In our fifth session, we finished Chapter 1 of Empire of the Ghouls, Dread Chambers of the Undercity and started Chapter 2. Here’s the write up which contains spoilers for the campaign.
For the Clockwork Oracle’s machine speech, I used sound effects from a steampunk album I found on Spotify – it worked really well 🙂
8th – 14th High Summer, 92 FY
The adventurers have a week of downtime in Zobeck. Bubbles throws a successful party on the Street of Joy (despite the efforts of her rival, Lady Leonora) and burns the incense found in the cult temple. She experiences a vision of her brother being taken in chains to a ghoul city in the Underworld. Louthin has dinner with the shadow fey Ambassador Glaninin Thelamandrine and learns of ghouls roaming the Ironcrags. He also sells the alchemist’s spellbook to the Book Fetish. Zygmunt forges horseshoes at the Temple of Volund and impresses Ondli Firedrake. Penumbra studies the Prophets of the Red Goddess, while the Gears makes a useful contact who can introduce him to Queen Chainbreaker, one of the Kobold Kings.
15th High Summer
The party return to the catacombs, disposing of a crypt spider and its zombie servants that spew swarms of spiders when killed. Zygmunt spends most of the battle wrapped in a cocoon. They explore the rest of the deserted complex, finding secret doors, triggering traps, and hunting for treasure.
16th High Summer
Summoned to the Temple of Rava by Pious, the characters are taken to see the Clockwork Oracle by high priestess Lena Ravovik. Answering their questions in machine speech, the Oracle tells the party that the ghouls are stirring in their tunnels beneath the earth and will soon rise. The party must recover the Holy Robes of Sister Adelind, a Krakovan martyr, to stop the dark wedding and defeat the ghoul uprising. Lena promises them 2,000 gp if they succeed, and advises them to speak to the dwarves of the Black Canton of Grisal. Ondli writes them a letter of introduction to the priest of Volund.
20th High Summer
Four days into their journey, two arrogant Griffon Knights from Obertal demand a toll of 100 gp. Zygmunt’s attempts at diplomacy fail, after The Gears gestures rudely, and the knights attack. When Penumbra is reduced to 6 hp, the characters reluctantly pay up.
1st Harvest Tide
Between Gunnacks and Grisal, the characters encounter a darakhul accompanied by a ghoul and three human cultists, feasting on the bodies of two dwarves. The characters attack; Zygmunt leads the way, protected from evil. The darakhul is found to be carrying a charcoal sketch of moustachioed man.
Richard Green | Game Designer 