Here’s what happened in our 28th Scarlet Citadel session, in which the group travelled from the ruins of Erdovar back to Redtower, returning to the Scarlet Citadel after just over a month away. We had four players again this week – the three clerics and Tricksy the river elf rogue.
You can read earlier posts here. This post contains spoilers for Scarlet Citadel.
After defeating the cultists of the Night Cauldron of Chernobog last session, the characters return to speak with Dutberta. The vila cuts the throat of a cute little baby deer and pulls out its entrails to perform the divination she promised Tunde, telling her:
“The portal to the Dry Lands remains open until the Chained Thing is destroyed. Find the Chained Thing on the shores of the Black River.”
She also offers Tunde a boon – the loan of her dancing hut – in exchange for a favour. Of course, Tunde agrees, so I had the player roll on the Vila Requests table in the excellent article on the vila in Warlock 34: Baba Yaga by Kelly Pawlik. Tunde must only wear clothing made from woven grasses for a week; she sheds her armour and the rest of her clothes and disappears to the woods to weave herself a stylish dress. In exchange, the characters now have the use of a magical hut on chicken legs (from the same article) which they use to return to Redtower in just a couple of days.
Leaving the hut in the forest, the group visit Zula to stock up on potions. Tricksy enquires about love charms, but confuses the witch by handing over a lock of his own hair.
Next, Tunde visits the Temple of Yarila and Porevit, while Clairmont heads into town to check on the Temple of Khors. It appears his message to his superiors in the church asking for help restoring the ruined temple has fallen on deaf ears so he hires his own crew of villages to carry out repairs.
Later on, in the Cage, Mayor Broz asks Clairmont to lead the Lantern Festival parade. Tymon, Gellert the Gruesome’s former apprentice, tells them there are Iron Spike mercenaries are at the Citadel.
The following morning, the characters visit the Treasure Chest, a new business opened by Dugan Lovay, the merchant they rescued from the Scarlet Citadel many sessions ago. Dugan is selling a handful of magic items to adventurers loaded down with cash and is nearly cleaned out by the characters. I thought it was a good idea to introduce this new venture to Redtower to give the characters a local opportunity to spend their loot on extra magic now they are Tier 2.
Having caught up with events in Redtower, the party head back to the Scarlet Citadel at long last, travelling in their dancing hut.
Tricksy scouts ahead when they reach the ruins but is spotted by an Iron Spike dwarf. Battle is joined with the half dozen dwarves guarding the ruins. Four are killed, one escapes, and one – named Desgrik Forgefoot – is captured after Tricksy casts Tasha’s hideous laughter. The characters interrogate him, learning that more mercenaries are due to arrive tomorrow morning to relieve the original group. Desgrik is disarmed and released; Maya hides the bodies.
The character descend the staircase in the owlbear’s former lair to Level 1. Almost immediately, they run into a small group of zombies which Maya destroys with Turn Undead. A hideous sight awaits them in the Water Torture Chamber – an ogrepede, a grotesque undead creature made up of ogre corpses that have been stitched together.
Tricksy shoots at the ogrepede, and ducks into the Shrine of Chttrk. Meanwhile Maya turns the monster and the others start to head for the stairs down to Level 2. Unfortunately, Tricksy can’t help himself and starts to pry the (replaced) gemstones out of Chttrk’s statue, triggering a newly installed trap. Toxic fumes make him go berserk, and he attacks and kills Professor Yaffle, his own familiar, then lunges for Maya before snapping out of it.
With the ogrepede still turned, the group all make it to the top of the infamous spiral staircase down to Level 2, shutting the door behind them….
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Main image by David Auden Nash
Richard Green | Game Designer 