Part 2: A Clutch of Shadows
Their lead to Grimvault (our name for it) / Grinvolt (@Fuseboy 's name for it) has been deeply researched by the party a while ago, with a friend / lover (?) of Oddbjorn showing him a rough map indicating the missing section of the captured Sun Temple.
In brief, the adventure revolves around an adventuring site pretty much overlaying a Borderlands Keep set up in a Dradkin temple dug into / out of the mountains. Said temple was overrun by a Dwarven army 6ish years ago (following raids by the Dradkin on the surrounding areas).
There is a further adventure location below this place, where guards from Grimvault prevent people going down or back up, as below is the site of a defeat / stalemate of their army.
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Our party arrives with their growing array of animals. Do you know the story of the “Musicians of Bremen”? Sort of like that.
We’ve got a horse and Truffles the pig (owned by Osric), 3 cats who Tösk has worked very hard to become adopted by, and Bricks’ chicken.
Aside: Truffles, who is often described as some variation of “self-propelled rations”, is not yet at risk. There is a non-zero chance that Truffles will outlast the group, or, at least, never get eaten.
There is a pleasing cast of characters in Grimvault. From Flametender Gathana (with her own plans and troubles), to Plodinus Kest ( Elite Sorceror Plodinus Kest, as he insists on being called), and Sly Dubach (in control crime boss).
The Dwarven axewives guarding the place (and their families) form a neat backdrop to it all, along with the rules of “no eggs, no straw”, which perplexes our adventurers (especially as no further explanation is forthcoming).
Analysing the various panels, our group realises what they need to open the secret area, and work towards doing so, sneakily leveraging off panels, and gathering what they need. This ends with them having about 3 “heretical eggs”.
They also manage to set up a camp / personal “flophouse” in Dust Town, which will serve as their base of operations when in town phase (I allowed them to set it up as a Camp, but then subsequently rolled it into flophouse-equivalent in the Town phase). Concealment and (a short-term) water source were very handy here.
So, with their eggs, they sneak into the secret area and begin exploring. Things go well-enough until they get into a chamber with 6 Vengeful Spirits. They manage to flee onwards, but end up trapped in a dead end… admittedly a dead end with a Drake egg (and huge silver chains).
So, some Drake-egg-grabbing and silver-chain-looting later… they’re still trapped in this dead end. But now Osric Godtouched has an idea, which involves binding the 6 Vengeful Spirits into 2 of the (ritually blessed) eggs.
Advancing back into the chamber in a ring of silver chain, they succeed. They now have 2 heretical cursed blasphemous eggs of the Worst Sort, within each of which something foul is growing. 2 Something Foul, and each is possessed by 3 trapped/bound Vengeful Spirits.
The return trip also gets them attacked by isopods, but they manage to get away (“Walk without rhythm, and you won’t attract the worm”).
Back in the Town Phase, they sell Plodinus some ruined notes (claiming they are “fragments of spells”), lying as they do so well. (Elite Sorceror) Plodinus Kest is very much ending up as the mark in their endeavours, with them sensing a way to get what they want and get him to pay them for it.
Then, a couple of heavies find them, as Sly Dubach wants her eggs back (“with interest, mind”) - those hidden eggs were hers, it seems.
Still, hiding much of import (drake egg, some loot, heretical cursed eggs), they find her having her bath. Oddbjorn’s mythical musical ability (grey-shaded during the conclusion of Bridge of the Damned) allows them to cut a deal with her. In return for knowledge and maps of the secret area (of great use to a crime boss), they are free to go, and she will even arrange passage downstairs for them.
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Aside: a lot of interesting stuff is playing out due to Beliefs and Creeds.
Tösk’s “everyone has the right to live” means that they are much less in a “murder them all” mindframe.
Osric’s struggling with being more than the berserker beast he can turn into means that he is often a voice of reason(?), and one of the reasons that the single surviving drake egg has not been infected and turned into “an unholy abomination”.
Oddbjorn’s need to have worthy deeds to sing of, also keeps them from always making bloody choices.
Brick’s wanting to forge paths, and see things they have never seen before is a wonderful call to adventure, to be a completionist… and to never block or bar a door.