[Play Report - 1] First Days on Fomalhaut

Know that in the halcyon days of year 3995 of Solon, at the start of the waxing spring month of Peritios, the following occurred. 

In the smoke-choked port town of Zyana, rumors had come from the mountains to the west. The first rumor was of gold and innumerable treasures from past ages, told by the garish nouveau riche as they squandered their newfound wealth in drinks and games. The second rumor was of that of changed men - this second generation of treasure seekers, emboldened by the first, returned to Zyana as preachers of a new faith. Penniless and wizened, the second wave returned from the Mountains of the Monoculus and the plateau of Wileb Tsathok as ardent worshippers of the the Amaranthine King, who would speak impossible things in haze-filled dreams.

Our little slice of heaven. Zyana is in hex 08.05.

The story of the third wave of treasure hunters was yet to be written. From the far northwest rode an Etunian named Esen. From the Isles of Mung came a dignitary named Gao, a young and fervent famulus. A chance meeting with a thief, Kyrene, and a swordsman called Arkesilas rounded out this merry band. They met and exchanged these rumors, which were overheard in the shadows of Zyana's bottle-kilns, her docks, and her agora:

• The mad priests of Bythos stalk this land due to the volcanic activity from long ago. They seek out pockets of gas to huff and receive visions.
• The merchant Carthallo has gone mad due to the disappearance of his daughter. She went missing a year ago, but the poor man can't accept her death. Despite all that, he's willing to pay 2000 silver to anyone who can bring news of her to him. 
• An insect god haunts the plateau. It rises every full moon to do battle with the Monoculus, that ancient war machine of god-like strength dwelling in the western mountains.

The company decided to follow up on this Carthallo business. They learned he used to be a member of the Golden Triskellion, the conclave of merchant lords that ruled Zyana, but after his daughter's disappearance he lost his mind, fell from grace, and could no longer pay for divinations from the usurer-God Fedafuce. All signs pointed towards the isle of Cahli which was a short trip across the sea to the north. 

Gao reminded the group that they were practically penniless and could not yet charter a boat. After Gao enlisted the company of an Amazonian Peltast (betraying deeper pockets than they let on), the group decided to strike out to the west by land, seeking a way up onto the plateau to find its treasures. 

About twenty miles outside Zyana's walls the land rose and the group was atop a seaside cliff, about 200 meters from the water. They spotted two curious things. The first was a wrecked ship, planks churning in the surf. The second was intermittent smoke coming out of the cliff face, maybe 100 feet down...

The nimble borrower Kyrene decided to descend the sheer cliff-face to the source of the smoke. Leaving behind a bundle of parchments and her travelling rations, she took to the wall like a spider. Curiously, before she could reach the hole from which smoke came, she came across a large hole in the cliff-face about 50 feet down. She ascended and brought news of this to her companions. The company agreed the hired peltast would hold a rope and guard some belongings as the rest of them began their foray into this first seaside cliff. 

Gao lit his lantern as the party made it safely into the cavern, which extended south some hundred deeper into the cliff. As the party walked they saw a simple geometric pattern on the walls, which piqued the curiosity of the treasure hunters. The passage turned to the left, and they came across a steep set of stone stairs flanked by empty sconces, which led to a short passage with two bas-reliefs. The north relief was of a throng of men supplicating to a noble figure, who in turn was supplicating to a phoenix, who was worshipped by a company of robed skeletons. The south relief was of the same figure, a halo over his head and levitating, cleaving limbs off of grotesque insects. The only color that had endured the passage of time was a sanguine red on the trail of the warrior-king's sword. 

The party carried on, deeper into the underground complex, down another set of stairs. As Kyrene - in the back of the party now - followed her compatriots down the staircase into the black unknown, the sconces lit with an unearthly blue glow. The party was on guard. The staircase led to a large rectangular room with a grand stone coffin in the center. Arkesilas and Esen examined it well. The image of a dark haired, red-eyed man surrounded by eagles adorned the coffin lid. Peacocks and phoenixes danced in a verdant field on the coffin’s sides.

Much discussion was had over what to do - should they cover the coffin in oil and set it aflame? Should they take a hammer and smash it open? Eventually Arkesilas decided to just open it. The second the heavy stone lid was touched, a portcullis descended from the stairwell! Mouths opened on each of the walls, bellowing the same phrase: "YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE GRIEVOUS CRIME OF DISTURBING THE SLEEP OF THE EMPEROR. YOUR SENTENCE IS TO JOIN HIM ON THE FIELDS OF ASPHODEL". 

The party began to groan and shake in their boots. Arkesilas opened the coffin, hoping to find treasures, bit found a yawning pitch blackness and a ladder, down into the unknown. Before descending into what Gao posited was their certain death, Arkesilas and Esen attempted to lift the portcullis. To their luck they found they could, to their misfortune despite all their straining they could not lift it more than 15 or so inches. There was no way the entire party could escape. The only option was to descend.

Down they went! The ladder went down for quite a while - maybe 100 feet, maybe more, maybe less, impossible to say. They entered a room of unadorned black marble. The only exit was through giant double stone doors, which led into a massive arched chamber, whose flagstone glowed softly. In this room was a low font filled with what appeared to be water and a stone altar with carvings of birds pecking out the eyes of various insects. Like any good subterranean altar it was darkly stained. The party considered their next move - there were doors to the east and west and a passage to the south. They chose the south, and followed to a room with with further doors, with cages on the walls and another passage south. They returned to the vestibule with the altar and tried to open the east door, only to find it was stuck. Esen tried to open to no avail, followed by Arkesilas, who succeeded. 

They opened the doors to the room to find a short passage which emptied them into a 20x20' room. In the center were four robed skeletons standing and facing each other, heads all bowed in what looked prayer. The party decided to launch a savage salvo at the undead. Kyrene lobbed a dagger, cleanly knocking the head off one in one fell stroke, and a javelin from Esen managed to pulverize a ribcage. The two remaining approached, taking what looked like a strange martial posture before attacking, but fell in short order upon Esen's spear and Arkesilas' blade.

The room contained recessed alcoves, which the seekers looked over, finding small agates on the lower shelves. The taller were out of reach and sight, so Gao hopped upon Esen's back, and found twelves terracotta tablets, forming two sets of six. The learned imperial was able to read some of their contents: they told of Emperor Kiananos, Favored Son of Karttekeza, who lead his troops to glory. Then a tablet became unreadable to the magic-user. The subsequent ones spoke of how Kiananos' sword leapt with no call from its master and killed his betrayer, and of the decision to construct the tomb of Kiananos by the fallen star which was the portent of his victory.

The group was interested in the contents of the tables Gao was unable to translate, but did not want to travel with such fragile loot. They left the tablets on the lower of the stone shelves to come back later. The party continued east then south, coming across another chamber. Esen wondered at this time if they were in the cliff, under the water, in Asphodel, or another hell.

This chamber was seemingly empty save more stone shelves. These were searched, yielding a haul of blank papyrus (which Gao happily realized could be used to make rubbings of the tablets) and prayer beads of obsidian and tiger's eye.

It should be mentioned that Arkesilas was the point man for their slow crawl through the complex, and he was armed with a 10' pole. As the group headed south, his pole gently caught on something - a trip wire! Luckily it was not sprung. He dutifully alerted the group, who gingerly stepped over it. They found it was connected to some sort of gong hung in the northwest corner of the next room. Noting this, they proceeded through another stuck door in the east. This lead to a snaking hallway east then south, with small chambers alternating in branches off to the east then west. Two of the chambers contained tiled frescoes of swordsmen, the third was of a noble bird. The group examined the bird carefully, finding that investigating the fresco led to a portion of wall sliding open! Continuing down the secret passage, they came across more alcoves. These contained grave goods - jewelry, arm clasps, more agates, and a marble icon of an ox. They returned to the passage heading south, and headed west at a junction. They continued to another door, which Esen opened. 

In this next room the party noted a door to the south, a passage north, and a passage west. In addition to the methods of entry, the room was notable for rusted crossbows aimed at the north and west passages affixed to alcoves in the walls of the room! The party discovered tripwires in each passage, linked to the bows. 

Kyrene listened at the south door and heard, shockingly, footsteps. Arkesilas and Gao agreed to pour a puddle of lantern oil at the base of the door and prepare for the worst. A group of six men armed with spears and wearing furs met Esen and Arkesilas, who told them to stay back. Gao was shocked to see their leader was an imperial. The party interrogated these others, asking if they were shipwreck survivors. The leader confirmed that he had been here for months, and wondered if the party had been intercepted by Grozz yet. The party attempted to play along but the other imperial saw through the lie and became hostile. The party offered to show these men the way they entered. The imperial shot a meaningful glance at his men, and said "sure, but you're all leading the way". Gao smelled treachery and hurled his lantern at the puddle of oil, which ignited and whose flames engulfed all but the imperial and his top man. The imperial lunged furiously at Gao, who dodged and struck him with his staff, cracking his skull and certainly sending him to fields of Asphodel. The other struck too wildly, and was cut down in short order by Esen and Arkesilas. As the shadows in the cave danced from the light of the burning corpses, Gao took a lantern from Esen's pack. It was a rather ghastly affair that would grow more macabre in short order.

Kyrene took to searching the scorched bodies and found a princely 6 copper. A short investigation northward found this crossbow room connected with the gong room. Arkesilas came up with an idea - pile these corpses underneath the portcullis and crawl under the resultant gap! The group rather liked this plan and managed to come up with a strange idea - they would hook the rusted crossbow through the ribcage of the men they had burned to death and tie the body to themselves with the bow's tripwires and the leather from the monk skeletons' robes. The cross 

Each explorer dragged a body up to that black granite chamber. As they entered the chamber and were ready to ascend the long ladder, they heard a strange noise from the altar-room. Kyrene stuck to the shadows and shot a glance, and what she saw had no place in a sane universe: three ambulatory eyeballs, each a foot in diameter with three fuzzy tentacles trailing below them, all levitating an inch off the ground. One of these fuzzy things held a sword in a tentacle, which ominously dragged against the stone floor. It was by sheer luck that they did not investigate the open doors, and they...ambulated? off in the direction of the cage room directly south. The crew breathed a sigh of relief and Esen began to ascend with his grim cargo. The Etunian nomad climbed up and down the ladder, depositing a body by the portcullis three times before one of the crossbows snapped, sending the body tumbling 80, cracking in a sickening lump of the black floor. The party went scrambling back and forth with the two remaining dead, thankful that they spiked open all doors on their way to the entry point. Luckily no other encounters bothered them, and the last climb was uneventful. Esen and Arkesilas lifted the gate as their companions piled the dead bodies underneath it. It was enough clearance - they were free! Thanks to these dead bastards, the newly formed company's first foray would not necessarily be their last. They headed back to Zyana, happy to have their lives. They would sell their look for a nice sum and discussed chartering a boat to Cahli in the near future...

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My first session DMing in a few months, first with Seven Voyages ruleset. The party didn't take a single point of damage in either combat encounter. The overall session lasted 3 hours. I was bemused with the fact they plan on fucking out of that dungeon, which is a surprisingly large complex - the night before I realized I disliked the content I had keyed in that hex and replaced it with a heavily edited dungeon I made for a campaign that died in the cradle. 

My biggest challenges were adjudicating the portcullis, playing the brigands, and dealing with the ridiculous plan - I should have looked at the portcullis trap in B1 or cribbed from the DMG but I decided to just say "add your STR scores, 6d6 roll under to pass" as a variant of the "feats of strength" mentioned but not elaborated on in the 7VoZ rules. In hindsight for "team lift" type of things like that I will just use the "feat of strength" rules but lower to (6-X)d6-roll-under-STR, where X is the number of helpers. 


The brigands were a random encounter. I realized it would be the first *real* encounter of the campaign so got slightly psyched. I trusted my prep - the brigands were supposed to be backstabbing bastards gang-pressed by another imperial castaway that may show later if the party ever returns to the tomb here, and do in fact have enough to get by. I may have tripped over my words in the session but things ended fine. Maybe I was too generous with the oil slick. 

The contraptions with getting the bodies up the Snake-Eater long ladder was great to watch. It was some sort of thing with using the crossbow as a hook to then tie to the climber's belt and then tie more with leather? I don't know it made enough sense in the moment and I said it would be 2 item break rolls per climb, which I was transparent about. The memorable 80' drop of a body was a spur-of-the-moment "d10 to see how mny tens of feet up you were when something snapped".

Next session will likely be the Halls of Tizun Thane. That should be fun and probably a bloodbath. Now I must meditate on if the Berbalang is fitting for the Fomalhaut milieu.