[Castles & Crusades] The Feral Coast

[Mezuka]

This is the journal of my solitary campaign of Castles & Crusades.
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The three heroes are on board one of three ships sent East by King Jorldan to determine if the legends of another continent are true.

After [2] months of sailing Tolmien the rogue, in the crow's nest, spots a thin orange-red line on the horizon. 'Land!' he screams at the top of his lungs. ‘Land!'

It is [the end of the day], the sun will go down soon. Everyone is excited and cannot sleep that night. The weather [changes] rapidly. A [heavy storm] hits the ships. It [worsens], the waves are higher and higher. The three ships are pushed towards the coast rapidly. The coast is a [200] feet high wall of red rock with no beach in sight. Many crew members jump over the railing before the ships hit the rocky clifts and are broken apart.

[Roderik], the barbarian, is pulled out of unconsciousness by the terrible pain he feels in his left arm. A [goblin] just sank his teeth in a free meal, thinking the man is dead! Roderik is on a rocky and jagged beach with almost no sand. He grabs his dirk and hits the creature. The fight lasts 2 rounds. The creature is no match against the formidable strength of the man.

Roredik (minus 6HP) starts looking for other survivors. Elistor the druid, Tolmien the rogue and [three] other crewmen have survived. There is no sight of the ships. Broken crates and floating barrels are gathered. The group has [10] days worth of food and fresh water to survive.

 

[Mezuka]

DAY 1:
The rocky beach is not a viable location for an encampment. Elistor the druid [nature lore vs 12: 20!] deducts that the tide will completely flood the beach by 7 pm. Tolmien [persuasion] convinces the three crewmen to keep watch over the supplies while the three heroes search for a better location to set up a camp. The men are were not hard to convince, preferring to stay put.

The barbarian [deerstalker ability] finds a way to climb the rock cliff. There is a [natural staircase] leading up to the top. The [forest] is [deciduous] and [sparse]. After walking and searching for [30 minutes] the barbarian finds a low hill perfect to set up camp. Tolmien the rogue scouts the surrounding area and finds [nothing] of interest. Seems like a safe area. Elistor searches for and [finds] [rasberries]. He heals Roderik [+5HP] using the Goodberry spell.

The heroes and the crewmen begin transporting the supplies they collected from the crates and barrels to the camp. It takes [3 hours]. It is 2 pm.

The men start building a makeshift shelter with tree branches. Meanwhile, hidden in the vegetation Tolmien watches the surrounding area for threats [nothing]. That evening, with a roof, provisions and good weather, the morale of the troupe is much better than it was this morning. There is hope once again.

NIGHT 1:
The six men take turns for the night watch. During watch [3]. [Two] [zombies] approach the camp. [Elistor] on watch, sense a shift in the area's natural energy flow [not surprised]. Initiative. Elistor is faster. He yells at the top of his lung DANGER and slings at pellet at the first zombie causing 3dmg. Zombie 1 (9hp -3), Zombie 2 (4hp).

The fight lasted 2 rounds. No one was injured! The rest of the night is [uneventful].

 

[Mezuka]

DAY 2:
Once again the crewmen - Ivar (6hp), Jarl (5hp) and Uld (5hp) - agree to stay behind to protect the provisions and the camp. The heroes decide to go [West] from their current position. At midday, after a quick rest, they turn back towards the camp. The forest doesn't seem to end in the direction. Roderik [deerstalker] retraces their steps [successfully]. When they arrive, at the camp by the end of the day, [nothing happened] while they were gone.

NIGHT 2:
There are no events during the night.
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DAY 3:
Today the heroes travel [North-West] hoping to find a freshwater source. The forest continues in that direction. [Water? yes, Distance? 1 hour from camp] Tolmien hears the sound of cascading water first. It’s a [small river]. Elistor [nature lore vs 12: 19] tastes a few drops of water. It is [drinkable]. They fill their belt waterskin gladly. ‘Let’s explore this side of the river further.’ says Roderik.

After [25 minutes] they [find] a [structure]. It is the [small] [ruin] of what appears to be a [single story] [stone house]. It is [10 minutes] South of the river. As Tolmien enters the ruin to inspect it [event] [a medium spider 15 hp] crawls from under the rotten entrance door. It tries to attack him but misses. Elistor is the quickest. He strikes the spider with his staff [20]. Inflicting 1d6+2 [7] plus critical damage (option 7 CKG] of 1d4 [3] for a total of [9]. Severely injured by the wooden staff the spider decides to flee by climbing the back wall of the ruin. Tolmien swings his longsword as it leaves, missing [2] lamentably. The spider is gone.

Tolmien ‘It’s a stalemate! Hope it doesn’t come back. I hate spiders!’ Elistor ‘This looks like a good place to set up camp. We can build a roof.’ Roderik ‘Yes we will be shielded from the wind too. Let’s go back to the camp.’

Roderik [deerstalker] retraces their steps [successfully]. When they arrive, at the camp by the end of the day, Jarl, Ivar and Uld [event] say they’ve seen [humanoid shapes] lurking in the woods. They can’t agree on the number [3 or 4]. Roderik ‘It’s double watch for the night then!’ They form three teams of one heroe and one crewman.

 

[Mezuka]

NIGHT 3:

The dreaded attack by the unseen enemy happens during the [second] watch. Tolmien and one Jarl are [not surprised]. [6] goblins attack the camp hoping to gain an advantage with their night vision. One of them yells ‘You kill Brok, you die!’

Goblins: (5hp), (2hp), (6hp), (3hp), (5hp), (4hp). They have [1 spear] each and [short swords].

Tolmien killed one goblin in the first round. Jarl woke up everyone sleeping. The goblins threw their six spears but all miserably failed. Two almost hit Tolmien but he avoided them with his high dexterity. Elistor cast Entangled and caught four goblins with the vines. The goblin not entangled decided to flee. Two managed to get free during their activation! Roderik lost 2hp, Elistor lost 3hp, the three crewmen killed one goblin with their daggers. The fight lasted three rounds. The crewmen now have shortswords and daggers. The rest of the night is [uneventful].

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XPs so far: 7 goblins (35), 1 medium spider (40). Since I can’t award myself XPs for good roleplaying, I've decided to give each PC the total amount of XPs instead of dividing it among them. Each character gains 75Xps. The crewmen do not gain XPs.
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DAY 4:
The next morning the party gets up at sunrise, they pack as many provisions as they can carry and leave this area permanently. They force march to the stone house ruins and arrive by mid-day. Exhausted they rest for the remainder of the day.

NIGHT 4:
The weather [changes]. It starts [raining - short storm]. The skies clear up. The group huddles around the fire inside the ruin. They try to dry their wet clothing. It is the beginning of summer.
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DAY 5:
Elistor and Roderik, with the help of the crewmen, build a makeshift roof over the ruins with nearby trees and plants.

Tolmien, as always, is on guard duty. He decides to stretch his legs by walking to the river. [Event] As he stealthily nears the river bank he spots [d100=100%!] An [adult red] dragon drinking the freshwater. The creature is [not alone]. A [human], wearing black [platemail] armour fills his waterskin. Tolmien stops breathing and moving. They do [not detect] him. After a [5] minute rest the knight climbs on the dragon and it flies away. Tolmien waits about 15 minutes before he runs back to camp to reveal what he has just seen!

 

[Mezuka]

DAY 5: continued

Elistor and Roderik are stunned to learn that a red dragon just passed near this location.

Elistor: ‘First a goblin, then two zombies, a giant spider, followed by a goblin patrol and now a red dragon. Seems like we found the most hospitable location on this coast!’
Roderik: smiling ‘No fire and dried meat for at least a day.’

Tolmien: ‘That knight was really creepy. He wore a bone white skeletal mask.’

NIGHT 5:
The group is barricaded inside the ruins for the night and sleeping soundly. The three window openings and the door are barred with tree branches trellised by Elistor. No one is on watch. 

[suddenly, surprise] the door explodes inwards as two skeletons enter the house (4hp), (8hp). Attacking Jarl and Roderik. Both hit with their long swords. Roderik and Tolmien are the fastest to react. Elistor, Ivar and Uld act after the skeletons. Jarl falls to the ground grievously injured.

The two skeletons are dispatched quickly but another two skeletons enter the house! (4hp), (12hp). After three more rounds they are destroyed. Roderik lost 8hp, Tolmien 3hp, Elistor 2hp, Jarl 4hp and Uld 1hp. Elistor uses First Aid cantrips on everyone except himself. He then uses Goodberry (+6hp) on Roderik.

The heroes put their defences back in place and decide to keep watch for the rest of the night.

Roderik: ‘That was a mistake we won’t do again!’

Elistor: ‘Zombies and skeletons don’t roam the land by themselves. We need to find who is behind these attacks. Tolmien: ‘I hope it’s not the creepy knight with the dragon!’

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DAY 6:

Elistor prepares a fresh batch of Goodberries (5). Roderik [deerstalker] is able to track the footprints of the skeletons back to a [small] [stone] structure. 

It is a [zigurat] with an [entrance] [open]. It is located [1] hour West of their current location, near the river. Tolmien inspects [17] the entrance to determine if it is trapped [no]. Advancing slowly inside he discovers the stone slab that used to block the entrance. It lies broken in pieces on the floor.

Tolmien: ‘Someone used pry bars to force it open. The entrance was open not long ago, from what I can tell.’

Roderik [deerstalker 15] looking at the area: ‘They were three, at least.’

Confident the crewmen can handle the camp the three heroes decide to enter the ziggurat.

 

[Mezuka]

Visual aid. The journey so far:

 

[Mezuka]

DAY 6 continued:

Elistor lights up a torch. There is a stone [staircase] going straight down for [30 feet]. At the end of the staircase, there is an opening that leads to a [55x55] foot [magically] lit room. A 15-foot wide balcony leads to a [double staircase] itself going down another [35 feet]. It is a [mausoleum]. On each of the other three walls, seven alcoves have been dug into the rock walls. The mausoleum has seven levels of alcoves.

Elistor: ‘I didn’t expect that! One hundred and forty-seven tombs.’

Roderik: ‘These people really honoured their dead.

Tolmien: ‘Look at the four alcoves at the bottom East wall, four tombs have been opened!’

In the large room, the heroes can see [2] [large] [statues]. They look like [women] with [wings] but they have [no facial features]. A large stone table between them looks like an embalming table. At the back of the room, there are two [stone coffins] with [sculpted] capstones. They depict a man and a woman. A third one, in the middle, has a [glass and bronze] see-through coffin.

The group descends the right-hand staircase. As they arrive at the bottom they hear a voice. At first, they don’t understand the meaning of the phrase. The voice repeats the phrase, each time louder. Finally, Tolmien [13] gets it. ‘It’s a variation of the old Orvanden dialect. Listen.’

The voice: ‘Have you seen my assistants, Marik and Laure?’

The sound comes from the back of the room.

The heroes walk carefully, weapons drawn, towards the glass coffin. The glass is [broken]. The corpse inside has [deteriorated]. The corpse is wearing an orange, red and yellow coloured robe. An indentation on the forehead shows the corpse is [missing] a [crown].

A [man] is sitting against the back wall. He wears a [golden crown] with a [single] and [large] [green gem]. Next to him, the heroes can see three backpacks, pry bars, hammers and other tomb pillaging tools. The man: ‘I’m so tired… where are Marik and Laure?

The man is [possessed] by the spirit of the dead king. The green gem on the crown suddenly [failed WIS] glows. The man’s eyes glow green! He gets up moves 5 feet towards the glass coffin and grabs a [scimitar] that was hidden by his robe.

Tolmien, speaking Orvanden: ‘We mean no harm, my King. Leave this man’s body. We will put back the crown on your head and reseal the tomb. Your rest will be undisturbed!’ [persuasion 4]. Tolmien doesn’t sound convincing at all.

Round 1
The King is [evil and insane]: ‘What makes you think I want to leave the body of this man! I’ve been waiting for this for eons! I’ll raise my dead warriors and destroy my enemies.’ The King lunges forward and tries to hit [Tolmien]. The scimitar inflicts 5 damage. Tolmien fakes death [16] and falls to the ground. Roderik, furious, charges the King and hits, causing 8 damage. Elistor swings his staff and hits the king, bruising him for another 7.

Round 2
The King moves forward and strikes Roderik with the scimitar causing 8 damage. Tolmien gets up, his dirk in hand, he is now behind the King. He tries to knock off the crown from the head of the King using his blade. [The crown is magical, difficulty 20]. Tolmien [13+3] misses.

Roderik swings his large two-handed axe at the King and delivers 10 damage. The body of the possessed man should fall to the ground but it is maintained upright by the evil energy of the King. Elistor tries to hit the King but misses.



Round 3
The King hits Roderik with a weak blow, 2 damage. The barbarian is barely standing [2hps]. The barbarian musters his last strength and hits the King delivering [1+3] damage. The King laughs madly. Tolmien goes for the crown again [17+3 = 20]. Propelled by the dirk the crown flies off the head of the possessed man! Grievously wounded [-6] he falls to the ground, dying.