Some Recent Sessions

Got to do a playtest with druids + followers vs the Dismal Ruined Hamlet Hexcrawl and my regular group had some absentees and a guest player so we did characters for my Auldwood Game. So I got out my maps and decided they include only a tip of the mid eastern part of the great wilderness at the heart of the continent. The empire has had outposts and colonies here which came and went also. Humanoids and demihumans have recovered and taken the space left as humanity abandons the frontier. 

So out druid hexcrawl they finished off wolves and local bandits and bugs and accidentally released a wight at a distant tomb by removing a cool magic sword from a temple. Met some more locals and the local outpost and helped hunt undead destroying 3 recently created wights. They also raided some tombs and got some nice loot but used up all the local level restoring scrolls recovering. Finally, they hunted and killed the original weight in its tomb. Gave the local constables a huge cash donation then headed off to a distant city to be healed from that last wight fight. The local law were surprised and all cheered the druids as they left. Plan to return next season with pet wolves.

Our regular game cursed with attendees the moment we ran a lock in dungeon vs my usual open sandbox. It happens. The benefits of this adventure or chance of death would be unfair to miss so we played Audwood instead of Exilon.

Also on theme characters trying to favour druid spell list magic to playtest my recent rewrite of my home game spells. 

Dallas played a Druid with a bodyguard fighter and his magic Stoat Familiar
Hugh played a Wood Elf with druidic spell list and various woodsy skills
JB played Fighter with ranger type skills

I started them as having come from the tribes of the inland wilds in Ironton an industrial hellhole making arms and training men for war. Areas had been depopulated by war and changes to the economy have sucked workers from the frontierot/ Many of the old traditional estates declared a return to serfdom where peasants were owned by their nobles and could not leave the domains without permission. In the cities those that came to ironton ended up in sweatshops or the millitary. The party not so impressed so chose to head south along the lakes districts having heard of ruined Monncastle and a swamp of monsters.

Found Lake Castle trading post in the middle of three lakes to stay at and did some exploring. FOund a strange tree bridge over a wet creek crevice and went close to see. It was an evil tree monster laying in ambush and its eyes opened and it attacked. Everyone was awfully unimpressed and while the tree got up they hung around for free attacks, Then wham the fighter was down. Got lots of arrows before picking up the elf to torment but it shot the tree in the face who dropped the pssky elf and fled. Several dying party members were saved from death and all was ok. Back to Lake castle. After healing on magic berries went out again and met a swamp hag in a tree house and they did a hit on a snakeman wizard for her. Ended up killing lizard men guards and driving the snake away and told the hag who gave them a potion. decided this swamp had a hellish reputation for evil while Auldwood beyond was full of supernatural peril but not always malicious. Was a bit of a fight over what to do with a surrendered monster. So they went on to Marsh Castle and made it known they were heading south. The Elf recruited a sneaky guy and a warrior as followers I the tavern. In the morning the local watch captain offered them a report if they could report on the ruins of Castle Black and asked if they would investigate a ruined monastery on the way. The players accepted this call to adventure and ended up being dropped off in a humanoid-infested area. At this point Im using the classic BX Horror on the Hill. 

Climbed up a hill and around some hills. At one point as squeezing through a muddy path up a cliff an ogre ambushed them and they killed the brute. The gold on it had everyone keen. Avoided a camp of possible goblinoids and found a house of two kind old ladies who wanted to trade magic items. They made a few deals with the suspicious old ladies but the party said no to some of their pleadings. They did accept a hot job on an Ogre down the road. They killed the ogre and his wife and his two sons and robbed his house. The old bags were impressed and let it slip out about the wild cave folk would approve of the ogres leaving.

All in all was a good little side treck we may continue one day or not.