After six sessions, and the seventh coming up tomorrow, I though it might be a good idea to start fleshing out the world beyond the Vats of Mazarin. There are a few things I knew about the world from the starts. 1) the Lycenian Empire once conquored great stretched of land. 2) Perithian and the Vats were in the jungle near the boarder of the known world.

The world that I drew up turned out to be much larger than I had expected. Originally, I had conceived that Lycenia would be a month's journey to the North of the Vats. Now, not only is it about a month to the north, but two months to the East by sea over the Orinthian Ocean.

The are only two major settlements near the Lycenian colony. One is an overseas Viking settlement to the Northwest, currently unnamed, and the kingdom of Kenet to the to East. For the most part the land to the south is inhabited by scattered tribes, archeological teams, and would-be foreign princes, none of which have any real, lasting influence on the colonists besides the constant threat of invasion and the ability to trade native for foreign goods (typically steel weapons for various vanity items).

There is also a group of islands to the North East known as Telepthos, which are inhabited by pirates, natives, and enormous building-sized lizards.

As of now, here is the basic map I've created (click to enlarge):

Vats of Mazarin - Sessions 5 & 6

In the last few week's there's been two more delves into the Vats of Mazarin. This post would be quite lengthy if I went into as much detail as I usually do, so I'll try to keep it brief.

Zak was finally able to join in with his attack poodle for both sessions and we had another new player in sessions 6, Cole, who played a Chaotic clown. Otherwise Brother Hoyle, Squallia,and Abaddor returned both nights.

By the end of session 6, the party has found just about everything of interest in the first level of the dungeon as well as the Observatory sub level. While no characters died, all of the party's henchmen and hirelings were killed, bludgeoned to death by giant crystal statues, zombie by cursed wine jugs, ripped apart by a tentacled horror that was summoned from a lower level by the magic-users in the white robes, or killed as the result of a crazy old mole man's demented wish in a magical fountain. Some of them were pretty close to meeting their ends (Blicxa being forced to cut off his hand, which was bitten by the cursed zombie).

Speaking of the magic-users in white robes. The group discovered they are part of a rival school to Mazarin's and have taken over the dungeon (or are trying to) in the hopes of stealing his secrets.

The last important thing of note is that a mirror was discovered that could be used as a gate to, what the party believes is, the red planet, blistering red sands rolling around on the other side. They recovered the mirror and set it up in their room at the in for later inspection.

Wandering Monsters and Dungeon Re-Stocking

When restocking my Vats of Mazarin dungeon, I have been heavily reliant on wondering monster tables. Rather than completely rewrite sections of  the map key between each session, I have taken to stocking the dungeon on the fly.

Here's an example of one of my wandering monster tables that I have been using:

1. Berserkers (1-8)

2. Mole Men (1-8)

3. Magic-Users (1-4; lvl 1-4)

4. Giant Ferrets (1-8)
5. Bandits (1-8) 
6. Crystal Statues (1-6)
7. Crab Spiders (1-4) 
8. Centipedes, giant (1-8)
9. Fire Beetles (1-8)
10. Green Slime (1)
11. Adventurers (5-8)
12. Roll on “Vats lvl 2”

I'd love to elaborate about the role of each of these creatures in the dungeon, but I'll save that for another post, once more of the complex has been thoroughly explored.

But to give you an example of how all of this has worked, in the previous session, the party returned to the site of the berserkers' encampment. I decided that in ~12 rooms there would be at least one new monsters, so I rolled on the wandering monster chart, generating two magic-users. These magic-users became, after a good reaction roll, "Fred" and "George" (fake names), two companions in search a map written by Fred's great grandfather, a former student of Mazarin's.

While it was useful to have a sentence detailing each room at the beginning of the campaign, and will probably continue to do so with each dungeon level, I am now comfortable enough with the first level of the complex to run off almost pure improvisation, instead of roughly half and half preparation and making everything up on the fly.

However, this table has its limits. I've gotten to the point where I do need to rewrite the first dungeon level. The barbarians have been driven out, the Mole-Men weakened and angry, a new group of white cloaked men lead by a magic-user of at least 5th level have come in, and roughly half of the level has been explored. Instead of completely restrocking the entire dungeon level, however, I am learning that I only really need to rewrite a couple room of interest if I revamp my wandering monster chart of reflect the new inhabitants.

Vats of Mazarin - Session #4

 Medium: Google+ Hangouts
System: B/X D&D
Characters:

• Brother Hoyle, cleric 3 (Matt)
• Abbador, magic-user 2 (Will/Coffee)
• Squolia, thief 1 (Anthony)
• Murd, fighter 1 (retainer)
• Belgon, magic-user 1 (retainer)
• Mike, normal man (hireling)

Another great session, although Jake was unable to join us this week. The party first explored the area they located last week that the former barbarian chieftain has refused to entry due to a fear of the gold snakes within. Turns out that it was only the shrine to the Snake Men, and the gold snakes were merely statues. Inside the alter, however, the party located a passage down into a lower section of the dungeon, which they deemed to dangerous to yet explore.

The group also met up with two magic-users, who introduced themselves using the names "Fred" and "George" (a wander encounter with a good reaction roll - and no, they're not identical) who were exploring the Mazarin's complex in search of a map that beloned to Fred's great grandfather - a former student of Mazarin's. They made a deal agreed to team up with the party - who is more interested in treasure than maps.

The map was found in a sort of dorm block for Mazarin's students along with a pyramid of 10 deep-blue gems. The map showed an ancient pyramid located deep below the Vats of Mazarin, the two magic-user's new destination. According to the magic-users, the gems must be ground into a powder in order to enter the pyramid. In addition to Fred's great grandfather's room there would six other quirky apprentices. One of which trapped his room after being expelled (letter of expulsion left on his desk and poisoned needles in the bed).

Before heading out of the dungeon, the party made their way to a gold statue that depicted the solar system. Using a lever on the wall, the planets were made to arrange themselves in four specific configurations. Using an inaccurate star chart found in the room of one of the apprentices and the number of books collected during their excursions, the party was able to calculate the approximate time of the four arrangements - relatively close future, present day, about 50 thousand years in the past and about 100 thousand years in the past.

After copying down the configurations, the party rolled the planets outside the complex and began to scrap the gold plating off of them, during which a group of wanderers in white robes (another wandering encounter) walked into the dungeon, paying no attention to the party, but blasting away a single mole man with a lightning bolt before allowing him a chance to act.

This session also saw the demise of Murd, the fighter retainer and veteran of two delves into the dungeon, the poison of a giant spider did him in. His body was given to the Mole Men - the party claiming that they had "killed off the traitor," a reference to the Murd and Squalia's previous expedition, in which 7 Mole Men were murdered for their bars of gold.

Vats of Mazarin - Session #3

Medium: Google+ Hangouts
System: B/X D&D
Characters:

• Squolia, thief 1 (Anthony)
• Thangor, dwarf magic-user 2 (Joe; died, but resurrected)
• Murd, fighter 1 (retainer)
• Leoden, fighter 1 (hireling)
• Meltot, magic-users 1 (retainer)
• Belgon, magic-user 1 (retainer)
• Mike, normal man (hireling)

 
Last night was a pretty tiny session, only two players, during which two separate dungeon expositions. I'm typically not a fan of smaller games, and I think that showed in my DMing ability last night. Reguardless, I still had an enjoyable time and the session added a heavy dose of depth to the game which will hopefully be built upon more in the future.

In the first delve into the Vats of Mazarin, Squalia, Thangor, Murd, and Leoden swung north from the bridge over the steaming pit into the tunnels of the Mole Men. The exposition proved deadly for 7 Mole Men and awarded the party 45 gold bars, worth 10 gold a piece. This should prove interesting to see how it affects the previous adventuring party's tentative alliance with the Mole Men, which will likely be dependent on whether or not Murd was recognized. Before shimmying back up the rope to the bridge, Murd was spotted by Thangor's infravision walking back into the Mole Men's tunnels with a small iron chest of gold bars and star-speckled snakes. Questioned after his return, Murd's only answer was, "Gettin' rid of them snakes."

Before the second exposition, the group took a couple of days to acquire two new retainers and a hireling. Actually, Melot and Belgon, two magic-users, hired the party to safely take them into the dungeon in search of artifacts of the Snake Men, of which little reliable information is known. These magic-users are in the employment of a man named Lord Garond or, as he was more commonly refereed to, the Archeologist. They agreed to give the party 10gp each up front plus an addition 100gp per downwards staircase found and an additional 1000gp per each artifact of the Snake Men collected. In addition to these two magic-user, the party also hired Mike the torchbearer.

Heading back into the Vats of Mazarin, Murd unknowing set off a newly placed trip-wire at the back of the cave entrance just before the bridge, presumably set by the Mole Men. A canister of magical gas dropped from the ceiling, causing the Murd, Leoden, Mike and Meltot to go into a berserk rage. After a minute of in-fighting, Murd has killed Leoden and Mike had ended Belgon, at which point the two survivors made their way towards the rest of party, who has fled out of the cave mouth. Luckily, Thangor managed to down them, (in addition to Belgon) with a well-placed sleep spell.

Thangor and  Squalia tied up their sleeping companions and searched the bodies of their fallen comrades. Leoden possessed nothing of note, but Meltot wore a jade snake medallion around his neck and carried the floating disk spell in his spell book. The two adventurers then decided to check and see if Belgon wore a similar amulet: he did indeed. Now believing the two to belong to some sort of snake-worshiping cult, the party looked through Belgon's spells book and checked Meltot's body more carefully. In Belgon's spells book the party found map and drawing of an alter with two snake statues labeled the Caverns of Lycin. Upon Meltot's ankle, they found a green tattoo of an eye writhed in the red tongue of a serpent; such a mark could not be round on Belgon. After being woken up, Belgon explained, under threat of torture, that the Cavers of Lycin was the last location given to him to explore by the Archeologist, but claimed not to understand the meaning of the tattoo possessed by his late partner.

After the interrogation, the party lined up the bodies next to those of the previously fallen adventurers and ventured back into the complex. They made their way through an abandoned alchemy laboratory, down into the second level of the dungeon, and into the room of the legendary Vats. After opening up one of the nine iron hatches sealing each of the vats, the party decided not to mess the substances, believing them to be the source of the canisters' power. At that point, however, Thangar felt a dagger pierce his back before keeling over dead. After violently dealing with the thief, an npc inhabiting the dungeon's second level, the party retreated out of the complex.

They then decided to get Thangar resurrected by the high priest of Kelin, leaving Thangar, Squalia, and even Murd impoverished, and journeyed three days west to the city of Parithian. Thangar will now forever be haunted by nightmares.

Vats of Mazarin - Session #2

Medium: Google+ Hangouts
System: B/X D&D
Characters:

• Brother Hoyle, cleric 2 (Matt) - now level 3
• Abbador, magic-user 1 (Will/Coffee) - now level 2
• Murd, fighter 1 (Abbador's retainer)
• Groffer, dwarf 1 (Anthony)
• Owsy, thief 1 (Jake) - now level 2
• Vera, halfling 1 (Gabrielle)
• Xawatlem, [not quite sure on his class or level], Anthony

The session began with a short interfiled in town (when I once again gain the use of technology, I'll start working more on the world outside the Vats) were twine and 2 chickens where purchased; the purple potion was identified as a potion of invisibility; and Abbador hired Murd as a retainer (fighter 1).

In the Vats, the group encountered many of the Mole Men's traps, later making allies with them in exchange for routing out the barbarians. Two Mole Men, Lits and Poden, accompanied the group on the expodition along with a number of magical glass vials that expel various gasses (explosive, magical darkness, pyrotechnics, laughing gas, etc). Among other things, the party learned that there are 5 generations of Mole Men, Lits and Poden being among the Fifths. Only 2 "Firsts" are known to exist, Old Tolgen, who died in a mining accident, and a legendary other (identity unknown). Apparently, the Mole Men refer to the creator of the complex as the Master -who may or may not be Mazarin - (and who only the firsts had met), and work to sustain and refurbish his creation.

With the help of the canisters, 6 of which remain, the party expelled the barbarians, killing 10, giving 4 as captives to the Mole Men, and the 6 of harem women were wooed by Abbador. During the battle, Groffer met his end to a fireball expelled from one of the canisters exploding in too small a room - Owsy was only saved by hiding in the flat of an arch just outside the room.  Handing over the new Barbarian chief, Gandin, who had recently mutinied again the previous war leader, Oolog - whose body the party found just outside the cave entrance to the Vats - created a permanent alliance with the Mole Men. The Mole Men were likewise exited to find out what would happen if they stuck a human man inside the "Vats" in the level below, which piked the party's interest.

In the end, the party came out with 799 GP, 800 CP, 116 SP, a sack of jewels taken off the barbarian harem, a caldron lined with alchemical runes (which was being used by the barbarians to cook the flesh of Mole Men and other denizens of the vats for dinner), a green unidentified potion, an unidentified magic sword, 1 pink gem, a silver gem, and a gold-plated orb - which the barbarians stole from a statue elsewhere in the complex.

Vats if Mazarin - Session #1

Medium: Google+ Hangouts
System: B/X D&D
Characters:

• Brother Hoyle, cleric 1 of Turia, goddess of luck, fortune, and coincidence (Matt)
• Samuel Axelord, fighter 1 (Jake)
  
• Abbador, magic-user 1 (Will/Coffee)
• Isac, thief 1 (Anthony)
• Groffer, dwarf 1 (also Anthony)
• Aleta, cleric 1 of Francesca , goddess of love, marriage, and wealth 1 ( also Jake; poor Jake)

For the first session, I thought we'd begin with a good, old fashioned dungeon delve. Brother Hoyle, an acolyte of Turnia, the "Lady Luck," has discovered some religious documents related to an abandoned complex known as the Vats of Mazarin.

Thus the company made it west from Tytheron, a small mining village, through the jungles of Avalion to the Vats of Mazarin. The first things the party noticed was that opening to the complex spewed steam and there was some sort of metal spike protruding from the mountain, about 200 ft upwards and slightly off to the left of the opening.

In their journey, the group discovered a rivalry between the Mole Men and Berserkers in the severance; a humanoid beetle; a cursed fountain filled with treasure and sculpted in form of Zenith, god of the stars and planets; a four-armed white ape chained to the back wall of a room with descending stairs; an iron bucket filled with blueish acid and a book titled Gates to Azeron in a broom closet turned bedroom, which may have been recently or is currently being used by some denizen of the megadungeon.

We only went through a handfull rooms, 11 to be exact, but the group managed to accumulate a total of 5178 experience points, a sack filled with  600 gold coins, an unidentified potion (purple), an unidentified magic ring (silver), and a few pieces of jewelry, including a diamond studded monocle now worn by Groffer.

Isac the theif was gored through by a humanoid fire beetle (simulaneous combat resulted in Samuel also running the beetle through with his pole arm). Samuel Axelord then met his end  - although after he and Groffer freed the white ape from captivity - in a battle with three berserkers. Finally, after getting a little too greedy, Aleta's skin was pulled into and her skin dissolved by the cursed fountain, resulting in her death.

All three bodies are now piled outside the megadungeon complex.