4Ward/FrankenFourth: Age of Worms, Episode 411

Cast

• Humal (level 7 wrathful cambion wizard)
• Corzale (level 7 dwarf war cleric)
• Sumia (level 7 elf rogue/ranger)
• Cenric (level 7 human fighter)

Summary

Searching Zyrxog's bedchamber, the party discovered a chest brimming with various coins and gemstones, numerous tomes on transmutation magic and Dovin, and a ledger written in a language that none of them could read, but Corzale believed might be distantly related to the dwarven tongue.

Backtracking, they returned to the small room with a circular stone pool. Sumia stepped into it, but when nothing happened Humal analyzed it with his arcane sight, which revealed that it radiated divination magic. He stared into it and thought of Athala, who they'd trapped in a coffin and stashed in the sewers, but the water only grew dark.

After some trial and error, Humal learned that it would only work if you thought of places you were familiar with, and it was limited to locations within Dovin. Corzale suggested destroying it, but after getting banned from Stonehome and accidentally destroying part of Filge's hovel, they were in the market for a new place to stay; this former-thulid-wizard's lair was looking pretty tempting, what with the single, well-concealed entrance, scrying pool, and fully stocked alchemist's lab one room over.

The center of the final unexplored chamber was dominated by a statue of a massive, vulture-like creature frozen mid-lunge. Humal scanned the room: the statue radiated magic, as did a variety of items contained in glass cases. He ordered his cockatrice skeleton to enter the room, and as soon as it stepped inside he saw a single magic "ripple". As far as he could tell nothing happened, but he still warned the rest of the party about what he had seen.

This did not deter Sumia, who was eager to see what was in the cases. When she stepped inside the room Humal noticed another ripple, but as before nothing seemed to happen. The first case contained an empty cage made from black metal, a perfectly preserved black dragon's head, a dagger that rested atop a red velvet pillow, and a length of bladed chain that slightly shifted when Sumia was close. Not bothering to inspect the other cases, she smashed the case open, but even using the hilt of her sword it was difficult: obviously the glass had been strengthened, and she cut her hand in the process.

This quickly became the least of Sumia's concerns, as the monstrous vulture-man-statue turned about and vomited a torrent of acid upon her, her owlbear, and Corzale, who had only entered the room to tend to Sumia's wound. Corzale circled behind the creature and pummeled it with her blessed hammer, but it continued to focus on Sumia. Humal ordered his cockatrice to attack before resorting to his illusionary-box-around-the-head-tactic, which provided Sumia with the opportunity to flee.

Corzale was barely standing when the creature was finally destroyed. Its flesh dissolved, leaving nothing but a pile of blackened bones. Humal hoped to upgrade from his cockatrice skeleton, but Corzale was adamant in destroying the bones. Humal relented, and after Corzale stormed off he and Sumia proceeded to loot the rest of the room. Amidst various trinkets, such as a small statue of a dragon, a tarnished, jagged sword, and a stuffed doll riddled with spikes that looked eerily like Corzale, they found a collection of mysterious tomes, including one bound tightly in chains.

Maybe Humal would get his demon skeleton after all.

Design Notes

Even though was had a pretty late start, we still managed to wrap up The Hall of Harsh Reflections. Next up, The Champion's Belt! Definitely related, I'm really glad I bothered to paint the Mashaaf I got in the second Bones kickstarters.

The vrock used the stats I cooked up in this post, so no dancing or spores, and its acid attack managed to destroy Sumia's armor in the process. I forgot Cenric was supposed to be there. Oh well, so did everyone else, and it's not like anyone died (though Sumia and Corzale came really close...better luck next time).

Melissa wants to pick up some wizard talents, specifically those from the Diviner tree, which is fine by me since this will allow me to actually work on that tree. If Jacob still wants transmutation stuff, I'll also have to do that one.

Announcements

If you're curious about FrankenFourth and/or Dungeons & Delvers, you can find public alpha documents here and here respectively.

A Sundered World: Player Fragments, the first supplement for A Sundered World, is finally out!

The Paladin is technically the sixth "core" class we've provided an alternative for. If you interested in an alternate class that isn't merely a half-assed reskin, check it out!

By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).