The Temple of Madathak – The Dungeon: Part One

One hex = six miles

The campaign so far

Here is the latest session of my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. The warrior Freblun is on a quest to retrieve the Jewel of Athaya, a powerful healing artifact, from the temple of the evil deity Madathak. Athaya is the goddess of healing worshipped in the Drenroth Wilds. Freblun must acquire the Jewel of Athaya soon because the plague is slowly advancing towards the town of Bruld.

In the previous adventure Freblun and his adventuring companion, the gnome illusionist Mulglonem, came to the dreaded Temple of Madathak in the Drundorn Hills. In a cave they encountered five trolls and Mulglonem was killed. After Freblun saw a troll that he had killed return to life, he used King Othtar’s Shield (which serves as a magical teleportation device) to return to the temple of Dronlan in Bruld. Medornae, the high priestess of Dronlan, ordered Mulglonem’s corpse to be taken to Dorsunda, the high priestess of Athaya, so that the gnome could be restored to life. Medornae told Freblun that fire is deadly to trolls, and he used King Othtar’s Shield to return to the Temple of Madathak. There he drank his potion of Fire Resistance and used oil to start a fire to kill the trolls permanently.

A cave in the Temple of Madathak was once a shrine of Athaya, and Freblun discovered this cave in which a glowing blue statue of Athaya cured his wounds. He then came to a corridor of masonry construction in which stone steps led down to a lower level, the part of the temple in which Madathak is worshipped…

Freblun is a sixth level warrior with eight Facts and six Gifts.

The Temple of Madathak – The Caves

One hex = six miles

The campaign so far

Happy New Year readers, and thanks for all the ‘likes’ and encouraging comments that I’ve received over the past year. Here is the latest session of my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. The warrior Freblun is on a quest to retrieve the Jewel of Athaya, a powerful healing artifact, from the temple of the evil deity Madathak. Athaya is the goddess of healing worshipped in the Drenroth Wilds. Freblun must acquire the Jewel of Athaya soon because the plague is slowly advancing towards the town of Bruld.

In the previous adventure Freblun and his adventuring companion, the gnome illusionist Mulglonem, travelled to the spring of the Quelom River in the Drundorn Hills, where they encountered a strange being dwelling in a rock formation at the top of a hill. Freblun succeeded in resisting the enchantment of the being, which was causing him to walk up the hill towards it in a trance. He then rescued Mulglonem who had fallen victim to the same enchantment. They set up camp nearby in Freblun’s instant fortress. In the night the strange entity came down the hill and entered the instant fortress, and Freblun killed it after a lengthy combat in which he was badly wounded.

Freblun is a sixth level warrior with eight Facts and six Gifts.

The Whistling Rocks

One hex = six miles

The campaign so far

Here is the latest session of my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. The warrior Freblun is on a quest to retrieve the Jewel of Athaya, a powerful healing artifact, from the temple of the evil deity Madathak. Athaya is the goddess of healing worshipped in the Drenroth Wilds. Freblun must reach the Temple of Madathak and acquire the Jewel of Athaya soon, because the plague is slowly advancing towards the town of Bruld.

In the previous adventure Freblun and his adventuring companion, the gnome illusionist Mulglonem, came to the hamlet of Drun in the Drundorn Hills. They soon discovered that the hamlet was ruled by a priest of Madathak named Kulsev, who was taking adventurers and people from Drun to be sacrificed in the Temple of Madathak.

Freblun killed all but one of the militia of the hamlet after Kulsev ordered them to attack Mulglonem, but he failed to kill Kulsev and the priest escaped back to the Temple of Madathak. Freblun took a diseased beggar named Tobrond back to the temple of Dronlan in Bruld, where he was healed by the high priestess Medornae. He and Mulglonem then returned back to Freblun’s instant fortress which he had set up near Drun.

Freblun is a sixth level warrior with eight Facts and six Gifts.

Drun and Kulsev

One hex = six miles

The campaign so far

Here is the latest session of my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. The warrior Freblun is on a quest to retrieve the Jewel of Athaya, a powerful healing artifact, from the temple of the evil deity Madathak. Athaya is the goddess of healing worshipped in the Drenroth Wilds. Freblun must reach the Temple of Madathak and acquire the Jewel of Athaya soon, because the plague is slowly advancing towards the town of Bruld.

In his previous adventure Freblun encountered the wizard Ubrevod, whom he once saved from a band of orcs, but Ubrevod declined his offer to accompany him on his quest for the Jewel of Athaya. Freblun travelled along the bank of the Quelom River in the Drundorn Hills, and encountered a river linnorm, a wingless dragon-like monster. He killed the linnorm and took the gems and jewellery in the monster’s lair.

Freblun then came to the ruin of an ancient tomb that had sunk into the bank of the Quelom. Inside the tomb he encountered Mulglonem, a female gnome and illusionist. Deeper inside the tomb Freblun and Mulglonem came to a horrifying fresco that came to life, and encountered a sentient, evil sword named Zortargan, the Sword of the Undead. In another chamber a magical portal returned them to the forest outside the tomb, and they spent the night in Freblun’s instant fortress.

Freblun is a sixth level warrior with eight Facts and six Gifts.

An Ancient Tomb

One hex = six miles

The campaign so far

I’ve returned to my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. The warrior Freblun is on a quest to retrieve the Jewel of Athaya, a powerful healing artifact, from the temple of the evil deity Madathak. Athaya is the goddess of healing worshipped in the Drenroth Wilds. Freblun must reach the Temple of Madathak and acquire the Jewel of Athaya soon, because the plague is slowly advancing towards the town of Bruld.

In his previous adventure Freblun was riding along the north bank of the Quelom River, travelling towards the Temple of Madathak. He saw mysterious Bluestone Tower beyond the south bank of the Quelom, a place which gave him a nightmare. He decided to explore Bluestone Tower after he had retrieved the Jewel of Athaya from the Temple of Madathak. Later, he was attacked by four manticores. To avoid certain death he drank the potion of Invisibility that he had acquired as part of the treasure of the ogre magi of the Strange Caves. He used King Othtar’s Shield to teleport to the temple of Dronlan in Bruld, where he was healed by the high priestess Medornae and her clerics.

Freblun is a fifth level warrior with seven Facts and five Gifts.

At The End of the World

For this week Lady Jabberwocky’s writing prompt was to write whatever you want. Like my short story Lorla and the Grey Wizard and my poem Inoora, this poem is set in a fantasy world that I’m creating for the purpose of literature rather than gaming. I’ve been working on it for about a month now, so I thought I might as well publish it. It’s about a strange part of my fantasy world, a place where no-one lives today.

At The End of the World

Past Ubthelos, and fair Yemor

Tall grasses rise and undulate

Like phalanxes of golden spears

Great serpents, fell and beautiful

Glide over earth and stones

And bones of warriors unburied.

At The End of the World

Is Nethenzor, city of ruinous beauty

Gods and goddesses

In black alabaster lie broken

Soft shadows fill gardens of wild verdure

Creatures of mist from another world

Glide through dark and desolate halls.

At The End of the World

Mountain slopes bear ancient tombs

Cut out of rock and weathered, broken

Zurala, goddess of the moon

Rises in stone, tall, serene

At a precipice, where cold winds sing

The song of The End of the World.

Inoora

For this week Lady Jabberwocky’s writing prompt was to write a story or a poem that included the word “turtle.” Here is a poem I’ve written about an aspidochelone, a legendary sea turtle whose shell is as large as an island. The writing prompt reminded me of Ogzura, the aspidochelone that featured in my solo adventure Vorin’s Labyrinth – Second Expedition. But I picture Inoora as being a lot smaller than Ogzura. The setting is a fantasy world of my own which I’m creating for the purpose of literature rather than gaming. I like the way this poem has encouraged me to create the details of this world, such as having the people of Addiroy wear girdles for mourning.

Vast turtle, larger than a whale

Or the ships from Ubthelos that sail

Across the waters of Morb Deep

That turbulent sea, whose waters keep

A constant hammer on every land

From dry Kohthaal, of desert sand

To far Mothoov, of jungles green

And Addiroy, Yemor, Saveen

Inoora, titan of Morb Deep

Often haunted the troubled sleep

Of King Durngar of Addiroy

That warlike king, who did destroy

All the ports of fair Saveen

But the goddess Zurala, in a dream

Said to him, that she would send

A sea monster to attack and rend

All his ships, and bring him doom

For Zurala, goddess of the moon

Is worshipped by all throughout Saveen

In temples great and temples mean

And King Durngar was filled with fear

When he learned, from his trusted seer

That two ships lost beneath the sea

Mighty galleys, strong as could be

Had been sunk by Inoora, the great sea turtle

And the Addiroyans wore mourning girdles

For Inoora broke their mighty kingdom

And Morb Deep they did abandon

But that was not the only way

That Inoora brought death and deep dismay

For her shell could be still above the sea

An island, she appeared to be

And sailors landed on that shore

And, as according to old sea lore

She dived and drowned them in Morb Deep

And left them as ghosts who found no sleep

But if Inoora could speak to men

What secrets might she give to them?

For she is of ancient, eldritch times

And beneath Morb Deep are many signs

Of drowned cities, temples, and tombs

Strange sights warning of watery doom

The sunken kingdom of Morb Deep

And the secrets there, Inoora keeps.

Short Story: Lorla and the Grey Wizard

I’m taking a short break from my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. Back in 2017 I played a solo adventure called Sentha’s Journey, creating my own setting for the adventure and using Sophia Brandt’s Miso roleplaying game for the mechanics. I used Rory’s Story Cubes to generate the random content. I felt that the adventure was a story that was too good to be determined by the whims of Rory’s Story Cubes, so late last year I started working on a short story. Like Sentha’s Journey, the basic concept of the story has always been that of the adventures of a teenage girl who is a swimmer and trying to survive in a fantasy world.

I’ve made notes, written the story down in my head while cleaning an office late at night, changed the plot and the setting, and sometimes abandoned the idea of writing it. But recently I came across Lady Jabberwocky, a great writing blog which has encouraged me to finally write the story. Lady Jabberwocky has a writing prompt for each week which asks writers to write a short story, or a poem based on a word or an idea, and her prompt for this week is When I Meet the Wizard. This is my story inspired by that prompt.

A Mysterious Tower

One hex = six miles

The campaign so far

Here is the latest session of my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. The warrior Freblun is on a quest to retrieve the Jewel of Athaya, a powerful healing artifact, from the temple of the evil deity Madathak. Athaya is the goddess of healing worshipped in the Drenroth Wilds. Freblun must reach the Temple of Madathak and acquire the Jewel of Athaya soon, because the plague is slowly advancing towards the town of Bruld.

In his previous adventure Freblun spent some time at The Golden Mushroom inn, owned by the wizard Ergrendus, and then explored the cave lair of a green dragon who had destroyed the village of Lothvur. He plundered the dragon’s hoard of treasure and acquired an instant fortress, a magical cube which grows at his command to form a metal fortress that he now camps inside. After killing the dragon Freblun returned to the ruins of Lothvur.

Freblun is a fifth level warrior with seven Facts and five Gifts.