Session 4: The Treasure Vault

Session four of our In Search of the Unknown adventure resulted in the clearing of Quasqueton and the party made preparations to return to civilization.  I will try to summarize the session report this time because there was a lot of door bashing and searching in this session which is not something I want to write up.

I am the Game Master and I am using Swords & Wizardry rules on Roll20. We did not have any technical issues on this night which was nice.

I have modified the maps a little for my own interpretation of Quasqueton. But not a lot. The biggest modification was making the secret door to the caverns an easily found entrance. So the players actually entered from the cavern level the first time (as detailed in session report 2). The stronghold’s primary inhabitants are Orcs on the cavern level and Kobolds on the dungeon level. The Kobolds had made use of the stronghold’s defenses to keep most creatures out of their level including the orcs. They made regular patrols and still honored their agreement to their master Zelligar (whom they call Zelgar). The orcs, on the other hand, no longer protect the caverns as Rogahn’s last order demanded. They have been leading raids into the countryside which brought adventurers back to the stronghold. In fact, a map has been making the rounds in various borderland taverns showing the location of the stronghold.

The only other inhabitants of the stronghold are the undead and vermin. Over three days the party of five heroes has been foraying into the stronghold. They killed all of the orcs and all but one of the kobolds. As they spent one more day exploring there were only a few undead and vermin left to challenge them. So I added a party of troglodytes to the caverns looking for their missing brethren who were captured by orcs (and killed by the heroes 2 days ago). These troglodytes are on a mission and are not looking for a fight.  A group that is looking for a fight are five bandits who have a copy of the map. They arrived the night before and set up camp. In the morning they plan to set up an ambush and one of the strongholds exits to catch any delvers coming out in a crossfire (we shall see how well that works).

Session 4: The Treasure Vault

The session begins with the five heroes ascending from the caverns again. They had followed a shaft that led back down into the caverns from the dungeon level. Manny Lightfoot (female halfling fighter), Marta the chaste (male human cleric), Gaeleath Olomaer (male elven fighter-mage), Raeish Farstrider (male elven fighter-mage), and Daen Sheildbreacker (male dwarven fighter).

The checked out the trophy room, evil shrine, and Erig’s chambers near the dungeon level entrance. All this was accomplished with only a minor tussle with vermin. Then they moved north and discovered the Room of Pools.

They spent about an hour checking out the fourteen pools but being too cautious to test any of the contents. They did find and use the pool with healing liquid and they manage to pull a key out of the pool of acid. This key later proved important. They found the secret door to the apartments of Marevak. This elf was left in charge of the stronghold when Rogahn and Zelligar left and never returned. He died of a heart attack a few months after they left and that is the reason for the sad state of affairs in the stronghold (Kobolds in charge!). The final failure led to his coming back as an undead skeleton which the heroes quickly killed. Manny set off a gas trap in the desk but managed to grab the contents before they had to vacate the chamber. This trapped drawer in a secret room was one of the major treasures in the stronghold. The contents of the drawer were one of six possibilities and I rolled… a Ring of Protection+1.

From the room of pools, they headed further north and entered the armory which was defended by more skeletons. Marta turned the skeletons that fled to the north. Manny searched under some stored daggers and found… a Ring of Protection+1.  I was a little disappointed that the same treasure would happen to come up in the game within about an hour of playing time. The first was a random event, but the second was placed. I thought about switching it out with another magic ring but I ended up leaving it in. Rings of Protection are really powerful. Especially at higher levels when there is no other way to improve your armor class.

The skeletons were chased into the empty barracks and put down with missile fire from range.  From the barracks, the group headed west and entered Zelligar’s rooms. They had walked right by the rooms two sessions earlier but now they entered. They were disappointed with the lack of loot. Zelligar packed up almost all of his valuables when he left. They did find a magic wand (which is a fake). The annex with the treasure chests turned out to be an illusion. They were so certain it was a trap they dispelled the illusion by firing an arrow at a chest. In the closet, they made two important discoveries. Raeish found a leather sack in the pocket of an old robe. This was a Bag of Devouring that nearly devoured Raeish. The rules for being pulled into the bag are quite detailed but I ended up just doing a strength roll and let the other players help. They managed to get the bag closed. The second item was found by Gaeleath. He found some notes written by Zelligar. One note, dated 30 years earlier, noted that he would be adding a second guardian to the vault in the caverns.

The mention of the vault got everyone’s attention. They headed back to the stairway to the caverns immediately.  The players had already explored just about every cave in the caverns and I did not relish roleplaying their searching for secret doors in every cave, tunnel, and corridor. So I quickly wrote a note up in my Logbook detailing how the brass key from the Room of Pools could be used with the mysterious statue to open the secret door to the vault. The players still had to put the statue and the door together.

Arriving in the caverns they headed north and then west and encountered the troglodyte search party. Four troglodytes stood and the edge of their sight in a dark cavern. The troglodytes made no move to attack. Raeish hailed the creatures in common and the troglodytes responded, but no one could understand their language. Raeish unbuckled and removed his armor and set down his weapons and approached. He tried hand gestures and pantomime. He just could not understand them. He then cast Sleep on the troglodytes and all four hit the cavern floor asleep. Manny walked up and slit their throats. The troglodytes had more important things to do (looking for their tribe members) so they would have stepped aside for the adventurers. But as soon as they found the dead bodies of their friends they would have set up an ambush for the players.

The players actually passed through the secret passage that went past the vault but they did not notice. They ended up in the cavern with the crude, rock statue of a man his arms outstretched to the north-north-east. Almost pointing in that direction. All of the adventurers started searching the area. After about 20 minutes Gaeleath noticed that the arms of the statue were attached and not cut from the same rock. He was able to lever one of the arms off. Underneath he saw a keyhole. The key from the Room of Pools fit. The key was mechanically pulled into the statue until only the head was visible. Then it rotated a full circle. There was a very loud click, more of a thunk noise from the floor beneath their feet. Raeish started pulling up flagstones but nothing was found. They searched the walls again but could not find anything. Gaeleath suggested that possibly the key activated a door somewhere else. Maybe in the direction, the arms were pointing?

The Key to the Vault

They decided to head to the bat cavern via the secret passage they found days ago. In that secret passage, they came upon an open doorway. A hitherto undiscovered secret door. Beyond was a narrow passage that ended in a small cave.

In the cave, three stout wooden chests guarded by two life-sized marble statues of a naked man holding a spear. The statues appeared to be identical. Manny asked everyone to cover her while she moved to the chests. Each was locked. She picked the first lock and found an elaborate statuette of a tiger inland with copper and silver. But the locks on the remaining two chests were too difficult for her. Out came the crowbar and Manny and Daen took turns prying the chests open. Inside they found a huge amount of treasure, eight bags of silver with notes on them noting which kobold or orc tribe would be paid the silver. Two bags of gold and two potions of healing. In retrospect, I should have had them find that the two potions were broken since they had to break open the chests.

With this tremendous reward, Manny declared that she felt they had accomplished their task and it was time to haul this treasure back to civilization where it could be spent. They exited the cavern, finding it was around midnight. Luckily, they knew the way to the campsite they had set up the previous day. They settled down and took watches.

Only the final watch, Just before daybreak, Gaeleath's smelled woodsmoke with his keen Elvish senses. He woke up the others. Manny sneaked off through the woods towards the smell with Gaeleath following at a distance. In a clearing, Manny spotted a campsite with a carefully banked fire. Four men around the fire. They had a generally rough appearance and Manny thought they might be bandits. Then she spotted the fifth man in the trees watching quietly, apparently a guard for the camp.

Heading back Manny told the others what she had found. She proposed a plan where the others would cover her while she walked up to the campsite and discovered the intent of the men. Approaching the site, Manny saw four horses tied off to a fallen tree. She whistled so as not to startle the men and then waved her hand in greeting. The men jumped to their feet. One man barked orders but she could not make out what he said.  The apparent leader approached and asked Manny who she was and where she came from. She made up a story about a halfling village that was overrun by goblins. The man suggested she come and share their breakfast. Just as she approached him the man tried to surprise her with an attack. The fight went quickly, Marta broke a bandits arm with his mace and that bandit surrendered. Another bandit was killed by Daen with one chop of his ax. Then killing caused one bandit to grab a horse and flee. The remaining bandit surrendered once the leader fell badly injured.

The bandit with the broken arm claimed to be an innocent woodsman but dropped the ruse under questioning. This man, who called himself Chelli, claimed that the leader Stroud had a bounty out for his arrest.  The bandit encounter was on a clock. I planned for them to set up an ambush (at whichever exit the players came out) early that morning. But the players exited the caverns at midnight and went to their hidden camp. Then I rolled to see if Gaeleath noticed the camp in the morning and he did. The ambush did not go the way the bandits had planned.