by kenzlo

An item RPG Item: Bunkers & Badasses Deluxe Edition has been added to the geeklist Origins 2026 Virtual Flea Market-Mark it "sold" you got this!

by SiddGames

Related Item: Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook

Welcome!

by Red Wine Pie

Dramatis Personae:
Eric - The Gamemaster
Matt - Dr. Iris von Disdain the High Elven Cleric of the Life Domain
Susan - Drakar Vexborn the Dragonborn Warlock Pact of the Tome
David - Hadrian the Human Warrior Champion
John - Lycara the Tiefling Paladin Oath of Devotion
Peter - Teslen the Lightfoot Halfling Bard School of Lore (remote)
Callum - Thargrim ‘Tar’ Ironbraid the Dwarf Duellist Warrior Battle Master (absent)

In this Session we extend the campaign to include adventures from the 2025 Dragon Delves and 2018 Dungeon of the Mad Mage books.

[hr]
…The Sphinx points the way to Haskasori, the Sandstone City, and says it is one day’s travel for two-legged humanoids. There is a secret phrase that will allow the heroes to enter through the main gates of the city, and it is ‘Cozmioko grins’ spoken in any language. The heroes remember that Cozmioko was the name of the Brass Dragon that was slain by the Blue Dragon they are seeking, and the source of the Brazen Egg that they now carry. Before they leave, Oliekintra warns the heroes that the Blue Dragon is not the only foe they may face in Haskasori, and that the ancient Lord Yaarnak may still cling to his throne. So the heroes now know to expect an undead menace, as well as the Blue Dragon and its minions.

Saying farewell to Oliekintara, the heroes set out for the Sandstone City. They have travelled over half the way when suddenly the wind whips up, the sky darkens and a sudden sandstorm overtakes the party. A huge shape, with great wings and long neck and tail flies high overhead heading away from the heroes’ goal. So it seems that the dragon will be away from its lair when the heroes reach it. Three hours later the heroes reach a wide, high, cavernous archway carved into the base of the stone mountain. Inside the great cave Teslen can see shattered fragments of lavender-coloured crystal scattered about the feet of cracked and broken crystal statues. A ramp and a pair of stairways descend beyond the crystals, while another wide passageway leads off to the right. The heroes cannot help but notice that the six statues are of adventurous looking humanoids - humans, dwarves and elves in poses of fear and panic.
The heroes stay outside the tunnel, and find a small niche close to the entrance to hide in. Iris begins her preparations for the Hero’s Feast, and the heroes prepare to seek the hoard of Anthradusk, the Blue Dragon. [hr]

Once Iris has the magical meal ready to eat, the heroes gather round and consume it. Teslen has been judging the distances down the passageway, and thinks that the ceiling is high enough to let the heroes pass by without touching the crystal formations. He suggests casting Spider Climb on everyone to allow the entire party to walk on the walls and ceiling past the crystals. When the heroes finish their Feast they agree, and Teslen uses the staff of the spider to give the entire party an hour of wall walking. The effects of the Hero’s Feast also take effect, giving the party a boost of temporary hit points and protection against fear and poison. Teslen leads the way down to the area of lightning crystals, where a passageway leads off to the right and the main route heads on into the dark. Adjusting to his darkvision, the halfling walks over the crystal statues until he reaches a set of steps leading down into a large open space. A rush of wind comes up from below and ahead of the party. There are signs of scuff marks in the sand around the statues, but no clear footprints. Something has bitten or broken off parts of the petrified statues though. The heroes agree to head on down the steps, while keeping to the ceiling.

Teslen can now see a thirty foot wide bridge over a bottomless cavern. Up ahead, solid double-doors block the way ahead. The heroes consider the door, trying to decide how to get it open. Drakar casts Mage Hand, and uses that to try and push open the large doors. Whether the doors are too heavy, or will not open to a simple push, the entrance stays firmly closed. A bell suddenly chimes in the deep, and the heroes hear the noise of rumbling hooves coming from behind… Teslen copies Drakar, using his own Mage Hand to supplement Drakar’s. The door remains closed. Tar, Hadrian and Lycara move to stand in front of the door and push at it. It is heavy stone, and does not budge an inch. Iris considers the door more closely, looking for words or markings on it. Teslen is the first one to see creatures arriving behind them. Two eight-legged beasts with armoured scales and horns have come barreling down the stairs and are about a hundred feet away. The bard casts a Wall of Force to block the bottom of the stairway, and the beasts snort with anger as they realise they are trapped. Remembering the crystal statues, the heroes try not to look at the creatures behind the clear force wall as they try to pass the stone door.


The lift beyond the double doors, while the Basilisks are held behind the Wall of Force

Drakar finally remembers just why the heroes had gone to see the sphinx in the Temple of Sand - to learn the way into the Sandstone City. A password given by the Sphinx as a reward for guessing her riddle ‘Cozmioko grins’. The dragonborn Warlock says the phrase, and the stone doors swing smoothly open. For a moment, the heroes think about lobbing spells over the wall of force at the trapped Basilisks, but decide not to waste their magic at this stage. Hadrian and Drakar lead the rush through the doors, and Lycara passes through last and closes the doors behind her. Drakar can sense magic ahead, centered on a stone platform floating in the middle of a deep shaft leading down only. There’s a circular stairway heading down around the outside of the platform, but the heroes use the platform. Once everyone has piled onto the ten foot square lift, Teslen uses a Magic action to tell the platform to descend, and it slowly does.


Down in the lift

Fifty feet down, the platform stops and the heroes get off. There are three pathways leading from the lift. To the north, the passageway is wider, leading out into a large chamber barely lit by more of the lavender crystals. The second passageway heads west along a twenty foot wide stone corridor, while the third passage heads east along rougher looking floors and walls. Drakar leads the way to the west, using her magical sense as the Teslen listens and the rest of the party follows. The passage bends to the north after 150 feet, coming to a cross road with narrower passages heading left and right. The main wide passage carries on twenty feet past the intersection, before ending in a rock fall. The heroes want to keep left, as the Brazen Egg seems to be telling Drakar that this is the way to go. After another eighty feet along the left passage, the space opens out into a series of rooms and side passages. Most obviously to the south is a stone door with carved pillars either side of it. To the east is a circular stone well, while a narrow entrance leads to a square chamber to the west. A thirty foot wide passage leads to the north, with some more narrow routes either side of it. Teslen goes to inspect the well, while the other heroes look at the closed door. Teslen finds the well unremarkable, but after taking some time to look down the well he spots a necklace lying in the dust at the bottom of the well. Using his wallcrawling to head down the wall, Teslen recovers the item and finds it to be a green stone icon or amulet. Drakar can’t sense any magic emanating from the amulet, but it could be worth 250gp as an art object anyway.

The closed door is a smaller version of the doors the heroes have already passed through, so they use the same password to try and open it. After saying ‘Cozmioko grins’ the door slides open, revealing a dry and dusty chamber full of shattered pottery and statues. There are four long walls with three narrower ones forming an off-centre octagon. In the centre of the room is a sandstone altar, with a large ceramic statue of a half-goat, half-dragon creature standing atop it. A cloud of black dust swirls about the altar. The heroes move in, walking along the walls and the thirty foot high ceiling of the room. Hadrian is halfway to the altar when the black smoke starts to take shape, and resolves into the body of an emaciated halfling, rotting bandages and brass chains covering his decaying flesh. A proud, sinister lear stretches across his withered face. Pointing back out the door, the Mummy demands: ‘Return my sceptre to its rightful place, or face my wrath!’

When the heroes ask who the Mummy is, and who has the sceptre now, the Mummy responds: ‘I am Yaarnak, and this is my city! My emblem of rule, my sceptre has been stolen by the impudent Dragon Anthradusk. It is still within the city but I do not know where it is now. Find the sceptre and take it to its rightful place, or I shall have my revenge.’
Hearing that the Blue Dragon has taken the sceptre, most of the heroes are happy enough to help the undead lord out. Teslen is most taken by the former King being a small halfling, and considers a song or epic poem. Only Iris is unconvinced, or determined to wipe out Undead wherever she finds them. As the rest of the party leaves the shrine to Yaarnak, Iris moves closer to the Mummy and asks it what is giving off the magical glow within the statue. Yaarnak considers this question impudent, and when the Cleric will not leave with the rest of the party the Mummy king claws at Iris, draining her health with negative energy. Iris strikes back with her poisoned dagger, but finds that the poison does no damage and the Mummy is barely injured.

The rest of the party stops where they are, but does not immediately come rushing to Iris’ defence. The Mummy and the Elf exchange blows for another few seconds, before the rest of the heroes call on her to leave. With some reluctance she does leave, and a scowling Yaarnak lets her go: ‘Next time I shall not be so lenient! Find my sceptre!’
Leaving the altar room reveals a magical glow from the passage to the west. Drakar and Teslen lead the party into a small square room dominated by a large pink block in the centre of the room. This ten foot square cube of pink sandstone has a carved top that looks a lot like the entrance to Haskasori. As Drakar looks closer, she can see tiny sandstone birds and goats wandering over the hill. Very occasionally, a Brass Dragon soars over the whole scene. The heroes think this represents the city as it was in its heyday.

Heading north, the party sees the next passage to the west is completely blocked off. It may have led to a residential part of the old city. Forty feet further on, the next two passageways lead into chambers that are sixty feet long by forty feet wide. The room to the west has only traces of stone furniture, as well as a collapsed wall to the rear. The heroes do find another green stone amulet after some searching, and deduce that this was a dormitory of some kind. The room opposite has three large stone beds and some tables. On one of the tables is a third amulet. Drakar, Hadrian and Lycara decide to wear the amulets at this point. Even if they are not magic, perhaps they denote some kind of status within the Sandstone City? At this point, an hour has passed since Teslen cast his Wall of Force, and the Bard can tell that it has now ended. The Basilisks are free, if they can get through the door and operate the lift.

Heading north again, the heroes realise they are entering into a much larger space. Drakar has flashes of magic from the lavender crystals showing up in her detection across to the east. Teslen sneaks forward and can see a ramp against the western wall heading north. Another collapsed passage leads to the west. Behind the ramp is a thirty foot high tower with a single window and a roofline visible below the ceiling of the vast cavern. The ramp seems to head up and around the tower, and the heroes decide to go this way rather than go straight to the tower. Cautiously climbing the ramp the heroes see a second window at the same height as the first, half-way up the tower. The ramp turns to the east and comes to a level at the top of the tower. There is still no sign of any creatures. To the north, a recent rockslide has blocked a passageway into the wall. To the south, the top of the tower has a low parapet wall that looks out over the open chasm. The heroes can’t see any new details from high above the floor, except for a thick stone buttress holding up the ceiling. Around at the back of the tower there is a hole which is a lift shaft for another magic platform. Looking down, the heroes can see two levels in the tower, but can’t see or hear any creatures down below them.

Drakar calls up the lift, and the heroes climb on board it. A minute later, the whole group is standing on the middle floor of the tower. At first it appears to be an unoccupied bed chamber, full of opulent silks and cushions, and two large stone statues. Suddenly a large figure materialises in the centre of the room, a brown-skinned humanoid with dark eyes and hair. She welcomes the heroes in warm tones and with a twinkle in her eyes: ‘Welcome, I am Rummox of the Earth and this is my tower. Now, what are you humanoids doing in the forgotten city?’ The heroes can’t think of any reason to lie to the Dao, and so tell her that they are looking for the lair of the Blue Dragon, and want to stop its plans of domination. Tar notices that the stone statues are moving ever so slightly, and are actually Gargoyles. Rummox gives the heroes some information about the rest of the cavern, telling them that the way into Anthradusk’s lair is through the temple double-doors to the east. Beyond to the east are the old tombs of the ancient city’s rulers. They decide not to barter further with the earth genie, and follow her instructions to depart by the magic platform and out at the bottom of the tower. The lowest floor is a library of sorts. Drakar can sense that there is magic here, but it would take some time to search through. Worried that the Blue Dragon may not be far away, the heroes push on to the east.

The edge of a large stone platform or promenade comes into view. There are outcrops of lavender crystal in groups, growing from the walls of the platform. Against the northern wall there are six dragon-headed humanoid statues, flanking double-doors. The platform has stairs on each side, while the south side opens onto an avenue of pillars and stone statues. As the heroes move towards the double-doors four statues from the southern avenue animate and move towards them. Hadrian and Tar leap into combat on the stairs. The Human’s blades cut into the hard flesh of the temple guardians, but the Dwarf has more problems in finding a gap in the creatures’ defences. Iris and Teslen cast spells to attack the two rear Gargoyles, while Lycara moves to the top of the steps to provide support. There comes the sound of trampling hooves, and it seems some more large creatures are approaching. Finally, Drakar moves into a place where she can see the doors and the Gragoyles, casts a Shatter spell behind the creatures and shouts out ‘Cozmioko Grins!’. The double doors swing open, and a brightly lit carved face is visible on the back wall of the temple. Drakar feels the gaze of the monstrous head upon her, but manages to resist any dire effect. She does notice that the green stone amulet did become warm as the statue head looked at her.


Drakar opens the doors - and the petrifying gazes.

The fighters continue to battle the Gargoyles, killing one and surrounding another. Tar pushes on to reach one of the rear Gargoyles. Teslen suddenly sees the arrival of two of the Basilisks from earlier, and he lets fly with a Fireball to blast them and anything behind them. The beasts cry in pain, but survive the inferno. The Basilisks retaliate with their petrifying gaze. Everyone passes their saves from this first attack. The warriors cut into the gargoyles again, and another of the stone sentinels falls. Drakar casts her Circle of Death at the Basilisks, draining them of more vitality. Iris and Lycara finish off the third Gargoyle, so there is only one left. Two more Basilisks have come charging up behind the first, and Hadrian leaps forward to kill one and battle the second. Lycara takes the battle to another, while Teslen and Drakar stand on the edge of the platform to attack the new arrivals. A cloud of sand and dust billows up behind the heroes, but then the gaze of the surviving Basilisks is seen again. This time, Teslen cannot resist the gaze and he begins to stiffen, memories of his encounter with a Medusa passing through his mind. Hadrian and Tar battle the last two Basilisks as Drakar kills the last Gargoyle. Lycara moves to be close to Teslen, and Iris gives the halfling a bonus to his critical second save. As the last monster falls, the halfling just manages to shake off the tightening of his muscles, and recovers his full senses. Teslen can see that the Gargoyles and Basilisks are all dead, though the baleful gaze of the monstrous head in the inner temple is still shining forth. Teslen keeps his eyes averted as joins the others out of sight of the green glare.


After the battle - walls of crystals and the green glare

{u]Notes:
Lift = Elevator platform
Dao are stone genies, Marids are the water ones. I got that wrong during the session but correct it here.

Next Time:
-A Race to the Horde (and Sceptre) before Anthradusk returns.

by CoolCatCammy

An item GeekList: Cam's 2026 Challenges has been added to the geeklist 2026 Card Lovers Challenge

by Rachel

Well, I missed another Mythic Monday, but I did finally manage some in-person plays today, woot! Granted, it was only 1 play of Criss Cross and 2 plays of Palm Island, but that's more than I've managed for a while now (Fridays being the exception).

Solo, advanced game, 19 points means I earn Line Sweeper. Clearly, I'm rusty :whistle:...

No pics for Palm Island, both were unremarkable plays (24 points then 25 points).

I also made some progress on the art for Monk's Cat and I have a rough prototype of that special project I hinted at yesterday... Mom's getting in on the playtesting tomorrow (fingers-crossed). I think it'll work, but there are definitely some rough spots that need ironing out.

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Tuesday and happy playing!
-Rachel

Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it; then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page. If you really liked it; then please subscribe.

by Halbwachs

Happy Birthday, Hans! You did an excellent job hosting for the month of January!

by Takenokojon

unmistakeable wrote:

Still no one parting with their civolutions uwu

Ive considered is about 4 times since I saw your message and keep getting outvoted 2-1...

by govmiller

govmiller previously rolled d443 = 110 (It's so cold, I need ) layers of clothing to hope to keep warm!

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by TardisCaptain

Here is my After-Action report for the 2026 #CharacterCreationChallenge. I had a lot more fun this year than last year.


https://tardiscaptain.com/2026/02/03/2026-character-creation...

by TardisCaptain

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