Carnus Session #13 – Bearded in Orcus’s Lair
Last night was Session #13 – Bearded in Orcus’s Lair of my D&D 4E Carnus campaign. I used to write session logs after each game night, but fell out of practice due to time pressure. However, the benefits of logging are too great, so it’s time to get back into the habit. Roleplaying Tips readers have responded positively to my brief session summaries in the past, so as an experiment, I’m going to try logging about sessions on this web, er, log.
Spoiler alert: if you are a player in my campaign, please stop reading. Secrets are about to be revealed. Orcus will know if you’ve cheated. He’s a tricky one. He also knows your IP.
Bearded in the Temple of Orcus
In Session #12 the characters were dismayed to learn Orcus had a public and open temple in Carnus. A friend had been kidnapped and the first clue was a holy symbol of Orcus painted in blood at the scene of the disappearance (hey, who said Orcus was subtle?). The second clue was a feint trail in the rain that lead the ranger to the Temple District, though the tracks became washed out before they could take the ranger to a specific temple door. After brief inquiry, the group learned Orcus has a temple for followers nestled between two other holy buildings. Outraged, the PCs gathered up their gear and headed to the undead lord’s unholy site.
Further surprises lay in wait, however, as the temple turned out to be a quaint house that smelled slightly like apple pie. While half the party circled around the back, the others entered through the front door to be greeted by friendly and comely young ladies. One played a harp in the greeting room, one was cooking in the kitchen, and the greeter was warmly welcoming them and asking if they’d like some refreshments.
Bewildered, the PCs demanded to know the location of Douven Stahl, their kidnapped friend. The heroes around the back debated whether to storm into the kitchen or wait for a signal. The priestess of Orcus knew of Douven and said he was in the basement. The PCs were welcome to go down into the cellar to investigate. Barging through the house now from both directions, the PCs meet at the cellar door and cautiously descend.
Fast forward to Session #13. The PCs descend the stairs but realize they’ve been tricked. They’ve passed through some sort of invisible portal, because the stairs no longer lead back up to the house, but just to a stone wall. The steps end at the entrance of a horrific chamber with dozens of sarcophagi lining the walls and a dark altar at the far end. Burning braziers in the centre of the cavern cast an orange glow throughout. Standing at the altar appears to be Orcus himself! The characters believe him to be Orcus, though the creature is actually just an aspect of undead lord.
Orcus’s Aspect conducts a quick trial, finds the PCs guilty, and declares they’ve wasted their time because Douven is already dead (just to rub it in). Then he apparently vanishes, leaving the PCs to explore their new prison. (He actually just turns invisible, waiting with impatient glee at what is about to happen.)
As the PCs enter the chamber, the lids on the sarcophagi slam open and creatures from beyond the grave pour out like pus from a flesh golem’s ingrown toenail. A massive brawl breaks out and the PCs are nearly overwhelmed. The PCs also soon learn the braziers explode when approached, and certain floor tiles are pressure traps that release poison gas. The heroes fight courageously on.
Just as the battle tips to the party’s favour, the Aspect of Orcus reappears and lays down the smack on the party’s priest. After the cleric goes down beneath an onslaught of skull mace blows, the demon casts his gaze around the battle, gives a great belly laugh, and the disappears into one of the sarcophagi. The sharp-eyed ranger and two other PCs catch a glimpse of a struggling Douven Stahl also in the sarcophagus, renewing the group’s hope. The beast lied about their friend’s death!
Treasure Type J
Despite horrendous odds, the party wins the battle and takes a rest. Then they search for treasure. As expected, the search comes up Treasure type J. Several sessions ago, one player coined this term to indicated “treasure type Johnn” – no coins, magic items, valuables, or anything to add to the credits column on the party’s balance sheet. Hey, I figure coming out alive with a few lessons learned is reward enough. Go figure. :)
Guard ambush
The PCs investigate the sarcophagus where Orcus and Douven disappeared into, and discover a hidden door. Passing through they emerge into a dark, rainy day. A road takes them to the top of a hill where they spot a swamp and hamlet below. The hamlet is surrounded by a primitive wall and the PCs troop toward it. Guards at the hamlet’s gate challenge the party and the PCs manage to convince them to open the gate. Night is falling and the group needs dry shelter – even the stables would do. As the characters pass through, the gate slams shut behind them and the guards attack. No shabby peasants these guards, the battle is a tough one.
Victorious again, the heroes speculate why such skilled warriors guard this shabby hamlet, and why they attacked without provocation. At this point, the session is called and we wrap things up. Next session the PCs will begin module Master Dungeons M2: Curse of the Kingspire by Goodman Games, of which the guard encounter was the start.
Session reflection
GM notes
My monsters suffered at a few points because of my lack of rules knowledge. I have too many things to read for work and projects though, so I’m continuing with my plan to learn-by-GMing.
There was still a lot of confusion tracking damage to numerous, identical minis. I think next session I go back to marking figs with coloured chips to help distinguish them.
I could do a better job with critter ability use. I remembered a couple of missed opportunities after the session with unused monster powers. I might resume creating encounter tactics checklists.
It was a combat-heavy session, but there was good roleplaying with the guards in encounter Guard Ambush.
I might have to break down and grant a couple of treasure parcels soon lest the unwashed masses rebel.
To dos triggered from this session
- Treasure from the guards
- Update the party wiki with XPs and NPC portraits
- Craft monster tactics checklists for upcoming encounters
March 21st, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hey, Johnn. With monster powers, the MM (or maybe it’s in the DMG?) has good advice: Use the best powers first. Hit hard in the first round or two and wait for recharge.
Rafe’s last blog post..Survival of the Scrawniest
March 21st, 2009 at 10:03 am
@Rafe: Fair advice, Rafe, but before you can ascertain “best” you have to consider the tactical situation and have some idea of what all the powers do!
@Johnn: Don’t know where it came from, but the comment you made at the end of your blog gave me an evil idea (which I’ll write up more fully as a seperate blog post sometime). When is a treasure not a treasure? When it’s incomplete and only partially functions (if at all)… Like gathering the shards of Narsil before it can be reforged, this would be a way of giving the unwashed some goodies without letting those goodies take control of the PCs capabilities. It’s a nice tip of the hat to the original “Wand Of Orcus” from AD&D, and can serve as a way to tie scenarios together that would otherwise be completely unrelated and unconnected…
March 21st, 2009 at 10:26 am
@Rafe – great tip, thanks. My power-gaming war-gaming evil mind wants to play critters with tactical superiority to the players, but I hear what you are saying. Your way keeps things simple, too. :)
@Mike – looking forward to that blog post. In Carnus, I’m treating treasure differently than I have in other campaigns. Maybe I should treat that in a post as well.
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:16 am
Yeah, sorry to both of you — I ought to have clarified. When I say “best,” I mean “optimum” for the situation. If they’re all ranged and the creature has a nasty aura, get in there. If they’re all melee vs a controller creature, it hits them from afar with the heavy-hitting (recharge) area spells, etc. If they have an action point, use it in the first round to hit ’em hard.
Rafe’s last blog post..Survival of the Scrawniest
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Ah, that makes more sense then. As Homer Simpson would say, “stupid semantics.”
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:40 am
Finally found time to read this post in detail, rather than skimming. While it’s certainly a case of the pot calling the kettle black because my spelling ranges from ok to atrocious, I wanted to bring your attention, Johnn, to a slip of the pen – not because of the mistake, but because it gave me another evil idea for you to toy with.
In your recap of session 12, You refer to the PCs following a “feint” trail in the rain. Now, obviously, you meant ‘faint’ and that’s the way I interpreted it when I read the post, but afterwards, the possible interpretations if you took the use of the word ‘feint’ literally began assaulting my GM-radar. Feint – a misleading or misdiretion motion, statement, or action, designed to prompt a response that exposes a vulnerability to exploitation (not a dictionary definition, but suggestive). So what if the PCs have followed a ‘false’ trail to their friend’s place of captivity, in a move designed to commit them to some future course of action that will leave them vulnerable? Who might have provided a false trail, and why did it seem to actually lead to their missing friend? Who is playing games, and who is the intended target? Is it the PCs, or have they gotten swept up in some scheme of Orcus’s, or is this another convoluted chess game between one Demon Prince and a rival, with the PCs as pawns – or possibly disruptions? How much of what Orcus said, and showed, and seemed to show, during session 13, can actually be taken at face value? There’s much food for thought there….
March 24th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Haha, too funny. I even spell corrected that word because I had originally typed fient.
I read a blog post recently (can’t remember where – if anyone knows drop the link here) that said red herrings played out poorly in games. Sounds like you have some answers.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:39 am
It’s not a question that’s ever occurred to me, Johnn; I throw in red herrings as a matter of course and have done for years. So yes, I guess I might have answers – but don’t know exactly what they are at this point! I’ll put this on the backburner for a future blog article. In the meantime, the biggest tips I can offer for making these things work is (1) for the DM to always be clear in his own mind about who is doing what; and (2) for there to be some point in the campaign where it becomes crystal clear to the players (not just the PCs) who is doing what – if necessary, with flashbacks and boastful villainous speeches.
March 28th, 2009 at 1:11 am
Great tips, Mike. With red herrings, I always worry about the players.
First, is red herring gameplay deemed as wasted, especially for groups who can’t game often.
Second, does the red herring leave the players with no idea what to do next? Some gamers are not good at backing up, and if forward progress stops they get stumped.
Third, was the red herring avoidable? If not, then it’s a contradiction in terms.
Fourth, was it fun?
March 28th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I’m not sure of the context in which you are asking your questions, Johnn. Are they rhetorical, indicating the considerations you would have when postulating a red herring plotline? Or are they directed at me, and concerning my post?
Assuming the latter, here are my answers:
1. Red Herring game-play is not considered wasted if it turns out that it was (a) the result of misdirection on the part of the villain trying to throw opposition off the track; or (b) a third party trying to take advantage of, or undermine, whatever the real villain is up to; or (c) a thrid party trying to enhance their reputation by claiming credit for something they didn’t do. In these cases, it just makes the world more believable. More complicated, but more interesting.
2. The answer to this depends on exactly who was the target of the red herring, and why. But in essence, it’s the same problem as you encounter in a more linear mystery when the players have no idea where to go next. If anything, the red herring can provide a road map to the real mystery, if the target of the red herring knows who was really responsible. The key is not to have the players back up so much as go forward!
3. Red herrings are always avoidable – players can be too thick to pick up on the misdirection, or so smart they see through it. This is a preliminary contest between the PCs and whoever was responsible for the red herring – sometimes they win, sometimes they don’t.
4. It was – fun for both the players and for the GM (though at different times). It also has another advantage: it buys time for the bad guy’s plots to mature and be that much harder to overcome (if the villain is trying to misdirect the blame). That means that a relatively simple and straightforward plan can pose a significant challenge for powerful and experienced PCs.
March 30th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
@Mike: Good info, Mike. I especially liked the call on the villain throwing the red herrings.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Just had a chance to read this entry. You gave me some great ideas of things to do to my party the next time I’m GMing for them.
Thanks!!