Barrowmaze Campaign Diary - Session 9: Hunted to Hunter

This is part of my on-going diary series for my Doom of Barrowmaze campaign run using Old-School Essentials.

Session 9 - Hunted to Hunter

This week the party consisted of...

	Barry, Barbarian 4. Duvari polymath and would-be warlord. Expedition leader. Played by Zi.
	Kazrik, Dwarf 2. Dwarven shipwright of Clan Boatstone. Played by Ryan.
	Narion, Elf 1. An unusual elven smith and tinkerer. Played by Andrew.
	Psteve, Cleric 2. Enigmatic prophet haunted by eldritch whispers. Played by Andy.
	Thaddeus, Paladin 4. Eccentric holy warrior in search of wisdom. Played by Todd.

Scouring the Church of St Merrika

Our heroes, victorious over the mad priest Abramo, deliberated briefly on the temple's spoils. The decision was made to leave behind the valuable jade statue, planning to return later for a potentially profitable sale—either to a shady buyer or by splitting it into two parts.

Filled with concern that they might have overlooked something important and wary of Misha's possible presence, the party meticulously retraced their steps through the temple. Their search yielded no additional discoveries of note, except for some wolves in a kennel located in the temple's rear. Afterward, the group departed from the scene.

The Grey Youth

The group returned to the mayor's house, informed him of their church deeds, and expressed concern about the potential consequences. Zakarias reassured them, stating it was the most likely outcome for the village's state. He acknowledged the challenge of finding the serpent god's lair but proposed searching for leads at the old sage's hut ruins.

In a grove of towering elms, the group discovered the charred remains of a small shack. There, they encountered a young man, Khiral Egér, who was sifting through the ruins in search of something. During their conversation, the party learned that the sage was named Ramne and that his house had been set ablaze by cult members when it was apparently the sage knew too much. Khiral was desperately seeking the magician's cache of magical items.

Uncertain of the group's intentions, Khiral used the cult's secret sign. After realizing they were not cult members, he shared information about tracking down the cult's lair. He mentioned his former master's familiar, a weasel named Whiskers, could trace the reptilian monsters across the moor.

The party, led by Kazrik, located a chest in the burned ruins. They decided that one of the two elves could unlock its magic, and Lhinniel successfully used a knock spell. In exchange for returning the other magic items to Khiral, the group received two potions as a gift. 

Slaughter at the Village Store

The group rested in their rooms at the Slumber Serpent, planning to set out the following day in search of the serpent god's lair. Before leaving town, Barry and Narion decided to stop by the village store to restock their supplies.

Inside the store, they were confronted by the proprietor and his three adult sons, who were cult members aware of Abramo's death. When the cultists pulled swords and rushed the pair, Barry brutally hacked down the father and his eldest son, while Narion attempted to subdue the other men. The rest of the group, aware of the commotion, chose not to intervene.

After the fight's violent conclusion, a brief debate ensued among the players regarding the morality of killing individuals who were charmed into serving a wicked monster against their will.

Trek to the Lair of the Serpent God

The group, accompanied by Khiral, set out into the moor. Late in the morning, while following the guidance of Whiskers, they stumbled upon a peculiar scene. A large group of orcs was engaged in a heated negotiation with a troll near some rocky outcroppings. Once spotted, the orcs gave chase to the party.

Unable to shake off the orcs and troll, the group decided to take their stand at a narrow rocky passage. Psteve climbed onto the boulders and cast fear on the troll, causing it to flee. The orcs, undeterred, charged through the gap and fell into Thaddeus' trap. The paladin opened a portal using his portal cloth (a magic item that the character has had since he found it in the very first OSE one shot I ever ran), revealing a nightmarish stygian city with black spires and winged horrors. Several orcs tumbled into the portal before Thaddeus closed it, leaving only the lingering scent of brimstone.

Prompted by the group, Khiral used the wand he had found in his master's chest, casting a cone of cold that slew all but one of the remaining orcs, who was then taken down by Narion's crossbow.

After claiming the orc's trading chests, the party followed Whiskers to a peculiar pool on the moor. A makeshift dam prevented water from flowing into a hole in the earth, which was accessible via a set of slippery wooden stairs.

At the base of the stairs, four human guards initially blocked their path but eventually allowed them to proceed when the group used the cult's secret sign.

The session concluded with the group exploring a surprisingly expansive complex, leading them to a chamber with a large pool occupied by a massive, mutated toad.

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Final Thoughts

We now enter the final phase of this classic adventure module. The has decided to put an end to the cult, its now just a matter of working their way through the depths to her vile lair.

I was glad to see that the group acknowledged the moral quandary of killing charmed people in their attempt to put an end to the serpent god. They didn't come to any kind of agreement on the subject, but I appreciate that they didn't just hand wave the implications either. Some characters seem content with their grim task, while others hope to save the people caught up in forces beyond their reckoning.

Anyone who is familiar with the canon module will note that I chose to remove Ramne from the scenario. I found the idea of a mini-Gandalf waiting for the players to stumble upon him to be too easy. The module even tells the GM to avoiding using him to keep the spotlight on the players. Instead, I just killed him off camera. Instead, Khiral, a thief by class who has some minor knowledge of his master's magic, stands in as the NPC replacement without his master's deus ex machina power.

Warning: The following is more a GM therapy journal entry than a reflection on the session's events.

This was a very silly session. Maybe the moon was at its zenith, maybe the players just needed some catharsis. On the whole, it felt like little got accomplished, and the game became mired in jokes and asides. In the session's aftermath, I found myself frustrated. I felt responsible and unable to reign in the weird energy that was in the air at the (virtual) table. 

On reflection, none of this was actually a big deal. Sometimes, as a GM, I put too much pressure on myself to "control the game's pacing", or keep the game "on track". What matters is that the players are having fun. After all, they choose how to engage the game world, and I attempt to simply be an arbiter of this fictional setting. A window into the otherworld.

I could have chosen to skip introducing Khiral, or ignored the random encounter that occurred on the moor. But, in so doing, I feel that would have robbed the game of its internal consistency. Sometimes the players take 3 hours to even get to the dungeon.

We've been playing in the same weekly group for over 4 years, with most players being able to attend nearly every weekly session. Yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, there's always that lingering doubt that one "bad" session, could result in players deciding they don't want to come back. That the campaign we're playing isn't fun and we just stop playing. That it is on my shoulders are the GM to keep the campaign alive. It's not healthy, it's not true, but it's real. 

If you're a GM and you've found this random, silly blog, and this resonates with you, you're not alone.