Four Against the Abyss – The Quest for the Wand of Imonora (Part Three)

Here is the third and final part of my campaign using the campaign rules in Four Against the Abyss, the advanced supplement for Four Against Darkness. I also used the random tables from the Fiendish Foes supplement. This time I made use of Clues which makes for a more interesting game.

Dorenin

Queen Arla of Osnor is hiring adventurers to recover the three pieces of the Wand of Imonora. This ancient artefact must be restored to save her realm from Gathorim, the dreaded entity who has returned from the netherworld through a fracture in the cosmos to create chaos and pestilence. Having already found one part of the wand, Closovae the sorceress and her companions attempted to recover another section from a dungeon deep within the Krolost Mountains. The expedition was unsuccessful; they failed to find a section of the wand and every member of the party except Closovae was killed. Closovae discovered the secret lair of a lich in the dungeon. Recognising that she was too weak to face the lich alone, she returned to the city of Dorenin to find more adventurers to accompany her on another expedition into the dungeon.

Two adventurers from the Krolost Mountains arrive in Dorenin to join the quest; an elf named Tathalron and a barbarian woman named Brifnen, a kinswoman of Grolsond who was killed during the previous adventure. A rogue from the slums of Dorenin named Vorben also joins the party.

As in the first adventure the new adventurers begin as fifth level characters with 100 gold pieces each and, with the exception of Brifnen, one random magic item.

Closovae hires a warrior named Harsturn to be her bodyguard, and buys him a glaive and a chain hauberk. She also hires a surgeon, a woman named Doroslin. Brifnen has her sword sharpened by a bladesmith, Closovae hires a herbalist to prepare remedies for her, and Vorben goes to an apocathery to have his short sword coated with poison.

When playing the previous two sessions I didn’t read the rule for hiring professionals (hirelings who don’t go on an adventure); only three professionals may be hired by the party before an adventure. Even so, all but one of the party died in the previous adventure.

Four Against the Abyss – The Quest for the Wand of Imonora (Part Two)

This is the second part of my campaign using the campaign rules in Four Against the Abyss, the advanced supplement for Four Against Darkness. I also used the random tables from the Fiendish Foes supplement.

Dorenin

Closovae the sorceress, Durnrik the warrior, Grolsond the barbarian and Somvis the rogue have been hired by Queen Arla of Osnor to find the three pieces of the Wand of Imonora. The wand must be restored to save Osnor from the chaos and pestilence caused by Gathorim, the entity that has escaped from the netherworld. Having found one piece of the wand in a dungeon in the foothills of the Krolost Mountains, the adventurers have returned to the city of Dorenin, the capital of Osnor.

The adventurers prepare for their second expedition, which will take them into a dungeon deep within the Krolost Mountains in search of another piece of the wand. Dorstorn the dungeon guide and Greth the surgeon are hired again to accompany the adventurers into the dungeon. Closovae goes to the alchemist to order a Potion of Healing that will be ready for her to drink when she returns from her adventure.

The Dungeon

Leaving Dorenin the party journey deep into the Krolost Mountains. They make their way up a valley through pine woods and between massive boulders. At the end of the valley is a cave, the entrance to the dungeon. Durnrik comments on the fickle nature of fortune; since they found the first part of the wand with relative ease then this dungeon will most likely test them severely. Closovae drinks her Potion of Vigour that she ordered from the alchemist, which will give her immunity to the Dark Plague that is found in the foulest dungeons.

Four Against the Abyss – The Quest for the Wand of Imonora (Part One)

Back in 2016 I did some playtests of the Deeper Dungeons supplement for Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games. This supplement has now been published as Four Against the Abyss, and I have begun a new campaign using the campaign guidelines from the rulebook. I’m also using the Fiendish Foes supplement to generate adversaries; I’ll roll on the tables from both Four Against the Abyss and Fiendish Foes and go with whatever result is most appropriate. Some of the results that I rolled for this adventure were similar to those of my playtest for Deeper Dungeons, but I still have two more dungeons to go through in the campaign.

Chaos in Osnor

West of the Krolost Mountains lies the kingdom of Osnor. Queen Arla rules the kingdom from her palace in the magnificent city of Dorenin. The Krolost Mountains are sparsely populated by barbarian tribes, and separate Osnor from the Dreaded Wastes, a realm of chaos where no laws of nature apply.

Osnor is in turmoil. Crops are withering and mysterious plagues are decimating the villages and towns. Deranged cultists are openly defying Queen Arla’s authority and taking villagers for sacrifice in lonely places. Queen Arla has consulted Clefeus the sage, and has been told that these events arise from the return of the vile entity Gathorim from the netherworld. Centuries ago the great sorceress Imonora created a magical wand from an unknown metal and used it to banish Gathorim, though not before he had blighted the lands beyond the Krolost Mountains which became the Dreaded Wastes.

After her death Imonora’s wand fell into the hands of Gathorim’s followers, who tried to destroy it. They only succeeded in breaking it into three pieces, which were hidden in three different dungeons. The first dungeon is beneath an ancient ruin in the foothills of the Krolost Mountains, the second is at the end of a desolate valley deep in the Krolost Mountains, and the third is situated in the Dreaded Wastes.

If the pieces of the wand are joined together in the correct order they will be magically fused together. Only a wizard or a sorceress of great knowledge will be able to read the ancient magical script on the wand and activate it. Once this has been done Gathorim will be banished back to the netherworld, and the cosmic fracture which allowed him to escape will be sealed.

4AD – Playtest of Deeper Dungeons (Part Four)

Here is my fourth playtest of the Deeper Dungeons supplement for Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games. The party did better this time, killing a boss monster on the deeper level.

Note that the rules are still not final so they may be different in the published book.

Adventure

In Brodok the party of Groldran, Runden and Theldruva are joined by another adventurer, an elven woman named Tanra. The party goes to the dungeon.

4AD – Playtest of Deeper Dungeons (Part Three)

Here is my third playtest of the Deeper Dungeons supplement for Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games. This time the adventurers didn’t make it to the lower level. Next time I will fudge the dice rolls and only make the adventure really difficult once the party has reached the lower level.

Note that the rules are still not final so they may be different in the published book.

Adventure

Returning to Brodok, Groldran sells his ring for 12 gold pieces. He sells his mace and buys a suit of light armour and a new maul. Three adventurers join him for another expedition into the dungeon: Runden the rogue, Olvi the halfling woman and Theldruva the cleric.

The party go to the dungeon. After taking Ulsifri’s corpse back to Brodok for burial they return to the dungeon and enter.

4AD – Playtest of Deeper Dungeons (Part Two)

Here is my second playtest of the Deeper Dungeons supplement for Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games. This time the party found stairways down to lower levels of the dungeon.

Note that the rules are still not final so they may be different in the published book.

Adventure

Groldran returns to Brodok and sells his sardonyx gemstone for 42 gold pieces. He pays the wise woman Idda 10 gold pieces for more of her knowledge. He then meets an adventuring cleric named Hadrol who agrees to return to the dungeon and cast the Blessing spell to turn three of the five petrified party members back from stone into flesh. Hadrol will then join the new party.

4AD – Playtest of Deeper Dungeons (Part One)

Here is my first playtest of the Deeper Dungeons supplement for Four Against Darkness, which I’ve received from Andrea Sfiligoi at Ganesha Games.

Note that the rules are still not final so they may be different in the published book.

Adventure

Having defeated the Chaos Lord Ekzor, Groldran’s party are now acclaimed as heroes in the town of Brodok and a new adventurer has joined the party. The party now consists of Claral the rogue, Groldran the dwarf, Ulsifri the barbarian woman and Grorvarn the wizard. Claral and Groldran give the scrolls that they found in Ekzor’s dungeon to Grorvarn.

4AD Dungeon Part Three – Four Against Ekzor

Here is the third and final session of this adventure using the Four Against Darkness rules from Ganesha Games. This session follows on from Part One – The Statue of King Frorth and Part Two – Lord of the Dungeon.

Halfway through this session a definite story was beginning to take shape, based on the encounter with the Chaos Lord in Part Two. For this reason I fudged rules a little and decided to include an encounter with the Chaos Lord in a final room of the dungeon which would be room 42. I did also did this to maintain the symmetry of the dungeon which I think looks good on graph paper!

Adventure

Having survived the dungeon and returned to Brodok, Groldran the dwarf sells his treasure items – a green spinel gemstone and a pewter ring set with a blue topaz gemstone – for 60 gold pieces each. He then gathers three companions for another expedition into the dungeon. Claral is a rogue, Senbo is a halfling and Ulsifri is a barbarian woman from the wilderness beyond the town. Claral is the lantern-bearer and she and Groldran go first.

4AD Dungeon Part Two – Lord of the Dungeon

Here is my second session of playing Four Against Darkness from Ganesha Games. This session follows on from Part One – The Statue of King Frorth. The map above includes a number of rooms that I didn’t generate and explore until the third and final session of this adventure.

Adventure

Once again four adventurers have travelled from the town of Brodok to the nearby dungeon. The party consists of Brald the rogue, Groldran the dwarf, Elora the elf and Olgorim the wizard. Brald is the lantern-bearer and he and Groldran go first.