “blow up Hell,” or whatever, the quantum levels of the energy field would shift, completely disrupting all magical theory: A 3^rd level spell slot would no longer have the same amount of mystical energy. There might even be more or less discrete layers – i.e., spell levels – in the ley field.

Ley lines can be thought of as “cracks” in the skein of reality where this interplanar energy is pushing through into our plane of existence. They are a sort of obduction where magical energy enters the Material Plane, similar to how new crust is “pushed up” through ocean rifts. In any case, this means that a given ley line can be associated with one, some, or all nine of the energy fields (spell levels).

THE EVOLUTION OF MAGICAL THEORY

It used to be the case that each desmata had to be carefully customized to a specific flow of energy. (In other words, you had to prep a specific spell into each spell slot.) It was always known, however, that this was merely a theoretical limit: There were creatures with natural desmata, for example, who could use them to flexibly cast a variety of spells.

Some individuals were similarly known to be born with or later manifest natural desmata. In some cases, these desmata would become “active,” allowing these “natural spellcasters” to create variable magical effects without any formal training. However, this was an uncontrolled, dangerous, and incredibly unstable process. The spontaneous alignment of any desmata could go horribly awry. It might kill the spellcaster, burn out their magical ability, or, in rare cases, cause the desmata to become stuck “open” – basically spewing forth wild magic in a chaotic torrent.

These spontaneous spellcasters were basically walking cataclysms that could be unpredictably triggered at any moment. As a result, they were usually social pariahs. (People don’t like it when their neighbors randomly blow up.)

In the last century, however, significant breakthroughs in arcane theory made it possible for these spellcasters – or sorcerers – to, first, wield much greater control over which spells they could cast through their desmata (allowing them to learn specific spells instead of just manifesting random abilities) and, later, safely activate their dormant desmata in stable configurations.

Sorcerers stopped exploding. Some of the old prejudices remain, but over the past several decades they have mostly been reintegrated into society.

These theoretical breakthroughs also led to a greater understanding of the structure (or “weave”) of desmata. Studying the flexible desmata of sorcerers allowed other arcanists to perfect the design of non-specific desmata aligned to each ley field.

This was a revolution in magical theory!

The first flexible desmata to be perfected was actually for the third sphere of magic, but over the next decade arcanists rapidly perfected flexible desmata for each quantized field. You still had to study and master specific spell effects, but you no longer had to create one custom desmata for a fireball and a different custom desmata for a lightning bolt – you simply had a single flexible desmata of the third sphere which could be used to channel energy for either effect.

The insights gleaned from these new breakthroughs, however, also spilled into general field theory to arguably even greater effect. To fully understand that, however, we’ll first want to take a closer look at cantrips.

CANTRIPS: GENERAL FIELD THEORY

It has long been understood that in addition to the large, quantized ley fields, there is also a pervasive field of discordant, low-level mystic energy that appears to permeate all etheric and material matter. In older texts it is often referred to as the Discord. In bardic traditions it is sometimes referred to as the “unchorded song.” We’ll refer to as the general field.

The energy levels of the general field are so small that they’re generally “washed out” by the nine spheres of magic. As a result, the general field was first detected by elven arcanists studying the ambitus (or perimeter) of antimagic fields. (It is now widely recognized that certain arcane traditions of the beholder magi-lines had been aware of the general field for centuries before it was “discovered” by the elves, but, of course, beholders are infamously secretive about their arcane traditions, even with each other.)

The low energy of the general field severely limited the effects which could be created with it. In addition, the cumbersome desmata created to interface with the general field actually interfered with the far more useful desmata of the first sphere, reducing the number of such desmata that could be safely entangled!

However, the low energy and pervasive nature of the general field also made it considerably safer to manipulate. The general field spells – which became known as cantrips – were ideal for training new students in the arts of magic. The success rate (as opposed to the “messy death” rate) for apprenticeships soared, greatly invigorating arcane studies.

Huge tomes of cantrips were developed for apprentices, but due to the interference effects most magi abandoned them entirely once they were ready to master more powerful desmata, although it was not unknown for some to maintain a cluster of four or so of their favorite cantrips despite the sacrifice.

The next major breakthrough in cantrip theory came when Xylarthen perfected a spell form of the first sphere that could be used to flexibly channel any cantrip known to the caster. Ironically, the complexity of this form made it unsuitable for apprentices, but it did mean that more powerful magi who were nostalgic for their old cantrips no longer needed to maintain a disrupting cluster of cantrip desmata to practice them.

Hidden within Xylarthen’s cantrip spell, of course, was an alternative theory of flexible desmata (which, at this time, had not yet been perfected). This was widely recognized and any number of experimental arcanists began trying to expand the theory. The general belief was that it would be possible to create desmata of a higher level that could be used to flexibly cast less powerful effects: Just as a desmata of the first sphere could be used to flexibly cast cantrips, so a desmata of the fourth level, for example, might be able to channel spells of the third level. Various theories were promulgated, many of them featuring increasingly baroque arrangements of “resonance” (i.e., the idea that a fourth level desmata might be able to cast any second level spell, but not a third level one; or vice versa; or only a third and a first; and so forth). There was another school of thought which postulated that flexible desmata might be able to achieve stability within specific schools of magic.

All of these theories ultimately proved unsuccessful. There was a single desmata of the eighth sphere that could be used to cast spells of the fifth level and lower, but it proved to be incredibly unstable. After several spectacularly lethal disasters, the form was abandoned. The wizard Rary did eventually manage to construct a deserata of the third sphere that could be used to cast mixtures of lower level spells, but its use was highly specialized and he was never able to generalize the somewhat fluke discovery back into general principles.

The next true breakthrough in cantrip-related theory actually came from a completely different direction: Minor desmata were perfected which could be used to prepare cantrips powered by the “zero-level” field of mystical energy without disrupting higher level entanglements. These were not flexible desmata (each needed to be prepared for a specific cantrip), but it meant that arcanists could now continue using cantrips throughout their careers. They were also closer in theory to other desmata, making it easier for apprentices to transition from their early studies to more powerful spells.

When the theory of flexible desmata was later perfected, however, the old Xylarthenic theories were revisited. The new models made it clearer how Xylarthen’s cantrip spell had been using higher orders of magic to create a flexible construct that could channel energy from the general field. What was even more interesting, however, was that the new theories of desmatic creation suggested that it should be possible to create a flexible cantrip desmata which, due to the pervasive properties of the general field, would not lose its entanglement with the general field when used to cast a spell.

In other words, once a spellcaster had entangled their soul with the proper desmata, it was possible in theory to cast a limitless number of such spells.

It took some time to perfect, but that was more or less what the arcanists did, creating the order of magic as we know it today: Flexible desmata for spontaneously casting of spells of the first through ninth sphere and clusters of cantrip desmata that have no limit on often they can be used.

A MISCELLANEA

A few miscellaneous thoughts:

• The really interesting element of modern arcane theory is that there’s theoretically no limit to how much energy can be pulled from the general field. This means that a grand unified theory of magic would theoretically allow ALL magical spells to be powered by the general field and, therefore, cast without limit. At the moment, however, arcanists are limited to “solving” each spell individually. But each new spell that becomes a cantrip is a major achievement!
• Don’t get too excited: Elven arcanists will point out that the “grand unified theory” is always just twenty years away (for humans) or a hundred years away (for elves).
• Insofar as “magic” is the interface between a caster’s soul and the ley fields, psionics cannot be properly understood as “magic.” Psionic abilities are the result of manipulating, focusing, and multiplying the energy of the soul itself.
• Warlocks don’t have level-associated slots because they don’t actually entangle with the ley fields. They are instead directly entangled with their patron, which simply feeds them the ley energy. (This is why other arcanists often look at them with roughly the same terror that you might look at a high-capacity power line dancing around on the ground and shooting out sparks.)
• Divine mystic traditions used to be based on very different theories of how magic worked, allowing an interface with only seven of the spheres (although the particulars of that interface allowed them to create effects similar to arcane traditions using different ley fields). Over time, mystic theory has become more unified, with divine traditions tapping into arcane theory to create desmata that can entangle with all nine spheres.
• What hasn’t changed is that clerics are generally dependent on the connection to their god to create and entangle their desmata. This means most clerics are significantly less familiar with the fine details of arcane theory. These divine desmata, however, still have unique properties which make certain magical effects (like healing) possible that are still beyond arcane theory.
• There are magical “viruses” that can interface with desmata. Most only interface with spent desmata, but there are also some that can attach to entangled desmata. (These tend to be more dangerous.)

FURTHER READING
Spells: Parasites of the Mind
Scrolls: Bonds of Power

The hexcrawl is a game structure for running wilderness exploration scenarios. Although it was initially a core component of the D&D experience, the hexcrawl slowly faded away. By 1989 there were only a few vestigial hex maps cropping up in products and none of them were actually designed for hexcrawl play. That’s when the 2^nd Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons removed hexcrawling procedures from the rulebooks entirely.

It wasn’t until Necromancer Games brought the Wilderlands back into print and Ben Robbins’ West Marches campaign went viral that people started to rediscover the lost art of the hexcrawl. The format has returned to prominence in recent years through releases like the Kingmaker campaign for Pathfinder and Tomb of Annihilation for D&D 5^th Edition.

BASIC HEXCRAWL STRUCTURE

Hexcrawls are only one way of running wilderness travel (see Thinking About Wilderness Travel for some other options) and there are actually many different varieties of hexcrawls and schools of thought on how they should be designed or run. “True” hexcrawls, however, share four common features.

1. They use a hexmap. In general, the terrain of the hex is given as a visual reference and the hex is numbered (either directly or by a gridded cross-reference). Additional features like settlements, dungeons, rivers, roads, and polities are also often shown on the map.
2. Content is keyed to the hexmap. Using the numbered references, some or all of the hexes are keyed with locations and/or encounters.
3. Travel mechanics determine how far the PCs can move and where they move while traveling overland. After determining which hex the PCs are starting in, the GM will use these mechanics (and the decisions the players make) to track their movement.
4. When the PCs enter a hex, the GM will tell them the terrain type and determine whether or not the keyed content of the hexmap is triggered: If so, the PCs experience the event, encounter the monsters, or see the location. (There is often a 100% chance that the keyed content will be triggered.)

Around this basic structure you can build up a lot of additional features and alternative gameplay. For example, mechanics for random encounters and navigating (or, more importantly, getting lost in) trackless wastes are quite common. Hex-clearing procedures were once quite common, too, as an antecedent for stronghold-based play.

THE ALEXANDRIAN HEXCRAWL

In 2012, before 5^th Edition was released, I wrote Hexcrawls: This series discussed hexcrawl procedures and laid out a robust structure for prepping and running hexcrawls in both 3^rd Edition and the original 1974 edition of the game.

The Alexandrian Hexcrawl had several key design goals.

First, I wanted a structure that would hide the hexes from the players. In my personal playtesting, I found that the abstraction of the hex was extremely convenient on the GM’s side of the screen (for tracking navigation, keying encounters, and so forth), but had a negative impact on the other side of the screen: I wanted the players interacting with the game world, not with the abstraction. Therefore, the hexes in the Alexandrian Hexcrawl were a player-unknown structure.

Second, the structure was explicitly built for exploration. The structure, therefore, included a lot of rules for navigation, getting lost, and finding your way again. It was built around having the players constantly making new discoveries (even in places they’d been to before).

Third, the hex key features locations, not encounters. It’s not unusual to see hexcrawls in which encounters are keyed to a hex, like this one from the Wilderlands of the Magic Realm:

A charismatic musician sits on a rock entertaining a group of Halfling children. He sings songs of high adventure and fighting Orcs.

While the Alexandrian Hexcrawl system could be used with such keys, my intention was to focus the key on content that could be used more than once as PCs visit and re-visit the same areas. (This is particularly useful if you’re running an open game table.) In other words, the key is geography, not ephemera, with encounters being handled separately from the key.

Fourth, the system is built around the assumption that every hex is keyed. There may be rare exceptions — the occasional “empty” hex, for example — but if this is happening a lot it’s generally an indication that your hexcrawl is at the wrong scale. This tends to create two problems in actual play: First, it results in very poor pacing (with long spans of time in which navigational decisions are not resulting in interesting feedback in the form of content). Second, the lack of content equates to a lack of structure. One obvious example of this is that hexcrawls with vast spans of empty space lack sufficient landmarks in order to guide navigation.

(You run into similar problems if you have lots of densely packed hexes featuring multiple locations keyed to each hex: The abstraction of the hex stops working and your hexcrawl procedures collapse as the PCs engage in lots of sub-hex navigation.)

THE (MANY) RULES OF 5th EDITION WILDERNESS TRAVEL

Since the release of 5^th Edition, I have been frequently asked to update the Alexandrian Hexcrawl to the new system. Unfortunately, there have been a couple impediments making this more difficult than it might first appear.

First, 5^th Edition is not designed for hexcrawls. 3^rd Edition didn’t feature hexcrawl play, either, but its rules were fundamentally grounded in a mechanical tradition that had originally been designed to support hexcrawl play, and it was therefore fairly straightforward to graft those procedures back onto those mechanics.

5^th Edition, ironically, reintroduced hex-mapping to the core rulebooks, but mechanically trivializes or strips out essential mechanical elements that make hexcrawls (or, more generally, the challenges of wilderness exploration) work in actual play.

Second, the rules for overland travel and wilderness exploration in 5^th Edition are a little… fraught.

• The rules are scattered haphazardly throughout the rulebooks and difficult to pull together into any sort of cohesive procedure.
• The rules actually change from one book to the next: The exploration procedures and travel distances in Tomb of Annihilation, for example, are just slightly different from those in the core rulebooks for no apparent reason. And the ones in the Wilderness Kit are different once again.
• The rules are vague in bafflingly inconsistent ways. For example, there is a specific rule about how many pounds of food you need each day. And there’s a specific rule about how many pounds of food you get while doing the Forage activity while traveling. It seems like those would link up, but the rule for how often you make a Forage check is “when [the DM] decides it’s appropriate.” Which could be every hour, every day, every week, or literally anything else.
• Most of the wilderness rules are not actually found in the SRD, making them inaccessible for projects outside of the Dungeon Master’s Guild.

Although these factors have largely stymied my efforts in the past, I’ve decided to more or less embrace the vague chaos of it all: If there is no coherent set of rules in the first place, then no one will probably care if I change them.

So my final design goal is to maintain the large, macro structures of 5^th Edition wilderness travel that tie into other elements of the game – like how various classes modify your travel pace, for example – but otherwise tweak and change whatever needs to be altered to make things work.

Go to Part 2: Wilderness Travel

5E HEXCRAWLS
Part 2: Wilderness Travel
Part 3: Watch Actions
Part 4: Navigation
Part 5: Encounters
Part 6: Watch Checklists
Part 7: Hex Exploration
Part 8: Cheat Sheet

Hexcrawl Running Sheets

Hexcrawl Tool: Rumor Tables
Hexcrawl Tool: Spot Distances
Hexcrawl Tool: Tracks

HEXCRAWL ADDENDUMS
Sketchy Hexcrawls
Designing the Hexcrawl
Running the Hexcrawl
Connecting Your Hexes
Special Encounter Tables
Describing Travel
The Layered Hexcrawl

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 25B: Blood on the Orrery

The scene they found was gruesome: Bodies were scattered throughout the first two chambers of the bloodwight complex, many in various states of dismemberment. Faeliel’s body was spread-eagled across the orrery itself, dripping blood down upon the silver spheres.

Ranthir, coming upon the scene, eased Faeliel’s body to the ground. With tears welling in his eyes, he turned back to the others with a crack in his voice. “He wouldn’t have wanted the mechanisms damaged… is there anything we can do?”

The bloody fate of House Erthuo’s research team in this session is a good opportunity to spotlight an important part of how I run an RPG campaign, because it’s a fairly unadulterated example of the technique.

Let’s back up a dozen or so sessions: The PCs have discovered and are exploring the Laboratory of the Beast, a dungeon which is part of Ghul’s Labyrinth beneath Ptolus. At this point, neither House Erthuo nor the Surgeon in the Shadows are involved in this scenario. In fact, not even I — as the Dungeon Master — have the slightest inkling that these factions are going to become involved in this scenario. (Let alone that it’s going to end up in this horrific massacre.)

While exploring the dungeon, the PCs discover both a huge, antique orrery (too large for them to move) and a number of chaositech artifacts. Later, after leaving the dungeon, they’re intent on liquidating their loot.

First, they make some inquiries around town and sell some chaositech items. Looking at my campaign notes, I know that there’s an organization of chaositech dealers led by the Surgeon in the Shadows who is going to be part of an upcoming scenario in the campaign. If the PCs are selling chaositech, it’s likely the Surgeon in the Shadows will become aware of it and send an agent to negotiate with the PCs for it.

Second, during a party at Castle Shard in Session 12, Tee tells some of their contacts about the orrery, hoping for a recommendation on someone who might (a) be interested and (b) have the resources to remove the orrery from the dungeon. Looking at my notes for the party, I see that Lady Peliope Erthuo is attending the party. In her background notes, I’ve copied some descriptive text from the Ptolus sourcebook about House Erthuo: “House Erthuo is said to possess one of the finest collections of rare books, antiquities, and artifacts of historical significance in this part of the world.”

At this point I don’t have any particular plans for House Erthuo in the campaign: I’ve included Lady Peliope at the party as one of the incidental guests. (Not every single person the PCs meet in the campaign needs to be an Important Character™.) But she’s obviously a perfect fit for what Tee is looking for and it’s a great vector for prompting the PCs to continue circulating through the event. So Tee’s contact points here in that direction and she makes arrangements with Lady Peliope to meet with Cordelia Erthuo in order to arrange the sale of the orrery.

THE VECTORS ESTABLISHED

At this point, the actions of the PCs have created two vectors in the campaign that did not previously exist.

Now, if you’ve stopped prepping plots and are running situation-based scenarios, you’ll know that this sort of thing happens all the time. But this particular example, as I mentioned, is particularly clear-cut because it’s not only the vectors which didn’t previously exist in either the campaign or the specific scenario of the Laboratory of the Beast, but also the elements of the campaign world which have been pushed into motion.

Moving forward, in Session 14 the PCs met with Cordelia Erthuo and sold her the location of the orrery. This vector is now obviously pointed back into the dungeon, with House Erthuo planning to send a research team to study the orrery. (I make a note in my campaign status document to this effect.)

Later, in Session 21, an agent of the Surgeon in the Shadows called Ribok comes to the Ghostly Minstrel to negotiate with the PCs. By this point, however, the PCs have learned that chaositech is far more dangerous than they had suspected and they have no interest in selling. They turn Ribok away.

Okay, so what’s the vector from this? Well, the Surgeon isn’t going to take “no” for an answer. They’re going to try to figure out where the PCs are getting the chaositech from. How would they do that? Well, the PCs filed a claim for the labyrinth access under Greyson House… the one which leads directly to the Laboratory of the Beast. It’s possible that the Surgeon will be able to discover that… and a skill check indicates that he does.

So I note this down on my campaign status document, too: On the 12^th of Kadal, the Surgeon in the Shadows sends a chaositech strike team to Greyson House.

THE VECTORS INTERSECT

These two vectors are now pointing at each other.

Here’s the key thing: I still don’t know exactly how these events will play out, but if nothing disturbs these vectors it’s clear that they’re going to intersect and I have a pretty good idea what will happen when they do. So I now have the following entries in my campaign status document:

09/12/790: Surgeon in the Shadows sends a chaositech strike team to Greyson House, they end up killing House Erthuo’s team that’s examining the orrery.

09/13/790: House Erthuo investigates the disappearance of their research team and finds their workers dead. Cordelia contacts the PCs.

09/14/790: The Surgeon’s team leaves the Ghul’s Labyrinth complex with the chaositech artifacts from the temple; they also have discovered the mind-transference device.

What would happen next? Well, I have an inkling. (Ribok’s team couldn’t remove the mind-transference device, but they’re definitely interested in it. So they’ll be coming back – possibly in greater numbers? – to investigate it. Perhaps they’ll even dismantle it and take it back to the Surgeon in Shadows’ laboratory.) But I didn’t spend any time prepping this material or writing it down, because it existed beyond the event horizon: It was overwhelmingly likely that the PCs will have interacted with these elements of the campaign world before that happened (which, in fact, they did), with no way of anticipating how they would affect the vectors in play.

THE VECTORS IN PLAY

And, of course, we’ve now seen how this worked out in actual play: By pure happenstance, the PCs were actually in the dungeon when the Surgeon’s team showed up, creating the fantastic drama of seeing the House Erthuo team only a few short minutes before they were killed.

Could I have forced that outcome? Possibly. (Although I hadn’t actually thought of it until it occurred during play.)

Could I have instead forced the outcome from the undisturbed vectors described above? Certainly. (I could have just delayed Ribok’s arrival until after the PCs left the dungeon again.)

But the point, of course, is that we’re not predetermining the outcome. We’re discovering the outcome through play. And there are any number of other outcomes that could have happened that didn’t. (For just one example, Ranthir could have become fascinated by the discoveries of the House Erthuo team and decided to stay with them while everyone else explored the dungeon. What would have happened if he’d been present when Ribok arrived? I have no idea!)

Looking at just these two vectors in isolation is deceptive anyway: The campaign is actually filled with lots of these vectors (and, as we’ve just seen, the PCs can create new vectors at any time). There’s no way to know how these vectors will actually develop until it happens at the table.

Here’s another way of looking at this: If I had been predetermining events, I would never have set up these vectors in the first place – they were not, after all, part of my prep for the Laboratory of the Beast – and none of this would have happened.

This is what I mean by active play. When the PCs take an action, I think about how the elements of the campaign world are going to react to those actions. Some of those reactions will be direct and immediate (their vectors will immediately intersect the PCs). Others form vectors that I sort of let loose in the campaign world until they intersect with either another vector or the PCs themselves.

(Some of these vectors will end up never intersecting with anything. Or, at least, nothing that is part of the campaign. That’s okay. Sometimes you’re done playing with a toy and you don’t need to pick it up again.)

Of course, not all vectors originate from the PCs. When I create an NPC or faction in the campaign world, they’ll also have proactive vectors determined by their agendas.

NEXT:
Campaign Journal: Session 26A – Running the Campaign: Urban Splits
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

SESSION 25B: BLOOD ON THE ORRERY

June 21st, 2008
The 12th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

THE SURGEON STRIKES BACK

They left the clan caves and returned to the Laboratory of the Beast. As they passed the large sigil of Ghul on the first level of the complex, however, they heard voices coming from the antechamber. Motioning for the others to stay back, Tee stealthed her way forward.

The door to the temple of obsidian was open.

Tee waved for Ranthir and the ghulworg to come forward. They tried to keep their approach quiet, but between the awkward wizard and the massive creature of bone-and-adamantine it wasn’t clear which was less discreet. After a particularly loud noise, the voices coming from the temple suddenly stopped.

Tee signaled them to stop and then moved quickly to her left and hid behind one of the large statues of Ghul.

She was just in time. A moment later, a strangely horrific creature emerged from the short hall leading to the temple. The lower portion of its body had been replaced with an artificial creation of steel and flesh resembling a giant spider. An ogre’s upper torso jutted up from this spider-like body in front of a large, bulbous abdomen. The ogre’s arms had been replaced with two large, blood-encrusted blades. Its entire torso was covered in a thick shell of adamantine.

The spider-ogre glanced around the antechamber and then began slowly circling the perimeter. Tee quickly began climbing up the statue she was hiding behind, hoping to avoid the perimeter search.

This worked, and the spider-ogre passed her by. But there was little chance that it would miss Ranthir and the ghulworg standing in plain sight down the next hallway. Tee wracked her mind, but she couldn’t think of anything to do.

It didn’t matter. As the spider-ogre reached the hall, Ranthir sent the ghulworg on a charge. With a single, bone-crushing snap of its jaws, the ghulworg bit the spider-ogre’s head off.

It had happened so quickly that the spider-ogre had not even a moment to respond. Not so much as a gurgle had escaped its throat. They all froze in a moment of silence, waiting to see what would happen.

And then a voice came from the temple: “Is everything… all… right?”

It was the distinctive, buzzing drone of Ribok – the servant of the Surgeon in the Shadows.

Tee tried to bluff her way through it, assuming a deep voice and calling back: “Everything’s fine.”

There was a moment’s pause. And then Ribok spoke again: “Mistress Tithenmamiwen?”

Tee cursed under her breath. Ranthir waved his hand and webbed the hallway leading to the temple.

“Yes, Ribok. It’s me,” Tee said.

“And my… ogre?”

“Dead.”

“I see…” There was another pause. “Perhaps an… accord… could be reached?”

In other circumstances, Tee might have considered that. But there was a terrible suspicion growing in her mind. “What happened to the workers from House Erthuo?”

A long pause came here.

“They will no longer trouble… anyone… in this world.”

“Neither will you.”

They used the ghulworg to form the center of a “wall of death”, with Tor and Agnarr slowly burning their way forward through the web.

As they approached the temple doors, however, sudden waves of fire from the modified Shuul dragon rifles they had left in the temple suddenly washed over them. This burned away the last of the web, but also scorched them badly… and filled them with the dread certainty that the powerful chaositech they had left in the temple would soon be turned against them.

A brief melee broke out around the doorway. There were two rifle-wielding thugs there – their muscles bulging out to an unnatural size and in unnatural locations. Jagged shards of bone jutted out of at their elbows and knees and shoulders. The bones of their hands, too, stuck out in scythe-like protrusions which they used to slice viciously at any bit of exposed flesh. A half dozen more of these thugs stood further back in the chamber, and Ribok himself stood atop the highest terrace in the room.

Tor finally cut down one of the thugs. The other two fell back, joining the rest of the thugs as they suddenly broke for the sides of the chamber.

Agnarr grinned. If they were going to hold back like that, then they could just send the ghulworg in and—

Suddenly chaositech arrows shot out from the sides of the chamber, turned sharply in mid-air, and rushed towards Tor and Agnarr.

“That’s what those do?!” Tee cried in outrage. “I should have kept them!”

“They were tainted,” Dominic pointed out.

“I don’t care!” Tee said.

As Tee’s joking suggested, they were still feeling pretty confident. But things took a rapid turn for the worse: Ribok thrust the glass sphere filled with black liquid above his head and shattered it. The thick, viscous liquid poured down over his body, forming itself into the thick, black hide of a hideous demon. The metal of his implanted eyes melted away, revealing empty sockets filled with flame.

“The Galchutt have seen all that you intend!” he cried, his voice transformed into a bass thunder. And lowering his out-stretched hand, he began launching soul-rending arcane energies lancing down the hall.

In the confusion of the moment, the party’s battle formation foundered into something of a muddle. No one seemed certain whether they should be pushing their attack as planned or retreating to regroup under the unexpected conditions, and so they waffled in the middle as arrows continued arcing unnaturally around the corner and the demonic blasts of the Ribok demon burst in their midst.

Agnarr was the first to fall, dodging a volley of arrows but getting caught by a blast of dragon rifle fire in the narrow hall.

Even as Agnarr fell, however, Tor was able to cut down the second rifle-wielder and advanced into the temple itself.

But just as it seemed like he might be able to rally them, Ranthir was caught by one of Ribok’s blasts. And as Ranthir slid to the floor…

The ghulworg skeleton went feral.

Tee cursed loudly. Tor, realizing the danger and hoping to control the battlefield, turned and slammed the doors of the temple shut behind himself.

Seeing the massive doors cut off their sight of Tor was disconcerting for the others, but they had little time to worry about it. The ghulworg was creating complete chaos. The bony bulb of its tail had smashed Dominic to the floor, crushing his ribs and knocking him unconscious, before the priest even realized what as happening.

Tee, with little choice, drew her longsword and attacked… but the adamantine-laced bones of the creature turned the blade easily. Before she could try again, the creature’s claws lashed out and raked from from sternum to hip. Tee collapsed in a froth of blood.

But Tee’s attack had been worth it, buying Elestra enough time to dive for Ranthir. Laying her hand on his unconscious form, she let the strength of the city flow into him.

Ranthir opened his eyes, muttered an arcane syllable… and the ghulworg was once again under his control.

The wizard stood up. “I’ve had enough,” he said with a grim determination. With a wave of his hand, he sent the ghulworg charging down the hall. It smashed into the doors.

On the other side of the doors, Tor – who had been fighting an entirely defensive battle with his back pressed up against the door and blockng as many blows as he could with his shield – was uncertain what to think. But then Elestra cried out, “Tor! Open the doors!”

Tor swung the doors wide and the ghulworg bounded into the temple.

The Ribok demon fell back, but the ghulworg’s tail lashed out and smashed into him. The demonflesh encasing Ribok seemed to deform, and the horrendous sounds from cracking of bone and ripping of sinew echoed against the obsidian walls. With a horrible, unintelligible curse, Ribok vanished in a flash of light.

The remaining thugs fell upon the ghulworg and finally succeeded in hacking his splintering and broken bones apart.

But the ghulworg had bought the rest of them enough time to get Agnarr back on his feet. He rushed down the hall to Tor’s aid, and – without Ribok’s demonic assistance – the bone-sharded thugs proved no match for them.

They were shown no mercy.

BLOODY ON THE ORRERY

As Dominic and Elestra began healing their remaining wounds (and Ranthir mourned the loss of the powerful ghulworg), Tee grabbed Agnarr and ran back down the hall to check on the workers from House Erthuo.

The scene they found was gruesome: Bodies were scattered throughout the first two chambers of the bloodwight complex, many in various states of dismemberment. Faeliel’s body was spread-eagled across the orrery itself, dripping blood down upon the silver spheres.

Ranthir, coming upon the scene, eased Faeliel’s body to the ground. With tears welling in his eyes, he turned back to the others with a crack in his voice. “He wouldn’t have wanted the mechanisms damaged… is there anything we can do?”

He wasn’t asking about the orrery. But the stench of decay was thick in the air and he knew the answer before Dominic said: No. They had been dead for too long.

The death of these innocents struck the companions hard. They had been the ones to give House Erthuo the location of the orrery. They had been the ones followed by the Surgeon’s men. And they had only been a few hundred feet away as they were helplessly butchered. They knew they didn’t truly bear responsibility for this atrocity, but it nonetheless sat heavy on their souls.

NEXT:
Running the Campaign: Player-Initiated Vectors – Campaign Journal: Session 26A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index