Last night we played Dungeon World in another game of our Arabic fantasy setting. This is a “West Marches” game which means every session can have different players and different characters – so is truly an ongoing drop in – drop out kind of game for casual players. BUT if you want to return often with the same character that is very welcome too!
The group was:
• Fahim (Wizard). Our only returning character - on a mission to 'resurrect' his magic rope which had lost its power (see our earlier adventures for more info).
• Stuart (Barbarian). A former tin miner who had experienced some trauma with a monster down the mine and set off on adventure. Trying to 'diversify' away from just being 'the muscle' and have value beyond that.
• Jacob (Rogue). Your run of the mill kleptomaniac, part of a local gang of thieves and he has previously conned Fahim out of great wealth.
• Ross (Ranger) and Mr Malarky (Goose) - A former soldier with some form of PTSD who believes Jacob is an old army buddy of his. Has an overly intelligent and belligerent goose as an animal companion - a goose fated to 'do great deeds' by Fahim.
• Killian (Bard). A young boy covered in scales who plays the banjolin - an instrument of his own devising. Has a running feud with Mr Malarky.
The group began in the great bazaar of Dhuliban - Fahim was searching for clues about ancient magic to reanimate his rope (the rope was given the name Ropesh by Killian). Fahim was informed of the "City of the Dead" where ancient magic and great treasure might be found - at great risk. Ross overheard this and became suspicious, as did Jacob but he was instead filled with greed at the supposed treasure. They gathered around Killian who became interested in the glory of the adventure, and Killian roped in his friend Stuart to act as 'muscle'.
Exiting the city by the west gate, Jacob decided to pickpocket a gate guard but miserably failed and was grabbed by the arm ready for punishment. Recognising that he might need the rogue on his quest, Fahim stepped in to save him by casting charm on the guards, but this too went horribly wrong and backfired - causing Fahim to act as a guard and tackle Jacob to the ground in an attempt to apprehend the thief. Stuart tried to separate his allies with his great strength but was mistaken by the guards thinking he was trying to aid the thief and was beaten up a little. As a last ditch attempt, Fahim cast sleep and put the guards to sleep, but drew the attention of a rival group of adventurers who were also setting out for the City of the Dead - initiating a race across the desert.
The group mounted camels (and a goat in the case of Killian) and set off across the sands as quickly as they could, encountering a late afternoon sand storm blowing their way across the vast trackless desert. Ross took note of several incredibly large figures keeping pace with the edge of the storm, silhouetted against the vast wall of sand being blown up. With little time to prepare, Stuart dug himself a hole to shelter in, Killian gutted his goat tauntaun style and climbed inside, Ross ducked down under his ghillie cloak with Mr Malarky, but Jacob decided to ride his camel off away from the group a fair distance away into the lee side of a larger dune. Fahim performed a quick ritual to protect the group (except for Jacob who was far away) from the worst of the cutting sands being blown their way.
The storm hit with a vengeance, and Jacob who was off on his own now without any way to find his way back to the group with visibility near zero, was ambushed by a great 3 metre tall creature which grabbed him around the waist and tried to devour him into its gaping maw. He wriggled his way free, danced around the creature and slashed it with his sword quite severely. Back at camp, Fahim tried to contact the spirits of the wind but offended them, and they took their vengeance on him by creating a clear path of visibility from the other large creatures directly to him. Seeing an easy target the large brutes charged in. Ross let off a shot with his crossbow, and Stuart jumped in with his axe. Jacob meanwhile was in dire straits and tried to escape the monster attacking him but was caught around the ankle by its lasso rope, and in trying to cut himself free managed to cut his calf, weakening himself. Fahim put two of the great brutes to sleep with his magic, just as a fleeing Jacob lucked his way back to the main group - nearly tripping over one of the giants sleeping on the floor after Fahim's magic spell. This gave him a 'bright' idea, and he led the giant chasing him to trip over its mate - waking the sleeping one and now having them all face off against two of the creatures. Between Stuart and Ross the killed one of the awake ones, which decided to flee back into the sandstorm - dragging off its sleeping companion with it.
As a last ditch attempt, Jacob dashed up to throw a dagger at the retreating monsters, but was sucked instantly into suffocating quicksand. Ross quickly ran over and tried to save Jacob but could not find him underneath the sand, while Killian (I think out of spite?) tied one end of a rope to Mr Malarky and threw the other end into the quicksand for Jacob to grab. Jacob did so and started dragging Ross into the sand too as Ross tried to stop Malarky going in, but Jacob and Ross were saved when Malarky became entangled with Fahim and Stuart used this as an advantage to drag the from the quicksand. Looting the remaining corpse, Fahim found a great stone 'key' that was covered in mysterious hieroglyphics. Miserable, shaken, and weakened, the group made camp for the night and waited for the deadly storm to abate - but Ross could not sleep as he was too wired from the action.
The next morning the storm had receded and they saw a herd of animals nearby grazing amongst the desert plants, which Fahim charmed to act as mounts for them as they had lost most of their pack animals the day before between the storm and the ogres. They made their way down to the slightly more fertile river valley and saw between them and the great pyramids off in the distance a band of people riding camels hard towards those same pyramids - their rivals were well ahead of them!! They pushed on for the whole day, not stopping to rest at nightfall and continuing into the ancient necropolis. Debating their plans, they realised that the ruins were inhabited by Fire Beetles - great beasts the size of a VW beetle that could spit fire. They decided to take a shortcut that Ross had identified from his map, coming upon their rival treasure hunters who were under attack from the fire-breathing beasts. Skirting the conflict, they looked for an entrance but couldn’t find one to the great pyramid - so surmised that the best course of action was to descent into the fire beetle tunnels below the pyramid and work their way up from there. An accident on the way into the tunnel sealed the exit behind them ominously. Inside the beetle caves, they were jumped by a number of puppy-sized beetle larvae which were attracted to the light spell which Fahim had cast to ease their passage. They defeated the swarm and made their way up through many catacombs and into the pyramid proper.
They eventually found their way to a central chamber, a treasure filled affair with an enormous stone sarcophagus in the centre with the perfect sized hole in the top to fit the key Fahim was holding, so he didn't hesitate. The entire building started to hum with a resonance that was disturbing to the group, affecting their minds in some way - enough was enough thought Jacob, and started looting. This was a bad idea, as the bandage wrapped corpse inside the sarcophagus took offense and leapt forth in a cloud of dust and debris from the shattered stone. It landed directly on top of him, feet on his chest and hands on his shoulders, and began sucking his soul out through his gaping mouth. The group freaked out a bit I think. Stuart tried to wail on the creature with his great axe, landing a decisive blow - but was surprised to find that striking the creature was like hitting a stone - he did very little damage. Fahim tried to use his research of this ancient culture to parlay with the creature but enraged it further, causing it to abandon Jacob and leap over to him - now removing Fahim's soul through his mouth in the same manner.
Malarky was accidentally shot by Ross, going down in a pool of blood. Ross ran over to Malarky to comfort his goosey friend. Fahim, nearly dead, wracked his memory for what he knew of this culture and realised that the creature was tied to its 'canopic jars' - part of the ritual which created it. While his soul was coming out, he managed to gasp out the words to his friends that they needed to destroy the jars to have a hope of defeating the creature. Killian and Stuart both began looking for 'canopic jars' but without much success, with the mummy jumping over to Stuart and taking his life force in great gulps as well. Meanwhile Jacob began searching for the mystic scroll that he knew his rival Fahim really wanted, lucking out and finding the exact scroll he wanted before pocketing it - with pockets stuffed with gold, he then set about finding an exit from this horrible place and squeezed himself into a small shaft only to become wedged in there. Killian had the choice of healing Fahim or Malarky and chose the goose, weaving his bardic magic into a spell which knit wounds shut and restored vitality. Fahim too began searching for canopic jars, but this drew the mummy's attention back to him - he tried to swig his healing potion before it killed him but he was too late - the last of his life force was consumed and he was dead.
Fahim came to in the most contextually appropriate afterlife - about a great barge sailing the desert, where his heart was weighed against a feather. He was found somewhat wanting, and was offered a bargain from the lord of the dead - he could give up all his power to be allowed to return to the mortal realm alive. Accepting this bargain, Fahim was returned to life with a blank character sheet. With Malarky now healed by Killian, Ross knew that it was time for his animal companion to fulfil the prophesised 'great deeds' that Fahim had foretold for him before the adventure even began - Ross set Malarky free with the instruction to find and smash the 'canopic jars' which Malarky did with aplomb, shattering the ancient earthenware jars and rendering the mummy to a useless puff of grave dust.
Although by now Jacob had squeezed his way through the narrow passage, without the magic light of Fahim's creation he was alone in a darkened room in a cursed temple, and so traded the scroll to Fahim in return for a heap of gold and assistance exiting this awful place.
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I know I've forgotten a few things here, as I'm time poor right now due to work. There were numerous instances of Jacob losing swords, a petty rivalry between Jacob and Fahim, many bardic songs from Killian, and lots of other shenanigans I can't even remember.
Quote of the night goes to Killian and Jacob for this exchange:
Killian: "It turns out the real treasure was the friends we make along the way".
Jacob: "Pfft. There's no monetary value in friendship!".
Killian: "Clearly you sir have never sold a friend".
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