Birthday of the Sea Wolf King (7/12/2025)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Alex Miller, Clayton Webber, Joel Mikesell, Trevor Placker
System: Shadowdark

Pulling off a game at a random party is usually a futile effort. There may be plenty of desire, but the opportunity to actually play is slim. But this party was a special one. Alex was turning 50. He invited friends I hadn’t seen in 30+ years and, well, there was something magical happening. Clayton was the first DM I ever played with. That story I always tell about playing a gnome stuck in a sack…that was Clayton’s game!  He was one of the friends I hadn’t seen since high school and I was really excited to run a game for him and Joel and Trevor, and of course Alex.

After the game, we talked a bit (over my new favorite medium: voice texts) and while I mentioned the game felt like old times, Clay also point out that it also reflected the ways we’ve grown. Everything from talking about safety tools at the start of the game to negotiating a peaceful exchange with the troll Ruggamort indicated a style of play that we’ve cultivated over the years. In many ways, it felt like the best of both worlds.

Characters selected

Gendry, the Priest. A brick red Dwarf with golden runes embossed on his chest. The laws of reality as required from the worshipers of Madeera. All that he knew about the Horth, especially the goblins, was that they could not be trusted and they would take any opportunity to betray you the moment they could. A prisoner of war who had deserted his post (played by Joel).

Malchor, the Wizazard. A human among the Horth was jailed for the crimes of deviance. His experience with the Five Nations is that they were judgmental and queerphobic. They killed his wife as a witch. To Malchor, nothing is free, not even free will, because you must always pay for the choices that you make (played by Clayton)

Rosk, the Fighter. Conscripted by Horth Lieutenant Talix who was hunting them even now as fugitives. As he walked through the tomb of Skorgald, he saw the glorification of the plundering of his people. Had bad luck with leeches (played by Alex).

Tirolas the Thief. Of all captives at Grix, Tirolas was the most traumatized. She escaped once and hid from Talix for days. She waited and waited till she was sure he would have given up the hunt. She waited till her stomach growled and demanded action and then she waited more. When finally she stepped out however, he was there waiting, and his punishment was corporal and cruel (played by Trevor).

Tomb of the Sea Wolf King

The fugitives escaped from Grix on a makeshift raft with hobgoblin hunters on their trail. Thankfully the fog of the Amaranth River had obscured them, but the hobgoblins moved much faster than they did (thanks to a 10’ pole the were table to get a bit more speed than the languid river provided…but not much) and would eventually find them. The Sea Caves of Skorgald were not a safe haven, but they did offer a brief reprieve…and perhaps a means to find weapons to fight back against their captors.

Highlights of the game

I’ve gotten a better feel for the Shadowdark itself as an antagonistic force. How it abhors the light and tries to snuff it out whenever it can. One torch was dropped and went out, disappearing into the rubble. Another time ancient, damp torches burned down quickly and left the entire party separated and groping their way to find each other. A lone campfire provided a continued source of light and warmth…until the hobgoblin hunters found it!

When the companions first arrived they found the goblin bandits and overheard that they wanted to escape, but that they were waiting for their leader Bas to return. The goblins were divided, and the combined efforts of the characters creating spooky noises, splashing water, and allowing their own raft to appear floating through the underground river, was enough to eventually send them after it. Only two holdouts (Kaxla and Hrovic) remained, but they were tricked into pouncing upon Malchor’s Floating Disk, which then dropped Kaxla into the river… and the loyal Hrovic after her!

Rosk having no luck at all digging through debris….first finding a giant leech which attached to his arm, and then dropping a goblin “trap” (read: makeshift and precarious barricade) on top of himself. But persevering nevertheless (and thanks to Gendry’s healing magic).

Gendry’s fascination with the exploits of Skorgald, only to realize that the people the old king was so proud of plundering were the Horth and Amaranth people Gendry traveled with now. He ached to read the runes so much that he felt them letter by letter with his fingers when left in the dark.

Discovering that it was not the Dwarves but the Dverg who built these halls and the silly and embarrassing ways they depicted the Sea Wolves in places they didn’t think humans would notice!

Discovering that the stingbats were disturbed by the light and using a helmet to mask the flames without dousing them…that helmet got hot!

The arrival of the hunters and realizing they had no way to go back and had to press forward.

Teamwork that uncovered a silvered short sword beneath the rubble of the broken statue of Skorgald. [1 XP]

Gendry digging all over till he finally found a bowl (in the dark) to hold the holy water of Agatha the Seer. A sensible precaution given the undead that the overheard the goblins speaking of, and the groaning noises that echoed down the halls.

While I never pulled a random encounter, the Deck of Dread produced three omens (a gust of wind, like the breath of the dead, coming from Agatha’s secret chamber, the surging of the waters, and the aforementioned moaning of the undead soldier, still trying to seek vengeance on his brothers). Very good stuff.

Finally, my personal delight was the group’s collective effort to befriend Ruggamort the Troll. Though what he really wanted was Malchor’s finger (and would offer his own finger in exchange), he eventually settled for a stingbat recipe (which Rosk made up on the spot) and then went to “harvest” the annoying stingbats to give it a try. Woot for reaction rolls (I got an 8 on the die, but Rosk’s +1 CHA modifier bumped that up to a 9, which was neutral) [1 XP]

What could have improved

When Malchor asked if his finger would grow back if he ate the Ruggamort’s finger, I said no, but I really should have said “that depends on your constitution”. Based on our monster eating rules (thank you Errant) it’s very possible his finger would have grown back. How cool would that be?