A bear, a monkey, and a robot go into a cave…
Last night’s session of Dungeon World (our 20th, btw), was pretty crazy. Our party was Gorm the Giant (human Barbarian), the Amazing Larry (elf Monkey-Friend Charlatan), Kaduget (dwarf Artificer) and Rakka (elf Ranger).
The party arrived at the Kraken’s Cave to retrieve the Jade Nautilus trophy from the Cult of the Deep Watcher as part of a contest to determine who would fill the vacancy on the ruling Council of Raider Kings. At the entrance to the cave (carved to look like the maw of a kraken) they were greeted by Korvan, a Deep Watcher cultist, who explained that the Jade Nautilus had been taken by the naga, Lurssiss, and her band of tritons. Korvan explained how the Jade Nautilus is likely more than just a bauble, but also an item of great power. Rakka deduced the jade statue was actually used by a legendary wizard to summon the Deep Watcher up from the depths to destroy his enemies.
The party headed into the cave, which was now functioning as Lurssiss’ lair, in order to retrieve the Nautilus. The party encountered all manner of nasty things, including dire crabs; traps made from sharpened bits of coral; a water weird (which was disguised as a pool of water with a large gem lying beneath the surface); pirate skeletons; tritons; piercers; and a chuul that Lurssiss summoned from the depths of the sea.
Some interesting things that occurred: Kaduget managed to close Lurssiss’ deep sea portal by attaching his dead arcane crystals to it and utilizing a process to not only drain the portal of its magic, but also to recharge his crystals; Rakka managed to call upon the power of the Deep Watcher (the Ranger is also a follower of the Deep Watcher, using God Among the Wastes) to subdue the water weird; the Amazing Larry had his monkey, Jules (which, btw, speaks to him in a French accent), climb to the cave roof and use a torch to cause a bunch of piercers to harmlessly fall to the ground; and Gorm actually traveled into Lurssiss’ deep sea portal to retrieve a giant clam with a pearl he could see just beyond the threshold.
All in all, a lot of fun. This dungeon will likely take one or two more sessions. Sadly, Gorm the Giant passed beyond the Black Gate when a dying triton gutted him with a trident as a parting shot. We spent our session debrief eulogizing Gorm, which felt like a good way to get closure.
Thanks Kerry Harrison Daniel Lewis Daniel Fowler and Ferrell Riley
