The Yawning Bay Campaign Chronicles 3: Sidequest - Terem Village and the Temple of Lunaqqua (2 of 2)

Welcome back to Altered Worlds Press's game night posts!

This is the second post describing the details of a two-part sidequest our heroes completed a month or more ago. To read the first episode of this quest click here!

 

The heroes set out the next day guided by Tessa, the aspiring priestess of the moon goddess Lunaqqua, toward her goddess's lost temple on the edge of the mountains south and west of the Terem Village. Tessa's vision, impressed upon her mind by the goddess, leads them quickly and without incident to the edges of the mountain range.

Seeing the path leading up the mountainside toward the temple, the party decides to rest for the night. During the evening, they are attacked by several leaping insect-like daemons! Tan Chama's flaming missiles and the blades and arrows of the heroes soon manage to cut them down.

They attempt to rest for the remainder of the evening and awake early to begin their approach to the temple. The band move up the trail and see, built into the mountainside, a long portico held up with columns. Eyes are certainly watching from the darkness within. As they near the end of the trail, a robed figure approaches them on the final stairs leading up into the columned interior. It speaks in a strangely accented common tongue, warning them from the depths of its hood not to go farther into the temple; it is beset by daemons. The heroes confront the mysterious robed figure, noting its spindly and strange claws that hang from the sleeves of the robe. It threatens them; the heroes do not take kindly to that and in the exchange that follows, cut the creature down. It is a strangely emaciated bipedal dog-like creature. Another daemon for certain. The heroes move into the interior of Lunaqqua's temple.

Within, a forest of columns in a large open space. In the dim light from the party lantern, they move inward, looking for chambers and perhaps foes. A stench pervades the place. The stench of... evil. Though prepared, the party is ambushed by strange creatures that teleport to them, attack, then teleport away. A difficult fight ensues. Yet Xull the barbarian and Bior the monk hold their own. More hurt is dished out than taken, with Fennig's arrows and Leighsech's bolts taking their toll on the daemons. The heroes are soon victorious.

They reach the far edge of the columned interior, and find a number of open doorways to chambers carved into the mountain stone. In each chamber save two they face terrible foes. A swarm of undead bats. The reanimated skeletons of mountain apes. A trio of daemons with blue abyssal flames that damage the heroes. The 6 heroes take their licks each time, blasting away with silver arrows and bolts, fire missiles and fireballs, and the horrors are eventually slain.

Within one of the last chambers is a platform overlooking a murky pool covering the floor of the room beyond. Bior decides to plumb the depths of the pool, and is attacked by a tentacled daemon horror! The heroes fire arrows and magic, and though bruised and beaten, Bior survives with Rianorix's healing help. 

Eventually the heroes find a chamber that has a receptacle in one wall that fits the medallion Tessa wears around her neck, a key of sorts. Within, a hidden and undisturbed priestly chamber. They find a sleeping area and a number of temple treasures. Gems, both precious and semi-precious, lacquered magical armor, and a number of golden pinecones that can heal. An old chest with thousands of copper coins in it completes the collection. Though they defer to Tessa, she grants the heroes a significant portion of treasure. Rianorix and the heroes rest here, and then in the morning ensure that the temple is clear of daemons. Rianorix consecrates the pool -- a divination pool now -- and the temple in general. Tessa, still hinting at her attraction for the priest of Boreas, praises him. She will return with them to Terem Village to gather the faithful, and to begin to establish the new temple, hoping to see Rianorix at some future date -- perhaps to continue the budding relationship.

There ends our tale of the most famous sidequest (non-Stonehell Dungeon delve) of the campaign thus far! Thanks for reading. We at Altered Worlds Press wish you a future of happy gaming.

Fortune and Glory!

AWP

The Yawning Bay Campaign Chronicles 2: Sidequest - Terem Village and the Temple of Lunaqqua (1 of 2)

 

Looking for the beginning of this series, and an introduction to the cast of player characters? Find the first post of the series here!

 With the exception of an initial foray down the high road to clear out an old watchpost of red demon picts (hobgoblins), the heroes of Yawning Bay have primarily confined their activities to exploring the vast depths of Stonehell Dungeon and its immediate surroundings. When they need a rest, the party has been taking them in the city of Farum.

Yet, in the last two months the players found and pursued a major sidequest, only tangentially related to the megadungeon:

The Temple of Lunaqqua

 The sidequest started after the players checked in with Jerusha, the priestess of Artemis, and sold her some art that they had found in Stonehell (Jerusha has a soft spot for antiquities and has requested the players check in with her if they have any for sale).

Jerusha explained that the Temple of Artemis had sent two representatives to Terem Village, a small coastal fishing village east of Farum, and that Artemis's priestesses had been treated badly and run out of town by the insular villagers.

Both the followers of Artemis and of Apollo have rubbed the heroes the wrong way once or twice in the past, as they seem to carry a sense of arrogance and entitlement, yet their relationship with the heroes has been beneficial. They agree to visit Terem and determine if there is a problem to be resolved there.

The heroes travel along the coastal road between Farum and Terem Village, and are attacked by a giant crab-creature! Beached not far away is some kind of vessel, from which more crab-like monstrosities emerge. Some even fire beams of light at the heroes using some kind of technology. The heroes defeat the one that ambushed them, and chase the others back into their ship, which disappears beneath the waves.

After one night on the road, the heroes arrive in Terem Village. They find it to be a quaint fishing village, with a longhouse, cottages, and one small house dedicated to the old goddess Lunaqqua. The longhouse is a gathering place. Coin isn't used in the village, so the characters use some of the "crab" meat to barter for information, a place to sleep in the longhouse, and food and drink.

They learn that the village headman's youngest son is missing, Young Dan, a boy of about 15. They also hear that the representatives of Artemis's temple were thrown out due to the local reverence for Lunaqqua (another moon goddess) and because they were pushy and cruel to some of the villagers.

The heroes visit the family that has dedicated their home to Lunaqqua, an old moon goddess that the sailors revere, but that also has been rumored to have connections to darker forces influenced by lycanthropy (were-creatures) in myth. The family there is kind, and has a daughter about Rianorix's age (the party's Priest of Boreas, God of Wind). The daughter, Tessa, has received dreams from Lunaqqua -- that she has been called as a priestess, and that the lost temple must be seized and cleansed of evils that have taken up residence there. She was also led to a medallion of Lunaqqua that may be a key.

The heroes decide to first pursue the missing Young Dan, and then to accompany Tessa to the lost temple that she says she has seen in vision, and should be able to navigate to, and help her clean it out and reestablish the Temple of Lunaqqua, though Rianorix and several other members of the party are a bit leery of this goddess.

After spending the night in the village longhouse, the heroes travel into the wilderness, moving away from the sea and leaving the village behind. Fennig the Ranger finds tracks, and follows them into the wilderness; the heroes hope that Young Dan will be found alive. It becomes apparent to Fennig that at one location Young Dan was attacked and captured by a group of creatures that left a foul scent at the scene of the scuffle.

They continue to pursue these prints, and find several bipedal reptilian creatures camping around a hollowed-out tree. The more stealthy members of the party attempt a reconnaissance of the area, but one of the party (Fennig or Xandraous?) trips, alerting the reptiles. They attack the heroes, their grotesque scent nearly leading some of the party to lose their lunches. Yet by sword and spell the heroes are soon victorious, and find Young Dan unconscious and tied up but alive, in the hollow-tree by the reptiles' fire pit. Fennig is soon able to identify these creatures as troglodytes.

The adventurers travel back to Terem Village, where they are given a warm welcome and hardy meals and grog by the headman and leaders of the village at the longhouse. After another night of rest they gather Tessa and set off into the wilds in search of the lost temple of Lunaqqua.

Next time: The Daemon-Infested Lost Temple of Lunaqqua!

 

The Yawning Bay Campaign Chronicles 1: Cast of Characters

 

Art by AWP Art Director Sean Hollenhors!

Building A Campaign Part Two: Fleshing Out The Sandbox

 Welcome to Building A Campaign Part Two: Fleshing Out The Sandbox, wherein resident Altered Worlds Press writer and dungeonmaster Bryan continues his series on building a sandbox campaign for the AWP game night crew's home game.

In case you missed it, read the first part of the series here.

Building A Campaign Part One: Gathering Cobwebs

 Welcome to the first of a multi-part series on building a fantasy campaign! Herein Bryan, Altered Worlds Press's resident writer, dungeon master, and storyteller, pulls back the curtain on the process he took to create the world of the AWP crew's current old school sandbox, The Yawning Bay Campaign. Onward!

Greetings Wanderer! Welcome to the Altered Worlds

 Welcome to the official Altered Worlds Press Blog!

Glad you could join us. Sit down, pull up a chair, and prepare for adventure! Altered Worlds Press is a tabletop RPG publisher formed by two partners with a single dream: to make cool RPG stuff that you'll be proud to have hit your game table. Here you'll find updates on what we're up to, our own game night adventures, and assorted swords and sorcery influenced musings. Though fantasy RPGs like D&D are the focus of our efforts, we also love anything wild and weird going on in the tabletop RPG space, from science fiction to post-apocalyptic gaming, and even multi-genre games and supplements. The sky's the limit! Thanks for joining us on our heroic journey.

A few odds and ends: you can follow us on Facebook, and find us on Twitter @AWPress. We're really looking forward to sharing our creations (and home game shenanigans) with you here.

Yours Cosmically,

-Bryan and Sean, the AWP team