Death stalks the heroes

The deadly nature of Swords & Wizardry struck again as another PC was killed. The second in as many sessions. This time it seemed a little unfair as the character was killed because she failed her saving throw vs poison. Literally, save or die. We only had three players for this session. The fourth failed to show. This is not uncommon with online games.

Session 6
Players: Marta the Cautious (cleric), Manny Lightfoot (Halfling Thief), Raeish Farstrider (Elven Fighter/Magic-User/missing in action), Eathwund (Human Fighter), Daen Shieldbreaker (Dwarven Fighter/NPC).

It begins with the heroes deciding they need to rest and recover after a fight with some imps. They also need time to contemplate the death of their friend Gaeleath.

They return to the entrance and come across a young human adventurer named Eathwund. He heard of the heroes exploits in Edgerton and wanted to join them on an adventure. But he could not catch up to them. Hamish, the old fisherman, ferried him out to the monastery. He asks to join the group and is accepted.

Leaving the monastery they find it is raining heavily. They signal Hamish the fisherman with a lantern and about an hour later Hamish arrives to pick them up. Hamish tells them they are wise to leave quickly from the dungeon if they were up against tough foes. But Daen then shows Hamish the head of the black dragon he is carrying about in his backpack. Hamish is shocked and goes quiet.

Hamish shows the adventurers to a dry place out of the rain not far from his cottage.  They set up camp, Marta cooks a meal, and then they sleep in tents for the night. Watches are posted but there are no incidents.

The rain stopped early in the morning before the sun rose. It is a more pleasant day but there is some low-hanging fog. Hamish takes them out to the monastery again - and demands a second payment.

They descend into the monastery again. This time they head down a corridor they had earlier passed up. Listening at a door, Manny hears a babbling voice muttering nonsense. They get prepared, Marta casts Protection from Evil. Inside they find the ghost of a monk praying before a small clay idol. It turns about and shouts nonsense at them. The words are mind-bending and Raeish and Manny succumb to madness and start echoing the ghost’s chants. This leaves, Eathwund, Daen, and Marta to fight the ghost with no magical weapons. Their attacks are ineffective. Marta manages to hurt the ghost by hurling holy water upon it. Raeish shakes free of the mind numbness and attacks the ghost with his magic spear - killing it. Manny breaks free once the ghost is gone. Raeish kicks over the clay idol which shatters.

They continue south and find an oddly dark room. Their lantern light seemingly swallowed up by the darkness and reduced to a half-light. Manny climbs up and checks out the ceiling and spots some sort of lizard-skinned octopi type creature. The creature leaps at Manny but is brought down by missile weapons from the rest of the group that is covering him.

They continue south near to the area where they fought the dragon and saw the lizardfolk. They find a locked door. Manny is unable to unlock the door so Daen uses his ax. The dwarf smashes the door off its hinges. Inside is a chamber showing recent occupation. In a trunk, Manny finds a woman's clothing. On a writing desk, they find a crude map of the dungeon. Showing much of the area they have already explored. The map does not show the secret door they saw on the map they purchased in Larm. This spurs them on to try and follow the clues on the older map.

They head to the chamber they know should have spiders in it. Near the entrance to the chamber, Manny spots spider webs. She lights them on fire with her torch. Once they enter the chamber, 2 giant spiders drop from the ceiling. The spiders scurry toward them. One of them bites Manny and poisons her. Manny collapses to the group unmoving. In the next few moments, the other heroes manage to kill the two spiders. Marta checks on Manny but he finds that the halfling is dead. Eathwund is a little startled as the heroes begin to go through Manny's equipment and divide it amongst themselves. Daen hands Manny's sword Lawbringer to Eathwund. Raeish takes the Ring of Protection +1.

Manny Lightfoot is bitten by a poisonous spider

Daen notices a man-sized bundle wrapped in a cocoon of webs. Cutting it open at the head he finds it holds a restrained ghoul. Daen dispatches the ghoul.

Knowing that the map mentions a secret door in the middle of the south wall, Raeish makes a careful search and finds a secret door ten feet up the wall. Raeish opens the door and light spills out. The area ahead is well-lit by magical continual flames.

They head south and find wide, clean hallways.  To the east, they spot another ghoul, but the creature turns and runs around a corner to the north. The heroes decide to head west and then south where they are confronted by a horde of seven grey-skinned, grey-eyed creatures. Marta shouts out that they appear to be Manes. A type of weak demon found in the abyss. He warns that they will need magic weapons to do a lot of damage to the demons.

Raeish fires an arrow that strikes one Mane injuring it but it does appear that it does not do a lot of damage. The manes slowly move toward the heroes and attacks. The heroes form a line across the wide hallway to prevent the demons from flanking them. A long, desperate fight ensues. Eventually, all of the manes are put down. But no before Daen and Raeish take a lot of damage. Raeish is especially injured so Marta casts Cure Light Wounds.

They head north and are attacked by more manes that step out of some guard alcoves. These are also dispatched. Worryingly these manes seemed more dangerous than the ones previously encountered. They enter a chamber that is furnished with a bed and a trunk. Marta finds clothing in the trunk. There is nothing else interesting here.

The head south and find a door that is ajar. A wood plank used to bar the door is lying on the floor. Inside the dark chamber, they see that it is a prison cell. A skeleton lies on the floor with manacles attached to its ankles. As Marta moves closer to the skeleton, a ghost appears and attacks. The ghost is shouting nonsense in common that is strangely compelling. Marta finds that he most chime and repeat what the ghost is shouting. A fight ensues with Daen on the sidelines as his ax passes through the ghost without effect. Raeish strikes the ghost several times before it is finally banished.

The find some bare sleeping quarters in some nearby rooms. Now they realize that there are few directions they can go forward to without encountering a fight. To the southeast is a long hallway but they can see a number of manes milling about. And they know that there are ghouls to the northwest. They decide to head north and west but then south to avoid the ghouls. Unfortunately, they find only some acid vats and some disturbing carvings on the walls that seem to indicate that the monks were rendered after death.

Heading back north they find that the only path is blocked by a line of four ghouls. They rush forward and attack. In the fight Raeish kills a pair of ghouls, Marta kills a ghoul, and Eathwund kills one as well. But Eathwund is clawed by the filthy claws of a ghoul and is almost killed. Luckily, he avoids being paralyzed.

After the fight, Marta casts Cure Light Wounds on Eathwund. The young warrior is shaken but nods to the rest that he is ready to move on. They go into the hallway that the ghouls came from and see a dark hallway with a cryptic message above the lintel, "Boldly, we walk the path of the Opal Fist". Raeish finds a lever near the entrance to the narrow passage. He pulls it and they hear a click but nothing happens. Daen rushes down the passage followed, more cautiously by everyone else. In a small chamber at the end of the passage, he spots the legendary fire opal sitting in a niche. As he strides forward he triggers a trap and a stone block descends directly above Marta and Eathwund. Both leap back into the main chamber. Raeish and Daen are trapped behind an enormous stone block. Daen seems unconcerned as he examines the massive opal. Unfortunately, he surmises it is not the Fire Opal. It is more of a pale orange opal and only worth 100 gold at most. He yells for Raeish to come and check for exits. Raeish arrives and tells Daen worriedly that they are going to run out of air.

Marta leaps for it to avoid being squashed

Meanwhile, on the other side of the block, Eathwund pulls the level Raeish previously found and the stone block begins to rise. Daen and Raeish quickly exit the passage to safety. They begin to head south as Daen shows the opal to the others and opines that this is not the Fire Opal they are questing after. Just then they spot some iron spikes pounded into the stone wall. Seemingly, holding a secret door closed.