It's been a fun ride! DCC is so satisfying so quickly... I think in 2.5 sessions we got from the beginning to practically the very end (not including the new side-quest with the vine horror creation dungeon, which we accidentally skipped but maybe can do on the way out).
I was Judge/DM, my 1st time doing a DCC as a Judge (btw, spoilers ahead, don't read if you would play as a player character!):
The kid was controlling 16 PCs. It's a lot, but at level 0 you have basically no special abilities so manageable with 4 characters per init roll, etc.
He did not trust the road to the old keep at all, since there were so many dangerous things happening in the village (ppl missing, abducted, whatever). So he went off trail, approached through the woods. This bypassed the 2 vinehorrors on the road. He got near the keep, avoided the front door still not trusting the obvious entrance, so went around left. It lead him to the "avalanche" area... was this way actually safer?! He had one dwarf, eventually rolled to try to figure out best way/safety aspect of the rocks... low roll, just knows what all of them knew... it's potentially dangerous. But the kid on his own had already decided to use a 50 ft rope and grappling hook to try to get up there. Rolled well enough, got it hooked on a huge rock about 3/4 of the way up. When he tugged on it very hard to test it's safety levels, bam, the rock tumbled and started a landslide/avalanche... very dangerous if you are standing on the rocks at the bottom. Half the party was far enough away no biggie, half were amongst the rubble and would need to move quick to get outta there. The dwarf was the one guy who got stuck and was killed, we figured he felt responsible for the others and was pushing folks out of the way till the last second then died heroically saving his friends.
The uncovered the entrance to the tomb of you know who. Getting down in there, the fire trap at the door blasted out and I think killed one of their party immediately. Feeling the cold air, stuck a hand in and in pain withdrew it, realizing it was not a normal cold. Based on the drawing in the module, it seemed like the body was near enough the door that he could prod it with the 10 foot pole. The unnaturally cold forming frost on the pole immediately, but while they stood outside the door no person took damage. He poked around very carefully, finally with 2 or 3 poles was able to knock the big axe from the body's hands, onto the ground. With the grappling hook + rope + poles finally retrieved the axe. Nice, weapons are so precious at level 0, and this one extends your crit range by 1. Then he tried using similar tactics to get the armor, but rolled poorly a few times and ended up destroying sections of the armor... finally gave up on it and moved on (didn't want someone to die in the cold for armor).
Moving carefully into the grounds of hte keep, I gave him some hints about the well (somebody almost died looking in, watch out!) and using rope + it's pulley as a winch + crowbars to open up the secret cache. Got healing powder x10 (Sage and Wizard Apprentice and Parstip farmer spelled it and figured out it was something good), a long bow (don't roll a 1, or the thing kills you with like a 1d4+1 or something nuts, lol how the hell would that happen, kinda extreme, I think I'll do 1HP of dmg max), and something else maybe a sword.
Inspected the also super deadly top right Sinkhole... he got the premonition of hollow underneath and stayed clear and safe per the module's advice.
All this time, I'd sometimes have him roll to see if he spotted the two Portcullis beastmen up on the battlements who were still lurking and probably spying on them. I couldn't tell by the way the keep map was drawn how the heck they or anybody is supposed to get up there from the outside, ah ha -> logically in days long gone, there were surely wooden steps, etc. The kid didn't spot the beastmen for a very very long time, not until he was about to go into the bottom right tower door, but before we talk about that, back to the courtyard:
So yeah, he went around to the right (east?) side and saw the one standing building with all the demonic gargoyles, etc. Opened the door, retrieved a couple of items far from the black pool + statue, being ultra careful the whole time. Noticed there were more loot items he wanted right next to the pool. Still not trusting anything, sent in the goose (the kid really hates for animals to die, but this is DCC, he sucked it up). The goose walked in, prodded by a 10 foot pole... whoosh, the Tar Ooze came alive and swatted at it! Rolled ultra low, the goose got the heck out of there alive! The party was all keyed up, so they nuked it from afar before it could do any actual damage. For fun, it burst into flames a couple of times on the ground (I had NO idea this would foreshadow the final boss, but we'll talk about that a little later), but nobody and no goose was harmed. He got the loot and got out.
Next would be the tower door, bottom right. Finally spotted just a tiny glimpse of something with fur and snarling up top as the beastmen ran into the tower to warn their friends and prepare for a fight. Tried the door, locked. He got a weird feeling, and once again decided to go the long route. He went back southwest (?bottom left on map) to inspect things. Using the ever-important grappling hook + rope, managed to scramble up the left/west side and get on top of things. Walked over, to the bottom right on the map to go inside the tower. OK, this isn't the standard play per the module, so would the beastman-leader get the jump on them? I figured maybe he'd just go first on init to make it somewhere in the middle, no surprise round. Interestingly though, leader+bird-beastman were on one side of the doorway waiting, while the other 4(?) were on the right side. The party went in ready to fight, leader-beastman got a hit and a kill right off the bat... but beyond that the party did great and was able to kill more and when the beastmen ran due to their leader falling he picked off all but one which ran off the map.
The scene was grisly, blood and hides and human hides all over. He was not in the mood to search for loot, kept moving (saved him from a RotGrub attack and likely 1 more fatality).
Carefully down the stairs, even the gold on the steps making the party leery. Found the empty loot room... what's up with that?
Further down, got one glowing skull but wasn't in the mood to swim in murky water especially after seeing the tentacle creature on the wall mosaics. Will he find this super powerful magic ring in the other hidden room?? Meanwhile, I'm reading ahead and trying to figure out how the HECK is he going to survive the leviathan and 25 beastmen + the boss all at once. I think he needs this ring. So as he goes further in... the black sea underground!
Before I can give any real hints to the secret room with the ring, he is in awe over this Starless Sea under the earth, the standing stone, the dragon-headed ship slowly approaching. Practically got chills. Describing the scene, the standing stone, he was like WAIT, I'VE SEEN THIS! Pointing to the handout picture of the hallway murals/mosaics. Yep, there is something very bad in that water.
Ok, fast forward to he inspects the minor stream, finds the room, finds the RING! Nice.
Back to the standing stone... two of his guys are looking at the swirling runes, one loses his mind and immediately attacks his nearby friend! Luckily he misses, the others restrain him till he regains his senses. Dropping his weapon he frantically warns not to look at the stone or you'll go mad like he did!
The mercenary of the group, unphased, wants to head up the found stairs on the stone to see what is up top. Spots the candle. Another guy joins him, they light the candle and the boat draws near. All this while he had been thinking the boat is loaded with enemies and is a trap(?). Gets all the worked out, everybody boards, moves along the water.
Creeped out, the party sits atop the ghostly ship, the oars once again moving of their own accord. Then the water moves strangely, something is under the water, something big. One tentacle then another shoots forth, grabbing the stern of the ship! Almost immediately the kid puts 2+ 2 together and realizes it's a sacrifice it wants, based on the hallway mosaics. He knows what he must do, sadly sending the goose once again to save human lives, the tentacle lashes out and in the blink of an eye pulls the goose under. The boat is released, and their journey continues.
I think at this point he is only down 3 or 4 guys.
The island draws near, the ziggurat looms. A vile ritual of some sort is happening (so like the kid's Gnoll scenario he made on his own a few weeks back for the one shot). The end game is near, but there is a horde of beastmen around the island. How in the heck? He spots the "demon" up top... it's only and effigy but he doesn't know. Then he realizes the ring could do major damage if he spell burns and luck burns like crazy. OK, time to do it!
With some found robes as disguises (hopefully they'll work long enough?), he approaches quietly from behind. The beastmen are too distracted, they don't care or notice. The sage is wearing the ring... he gets within range, summoning forth all his might and soul (then carefully calculated math in case the kid only rolls a 2, and he DOES roll a 2 OMG close call), he uses the once daily Scorching Ray to Max effect! Booom - Whooosh... flames engulf 20 of the 22 beastmen down low, then the ray itself hits the demon effigy, it explodes in an only slightly suspicious way. It seems the heroes have won, or have they?
Finally the party regroups and prepares to rush up the ziggurat, seeing the 3 shaman pushing the weakened and chained villagers to the summit. The 2 remaining beastmen, somehow only taking 1 HP of damage (we rolled separate dmg rolls 11 times for the 22 monsters for the scorching ray burst) retreat up the ziggurat to join with the remaining monsters.
In a cool reveal, the hidden miniboss shaman holds high the head and armor of the damaged effigy. He is yelling at the shaman in beast language to hurry up and get the sacrifices up there. The kid realizes he can't catch them but has to try. Some long range weapon attacks, some luck burning to hoist halflings up 10 feet to skip a level on the ziggurat, some drinking of the Black Lotus Oil to get 10ish temp HP and attach the grappling hook+rope to allow others to skip a level... he even takes out one of the beastmen shaman with some ranged attacks, but is it enough?! Can he make it up there?! Can he at least kill the miniboss shaman at the top!?
The 3 shaman + humans arrive at the summit, the miniboss throws in the effigy and the fire roars then dies down darkening the cavern... and the humans are pushed in... but only 4 of the 7... the other humans are fighting back, holding the linked chain and it's not quite over just yet. But the shaman and miniboss will surely push them all in within moments. The kid makes some final ranged attack against the miniboss shaman... scores a hit... but alas, he falls face first into the pit and with the added weight and the 2 remaining shaman pushing them, all the humans are yanked into the pit. The ritual is complete!
A demon-beastman-chaoslord emerges... he jumps down unerringly two levels to attack one of the halflings dead. Now half the party is halfway up the ziggurat, the other half is spread across the bottom and some nearer the ship. Kid decides to try another spell from the ring, magic missile... can't take any chances. Spell burn, luck burn, bam, the demon drops! Oh wait, weirdly it turns into magma leaving the armor and weapon, but we'll get back to that later.
The last 2 beastmen were dispatched, the last two shaman had tried to jump down but stumbled the DC check and were prone. One had been killed by a halfling before the demon arrived. There is still one there, there is one halfling alive... and then the rest of the party here and there as described. But wait, ... there is a low rumbling which builds into a deafening thunder as the earth quakes, the ceiling roof starts to fall apart (the kid had much earlier wondering if he could someone use the sinkhole to further cave in the roof and destroy the beastmen + ziggurat... not a bad idea), the huge waves rock the boat and splash against the ziggurat! The kid realizes this is it, it's time to get the heck out. But that magical armor + weapon sure is tasty. Might have to try at it with one or two guys who are nearby.
And that's where we left off, the cliffhanger. Woo, what a ride!!!
UPDATED for June 9th: The kid beat the main boss but lost two characters, including one of his favs, the mercenary. But the rest made it to the boat and got out! Now they are on a beach next to the ocean, and he wants to do the side quest (the extra vine horror bit).
UPDATE- Exlored the Summoning Pits… the vines, the bodies on chains, and the floating devil sword! Fun stuff.
My favorite part was when the kid used a bag of flour to cover part of the rune circle around the devil sword. First he threw a rock at it, and the rock exploded (heat + internal water = explode per the book). So then he was NOT gonna touch it... which was about to lead to a stalemate, b/c the book wants you to get into it (you don't burn up). But his creative option was perfect, just like a Supernatural episode with the salt circles... a break in the circle is all it takes. So boom, he's got a little opening, and now the telepathic sword can start talking to him.
I ran it like: A mischievous voice enters your head, saying something like "Come on, you know you need my power to deal with this place, it's deadly. Don't be a chicken." And the conversation continued, till finally the kid opened up a bigger area and pulled the sword out with his ever-important grappling hook. Fought against the will of the devil and did OK.
EXTRAS:
I haven't read it yet, but this description/write up from a similar running should be good: https://www.reddit.com/r/dccrpg/comments/1l63pre/just_finished_sailors_of_the_starless_sea_with_my/
Ppl recommend Chanters in the Dark as the natural next adventure. In a boat underground. https://www.reddit.com/r/dccrpg/comments/zwg5sl/chanters_in_the_dark/
Sailors ends in a boat, chanters begins on one... It's a great follow up. Have a good idea how to move the players around the city, or to draw them in. Other than that, it's a good flow
Compare to this run by the RPGreanimators, really good clean run with 1 judge and 3 players. They had a LOT of casualties on the avalanche at the keep and then again when actually fighting the Leviathan's tentacles in the sea: yt part one and yt part 2 .
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