[Challenge of the Frog Idol] Session #11: The Iron Overlord

After returning laden with treasure from their previous adventure, the party is recuperating at the city, somewhat unwilling to get back and keep on with their investigating the smuggling hideout. Three uninterrupted days pass when the characters receive a letter from a mute street urchin, personally addressed to them. While what's written seems cryptic and intentionally vague, the letter's author nevertheless asks the party to cease any investigation regarding the smuggling operation and meet each other for a lucrative business. Intrigued by the offer, the party decides to ditch any further exploration on the "haunted house" and follow the instructions given to meet an unknown person who will take them to the author's base.

Even though some of the characters are at first bit hesitant, the party heads at the docks and comes into contact with an agent in disguise, a beggar who leads them to the back of a tavern and the office of the Iron Overlord, the one responsible for the slavery operation in Coruvon and the master behind the smuggling den under the dilapidated house. He awards the adventurers with an expensive red ruby for choosing their allegiance and accepting the invitation and then offers them the job of getting rid of a cartographer who seems to know too much about the business and thus went into hiding, as part of their initiation into the "family". The party immediately begins the search of the traitor, which is not difficult to locate her, as she's hiding under her house, beyond a well-hidden trapdoor that descends into the foundations of an older building and what seems to be the entrance to an ancient tomb. Before they act, the cartographer attempts to counter-offer them any treasure found in the tomb, supposedly belonging to a chieftain of some hillfolk living in the area centuries ago, as long as they let her live and help her explore the ancient site. She believes the place will be protected from tomb-robbers by special wards and traps.

Taking advantage of the woman's dire situation, the party agrees to aid the cartographer in her exploring the tomb and goes through various ancient traps, clashing with undead guards and collecting lost treasures. After all, the characters plan to never let the cartographer escape the halls of the gravesite. The battles deep in the hill-chieftain's tomb are fierce and claim Aurora's life, the party's cleric, as well as the cartographer's life, stumbling on a trap while fleeing frantically to save her skin from the cold clutches of the undead. Finishing their exploration and having fulfilled their mission, the characters head back to the Iron Overlord to bring the news, who seems pleasantly satisfied and hands over another red ruby that the characters delightfully pocket. A sinister collaboration begins between the intrepid adventurers and the head of the slavery operation.

Characters involved:
Rolf the Bold, fighter 1
Aurora, cleric 1 [KIA]
Yudel, dwarf 1
Lolék, thief 1
Li, halfling 2

Raine the Despised, cleric 1 (retainer)

This marked the first session where one of the characters gained a level. It was also a clear departure from your typical good-natured party seeking adventure; this time, their mission was to murder a person who posed a threat to an underground business, a task the characters were eager to accomplish. They even went the extra mile of helping the cartographer explore the tomb and retrieve any ancient treasures, only to betray her later. Clearly, the campaign has turned from a neutral, mercenary party looking for gain and glory to a chaotic group bent for undermining the human settlement. This gives me the chance to twist the ultimate goals of the mini campaign (we're running Challenge of the Frog Idol, after all), to better fit the theme of the game, as long as the players keep up playing Chaos-inclined characters.