Bedlam in the Badlands/The Story So Far

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This page is the campaign synopsis as told by the DMs. To read more intimate retellings of the PCs' adventures told in their own words (and those of their players), see Bedlam in the Badlands/Player Recaps

Book 1

Session 1: Kickoff Megagame, part 1 (9/6/25)

Trading Route Troubles

DM: Amanda

PCs: Pryderi (she/they), Chanterelle (she/her), Koro (he/him), Silgr (he/him), Rhogar (he/him), Davin (he/him), Rimsa (he/him)

NPCs: Lord Pavan, Swordmaster Krispin, Tradesman Kareek (and his monitor lizard Stanley)

Events:

Seven brave souls took the Duke’s job to escort a trade caravan across the Badlands. They traveled with the caravan, meeting the traders and the leader of this specific caravan, the Lord Pavan and his bodyguard Krispin. They also met a peculiar lizardfolk trader named Kareek, and his semi-tamed monitor lizard Stanley, who were pulling a covered wagon filled with mysterious cargo.

Roughly halfway to their destination, the party spotted a group of shadowy figures on the horizon. Together, they used the wagons and trade goods to form a barrier surrounding the people and animals. They were beset by several flesh hounds and an abyssal hound. However, despite the hard battle, the demons were killed and the caravan protected. Most of the pack animals ran away in the midst of the battle, but minimal life was lost and only a few trade goods were destroyed.

After they'd successfully defended the caravan, a flare shot high into the air from the Arboretum. Lord Pavan urged everyone into one of the remaining wagons and rushed to their aid.

Out of the Pot

DM: Chris

PCs: Syl (they/them), Gobbo (they/them), Sixsplitter (he/him)

NPCs: Ter, Garret, Brandran

Events:

The crew received orders from Ter to go investigate a nearby Shend camp. They met up with a caravan on its way to HQ. They made it a point on the trade route where they split and went into the uncharted Badlands. They easily found Vinaash Oasis. They looked around the oasis and found an unguarded cave. They noticed strange black ichor splattered about and Shend and prisoners massacred. The only prisoner alive could only convey to watch out for the bugs and bats. The party's curiosity got the best of them and they delved in too deep and discovered a hidden storage room where they were ambushed. As they escaped with their newfound friend Brandran, they looked back towards the Arboretum as they noticed the signal for help.

Grind Sparkburn, Smash, & Cleave

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Stix (they/them), Raazdrog (he/him), Himo Nilo (he/him), Delaia (she/her), Demir (he/him), Caesana (she/her), Jynx (she/her)

NPCs: Raegina, Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

Events:

Raegina called for victims volunteers to come and try out her cohorts newest set of scrap golems. The seven volunteers prepared themselves and handily destroyed the bots in record time, earning Raegina’s three goons looks of derision. Raegina offered to teach those adventurers who beat up the golems how to scrap and then rebuild the bots, each player adding an infusion of their own power. With bigger and better golems and a betting pool in place, the two teams of adventurers and the team of Raegina’s henchgals battled their golems until only the noble Sparkburn remained, earning their team a prize of 66 gold. The call for aid then came from the Arboretum and Raegina loaded up the adventurers (and Sparkburn) into her war rig to answer the call.

The Sheriff and the Storm

DM: Cat

PCs: Ozmir (he/him), Grymos (he/him), Pearl (she/her), Voscaera (she/her), Dallas (she/her), Lyrina (she/her)

NPCs: Gnash, Gooey

Events:

The Arboretum -- a remote trading hub sheltered within a petrified, stadium-sized tree that towered above the Pteris wastes -- was missing its sheriff. The plasmoid public servant, named Inguza ("Gooey", they/them), had gone out to investigate the latest and closest in a string of peculiar sandstorms.

"Inguza's in trouble," the no-nonsense, half-orc warrior Gnash said to no one in particular, "Follow me." She was heading for the northeast exit, a quarter-mile passage that had been dug through one of the tree's great, petrified roots. A rescue party mustered in her wake and hurried to catch up.

The group soon reached the unnaturally sharp edge of the half-mile-wide tempest, where Gnash located a crooked staff protruding from the sand and announced, "They entered here." She touched a large ring of bone to the staff and plunged into the storm, leaving the party to hustle after her again.

The wind inside whined unsettlingly; flying sand restricted everyone's vision and lashed their skin. But they all searched systematically until an angry bellow audible above the wind guided them to a two-headed tentacle demon, which they battled and slew. Behind it they spotted the barely conscious Gooey, who had absorbed a devastating amount of sand into their amorphous body. The companions tended to them briefly before carrying their semi-solid form back to the Arboretum's infirmary.

Some of the party had sustained minor lacerations from the storm's slashing sand, and while the injuries themselves appeared insignificant, the curious gold flecks that had appeared in their eyes afterward brought a nagging sliver of apprehension.

Session 2: Kickoff Megagame, part 2 (9/6/25)

Aggression from Above

DM: Amanda

PCs*: Pryderi (she/they), Chanterelle (she/her), Koro (he/him), Silgr (he/him), Rhogar (he/him), Davin (he/him), Demir (he/him); Reinforcements: Toots (he/him), Pearl, Larry (he/him)

NPCs: Lord Pavan, Swordmaster Krispin

Events:

Rushing towards the Arboretum, everyone was greeted by a desperate scene. Demons everywhere, being fought off by people from every faction. Lord Pavan lead the seven brave souls through one of the root entrances and up to the top of the Arboretum. The open roof was being swarmed by hordes of flying demons bent on taking out the ballistas on the top of the battlements. A fight began.

They fought back the demons, saving all but one of the ballistas. The battle was harsh, knocking out several fighters before it was won.

And into the Fire

DM: Chris

PCs: Syl (they/them), Sixsplitter (he/him), Caesanna (she/her), Jynx (she/her), Lyrina (she/her), Dallas (she/her), Gobbo (they/them)

NPCs: Ter, Brandran

Events:

As the party returned safely to the Arboretum, they were met by the others and Ter. He tasked them with an operation for espionage. He turned tail with Gobbo and Brandran (the prisoner from the Shend camp). The party spotted a moving caravan of creatures with two ballistas. They easily wiped the creatures out and dismantled the ballista.

Addressing the Oliphaunt in the Rig

DM: Mercedes

PCs: Stix (they/them), Raazdrog (he/him), Himo Nilo (he/him), Delaia (she/her), Leonard (she/her)

NPCs: Raegina, Baftzmyr, Kicyr, Cilvdywutc

Events:

As they sped forward, approaching one of the entrance roots, a large undead oliphaunt t-boned the war rig, completely turning it over and destroying both vehicles in the process. An infuriated Raegina beheaded the oliphaunt and commanded the adventurers to stand and destroy the demons in their path to clear the way into the arboretum.

Facing Pustuloids, Capra demons, Incultis and Lesser Rage demons, the party worked diligently to keep each other safe and get the demons out of the way. They pushed the oliphaunt off the entranceway and watched in awe as Raegina flipped the war rig off of Baftzmyr who had been pinned underneath. After harvesting from the demons, the adventurers heard the loud boom of the Conservatory’s destruction and after facing a wave of wild magic, faced a final wave of fleeing demons as well, but claimed another victory!

Wait.. Kobolds?

DM: Cat

PCs: Ozmir (he/him), Grymos (he/him), Pearl (she/her), Voscaera (she/her), Dallas (she/her), Lyrina (she/her)

NPCs: Sir Anthony

Events:

Just west of the Arboretum, the party hurried into position to wait uneasily for the inevitable demon incursion. What eventually came was kobolds. Dozens of light-blue clad kobolds scampered forward, several yards in advance of a single goat-like fiend, which they seemed very leery of. They made non-lethal attacks and spoke in Common, some invoking the name of the deity Kurtulmak, some issuing orders, and some asking for permission to use lethal force once they saw the party felling their allies left and right. The last one alive tossed down her dagger and cried "Sanctuary!" before being unceremoniously dispatched.

The goat demon's very presence rotted the flesh. Its sting immediately raised boils and took off patches of skin. It gave Ozmir a coughing fit that somehow produced a swarm of flies, for which he repaid the fiend with a blade through the throat.

While Grymos looted corpses, Pearl, Toots, and Larry rushed up to the tree's battlements to help defend against airborne threats. The enemy withdrew in the end, but not before staining the sand on all sides of the Arboretum with the blood of the allied forces of the Badlands.