In Search of the Unknown Session 2

My Roll20 Swords & Wizardry game continued this past weekend. The adventurers continued through the stronghold of Quasqueton. They ascended to the stronghold level from the orc caverns below. I am using the original maps with very slight modification and it is clear that this level was written to make map-keeping difficult. There are a lot of secret doors, winding passages that go nowhere, even a false door. I used a full-colour map purchased from the DM's Guild and Fog of war on Roll20. This meant the players did not have to draw a map. I do not think anyone would have enjoyed trying to map this. If I were going to play this at the table I would use the alternate map that is available on the internet that simplifies the layout of the dungeon.

The length of the winding corridors made the players impatient and they rushed directly into some wandering monsters because of it.

Session Report

Players: Marta the Cautious (cleric), Manny Lightfoot (Halfling Thief), Raeish Farstrider (Elven Fighter/Magic-User), Gaeleath Olomaer (Elven Fighter/Magic-User), Daen Shieldbreaker (Dwarven Fighter/NPC).

The five adventurers decided to advance up the stone steps from the lower levels of Quasqueton to the upper level. If the rumors they heard in Larm are to be believed this would be the final level of the stronghold.

They encountered only dark, dusty stone hallways. Then they entered a large throne room with stone pillars and yellow and purple banners hanging on the walls. While the others stayed alert, Manny checked behind a few of the banners. Suddenly, one of the purple banners leaped from the wall and swiftly wrapped the halfling up and began choking the life out of her. Gaeleath and Daen tried chopping up the banner but it was Manny who freed herself by wriggling out one end. After that everyone joined in hacking the banner to pieces. The two elves decided to help Manny search the chamber. Manny picked up a small pouch of gold coins lying on the floor while one of the elves found a secret door to the north.

Just then Daen heard a group of Kobolds approaching from a hallway to the north. The group confronted four kobolds. Rather than attack, the kobolds instead questioned Daen (who spoke Kobold) about their presence in the stronghold. Daen tried to convince the kobolds that the adventurers were invited guests. The kobolds asked the adventurers to wait in the throne room while they went to get their boss.

As soon as the kobolds departed the heroes quickly slipped through the secret door and arrived in a wood-paneled bed-chamber. They searched this chamber carefully and Gaeleath was able to locate two more secret doors. One led to a corridor headed west. Gaeleath heard the sound of many footsteps so he closed the door. The other secret door headed south through a secret passage that ended in another secret door.

This secret door led into another bed-chamber, this one furnished for a woman. Waiting behind the door were two ghouls. The ghouls quickly attacked but did not surprise the heroes. There was a quick fight and the ghouls were killed but not before Daen was struck and paralyzed. Deciding it was likely late at night now, the heroes decided to take a rest and get some sleep. Daen was tossed unceremoniously on the bed raising a big cloud of dust. Manny rifled through the dresser in the room and managed to find a silver comb and a silver mirror. After an hour Daen recovered.

They set watches for the night. Late in the evening on Daen’s shift, something tried to open the door to the south. They had blocked the door so it did not open. Daen awoke everyone and they got ready for a fight but whatever checked the door did not return.

The next morning they left the room they had barricaded in and set out. It ended up being a very long walk as the maze-like nature of the stronghold gradually became apparent. After walking about for a while they found themselves back in a corridor near the throne room. The noise of many feet was heard from north of them and they spotted another patrol of kobolds but they remained unnoticed. Shadowing the Kobolds north they found a one-way secret door leading into a parallel north/south corridor. They decided to enter this corridor even though the door closed behind them (they briefly spiked it open but decided that was too much of a marker of their path). Heading south they encountered the strange stone masks that shouted warnings at them. The elven mages surmised that this was a magic mouth spell and that it was repeating the same phrases. Further south they found a broken open exit or entrance to the outside. They headed back north but first relocated one of the stone masks as a possible warning system.

Heading north they found five dead bodies and bloody tracks headed west. Three of the bodies were human/dwarven and appeared to be adventurers. They found a simple copy of the map to Quasqueton that they possessed on one of the human corpses. The other two corpses were kobolds.

They followed the bloody footprints west and then back south for a very long time. Eventually finding the tracks ended behind a barred door. Breaking down the door they found a dead human. He appeared to have died within the last few days. Manny decided to strip the corpse of its equipment and leather armor. Gaeleath put the leather armor in his backpack.

The adventurers headed north again into a fungus filled “garden” room. A large chamber filled with enormous fungus. Daen was asked if he had seen any fungus this big before and he had not. Raeish hopped down into a shallow pit to check out some suspicious lumps under the mossy floor but he came under attack by an enormous ochre jelly. Only Gaeleath’s Magic Missile seemed to affect the jelly and once it was expended they had no other way to attack it so they decided to back away and avoid it. Leaving the dead-end garden room the adventurers took a very long walk first to the west and then back north eventually entering a winding portion of the dungeon corridor. Gaeleath took a break to put on the leather armor and discovered it was magical +1 armor.

They had slowed to a stealthy walk so the elves could check for more secret doors. Because of this, they were not surprised when they rounded a corner and were confronted by four more Kobolds. The fight was very brief. Two kobolds were killed in the first flurry of blows and the remaining pair of kobolds threw down their simple weapons and cowered in fear.

With some persuasion and a whole lot more threats, Daen managed to convince the Kobolds to lead them to their master “Zell’gar”. The kobolds lead the adventurers north and then east to a secret door. They opened the door and made to step back but Raeish pushed the kobolds into the chamber first. The room turned out to be a wizard’s workshop or lab. Dust coated everything but they did find one full bottle of some sort of gas or liquid. Marta disturbed a pair of large rats that were hiding under a torture rack. The rats attacked and Marta killed one quickly. The other rat vanished in a poof of gas when Manny hit it with a sling stone. During the excitement, one kobold made a run for it. Arrows were shot at it but it got away to the north. They then decided to kill the other helpless kobold. Daen doing the deed. They searched another wizard’s lab, this one full of wizard potion components but nothing useful. Although Gaeleath took a clay jar labeled, Dragon dung. The vanishing rat reappeared on a table and hissed at them and then vanished again.

Feeling tired the adventurers began discussing the possibility of resting. The decision was made that it made sense to rest outside of the stronghold. They were concerned that the kobold that got away would bring reinforcements. They decided to check out one more door that opened into a corridor headed east. A short distance down this corridor they found a strange, primitive image of what they thought might be a dragon or a kobold painted on the wall.

A Strange Warning

Ignoring the warning they headed east rapidly. Raeish broke a tripwire and they heard the sound of metal cans rattling to the east. Continuing rapidly along they turned north and ran directly into six kobolds. The adventurers were initially surprised but soon a furious melee broke out in the tightly packed corridor. Manny was pressed into one corner surrounded by kobolds. The kobolds fought desperately and at first were unyielding in giving ground.

Manny was stabbed with a wooden spear in the chest and fell to the floor clutching her chest unconscious. The melee was so packed Marta found that a kobold blocked his path to get to the fallen halfling. He crushed the kobold and stepped over the corpse to get to Manny and cast his healing magic. Manny awoke and immediately leaped to her feet fully recovered.

By this point in time, four of the kobolds were dead, the remaining two turned to retreat and one was cut down from behind. The last Kobold backed up to be joined by five more kobolds. The kobolds lowered their spears and advanced, just as Raeish finished shrugging out of his armor and cast a Sleep conjuration. All of the kobolds fell to the floor sound asleep. Manny and Daen walked amongst the helpless kobolds finishing them off.

A search of the nearby chambers revealed three Kobold barracks. The rooms had human-sized beds in them and were surprisingly clean for kobold quarters. In one chamber a false door was set into the east wall. Raeish attacked the door with a heavy hammer smashing it off of the wall but all he found was the stone blocks of the stronghold.

Clearly, this door is here for a reason

The adventurers headed again to the west following a winding stone corridor that eventually led them back to where they had started near the wizard’s workroom. They never did encounter their missing kobold. They decided to check out a corridor heading east and came to what appeared to be a prison with a series of cells. In two of the cells, there was a strange glowing blue crystal with no apparent purpose. The group paused for a breath before continuing on.

The Mysterious Crystal