DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 39A: Chamber of Bone

Tee felt the ratlings throw their weight against the door, but she was able to hold it against their charge.

Tee signaled for the others to back up out of the chamber of bone, bracing the door against another pounding from the ratlings on the other side. Then she jumped back herself and, as the ratlings charged through, shot out the pillars of bone.

A cascade of bone collapsed. Several of the ratlings, pouring into the room, were struck about the heads and shoulders; one was even knocked unconscious by a particularly heavy chunk of pelvis. Others slipped and tripped, their feet turned treacherously by the shifting mass beneath their feet.

In Rulings in Practice: Traps, I said that you’ll know you have the balance right when the players start harvesting supplies from the traps or finding other ways of turning them to their advantage. In practice, this is probably a specific application of a wider principle: The more time players spend creatively interacting with stuff in the game world, the more you’ll know that (a) you’re succeeding in including cool stuff that’s bringing the world to vivid life and (b) that you’ve got great players.

Conversely, if you’re a player, pay attention to your character’s surroundings and look for opportunities to turn them to your advantage.

In this case, my players were very on top of things. Here’s what the key for this room looked like:

AREA 8 – BONE CHAMBER

The walls of this chamber are stacked high with bones — human bones. They have been arranged in intricate and detailed patterns with an effect which is entirely ghastly. Four pillars of interlocking skulls and femus reach from the floor to the ceiling.

Handout: The Bone Chamber

Bone Pillars: Any blow to one of these pillars (AC 3) will cause it to collapse, causing a cascade of bone. Characters within 5 ft. of the pillar must make a Reflex save (DC 15). On a failure, they are dazed and must make a Fortitude save (DC 12) to avoid being stunned.

Swinging Weapons: Characters who swing weapons within range of a bone pillar must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 10) to avoid striking the pillar. Alternatively, they can carefully avoid the pillar while making their attack — this requires no saving throw, but does impose a -2 penalty to their attack rolls.

(This room was inspired by the Sedlec Ossuary. The handout consisted of photos from the actual ossuary, which you can see in the linked campaign log.)

In addition to just being a creepy room, I’d intended for the ratlings to take advantage of the environmental hazard. The PCs, however, were savvy enough to be suspicious of the ones, realize they were precarious, and then almost immediately turn the situation to their own advantage.

In this case, the idea of the bone piles being precarious had occurred to me during prep. But the key thing is just including the bone piles as set dressing in the first place. Even if I didn’t have an answer prepped, a nigh identical scene could have emerged simply from the players asking, “Do the piles look unstable?”

Of course, it’s not just the bone stacks they’re using here. They start by using the door to control the start of the campaign, giving them time to estalblish their tactical position (as we’ve also discussed in Running the Campaign: Battles at the Door). And then, at the end of the fight, Agnarr rips the crossbow bolts out of his shoulder and uses them as improvised weapons!

When you fill your description of the world with interesting details, you’re providing the raw ingredients. Once you’ve done that, it become very easy for the whole group to start cooking.

Campaign Journal: Session 39B – Running the Campaign: Clues Linking Scenarios
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 39A: CHAMBER OF BONE

June 14th, 2009
The 22nd Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

They headed north along the tunnel. It quickly straightened out… and then dumped into an open sewer channel.

Agnarr stooped to the ground and quickly examined it for tracks. “They’re wading.”

Elestra wrinkled her nose. “That’s disgusting.”

But there was no way to follow the ratlings’ trail through the sewage. So they backtracked to the T-intersection. There they pulled Silion’s body out of Tee’s bag of holding, placed a black hood over her head, and had Nasira use her holy touch to heal her wounds.

Silion resisted their questioning, at first feigning unconsciousness and then proving stubbornly intransigent. “I don’t talk to humans,” she snarled.

“She’s not human,” Elestra said, pointing unhelpfully to Tee.

“She can’t actually see me,” Tee snapped. “And I’d like to keep it that way.”

“We could cut her whiskers off,” Agnarr suggested. Silion snarled.

“Last chance,” Tee said. “Where are the children?”

Silion laughed. “You’re too late! Malleck has them!”

Tee slammed a dagger into her heart. They re-secured the collar and stuck her back in the bag.

“Maybe her tongue will be looser next time we wake her up,” Ranthir said.

“If there is a next time,” Tee said darkly.

CHAMBER OF BONE

The northern tunnel was effectively a dead end for the time being, so they turned south. In this direction the tunnel twisted several times, and then opened into a cramped chamber stacked high with bones – human bones. The bones had been arranged in intricate and detailed patterns with an effect that was entirely ghastly. Four pillars of interlocking skulls and femurs reached from the floor to the ceiling, supporting a vaulting horror of skeletal remains.

Tee saw that these pillars were particularly precarious and warned the others to be careful. They hung back while she proceeded cautiously into the midst of the bones. The tunnel continued further to the south, but Tee took the time to carefully examine the ghastly nooks and crannies of the chamber. In the far corner she found a section of bones that could be pulled free, revealing a hidden door in the wall beyond.

She opened the door just in time to see half a dozen ratlings charging down a long hall toward her. With lightning reflexes she instinctively slammed the door shut again and threw her shoulder against it. She felt the ratlings throw their weight against it, but she was able to hold it against their charge.

Tee signaled for the others to back up out of the chamber of bone, holding the door against another pounding from the ratlings on the other side. Then she jumped back herself and, as the ratlings charged through, shot out the pillars of bone.

A cascade of bone collapsed. Several of the ratlings, pouring into the room, were struck about the heads and shoulders; one was even knocked unconscious by a particularly heavy chunk of pelvis. Others slipped and tripped, their feet turned treacherously by the shifting mass beneath their feet.

Agnarr and Tor had positioned themselves in each of the narrow tunnels leading out of the chamber and the brunt of the ratling charge had been disrupted. They easily held their ground against the dazed and confused ratlings… Or, at least, they did until a ratbrute came trundling around into the southern corridor behind Tor’s defensive position.

The ratbrute thrust his greatsword at Elestra (who had thought herself perfectly safe behind Tor’s broad shoulders). She gave a little cry of outrage as she ducked out of the way. Nasira, standing next to her, backpedaled rapidly towards Tor.

With a flurry of his blade, however, Tor finished off the ratlings facing him and turned to face the ratbrute – which fell back towards a larger chamber to the south in the hope of getting a better (and wider) footing. Tor denied it the opportunity – pursuing it down the hall with quick steps; parrying its large, awkward blade; and slicing it up with vicious, lightning-spiked blows.

The two remaining ratlings in the chamber of bone – facing Agnarr and seeing what had happened to their comrades – fell back through the secret door. Agnarr gave pursuit, ripping an axe from his bandolier and hurling it from the door. The axe caught one of the ratlings in the shoulder, but the ratling – hissing and snarling in rage – ripped the blade out of its own body and hurled it back at Agnarr, catching him in the shoulder, as well.

Agnarr fell back a step, giving both ratlings an opportunity to draw hand crossbows. They fired, both striking Agnarr in the opposite shoulder.

Agnarr roared. He charged down the length of the hall, ripped the bolts out of his shoulders, shoving one into the heart of a ratling and plunging the other into the eye socket of the second.

Running the Campaign: Using Scenery & Turning Traps – Campaign Journal: Session 39B
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

Go to Table of Contents

This company of mapmakers rose to prominence nearly three centuries ago when they began producing incredibly detailed maps of the Teeth of Light based on the exploration ships that were sent into the southern reaches of the island chain by Yrkyth Vladaam. These charts greatly expanded trade throughout the Whitewind Sea during the decades leading up to the Great Sea War.

The Red Company of Surveyors still uses as its mark the great seal Yrkyth used when he was head of the household. It’s also said that the company was intimately involved in the creation of Yrkyth’s “Enigma Engine”. The company’s influence considerably declined following Yrkyth’s disappearance in 651 IA, but continues to be known for their accurate navigation charts.

The company’s chart-making workshop is located in Oldtown. Their apprentices work as boy messengers on the Docks, purchasing interesting chart data from docking ship captains. (Some of these apprentices are part of Part 18: Vladaam Drug Running.)

The guild uses a diamond-feather badge (representing the quills of the cartographers, but also having deeper meanings for the Brotherhood of Yrkyth).

XXX

Chartmakers: Use artisan stats, Ptolus, p. 606.

• Proficiency (+2): Cartographer’s tools
• Equipment: diamond-feather guild badge, Vladaam deot ring

Guildmaster Essetia: Use mage stats, MM p. 347. AC 16 (bracers of defense, ring of protection).

• Proficiency (+3): cartographer’s tools, Arcana, History, Insight, Persuasion
• Combat Equipment: wand of magic missile (1d6+1 charges), portion of superior healing, dagger, light crossbow (20 bolts)
• Magic Items: dust of dryness (x2), scroll of identify, bracers of defense, headband of intellect, ring of protection
• Other Equipment: backpack, rations (x6), scroll case, spellbook, spell component pouch, pearl (x3, 100 gp each), 100 gp, Vladaam deot ring, diamond-feather guild badge

Cantrips (at will): dancing lights, light, mending
1^st level (4 slots): alarm, comprehend languages, detect magic, identify, shield
2^nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, invisibility, web
3^rd level (3 slots): clairvoyance, dispel magic, fly

4^th level (3 slots): locate creature, stoneskin
5^th level (1 slot): bigby’s hand

Oldtown
Ridge Road – E5

EXTERIOR

A three-storey, stepped tower. A balcony runs around the perimeter of the third floor. Red and cold banners hang around the circumference of the second floor.

AREA 1 – ENTRY

A small  writing desk off to one side of the chamber is typically manned by a guildmember who will inquire after the business of anyone entering.

FIRST MAP OF THE GUILD: Hanging on the wall to the left of the entrance there is an old map of Ptolus. A DC 10 Intelligence (History) check can note the major departures from the modern city:

• Oldtown is nearly in its current state.
• The Nobles’ Quarter is present, but the estates are smaller and less luxurious.
• There are no bridges to Rivergate, and there’s only a single large, walled manor there.
• North of the river, where the Temple District is today, there’s a small cluster of buildings around the Cathedral.
• There’s an area labeled “Guildsman District” clustered around the top of the ramp leading down to the Docks. (Today, this area would be considered the easternmost part of Midtown.)
• South of the river, Oldtown seems to spill out off the mesa and into the western reaches of what’s today the South Market, but the buildings don’t even reach as far as Emerald Hill.

CHART OF THE WHITEWIND SEA: Hangs on the wall to the right of the entrance. Clearly archaic. Drawn by the surveyor who founded the Brotherhood of Yrkyth. (The letters of his name have been cleverly crafted to resemble the diamond-feather symbol of the guild.)

AREA 2 – GREAT SEAL OF YRKYTH

The marble floor of this entry chamber is tiled to form the Great Seal of Yrkyth.

AREA 3 – STAIRS UP

These stairs lead up to Area 6 and the door to Area 8.

AREA 4 – GUILD GATHERING HALL

A long, mahogany dining table runs down the center of this room. The benches to either side of it are padded with purple velvet.

FIREPLACE: On the right-hand wall, there’s a large fireplace. It’s cleverly designed to pump heat under the stone bench which lines the curve of the outer wall.

BOOKCASE: Holds journals and logs donated (or purchased) from various ship captains over the past several centuries.

AREA 5 – CHARTMAKER’S ROOM

This room is filled with drafting tables and associated tools. Most of the guildmembers here are engaged in simply copying maps from the guild’s library (Area 6), but occasionally there will be a new map being drafted.

DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): Among the mapmaking equipment there is a table with financial records.

• This includes a Tithe Payment of Rent: The boy apprentices of the Red Company of Surveyors are housed in the Vladaam apartments on Crossing Street in Oldtown.
• GM Note: This is not the apartment building occupied by chaos cultists in Night of Dissolution, but one of the neighboring buildings. See Part 15: Oldtown Apartments.

AREA 6 – MAP LIBRARY

This library contains detailed charts of the Whitewind and Southern Seas, but also maps of Palastan, Cherubar, the Plains of Rhoth, the Sea Kingdoms, Ren Tehoth, the Plains of Panish, the Prustan Peninsula, and even the distant lands of Uraq.

ACCESS: The guild charges 100 gp for access to the map room. There is an additional copying charge per map. (These maps represent valuable commercial intelligence.)

LIBRARY: The library grants a +2 bonus to navigation- and geography-related checks.

TREASURE HUNT: A conjoined DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation) and DC 20 Wisdom (Survival) check requiring 1d6 days per check can allow a researcher to turn up a map to a potentially interesting location.

• Use Grim’s “All the Dice” Treasure Map Generator, with a 50% chance of generating a treasure hoard.

HIDDEN SWITCHES: There are six hidden switches located around the room. If activated in the correct sequence, they open the 4-ft. thick stone wall leading to Area 7. If activated in an incorrect order, a magical trap is triggered which summons a chain devil and sends a mental alarm to Guildmaster Essetia.

• DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation): To find one of the six hidden switches.
• DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation): To find two of the six hidden switches.
• DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation): To find all six hidden switches.
• DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation): To realize there’s a trap triggered with an incorrect activation sequence. A second DC 25 Intelligence (Investigation) or a DC 16 Intelligence (Thieves’ Tools) check can determine the correct sequence.

AREA 7 – ENTRANCE TO THE INNER SANCTUM

Lit with red everburning torches, this stairwell hidden within the wall of the guildhouse leads down to Area 1 of the Inner Sanctum.

AREA 8 – GUILDMASTER’S QUARTERS

DOOR – MAGIC MOUTH: A gargoyle on the door will animate and speak to anyone approaching, passing messages to Essetia if she’s inside. If Essetia is not present, the gargoyle will “take a message” and give it to her when she returns.

• Door (Strong Wood): AC 15, 27 hp, DC 24 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

SITTING AREA: Comfortable chairs with griffon-carved backs and a bed of luxurious feather-down. Large windows look out onto the balcony.

WRITING DESK: The top is closed and locked, requiring a DC 14 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) check. The desk contains:

• Correspondence Regarding the Hand of Malkith
• Report Concerning the Erthuo/Sadar Affair
• An engraved box of oak containing a cutting from a tree (papery-thing, silver-grey bark and white wood) and Letter from Essetia to Ulloth.
• A red pouch containing 150 pp and Letter of Thanks from Godfred Vladaam.

DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation): A chest is hidden under the bed.

• 469 gp
• potion of fire shield
• scrolls (see invisibility, mage hand, feather fall)
• Oath of the Brotherhood of Yrkyth

IRON COFFER: 10% chance of being present.

• 500 gp
• 40,000 sp
• 50,000 cp
• Instructions to have the Ithildin Couriers ship to the Red Company of Goldsmiths on Gold Street (see Part 12).

AREA 9 – GUILDMASTER’S BALCONY

The balcony encircles the entire third floor of the guildhouse. A beautiful view of the city and out across the Whitewind Sea on one side, and across Oldtown towards the Nobles Quarter and the Spire in the other direction.

TRIPODS: There are two tripods set up on this balcony. One contains a sextant, the other a telescope. The guildmark on each of them marks them as creations of the Red Company of Founders (sees Part 11).

Go to Part 14B: Inner Sanctum of the Surveyor’s Guild

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 38D: Arrows & Skulls

The room beyond was filled with carefully arranged piles of bulky, broken machinery bearing the unmistakable patina of age. Kneeling amidst this equipment – her back to the door – was a single ratling dressed in pale yellow robes.

“Not now! I don’t want to be disturbed!” she hissed.

Tee put an arrow through the back of her skull.

“… was that Silion?” Tee looked back at the others. “I think that was Silion!”

If you’ve been hanging around the Alexandrian for a while, this is a moment you may recognize. I’ve talked about it in articles, videos, and So You Want To Be a Game Master, among other places. When I talk about not fudging your dice rolls, this is a moment I’m thinking about.

Because Silion is a big deal. I believe the PCs first became aware of her in Session 9, which means the players have literally been hunting her for years. And we just introduced a new PC whose backstory and primary campaign hook were linked to her!

So if we were going to prep plots or enforce preconceived outcomes or try to “preserve” the dramatic moment, this would be THE MOMENT to do it, right? Silion can’t die like this! A single critical hit to the back of her head? The PCs never even saw her face! This is a disaster!

… except, of course, it wasn’t.

It’s been just over fifteen years since this moment happened at the game table, and my players still talk about it. They’ll probably be talking about it until the day they die. It’s a cherished memory from the game table.

Okay, but… why?

The Principles of RPG Villainy breaks this down in more detail, but the short version is that, for the players, this was not anticlimactic in any way. It was a huge reward for all their hard work: They had, in fact, worked for years to get here. They’d come up with clever plans to infiltrate the temple (even if not all of them had worked). They’d successfully snuck their way down to this inner sanctum.

They earned this.

And that’s why, a few minutes later, they can gleefully taunt Silion’s mate, Urnest, with what they’ve done. Because they were the ones who did it.

If I had fudged the results — maybe by boosting her hit points or bumping up her AC so that they couldn’t confirm the critical hit — that would have been a huge letdown for the players. Sure, they would have gotten to face off against Silion and maybe she’d summon reinforcements and there’d be an epic battle and the PCs would triumph or whatever… but none of that would have been something they actually did. It would have just been a thing that happened to them.

And the really key insight is that, conversely, if I’d tried to pre-script and force this moment — surprising Silion and shooting her in the back of the head! — it would have also fallen flat. Because it still wouldn’t have been something that the players actually did.

This is why moments like this — moments of great truth at the table — are so important. Because they’ll teach your players that what’s happening in the game is really happening. It’s not a script. It’s not a trick. If they achieve great victories, it’s because they actually earned those victories. And if they suffer horrible defeats, that’s a burden they have to bear… because they know it could have gone a different way if they’d made different choices.

As the players learn that lesson — as the belief of it seeps down into their souls — it will literally breathe life into every other moment of your campaign. It will elevate everything you and your players do to a new level.

When you truly play to find out — when you actively play scenarios instead of prepping plots — you’ll discover that moments like this aren’t unusual. What makes this particular moment notable, perhaps, is that it simply might be the purest example possible:

Boom.

Arrow to the head.

Campaign Journal: Session 39A – Running the Campaign: Using Scenery & Traps
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index