Dungeons & Delvers: Age of Worms Episode 802 Highlights

Cast

• Humal (level 16 wrathful cambion wizard)
• Corzale (level 16 dwarf war cleric/druid)
• Sumia (level 16 elf rogue/ranger/wizard)

Session Highlights

(Another short play report, as this session was also done a few months ago and I've forgotten much of the finer details.)

The party decides to first hit up the ruined Bel-Amaranth temple. It's in a more rundown part of the city. There's a keep out sign posted, but they got permission from the Zeech so figure they can ignore it: hopefully Zeech's tip wasn't intended as a trap.

There are a number of these tall, black towers looming over the cityscape: Sumia uses her divination magic to reveal that they're each inhabited by a single erinyes. They don't seem to be watching them specifically, but they wait until Sumia confirms that they're definitely looking elsewhere before slipping inside.

It doesn't take them long to deduce that there's nothing of value: neither Humal nor Sumia can detect any magic, and Corzale's pretty sure that anything mundane of any value was either stolen long ago, or buried under tons of stone. The floor has collapsed, revealing several tunnels: all but one has caved in, so they try that one.

It leads to an empty room with an almost perfectly circular passage leading out. Corzale examines it: there's no rubble to indicate excavating, or finger or handprints to indicate stone-shaping. Because it's so smooth her theory is that something was able to melt its way through solid stone. They don't see any light, nor do they feel any extreme heat, so they head on through and exit into the city's sewer system.

There aren't any other signs of melted stone, but after scouting out a few tunnels Sumia finds one that is brightly illuminated. She makes sure to inform both Humal and Corzale before finding the source of the light: a dwarven skeleton, with cracked bones radiating light and oozing small gobbets of magma. It's standing before an assortment of corpses, some humanoid and some animal, fused with stone protrusions giving the entire scene the semblance of a priest preaching to his improvised flock.

Behind him a symbol of Bel-Amaranth has been engraved into the wall, along with numerous alcoves bearing a number of what Sumia is pretty sure are various relics and additional, related iconography. Probably where most of the stuff missing from the temple went.

Sumia watches until the creature walks away and returns with a hobgoblin, bound and gagged. It accuses the hobgoblin of heresy before smashing its skull with a lumpy maul clearly shaped from melted stone. Sumia heads back and explains to Corzale what she just saw; Corzale has Humal make her invisible to she can get close without being noticed, and give it a onceover with her ability to sense evil.

After Corzale is only somewhat surprised that she doesn't sense any evil, even as it drags in and executes another heretic, she reveals herself in a suitably ostentatious fashion, hammer glowing and holy symbol boldly displayed: the creature bows before her, regarding her as a saint.

Corzale demands to know what he's doing: he introduces itself as Rhorsk, and explains how the hobgoblins long ago destroyed the temple and tried to kill him, but he did not die and now works to undermine the city, quite literally. He mentions finding a place that radiates pure evil, but while tunneling his way towards it some sort of magic is preventing him from getting too close.

He isn't sure what it is, but thinks Corzale might have more luck, and offers to take her there. She declines, for now, but wonders if she should kill him: seemingly unaware of either his own state or that of his flock, he's clearly delusional and devoted. A bit...fanatical, but he doesn't radiate evil to her senses. For now she asks him to remain in the sewers and continue his "work", while they go investigate the graveyard.

Design & Development

Changed it so that Rhorsk wasn't by default something that needed to be fought. Also he gives them directions to another dungeon complex, so the party doesn't have to be spoonfed its location and reason to go there.

On the Red Book side of things, the monk preview went up a week ago, paladin is nearly done, and I've been working on some critical hit tables.

Announcements

You can now get a physical copy of Dungeons & Delvers: Black Book in whatever format you want! We've also released the first big supplement for it, Appendix D, so pick that up if you want more of everything.

The first issue of The Delver, a magazine featuring fungal-themed content for both players and GMs (including an adventure in which myconids find religion), is available!

Our latest Dungeon World class, The Ranger, is now available.

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!

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).