His Majesty The Worm - Pile of Blades Masterpost

Pile of Blades is a city and undercity I wrote for His Majesty The Worm. I played through it in seven sessions, about one for each realm of the Undercity.

 

His Majesty The Worm - Session 7

Four adventurers from the Elite Underman Excavation Company showed up for the final mission:

• Aethelbald the Green, Horse Girl (and Wall the Griffin)
• Hyacinth "Cindy" Hakkapeliitta, Mad Brewer (and her new husband Fovean Blaster Caster)
• Chrysanthemum "Chris" Hakkapeliitta, Ex-Legionary
• Gyrfalcon "Gary the Mage" Hakkapeliitta, Wizard

The Unicorn explained the mission at Aethelbald's ranch outside of town. With the psychic protection they got in the Demon Ruins they could now enter the Cave of Squids and eliminate the threat to the City. Jerry the Mage had used his alchemical expertise to make a big bomb, all the Guild had to do was take it into the dungeon and drop it in the room with the jars, and the thing inside the jars. They'd recognize it from their nightmares, and when the Unicorn said that they realized they would. The dream of an enormous body, trapped in a confined space, dimly aware of the innumerable dreaming minds in the world above.

 
An assault on the Cave of Squids would provoke an immediate response from the inhabitants, who would use their psychic powers to draw in all their servitors from the City and Undercity. To that end, a team would hold the entrance to the Cave and protect the Guild's line of retreat.

• The Unicorn
• Jerboa "Jerry the Mage" De Hornachos
• Jerboa's cousin Baramundi "Barry the Mage" De Hornachos
• Jerboa's uncle Scarab "Scary the Mage" De Hornachos

The Guild chose the Cave entrance in the cellars beneath Hangman's Hill, rather than the flooded drain from the Giant Conclave. Aethelbald hefted the bomb, Cindy took the sack of spare psychic resistance rings, and they descended into the final area of the dungeon.

His Majesty The Worm - Session 6

 
Gary and Cindy Hakkapeliitta met up at Aethelbald's ranch outside the city, to get their next mission from the Unicorn the Orc brought out of the underworld. The beast knew a lot about what was going on in the undercity, and explained the situation to the Guild: The destruction of the telepathic statue sabotaged the Squids' alliance with the Giants, who realized they'd been duped when the fog of mental interference suddenly lifted. But any attack on the squids themselves would require psychic defenses, and that's what the Guild was going to get. The Demon Ruins were full of evil spirits that would trade for what they needed. The Unicorn couldn't go with them because he hated Demons. They killed his rider and he would savagely attack them on sight with no thought to the mission. He didn't feel good about sending adventurers down to do the job, but he offered to pay them real nice if they brought back enough psychic defense for everybody.

There were two ways into the Demon Ruins: a long drop down the waterfall in the Stone Garden, and the frozen doorway in the Giant Conclave. The waterfall was dangerous to traverse but not actively monitored by the monsters. The Conclave door led into the hanging palace of a particularly nasty Demon who wouldn't sell the players what they wanted. The siblings chose the Conclave entrance. Climbing down a giant rope under a waterfall was one thing, climbing up while being pursued by monsters was another entirely. Better to have a secure line of retreat than an easy way in. The Unicorn thanked them for their service, he wished he could pay them better for giving up a piece of their souls but the City would be better for it.

His Majesty The Worm - Session 5

Three adventurers from the Elite Underman Excavation Guild met their contact in a conference room above the Cult of Strength's physical therapy clinic in Shrine of Teeth.

• Aethelbald the Green, Orc Rogue
• Aten Hookmantled, Dwarven Beastmaster
• Sweetheart, Aten's Dungeon Worm
• Breadrick Bravebelly, Halfling Rogue

Their contact was a bald man with a perfectly regular grid of scars across his body, which he embellished with fresh cuts across the back of his arm as the Guild entered. They instantly recognized him as Dacian of the Tower, a high ranking hiero at the Temple of Swords, and thought they had walked into an ambush. Gary the Mage had caused some controversy by exposing the Church's swords-for-slaves scheme, and his anti-Temple stance had previously won him threats of hired assassination.
 

But it all worked out, because Dacian appreciated the Guild's dedication to exposing corrupt elements of the Temple. He had it on good authority that several members of the organization were victims of psychic dream sending from an unknown entity in the undercity, subtly altering their behavior in disturbing ways. The source of the emissions was a mysterious soapstone statue in the Thingstead of the Giant Conclave. If the Guild destroyed the mysterious statue, he'd pay them handsomely. The Guild decided that, as long as they were down in the dungeon, they would help Aten find another beast for his menagerie. Whatever monster they found could live at Aethelbald's ranch along with the Unicorn from the Stone Garden. There were two entrances to the Giant Conclave, one through the Fire Giant Forge and one from the cellar under Hangman's Hill.

 

His Majesty The Worm - Session 4

Four adventurers hiked up Hangman's Hill for the Elite Underman Excavation Company's next adventure.

• Breadrick Bravebelly, Halfling Rogue
• Constantina Leadcutter, Halfling Duelist
  
• Gyrfalcon "Gary the Mage" Hakkapeliitta, Human Mage
• Hyacinth "Cindy" Hakkapeliitta, Human Brewer
  

Their destination was the Kick at the Clouds, a historic tavern where condemned prisoners once received their last drink before going to the gallows. The Troll Witte Boiledsyrup had a job for him. The Red Claw gang, a Guild of Orcs, were squatting in his basement. Not only did they refuse to leave, they drank wine from his cellar without paying. They must have found treasure or an entrance to the undercity down there, because they had enough money to pay prostitutes and food vendors who periodically visited them. If the Undermen got rid of them they could keep any treasure they found in the basement, aside for the booze which belonged to Witte.

Gary negotiated an increased fee for the job and the Guild took a look at Witte's map of the cellar. As long as they were down there, the group decided to pursue Cindy's personal quest and search for alchemical reagents to enhance her lackluster attempts at homebrewing.

His Majesty The Worm - Session 3

 

Matul Bentgirder net the Elite Undermen Excavation Company by the hospital outside town.

• Aethelbald, Earthblood Orc Rogue
• Candella Panthercoppered, Dwarf Fighter
• Hyacinth "Cindy" Hakkapeliitta, Human Brewer
• Mikado Open-The-Belly, Gnome Sniper 

Rather than offer a job for pay, the undermobster offered them a bag of freebies to put the hurt on the Fire Giants as payback for kidnapping his distant relation. 

• Fungus Purgit, for dissolving melted stone
  
• Oil of the Frost Wraith, for adding ice damage to weapons
• Potion of Flash Sweat, for immunity to fire damage
  
• Shrink Bomb, for negating the size advantage of a roomful of monsters

There were effectively two ways into the Forge. Go back down the stairs under the Temple of Swords and directly confront the Giants, or follow the underground river south into the Stone Garden and use the Purgit to dissolve the melted stone blocking the passage. The Guild took the long way around, excited to explore a new area. They also decided to take on Aethelbald's personal quest to retrieve a magnificent horse from the dungeon.

 

His Majesty The Worm - Session 2

 

Fresh off their victory over the Vampire Voivode, three adventurers stripped down for a soak at the thermae, and to meet their next client.

• Breadrick Bravebelly, Halfling Rogue
• Gyrfalcon "Gary the Mage" Hakkapeliitta, Human Mage
• Candella Panthercoppered, Dwarf Fighter

The Dwarf mobster Matul Bentgirder lounged nude in a private bath with a handful of huskarls, sturdy bodyguards who didn't need weapons or armor to deal lethal damage. He was happy to see the Undermen Breadrick and Candella, and to meet the human Gyrfalcon. He had a job for them, a rescue mission in the Fire Giants' forge beneath the Crypt of the Vampire Voivode. It was a favor to a relative, to rescue the human Leupold Hakkapeliitta from Giant captivity. For this he'd pay out 150 gold pieces, provided the prisoner was brought back alive.

 

The Fire Giants were a hot topic in the adventuring community. Weapons that looked suspiciously like Fire Giant forgework were regularly seen in the hands of brute squads from the Temple of Swords, leading to rumors of forbidden commerce with the Giant slavers.

 

The Guild debated whose personal quest to pursue alongside the rescue mission. They decided to get a piece of fine art for Candella's tomb, since the Fire Giant Forge would probably be full of fine metalwork and jewelry. There was the little problem of the Vampire Voivode, his wives, his servants and his pets, all of whom were pissed off at the Guild for their conduct on the previous delve. But it was nothing they couldn't handle, provided they moved fast. All they had to do was move fast to the drain in the floor of the mulch room, which led down to an underground river that fed the Fire Giant Forge.

 

His Majesty The Worm - Session 1

 

Four adventurers stood in the entry hall of the Crypt of the Vampire Voivode.

• Breadrick Bravebelly, Halfling Rogue
• Chelicera, Cave Elf Bard
• Gyrfalcon "Gary the Mage" Hakkapeliitta, Human Mage
• Candella Panthercoppered, Dwarf Fighter

Their mission, given to them by a Gnome crimelord in the Hangman's Quarter outside of town: Enter the Crypt and pluck an Avern, a special moonlight flower used in Elven monomachy. Breadrick had personal reasons to descend into the vampiric tomb, which the rest of the Elite Undermen Excavation Company agreed to help him with: he needed to find a special bottle of wine as a courtship gift.

All that remained was to choose a direction to explore first.