The World of WeirthTM is a patch-work realm, fragments of other worlds and dimensions thrown together after the great Catastrophe that shivered the Labyrinth and tilted the entire universe on its axis. Even mighty Azathoth was disturbed in his slumber.
He stretched forth his will and pulled the fragments back together, with nary a care for which parts went where.
These are the stories of those who found themselves in this new world.
Swords, Sorcery & Super-science in a poisoned land.
4 Dec 1025
For the past two weeks Scribbles and his apprentices had been away from Compound, doing research in the library-necropolis of Yith, deep in the Dune Sea. As the de facto leader of the Dented Shield Company, the Magic User was generally looked to for guidance in exploring the new lands of Weirth.
As his absence may be indefinite, a group of ‘Shield adventurers decided to investigate a location described on a map they had found in the tunnels of Tonisborg.
This map had been tattooed on the back of a zombie, found in an abattoir on the third or fourth level.
A cryptic poem was written around the border of the map, which Scribbles was able to translate before he left:
“A half-moon grotto yawns in silvered stone,
Where shadows pool like secrets turned to dust,
The last king’s sepulcher alone.
His scales now cradle silence in a crypt of night,
The throne of bones where empires were undone,
Time, the thief of glory,
Finds entry barred by wards of lunar flame,
Moon-magic woven in the hush of death,
A silver seal that whispers his lost name.
His dying hiss, a curse of venom’d breath,
Coils ’round the ward forged of spite;
Who dares the moon’s pale threshold courts black death—
Their blood shall bloom in scarlet blossoms.
No mortal hand shall breach this sacred gloom,
Nor ages dim the vigil of the moon;
Here reigns eternal the great king’s doom,
In crescent cradle, sovereign and immune”
He also performed a divination to discover what dangers might be faced in this tomb beneath the Spire of Abartu.
Up Skyslash’s knife-edge, where the air itself is thin,
The Spire of Abartu leans against the howling night.
Bone legions rise from dust, their eyes still burning sin,
And every flagstone hungers with a cursed, clicking bite.
Iron darts sing death in runes that rot the flesh they kiss,
Illusions twist the mind until the seeker’s soul is spent.
Yet deeper coils the King of Serpents in the abyss—
One drop of venom, and gods themselves repent.
A map the group had been given by the late Baron of Opatiza showed a mountain range to the NW labeled “Skyslash”, and there was a mark indicating the location of this tomb at the north end of the Amber Vale, where the so-called River of Ghosts began.
Hernan and Tiago, Berzerker tribesmen from the East, and two of the newest members of the company, were most interested in what riches might lie in this tomb. Since Scribbles was curious about its link to Tonisborg, the pair thought it might be worthwhile to explore while Scribbles was away. Tiago’s own research led him to believe the “King of Serpents” mentioned could be a reference to a Basilisk, so he purchased some anti-toxin potions for the group.
Now, Scribbles had taken the flying reed boat, so the crew hired a longship from Opatiza, one whose Captain was familiar with the waters of Paradise Bay and the mouth of the River of Ghosts. For 500 silver crowns he was willing to take them to the headwaters and wait five days.
Korgath (Fighter), Deimos (Cultist of Hephaestus ), Nik (Bard), Hernan (Fighter), Tiago (Cultist of Karakala), and Kraig (Barbarian Thu-Ell) all packed their gear, 18 days worth of rations, and set out for an eight day cruise up the River of Ghosts.
Captain Juergen had assured them the name was from the strange sounds made by the creatures in the forest on the banks of the river, not from actual spirits or ghosts. Nonetheless, Deimos was prepared to face Undead! Even more so when they boarded the longship and found Captain Juergen had hired on a squad of archers to help protect the vessel.
The trip downriver was uneventful. Mercifully, nothing had taken up residence in the hydra’s lair, which they had cleared out two months ago. This was the first time any of them had sailed out into the open water of the bay beyond the ruins of Tonisborg on the isle of Rizeka. The day was sunny and clear, perfect for sailing. Then, after nightfall, a storm blew in!
The storm carried them far to the south, which cost two days to return to the bay and sail up the river.
On either bank, they saw many of the great reptiles that inhabit his new land, two- and four-legged herbivores, two-legged hunters of many sizes, and two types of flightless birds big enough to take up a pony in their beak!
At one point on the 7th day of the trip, 11 Dec, they saw a row of tall poles sunk into the sandy southern shore of the river. Each of the poles was topped with a skull. Some were animals, some of the giant birds, and others were human, or near-human. Far to the south they could see gossamer plumes of smoke rising from campfires. they chose to sail on.
The next day they passed a ruined city of stone, heavily overgrown with plantlife. Again, the haunting, plaintive cries of birds or strange beasts filled the air. There were an unusual amount of flying lizards here, pteradons and pterydactyls. Korgath made a note of it’s location for later.
For two more days, they sailed or rowed upstream through a forested area that was alive with the haunting cries of birds and other creatures. Many of them sounded like humans in agony or terror; it made everyone very uneasy. As the longboat was rowed north out of the forest, they spied a strange, spiral-trunked tree on the northern bank. Its slanted trunk and every decent-sized branch were draped with a snake! These snakes were of all colors and sizes, from six to 18 feet long and as thick as a barrel. Captain Juergen steered well clear of the tree, and they carried on.
The travelers made their way to the end of the boat’s journey. Here a large pool formed at the base of a terraced part of the mountain where the river flowed down in a series of waterfalls.
It was the 19th of December. Hernan took out his spyglass and canned the mountainside for any signs or clues of the tomb’s location. He did spot some carvings that looked like crescent moons. The party decided to disembark here and trek as far up the terraces as they could before nightfall.
On the morning of the 20th, after having endured the monstrous calls and cries of the forest below, they spent a few hours foraging, to no avail. Tiago was worried they did not have enough food for an extended expedition, and they may need to return to the shore or the boat and do some fishing.
Around noon, they resumed their climb and made it to the carvings in just over an hour. The carvings depicted two crescent moons surrounded by flames. The moons bracketed a huge stone door with a massive stone lintel. The door itself was carved with a crescent moon shape, with the curve at the bottom, and a peculiar flame design above it.
Deimos and Hernan tried to find some method of opening the door, resulting in both of them getting burned with nearly invisible blue flames! In the end Deimos used his stone-shaping magic to sculpt an opening on the side of the stone slab.
Korgath led the way, with his enchanted black iron sword at the ready. They found a broad chamber with a tiled floor, some 50′ wide and 30′ deep. The air was cold, colder than it really should have been, stale and dry. The walls to the east & west were plastered and painted with frescos of armored lizard-men marching, as in a great parade. On the north wall, between two passages, was a mosaic of a four-legged, four-armed crocodile-man waving bronze or golden weapons in his upraised arms.
Hernan took the lead here, tapping the floor ahead of them with a 10′ pole as they made their way across the floor to the left-hand passage. Not even halfway across Hernan tapped a pressure plate and a barrage of darts burst from the walls on either side! The men dropped to the ground, only Korgath being hit but protected by his armor. They crept across the rest of the room, with Hernan continuing to probe ahead. The passage led 20′ and ended in a stone slab blocking the passage. There was a niche in the wall to the right, with a bronze lever. Korgath pushed it, and they heard the muted sound of a long chain unraveling and falling onto a hard surface. Other than that, no effect…
They decided to check the other passage. Hernan probed ahead, finding another stone slab blocking their progress. This one had a lever in a niche on the left hand side, but also the floor in front of the slab had a hollow sounding echo when tapped with the pole. Standing back as far as he could, Hernan pushed the lever…and the floor in front of the slab swung down like a trapdoor, revealing a deep pit!
They could hear water gurgling down there in the darkness, Deimos dropped a coin down, and after a long while, they heard a splash. Tiago decided they should go back and try to defeat the stone slab with brute force, they did have two crowbars after all!
After a false start they managed to pry the slab loose of its seal and raise it up enough to see the passage continued for some distance, however it was choked with cobwebs. Korgath stepped forward with a torch and ignited the webs, they burst into flame and vanished with a whoosh. They raised the slab up to shoulder height and spiked it in place. Once again Hernan took the lead, after advising the group they should rope themselves together in case anything happened, as he could see a pit not more than 20′ ahead.
Sure enough, as Hernan probed the floor ahead, he set off a floor switch & the the floor beneath their feet gave way! The passage became a slide, and the first four members of the party lost their footing and began to slide down into the pit. Hernan slid over the edge before Tiago and Kraig, at the rear of the group, managed to get a grip on the door jamb and stop the slide.
Carefully, carefully, they pulled Hernan out of the shaft and dragged the rest up to the flat floor of the hallway. After some deliberation, it was decided they’d remain tied together and use their spikes as pitons for creating a passage across the pit. Moving carefully, they all managed to cross without incident.
Once across, Tiago conjured a globe of light which he sent down the pit to discern the depth. While completing the spell his left hand and forearm transformed into a chitinous claw, like that of a crab or lobster! The magical flux in this place was stronger than he anticipated. After the shock wore off, Hernan took out his spyglass again and peered down into the depths. He was able to make out some debris at the bottom, some 100’down. It included some pieces of armor, bones, a sword, and a helmet. Korgath also noted this for later.
Facing the north, the passage continued for 60′, then ended, with three doors at the end of the hall.
All were locked, so they crushed the left hand lock with a hammer and broke the door open!
Inside, a 30’x30′ room filled with old furniture, chairs, tables, and so on, stacked and jumbled every which way. The walls were plastered & covered with faded frescoes.
They found two undamaged, lacquered chairs and a secret door that had been partially forced at some point to reveal its presence. Beyond, a small room with a wood-and-ivory chest with a needle-trapped lock. They broke off the hinges with crowbars and a hammer, revealing a stash of large iridescent scales or shells. They dragged this out into the hall with the chairs and left them by the pit.
The door on the right got the same treatment, revealing a 30’x30′ room with plastered walls that had suffered badly due to water leakage. Mold and mildew covered the walls and floor. Hernan made his way in with the 10′ pole, stirring up a cloud of spores that made him choke. They retreated quickly and slammed the door shut.
Hernan and Korgath bashed the lock on the third door, which flew open. Beyond, a large chamber, 70′ wide E-W and 50′ deep N-S. The walls were plastered, covered with faded frescoes. In the center of the north wall was a platform with three steps leading up to a 20′ wide stairway going upwards into darkness.
The stairway opening was flanked by two large, 5′ tall bronze braziers, filled with ashes. A cold breeze flowed down the steps into the room and down the hallway.
The group was a little spooked by this, especially when Kraig mentioned that whatever killed the armored person at the bottom of the pit just might be able to climb out…
Nik had been trying to keep track of time, and brought up the fact they had been in here close to four hours, and it was going to be dark outside… Deimos and Tiago were discussing what to do about rations, so the group decided to return to the longboat for the night. The consensus was they would rest the next day, and try to do some fishing.
META: At the end of the session, it was 21 Dec in-game. Our next session is 11 Dec, so the group will be using some different characters in a new adventure. This group will resume in the session of 18 Dec, where we will pick up where we left off.
Both of the sessions, 11 and 18 Dec, will try to extend play beyond the 25th since we will not be getting together on Christmas.
