15 September 2023 – Shadowed Keep

Characters

Last Time…

The characters delved through the sewers of Dulwich discovering a two-headed horrifying crocodile with a strange glyph on its head and an effigy of a hooded long-limbed figure known as the Dead Night. The characters continued their search finding a doorway with scraping sounds on the other side and eventually a pit with violet fungi entrancing their quarry, Redwald Graywhisker, one of the two missing brothers of Morgant Graywhisker. They returned Redwald to Morgant and discovered that all three borthers are wererats – supposedly cursed (what’s the curse???).

The characters now intend to travel to The Demon’s Bowl.

Strong Start

The characters receive a note passed from hand to hand among a bunch of street urchins. The note says “You face more than one enemy without, within, and below Dulwich. Minions of the Eater of Worlds and the Black Harbinger both seek to sunder this land to serve their dark gods. Watch their signs.” A symbol of a black horned skull with oil leaking from its eyes. A twisted trident of interwoven tines piercing through an eye.

Old Lausus Graywhisker comes to the characters.

Scenes

  • The strange note
  • Journey to the Demon’s Bowl
  • The haunted unhallowed well of Erythnul (Associated with Hate, Envy, Malice, Panic, Ugliness, and Slaughter. His symbol is a blood drop. Erythnul is known as the Many, and is a chaotic, malicious god who revels in the terror and suffering of combat). A banshee, Glenda Sorrowstar, lurks here.
  • Arrival at the The Demon’s Bowl
  • The obelisk in the demon’s ichor
  • The cave of black veins.

Secret and Clues

  • High priest Nogrog – Nilbog Caller of the Eater of Worlds has come to the Demon’s Bowl to wage war against the cult of the Black Harbinger.
  • The priest Hester Twiceborn – Priest of the Black Harbinger has come to the Demon’s Bowl to draw power from the Obelisk of the Black Cathedral in the center of the acidic pools of the slain demon.
  • Hester Twiceborn – Priest of the Black Harbinger set up camp in a series of caves known as the Veins of Rot.
  • Nogrog sent his bands of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears loyal to the Eater of Worlds to murder Hester and his acolytes. He’s been moderately successful.
  • Nogrog’s champion in the Demon’s Bowl is an ogre named Goorn the Devourer who wears a bestial mask of a roaring baboon (two attacks).
  • Long ago a demon was slain here in the Demon’s Bowl. It’s skull still serves as an altar to demon worshippers with caves leading deeper in. The blood of the demon flowed into the bottom of the bowl forming a pool of acid known as the demon’s lifeblood.
  • A nearby hamlet known as Raven’s Hollow is populated by suspicious folk, hunters, fisherfolk, and those trying to stay away from the bustle and corruption of Dulwich or the rest of the empires.
  • Nogrog is a goblin born backwards, known as a Nilbog and considered a sacred jester of goblin tribes. He assassinated his king, a goblin king named Kav Blackwood of the Blackwood tribe. They got along with the local populace but despised Nilbog and drowned him in a pool of black liquid. Nogrog returned, killed the king, and convinced the remaining goblin tribe to follow him under the banner of the Eater of Worlds – a demon prince who devours entire planets and will soon come to this one.
  • The followers of both the Eater of Worlds and the Black Harbinger hope to find a place known as the Black Cathedral and open a gateway there to bring their demon prince to this world.
  • The Graywhisker curse came from a creature in the depths of the Shadowed Keep many centuries ago. Only it can remove the curse.

Locations

NPCs

Monsters

Treasure Hoard

  • 252 gold pieces
  • 113silver pieces
  • 29 electrum pieces
  • A potion of greater healing
  • A scroll of identify
  • A +1 longsword, once wielded by a legendary Greyhawk hero who fought against the evil wizard Iuz. The sword was lost for centuries until it was recently discovered in a hidden underground cache guarded by undead minions of the wizard. The sword has the ability to glow with a bright light when wielded against undead creatures.

Session Notes

  • Write down notes as things progress during the game.