I have been running the Seaward campaign since I was a pre-teen and Skull Mountain has been part of it since Funkytown was on the Billboard Top 40, but the players always surprise me.
The current crew is still traumatized by level two of Skull Mountain and want to wait a bit before going to level 3. But the need to return because of their self-imposed mission to map the Briars.
I had never thought anyone would map the area, but they are determined to do so. The Briars range from rolling hills to almost badlands and are generally covered in briars, brambles, thorns, pincushion bushes, needle trees, and more. The party is planning to thoroughly hexcrawl all 500+ square miles of the Briars, carefully map it, and then sell the results to the King.
The Briars are home to Ol' Knobby (said to be a massive ogre), Ol' One Fang (a mighty hill giant), the Red Maiden (what appears to be a beautiful woman who rides a giant owl and bestows curses on wanderers), and at least one tribe of goblins. These are just the 'big names'; it is also home to kobolds, lions, giant spiders, and a lot more.
The party decided to do a ton of preparation over the weekend in preparation for a marathon session over Memorial Day weekend.
First was a three way swap of money and potions so Clarence, the not-quite-evil assassin could take Starfalcon's wand of fireballs to Skull Mountain alone. Taking the secret stairs he dumped Fireballs into the caverns containing the huge flocks of stirges, quickly killing them all. It also burned away the wooden screens (painted to resemble stone) at the back of the stirge caverns. Clarence reported to the main party, returned the wand, and then left.
The main group had hired some mercenaries, a cook, and two cartographers. They had also purchased supplies and hired a cart (to go with the carts they own) and transported their NPCs to Skull Mountain where they set up a base camp. The hirelings would remain there under command of some henchmen, while one cartographer observed the party from the various viewing points in the mountain and checked their location with the spyglasses on the peak at regular intervals. The PCs would take their other henchmen and the cartographer with them as they methodically sweep through the Briars dealing with what they find and mapping.
The players have been preparing for this for years. They have sought out and even traded magic items for other items with NPCs to make sure they have what they think they need. The expedition's magic gear:
- a pair of Elven Helms (allow communication with line of sight) - one in Skull Mountain, one with the party so reports can be sent back and forth.
- Boots of Levitation to make sure the wearer of the helm is above the Briars to communicate.
- A Murlynd's Spoon to reduce the need to carry rations.
- an Everful Flask to provide water.
- A Broom of Flying for emergencies.
The party made their way to Skull Mountain, got the base camp setup and the cartographers to work using the spy glass to make a rough map then - climbed into the left eye cavern. Inside they found 14' tunnel sloping up that ended in an iron door with at least 4 Glyphs on it along with a rune they recognize that indicates that it was sealed by a priest to keep danger in. They left it alone.
Next they strike out West to begin the mapping!
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