Kardak's Tomb and a new party member?

Last weekend the players in my online Swords & Wizardry adventures took on Kardak's Tomb. This is loosely based on The Crypts of Kardak by Creations Edge Games. I used my own map put together from the Heroic Maps Modular Crypt tiles. I also changed the plot, the monsters, but retained some concepts and tricks and traps. We also had a new player join from Norway I believe. I had put out the open invite from players. Four people inquired but only one person showed up. We used Roll20 but we had to use my Discord channel for sound.

Session 14: Kardak’s Tomb

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Stjarnhvitr (Thief), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The players awaken in their home the day before the Harvest Festival in Edgerton. With no plans for the day, Lakima, Eathwund, and Daen head over to the Church of St. Cuthbert to visit their adventuring companion Marta. They found that the Church is a hive of activity with preparations for the Harvest Festival procession. They are directed to Marta who is in bed and looks quite ill. They are told that he has been stricken with Lycanthropy. They ask about a cure or divine intervention. The latter Abbot is working on. (Note: the player for Marta was with us from Session Zero but disappeared a few adventures ago.)

They head back to their Shoppe in a more somber mood. The Town square is being laid out with reviewing stands and a layer of dirt for the games. Lakima goes to the Alayna's alchemist shop asks her about a cure for lycanthropy. She promises to do some research and consult with some of her mentors.

While relaxing they hear a commotion outside and see a fight has broken out between men wearing the badges of the Radu family and men wearing Longbardi. The Town Guard is nowhere in sight. Local shopkeepers move their wares inside to avoid damage. They watch for a while until they see one older man gets tripped to the ground and repeatedly kicked. Lakima decides he has seen enough and casts a Sleep spell putting the entire crowd to sleep. The Town Guards immediately appear, thank them for their help, and beginning dragging away the combatants.

Lakima invites the old man who they rescued into the shop to recover. The man introduces himself as Stjarnhvitr. Lakima and Eathwund struggle with pronouncing the man’s name. Stjarnhvitr tells them it roughly means "Star White" in his language. So they settle on calling him, Starry.

Lakima and Eathwund tell Starry about some of their adventures. Starry tells them he is also a long time adventurer. The Adventurers look at him somewhat skeptically. But when Starry indicates he is a specialist at delicate tasks they take an immediate interest. Lakima has been determined to get a good rogue in the party. A messenger knocks at the door and drops off a message asking them to come to the apothecary immediately.

Lakima, Eathwund, Starry, and Daen head across town to the Apothecary (Malyn’s Magic shop) and find it locked with a closed sign on the door. They knock and are let in a minute later by a Malyn who appears injured and who has aged 20 years since they last saw him just two days earlier.  He thanks them for coming and asks them into the back room of the shop. He leads them into an old abandoned temple that backs onto the shop. He points out an unexpected visitor he just had, a skeleton lies sprawled on the floor of the church. Malyn tells them he is the custodian of the old temple and that there is a crypt below that was used to bury many members of the church. Many of these former members were powerful mages. Precautions were taken when they were buried to prevent them from being raised as undead. The more powerful individuals being buried wearing a gold death mask called the Mask of Peaceful Repose. Malyn tells them that the skeleton he fought was that of Kardak who should be interred below. He asks them to find the tomb of Kardak and search it for clues. Malyn tells them he will follow their progress with a Wizard Eye spell.

They do ask Malyn some questions about the crypts and he is evasive. He claims to have been in the Crypts but tells them his memory is not what it used to be. He gives Lakima a key to the gates that lead into the crypts from the Temple cellar. For their investigation, Malyn agrees he will pay them 1,000 gold coins.

The four adventurers enter the cellar and locate the entrance to the catacombs. The gates open easily but the area beyond looks like it has been undisturbed for a very long time. As they descend steps into the first chamber, flames spring to life in wall-mounted braziers illuminating the room. At the edge of the light, they see the unmistakable form of a grey ooze advancing toward them. They throw some fire at the ooze to keep it at bay. They head south and find the first few stone coffin tombs. One of the tombs is open and inscribed with “Wormrick, faithful servant.” At a distance, they spot a gelatinous cube but it is moving away from them. The heroes carefully follow the cube down a corridor that is headed west. They come to a curved passage with a large number of sarcophagi standing upward. A quick examination of the names reveals that Kardak’s is not here.

As they move further west they come to a chamber with four stone coffins. One coffin is open and a ghoulish figure is leaning into the coffin. The figure hears them and turns, it says “So, you would disturb old Wormrick”. They realize it is a ghast a more intelligent version of a ghoul.  As the ghast moves to attack, Daen and Eathwund are affected but they sickening smell it exudes. But they manage to hit it with their weapons. The ghast strikes Daen severely but he manages to fight off the paralysis that ghouls can inflict. After a brief fight, they put it to rest. Lakima hands Daen a healing potion.

They continue west and find a single sarcophagus with the name Corpsemaker on it and several death dates. The sarcophagus is wrapped in chains and something thumps against the lid repeatedly from inside the coffin. Lakima takes some time to search for secret doors but finds none. Guarding the rear of the group, Starry notes that the grey ooze is following them.

They turn and head north and encounter an enormous 20-foot long snake, Eathwund is struck but the poison is not injected into his body. Eathwund and Daen strike the snake and Daen chops off its head. After the fight, Lakima gives a potion of healing to Eathwund. From this round chamber, there is a narrow passage leading east to a room that looks undisturbed for a hundred years. Starry is persuaded by his new friends to venture into the passage to the room. He finds a room with a checkerboard floor in alternating blue and grey flagstones. Starry borrows Eathwund’s polearm and uses it to test the floor. Finding the grey stones safe he skips across the floor to a pair of upright sarcophagi.

The Flagstone Golem attacks

Meanwhile, the grey ooze approaches the other three adventurers waiting down the passage. Again they ward it off with fire. Eathwund and Daen drive the ooze south down the passage. Starry finds iron rods on the two sarcophagi that can turn. He twists each about a quarter turn and all of them hear a rumbling noise directly to the east.

Starry rejoins the other three and they drive the ooze south until it climbs up the wall and moves onto the ceiling over their heads. They struggle to drive it further away but eventually with torches held high they drive it south. Eathwund uses a torch to finally kill it.

The group now retraces their steps east cautious of encountering the gelatinous cube again. They head north and find another lit room. In this room they see a human thief trying to pry open a stone coffin that has a brass lid. They surprise the man and interrogate him. The man claims to be Tamil Tarkon, a thief who came to put an old partner to rest. He claims his partner died recently and was interned here. He has since risen as a ghost. The story is greeted with skepticism from everyone, especially Starry. A short distance from the chamber they find the now open secret door. They ask Tamil to scout ahead and he takes off on a run. They follow Tamil into a chamber with an open stone coffin. Tamil reaches into the coffin and pulls out a parchment and threatens to burn it. Lakima walks up to Tamil and snatches the parchment from his hands. It is a cryptic note. The stone coffin is inscribed Kardak the Cruel. The note reads:

I can reach out and find you anywhere. There is nowhere to hide. Take Kardak’s visit as a warning.

Bring the Black Ring to the Standing Stones or damned servitude awaits.

It is signed with the sigil of a mage.

Feeling they have fulfilled their mission, the heroes decide to leave. But one more challenge awaits. As they step down the corridor a Golem made up of the very flagstones of the floor rises up and attacks them. Both Daen and Eathwund who are in the front of the group, are struck solidly by the creature's stone fists. At this moment Tamil draws his dagger and tries to stabs Eathwund in the back.  But the surprise blow bounces off Eathwund's armor. A tightly packed melee occurs. Tamil proves deft at avoiding attacks and Lakima resorts to using up 2 charges of his Wand of Magic Missiles and he casts Mirror Image. But it is Starry who finally kills Tamil using a borrowed polearm like a club. Meanwhile, Daen has been keeping the golem at bay while Eathwund had turned to attack Tamil. With Eathwund now back in the fight against the Golem they manage to defeat it.

Back upstairs they meet with Malyn and brief him on what they saw and heard. Malyn could see what was happening but not hear it. To no one's surprise he admits that he is the holder of the Black Ring.and he knows the person who uses the sigil they found. He ponders these facts and tells them he must think on this. They get paid and say goodnight.

 

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.

We're gonna need a new thief

I only had two players for Session 12. One of the regular has not been to play for several sessions so who knows. Another new person who joined came twice and I have not heard since. This is normal for Roll20 games.

This adventure was based on the Pathfinder adventure Crypt of the Everflame. But I made a lot of changes to get it to fit in my campaign. It is no longer a starter dungeon with some undead and some harmless traps. I made all of the traps lethal and added a wererat sub-plot.

Session 12: The Mausoleum of the Everflame

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

The adventurers were approached by the Church of St. Cuthbert. The Everflame torch that is in their care for the town has gone missing. They have just a few days to locate it because it is the centerpiece of the Winter Festival. To make matters more grave, their old friend Marta (Cleric of St. Cuthbert) took some guards to investigate and disappeared.

The adventurers Lakima, Eathwund, and Daen head over to Clearwin’s oddities early in the day. Lakima picks up the Continual Flame Staff he commissioned and seems pleased with it. They then head for the Church of St. Cuthbert. While passing through the Town Square they check the stocks for Billy the thief who they have not seen in several days.  Billy is not present but two men are in the stocks. One of the town guards tells them they were arrested for stealing from a farmer’s cart.

Lakima speaks to the two thieves attempting to discern their character. Eventually, he settles on the younger of the two, a man who tells them his name is Mead. A discreet bribe to the guard gets the thief released. Mead agrees to accompany them.  I was not expecting this at all but I quickly put together some statistics for Mead (thief 2) and created a token on the fly. The name came from the Book of Random tables.

At the church, the Abbot tells them about the missing Everflame torch and their friend Marta. They assure the Abbot that they will find the Marta and the torch. The abbot introduces them to Kasir, a thin-looking man who the abbot assures them is a seasoned priest used to adventure. At the Mausoleum that used the hold the torch, they are met by a guard who lets them in once he speaks to Kasir. They do a search of the chamber directing Mead to search the floor. The thief tells asks what he should search for? Eathwund finds a flagstone that has been levered up and not put back down correctly. Daen lifts it and they see a dark shaft leading down 20 feet. There is a wooden ladder in the shaft. Lakima tells Mead to climb down and report back. Mead argues that it is too dangerous but eventually agrees to do it. Getting the all-clear from Mead everyone descends into the catacombs.

The corridor leads to a chamber with many solid pillars. Mead reports a pit trap in the floor, “I found a trap!” The pit trap is open and they see the body of a Church guard sprawled at the bottom clearly dead. Tracks lead past the pit but there is no easy way to pass. Lakima tells Mead to lead them south around the trap. The thief takes three steps and falls into another pit trap. Daen is sent down on a rope to check on the thief. Unfortunately, nothing can be done, Mead is dead.

We're gonna need a new thief

Daen now takes the lead. They hear wailing coming from the north. Possibly a human voice. Heading in that direction they turn east and come to a locked door they cannot get past. They return and head north. The wailing gets louder and they come to a door that is barricaded shut on the other side. The wailing stops when they call out. A man's hysterical voice tells them to go away. Kasir tells them it sounds like the Church Guard Roldare. Despite a lot of effort, they are unable to convince Roldare to open the door. He wails about gnashing teeth and shining claws. Giving up on Roldare they move on and encounter an enormous beetle eating a giant rat. The beetle attacks and grabs Eathwund in its mandibles. Eathwund is practically chopped in half and falls to the floor unconscious. The rest hack away at the beetle until it is dead. Kasir casts two Cure Light Wound spells on Eathwund before he bleeds to death.

They continue north and encounter a pair of shadows in a chamber with a smoldering fire. The shadows are killed fairly quickly. The smoke makes visibility difficult so Lakima pours water on the fire. Great plumes of smoke fill the chamber. They retreat to the locked door again. Daen tries but is unable to chop it down with his ax. They return to the chamber with the fire and find a key on the edge of the firepit and an unburnt dagger in the middle of the pit. Using the key they are able to open the door and see a circular chamber. A pillar supports the roof in the center of the room. The pillar is full of hundreds of small holes, arrowheads poke out of the holes. Lakima goes to read some magic runes on the floor just as the pillar starts to spin, firing 100s of arrows out in all directions. Everyone is hit by arrows, including the distracted Lakima. Eathwund opens the door to the north and he and Kasir duck behind it. Yelling finally convinces Lakima and Daen to join them. Lakima is hit by several arrows.

The trap of 1,000 arrows

The next chamber has stairs leading down. Before they can descend they are forced to kill two monstrous rats that emerge and attack. On the next level, they come to a crossroads. They smell rot from the east, hear dripping water to the west, and splashing water to the north. On the floor is a message carved in ancient common tongue admonishing those who enter from despoiling the dead. They decide to head east. They enter into a catacomb full of carved alcoves stacked with human skeletons. Mindful of the warning they avoid touching the bones. They do find a backpack with fresh blood on it. Inside is a note from someone called the “Rat King” ordering an investigation of some tunnels found behind a collapsed wall.

They open a stuck door to the north and surprise eight rat creatures the size of small humans that stand on hind legs. Two of the creatures are even wearing human clothes and carry swords. In the corner of the room, they see their friend Marta lying on the floor. He is covered in wounds but looks alive. Lakima attempts to parlay with the creatures who just hurl insults back at him. Then some of the creatures begin to slink forward their intent to attack clear. Lakima casts Phantasmal Force from a scroll and summons an enormous cat. Telling the rat creatures that the cat-god is upon them. All but one of the rats run to the far end of the chamber in fear. One stands firm yelling at his companions, “It is a trick!” But he also seems reluctant to try attacking. Lakima convinces the rat-men to leave, leaving Marta behind. They step aside to let the rats pass. Kasir runs to Marta’s side. He uses his last Cure Light Wounds Spell. Marta looks better but is still incoherent. At the north wall of the chamber is a sturdy iron portcullis. Daen and Eathwund try but neither can lift it. They see iron chains ascending above the gate.

They pick up Marta and head back to the crossroads. Heading north they find a chamber with a fountain of clear water. Daen tries it and is healed. Everyone then drinks from the pool and all of them receive some healing. The water is given to Marta and some of the bite wounds close. Marta becomes coherent. He tells them that he led four guards down into the catacombs where they were ambushed by the rat creatures. He fought as some of the guards fled. Eventually, the rats piled over him and he blacked out. He remembers passing in and out of consciousness. The wererats told him they were making him part of the family. He heard them talking about entering the catacombs from the sewers at the request of a Rat King. They found and stole the Everflame and went ever deeper. They used an iron wheel to the west to open the portcullis. Then they found tombs of Knights of St. Cuthbert. But they disturbed an undead creature which attacked killing their leader. They fled out of the tombs.

The adventurers with Marta now able to walk, head west into a number of flooded chambers. The water is soon 2 feet deep and it is murky so they cannot see the floor. Mindful of traps Daen borrows Eathwund’s polearm to check the depth of the water every few feet. They find a flooded room with three tombs. On top of one tomb squats a giant frog. Recently killed rat-men float face down in the water. They attempt to move quietly through the chamber past the frog but the frog attacks and it is joined by two more frogs. The first frog they encounter jumps and lands in front of a surprised Daen. The frog then swallows Daen whole. Another frog jumps in front of Lakima. Daen pulls out a dagger and tries to cut his way out of the frog. Outside of the frog the battle rages. Lakima and Eathwund manage to kill one frog and then move on to the one that swallowed Daen. Eventually, they are able to kill the frog and pull Daen out of its mouth. Meanwhile, the frog Kasir had been fighting flees out a hole in the wall that sounds like it leads to the sewers.

Shaking it off they head north and enter a large chamber. On the far wall, they can see a large iron wheel with a chain attached. Daen moves quickly across the chamber and steps right in a deep pit. Weighed down by his armor he disappears from sight. Eathwund throws his grappling hook attached to a rope after the dwarf. In the depths, Daen sees the rope and holds on. He is pulled to safety. More cautiously Dean taps the floor with the polearm and skirts the edge of the pit. He finds a 5-foot wide bridge over the pit leading to the wheel. Eathwund and Daen grab the wheel and manage to spin it four times before the chain becomes taught and will not move. Eathwund volunteers to wedge it in place with his bastard sword. As they turn to leave, large rats emerge from holes in the walls and splash through the water towards them. The rats are large but not giant - but they have poison dripping off of their incisors. They kill the six rats quickly but Eathwund is bitten. Luckily, he shrugs off the poison.

They head back to the room with the iron gate and confirm it is open. But Marta is wavering and looks pale so they vote to return him to the church for healing. On leaving they meet the guard again who asks if they found the torch yet? They are dripping wet and everyone but Kasir has fresh wounds. They wave off the guard and head on their way. They escort Marta to the church and summon the abbot. Everyone gets healing from the priests. After a brief discussion with the abbot, they return to their home for rest so they are ready to tackle the quest again the next day.

NeMoren's (modified) Vault

I only had two players for my Sunday session of Swords & Wizardry. So I used a short adventure I had ready for just this type of occasion. It is a combat-light adventure with a lot of traps and puzzles making it very easy to scale for different party sizes.

This adventure is NeMoren's Vault by Fiery Dragon. I ran it once before to start a D20 campaign back near the turn of the century. This time I have cut it down to just the essential rooms and spread them over four levels. The resulting dungeon really is a deep vault. Since I was using it beneath a manor in a large town I felt it made more sense.

Since I was not using it to start a campaign I removed the hook of having the players all receive keys to the vault to discover their inheritance. Instead, I had them be contacted by the remaining NeMoren heir who needs their help in clearing the vaults of undead. The heir also accompanies them to be sure they do not make off with the family jewels. But this heir does not get involved much in combat.

Session 11: NeMoren’s Vault
Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The adventurers spent the night at the Inn of the Dancing Dragon. At least, Lakima, Daen, and Eathwund did. They are not certain where Billy spent the night or where he got off to because he is not around in the morning. Also, Marta who said he would spend some time at the CHurch of St. Cuthbert has not returned.

On the way to the Merchant Adventuer's Guildhall to look at some properties, Daen is hailed by a passing young man who turns out to be the scribe Gareth. Gareth traveled with the group for a week from Larm to Edgerton. Gareth asks about the rest of the company and is sad to hear that Manny and Gaeleath were killed adventuring. He does tell Daen that he needs his help on a simple job. He tells them he will bring his employer to the Inn at noon.

When they return to the Inn for lunch Gareth arrives with a young noble named Ennio NeMoren. Ennio has a problem with his inheritance. Gareth explains that Ennio recently inherited the family home and business. He arrived from Dolmvay only 3 months ago. Gareth was hired to go through the family assets. Unfortunately, the ledgers make it clear that Ennio has inherited a pile of debts. They did find a silver key and the records of the construction of an underground vault. They found the vault and opened the door but were chased out of the vault by zombies in the first room they entered. Ennio asks them to clear the vault for him. Since Ennio is currently in debt they negotiate a price of 10 percent of the treasure found and a bounty on the zombies.

They head to the mansion in the wealthy part of town across the river. The NeMoren mansion was clearly very fine at one time but it has not been maintained. Ennio informs them that once the zombies are cleared he will accompany them. He changes into some leather armor and picks up a spear.

Ennio uses the silver key to unlock the door. Daen, Eathwund, and Lakima walk into the narrow hallways of the vault. They see a glowing object before a door at the far end of the hall. In the first door, they enter they find a pool of stagnant water surrounded by four pillars carved to look like trees. Behind a tapestry, they find a statue of a knight. A plaque indicates this is Jacin Three-Fingers. Lakima discovers a ring on a necklace about the statue’s neck. He casts Detect Magic and it is magical. Some kind of enchantment on the wearer. All this time Ennio is calling down the hall for updates.

They head to the north door where they find a dimly glowing orb resting in a holder of Elvish brass on the wall. They take the orb and it dims. Remembering a similar depression in the pool they return and place the orb in the depression. The water transforms into clear, fresh-looking water and it glows with magic to Lakima. Testing it he finds the water casts the effects of Cure Light Wounds. He fills a few containers.

Crossing the hall they finally enter the family crypt where Ennio previously indicated the zombies were seen. They do not see anything at first. But they notice four crypts are broken open. As soon as Daen descends a stair in the chamber, four undead creatures attack. Three of them appear to be zombies. But the last one, although looking similar is able to speak and cries out at the intruders defiling the family crypt.

Daen is attacked by two zombies in the lower half of the crypt. The more intelligent undead creature attacks Eathwund while another creature attacks Eathwund from behind. Immediately, Eathwund is struck hard by a clawed hand and staggered. Daen trades blows with the two zombies and then one strikes him knocking him off balance allowing the second zombie to hit him as well. Daen struggles to his feet badly wounded.

The Zombies in the NeMoren Family Crypt

Eathwund steps back and drinks a potion of healing. Lakima throws darts from the doorway dropping one of the zombies. More blows are traded and Daen drops one of the zombies. Lakima brings down another with darts. Now all three concentrate on the undead thing fighting Eathwund. Lakima’s deadly dart throws finally bring it down. Ennio calls from the cellar if everything is all right. Lakima tells him they are handling it.  Checking the open crypts they find little of value, just rags, and bones.

Lakima gives Daen the water from the pool but it has reverted to stagnant water. Returning to the pool they use the orb again and Daen is able to cure some of his wounds. A potion of healing helps cure some more. Lakima tries on the magic ring he found and he finds that it gives him the ability to see in low light.

Ennio joins them as they try to figure out how to open the mysterious iron door. It has no locks or hinges visible. Just a line of elvish brass around the door and connected to the orb holder. After a few false tries, Lakima finds that he can open the door by placing the orb in the holder and touching it. It does not work for anyone else. It glows brightly and the door ascends into the ceiling. Once everyone is through to the circular staircase beyond, Lakima snatches the orb and leaps under the door. It is anti-climatic as the door does stay up.

They descend to the second level. They find cave-ins caused by the work of human thieves who tried to pilfer the vault. A recently dug tunnel has broken into the vault and leads to a ladder going up. By the smell coming down from above, it leads to the sewers. Under one cave in, they find the body of a human thief who has been dead a few years. Daen surmises they triggered a deadfall trap. The rooms they search have been ransacked. They do find a use for the ladder to crawl across a bottomless pit leading to another ransacked room. Lakima finds a torn ledger with a scrawled note demanding to know where the treasure is hidden (in less polite language). They do manage to find a magic dwarven war hammer under some debris. Lakima’s Detect Magic spell doing the trick.

Crossing the Bottomless Pit

Another Iron door is located. It is again opened by Lakima with the Glowing orb. They find another spiral staircase headed down. Ennio tells them that Gareth’s search indicated there were only three levels. In this third level, they find that the floor of one corridor is made of glass placed over a swiftly flowing stream. They avoid this and head the other direction. They find a door with dwarven runes carved into, “Trace the door to enter”.  They try a lot of tracing with their fingers and with the orb but nothing happens.  Next, they find a room with a stained glass “window” of art showing four figures before the NeMoren manor. Behind it is a kneeling statue with one hand outstretched. Lakima puts the Orb in the hand and the statue projects a brilliant light. The stained glass image is projected on the far wall. They marvel at how it is almost real looking. Lakima steps up and grabs the door to the manor in the image and pulls them open revealing a secret door. Beyond is a staircase leading down. Ennio, exclaims, “A secret fourth level!”

The fourth level staircase leads to a room empty but for a winged statue on a pedestal. Once Daen advances past the statue it animates and attacks him. The statue proves to be made of very hard rock and their blows bounce off it with little effect. Daen is pressed back and struck. Eathwund manages to hit it solidly and they statue turns its attention to him striking him violently. Finally, they batter the statue to pieces and it crumbles to dust.

A door leads to a treasure room. Daen who is leading the way has to be restrained as he sees three tables with gold bars stacked on them. A statue of a scholar holding a scroll speaks to them, “What must you first give to me in order to keep it?” Lakima and Eathwund ponder this for some time unable to come up with anything. Lakima searches a nearby bookshelf with Ennio and finds a second set of financial records for the family going back centuries. Suddenly, Eathwund has an idea and speaks to the statue, “My word!”. The statue says, “You speak wisely.”

Relieved that any traps are likely disabled they check the gold bards. Daen turns them over and says they are real, and worth about 400 gold each. Still, one more door beckons them. In the next chamber there four statues, one more door (this one with a key lock) and a strange trench cut on the floor. Daen circles the room to the door keeping clear of the trench. As he reaches the door, a ghost appears and demands the key to the door. Daen glances at Ennio and the ghost glides towards Ennio who hastily backtracks. Lakima casts Protection from Evil and tells Ennio to toss him the key which he does. The ghost is kept at bay by the protection and Lakima interrogates it learning it is the ghost of Paytro NeMoren and that he killed his brother Incaro for the family wealth. While Ennio distracts the ghost Lakima heads to the door to open it but the ghost possesses Ennio and runs to the door. As the door opens they see the sarcophagus of Kragor NeMoren. Ennio/Paytro cries out in triumph seeing four treasure chests against the wall behind the sarcophagus. Just as he is reaching for them another ghost appears, Paytro cries out that it is his murdered brother Incaro. The two fight with Incaro winning and banishing Paytro. Incaro approaches his nephew Ennio and tells him all of this is his now. But warns him not to disturb the tomb of Kragor NeMoren. Ennio nods to Incaro and the ghost vanishes.

In the chest they do find some gold, but a lot less than Ennio had hoped. It seems much of the family wealth was squandered. He does find a proclamation of logging rights given by the Elves to the NeMoren family for the King’s Wood. This he is ecstatic to find. It is something with which to rebuild the family's wealth.

They decide to head back up to the mansion. On the way through the third level Eathwund is persuaded to strip out of his armor and try to cross the glass floor over the stream. The glass starts to crack and he retreats.  They decide to pass on trying to cross.

At the first of the iron door controlled by the orb they find it has closed at some point since they descended. Ennio is concerned because the Orb will not work for him. Only for Lakima. He asks Lakima to return in a few days when he has a work party put together. He will try to hire a mage to examine the door. Meanwhile, Lakima checks a hunch and takes off the ring he found earlier. The orb does not light up when he is not wearing the ring. But he does not tell Ennio.

Hapwich the NeMoren manservant has a meal waiting for them so they stay and eat. Ennio assures they he will abide by the contract and Gareth tells them he will send them an accounting of the treasure to deduce their share.

Lakima has a transcribes a message to a Scribe telling Ennio that he believes he needs someone with Elvish blood to operate the doors in the vault.

The Almost Thief

For Session 10 of my Swords & Wizardry online game using Roll 20, I ran another of the Creation's Edge games adventures. This time I ran as written with no adjustments. Mainly, because one of the players did not show and the next adventure used his character as a hook. So I had this other adventure-ready as a back-up.

It is written as a short adventure designed to be handled in a single session. My players cut out early once they had the goal of the quest completed and were done the adventure in under 2 hours. So I can recommend this adventure for a single session or filler in a longer session.

Session 10: The Almost Thief

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Billy (Thief), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The adventurers arrive with their cart full of dead kobolds before the East gate of Edgerton. The Watch Commander of the gate informs that they cannot bring a cart full of dead kobolds into the town. He listens to their arguments and agrees to sign a deposition stating to the contents as long as they get rid of the bodies before entering the town.

Once inside the town, Marta stops at the Church of St. Cuthbert telling them he will meet up with them later. The rest of the group head directly to the Inn of the Dancing Dragon and settle in for the night after a quick meal. The next day they spend some time to divide up the loot from the last few ventures. The gear that no one wants they plan to sell. They head over to Clearwin's Oddities and manage to sell one of the Continual Flame torches (the green one) they found in the last adventure. Billy tries stealing a grappling hook but is noticed and is forced to put it back. The next stop is the Merchant Adventurers Guildhall. They meet with the Guildmaster this time and receive the 3,000 gold reward for ending the Kobold threat.

Flush with gold the adventurers look for someplace to spend it. They settle on the most expensive Tavern in town. The Shining Sword. They manage to get past the dubious guard on the door. Inside Daen tells the waitress to give them one of everything. The food arrives and they demand ales for everyone at the table. The waitress comes back with the Tavern owner who politely asks for a deposit. They are getting looks from several rich merchants who are eating meals in the room. They put down the full cost of the meal and more and the attitude changes. Now they have two servers attentive to their every want. This goes on well into the afternoon. Eventually, they get bored and look for another place to drink.

Lakima suggests they try near the Southgate. Right at the gate, they find a promising Inn, The Bard’s Trousers. This Tavern is pretty lively and completely full. But for a silver coin, the waitress empties a table for them - chasing off some drunks. After a few rounds of ale, they are approached by a nervous young woman. She introduces herself as Rosa Raventhal, she has heard of their group (although she got the name wrong) and really needs their help.

Invited to sit she asks that they meet her outside - in a dark alley. They agree and follow her outside on alert. In the alley, she introduces them to her boyfriend Zane who is a ghost.

Zane cannot speak so Rosa explains that Zane wanted to get Rosa her grandmother’s silver ring back as a betrothal gift. Zane had been training to be a thief for more than a year without much success. Rosa feels that he must have tried to retrieve the ring anyway. The ring was taken from her grandmother unfairly by some trick, she does not go into detail. The ring was taken by Marian Evendal. When Marion died several years ago, it was buried with her in the Evendal Crypt. Rosa thinks that Zane will stop haunting her if they retrieve the ring. She offers them 100 gold she has saved. Lakima tells her that they do not need to be paid for such a simple task. She does tell them that there is bound to be a treasure in the crypt that they can take. After all, no one likes the Evendal’s anyway.

Rosa says goodbye and Zane’s ghost leads Lakima, Eathwund, Daen, and Billy to a graveyard near the Church of St. Aleena. The crypt of the Evendal family is the biggest in the graveyard. The chain locking the doors shut has been broken with a nearby rock. Inside they find stair leading to a pair of stone doors. The doors prove to be unlocked. In the chamber beyond, they find a grate covering a pit. Billy checks and tells them that the grate is a trap designed to swing open and drop people in the pit below. It is not well disguised. Looking down into the pit they see Zane’s bones. They are completely clean of any flesh which is strange if he just died a few days ago.

To the south, they find two bookshelves. At least fifty books are on the shelves. The first book they check has a name on the spine - Hunter Evendal. Several of the books are blank and have a name on the spine. They push open a pair of double doors headed east and enter a large hallway. Corridors head north and south and there is another pair of double doors at the far end. In the center of the chamber is the statue of a man on a pedestal. His hands are outstretched and holding a real book. They avoid the statue and head to the door. The door proves to be locked. Billy tries but is unable to unlock it. He does point out a keyhole in the eye of a skeleton bas-relief on the door.

The Heroes and the ghost examine the Guardian of the Crypt

Heading north they find four chambers blocked by Iron bars. Lakima casts Strength on Daen and tells the dwarf to lift the portcullis. Daen struggles and is unable to do it after a few tries. He is also unable to bend the bars. To the south, they find an identical room. Four more chambers behind bars. Behind the bars, in each chamber, they see an upright sarcophagus with a family name carved into the lid. The names are Alphonsina, Brookes, Caden, Deldodd, Erwin, Farant, Gigin, and Hunter.

They head back to the statue looking for clues. Eventually, Daen reaches up and removes the book. The pages in the book are blank and the spine says, “Guardian of the Crypt”. Eathwund has an idea and goes and gets the book from the earlier library that had Alphonsina on the spine. He places it in the statue’s hands. They immediately hear the portcullis opening to the chamber containing the sarcophagus with the name Alphonsina on the lid. Opening the sarcophagus they are attacked by a zombie holding a silver chalice. Daen and Eathwund quickly dispatch the zombie.

Understanding the trick of opening the sarcophagi, the heroes open them one at a time. In each sarcophagus, they encounter a zombie. Some have weapons or minor treasures. Each is dispatched efficiently. Finally, when opening the sarcophagus of Farant they fight a zombie with a silver key about its neck. They find that the key fits perfectly in the door lock and the doors swing open. Beyond is a chamber with two stairs leading down to the far side of the room. A bas-relief of a procession is carved into the walls. Hallways lead off to the south and north. Before the bas-relief is a marble pedestal with a silver ring upon it. Daen and Billy rush for the ring - Daen getting their first. A horrible smell emanates from a hole near the floor on the west wall. Two oozes come forth and move toward them. The smell from the oozes is that of rotting flesh. Lakima motions everyone to follow him quickly down the stair. The oozes slide down a ramp toward them and Lakima with everyone following - races around the chamber and up the other stair. The oozes slowly try to follow - but Billy closes and locks the door to the chamber behind them.

Then they quickly exit the crypt back out into the cold, evening air. No alarm has been raised and as far as they can tell no one sees them slip out of the cemetery. They follow the ghost to a small cottage. Rapping on the door, Rose answers, and they present her with the silver key. She thanks them and turns to Zane’s ghost. The ghost, smiles, turns to leave and fades from sight.

Sleepless Night

Session 9 of our Swords & Wizardry campaign was a little different. I mashed up two short adventures written for Swords & Wizardry by Creation's Edge Games.  The Restless Knight and Night of the Stirges. Both are short adventures that take place in an Inn. I mixed them together, made a few changes, and I used the Shady Dragon Inn from the old A-series module for D&D.

We also had a new player joining and this proved to be a good adventure for allowing this. I players had already stayed at this Inn once before in the previous session so their guard was down a little.

Session 9

The adventurers arrive at the roadside inn, the Restless Knight, the mule pulling a cart laden with the corpses of dead kobolds they need to collect a reward. The stable boy Ostin runs to get Tevan the Innkeeper. The Innkeeper is disturbed by the cart and tells them to unhitch it behind the stables.

They enter the Inn and speak with Tevan the Innkeeper to get a room for the night. Everyone is anxious to get a good night’s sleep in a clean bed. While they are enjoying their meal they witness a young traveler dirty from the road come in. He speaks with the waitress and asks for water. The young man looks underfed and has some scars on his face. Lakima tries to buy the man an ale but the man declines, happy to drink his water. The man then leaves the Inn and takes a perch on a barrel outside the tavern doors. Apparently too poor to afford a roof over his head.

Lakima watches the room, he sees the staff, he sees crazy old Hoffeg who was here the last time they passed by, and he sees a man who is eating dinner who looks like a caravan guard. He approaches the man and engages him in conversation. The man is a caravan guard returning to Edgerton to get another contract. Lakima asks if he is for hire and the man negotiates a price of 8 gold per day to guard them. The man introduces himself as Marcus Grest and the two shake on the deal.

They see a few more strange occurrences, a robed man enters and confronts Tevan out of earshot. The two have an argument. It ends when Tevan says something and then the robed man says, "at least give me a room for the night". Tevan hands over a key. They also witness Tevan arguing with a Halfling merchant later in the night. His curiosity aroused, Lakima comes over and questions Tevan about the arguments. Tevan tells him it is nothing, the halfling is just a Guild merchant determined to sell him lamp oil, He prefers to stay with his current source.

Lakima and Daen head upstairs to sleep. Marta and Eathwund stay down in the tavern drinking ale.

Well after nightfall, the thief Billy who is dousing on tops of an empty wine barrel, sees a man stagger out of the darkness headed for the inn. Billy does nothing but watches as the man staggers to the doors, throws them open, and steps into the tavern. Inside the tavern, Eathwund and Marta see the man take two faltering steps and then collapse face first. Tevan shrieks and runs into the kitchen. His wife Lotti runs out of the kitchen to see what is happening. Marta and Lotti rush to the man’s side. Lotti begins praying and casting Cure Light Wounds. Marta checks for vitals and tells Lotti it is too late for that. She casts it anyway but the man is dead. There are a half dozen stab wounds in his back. But the wounds are odd. They were done by a conical shaped weapon. Eathwund rolls the body over to search it. As soon as the face is visible, the barmaid Rosalee shrieks and runs into the back rooms. Eathwund searches the body, finding standard travel gear, some weapons, a few coins, and two wanted posters. Wanted alive for 500 gold. One poster looks a lot like Ostin the stable boy.

Marta heads upstairs to get Lakima and Daen. Eathwund helps Tripp (the cook) carry the body out through the kitchen door. They lay the body out in the grass to bury in the morning. By the time Eathwund makes it back to the tavern everyone is assembled except the halfling they saw earlier. Kendra has replaced Rosalee. Lakima asks the barmaid Kendra about Ostin and she says he arrived a few months ago, about a week after Rosalee arrived. Kendra confides to the group that she thinks Ostin and Rosalee knew each other before meeting at the Inn.

Meanwhile, outside Billy snaps awake as his arm grows heavy. He looks down and sees a bloated stirge resting on his arm, its proboscis impaled is his arm and sucking blood. Quietly, he gets up and slams the arm against a post on the side of the building dislodging the creature. But then he sees several more stirges headed toward him out of the darkness. Billy runs into the Inn and lets everyone know that there is a swarm of stirges outside. Daen peers out the Inn windows but reports he cannot see anything. The group leaves the Inn cautiously. Out of the darkness a swarm of stirges attack. Several of the adventurers are hit and some are drained of some blood. Just as they are finishing off the stirges a second-wave arrives. They beat off the second wave and see an even larger swarm of stirges headed their way. They decide they cannot fight off all of the stirges and run back into the Tavern.

Billy is attacked by Stirges

Trapped in the tavern they can hear the thump of stirges against the windows. Daen suggests building a dwarven siege cover out of two tables and making a run for the stables to get out of the area. But then Marcus questions how they will protect the horses? Danigal the mage (the man who argued with Tevan earlier in the night) says that he read that stirges hate sunlight.Lakima suggests putting torches at all of the windows and doors. Tevan is horrified, his Inn is made of wood after all. He proposes using tables and benches to barricade the doors and windows. Lakima becomes suspicious of Tevan and casts Charm Person on him. But it turns out he is telling the truth. Danigal immediately accuses Lakima of casting the spell. He is revealed to be a wizard and they notice now that he only has one hand. They agree to board up the windows and get to work. Lotti becomes very worried about her daughters who are upstairs. She asks for help getting to them. Lakima gets a bag of blood from the cook and tosses it out the front door to distract the stirges while Daen and Lotti run outside and upstairs to the owner's room. Daen tells Lotti to stay in the room until sunrise and barricade the doors. Then Daen runs back downstairs. He is attacked by Stirges but kills one and makes it inside to apparent safety.

The group and the tavern staff and guests decide to make themselves comfortable in the Tavern for the night. After an hour they hear alarming whinnies from the direction of the stables. Tevan shouts, “They are after the horses!”

The adventurers decide they have to head out to check on the horses. Hoffeg, Billy, and their new friend Marcus agree to join them. They head over to the stable killing a few stirges on the way. Inside they find Ostin using a pitchfork to fight off eight stirges. An all-out battle occurs in the stables. Several heroes are hit and drained of some blood. Old man Hoffeg is killed. Once the battle ends, Lakima questions Ostin, while Billy discreetly searches the old man’s body. He comes away with a piece of rope the man used to hold up his pants.

Ostin admits he is the man in the wanted poster, and the woman is Rosalee. They are on the run from Roslee’s elven father. The man must have hired a bounty hunter to find them. He tells them that the horses woke him. The stable door was open and stirges were in the stable so he tried to fight them off.

The heroes decide it is too dangerous to head back to the Tavern so they should stay in the stable. Marcus argues for returning to the stable and Danigal agrees with him. But the heroes tell them they are staying here. Marcus relents, apparently unwilling to try to make it on his own. They set watches. Marcus offers to take the first watch. He says he cannot sleep anyway. Eathwund tells him he will stay up. He wants to keep an eye on Marcus.

In the small bed-chamber attached to the stable, Ostin falls asleep. Billy, who is sleeping in the room, takes his rope and tries to tie up Ostin quietly. But he wakes the man up immediately. Ostin asks, “What do you think you are doing?”
“Just making sure you are comfortable”, Billy replies.
“Just go to sleep!”

Things are quiet at first then Marcus indicates he can hear something. He motions Eathwund to be quiet. Eathwund tries to hear at the door but cannot hear anything. Marcus says he heard a woman scream and then a lot of shouting. He tells Eathwund that he is going to the tavern. Eathwund sighs and wakes everyone. It is decided that everyone, including Ostin will head to the tavern. They make a dash for it and make it before the stirges can attack. In the tavern, they find Lotti and her twin daughters.

Daen is exasperated that Lotti disobeyed his instructions. But Lotti says three stirges got into the room upstairs through the window. She grabbed her kids and ran for it. She had been unable to completely block the window. Marcus says, ”I knew I heard a scream” And then he says he is going to check the doors in the back.

Eathwund says that is a good idea and he goes to check the door and windows in the main tavern. Lakima confronts Rosalee about the wanted posters. She confirms the story that Ostin told them. Lakima tells her that she had better leave the area tomorrow because when he gets to Edgerton he will tell the watch commander about her.

They start to settle down, everyone is present except for the halfling who is presumably upstairs, and Marcus who went to check on doors is present in the tavern. Tripp comes into the tavern from the kitchen, screaming about stirges. Three of the creatures come in after him. Soon they are followed by more stirges.

Lakima, yells at the cook for letting the stirges in through the kitchen. But Tripp says they came from the back hallway. Just then Marcus enters from the kitchen pursued by six stirges. Then they realize that the stirges are not attacking him.
“That’s right,” Marcus says. “I let my friends in the back door.” “Now I can have my revenge, on you Tevan, and you Danigal and finally you Lotti.”

Tevan and Danigal shout together, “Kellis?”
“I was Kellis, but not anymore, you made sure of  that my old friend!” With that Marcus starts to transform. Bat wings sprout from his back, his head elongates into a long proboscis and his hands become claws.

A dozen stirges fly into the tavern. Lotti grabs her daughters and runs for the fireplace with Kendra. Rosalee and Ostin try to protect them. Tripp tries to round the bar but he is attacked and killed by stirges. Tevan and Danigal back away together toward one corner. It is soon clear that the stirges and the creature are concentrating on attacking Tevan and Danigal.  A few attack Danigal but he uses Mirror image to good effect.

Billy races out the Tavern doors and runs for the stables. He is attacked by a pair of stirges but kills them and makes it to the stables safely. In the Tavern there is desperate fighting. The creature grapples Danigal and begins drinking his blood. It ignores Daen, who leaps on it from behind stabbing it with his magic sword. Blood and ichor splatter all over the floor. The creature drops Danigal to the floor, the mage is clearly dead. He struggles to fly toward Tevan but Daen and Eathwund attack. Teven falls under a horde of stirges and dies. The creature cackles in delight and sends the remaining stirges off to attack Lotti and the children. Ostin leaps forward to defend them with his pitchfork. More stirges enter from the kitchen flying right past Lakima ignoring the mage.

Daen and Eathwund with help from Marta finally bring down the creature. After that, the stirges become confused and fly around without purpose. It does not take long for the adventurers to finish them off. Lotti is distraught and rushes to the side of Tevan who is dead. Kendra takes the children to her room and Rosalee helps Lotti upstairs. They lay out the bodies of the creature, who has reverted to the form of the man they saw before, Marcus/Kellis. They place Tevan, Tripp (cook), and Danigal’s bodies on tables. Lakima discreetly searches the body of Danigal but finds only a few coins.

Over in the stables, BIlly looks through all of the saddlebags trying to find something to steal. He finds a secret stash of gold and jewelry in a trunk in Ostin’s room and he takes it.

Back in the tavern, Ostin suggests that he will go over to the stables and get a few pitchforks to clear up the stirge bodies. Lakima suggests that a shovel would work better. So Ostin heads down into the cellar and comes up with a few shovels.

Everyone turns in for the night. Lakima notices that the door to one of the guest rooms is open. He investigates and finds the halfling dead in his bed. There are signs of a struggle and the window is broken. Under a bed he finds, Danigal’s possession. Not much money but there is a spellbook.

Daen, Marta, Lakima, and Eathwund lock themselves into their room. Eathwund takes the first watch. Once everyone else is asleep he hears footsteps on the platform outside the room. He wakes Daen for the second watch and tells him of the intruder. They listen together. It sounds like someone in platemail armor is pacing outside. They know that the only people with platemail at the Inn are here in this room. Daen says, "let's investigate". He is less than enthusiastic. They step outside letting Lakima and Marta sleep.

Out on the platform they see a ghost. The ghost is wearing platemail armor in the style of a Knight of St. John. The ghost seems non-threatening and it beckons them to follow it as it sinks through the floor into the tavern. Eathwund and Daen follow the ghost into the deserted Tavern. Only a few lanterns are lit. The corpses rest undisturbed but it is apparent that Ostin cleaned up the stirge bodies and disposed of them.

The ghost leads them into the kitchen and points at the trapdoor to the cellar. Then it descends through the floor. They open the trapdoor and climb down the ladder into the cellar. The ghost is waiting and pointing at a wall behind some old, rotten crates. The cellar is disused and stinks of mold. Daen and Eathwund get to work moving the crates and then tearing wood off the wall. They find a concealed door behind the wood. The ghost passes through the door. They open the door and find a natural stone chamber. There are a pair of bookshelves with only a few books on them, a chest, and in one corner they see a pentagram painted on the floor. A long-dead demon lies in the pentagram. In another corner is the dead body of the knight. Holding a sword and a shield. Then the body of the knight steps forward and moves to attack. They strike it several times. It lets out a blood-curdling shriek that seems to sap their energy. But they land several blows. As it is weakened the ghost reappears and grapples the corpse. There is a flash of light and the corpse turns to dust the weapons falling to the floor. The Ghost turns and salutes them and then disappears.

Eathwund and Daen face off against the Tsohg

Eathwund and Daen take the books, the sword, and shield and carry the chest upstairs to their rooms. They wake Marta for the third watch and fill him in on what happened. Marta listens calmly and then pushes his bed to barricade the door.

Very early in the morning, Billy sneaks into the inn and searches for something valuable. He robs the corpses of the cook and the innkeeper but finds the wizard has nothing. He searches the kitchen, the pantry, and then the back rooms. He can hear a woman in one room so he checks another. Finding the cook's room empty he searches it and steals some coins.

As morning breaks everyone assembles in the tavern. Kendra cooks a passable breakfast. Lotti angrily yells that her husband’s purse is empty. Daen knowingly looks at Billy and demands he return the money. Billy pleads his innocence. But Daen threatens to shake him upside down and Billy eventually relents, returning a portion of the money. Lotti seems to think everything was returned. Lakima asks Lotti what she plans to do now that her husband is dead. She says this inn was Tevan’s Dream so she will make a go of it. They offer to purchase the inn or become partners but Lotti says she needs to think about it now is not the time. Daen puts Billy to work digging graves outback with Ostin.

Lakima has a talk with Ostin and Rosalee suggesting they take the Halflings pony and leave the area. The two nod agreement. Rosalee apologizes to Lotti and goes back to pack her things. The rest say their goodbyes and saddle their ponies and horses. Billy accepts the offer of a ride in the cart all the way to Edgerton.

Just Kobolds you say?

We played session 8 on the weekend. A long session. I had hoped to give the players a few choices in the next adventure but they have been moving quickly through adventures and only one was completely ready to play. I converted The Transmuter's Last Touch, a D20 system adventure from Goodman Games to Swords & Wizardry. I made a few minor changes to the plot, no major changes. It ran fairly well. The augmented Kobolds gave me a chance to use one of my favorite D&D monsters one more time before they become too low in level.

Session 8: The Catacombs of Soleth

The adventurers leave the Crypt beneath the Church of St. Bethesda with six robbers in custody. They almost immediately come across the Town watch. The watch recognizes some of the robbers so everything goes smoothly. They then return to the Crypts to retrieve the wormwraith's coffin which is a Chest of Preservation. The next day they find a merchant willing to purchase the strange item.

Their companion Raeish decides to leave the group now that he has a sizeable stack in gold. He says his goodbyes and heads home.

The player of the character joined the chat and said he was dropping out. He was not happy with playing a fighter-magic-user Elf. The advancement of multi-classed characters in Swords & Wizardry is very slow.

The remaining heroes split up to do some shopping. Eathwund goes looking for armor and Marta directs him to the shop where he got his armor a week earlier. Eathwund sells his old armor and buys a custom-fitted suit of plate mail. They meet up in the Town square. On the message board is a notice from the Merchant Adventurers Guild offering a reward for a task.

After a brief wait in the Merchant guild offices, they meet with the Secretary of the Merchant’s Guild who tells them of attacks on independent merchants traveling on the wilderness road. Some of the attacks have been less than one day's ride from Edgerton. The few merchants who survived the attack say it was kobolds led by a four-armed creature much bigger than a kobold. The local militia is patrolling the road but has not been able to put a stop to the attacks. The merchants will pay 3,000 gold to any group that can put an end to the problem.

The four adventurers set out the next morning. They have no clear plan other than to head east on the trail and look for signs of an attack. On the first day, they meet a merchant with one wagon guarded by a mercenary. The two men tell them that they come upon the aftermath of an attack a few hours east of the waystation. They mention that the waystation is an inn. They buried two bodies at the site of the attack.

At the end of the day, the heroes make it to the Restless Knight Inn just as the sun has set. They meet the innkeeper Tevan and a few patrons. A tinker they meet mentions that he also came upon the recent attack site. He says it is 2 hours to the east.

The next day they mount up and head east. After a few hours, they come across an overturned cart, some debris, a pair of graves, and they find a trail leading north. They follow the trail for two hours and discover a stone doorway in the side of a  cliff. The door is carved with the disturbing image of a robed man pouring a liquid into the mouth of a corpse. There are bas-relief carvings to either side. They notice that one carving of a robed skeleton has an open mouth. Lakim a pours some water into the mouth and the carving swings back revealing a secret door.

They enter the dark passage. Lakima lights his lantern. Immediately they feel a heavy atmosphere pressing against their heads. The sound seems to be deadened. Lakima asks Daen if this could be a type of rock or natural phenomenon. Daen is doubtful. He believes it is magical in nature.

In the first room, they come to they have to fight six kobolds. There is also an alarm gong in the chamber but they keep the kobolds from ringing it. A sleep spell makes short work of the kobolds. One is awakened and interrogated. They learn that the kobold leader is called Drask the everchanging.

Marta casts Detect traps. He immediately comes across a trap on a stone staircase headed down into a room. They grab a kobold corpse and throw it down the stairs. It triggers the trap causing the stair to become a slide and blades and spikes to spring out of the walls. They decide to head the other direction. They pass a striking bas-relief of a skeletal man. Marta surmises that it is a depiction of Soleth, the God of Peaceful rest. He says a prayer before it and they move on. They come to another stone stair that leads into a chamber where the far end of the chamber is blocked by a 15 tall wall of wooden and metal debris taken from merchants. Kobolds can be heard on the other side.

Lakima comes up with the idea to sound the gong to get the Kobolds to reveal the method of passing through the wall. But with the magical quiet in the catacombs, the banging on the gong is not very loud. Eventually, the constant banging does get the attention of the Kobolds. The kobolds attack and reveal the passage through the debris. They dispatch the kobolds but one gets away. Daen chases it and finds an area lit by the greenish light of a continual flame torch. The kobold is there as well but now its eyes are flaming orbs and smoke pours from its nostrils. It yells at Daen and charges. A gout of flame spouts from its mouth burning Daen who clings to life. Eathwund comes to Daen’s aid and kills the kobold.

Everyone is a little perplexed and shaken by the behavior of the kobold. Marta casts Cure light wounds on Daen. But they pause to remove the magic iron torch. Marta searches the dead body of a mercenary they find slumped against the wall. It was being used as target practice by the kobolds. He finds a potion in a metal flask. He learns later that this is a potion of heroism. After removing the torch from the wall bracket Daen realizes he has been enchanted. His eyes glow red and he can breathe fire! Everyone is mystified as to what is going on.

They pass another shrine of Soleth. This time Marta does not say a blessing and a trap is triggered casting a sleep spell. Daen and Marta fall asleep. Lakima wakes them up and everyone (with the exception of Daen) suddenly gets enchanted with a Haste spell. They are not certain what happened but they suspect a magic trigger on the floor did it. In the area ahead of them they come across three kobolds. In a flurry of attacks, two kobolds fall dead. The third turns and runs into a chamber with a chasm. A rickety rope bridge crosses the chasm. For everyone except Daen the kobold is moving incredibly slowly. Daen struggles to keep up as the other three heroes race ahead killing the kobold on the bridge. They see more kobolds on the other side. The kobolds take turns jumping onto a spot on the chamber floor and soon each is surrounded by mist making them hard to see. The heroes, minus Daen who is still huffing and puffing well behind, fight the three kobolds but struggle to hit them. Finally, Lakima kills two with expert dart shots hitting them in the eyes. As the Haste enchantment finally dissipates Daen finally catches up. They all head back and step on the spot on the floor where they saw the kobolds step. All of them become surrounded by an obscuring mist.

The Rope Bridge over the Chasm

Past the chasm, a stair heads down further and they enter a wide hallway of alcoves. Sarcophagi stand upright in each alcove. The entire area is lit by a flickering bluish light from another of the continual flame iron torches. Lakima casts Detect Magic and finds that the torch is magical, as is the air and stone around them, and several specific areas on the floor. They make note of those areas and avoid them.

The head north, take the second magic iron torch and head-on coming directly into a kobold village. More than a dozen kobold warriors are suiting up preparing for a fight. Apparently alerted somehow. They see tents and kobold females and younglings. The kobold warriors form up into ranks and block the way into the camp. Daen leads the attack leaping into the kobolds. The heroes are still augmented by the mist around them and the kobolds are unable to hit them. In two short flurries of action, ten kobolds are killed and only two remain. Than Lakima calls a halt to the fighting, shouting “Parlay” in common. The kobolds apparently understand and throw down their weapons. They ask to be allowed to leave with the females and young.

Lakima agrees if they tell them where the leader is at. The Kobolds do not apparently have much respect for this leader and tell the heroes where the leader’s secret chambers are located. Lakima asks for a guide and the kobolds wave over one of the smallest of the young. The young kobold Smit leads them to a sarcophagus in an alcove and pushes a trigger revealing a secret door. They let the kobold run away. Feeling this could be the big battle, they prepare and Marta tests and then drinks a potion of heroism.

However, the secret passage leads to an empty room. There is an eight-foot-tall statue of a mage made out of tarnished bronze. It is badly dented and seems immobile. Lakima detects that it is magical. Also in the room is a magical mirror that allows them to see through stone into the hallway of sarcophagi. Overhead there is a 10-foot square cube of glass hanging motionless in the air. A passageway leads further west. They follow the passage and confront Drask. A mutated, five-foot-tall kobold with four arms and a mutated tail. Two of the arms are furry and have large claws. He is holding a battleax. Drask gloats at them daring them to stand against him. Drask is standing atop a dais that is glowing red and pink in undulating waves. They move in on all sides and attack Drask. Drask strikes back hitting Marta and nearly killing the cleric. They continue to attack making several hits. Just as it looks like they are close to killing the mutated kobold, he laughs and fades from sight!

Lakima crushes some chalk and throws it in the air suspecting that Drask has gone invisible. But the chalk does not reveal any invisible creatures. They do see a huge pile of gold, silver, magic items, and other valuables. Lakima stirs them into action and pulls out several large sacks. Soon they are all loaded down with gold and silver and struggling to walk. They drag themselves out into the other chamber. As they are passing through, Drask, fades back into sight and attacks Daen and hits the dwarf. Then he vanishes again.

Frustrated the heroes pick up the sacks and again start dragging them out the way they came in. They take advantage of the misty augmentation again near the bridge over the chasm. Weighted down they are concerned about the strength of the bridge. They decide to cross one at a time. Marta goes first. As he reaches the other side, Drask appears and strikes him for a grievous wound. Before the others can arrive to help, Drask is gone. They note that Drask also looks healed from earlier wounds.

Marta is anxious to keep moving and draw out more attacks but he is convinced by his companions to cast cure light wounds twice on himself before continuing. They reach the chamber with the barricade. As they pass through the narrow passage, Drask appears and attacks while they struggle to move. He hits Marta again. Marta is urged back by his friends and retreats reluctantly. Drask taunts Marta calling him a coward. This angers Marta who moves through the barricade to attack again but supported by Eathwund. As the two attack Drask moves to attack Eathwund and leaves an opening for Marta who strikes the kobold solidly in the head with the mace. Drask yells out, “No, it cannot be!” He starts to fade but then solidifies and falls to the ground dead.

They search his corpse and find a pair of empty potion containers and his battleax but nothing more. They drag Drask’s body and a few kobold bodies out to the road along with all of the treasure. It takes two exhausting trips. At the road they make use of the overturned cart, righting it and hitching it to their mule. They load up the cart and head to the Inn of the Restless Knight. Entering the innyard they quickly attract a crowd with their cart full of kobold corpses.