The Buried Dragon Temple, Level 7

The seventh newest (and second oldest) construction of the the Temple of the First Dragon shows the origins of the circular dome style present in the level above (A). Two large domes (B) comprised the main meeting areas of the cult during this time. The open halls the cult enjoyed during this era of the temple were accessed through several doors (C) now barred and buried under several levels of earth.

Map of the sixth buried layer of the temple.

When the temple was young, offerings would be dropped to the First Dragon below through the shaft (D) while only the most venerated priests would descend to the original temple below (F). Worshippers waiting to make offerings or to be tested would wait in the long promenade (E).

Rise of Lolith S5-Returning to the Scene of the Crime

Safe back in their barn in the village, the party is awakened in the late morning by the farmer widow who let them use her barn. She informs them that the laboratory has been demolished and that Lolith’s guardsmen and even royal police are looking for them. She offers to let them lie low there as long as they need in exchange for help with farm work. For today, they should stay in the barn and maybe tidy up.

• Evren (BiW): Level 4 Drow Psion Thief
• Labkost (ByW): Level 4 Gnome Magic-user
• Argent Smith (RiH): Level 4 Human Monk

While they work, they hear the widow talk off some police looking for them. They lie low doing discrete farm work for a couple days until the patrols looking for them have all moved on. Once the coast is clear, they decide to head back to the demolished lab to see if they can dig up any evidence of Lolith’s wrong doing. They hear she has been claiming she demolished the lab as soon as she found out they were engaged in unethical experimentation.

Biweekly Item-Censer Flail (AD&D)

Censer Flail: The head of this flail is apparently designed to admit burning incense while still being sturdy enough to function as a weapon. When incense is burning in the censer flail, it is treated as a magic weapon with regard to ability to hit creatures who require magical weapons to hit but with no actual bonuses to damage or ‘to hit’: +1 against evil creatures in general, +2 against undead, and +3 against demons and devils.

Haven: The Edsserish Thief Ring

On January 9th, Year 12 of the Vale Gorg, having returned from his smuggling efforts abroad to again serve with Citadel House, enters the Citadel House tavern to find a young elf, Victor, waiting to adventurer with him. As a young boy, Victor was among the first families to come through the portal from Enoch. He has long admired the Citadel House Adventurers and now seeks to join them.

• Gorg (HuS): Level 5 Orc Thief
• Victor (TrS): Level 1 Elf Thief

They decide to head to Edsserish, the old seat of the West Hill March, to look into a ring of thieves that Teldissha (formerly the Tooth of Ellizari and now Verdis’ lieutenant in the West Hill March) has asked for help with, since they recognize all of his police. They set out in the early morning and with new roads and a dedicated pace, they can see the palace and the garden walls as they descend into the valley at sunset.

Haven: Year 9, 10, and 11

With first session of the 5 year jump only getting through two years (one year in 2 ours, the next in 15 minutes, all after loot division from the previous session), we really thought we’d get through the next three significantly more quickly. Boy were we wrong.

The Book of Jex-Chapter 12

And lo, as we returned from Svarborg to the bring the evidence we took to the oracle, Brother Grigori heard a familiar cry from a flying stronghold in the distance. And now, we prevailed upon Delsaphine to carry us thence and embarked in the castle.

The Buried Dragon Temple, Level 6

The sixth newest construction of the the Temple of the First Dragon was originally in the circular dome style popular in the early period of the cult of the dragon. It has three domed chambers (C, D, E) to which pillars have been added to support the temple levels added above. One of these chambers (E) contained the offering pit by which offerings could be dropped to to the dragon god. When the level above was added, this pit was closed around for improved delivery and structure. Despite this addition, a failed pillar has resulted in partial collapse in this chamber.

Map of the fifth buried layer of the temple.

In this era of the cult, it was small enough to merit only one entrance (A) which now joins the stairs to the level above. The stairs down to the deeper levels (B) are not secured at this depth. Few, even the most faithful cultists, pass through this level to commune with the dragon god. None linger here on their way as a long-mad priest, made immortal by infusions of dragon blood, wanders this level of the temple rambling prophecy and attacking intruders.

Attending LTUE 2021

February 11th, 12th, and 13th, I will be attending the Life the Universe and Everything Symposium online this year. I’m on several panels and I’d love to see you there:

Panels on the 11th, Thursday

• 5 PM: A Theater of the Mind: Minifigs in Gaming
• 8 PM: Dungeon-Crawler Nostalgia

Panels on the 12th, Friday

• 12 PM: Tips and Tricks for Dungeon Masters
• 3PM: Choose Your Audience: How to Build a Game for a Specific Age Group

Panels on the 13th, Saturday

• 12 PM: Gaming Remotely: Roll20, Video Conferencing, and More
• 5 PM: RPGs: How System Affects Table Dynamics
• 7 PM: Intro to Tabletop RPGs

Each of these panels will have plenty of other great people to help drive the discussion. I assume there will be ways to break out into small groups after, as well, if you want to discuss.

Biweekly Monster-Giant Lobster (AD&D)

FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-4
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVE: 9″//18″
HIT DICE: 8+8
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-18/3-18
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSE: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Animal
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L (12’+ long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Haven: Year 7 and 8

As much as we’ve been enjoying our real-time campaign in Haven, there are certain achievements the players are looking for that are coming too slow. To get some large scale changes through and make the setting feel new again, we’re jumping ahead 5 years, letting the areas they’ve cleared tame, and preparing to open new territories in the new year. Saturday we played through two years and tomorrow we will play another three.