This is the rough outline I'm using for my in person Hyperborea campaign. Take from it what you will.
I've got a bit of time ahead so I'll try and post the dungeons I mention below, along with the session 1 notes I was able to compile.
Enjoy!
Campaign Arc:
1) 1) Powerful necromancer and daemon worshiping
witch (succubus?), Lady Pryor, seeks to resurrect her love, Zygoth, a death
knight and follower of Thaumagorga. Requires the Eye of Zygax to unlock the
Death Knight from his prison.
· Viking raiders, heretical worshipers of the
“Horned One”, have begun raiding up the river Maedbh. Struck Bogrest first,
followed by Dunwich. Seek something in the mountains to the south west. The
body of Zygoth, the Death Knight. The Hyperborean Wight in the Black Tomb of
the Wight Knight knows the way.
o
They will come to Scardin, tracking the trio of
treasure hunters who possessed the map to the Black Tomb of the Wight Knight
§
When they hear the players looked into it, they
will come for them.
o
Her Viking ship resides in Bogrest for the
moment, along with most of her men. She has sent forth a party of her most
trusted men seeking the trio of treasure hunters who had discovered the
whereabouts of the Tomb of the Wight Knight.
·
Beneath Bristelback’s Inn lies the Temple of
Rot.
What Happened In Session 1 and 2
·
Explored the Black Tomb of the Wight Knight. Did not open the Wight's Tomb
·
Investigated the Spider men attacks, made a
bargain with Zuk’La, cleric of Tlakk-Nakka, Mother of Spider.
·
Ventured into The Temple of the Dreaming God and
barely escaped with their lives.
·
Confronted an advanced party of Axes of the
Bloody Horn. Tricked them into an ambush against Zuk’La’s giant spider horde.
What’s Potentially Next
·
The Temple of the Dreaming God
o
With Una, the druidess, the group is returning to the Black Tomb of
the Wight Knight to ensure it remains safe from discovery
§ The Lair of the Elder Thing and the means by which Zuk'La is mutating humans into Spider-men will be dealt with after.
o
If the Cult of the Formless finds out the party
discovered a temple in Birch Bog Wood they will try to gather the information
on its location from the rescued miners, and the PCs, one way or another.
§
Word of the temple from the rescued miners is
leaking out.
§
Conn Macc Brehan, the Justicar, will seek info
from Saruuke regarding the temple.
Setting - Gal Hills
Scardin – frontier village
Mining
(copper and silver), hunting (mega fauna like mammoth and musk ox) and logging
are the primary incomes. Many of the buildings provide temporary shelter for a
little over a year and will be abandoned as the cold weather returns. Hard/mud
track roads.
Birch Bog Wood
Spider
haunted wood. Wet, damp and swampy. The hamlet of Scardin burns it back from
time to time. Within the wood is a sinking temple to Kthulhu. The exterior has
been turned into a shrine to Tlakk-Nakka, the Spider-God, by a powerful witch. Other
locations included a crashed alien space ship and a druid’s tower dedicated to
Yoon’Deh.
·
One random encounter will occur to emphasize
danger of the wood.
·
If they become lost in the wood the possibility
of Random Encounters increases.
Copper Hills
Near the
surface the ground is hard but as one digs deeper it warms, growing easier foot
by foot. The hills contain deposits of copper and silver, along with the odd
gemstone and other rarities. Old tunnels and collapsed passages exist leading
to fell Underborea.
Factions/NPCs
The Necromancer (Huk Tung’Kuf). The
motives of the ancient Hyperborean are mysterious and largely unknown. She
cares little for the living but will accept requests for information or minor
aid for a steep price or favours. She knows of the Cult of the Formless’
activities in Scardin and suspects something of the true nature of Enku but
sees no need to interfere in their affairs so long as they don’t interrupt her
own work.
The Cult of the Formless. A group of
Yug worshipers who reveal in the strange, debouched heresies of their releigion.
Cormac Bristle, the cult’s leader, craves power above all else to one day wield
against the Xians who cast him out from Fazzuum.
·
Cormac Bristle (Witch 7th), Innkeeper
and Cult Leader
·
Ros Inghean Fionn, the “Baker” (Cleric 2nd)
·
Niall, the “Butcher” (Fighter 2nd)
·
Conn Macc Brehan, the Justicar
·
Kall Macc Bran, Scardin’s Mayor (Warlock 5th)
Miner’s Guild/The Black Roses. The
economic power in Scardin. They want to make as much money as possible before
the mines shut down due to the weather. The time frame is short. Their pursuit
of profit is ruthless.
·
Halla Ivarsdottir, leader of the guild in
Scardin
Madame Nena. Brothel and gambling house
owner. She has returned to Scardin secretly looking for vengeance. As a little
girl, 26 years ago, her parents were taken by the Cult of the Formless. She has identified Niall, the “Butcher” as a
member of the cult due to the scar on his face. Needless to say, she does not
eat the meat from his shop.
Enku, The Sage. An Amazonian male from
Port Zangerios. Secretly one of the Great Race of Yith. A man with the mind of
a Yith. “You cannot pronounce my real name, but you can call me Enku.”
·
Bushy skullet and beard, somewhat walleyed. Very
thin. Grimy, suggesting a lack of care for his physical appearance.
·
Arrived in the village a couple of years ago.
Set up some copper mines. Has made a lot of money. Considered odd by the
miners.
·
Knows what’s coming. Has seen parts of the
future. Fears what actions the Mi Go will take to contact Shub-Niggaruth or if
The Cult of the Formless discover The Temple of the Dreaming Deep. Not so
concerned if Ymir’s Son is recovered by Frost Giants or if Vikings of the
Horned One awaken Zygoth.
The Axes of the Bloody Horn – a
heretical sect of Thaumagorga Vikings who seek the release of Zygoth and Madame
Pryor.
Druids of the White Stag, worshipers of
Yoon’Deh, watch over and guide the people of the Gal Hills. They have received
fell warning during their yearly moot that a dark force is stirring in the
woods, hills and mountains and ancient barrows. Unfortunately, the moot is
occurring far from where the danger is happening.
The Black Tomb of the Wight Knight
A band of
ruin hunters travelled into the barrow mounds, seeking something. The entrance
to the Black Tomb of the Wight Knight. The Wight Knight was a follower of
Zygoth, and the succubus trapped in the mirror was a servant of Madame Pryor
(or is that Madame Pryor).
·
The Barrow has a cursed history, the site of
human sacrifice by cultists when the world goes dark. Who they are has never
been discovered (Cultists of the
Formless (Yug) from Scardin).
The Skull of Ymir’s Son
Hidden in
the Black Tomb for a thousand years, the bones of Ymir’s Son would be of great
worth to the Frost Giant god. If an part of the bones are removed from the tomb
the bearer must overcome a curse or suffer nightmarish visions of Ymir under
the mountain. Regardless, Ymir will sense the presence of the bones. A nearby
Frost Giant clan will be contacted with the purpose of retrieving the skull and
bringing it to Ymir’s Mountain for proper burial.
The Temple of the Dreaming God
Miners have
gone missing. A hill hut was found. There were signs of attack. Part of a spider’s
leg was found. Presumed they were taken by wolf spiders but something about the
shape of the leg is wrong. PCs need to head into the Birch Bog wood to find
them.
Rumours:
·
Spiders do not travel so far from the forest. Did
something drive them out?
The Witch is kidnapping villagers,
making them drink from a corrupted fountain turning them into Mongrel men, an
“army” to face what is to come. Witch, “You don’t know what’s coming! I have
seen the signs, in the sky, in the stars! Zygoth’s resurrection is nigh!! The
Pale Lady seeks her lover!”
·
She will offer to stop kidnappings if PCs vow to
stop what is coming. “Watch for the coming of the followers of the Horned God.
They must be allowed to find the crypts of the Pale Lady or Zygoth.”
Inside
the Temple (use the Circle Crypts of the Obsidian God map)
A stair leads to Underborea. It is
guarded by a Shoggoth. Along the wall of the stairs are images of the creature
carved into the wall, telegraphing what is coming. Strange gibbering can also
be heard from below.
The Temple
of the Dreaming Deep is a location of some significance to the Cult of the
Formless, who worship Yug.
The Cooper Mine/Mi Go Lair (The Red Descent
and DL23)
Miners broke
through a wall into a tunnel. Twists and turns into a lair (picture the back of
the book) of Oon and Mi Go who are monitoring for information (they will become
active if the Atlantean Treasure Map is found), planning and executing their
eldritch designs.
Adventure Intro
Scardin. A rough, frontier town on the
edge of Gal. Hard packed roads and buildings largely made of stone with
thatched roofs. Only places of importance are built of sturdy pine logs. A
refuge for miners who brave the Copper Hills, seeking precious metals and gems,
and sheepherders without claims to better grazing lands closer to the coast.
It is high
summer waxing, the second month of the year of the Tiger, when the sun sets for
a few brief hours and the days grow ever longer. Scardin is at its busiest, a
yearlong burst of activity before the unbearable cold returns. Even now,
temperatures barely rise above zero, so far inland, the red rays from Helios’
bloated ass providing little comfort.
You have
come to the frontier for reasons of your own. The long work day is slowly
coming to an end and you’re heading to The Laughing Wench.
Describe what your work day looked like.
You’re in
the square approaching The Laughing Wench when a man staggers out of the door
clutching something in his hands…tbc.