Dungeons & Delvers: Age of Worms, Episode 701

Cast

• Humal (level 11 wrathful cambion wizard)
• Corzale (level 11 dwarf war cleric/druid)
• Sumia (level 11 elf rogue/ranger/wizard)

Session Highlights

With Humal's half-siblings out of the way (at least temporarily in the case of his half-brother Humata), Doppel-Sionsiar ferried the party to the first section of the tomb. On their way to the ethereal tunnel they ran into Eligos and his companion, a blonde woman named Celeste.

Eligos had apparently been brought back from the dead, and he and Celeste had come looking for the party so that they could bring them to the city of Magepoint. There they could speak to Manzorian, the former master of both Eligos and Allustan.

Or so that's what he wanted the party to believe. Or rather, that's what Sumia thought he wanted them to believe, because she immediately suspected them both somewhat understandably of being doppelgangers (her arcane sight revealed numerous magical auras, which didn't help).

After a brief interrogation that did little to comfort Sumia, everyone passed through the ethereal tunnel, and upon arriving at the Whispering Cairn Humal realized that his teleportation circle had been defaced. This seemed to support Sumia's suspicions, but when she tried to detain Eligos, Celeste transformed into a sphere of scintillating light, which revealed an invisible bone devil that had been standing right next to them for who knew how long.

Fortunately the bone devil wasn't there to fight, though it didn't stop Corzale from attempting to turn it. Unfazed, it fractured her arm with a touch, and explained that like Humal's half-siblings it wanted the rod fragment: if they handed it over he would leave, simple as that. Humal of course refused to relinquish it, but the bone devil stated that he would give him a few days to reconsider before vanishing.

Now mostly certain that Eligos and Celeste were in fact not doppelgangers sent to kill or capture them, Humal restored the teleportation circle: the task was made considerably easier thanks to Eligos's transmutation magic. Once their work was complete, the entire party was instantly transported to the underground lair that they occupied following the demise of its previous owner, a thulid transmuter that had attempted to frame them all for murder.

While they rested and recuperated, Celeste returned to Magepoint to inform Manzorian of their impending arrival. Humal busied himself building a new body for Filge: they owed him that much, and with Eligos's knowledge they could make it better than before. Sumia paid to have some enchantments transferred to her mail shirt: the process would take a lot of time and money, so she wandered the streets in search of rumors about them.

Raknian was still missing and presumed dead, a plague that originated in the arena was slowly spreading despite intervention from the city's most accomplished doctors and the combined efforts of numerous priests. That plus a lot of time keeping their heads down and away from the city meant that virtually no one was concerned with the party's whereabouts.

After healing herself and waiting a day for the rod fragment to recharge, Corzale visited her temple, where she used it again to restore the body and mind of one of her former traveling companions. He had nearly succumbed to the effects of a  Kyuss worm, but while he survived he had been driven mad. When she arrived in his cell she saw a worm-covered skull, what could only be described as a blocky cactus with squared protrusions, and a map, all half-carved and painted with blood across one of the walls.

Based on the coastline, the map seemed to indicated Dovin and its surroundings: a bloody X was scrawled over a region far to the east, where she knew a dense jungle to be.

Design Notes

Already talked about the bone devil homebrew over on this post. Wouldn't have bothered with a bone devil at all, but its presence actually makes sense thanks to Humal and the backstory Jacob has provided.

Too early to talk about changes to the actual adventure. Mostly trying to set it up so that the party learns the location of the Spire of Long Shadows on their own, instead of having Manzorian spoon-feed it to them later on (but if they fail to figure it out for themselves, Manzorian can be a kind of fallback).

Announcements

It look a lot longer than expected, but we finally released The Jinni. As with our other monstrous classes, this one is more faithful to the mythology (so don't go in expecting elemental-themed jinn).

After putting it to a vote, the next couple of classes on the docket are the warden (think 4E D&D warden) and apothecary (gotta go see what they're all about).

Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!

Just released our second adventure for A Sundered World, The Golden Spiral. If a snail-themed dungeon crawl is your oddly-specific thing, 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).