World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]

[Mark CMG]

I do, but my vision of Saltmarsh from 1E was a very small village, and the 3.5 DMG II made Saltmarsh a little too large for my tastes. I'm going to stick with my 1E vision of it.

You might have some fun, if the PCs are going back and forth between the town and the dungeon, introducing a time shift element somewhere in the dungeon where they go back to town and find the expanded version which could be considered 20, 50 or even 100 years later. It could be a lot more expensive but have some things that old Saltmarsh does not. They might panic and simply try to return to their own time or they might find a way to utilize both versions and periodically go back and forth for some benefit.

 

[chrisheff]

You might have some fun, if the PCs are going back and forth between the town and the dungeon, introducing a time shift element somewhere in the dungeon where they go back to town and find the expanded version which could be considered 20, 50 or even 100 years later. It could be a lot more expensive but have some things that old Saltmarsh does not. They might panic and simply try to return to their own time or they might find a way to utilize both versions and periodically go back and forth for some benefit.

That's a very cool idea and I might use it if I find we need to get out of the dungeon from time to time.

 

[Mark CMG]

That's a very cool idea and I might use it if I find we need to get out of the dungeon from time to time.

You could even have some NPCs and their grandchildren make appearances, or even a young kid in present day Saltmarsh who is a very old man in future Saltmarsh.

 

[chrisheff]

Looks like the first session will be June 11. Report will follow soon after.

 

[chrisheff]

The party:

Avron, human warblade
Zathras, half-elf rogue
Solara, human cleric of Pelor
Lucias, elf ?
Glanrak, dwarf paladin


The party met with Daville Montbect, the son of a minor cloth merchant’s house in Lankhmar, and old friend of Avron. The Montbects have been having problems with their shipments coming from the south. Two sea-faring vessels and some other shipments have disappeared over the last few months on their way from the Hold of the Sea Princes up the coast towards Lankhmar. The shipments all disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the village of Saltmarsh. The Montbect family hired a government Excise Man, Hollend Pogg, to travel to Saltmarsh to investigate the matter.

Pogg is met with some resistance at Saltmarsh when dealing with the village council. They aren’t exactly uncooperative, but are very slow with their aid and burying Pogg in red tape. The Montbect family asks Avron and his companions to travel to Saltmarsh to begin their own unofficial investigation. Pogg will be on hand to aid the party and the party is to do everything as legally as possible and obey the village council.

The party travels to Saltmarsh, and apart from one incident involving giant ants, they arrive after a quiet journey. Pogg meets with the party and informs them that the only lead he has not investigated is interviewing a local named Tommy “Two Times” who went to investigate some strange lights seen at Edward Grove, an old abandoned (and rumoured to be haunted) estate north of the village on the cliffs. The estate was once owned by alchemist Marcus Du Cormorant who died over 50 years ago. The house is still in his name. Tommy came back raving mad and speaking of demons and devils and that Edward Grove was alive.

Solara visited the temple of Pelor in Saltmarsh to visit Tommy, who was resting comfortably within. Tommy talked of “little demons” and a “huge madman with a gigantic cleaver” running amok in the house. He said nothing of the strange lights, but said he was able to escape after a couple of days lost inside the estate by climbing through a window.

The party decided to investigate Edward Grove themselves since the strange lights were originally seen around the same time period as the disappearing Montbect ships. They first meet with councilman Hargrail. Hargrail insists that his mercenary, Jed Slakescale accompany the party to keep an eye out for the village’s interests.

The party travels to the estate and enters, beginning their investigation. The manor appears deserted as the party only finds giant centipedes and spiders in residence on the first floor. On the second floor however, the party is attacked first by animated puppets, and then by a large cleaver-wielding maniac. At this point Jed turns against the party for unknown reasons and is slain. The maniac is captured and proves to simply be a very large man playing a role to scare away unwanted visitors. He is a pirate, and he confesses that pirates have been operating out of Edward Grove. To keep people away from the estate, the pirates also hired enchantress Bronwyn who has a talent for making animated puppets.

The party leaves the pirate tied up, and investigates the basement of the estate. There they find where the pirates have been living. Investigating further (after a nasty encounter with some rot grubs) the party finds Bronwyn, her gnoll guards, and her prized puppet, Jester. After a long battle, the party rests to lick their wounds.

End of session 1.

 

[chrisheff]

Having rested briefly after the battle with Bronwyn and the gnolls, the party continued along the passage discovering a cave leading out to the sea. Bolts of cloth and other items were piled near a small boat. This was obviously where the pirates loaded and offloaded their goods. A young boy was found guarding the loot. He explained he was the ship’s helper (slave). He told the party what he could of the ship “The Sea Ghost” and her crew, and he also knew the signal system for calling the ship when it was time to ship out stolen goods.

The party brought the captured boy and previously captured pirate back to Saltmarsh to discuss matters with Hollend Pogg. The boy explained that there were three pirates in the village, drinking and wenching while they waited for the ship to return. While Hollend confronted Councilor Hargrail with evidence that he was in league with the pirates, some of the party confronted the three pirates in the village. One pirate was killed, and two were taken alive.

Hollend and the party devised a plan to dress as pirates and take the small boat to "The Sea Ghost" after signalling all was well. Zathras steered the boat as if getting lost in the fog and was able to approach the ship from the starboard side, avoiding detection. The party then scaled the ship and attacked the pirates who were watching the land for signs of their crew. The party battled fiercely throughout the ship and were able to stop the pirates from scuttling her when they knew they had lost. The captain and ship were taken into custody. It was discovered that the pirates were also selling weapons to the lizard men of the Hool Marsh, but two of the three lizardmen envoys escaped; the third was slain.

Upon returning victorious to Saltmarsh, Solara was informed by the local priests of Pelor that the church in Lankhmar wished her to return as soon as she was able. Some ancient tunnels were found under the old catacombs of the church in Lankhmar, and the priests wanted Solara and her comrades to investigate. The party returned to Lankhmar and took stock of their loot.

End of session 2.

 

[chrisheff]

The party stocked up on general dungeoneering equipment courtesy of the church and was lead deep into the catacombs. At the bottom level was a broken sarcophagi with some old, broken stairs leading even further down. The party’s mission was to explore this unknown area and report back to the church. The party was also joined by their final member, Sharra a halfling warlock.

At the end of the long flight of steps, the party entered a decrepit constructed chamber with a very old statue of a humanoid demon. Glanrak recognized the demon as Dunmaru, a very old demon of death and destruction. Passageways lead west, north and east out of the strange chamber. The party decided to mostly stay left until necessity dictated otherwise in their exploration.

Heading west and then north, the party found a smaller, seemingly empty chamber. While searching the chamber, Zathras was attacked by a ghast that dropped from a small hole near the ceiling. A small skirmish ensued, and the party was able to dispatch the ghast after it was turned by Solara. Zathras examined the hole it came from, but it went on and on and was a very tight, uncomfortable fit, and there was no telling if there were other creatures further along. The party continued through the eastern exit of the room.

They arrived at a T-junction that turned north and continued east. The party turned north and noticed the floor was covered with a light mist. They continued to follow the passage as the mist turned to fog and soon covered the entire corridor top to bottom. Still, they followed the passage and soon stopped as they heard a strange grinding noise. Glanrak’s dwarven senses told him they were now travelling in a different direction than they were before. Soon the mist cleared and the party came upon a room filled with kobolds and their krenshar pet. There was a lengthy battle, but the party prevailed.

The party continued exploring and were faced with numerous corridors and rooms filled with rubble (having partially collapsed ceilings). This place seemed to go on and on. They disarmed and accidentally set off many traps, found a large chamber with dead orcs, kobolds and darkmantles and fought a few darkmantles and rat swarms as well. They also found an old journal and some maps hinting that they were in an ancient prison for demons. They also discovered a room that was in near pristine shape and deduced it was once a guard room. A ledger written in celestial talked of various prisoners, mostly demons, and their comings and goings. There was no indication in the ledgers however of the history of the place or how big it was or how functional it was.

Deciding to rest, the party made their way back to the entrance in order to inform the church of what they had found so far. However, just beyond the first bit of fog was a blank wall! They appeared trapped!

End of session 3.

 

[chrisheff]

The party continued forth through the large and mysterious dungeon. They battled orcs and other creatures (finding a note with the orcs that threatened them and was signed “Longtail”) and found a room with the words “The Seeing Pool” written in Celestial on the door. Entering the room, the party discovered a font with a pool of water still filled. On a flat surface on the top were three indentations beside which lay three coloured crystals; red, white and black. They experimented placing the crystals into the indentations in differing orders and when they did, the pool reflected a scene to them from different areas of the dungeon:

red/white/black: a room with a large ice block in the center; chains from the ceiling hang down frozen into the block; within the block is a frozen shadowy form

red/black/white: a well furnished room with tapestries, desk and a four-poster bed; sitting at the desk is a richly (though in need of repair) dressed man; he turns towards the party, as if sensing them watching him; he is undead

white/red/black: a small room with a man sitting in the center, bound with manacles attached to his thumbs and ankles; it is the white-haired they encountered before

white/black/red: a room with an empty torture chair; spikes and straps line the chair

black/red/white: a large room with a large demonic skeleton lying lifeless in the center

black/white/red: the view pans around a large ice cavern eventually coming to rest on a gigantic red dragon

The party next encountered a fiendish owlbear in combat with some darkmantles. After dispatching the owlbear, they followed its trail of destruction to a large pillared room with some sort of portal within. In a small room to the south, they discovered an ugly little man who warned them to leave “his” area of the dungeon. A battle ensued when the ugly man summoned another owlbear from the portal. After a long battle that included the ugly man’s familiar imp, the party prevailed. The man had some notes with him which Lucias began to study. The first thing he discovered was that this man was Longtail, a wererat.

End of session 4.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, I remember Longtail fondly. In the fight, the goblin rogue got Suggested into jumping into the portal. He drew AOO's from every other PC on his way to the portal. Every single PC missed - like five attacks. So, failed save and five missed attacks and he jumped into the portal, getting turned into very messy feta cheese in the process.

Ahh fond memories.

 

[chrisheff]

The party was able to gather the following information after Lucias spent some time going through Longtail’s notes and journals:

Info on Longtail:

- Longtail is a wererat hailing from a city called Waterdeep

- he discovered a new series of tunnels in Waterdeep’s sewer system, and gathered a group of kobolds and hobgoblins to accompany him to investigate as his divinings told him that there was powerful magic somewhere within

- once inside he quickly discovered that the group could not get back out again; that the dungeon itself was the source of the magic and it was ever-changing and ever-moving

- they made a truce with an orc band the met within the dungeon and for a while explored this large dungeon together

- the partnership did not last long and Longtail’s group and the orcs split up

- Longtail’s party was slowly decimated by the dungeon’s inhabitants, but the wererat was not concerned as he found a portal that he thought would allow him to summon in fiendish creatures to join him

- he plans on taking over the dungeon with his new fiendish army


Info on the dungeon:

- the dungeon is a Celestial prison

- it has many names, the most common of which seems to be Aquelestria which is a Celestial word loosely translated to mean “the light prevails”

- the dungeon housed many powerful evils such as demons, evil humanoids and other monstrosities

- the dungeon is usually never in any one place for long, existing in many places at once inter-dimensionally

- some time ago now a cataclysmic earthquake struck the dungeon and split it apart, destroying many of the protective measures; not only did many of the evils escape, but creatures from other worlds were able to find their way in as openings to the dungeon randomly appeared in different worlds for a few moments at a time

- apparently some Celestial guardians still survive and attempt to bring order back to the dungeon

- because of the cataclysm, most of the maps Longtail has found are out of date with some areas blocked off or completely missing

Longtail also had a map of the current section of dungeon they were in and the party used it to explore more of the place. Much of the map was out-of-date however. They were able to use the map to find the location of the hidden treasure as hinted to in the journal they had found previously, and the party gathered a magical haversack and some other items including a magical warhammer that Glanrak decided to use.

Spending a few days exploring, and exhausting the possibilities on the current map, the party ventured north into unknown territory. One of the first rooms the encountered was a well-stocked and kept library. The party settled in for a rest while Solara studied the tomes.

End of session 5.