11/09/2025 – Geeks & Games – A New Hope

Summary

Last session, the party ventured out from Thorntown. Cad and Fern, retaining memories from before the Chthonic Edit, hazily remembered this place as the site of the formerly bustling Orcish city of Khadruz. Now, it is only a small village of mostly humans. They headed West in search of the entrance to what rumors were calling The Belowdown.

The party stepped into a forgotten temple carved for a ram‑headed god, its sloped halls aglow with faint mushrooms and defaced by obscene paeans to Shug. From deeper within came a single, ragged plea. In the antechamber beyond, a hairless orc farmer—nearly naked, chained, and impaled to a stone by an iron longsword—begged for release. With terror in his eyes, he named his torturer: Shaitan the satyr, and flicked his gaze toward a stair. When the blade was tugged free, a dark dryad materialized from the air like a splintered tree given rage. She screamed in Sylvan and pointed to the orc, demanding his death. Cad raised Shug’s sign, wavered, then opted for a grim mercy. His strike failed to finish the job. Jack, shaken but resolute, drove in with a dagger and ended the orc—only for the dryad to surge into Jack’s body. Cad forced the spirit out with holy resolve, the dryad’s original form crumpling as her eyes snapped back open in fury. The trio fled down a different stair rather than face her talons.

They descended into a circular chamber where jet‑black water lay still within four columns. Thorned fey vines strangled the walls but stopped shy of the pool’s surface. Through the next door seeped soft, haunting pipe‑music—Shug’s hymns, made perilous. The sound hooked into their senses; Cad and Fern slumped into enchanted sleep before rousing and stuffing makeshift earplugs of moss and torn cloth. Beyond, Shaitan’s revel awaited: couches, silver platters of grapes and figs, a wine ewer, and three nymphs with bows drawn. Shaitan opened the door himself, pan‑flute at his throat, and with polite menace invited them to join his endless party in exchange for an oath of fealty. The party refused and shut the door. The music swelled, the door swung wide, and sleep drowned them again.

They awoke inside the revel, gear laid aside. Fern, keeping low, slipped behind a couch, woke Jack, and reclaimed her pack. Cad tried a different approach, invoking shared devotion to Shug. Shaitan smiled without warmth: none who entered would be allowed to leave. Jack’s dagger flicked from cover and clattered off stone, and the room erupted. Fern’s magic stung the satyr and drew the nymphs’ arrows. Jack lunged over the couch and sank a blade into Shaitan—only to watch the wound vanish as one of the nymphs collapsed dead, life bound to the satyr’s by oath‑magic. Shaitan vaulted the cushions and hammered Jack down. Cad, bleeding, braced against braying magic and arrows, then staggered toward the exit. Fern sprinted back into the open to drag Jack to safety; Shaitan met her with a crushing blow. With Fern fallen and Jack’s breath fading, Cad retreated alone into the dark.

In town, Cad learned the truth of the iron sword he had taken: a cold‑iron blade meant to bite fey and the unholy, yet bound never to slay mortal beings. It was the reason the orc had survived the first mercy‑stroke—and the key to unseating Shaitan. Two companions lay dead beneath the satyr’s revel, a dark dryad still haunted the upper chambers, and the way back was marked by sleep‑laced hymns. Cad now knows what must return to those halls: silence for the ears, allies at his side, and cold iron aimed at a goat‑lord’s heart.

OUTLINE:

Into the Desecrated Ram-Temple

• Entered sloping, mushroom-lit hall defaced with vile graffiti praising Shug
• Heard the distant moans of someone in agony ahead
• Noted ancient ram-headed god carvings, newly desecrated

The Chained Orc and the Dark Dryad

• Found a hairless orc farmer chained and impaled to a stone by an iron longsword
• Orc begged for death and named Shaitan the satyr as his tormentor, glancing toward a stair
• Removing the sword summoned a dark dryad raging in Sylvan for the orc’s death
• Cad struck to ‘mercy-kill’; Jack finished the orc
• Dryad possessed Jack; Cad drove the spirit out; party fled down a different stair as the dryad attacked

Black Pool and Sleep-Hymns

• Reached a chamber with a circular pool of jet-black water; thorned fey vines ringed the room but avoided the water
• Heard hypnotic Shug hymns through a door; Cad and Fern fell briefly into magical sleep
• Used moss and cloth as earplugs to resist the music

Shaitan’s Revel and the Ultimatum

• Opened the door to find Shaitan the satyr with three nymph archers among couches, silver platters, fruit, and wine
• Shaitan welcomed them but demanded an oath of fealty; warned that none who entered could leave
• Tried to withdraw; music swelled, door opened, and they awoke inside the revel with gear set aside
• Fern slipped behind a couch to wake Jack; Cad attempted to parley as a fellow Shug devotee

Battle in the Lounge, Loss, and Escape

• Jack’s surprise dagger miss sparked combat; Fern’s spells struck Shaitan
• Realized Shaitan’s wounds vanished while a bound nymph died in his stead
• Shaitan’s warhammer downed Jack; nymph arrows flew
• Cad, wounded, retreated to the door; Fern rushed back to drag Jack out and was struck down
• Cad escaped alone from the temple

Aftermath and Revelation

• Cad identified the iron longsword as cold iron: potent against fey and unholy, unable to kill mortals
• Understood why the orc survived the first strike and how to truly harm Shaitan
• Resolved to return with allies, ear protection, and the right blade to end the revel

NPCs:

• Dark Dryad: A corrupted tree‑spirit bound to the temple’s cruelty, furious and single‑minded in demanding the orc’s death. She possessed Jack when the mercy was granted, only to be exorcised and left raging.
• Enthralled Nymphs: Three nymphs bound to Shaitan’s life by oath‑magic, bows in hand and smiles turned glassy by the revel. One died when Shaitan was wounded, revealing the deadly link.
• Hairless Orc Farmer: A tortured captive chained and impaled to a stone, begging for release from agony. He named Shaitan as his tormentor and died by the party’s hand, a mercy with unforeseen consequences.
• Shaitan the Satyr: A commanding satyr lord of revels who enthralled nymphs and lured intruders with hypnotic hymns. Courteous in speech and cruel in terms, he demanded oaths of fealty and barred any escape from his hall.

ITEMS:

• Cold‑Iron Longsword: An iron longsword taken from the impaled orc. Revealed later as blessed cold iron that bites fey and unholy beings but cannot kill mortal creatures.
• Grappling Hook: Cad’s clanking pack item that briefly disrupted the hypnotic music when it hit the floor.
• Pan Flute of Enchantment: Shaitan’s pipes that laced the halls with sleep‑laden hymns to Shug and swelled to drown trespassers in slumber.
• Silver Platters and Wine Ewer: Glittering service laid out for Shaitan’s endless revel, heaped with figs and grapes. Tempting treasure the party never claimed.
• Torch: A simple flame that pushed back the gloom of the temple’s halls and chambers.

LOCATIONS:

• Antechamber of the Impaled: The chamber where a hairless orc was chained to a stone and pinned by an iron longsword. Two stairways led down from here.
• Black Pool Chamber: A circular room with jet‑black, pristine water surrounded by four columns. Thorned fey vines strangled the walls but did not touch the water’s surface.
• Desecrated Hall of the Ram: A sloped entry passage of an ancient ram‑god temple, muraled with sacrifices and smeared with obscene Shug graffiti. Faint mushrooms glowed along the stone.
• Shaitan’s Lounge: A fog‑lit revel hall of couches, silver platters of fruit, a wine ewer, and three nymph archers. Shaitan played his pipes here and demanded oaths.

FACTIONS:

• Ancient Ram‑God Faith: The forgotten worship that once sanctified the temple before it was profaned. Its ram‑headed imagery still glowered from the walls.
• Cult of Shug: A chaotic faith of revels, ecstasy, and dangerous freedom. Its hymns and symbols were twisted into the temple’s desecrations and echoed in Shaitan’s magic.
• Shaitan’s Court: A fey revel ruled by the satyr, binding nymphs by oaths and trapping intruders with music and wine.

QUESTS:

• Confront Shaitan the Satyr: Break the satyr’s revel, free the enthralled nymphs, and end his rule of the lounge.
• Escape the Dark Dryad: Survive the wrath of the corrupted dryad after the orc’s death.
• Explore the Desecrated Ram‑Temple: Delve into the sloped halls, discover the source of the moans and the fey corruption below.
• Identify the Iron Longsword: Determine the true nature and powers of the blade taken from the orc.
• Rescue the Chained Orc: Free the tormented orc farmer from Shaitan’s cruelty.
• Resist the Sleep‑Hymns: Find a way past the hypnotic music that floods the lower chambers.

PLAYER CHARACTERS

• Cad: A devoted but pragmatic follower of Shug, Cad carried the party’s faith into the defiled temple. He chose hard mercy for a suffering captive, wrestled a possessing spirit from a friend, and ultimately survived by retreat when all hope failed. Now, armed with knowledge of cold iron and a score to settle, Cad plans his return.
• Fern: An ascetic student of Madeira’s order whose magic was calm, precise, and sharp. Fern tried to keep the team alive with quick thinking—earplugs, stealth, and spells—and ran back into danger to drag a fallen ally to safety. She fell beneath Shaitan’s hammer in the attempt.
• Jack: A greenhorn with a quick blade and quicker courage. Jack delivered the final mercy to the chained orc, briefly fell to a dryad’s possession, then fought to free the party from Shaitan’s revel. His dagger found the satyr’s flesh, but the oath‑bound magic slew a nymph instead, and Jack died under a crushing blow.