Shifty Louts Session 37 - The Midden Knight

24 Feb, 2026

Players

Akos the Acrobat (Divus Luna), Nicophorus the Thief (Connor), Wild Posy the Wizard (Onyx), Hindlick the Tulwyn Zealot (Connor)

Summary

The 24th of Kelen.

Somewhere underneath the village of Eldin and the Capital of the Thardic Republic, Coranan.

The Shifty Louts continue to scarper through the tunnel of quartz growth after encountering an old plague full of what looked to be children’s bones. Pushing ahead, the quartz rock subsides, and the Louts find themselves in a passageway heading north, downwards to the south and west. Ahead, a wooden door with bands of iron.

Discussions are had, and Nicophorus peeks to find an argument between 18 individuals over plate armor descends into chaotic violence. The Louts wait as the sounds of struggle occur behind the door.

After the mayhem subsides, they decide to spring forward, hoping to catch the survivors off guard. Nicophorus barges in with his faucard as Akos and Posy follow suit.

After an intense fight that sees Nicophorus lose his nose and an artery in his left arm sliced, the group manages to whittle their numbers to one, and the bandit bolts behind a door as the Louts recover the dented armor and loose money amongst the bodies.

The Louts debate, deciding to head back to the central chamber, and Nicophorus volunteers to head northward by himself, acting as a sacrifice if need be. He eventually crawls through what appears to be a frigidly cold chimney chute that spills out into two broad metal doors coated in frost and ice.

Nicophorus prods the icy doors open only to be surprised by a ghastly apparition. A Laranian Knight, their chainmail hauberk spread open like a winged flayed man, their skin attached to the metal ringlets.

A shock of horror and realization as the Knight’s falcion passes through Nicophorus, life draining him dead as the doors slam closed. Akos and Posy are able to make out that his torch has disappeared. Akos carefully approaches, calling out Nicophorus’s name and receiving only silence in return.

Akos and Posy once again decide to follow the lone survivor westward from the prior battle, with Akos finding the ruined foundations of a bridge and the body some 80’ below him, face down, floating amongst sewage.

A loud, ophidian hissing sound is heard. Akos throws a rock near the body and finds two crocodiles nearly 30’ thrashing near the body.

As Akos turns away, the sounds of swimming can be heard. A lone figure, a Tulwyn. An escaped barbarian, likely destined for the Pamesani Games, climbs to safety. Introducing themselves as Hindlick.

After introductions are made and the Louts return to the room full of slain Lia-kavair, the group encounters a dozen hunched figures draped in filthy rags. Their “clothing” occludes a skin condition.

One holds an upward palm displaying preternaturally long fingers and chipped nails. The figure introduces themselves as Vauquelin of the Tuga. Hindlick knows this tribe, for he is of the Domonar.

With tribal familiarity established, Vauquelin speaks of smelling the bodies, seeing them as food. His group had turned away from the Asiri (a Tulwyn shamanist figure) for some time, living here in the midden. The Louts are appalled, but decide against their more mercenary impulses.

The Shifty Louts ask of the Laranian Knight. Vauquelin speaks of the Knight taking victims, the hissing ones of the sewage water, and more people using the tunnels recently.

The Shifty Louts ask where to stay for safety and shelter. Vauquelin leads the Louts and his small “tribe” back to the room with the children skeletons, and begins making nests amongst themselves as the Louts attempt to bed down with their newfound friends, shuddering at the lengths they are going to sneak in the near priceless Khûzûd crowns into Coranan.

Aftermath

Treasure Found:

A glaive, a dented curaiss, a smattering of hatchets, daggers, and clubs, 18 shillings, and 5 farthings

Foes Encountered:

11 Lia-kaviar (killed), a Laranian Wight (witnessed), 2 Giant Crocodile (witnessed), 12 Grave Eaters (befriended)

Rumors:

• The emergence of the Knight is predicated on cold and frost
• The Knight seems trapped in a loop
• The Knight has killed people, “stealing their being.”
• More humans use these passages daily
• Avoid the waters; the “hissing ones” inhabit them

Deaths:

Nicophorus by the ghostly falcion of the Laranian Knight

XP Awarded:

180xp for the slain Lia-kavair, 23xp for the money, and 400xp specifically for Divus Luna for mapping (100xp/room map). Divided 3 ways for 68xp total.

Notes

• 37 sessions into my heartbreaker that is Shifty Louts. 😲!
• A more general observation: A rather combat-heavy dungeon delve, a contrast to the more social and travel-oriented sessions. A much-needed change of pace for the group, which has been mostly lugging, hiding, and attempting to find a buyer for the chest of near-priceless Dwarf gold they found for the majority of the campaign.
• Giving out extra XP for QoL, aka the “teacher’s pet” work of dungeon mapping, is proving fruitful. I may extend this to other player roles eventually.
• Originally, I had weapon damage segmented into small, medium, and large ala WuTC, but found this limiting after a year+ of gaming, especially in the context of Hârnworld and its verisimilitude insistence.
  • I recently introduced differing damage values for weapons. Players have said added a bit more tactical depth.
  • That said, I believe the triumvirate size and damage orientation are useful for quicker, pick-up style games.
  • I also introduced Arudin’s critical and fumble combat tables, which introduced so much dramatic flair. Nicophorus took the majority of the damage with a shorn-off nose and a nicked artery in the left arm
• As for the Dungeon (Midden) itself
  • The map is a repurposed map from Mike’s Dungeons. A book that I’ve returned again and again to for inspiration and as a general tool for quick dungeon layouts and maps.
  • The dungeon rooms and passages were built using the flavorful Swyvers midden generators found in Swyvers by Luke Gearing and David Hoskins. I wholeheartedly recommend using them.
  • The actual dungeon stocking was done using Delving Deeper’s stocking tables and using contextual elements from Columbia Game’s Hârnworld module on the City of Coranan.
  • The dungeon loot was generated using my own bespoke refactored Hârnic treasure tables.