Full Table

After just finishing a session (#36) with only two players at the online table this session saw a "full" table. Now with five players although one was still away this week and one player was mainly a spectator. For me, a group of five players is my maximum. Even in a face-to-face game, I prefer to max out at five but I can do more. For an online game with the current technology (Discord) I would recommend not going over five players. There is still the issue that not everyone can talk at once. With five players it is going to happen on occasion. I think with more people some players are not going to be heard. You want the players to be more than just dice rollers. During the combat portion of the session, I did find myself scrolling back up the chat a few times to catch up on a few attacks by players that I missed.

It was also nice to have more than one player in the group who was assertive. It led to more roleplaying. I actually found I had stretches of five minutes or more when I could settle quietly into the background while the players interacted. It greatly reduces the stress on the Gamemaster. This session was a fairly straight forward one with travel and a short troll encounter. It will be interesting to see how this works in future sessions. There is the possibility, depending on what the players decide to do, of the players heading into an investigative session. That could be interesting.

This session was one where the players did not burn through everything I had prepared. I find that I have more than enough written and set aside for the next session for once.

Session 37: New friends and Old Enemies

Players: Lakima (Human Magic-user), Eathwund (Human Fighter), Moonshadow (Elven Thief), Carric (Elven Thief NPC), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter PC/NPC).

With the Tome of Artifice carefully stowed in a sack and packed away the adventuring party of the Black Dragon set out following the Crescent stream south. They have a four-day journey ahead of them to get to Edgerton. They need to reach Edgerton before the Blue Dragon Synastarax returns. The deadline is one week away.

On the first day, they pass the ford that leads to the village of Garanton. From here they see their tracks in the snow are covered over by wagon tracks. Carric examines the tracks and declares it is several wagons that are a half-day ahead of them. That night as they make camp Carric scans the river valley ahead but sees no sign of any campfires set by fellow travellers.

The next morning Lakima decides to tell the charmed ogre Otun to go back to the wild. Figuring they would have a problem travelling with an ogre once they left the wilderness. The adventurers set out again. Around noon Carric, in the lead, holds up his hand to halt. Ahead on the frozen river they see an empty wagon has fallen halfway through the ice. On the shore, there is a confusion of tracks. The tracks of at least two wagons head south. Another set of tracks created by a large creature dragging a large sack head east into the wilderness. Carric examines the tracks and suggests they were made by a troll who appears to have ambushed some merchants on the trail. Lakima agrees but says there is no need to investigate.

They continue south and after a short distance spot a thin figure approaching from the south. The adventurers fan out in case this is an enemy. As the figure approaches and tosses back her hood they see it is a pale-skinned elf. The elf introduces herself as Moonshadow. She was travelling with a merchant out of Garanton. The day before they were attacked by at least one troll in the early evening. One wagon got separated from the rest. Once the merchant leading the wagons realized that four travellers were missing he stopped. Moonshadow volunteered to go back and look for them. She found the wreck of the wagon and followed the tracks to a cave entrance. Wisely deciding she would not be able to fight a troll in its lair she proceeded back to the trail looking for help. Looking over the group with some suspicion she asks if they will help her find the missing merchants.

A new friend on the road

The members of the adventuring party confer. The blue dragon Synastarax’s deadline should be Dechem 27. It is only Dechem 21 or 22 by their reckoning. They should have a few days to spare to get back to Edgerton in time to meet the dragon’s deadline. Lakima tells Moonshadow they can spare a day to look for the missing men. Moonshadow corrects him - three men are missing and one Halfling.

Nash suggests he wait by the river with the horses once Moonshadow explains that the troll cave is only a few hours away. But Lakima tells Nash that this would leave him all alone with trolls wandering about. He quickly decides to come with them.  Moonshadow leads them through light snow to a large hill. On the side of the hill, a frozen stream emerges from a cave. She points at the cave indicating that it is the troll lair. Nash sets up a camp while the rest of the adventurer's don gear and ready their weapons. Outside the cave, Lakima suggests that the two elves enter first and scout ahead since they can see in the dark. Moonshadows gestures, “after you” to Carric and he enters first. Moving as quietly as they can, the two elves enter the cave and follow the frozen stream to a cave. A scattering of broken wood crates is piled on the cave floor. The stream continues into another cave where Carric spots a mound of fresh dirt with an entrance in the front. He hurries back to Moonshadow to confer. Then the two elves return to the exit and tell the humans what they have found.

The adventurers decide on a course of action. Carric and Moonshadow enter the caves first and take up positions covering the hole in the mound with their bows ready. Eathwund, Lakima, and Domago hold back with Lantosh in the back with his lantern. Nothing happens at first but as soon as the mound is illuminated by the light of the lantern carried by Lantosh, a giant lizard rushes out of the mound. It does not see Carric and Moonshadow and rushes right past them for Lantosh. Both elves take a pair of shots with their bows and miss. The 10-foot-long lizard clamps down on Lantosh’s thigh in its jaws. Eathwund comes to Lantosh’s aid, striking the giant lizard and it releases its grip. The rest of the adventurers fire missile weapons at it until it stops moving. Domago checks on Lantosh and casts a Healing prayer on the unfortunate man. Lantosh asks Moonshadow if this is a Troll cave or a Lizard cave?

While the adventurers discuss this, Carric and Moonshadow move further into the caves. Carric sees some large wooden cages with dark shapes inside. Then Moonshadow spots a troll moving about in another cave further up the stream. Moonshadow moves back to the other adventurers and warns them. The entire group moves forward into the cave with the two large cages. The humans are unable to spot the troll in the darkness but Moonshadow assures them that the troll is in the cave. Lakima tells Moonshadow to draw out the troll so she fires a pair of arrows at it and misses. The arrows hit the cave wall above the troll. The troll reacts and begins looking around turning its back to the group. Carric joins Moonshadow and they fire four more arrows. All of the arrows miss. The troll becomes aware of the attack as it picks up a broken arrow. It growls and moves in large, strides toward the heroes.  Once the troll enters the lantern light Lantosh and Eathwund move up to block its passage at a narrow point in the passage. Eathwund activates his Ring and his sword bursts into flame. As he strikes the troll it cries out and Eathwund sees that the wound is not healing. He strikes it again but then the flames go out. Forced to strike the troll now without flame Eathwund watches as the wounds on the troll begin to heal. A second troll appears in the passage and moves towards the group. Lantosh is bitten by the troll and staggers. He moves back and Lakima steps up and casts Atanazabar’s Acrid finger. A stream of acid hits the troll doing more damage. The troll decides to flee and it runs north down the tunnel splashing through the unfrozen portion of the stream. The adventurers let it go and concentrate on the other troll. They hit it repeatedly with their weapons and it is driven to the ground after Eathwund chops off one of its legs. The troll lies on the ground but as they watch its wounds begin to heal and the leg wriggles towards the body. Lakima moves his acid spray onto the troll and slowly dissolves it.

The Troll Cave - old enemies

Carric is sent to scout ahead in the direction the troll went. The rest of the heroes look about the cave. Two men are found alive in one of the cages. With some effort, working together the adventurers manage to tip the cage over and free the two men. Moonshadow recognizes the men she knows as Natty and Karker. Karker thanks them for the rescue. He tells them that another man was taken away and eaten several hours ago and the halfling was dragged away still alive a short time ago.

Carric returns and tells everyone the next cave is the last in the underground. The stream continues north in a narrow passage. He was not willing to follow the stream. He could hear the Troll moaning in the distance. Quietly he tells Lakima that he found some gold coins strewn about the cave and picked them up. Gold that likely belongs to the merchants. The entire party moves into the next cave. In the lantern light, they find a troll nest filled with debris, parts of humanoids and animals and bones. Moonshadow identifies the partially gnawed head of the halfling that went missing. Satisfied that they have rescued everyone still alive, the group leaves the caves and reunites with Nash. Domago chants another Cure prayer on Lantosh.

The party sets out again heading south with three extra party members. That night they set up camp and set a watch for more marauders. Moonshadow offers to take a shift on watch. The next day they arrive at Wayfarer’s End. The small hamlet consists of a trading post/inn and a few cottages. At the Inn Karker, Natty, and Moonshadow are reunited with Bregor who was leading their caravan. Bregor thanks the group and produces two bottles of wine to share so they do not have to drink the innkeeper's terrible home-made spirits. The merchants have taken all of the rooms so the adventurers sleep on the floor of the common room thankful to be inside and out of the cold. Carric and Moonshadow take a watch together and Moonshadow learns a little about Carric and his companions in the Company of the Black Dragon.

The next day Bregor learns the adventurers are headed for Edgerton and asks that they travel in company. Deciding strength in numbers is a good idea, the large party heads out together. Overnighting in the wilderness for one night before reaching The Goose Inn in Whetwhistle. Their business partner Whexley greets them and makes sure his friends get all of the private rooms. The merchants bed down in the tavern.

Just before noon on the next day, the entire caravan reaches the South Gate of Edgerton. The watch stationed at the gate greets them and ushering them past without inspection. The grateful merchants wave goodbye. Lakima invites Moonshadow over to the Chapter House of the Black Dragon. There she meets their staff and is shown around. Lakima also shows her the vault which she looks at with interest. Lakima explains that the building used to belong to a moneylender. She meets their newest member Alonso.

Once everything is settled Lakima, Eathwund, Lantosh, Alonso, and Moonshadow head over to the Watch Station and meet with Colten Brightmoor. They assure the worried Guard Captain that they have located the Tome of Artifice demanded by the blue dragon Synastarax. They will be present for the hand-over of the book or will make sure it is available to Brightmoor. Brightmoor tells them of the plans he has made for the defense of Edgerton. He also notes he is short of men in the evenings because of a number of killings that have occurred in the Mirdton district.

Upon hearing of some of the details of the killings, Lakima dismisses it as not being a job that would pay them. Colten Brightmoor does not ask for their help with it certain that the extra watch he has assigned to the district will put a stop to the killings.

Lakima checks in with his fiance Alayna and shows her the two potions he found in the Plundered Tomb. Alayna gets to work on identifying them. Later Lakima, Eathwund, and Moonshadow go to the Apothecary and speak with Malyn. Lakima angrily tells Malyn that the Dark Lady cultists are messing with the Well of Mana. Malyn implies that Lakima should have expected this as the cultists are tied to the god of chaos. There is an angry exchange and Lakima ends by telling Malyn that he will deal with any cultists at the Well.

There are a few days before the dragon’s deadline so everyone settles down to relax. Lakima invites Moonshadow to join the group and gives her a room at the Chapter House. Moonshadow does not commit to the group. She does spend some time exploring the town of Edgerton which is new to her. In the Low Market, she grabs a young urchin/sneak thief named Snipe and asks the boy about the local underworld. Snipe turns out to be one of Carric’s crew. But the young man seems eager to have another employer. Snipe fills Moonshadow in on more details about the killings of the two women both of whom were streetwalkers.

Back at the Chapter House, Moonshadows tells her new friends what she has learned. Lakima asks what is the pay for getting involved? With no good answer, Moonshadow drops the discussion. Lantosh privately tells Moonshadow that if she wants to investigate he will back her play.

The next morning they hear one of the town criers announcing another murder in Mirdton. The town crier calls it the work of the “Ripper” a killer of legend who killed five ladies of the night over fifty years ago and was never caught. The town crier also yells out that the latest victim is a man. Which would not be the usual pattern.

Lakima goes back to meet Malyn and offers the mage his notes on the Magic Jar spell he found in the Plundered Tomb in exchange for a scroll containing the Wall of Iron spell. Malyn agrees to a deal that includes the added price of 900 gold. Malyn says he will have the scroll ready in two days.

It is Dechem 25, the annual date of the Winter Solstice and Yule festivals but no one in Edgerton is celebrating. The dragon is set to return in two days and preparations need to be made.

 

I think we will just skip that

During last week's session of my Swords & Wizardry campaign, I had three short adventures written and waiting for the players. They were just coming out of a multiple session large dungeon and I felt they would likely appreciate being able to pick something short to do. They proceeded to skip 2 of the 3 I had written and I ended up scrambling a little to make up something on the fly. Luckily I had some ideas floating around in my head for the next adventure so I did not have to completely ad-lib.

I also took the opportunity to give the players some downtime. They are in the 4-7 level range now and have enough gold that they can afford to take their time picking up their next job. So I gave them several weeks in their home town to do research and buy equipment.

Session 35: Hill Giants & Dragons

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Alonso (Fighter), Carric (Elven Thief NPC), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC).

Upon leaving the Plundered Tomb just in time to avoid it collapsing, the heroes set out for Caster’s Ford through the snowy Valley of Heroes.

The sun has barely reached its peak as the heroes leave the tomb so they decide to get started immediately. Everyone is loaded down with a large sack of loot and this slows their progress as they march toward Caster's Ford. As the sun begins to set it starts to snow lightly. Up ahead around a bend in the stream they spot a campfire. Lakima asks Carric to scout ahead. The elf goes forward and comes back a few minutes later. He reports a fire surrounded by four statues (3 humans and one wolf). The adventurers decide to approach the statues carefully. The campfire is in a small hollow and they fan out around it. Footprints in the recently fallen snow show one set of tracks heading south into a dark forest and many tracks heading back and forth across a ford in the stream. A pair of the tracks seem to be laden down with something heavy. They note that the statues depict a mage, cleric, and fighter with expressions of fear or surprise. Assuming there must be a medusa or cockatrice nearby, the heroes decide to leave quickly and push on for a few more hours before camping.

Thus avoiding a pair of encounters I had set up. One encounter with the bandits they chased from the Plundered Tomb and one encounter with a Medusa in a series of caves. I figured they would do one or the other but they skipped both using logic. They were weighed down with a lot of loot.

They stop a few hours later and camp for the night in the cold. A campfire is built and they take turns on watch. Other than spotting a few curious animals everything is quiet through the night. They set out again the next day. At about midday, they pass the track that leads to the Well of Woe. Lakima suggests coming back to the well another time. Right now they are heavily laden with loot and need to make haste for the nearby town. That same loot slows their progress through the snow so that they decide to camp another night outdoors only 4-5 hours walk from Caster’s Ford.

Avoiding the second prepared adventure. Lakima had been talking about recharging his staff and wand at the Well of Woe they found back in session 30. I had a new group occupying the Mana Well temple. They might come back to this one some day.

After an uneventful night, they set out again, cold and a little hungry. Just before noon, they spot the road that leads into the town. But to their surprise, several merchant carts are stopped on the road, and merchants, guards, and common folk are standing around talking. Eathwund and Lakima approach a nearby caravan guard. The man tells them that three giants are laying siege to the town. They are set up on a nearby hill that allows them to hurl boulders at the town walls and onto the road into town. Several wagons had to be abandoned outside the town and one merchant was killed. When Lakima asks what the town guards are doing about it, the man tells them that a sortie of town guards left the town a few hours ago, headed up the hill, and then came running down in fright a short time later.

Lakima confers with the rest of the adventurers and they decide that it will be up to them to deal with the giants. Lakima lets the merchants know that they will be taking care of the problem. He manages to convince them to let the group have the cart of the dead merchant. One of the merchant guards asks to join them. He tells them his name is Alonso. The adventurers welcome him figuring the more the better.

Unable to avoid my third short adventure as the way into the Town is blocked by the giants. They could have headed south or run to the town but they would have come under attack. This also allowed me to introduce a new player character named Alonso to the group.

The Hill Giants are situated on a hill with a gentle slope facing the town and a steep cliff 40 feet high on the other side. Trees cover the back of the hill. The giants have set up giant wooden caltrops to deter horses from approaching on the gentle slope. Lakima and Carric look over the situation and decide they will climb up and hope to surprise the giants from behind. Carric manages to climb up the cliff face with ease and he lets down a rope to the others. He also makes several hand gestures that no one is able to decipher. The rest of the hero's climb up one at a time. Pausing only when a giant comes toward them and stops before a small tent that barely reaches his waist. The giant converses with someone in the tent and then moves back to the front to hurl more boulders at the town.

Lakima tells Carric to check the tent. Meanwhile, Lakima, Eathwund, and Alonso circle to the right through the trees while Domago and Lantosh circle to the left. Carric sneaks up to the tent and cuts a small slit in the back with his dagger. He peers inside and signals a single finger. Lakima waves him inside the tent. Carric slices an opening in the back of the tent and slips inside. Meanwhile, everyone else runs forward hoping to catch the giants by surprise. Lakima breaks the silence by yelling at Eathwund to get down as he casts Lightning Bolt. The Lightning bolt lances across the hillside striking all three of the giants. The giants roar in pain and are knocked down. They struggle to their feet, their skin blackened and cracked open from the assault.

Domago and Lantosh surround a single giant, the runt of the trio, and start to attack. Alonso runs up to the middle giant and Eathwund goes after the giant nearest him and Lakima. The giant fighting Alonso breaks away and staggers to the tent tearing it open yelling something they do not understand. Inside they now see Carric struggling with a human cleric wearing dark robes and holding a staff. The cleric breaks free from Carric and chants a loud prayer freezing Carric with Hold Person. He then tosses something from a leather bag, raises his arm, and shouts. The heroes see sixteen skeletons erupt from beneath the nearby snow. Domago attempts to turn the skeletons and half of them run away.

Carric was a PC until the last session. I usually like to retire player characters rather than retain them as NPCs. But there was no logical place to do it. Carric will slowly work his way off screen.

The battles continue, Alonso tracking down the Hill giant that got away from him. Three skeletons advance on Lakima and strike him twice with their rusty swords. Lakima yells at Eathwund for help just as Eathwund kills the giant he is facing. Lakima casts shield and that protects him from the skeletons long enough for help to arrive. Alonso kills the second giant a short time later. Further down the hill Lantosh and Domago are struggling with a giant and four skeletons. The cleric takes advantage of the confusion to run away to the north. Eathwund turns about and runs over to help Lakima, dispatching 4 skeletons on the way. Alonso runs over to help Domago who is laboring after being hit several times. As Eathwund arrives on the scene they all manage to kill the last hill giant and destroy the remaining skeletons. Carric eventually becomes free of the curse and runs off after the cleric who cursed him.

The Hill giants are checked for loot. They are found to have nothing of any worth except a short sword that appeared to be a pocket knife for the largest giant. In the ruins of the tent, Alonso finds a pack left behind. Inside are some gold and silver coins and three valuable gems. Lantosh points out the find to Lakima but the mage tells Alonso to keep it. His reward for helping them. The heroes are joined by Alonso and they head into town using the abandoned cart to drag their loot from previous adventures. Lakima starts up a conversation with Alonso and invites the fighter to join the Company of the Black Dragon. Alonso agrees to join for now. As they approach the docks near the central square they see that the ship that brought them to Caster’s Ford has left - the agreed date it was to leave passed a few days earlier. Lakima checks with a boat that is currently unloading cargo and finds that they are heading back to Edgerton. Once a fee is agreed upon the captain of the boat tells them they leave in an hour. The adventurers take the remaining time to exchange the platinum into gems and Alonso checks out a nearby armory but decides to wait until they get to Edgerton to buy new gear.

Exchanging gold to gems is always a little tricky in an OSR game where gold rewards are common and plentiful. I had the locals take a sizeable cut to allow the players to exchange their gold and platinum. I award experience on what is recovered - not on what is spent.

The boat ride to Edgerton takes almost 2 days and is uneventful. The adventurers take the time to get acquainted with Alonso. Once in Edgerton they immediately head for the Chapter House. Nothing has changed. Huntley, their manservant, tells them there were no issues while they were away for a week. Carric wanders off to check in with his contacts. Lakima heads over to Cromly’s Smithy and picks up the necklace he commissioned. He presents it to Alayna who seems to appreciate the uniqueness of it. Alonso goes and commissions some plate mail armor. He asks Eathwund about where he can buy healing potions and Eathwund tells him about Alayna’s shop that is located out back of the Chapter House. Alonso heads over and meets Alayna and Lakima. He purchases a few healing potions.

Lakima goes over to confer with Malyn the mage at the Apothecary. He tells Malyn about the Mana Well and Zia/Medamellara. Malyn is incredulous that this could have escaped his keen eye but was found by Lakima. He seems quite put off by it. Lakima asks if there is some group that could protect the mana well. Malyn mentions the Church of the Dark Lady - but there is a catch. He misplaced his bodyguard Humbert that the Church provided him. He needs to get him back. Malyn attempts to talk Lakima into entering the Mazestone but is rebuffed. He does agree to contact the Church of the Dark Lady. He tells Lakima that he cannot provide him with any 4th level spells. Lakima will need to learn them himself.

Here Lakima turned down another adventure. This Mazestone adventure has been available since session 28 but Lakima is not interested. There is not enough of a reward, and being placed into an extradimensional maze does not appeal to him. Eathwund was also offered the job by Malyn at one point. Malyn has been the party's go-to sage and wizard shop but Lakima is now getting to the level where Malyn can no longer be of help.

That evening they had a party at The Dancing Dragon. Lakima gives the innkeeper 200 gold and tells him to give free drinks to every person who toasts Dag Icefoot, their recently fallen comrade. Lantosh nervously asks how often they do this when Lakima tells everyone that it is a tradition. As they leave the tavern, a drunk Lakima thinks he sees Dag amongst the revelers raising a tankard to him. 

Since new jobs that appeal to the group are available right now - and since they are well set financially, they decide to take some downtime. Lakima studies and researches new spells and the Library of Antiquity, Alonso also spends time at the Library researching monsters and legends, Eathwund studies the Manual of Exercise. Lantosh spends time honing his skills with the polearm and Domago heads over to help out and the Church of St. Aleena. Carric drops in every few days and tells Lakima and Eathwund that the opportunity in Edgerton is perfect right now to set up a gang to control all of the gangs in the town. He tells them he will be spending less time in the Company.

There is not a lot written in the Swords & Wizardry rulebook about researching spells. So I assumed it would cost Lakima about what it would cost to buy a spell to research it.

Everything is peaceful and quiet until they are awakened one morning by the sounds of bells ringing and shouting outside their door. Looking out they see people running away from Market Square. The adventurers put on their gear and head over to the square. Here they see an enormous, old, Blue Dragon perched in the center of the square. Town guards arrive and set up a cordon around it. The dragon ignores the guards and casually crushes a few of the market stalls in the square. Lakima steps forward and addresses the dragon. The dragon asks Lakima if he represents the town. When Lakima explains his position the dragon spots the black dragon tabards and asks pointedly if they honor the dragon Aulicus. Lakima tells the dragon that they take their name from the founders of the group who killed a black dragon. The dragon asks him if they think they are dragon killers. As Lakima formulates a reply the dragon informs him that; “You will do!”

The dragon delivers an ultimatum. They have one week to return to this square with a book that can be found in the lair of a long-dead dragon that is in the Shroudlands. When Alonso asks some questions the dragon replies that the book is the Tome of Artifice and he describes it. Lakima asks for two weeks and the dragon bristles and smashes another stall. Lakima then agrees to the terms -but the dragon pauses and agrees to two weeks. He tells Lakima they have a pact with Synstarax. The dragon launches itself into the air and blasts a nearby tower with lightning to further intimidate everyone. It flies off.

This is the AEG D20 adventure Legacy of Madness. Or at least the plot from it. I was thinking of adapting it anyway. It was what I was able to adlib to give the session a proper close.

The square slowly starts to return to normal. The Town Guard captain Colten Brightmoor confers with the heroes. Alonso suggests they prepare for the dragon’s return. Colten says they will bring more ballista to cover the square and turn the ones currently facing out from the city to face the square. When Alonso suggests an evacuation of the town Colten is visibly disturbed. It is winter and the people have no place to go. He does not want to start a panic. He tells them that the Story is that the dragon was driven off and will not return. He impresses on the adventurers that he expects them to stick to this story. He does agree to look into clearing the square before the dragon returns.

Lakima goes over to the Apothecary and meets with Malyn again. The wizard tells Lakima what he knows about the dragon lair in the Shroudlands. It is supposed to be the lair of the so-called Mad Dragon. The Lair is in what is now a wilderness area but there was a village near it at one time. The mad dragon was a silver dragon who would help and protect humans who lived in a nearby valley. But he went mad several hundred years ago. He was working on the Tome of Artifice at the time with the aid of a human wizard friend.

Meeting the Blue Dragon

Escape from the Plundered Tomb

Over the Holidays we played another session in my Swords & Wizardry campaign. The players managed to continue at their breakneck pace through my retelling of the classic module I3: Pharoah. Once they escaped and I told them what adventure they had gone through they indicated they had no knowledge of it. So I guess I did not need to make so many changes. But a lot of the changes were made just to suit the module to my own likes. The conversions needed for playing it with Swords & Wizardry rules were really minor.

One of the players did not make the game. Given the Holidays I was wondering if it was holiday-related but a few days later he let us know he was dropping out. Carric the elf will now be an NPC party member and fade into being a local NPC non-party member in the coming sessions. On the plus side, we picked up a new player for the next session.

Session 34: Tests and Escape

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Carric (Elven Thief absent), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC), Dag Icefoot (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

After flying up through the Dome of Flight to the next level the adventurers are confronted with a pair of doors leading each with the same ominous message written on them.

Lakima directs Carric to check the door on the left and open it. The door proves to be untrapped and opens easily. The chamber beyond is a vast hallway, sloping up in the distance. At first, it is dark, but torches light one by one as they enter lighting the entire chamber. A waterfall cascades down the length of the room with a stair up the middle. The stair is broken by four landings. At the end of the hall is an enormous bronze fist 10 feet across resting on a huge wrist-like forearm.

Carric is the first to advance up the stairs. As he steps on the first landing, two armed men made of clay appear magically. Carric rushes back down the steps as Eathwund runs forward to defend him. Lantosh and Dag also come up the stairs. One of the clay men swings a sword at Carric and misses. Eathwund slashes at one and his sword passes right through the shoulder. Both the arm and the body turn to sand and fall to the platform in a heap. Eathwund just has time to express his surprise when both piles of sand form into two clay men. Dag slashes at the other clay man and the same thing happens. There are now four clay men facing them on the platform. Before they can warn him, Lantosh plunges his polearm into the chest of one of the clay men. The clay man becomes impaled on the end of the polearm.

Lakima shouts at Lantosh to dump the clay man into the torrent of the waterfall which he does. The construct is washed away into a tunnel of water. Seeing how it is done Lantosh impales two more clay men and dumps them into the water. Eathwund even manages to impale one on the point of his sword and shove it over the edge into the water. The first landing is now cleared.

Carric now comes up and rejoins the others on the first landing. He moves up cautiously checking for traps. Lakima tells everyone this might be a test of the elements - earth for the clay men, water for the waterfall. The next test might be fire or air. As Carric steps on the second landing, a wall of fire rushes up from the floor and extends across the platform from floor to ceiling completely blocking the hallway. Carric and Lantosh who are closest to the flames stagger back from the tremendous heat. Lakima tries throwing the contents of a full waterskin on the fire but it apparently does nothing. They all step back and confer on the steps. The only suggestion they have is dunking their blankets in water and racing through the flames. Dag loudly states that he is not going first.

Lakima decides he will go first since it is his idea and he sees no other alternative. He leaps through the flames and is badly burned. Next comes Eathwund and then Dag and Lantosh. Carric holds back on the other side. Lakima sees a man standing beside the bronze fist about 30 feet away. The man is dressed in a priest's robes. He hears the man speak in his head telling him to give up and telling him that he is High Priest Nadron who has lived here and defeated tomb robbers for two thousand years. Instead of surrendering, Lakima threatens Nadron and the voice in his head laughs telling him that he keeps his life elsewhere and he cannot be harmed. Lakima moves up to the penultimate landing. A duplicate Lakima appears magically and silently attacks its original version. Eathwund and Lantosh fire arrows at the duplicate and Lakima uses his staff to destroy the duplicate.  Lakima then races up to the last platform holding the fist and runs around the fist looking to see if Nadron is an illusion. The fist animates and tries to crush him but Lakima makes it to a pair of doors and into the chamber beyond. Here he sees a crashing fall of water ten-feet in diameter and an altar before it. Arched hallways lead off in either direction. Nadron casts a slow spell that affects Lantosh and Eathwund.

The Gauntlet and Nadron

Eathwund and Dag advance up to the second last platform and their doubles appear. Lantosh moves to just off the platform and helps Dag kill his duplicate. The priest Nadron casts another spell, this time a fireball that knocks Dag and Lantosh unconscious. Domago and Eathwund are still standing and they use the magic healing oranges to recover Lantosh and Dag. Lakima tries casting a magic missile, using darts, and directing Eathwund to fire arrows at the priest. But nothing seems to affect him. Nadron casts another spell covering Lantosh, Eathwund, Dag, and the two duplicates in a sticky web immobilizing them. Lakima returns the favour and casts web from his wand at the priest. It works and Nadron is held by the web against the wall of the great hall. In his head, Lakima hears Nadron cursing and threatening him. Dag works his way loose and comes up the stairs readying his sword to kill Nadron but the fist animates and a single finger flicks Dag back down the stair in a crumpled heap. Lakima checks a nearby chamber and sees two men who look identical - chained to the walls. The men call out for help and accuse each other of being a doppelganger. Lakima leaves them where they are.

The fight slows as Nadron is held by a web spell that Lakima replenishes whenever the priest starts to get his hands free. Lantosh, Eathwund, and their two duplicates try to work themselves free. Lakima tries putting his hands on the altar before the waterfall but he is knocked down by a lightning bolt shooting out of the waterfall. Domago is joined by Carric on the platform. The wall of fire continues to burn behind them. They use arrows and slings stones to destroy Eathwund and Lantosh’s duplicates. Once Eathwund is free of the webs he runs past the giant fist which misses him and to the safety of the chamber beyond with Lakima. Lakima casts a Lightning Bolt at the bronze fist badly damaging it. Eathwund and Carric fire arrow at the fist until it finally collapses in a heap. Lantosh moves to the highest platform and Lakima directs him to bind the priest's mouth and drag him into the next chamber. Carric and Domago step on the platform one at a time and everyone works together to destroy their duplicates. Unfortunately, Domago finds that Dag was killed by the strike from the giant fist. There is nothing he can do for the unfortunate dwarf.

With everyone gathered in the chamber beyond Lakima starts negotiating with Nadron whose voice is still in his head. They seem to come to an understanding after Lakima has Lantosh hold Nadron’s head and shoulders under the crashing waterfall. Nadron tells him the only exit from the tomb is above in the burial chamber of King Munera. There is one final test in that chamber - the King’s undead mummy. Nadron tells him he needs something called the Star Gem of Pelar to open the exit. Once his gag is removed Nadron immediately casts Lightning bolt at Lakima, hitting Eathwund and Domago with the blast. Lakima survives but Eathwund and Domago are knocked unconscious. Lakima tells Lantosh to behead the duplicitous priest. He does - but the head just rejoins the body as Nadron laughs and curses them in common. Lantosh chops the head of the body again and Lakima boots the head across the chamber. Nadron continues to berate Lakima telling him he can never pass the final test of the King because he is not worthy.

Lakima points at the altar and tells Domago to put his hands on it. Domago is reluctant but is convinced and presses his hands into hand-shaped depressions on the altar. The waterfall immediately stops and the room is silent. Even Nadron is quiet. Lakima then taunts Nadron. They take the headless body and toss it down the now dry waterfalls in the great hall below the fist. Nadron’s head is placed in a sack. With everyone tired and hurt the remaining five adventurers rest in the chamber. The last of the magic oranges are eaten. From a nearby chamber, they hear the words “help me” plaintively crying out but Lakima tells everyone it is a trap. Domago argues they should help the men but is eventually convinced to wait.

The heroes rest for several hours by the now-empty shaft that held a waterfall. Each man takes a watch while the others rest or try to sleep. During Eathwund’s watch, a flickering apparition of Wella Hobba appears. The apparition nods to Eathwund and walks over to observe the mean chained to the wall. The apparition speaks to Eathwund telling him, “Now that I see my murderer so helpless and lost I no longer feels the need for revenge upon him. He has suffered enough. Do what you will with him. I will trouble you no more.” With that, the apparition disappears.

Once everyone is rested and Lakima has recovered his spells they pack up their equipment and prepare to move on. Eathwund tells everyone that he is fairly certain that one of the men chained to the wall is the bandit and murderer Vychan. He tells them of the apparition's visit. Domago still argues that they should free the men and take them to Caster’s Ford for justice. Lakima argues against freeing them. It comes down to a vote with only Domago voting to free Vychan.

The group walks into the arched hallway opposite the one where the men are chained up. They discover Nadron’s library, workshop, and living area. Thousands of scrolls are found devoted to extending a man's life. Lakima deciphers scrolls detailing the creation of a unique version of the magic jar spell. He also finds scrolls of Fireball, fly, and confusion. Then he reads a cursed scroll and is paralyzed for 20 minutes while his friends search the area. They find some food and books that are recent acquisitions. Domago insists on taking some of the food and water and leaving it for the two men chained to the walls. He tells the men that someone will come to free them if the gods decide they are worthy.

Lakima casts levitate and drifts up the shaft. At the top he finds a short hallway blocked by a pair of bronze doors. A large, painted stone jar that is unstoppered rests above the shaft. Lakima drops a rope down to everyone else and they climb up. Lakima directs Lantosh to pick up the heavy stone jar. Lantosh is just barely strong enough to carry it into the hallway. He questions taking something so heavy but Lakima tells him he is sure it is a Decanter of Everlasting water - a powerful artifact. As they approach the doors Lantosh suggests he set the jar down and retrieve it once they have cleared any threats.

The bronze doors are held shut by a simple tasseled red rope. Carric checks and does not find any traps. Lakima suggests that Domago pull the rope aside since the guardians of the tomb seem to respect him. Domago does so and pushes the doors open. Beyond is a small chamber with four pillars holding up the ceiling. Across from the heroes is another pair of bronze doors. A full-sized wooden longboat rests on the floor along one wall. Lakima leads the adventurers directly to the far door. Domago again removes the rope but the door is held shut. Carric examines the door and cannot find a way to open it. In the center of one door is an indentation in the shape of a 3” in diameter gem. They search the chamber and note the faded painting of a longboat anchored to a cloud. This boat has a gem glowing on its prow. They check the real boat in the chamber and find an indentation in its prow but no gem. In the boat, they find 10 copper jars full of ancient platinum coins. Platinum is not a current currency but it is more valuable than gold.

Lakima pulls Nadron’s head out of the sack and removes his gag. Nadron tells him that the gem in the prow of the ship is the key. He appears surprised that it is missing. He insists to Lakima that he was the last to leave this chamber thousands of years ago and no tomb raider has ever gotten past the tests to reach this chamber. He also tells them that the tomb is magically protected from teleport and dimension door spells. Lakima accuses Nadron of lying but the priest is insistent that something has changed since he “tricked” King Munera. He does not elaborate on the comment. Lakima suggests they dump out all of the copper jars on the floor of the chamber looking for a gem. They do but do not find one. They try pressing other, smaller gems into the door but it does not work. Lakima suggests taking all of the valuable platinum piled on the floor. But it means dumping all of the less valuable treasure (copper, silver, gold coins, and even bottles of wine) they found in the tomb and in the previous adventure in the Temple of Medamellara.

Conversing with Nadron

Searching the chamber once more, Lakima touches the painting of the ship. The painting shimmers and becomes a window, or portal out into a night sky far above the clouds. A wooden longboat gently rocks in the wind about 30 feet away anchored to a cloud. The Star Gem of Pelar on its prow. Lakima uses the scroll they just found to cast Fly and then flies over to the ship. He carefully removes the gem and flies back into the chamber. Below he sees the tops of snow-covered peaks between breaks in the cloud cover. Taking the gem he gives it to Domago who places it in the doors. The doors swing open to King Munera’s real tomb. A large, stone sarcophagus rests on the floor of the chamber. On the wall opposite is a ten-foot-tall statue of Munera. A familiar rod in one hand and a large red gem in the palm of his other hand. Writing on the wall hints at a passage out of the tomb. Carric checks the wall and finds cracks in the stone indicating a passage but no way to open it.

Reluctantly they all look at the stone sarcophagus. Arranging themselves at the ready around the stone coffin, they slide the lid off. Inside is the mummy of the King covered in gold armor. It rears up, still managing to surprise them with its sudden movement. It swings at Eathwund and misses. Domago attempts to turn the undead creature but fails. All five adventurers hack away at the mummy and use missile weapons. It steps from the coffin and falls upon Domago striking him but is eventually destroyed as everyone attacks. They are briefly disappointed as they do not see a gem in the coffin. Then an apparition rises up from the body. They realize it is the spirit of King Munera as the appearance matches the statues found throughout the tomb. The spirit speaks to the heroes but they cannot understand it. Lakima pulls Nadron’s head from the sack in an attempt to communicate. The ghost immediately reaches out toward Nadron and blue flames shoot from its hands at the head-turning it to dust. The ghost seems to nod toward them in thanks. Then with a wave of its hand, a stone door opens revealing a passage to a magical portal of swirling blue mist. Lakima shouts, “Finally, the way out - let’s go!” He races into the passage toward the portal. Lantosh shouts, “What about the gold on the body!” Lakima tells him to leave everything - they do not have enough bags to carry it, just bring the full sacks of platinum coins. The ghost walks out of the chamber and takes the gem from the doors. It heads into the other chamber. Domago gets one last look of it gliding through the portal toward the ship in the clouds. They all run into the portal.

They arrive in the worship hall in the first room they entered in the Plundered Tomb days ago. The chamber is as they left it. The dead bandits are still lying on the floor. They take stock of their load and shoulder packs. The tomb rumbles ominously, and small stones shower down from the ceiling as they hurriedly march outside into the cold. As they watch from a distance, the mountain of rock above the tomb entrance begins to collapse. Huge clouds of dust and snow rise up obscuring their vision. When the rumbling stops, the dust clears. The entrance to the tomb is blocked with rubble. Domago looks at the ruin and states, “I guess the gods have passed their judgment”.  Up above they all see a star shooting across the sky. Carric says it looks like a boat sailing above the clouds headed west. A bright star on its prow.

Programmed Solo Adventures

 I bought a few solo system adventures from Pacesetter Games & Simulations. I have a long history with this style of solo play. The first one I purchased and played was M1: Blizzard Pass in 1983. I recalled enjoying actually getting a chance to play. I was our game group DM and I never got a chance to be a player. It was not the same of course. The most disappointing thing was that when my hero was killed entering with a new hero was not really the same. I also quickly used up the invisible ink revealing pen and never got to see everything in the adventure. When I purchased M2: Maze of the Riddling Minotaur later that same year I carefully managed the ink of the pen and completed the adventure. I recall that the Riddling Minotaur module had an amazing maze map spread over two pages.

Later I would buy MV1: Midnight on Dagger Alley (1984) that had a magic viewer. Basically, the text to be revealed could only be seen by looking through a red-tinted viewer. I still have that viewer. I do not remember much about this adventure. The ones that followed, BS1: Ghost of Lion's Castle and XS1: Lathan's Gold (both 1984) changed the format away from the hidden text. They became programmed text like pick-your-path adventure gamebooks. The last one I played was XS2: Thunderdelve Mountain (1985). I recall I could never get through Thunderdelve alive despite multiple attempts.

I have a few of the Tunnels & Trolls solo adventures and a few from some other companies and systems but none stand out.

So the other day I tried my hand at Pacesetter Games & Simulations, I1: Grave of the Green Flame. I have the fourth printing from March 2020. According to the text it was originally published in 2011. The solo system included uses the OSRIC rules.

You can roll up any AD&D 1st edition character to start. No matter who you roll up and equip, you will start naked by the side of the road ambushed by brigands. A worker for an Innkeeper finds you and brings you to the Inn. The innkeeper agrees to equip you if you will find and kill the brigands who are bad for business.

The system uses lettered and numbered encounters to move the story along. You also get snippets of the overland map in each lettered area that allows you to slowly build a map of the area. You move along a trail from area to area. The trails cross one another so there are a lot of directions you can go.

I rolled up a 1st level Half-elven fighter I named Raelin Windstriker. Raelin did okay on his first day in the woods. He found an altar in the woods that enchanted his sword, he found a potion of healing (that was key), a few fights, and he tracked down the three brigands who waylaid him in the introductory text. Raelin was blocked several times from heading south by a wall of poisonous green mist. I never figured out how to pass it until after play when I read through the entire module.

On the second day, things took a turn for the worse. Raelin returned to the Inn the night before and recovered a hit point but he was still down to half. Then he had a disastrous encounter with three lowly centipedes. After that encounter ended Raelin was down to 4 hp and actively avoiding combat. He entered a barrow despite some misgivings and found a lot of treasure and no guards. But when he left he encountered a Shadow (3+3 HD). The text suggested fight or return the treasure. Raelin was not about to return the hard-earned treasure so he fought, and quickly lost and died.

Raelin decides to fight to keep the loot

Was the adventure fun? A little.

I find that after playing a solo game using an oracle and being my own gamemaster that I have come to expect a lot more freedom. Playing programmed adventures limits your choices. Often you only have two choices and to keep it interesting the right choice sometimes does not make a lot of sense. I was repeatedly punished for being cautious. I scouted a cabin in the woods and stepped on a stick alerting the bandits inside. I checked a stream carefully before crossing twice, and both times I got hit with a Wandering monster roll. There is also, really no real ability to reuse a programmed adventure. You are going to remember the right choices to make.

It is not very expensive on DrivThru RPG so I think it is still worth the single evenings distraction of playing.

Glaive RPG Rules

 On a whim, I backed the Glaive kickstarter and got my reward a few weeks ago. It is a booklet sized physical produce coming in at 30 pages. Given that it is based on the Knave RPG it is actually a fair bit more detailed (my version of Knave is only 7 pages).

Glaive takes the Knave rules and mixes them with some old school D&D rules. The first change you notice is character creation is that the six attributes are just modifiers (+1 to +3 to start) with no Defence numbers like you have in Knave. The characters choose from 2 talents to start and can have as many as five in play. Talents are arranged by old school classes but they do not have to be chosen that way. You could choose the warrior’s Hack and Slash talent (roll of 18-20 you perform a stunt), and the magic-users’ spell-casting ability. You can gain more talents as you level but you can only have 5 at a time. You can actually drop talents to change it for a new one.

Hitpoints advance with level. You reroll your entire hit points at every level increase (they cannot go down). Hit points are d8 for everyone. Combat feels a lot like D&D. You have d6 initiative and roll a d20 + your ability modifier (Strength for melee) and hit if the roll is greater than or equal to the opponents AC. You can regain 1d6 hit points if you pause for a turn and eat rations. Almost like a computer game. I am not certain about this rule. Given the rules on encumbrance, you are limited in how many rations you can carry.

Character creation also has similar traits (personality, background, etc) to Knave. There are also a lot of random charts included for gear. Inventory is done like Knave with it based on Constitution and you have a set number of slots (10+ CON bonus).

In an interesting choice, magic spells are provided but they are not grouped by level. They are all level less but some scale depending on your level. They are also no healing or offensive spells. The rules note this is to prevent magic-users from being healing bots or artillery. But the rules also provide magic-users the ability to turn any spell into a burst of offensive magic that does damage based on level. Ohh, and the kicker is that each spell is in a single book and each takes up one inventory slot. So Mages need high CON. I can understand the reasoning here but I think I would prefer if it was intelligence-based. Maybe all the spellbook takes up 3 slots and the number of spells is based on intelligence.

The rules do not include monsters but OSR monsters can almost be used as written and the rules do provide an explanation of how to convert monsters or create your own.

I found the rules interesting, I do not like all of the choices but I am willing to give it a try. Since my online Swords & Wizardry game takes up most of my time I am not going to try running Glaive online at least not right now. That leaves playing Solo. I decided to use Mythic as the Solo engine since I have the Mythic cards and want to get them into more use.

The (Brief) Adventures of Brem Lonetree

Scene 1 Cold Start: Close Thread, Disrupt, Friendship.

Brem Lonetree is working as a mail carrier for the messenger guild. He works for a named Wilmar Finkel. Today he arrives in Greenvale but he is delivering the messages two days late because he got held up by snow. But he has often been late. This time Wilmar uses the contract to dock his pay. Rather than 20 crowns, he is paid only 12. In a rage, Brem curses Wilmar and vows to never work of him again.

Brem goes out and gets a room at the Wandering Minstrel Inn now that he has to leave the Messenger Guild Hall. It costs him 3 crowns for the room and a hot meal.

Is Brem disturbed during the evening? Unlikely. No.

Event: NPC Action, Malice, Dispute.

The next day Brem is minding his own business eating breakfast (down to 8 crowns now) when local tough Padon Bitsk enters the tavern and walks over to where Brem is eating. He leans over and spits in Brems porridge. Brem looks up startled. Podon chuckles and says that he was sent by Wilmar to collect him.

Brem thinks for a moment and then leaps to his feet and takes a swing at Podon. It is a swing and a miss. Podon (+1 to hit, AC 10, 6 HP) swings a punch at Brem striking him for 2 points of stunning damage. Brem takes another swing and misses again. Podon laughs and punches Brem in the stomach for 1 point of damage. Finally, with his anger boiling to the top, Brem strikes Podon right in the jaw as the other man is laughing. Podon goes out like a candle and crashes to the floor. The angry innkeeper Berstern Dobbs comes out of the kitchen and yells at Brem to stop fighting. Brem smiles and says the fight is all over. He gathers his gear and trudges out the door.

Scene 2 Expected Scene: Wilmar expecting to be offered a job by Wilmar. Interrupt. PC Negative, negligence/adversities.

Brem goes to the small hall that is the quarters for the Messenger Guild. It is empty except for Wilmar behind a table. Brem tells Wilmar that he got his message but he is not interested. Wilmar, raises his eyebrows, "Ohh, you have other plans then?" Brem shrugs. "Well forget it. You owe me money and I expect to collect". Brem is confused and argues. But Wilmar says that the Messenger guild was not paid by two clients because Brem was late. Wilmar informs him that he has been penalized for the 40 crowns. He asks Brem for the silver. Brem laughs but Wilmar shows him the penalty note on the contract. Since Brem cannot read he shrugs. He figures he can just walk away and there is not much Wilmar can do about it.

Wilmar further tells Brem there is a way for him to pay back the 40 crowns and get paid an additional 40 crowns. Brem leans in with interest. “What needs to be delivered?”

Wilmar tells Brem that they have a large delivery that needs to be made outside the town. It turns out the location is Zoquill's Tower. The wizard Zorquill’s tower is in the Thin Thorns forest, which can be dangerous. Brem knows that Wilmar is likely really desperate. He expresses concern at the danger and demands 60 crowns. They settle on 50 crowns.

Wilmar goes back to the locked stockroom and with much struggling drags a wooden crate into the room. Brem goes over and tries to lift the crate. It is heavier than a keg of beer. He goes to the stock room and grabs a sled to place it on.

Scene 3 Expected Scene: Brem delivers the crate to the wizard 5 miles away. As Expected.

Brem sets out immediately. It will be impossible to get to the wizard's tower and back while the sun is still up. At this time of year, there are only 10 hours of sunlight. So he sets out just as the sun is rising.

Does Brem encounter any difficulty passing through the Thin Thorns? Likely. Yes.

As he reaches the Thin Thorns he can just make out the tower of the wizard in the distance. Keeping the location in mind he trudges through the pines careful to avoid snowfalls. He hears some odd animal calls and realizes he is being followed. He maneuvers the sled into a protected position near some trees and ducks behind it and waits. After a few moments, a pair of Goblins carrying spears advance slowly out of the trees toward the sled. Just as they reach the sled, Brem leaps to his feet and attacks one with his spear. But the goblins are not surprised and attack as well. One spear cuts into Brem's arm. It throws off Brem's aim and he misses. As he steps back one Goblin stabs him in the side. Brem feels warm blood pouring down his side. He struggles to get away but the goblin's chop him down. Brem falls dead in the snow. The wizard will never get his crate of goods.

So that was a little disappointing. A drew up a little map (below) and everything for this solo adventure and poor Brem was killed in his first encounter. The combat was no more deadly than any other OSR game. But I rolled poorly for Brem and very well for the goblins. The encounter should have been of mild difficulty but it turns out Brem is a lousy fighter.

I will have to try something else using Glaive in the same setting.

Recovering the Everflame

Only two players again for our Swords & Wizardry session using Roll20. I did open the campaign for more players and I had three people ask for details. Of them one asked to join. But he showed up near the end of the night's action and did not join.  We made do with two players. I brought back the NPC cleric and the group has the regular NPC dwarf fighter that the players take turns controlling.

Last week the players almost completed my version of the Crypt of the Everflame (Pathfinder 1st edition). There were only a few chambers left to explore. I did move some things around. Opening up the portcullis to the final two rooms allowed the big bad (a Skeletal Knight) to roam about and awaken a lot of skeletons.

I also knew this would not take more than 1-2 hours so I had a short, funny, adventure from Creations Edge Games ready for play. The Alchemist's Task Mini Dungeon. I ran it almost as written.

Session 13: The Everflame and a Bear

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC), Kasir (Human Cleric NPC).

The players return from the Everflame Mausoleum and spend an evening resting. The next day Eathwund, Lakima, and Daen head across town to the Mausoleum. They take note of the number of pennants and banners hanging on buildings and the number of people who have come to the town for the Harvest Festival. Lakima asks a local about the pennants and learns they represent the various family factions in the town. The factions will compete for honors in events during the Harvest Festival.

They meet Brother Kasir at the mausoleum and he unlocks the doors. Descending down the same paths they find little change until they reach the stone door blocking access to the circular room with the arrow trap. The door has descended again. Lakima unlocks the door and they cross the chamber. The trap activates but it is out of ammunition.

Descending to the second level they make their way east to the catacombs. In the first catacombs, they find the dead have been disturbed and have risen from the crypts. All eyes turn to Kasir who steps forward and turns most of the undead. The climb back into their crypts. As they near the portcullis to the second catacomb they find another group of skeletons waiting for them. This time Kasir is unable to turn them. The adventures catch three of the skeletons in the doorway and destroy them. The other skeletons back up to the far end of the chamber. The adventurers advance and destroy them as well. Past the catacombs, they come to a large chamber. A stone bridge crosses a wide pit in the center of the chamber. Two stone statues stand at the far end of the bridge. The adventurers walk into the chamber cautiously. Eathwund notes tracks from the Sewer Rats lead up to the bridge. On the bridge, the dust and dirt look to have been swept away.

Daen decides to cross the bridge. As soon as he reaches the midpoint, the two statues slide quickly toward him across the bridge. Daen tries to leap between them but he is caught up and he gets hurled back against the near wall. The statues then stop and slide back to their starting point. The adventurers decide to climb down into the pit to avoid the statues. Daen descends on a rope and then he hurls the grappling hook tied to another rope up and around one of the statues. He climbs safely up on the far side of the pit and the statues do not move. The rest of the group follow Daen’s lead.

On the other side of the bridge, two large brass-bound doors await them. Daen pushes them open. On the other side stone steps descend into an enormous tomb. Giant statues line a central hall. Crypts lie against the walls. In the distance, they see an open crypt with the Everflame torch sitting above it. As they slowly descend the stair a skeletal knight steps out of the shadows and taunts them telling them they will soon join his followers.

The skeleton waits for them unmoving so they advance slowly and then attack from all sides. Eathwund manages to get a solid hit. The undead creature calls out for his vassals to come to his aid. The lids of the nearby crypts slide open and skeletons armed with swords crawl out of them surrounding the heroes. The fighting with the skeletal knight continues and Daen strikes the creature. Lakima throws several vials of Holy Water but all of them miss. Kasir manages to turn the lesser skeletons driving them back into their crypts. The undead skeleton roars in anger at this and attacks Kasir. It hits Kasir with its two-handed sword. Kasir tries to raise his flail in his defense but he is staggered by the blow. Clutching his bleeding side he does not see the return swing from the undead knight that cleaves his head off of his shoulders. Kasir's headless corpse collapses to the stone floor.

Daen shouts at the creature in anger and redoubles his attacks, managing to score a hit. The creature appears concerned and begins to retreat into the shadows to the east. It calls out again for the creatures to rise from their tombs and skeletons do answer its call.  All the time retreating to the east. Daen, Eathwund, and Lakima pursue it and see another open crypt in the distance. A recent corpse is lying beside it on the floor.

The risen skeletons press their attacks and allow the undead knight to retreat to its crypt. The heroes are forced to chop down this new threat first. Eathwund destroys three of the skeletons quickly, Lakima smashes one with his flaming staff, and Daen destroys two more. Daen races to the open crypt and swings his hammer at the skeletal knight that is now lying motionless. His hasty strike rings off its armor. Daen takes careful aim on his second swing and smashes its skull.

Daen and Lakima search the body of the corpse which is that of a thin rat-faced man. Daen removes two large sacks and places them in his pack. They can tell that the man has been dead no more than two days. They surmise that this was the leader of the Sewer Rat gang that they heard about. Writing on the crypt states, “Asar Vergas. The finest Knight of St. Cuthbert before his pride brought his fall into evil. Contemplate his fate. Do not disturb his rest.”

They head back into the main chamber and look into the open crypt. The writing on the crypt proclaims, “Ekat Kassen, First Abbot of St. Cuthbert. Defender of the weak.” In the crypt is a mummified body of a man wearing resplendent plate mail armor and clutching a mace to his chest. Rather than pilfer the tomb, Daen and Eathwund carefully close the lid sealing it again. They immediately, feel a sense of thanks and are each healed of their wounds.

They take the Everflame torch which is resting against the wall beside the tomb. Daen also places Kasir’s head into a sack. Eathwund and Daen lift up Kasir’s torso and carry it out. In the chamber with the sliding statues, they race across the stone bridge before the statues can slam into them. From there they do not have much trouble reaching the exit. At the exit, the two Church Guards are horrified by Kasir’s headless body. One of the guards runs off to the Church for help. Half an hour later, Brother Wakefield arrives with four knights. They take Kasir’s body on a stretcher and Brother Wakefield solemnly takes the Everflame torch. He asks if they could deliver a full report of their findings in the crypt the next day. Wishing peace upon them, they leave.

Daen, Eathwund, and Lakima wearily head back to their home base. The cook has lunch waiting for them. They discuss the events and Lakima writes down as much as he can remember and scrawls out a crude map. In the sacks taken from the thief in the crypt, they find gold coins, a spellbook, and a Wand. Lakima casts Detect Magic and discovers it is a Wand of Magic Missiles. He also notes that the dagger they found earlier in the crypt is magical.

The next day Brother Wakefield visits and accepts Lakima’s notes with thanks. He tells them the Abbot would like them all to be his guests at the Harvest Festival in a few days. Then he leaves nearly knocking over a young woman standing outside the front door.

A Very Large Bear

The young woman knocks on the door sill and asks to enter. Once waved inside she tells them she would like to hire them to kill a very large bear. After a few confusing sentences, she starts over. Her name is Alayna, she is the owner of a nearby potion shop. She is an aspiring alchemist. She just needs some good, unique formula to pull in some business. She purchased a map to the workshop of a rival of hers called Raho. When she went to check it out she found a large bear in the entrance cave.

The adventures agree to help her and start immediately. They agree that all notes discovered in the workshop belong to Alayna but all potions will be split 50/50. Alayna returns a few hours later wearing leather armor and carrying a small pack. She tells them that the cave is about a one hour walk from the West Gate. They tell her that they are riding. Alayna asks if they might have a pony for her. As it turns out they do still have Manny’s pony. It only takes them a short time to get to the cave entrance. It is located in some hills near the Valen river a short distance from Edgerton. Daen descends a short distance into the cave and reports there is a bear sleeping in the back of the cave.

Lakima comes up with a plan. He creates a snare with rope and connects in with block and tackle to a nearby tree. Eathwund and Daen hold the far end of the rope ready to pull it tight. Lakima gets as close as he dares and throws three darts. All of the darts strike the sleeping bear in the rump. The bear leaps to its feet roaring in anger and charges up the slope out of the cave directly over the snare. Eathwund and Daen pull it tight and all four legs of the bear and caught dropping it to the ground (I gave the bear a saving throw and rolled a 1). The heroes winch the bear across the ground and leave it tied to a tree, snarling at them.

Inside the cave, they find the entrance to another large cave. The bottom of this cave is a chasm 30 feet deep. Across the chasm is an unsafe looking bridge made of rotten logs. At the bottom of the chasm, they see giant fire beetles skittering about. At least a dozen of them. Daen is the first to step carefully across the bridge with a rope attached to his waist. He makes it despite a lot of creaking from the logs. The rest follow. Alayna skips across displaying real dexterity.

The next chamber holds a pool of water fed by a spring. Daen dips his hand in the water for a drink then notices a ripple moving across the water towards him. A serpent made of water launches out of the water and attacks him. Between Daen and Eathwund they manage to strike the weird and it drops into the water vanishing.

They move on to the next cave and behold the odd site of many small pools carved out of the rock that holds discolored liquids of various shades and hues. Alayna excitedly advances to check on them telling them that these are pools of potions, or mixing vats. Daen advances into the cave and discovers another cave to the south where a tremendous fire has occurred. All that remains are bits of glass, charred wood, soot, and the skeleton of Raho the mad. Searching through the area they do find 18 intact glass vials. Alayna sets about identifying some of the liquids in the pools in the chamber and Lakima and Daen draw some of the contents into the flasks. The adventurers taking potions from pools that Alayna identifies and Alayna taking them from ones she cannot. They also find some charred notebooks that are turned over to Alayna.

Once all of the vials are full they load their packs and head out of the caves. Outside the bear is chewing on the ropes attempting to free itself. They mount their horses and leave the angry bear behind.

In Search of Adventure

Another Swords & Wizardry session. We are up to 8 sessions if you include session zero. This session did not go as I had expected. The players left the dungeon without finding the object that was the intended goal. I had a short adventure set ready for the urban setting and was able to slide it right in. They then proceeded to run through the short adventure in less than an hour.

The Monstery of the Fire Opal was the adventure they left without finding the noted Fire Opal. There were multiple clues but they missed all of them. They did search the correct room but rolled poorly. The final goal was hidden behind a secret door. This is the reason why placing the end item behind a secret door is dangerous. Putting a bonus treasure behind a secret door is fine. But if you put the end goal behind a secret door there is a chance the players will never find it.  The heroes cleared the second level of the dungeon of every creature but one and they found almost no treasure. In fact, they devalued the one item of treasure they did find by breaking it.

Session 7: Leaving the Monastery
Players: Marta the Chaste (cleric), Raeish Farstrider (Elven Fighter/Magic-User), Eathwund (Human Fighter), Lakima the Grey (Human Magic-User), Daen Shieldbreaker (Dwarven Fighter/NPC).

In the last session, the heroes had narrowly escaped a dead-end trap with a "fake" fire opal gem. They had just noticed a secret door held closed by iron spiked.

The heroes investigate the secret door and find that there are 3 iron spikes holding it closed. Raeish struggles and is unable to pull them from the wall but the sturdy dwarf Daen manages to do it without too much effort. Beyond is a 5 foot wide narrow passage. As they follow the passage they come across the remains of two monks who appear to have been eaten a long time ago. The passage ends in another secret door that exits into a storage area. Raeish finds several crates and opens them to fine ceremonial gear and robes. One of the crates is covered with what looks like yellow mold so they avoid it.

Continuing south they are ambushed by two more manes. During the fight, a young man dressed in dark-blue robes appears beside them and throws darts at the manes. They are surprised by his appearance but press the attack against the mane's first before dealing with the newcomer. After the manes are killed they stop to interrogate the man. He tells them he is Lakima (the grey) and says that he has been following them while invisible. He is a little vague about his reasons. Saying that he is interested in magic so that is why he was in the monastery. Raeish asks why he revealed himself now and not earlier and Lakima says that he wanted to be sure they were trustworthy first.

After some discussion, they decide to accept Lakima who explains to them that he is a magic-user. Marta decides to keep an eye on Lakima. They come to an area that is a maze of passages. In one intersection three more manes attack them but they are able to destroy the demons. Nearby they find a monk's room that was the scene of a battle, the door to the room hangs limply on one hinge. Raeish finds a lever in this room that opens a secret door. The door leads to a small ten-foot square room that is deserted. They decide to close the secret door and take a rest in the enclosed space that they believe has only one entrance through the secret door.

While resting Raeish studies the walls of the chamber and notices a protruding stone in the wall opposite the secret door. When the rest is over Marta casts Cure Light Wounds on Raeish and Daen the two most badly injured.

Raeish goes over and presses the stone he noticed. Another secret door opens. In the room beyond, they see the strange sight of a mane seated on a stool before a writing desk. It is scratching away in a book with an ink quill. They step in the room and the mane completely ignores them. Its dull grey eyes fixed on the pages in front of it.

Raeish spears the mane, and it steps up from the desk to defend itself. All five of the adventurers attack and bring it down. Lakima examines the book. It is a large volume, quite heavy. The ink is still wet on the open page. The writing is indecipherable to him but he surmises it is in Infernal. Lakima decides to take the book and he puts it in his backpack. Marta looks on with disapproval but holds his tongue for now.

The Infernal Monk

The heroes head north through more corridors and find three more manes, each working alone in a cell writing in ink in books. The writings are all in the strange infernal language. The pages do not seem the same. One is even drawing diagrams on the page. They kill all of the manes and everyone except Marta slips a book in their pack.

The heroes backtrack and head south. Raeish is taking the lead and rushes ahead down a corridor when he triggers a pressure plate on the floor and three spears launch from the wall. One hits Raeish and he is badly wounded. The rest of the heroes arrive and Daen takes the lead carefully tapping the floor with the haft of his battleax. Two more traps are triggered. The hallway ends in a dead-end, but Lakima is certain that there must be a secret door and Raeish finds it. Beyond a short passage leads to a brightly lit shrine to evil. A blood-splattered altar sits in the center of a round chamber. Against the north wall are two piles of rubble from two broken statues. Daen steps over to the rubble to examine it and the piles form up into a pair of roughly human-shaped creatures made of rubble. The creatures cannot move but they do throw large stones and the heroes. They find their edged weapons are doing little damage but Marta’s mace is effective and the cleric smashes one of the creatures. The other is brought down by an attack from Raeish’s magic spear.

They search the chamber carefully certain that there must be something interesting here. Nothing is found. Marta does a blessing at the altar in an attempt to remove any evil. And with Daen’s help and a few hammers they break the altar apart. They search one final unchecked passage that leads down a few steps to a carving on the wall of a demon. They do not find anything. Certain they have checked everywhere they go over a plan of action. They are certain the orange opal they found earlier is not the fire opal. It is just an ordinary opal. Lakima suggests to Daen that maybe there is something hidden in the opal. Daen agrees to try and break it apart and he does manage to break it in two but there is nothing inside and now the opal is just about worthless.

With seemingly no inhabitants left in this part of the dungeon, Raeish goes over areas they checked before to see if he can find anything suspicious but to no avail. After two hours of searching, they decide to call it quits and leave the dungeon.

They exit to the swamp and signal for Hamish to come to pick them up. The evening is approaching. Hamish arrives and is surprised to see Lakima and not Gaeleath or Manny. He asks after the halfling woman and they inform him that she did not make it out. Hamish questions them about their adventures and they tell him of fighting the dragon and show him the dragon head. He is impressed. He rubs his hands together and says, “So you must have quite a haul of treasure then? Right?”  His comment is met with stony silence.

Back at Hamish’s cottage, they set up camp. During the night during Daen’s watch, he hears some suspicious whistles. He wakes everyone up and they ready their weapons in the darkness. Four lizardfolk leap out of the reeds silently but are met with a surprise attack. One of the lizardfolk drops from Marta’s attack and the rest are put to sleep by Lakima.

Marta drags the dead lizardfolk away to a pit and tosses it in. Meanwhile, Raeish drags the sleeping Lizardfolk away telling Marta he will leave them in the open nearby. But instead, Raeish kills them and then tosses them in the bog.

The next day dawns with some mist but soon they are out of the moors and on the wilderness road. The sun burns away the mist. They meet a boy named Chert leading a wagon of logs to Edgerton to sell to a charcoaler. They decide to escort the slightly nervous boy into Edgerton.

In Edgerton the heroes go back to the Sign of the Dancing Dragon inn and settle in. Lakima buys a round of drinks for everyone at the table. They begin telling the story of their adventure in the monastery. When they get to the part about the dragon a few patrons look at the heroes skeptically. Then Daen dumps the dragon’s head out onto the table. Several barmaids shriek and run out of the room. The owner, Morton Bray, comes to the table and demands to know what is going on. But he is impressed by the dragon head and the stories. He is also impressed by the growing crowd around the table in the common room. He pays for the hero's drinks for the rest of the evening.

After telling the tale a few times through, and improving it with each telling the heroes tire. Raeish suggests to Morton that he should buy the dragon head for the Inn. But Morton is uninterested. The inn sign shows a happy, dancing dragon, not a beheaded evil dragon. Another patron suggests they get it mounted and he knows just the guy to do it.  The local leads them to the poor quarter of the town, an area called Mirdton, to the shop of a taxidermist named Wyston Ridley. Wyston is impressed by the dragon head and agrees to mount it. Before he can name a price Raeish drops 100 gold coins on the table and tells him to be sure to use gold and ivory trim on the mounting.


The Crypt of St. Bethesda
It is late and the man who led them to Mirdton had left some time ago so they make their own way back toward the Market common. Heading down an unfamiliar street they hear a man cry out in pain. They are not sure which direction the scream came from so they continue on. Rounding a corner into the next street they see a large, boarded-up church and in the alley, a body slumped near the wall. They approach and check the body and see strange lavender worms wriggling around on the body near still steaming acid burns. The worms leave a trail across the street and into an open sewer grate.

As they stand there pondering what happened Raeish drops down into the grate. Several members of the Town Watch approach and shout out for them to halt in the name of the watch and drop their weapons. After a moment's indecision, they all follow Raeish into the sewers.

The sewer grate leads directly into a room cluttered with debris. They figure from the church pews and chairs that they are in the crypt of the abandoned church above. Two passages lead off from the chamber. One leads to a storeroom full of wood boxes of moldy hardtack and empty barrels of wine. Raeish searches about and finds a loose set of stones behind one barrel. Pushing the stones out of the way he finds a crawlway through to a corridor.

The corridor heads east passed a pair of doors. The first door opens into a room choked with enormous spider webs. Raeish splashes some oil in the room and throws in a lit torch. They hear the roar of flames and a chittering noise. Reopening the door causes smoke to pour into the hallway. Beyond they see charred spider webs and a burnt giant spider. They close the door to prevent the smoke from spreading.

The next-door opens into a cave of stalactites and stalagmites. The walls are roughly hewn stone. A pair of low, narrow passages head south. Daen crosses the chamber and a pair of ghouls leap out and attack him. There is a brief exchange of blows and then Marta steps forward and rebukes the ghouls who turn to flee into the tunnels. One ghoul is killed before it can flee. Raeish chases the other into the tunnels crawling on his hands and knees. He traps the ghoul and stabs it repeatedly with his spear killing it. They find two exits from the tunnels that come up in a small, courtyard graveyard.

They go back to the corridor and head north. They find a cunningly made stone door that opens out into the corridor. Opening the door they see an enormous garbage pile. Fresh garbage falls out of openings in the ceiling onto the growing piles. They turn about and continue to the east. The corridor ends in a door leading to a cleaner looking room that contains an enormous altar. On top of the altar is a sigil. Marta examines it and tells them it is the symbol of St. Bethesda. A patron saint of healing the sick. Lakima examines the altar and finds the top is hinged. Flipping it up he finds a knob underneath that can be depressed. He does so and it clicks and stays in the lowered position. They do not note that anything happened. They do a quick search of the room and Raeish finds a secret door to the north behind a frayed, moth-eaten tapestry.

To the north is an intersection of passages with the statue of a matronly woman in robles standing in the center of the passage. Marta tells them that this is St. Bethesda. Meanwhile, Raeish is pointing down the east passage. They can just make out a large chamber, an ornate sarcophagus, and a trail of lavender colored worms leading to it.

The heroes make a plan quietly and then silently stalk into the chamber. They encircle the sarcophagus. It is a beautiful ornate coffin made of expensive wood with silver brackets. Gems are inlaid into the lid of the coffin. Daen lifts the lid of the coffin and they look inside. A corpse with clearly life-ending open wounds lies in the coffin. Lavender worms can be seen moving about in the open wounds. Suddenly, the things eyes open and it sits straight up in the coffin.

Not surprised everyone attacks, Daen chops it with his ax, Marta strikes it with his mace, Eathwund hits it with his magic shortsword, Lakima strikes it with two darts, and Raeish stabs it with his spear. Everyone hits the creature in a flurry of blows opening up more wounds in its chest and neck. More worms pour out of the open wounds. The creature hisses at them and worms pour out of its mouth. Then it strikes back at Daen, Raeish, and Eathwund. Tentacles of worms pour out of its open wounds and one from its mouth. Daen and Raeish are both take hits but for little damage. The worms also leave acid stains on their clothes and they hurriedly have to back out of the battle to take off the burning clothes.

The remaining heroes attack again but miss and the creature makes another attack. This time it misses them. When they attack it again they strike it multiple times and it collapses in a heap of worms. They tilt the coffin up and dump the body and the worms on the floor. Just before they are about to hack the gems out of the coffin Daen and Lakima stop them. They think the coffin is magical and worth a lot of gold. They settle the coffin back down and begin to discuss how to move it. Marta looks it over and sees sigils of St. Bethesda on it. He suggests they look to return it to the church but his suggestion is not received well.

Sarcophagus of the Wormwraith

They decide to leave the coffin for later and continue exploring the crypts. To the north, they stop at a door. Peering inside they see a clean camp, with a fire (smoke going up through some holes in the ceiling) and several pallets of blankets. A man snores noisily while sitting atop a wooden chest. They sneak up on the man and Raeish puts his spear to the man’s throat. He motions to the others asking if he should kill the man. Marta shakes his head sternly. They wake the man up with Raeish’s spear at his throat. The man, who tells them his name is Hayes, claims to be minding his own business. The trunk holds only his laundry he says. They threaten him but the man sticks to his story until Lakima casts Charm Person on him. Then Hayes tells his good friend Lakima that this is the hideout for a group of thieves. The rest of the thieves are out on a heist. The chest holds their treasure but the thief's leader, whom he calls Reimer, has the only key. Hayes tells them they should wait. His friends will be back soon.

The heroes set up a trap with Hayes in the far corner, the fighters by the door that Hayes tells them leads to an abandoned shop. He also helpfully tells them that the other two doors lead to traps that the thieves set up.  After waiting for an hour they hear the noise of several men approaching. The men are not trying to be quiet. They are talking loudly and laughing. As they open the door both Lakima and Raeish hit them with Sleep spells. All of the thieves fall to the floor asleep. Hayes asks his friend Lakima what is going on, as the others tie up the thieves. They find a bag of loot on one man and a key on another. The key fits the lock in the chest and inside is another haul of stolen goods. The heroes have a brief discussion about what to do with the loot. Finally, they decide to take the untraceable coins and bring the rest, along with the gang members to the City Watch. They agree to return later for the ornate sarcophagus.