Serpents of Chaos - Delve 8 - Xataian Bounty

Serpents of Chaos is a ad&d 1e campaign set in the lands of Hyperborea, a vast region of steppe, inland seas, deep mountains, horse-hordes, fierce barbarians, and hardened adventurers.

During downtime, Zanuptra the Prestidigitator (level 1 MU) was up to stuff again. The player behind him (and Ursula and Enkidu) has been on the leading edge of collecting information, meeting NPCs, and going on in-between adventures. This time he tried looking for secret knowledge concerning Slissirix and the Serpents of Chaos (which they met in the dungeon in session 7). His search led him to Shemul, the Patriarch of the Temple of Thargrod. Shemul sent him to seek out Murhsumut the sage-priest in Barad (a day or two of travel away). Murshumut kept scrips of lore and old tablets concerning the Serpents.

Murshumut

Laurenzia the Aspirant (level 1 Druid) was also making the rounds in town, looking for henchmen. Posting ads and hiring agents was successful. A fighter turned up to meet Laurenzia at the White Cask. But the interview process fell flat and Laurenzia decided not to hire him.

Now to the session. Five in total joined the crew: Zanuptra, Laurenzia, James (Fighter 1), Bran (Dwarf Fighter 1), and Goswin (Fighter 1). The group decided to look into a bounty offered for two Xataian blade merchants (600 gp dead, 1000 gp alive) who sold weapons to the dungeon inhabitants of the Cursed Chambers. So they chased down a merchant caravan going east, back to Xatai.

At first, the job didn't seem too hard. But when they found out that the caravan had 260 people, 200 of which were heavily armed guards (some of them riding saurian mounts), they had to make a plan. This plan was to sneak in at night and capture a guard patrol.

They ambushed a pair of Xataian guards, Laurenzia entangling them with grasses, then running up and dogpiling them. One of these guards cried out, alerting a second patrol. This second patrol caused some trouble and one almost escaped but Laurenzia ran him down.

Getting information out of the guards proved difficult until James slipped a cursed ring on one of their fingers. That guard was visited by some unseen being. A large snake bite appeared on his wrist and he went catatonic (but succeeded on his poison throw and stayed alive).

Once he woke up, James told him the ring would go back on unless he gave them information on the blade merchants. The guard said they were hidden with a small group of Cimmerian huntsmen travelling on the road just ahead of the Xataians. The guard noted that the merchants were disguised as female bedslaves of the barbarian leader.

A plan was made to ride into camp on horseback, setting fire to tents, cutting leads on pack animals, and cause chaos. Meanwhile Zanuptra and Laurenzia would steal into the largest tent, cast Sleep on it, and steal some Xataians (they heard the bedslaves were in the big tent).

Their information proved to be underwhelming and amongst the havoc no Xataians were found. Zanuptra and Laurenzia did meet the barbarian leader in the tent, which was a funny story. I started describing a large man, thickly muscled, grasping a two handed sword, wearing a headband and cursing Grom (Crom). I hadn't planned on including Conan whole-cloth in the setting but now it's done! I can't go back. Either way, these two spellcasters really pissed off this barbarian.

Conan by Frazetta

Shortly after that, the group had to retreat to a previously agreed-upon location empty handed. It was a disappointment of sorts but the session itself was full of great stories. The PCs made it through without arguments or indecision and all of us got to see a glimpse of overland action which was a nice break from the dungeon.

But speaking of the dungeon, by the time the party got back with their few gold coins (looted from the Xataian guards) they were all eager to stomp the Chambers once again and haul out some real treasures.