The Stealer of Children

In the last session, I was not certain which direction the players would go so I had several adventures ready. One of the toss in short encounters was a modification of "The Stealer of Children" from Small Niche Games written by Peter C. Spahn. The adventure was written for levels 1-3 of Labyrinth Lord but because of the nature of the adventure, I found it quite easy to modify the adventure for levels 5-10 for Swords & Wizardry. The adventure involves a single fey antagonist who has resistance to most attacks.

The adventure went very well. I think the players enjoyed the change of pace. It is more of a thinking player's adventure. The final solution that came up with (in the next session) was not what was intended but it worked out.

Session 95: The Stealer of Children

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Flora (elven thief), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC).

After a day Alayna has identified all of the potions the Company found in the cave of the mad alchemist. Lakima decides he has some of his own potion-making he wants to do. He heads over to the Mages Guild to make use of the alchemy lab. He is out when Lantosh brings up the issue of recovering Aashdoshan’s body. Domago says he regrets leaving the body behind but the building was collapsing. Eathwund agrees to go with Domago and Lantosh and Fenris gives Lantosh the Spade of Excavation.

Traveling outside the town to the south the three men arrive at the cemetery. They find that the Tower has completely collapsed and is now just a large heap of rubble with a few standing segments of walls. A pair of members of the town watch stand guard (or are actually seated on some stools rescued from the rubble). Lantosh scouts the rubble and gets the spade of excavation digging in the area he thinks is where the upper floor would have collapsed. After an hour the spade has uncovered a large area and they find Aashdoshan’s skeletal remains. An intact coffin is found in the rubble and it is used to remove the body from the hole. Eathwund pays a passing carter with a wagon 20 gold to haul the coffin to the Apothecary shop in Edgerton (likely years pay or more for the carter). Malyn takes charge of the remains and places a golden Mask of Peaceful Repose over Aashdoshan’s “face”.

The three make their way back to the Manor House. Outside they see a fine horse and carriage awaiting with footmen wearing the colors of the Town of Edgerton. Inside the Manor they find Baron Lucien Vorloi waiting for them. The baron swears them to secrecy and tells them that Earl Stefan of Lockeland has been missing for a year – taken in the middle of the night by the Creature of Rhyl. A mysterious beast that has been hunting livestock and the occasional villager during the night in Lockeland for the past ten years. This attack is different from the rest. Rather than a simple hunt for food, it seems more directed. The beast took Lord Stefan and two powerful magic items from the treasury. These are not the actions of a simple beast. The mages of the Ducal Court suspect that the wizard Astylis is behind the actions of the creature.

The Baron tells them that several companies of mercenaries and a cohort of the knights were sent to the location of Astylis’ complex and none returned. Recent divination confirmed that Duke Stefan is still alive so Duke Robert asked his court for suggestions. The Baron explains that he suggested the Company of the Black Dragon be hired. He is counting on their improving his standing with Lord Robert and on their discretion. So far, Lord Robert has been keeping Earl Stefan’s disappearance secret. Eathwund tells the Baron that they cannot agree to the terms (payment of 8,000 gold coins) without consulting Lakima who is busy. They promise to let him know before the sunset of the day.

Eathwund and Domago head over to the Mages Guild and disturb Lakima working on creating Healing potions. Lakima listens and agrees to the deal. A map is laid out and the distance to Leandra’s Row is plotted. It looks to be a journey that will take a few weeks. But Lakima tells them to send a note to the Baron that they will take the job and they will be in Leandra’s Row in 2 days.

The next day preparations are made for the journey. Lakima studies maps and asks Domago (who is from Lockeland) if there are any bridges in Leandra’s Row. Domago goes to Cromly’s and is shown the artisan’s latest creation – Cromly’s Marvellous Sling bullets. He is selling the explosive sling bullets for 100 gold each. Domago asks to buy all 20 that have been produced but has to borrow gold from Eathwund to do it.

The group hires a riverboat and spends 2 days traveling to the Dolm ferry. Lakima, Eathwund, Domago, Alrix, Flora, Fenris, and Lantosh are on the journey. From the ferry, they head north and then east into Kingswood. As the trees begin to close in, they meet some Elven Rangers. Once the rangers realize that they are the Company of the Black Dragon, they let them pass. Shorty, thereafter they arrive at the Bridgeway and greet the Custodian of the Bridge, the wizard Ezmeraldan. Lakima greets the old mage and asks for a portal to be opened to Leandra’s Row. The mage agrees and sets the crystals in the portal. The adventurers then cross the bridge and step off one end at the Cherry Creek bridge in Leandra’s Row, magically transported by the portal magic of the Bridgeway.

As soon as they find themselves in Leandra’s Row, the group sees a young farmer running toward them yelling.

“Help, help, he is trying to kill me!”

They see another man clad in rusted, old plate armor clumsily chasing the farmer. Without a whole lot of time to get an explanation, the adventurers move to protect the farmer who hides behind Lantosh. Eathwund, Domago, and Alrix move to block the knight. Alrix sends his dancing sword to attack. The knight is struck several times breaking off pieces of armor and they see that the armor is animated by a skeleton. After a few more blows the skeleton collapses. The adventurers ask the farmer for an explanation and he explains that he was chopping firewood from a downed tree when the knight exploded out of the very tree. Lakima insists the farmer show them the tree. They travel 20 minutes into the deep woods and find a large oak tree in a clearing. The tree has been split in two by a lightning strike and is badly damaged by fire. The tree grows out of a low mound of earth. A large, flat rock rests over a hole beneath the roots. Eathwund asks if they should move the stone, but they decide to the village and report what they found.

Leandra’s Row is a small farm village along Duke’s Road. The road passes through the village linking Lockeland with Thurmany. There is a tavern with a few rooms named “The Red Smile” and a nearby Abbey. They learn that the land and the village are managed by the sisters of the order of St. Leandra. The town is known for its cherry trees. The village warder, Arlen Travers, has the body of the knight taken to the abbey. Sister Allisen tells them that the heraldic designs on the knight indicate he was a member of Lansing House. The former Lords of Leandra. The Lansings died out hundreds of years ago. The last Lord Lansing was killed in a fire that destroyed Lansing Manor.

The adventurers go to the Red Smile tavern and meet their contact, Sir Angus Goblinbane. Their contact turns out to be a very old knight of some repute. Sir Angus shows them on a map where the location of Astylis’ complex is suspected to lie – about 2 days ride north.

The party spends the night in the tavern. They find they have to sleep on the tavern floor as the tavern has only 2 rooms for rent and Sir Angus has taken the larger one. The next morning there is a commotion in the village. They learn that a child went missing during the night. Disappearing from home with no signs of disturbance. The adventurers do head over to where the villagers have gathered to organize search parties. Arlen Travers is doing the organizing. Lakima tells Arlen that if the Company is paid in gold they will look for the missing child. This angers the warder who asks them to begone from the village.

While walking away from the village gathering, Lantosh stops and tells Lakima that he will return and help the villagers find the missing child. Domago agrees and also turns to leave. Lakima calls them back and tells them that he thinks the child was taken by a fey creature and that the key to finding the child is investigating the lightning-struck oak. He is convinced that it is a fairy mound. Lakima suggests they investigate it immediately.

The entire group heads out of the village and into the Tanglewood forest. Soon they arrive at the clearing with the lightning-damaged tree. Eathwund tries to move the boulder without success. He also tries with Lantosh’s aid and still fails. Finally, Lantosh taps Domago on the shoulder and the two manage to lever the stone to one side. Below the rock is a large hole dug in the ground. Fenris slides down into the hole and calls up that there is a tunnel below. The entire group descents. Lakima provides light with his glowing staff and Lantosh lights a lantern. Flora and Alrix take the lead using their superior dark vision.

The tunnel winds through the earth continually descending. Finally, they arrive at an intersection and see a pair of chambers dug out of the earth. The nearest chamber is full of detritus including some disturbing items like children’s clothing and toys. Lakima enters and looks around and is attacked suddenly by three tiny 1-foot-tall fey creatures. One of them bites him on the leg. Lakima releases the efreet Khisa from its bottle and orders it to erect a Wall of Fire. The fire springs up blocking the creatures from the group but it also fills the small tunnels with smoke. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla summoning a cohort of berserkers to appear on the other side of the flames. They hear some screaming and then quiet. Coughing, Lakima tells Khisa to drop the wall of fire. The flames vanish and they see three hacked-up corpses of the tiny fey. Eathwund searches through the debris and finds the ancient skeleton of a child with a silver locket about his neck. They decide to take the child’s bones and place them in the Bag of Holding.

In the next chamber, they find a disturbingly large number of human bones. All of the bones are clearly those of human children and most are very old. Some have almost disintegrated. The newest bones are at least a few hundred years old. All show signs of having been eaten.

Armed with this knowledge the group moves deeper into the earth following the tunnel eventually arriving in a large cave bisected by a swiftly moving stream. Lantosh leads the way cautiously holding his lantern out in front. Soon the light falls on a fey creature resting on a bed of children’s clothes, dolls, and toys. The creature stirs as the light falls over it. The fey creature is short in stature about 4 feet tall with green skin, short horns, and long hair. The creature rises and taunts the adventurers in gibberish muttered in elvish. Its sentences end in gurgling laughter and the phrase “grombel… grombel… grombel..”

Disgusted by the creature, which claims to be eating the missing child, the group attack. Eathwund and Lantosh strike at it with their weapons and Alrix send the sword of dancing at it. All of the attacks miss. Domago blows the Horn and two berserkers appear and attack but they also miss. Then the creature turns into a cloud of cold mist and slowly drifts over to a dirt wall and passes through it.

The adventurers wait for a short time but the creature does not appear. A slightly rattled Fenris keeps repeating that they need to leave. Finally, Lantosh suggests they check the other passage. This passage leads to a wooden wall with a door in the center. Eathwund moves to the door and Fenris joins him. Fenris listens and tells everyone he can hear a human child crying. Domago cautions that this could be a trap.

Eathwund swings the door open and they see a crudely constructed child’s bedroom. A crying girl of around 5 years of age rests on a bed. Lantosh rushes forward and picks up the child comforting her. Eathwund checks the chamber for magic but finds none.

“We need to get her out of here,” urges Lantosh.

The group immediately leaves and heads back through the forest to the village. The child’s parents eagerly come running once the word is spread that the adventurers found the child. At first, the child is unable to speak but eventually, the young girl tells her parents that a creature appeared in her bedroom and she was frozen with fear. Then it picked her up and they floated through walls and through the air to the bedroom beneath the ground.

Arlen Travers arrives and thanks the adventurers calling them heroes and telling them he was wrong to doubt them. Later he asks them to meet Mother Mills with him at the abbey. The skeleton of a child they found is identified by one of the nuns as Evan Lansing. The locket he was wearing shows the Lord and Lady Lansing, the last Lansing family members to rule the area. Sister Allisen identified the child from the research she had done on the history of the area. The heroes are not certain how this all connects. Lakima is still wondering if this is somehow connected to the Creature of Rhyl. A mission that they need to get started on soon. In the meantime, they return to the Red Smile tavern.

Golem amok

This session was something that came together quickly. The players deftly avoided some travel encounters by risking using teleport from the end of the last adventure directly to their home. I had nothing ready. I did have a former character for a player that left the group due to scheduling. His character, a necromancer, had been gradually sliding towards chaos and the player suggested to me that his character get taken down by his own undead minions. Since the character is carrying an artifact that is central to the overall plot I had been running him as an NPC for a few sessions trying to figure out what to do with him. The need for a quick adventure for the week was the impetus to come up with an idea. I took some location maps that were already done and added a free-willed golem created by a Cursed Manual of Golem creation.

Session 94: On the trail of the Monster

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC).

The adventurers spend a week resting and recuperating at their Manor House in Edgerton. Eathwund checks in on the tavern he owns and finds everything running smoothly. Alrix goes to merchant Clearwin and commissions a device that will make his physical attacks magical – at a cost of 1,800 gold. Domago speaks with Clearwin and then commissions Cromly the smith to make him magical sling bullets that will explode with fire on contact with a target – for 1,500 gold. Domago also asks Cromly about elemental sling bullets.

Lakima prepares magical protection circles and releases the Efreet Khisa again. He bargains with Khisa. Khisa offers the location of the arch-mage Keraptis’ tower in exchange for his freedom (an obvious adventurer hook). Lakima successfully gets Khisa to agree to the year and one-day standard agreement of service with the promise that he will break the brass jar when the service is complete (so much for that side quest).

After eight days of quiet, breakfast is interrupted by Sergeant Frans of the local Watch. Frans asks to see Aashdoshan but the latter is not around. Frans explains that a Tower appeared overnight in a field near the cemetery south of town. There must be some strong necromancy involved because some of the dead have risen from the nearby cemetery and are preventing the watch from investigating. Frans asks the adventurers for help.

Lakima agrees to help on behalf of the group. Frans tells him the watch will escort him to the tower. When Lakima dismisses the escort Frans insists. The watch is needed to keep locals away. Eathwund, Alrix, Domago, and Lantosh get prepared for some fighting. Flora, Fenris, and Aashdoshan are missing from the Manor. Lakima does go in search of Aashdoshan in the cellar but finds the chamber empty.

Sergeant Frans leads the adventurers south of the town along the Dolm river. Soon they make out the shape of a square tower with a wide base resting crookedly in a field where no tower stood before. Trees and dirt are tossed aside around the base of the new tower. Lakima immediately realizes that the tower is the same shape and form as Aashdoshan’s Tower in a Book that they have used so often. This one is made of stone and not paper. This confirms his suspicion that something must have happened to the Infinity Glass in the tower while it was in Aashdoshan’s possession.

A group of a dozen zombies can be seen standing idly around the base of the tower. The tower has no windows and only a single door where the zombies are the most concentrated. Domago steps forward and presents his Holy Symbol to the zombies causing several to stagger away toward the cemetery. Lakima unstops the efreeti bottle and releases Khisa. He tells the efreet to raise a Wall of Fire to keep the zombies at bay. The men of the watch are terrified of the flaming efreet but Lakima puts their fears at bay.

The adventurers and the efreet enter the tower one at a time. They find themselves in the familiar waiting room of the Tower in a Book confirming their fears. The adventurers make their way through the tower finding many doors open. On the second floor, they encounter some zombies which Domago turns. On the third floor, they find the iron gate torn off its hinges, and in the prison, they find the door of one cell knocked to the floor. They also discover Fenris, badly injured and hiding in a locked cell.

Once released Fenris tells them that he was doing a job in the cemetery with Aashdoshan last night. As they approached the cemetery Aashdoshan cursed and tossed the Book of the Tower to the ground. A moment later the tower appeared with a crash. Aashdoshan ordered Fenris into the tower with him. On the top floor, they encountered a berserk Golem made up of human body parts. Aashdoshan clearly recognized the creature and tried to calm it down but the creature grabbed Aashdoshan by the neck and snapped it. Fenris decided to run but he was struck by a hurled table. He managed to get to the prison cells and locked himself in. He heard the creature pass down the hallway many hours ago.

On the top floor of the tower, the adventurers find the workshop in shambles. Lying near an overturned table is Aashdoshan. Not only dead, but he has rapidly aged to a skeleton. They also find a shattered Infinity Glass and the Manual of Golem creation lying on the floor. Lakima takes the Manual and Aashdoshan’s Staff of Undead Command. Eathwund picks up Aashdoshan’s duffle bag. Domago takes the time to pray over Aashdoshan’s remains but tells the group that Aashdoshan’s soul is gone. He cannot be raised from the dead.

The adventurers leave the tower and begin searching the grounds for footprints. Their activity attracts the attention of several zombies. The zombies all walk into the Wall of Fire and are burnt to ashes. Lakima finds giant footprints leading west from the tower through farmland toward the nearby forested hills.

Lakima tells Sergeant Frans about the escaped Golem and that the tower belonged to Aashdoshan. Frans asks several questions about the responsibility for the golem. Lakima convinces him that Aashdoshan is to blame and not the Company of the Black Dragon. He tells Frans that the tower is unstable and should not be entered. As if to punctuate this point, the tower settles and parts of one wall collapse. Lakima tells the group that they need to follow the trail of tracks. Lakima asks if everyone is ready to leave and Fenris says that he is too injured to join them. Domago casts healing on Fenris removing that argument. Fenris still says it is more important to clear the tower first. Since no one wants to go back inside Fenris goes on his own while the group speaks with the watchmen. He emerges a half-hour later dragging a large sack he has filled with Aashdoshan’s belongings. Lakima forces Fenris to hand each item over one at a time and place them in the Bag of Holding. Domago suspiciously asks Fenris several questions about his motives – seemingly convinced that Fenris is under a charm or up to no good. Finally, the group sets off following the trail of large footprints.

The trail leads through several farms. The adventurers question locals and learn that the creature has gone this way and has stolen a live cow. The trail leads up into the hills to the mouth of a cave on the side of a hill. A rotted rope hangs from a nearby tree.

The adventurers enter the cave and find a recently killed bear lying in a pile of leaves. Beyond the immediate cave is a chasm that cuts across the path. A crude bridge formed by logs has been pushed down in the chasm. At the bottom of the chasm, they spot giant fire beetles moving about. Eathwund tells everyone that this is the Alchemist’s Cave that they explored a few years ago. Lakima tells Khisa to lift the logs out of the chasm to reform the bridge. He descends and with some effort manages to lift the logs into place. Fenris runs quickly across. The logs prove to be slightly unstable so the rest of the adventurers are ferried across by Khisa. He sets everyone down in a large cave with another exit. Half of the cave is flooded with the freshwater of a spring. Khisa looks curiously into the pool and sees a ripple of colored water moving toward him.

A Potion Weird, twenty-feet tall, erupts from the pool and bites Lantosh. The heroes slash away at the weird until it settles back down into the pool and dissipates. They leave the cave and continue on entering the large cavern where the mad alchemist carried out his experiments. Pools of liquid are scattered across the cave floor. A few of the pools are dried up but most of them still contain some liquid. Fenris carefully walks out amongst the pools and the rest of the group starts to spread out.

“Careful, it must be here, there are no other exits,” Lakima warns.

With a loud roar, the golem strides from the shadows and swings at Eathwund with a fist the size of his head. The punch misses, and Eathwund quickly counters with his sword, cutting deeply into the golem’s side. Blood and viscera splatter onto the cave floor. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla summoning two berserkers to the fight. Alrix attacks with his Sword of Dancing and Lakima strikes the golem with his staff of striking. The staff seems to misfire but the other attacks strike the golem – which appears clumsy and easy to hit. The golem does manage to punch Lantosh in the shoulder knocking the fighter down, but soon the sheer number of adventurers slash the golem to pieces until the light in its eyes is extinguished.

Lakima orders Khisa to return to town and come back with many glass containers. The rest of the group sits about in the cavern waiting for several hours for the efreet to return. Eventually, Khisa does return with a sack full of mismatched glass bottles. Lakima rebukes Khisa for taking so long.

“I had to steal them from several different shops,” Khisa replies.

The adventurers drain the remaining pools into glass containers and then leave the cave. They return to the tower near the cemetery and let Frans know that the monster has been killed. Then they return to their Manor House. Alayna agrees to identify the potions.

The Foundry

A few weeks ago my Swords & Wizardry Campaign players manage to recover the 3 holy relics beneath White Plume Mountain. This was my own version of White Plume Mountain. I retained the essence of the plot and a few of the iconic scenes but not much else. Everything else was changed to fit my campaign.

Primarily I was concerned that such a well-known adventure as White Plume Mountain would have been read several times by my players. After the session, I did ask about this and I was surprised to learn that none of them had ever had a chance to play the original. This suggests that I might be able to run other classic modules without a whole lot of changes.

Session 93: The Foundry

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Flora (elven thief), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Aashdoshan (necromancer NPC).

Perched on an edge of an underground lake filled with boiling water the adventurers investigate the stone obelisk and orb that is placed on the floor near the edge. Lakima tries pressing or removing the crystals on the side of the pedestal and nothing happens. But when he places his hand on the orb it glows with an inner light. Soon, they hear the sound of rushing water in the cavern. A narrow pathway begins to form through the boiling water. Seemingly held back by invisible walls the water drains away to form a dry path across the lake. But the path is 50 feet below them and they have left all of their rope in the cavern with the mud pits.

Lakima asks Alrix to investigate the cavern. Alrix argues a little but then agrees and flies off into the darkness in his native form of a winged serpent. The cavern appears to be about 200 feet in diameter. The dry path leads to another ledge and another obelisk on the far side. Alrix returns and hears the flapping of a swarm of bat wings. Ahead he spots a cloud of what at first, he believes are bats but which on closer inspection are a swarm of stirges. Yelling a warning Alrix lands back on the ledge with the group. Lakima throws a fireball at the swarm of stirges. Most of the stirges are incinerated. The few that survive, flee away into the darkness.

Fenris and Flora climb down the slick cavern wall to the path and proceed ahead. Alrix flies above them alert for more dangers. On the far side, Flora and Fenris climb up to the ledge and find another tunnel headed deeper into the mountain. Fenris puts his hand on the orb and it lights up. But nothing seems to happen. Alrix flies back to the rest of the group leaving Fenris and Flora on their own. They all decide to all get into the Tower in a Book and then have Alrix carry the book in his mouth to the far side. This is accomplished and soon everyone emerges from the pocket dimension of the tower on the far side of the lake.

Once safely on the other side, the group heads a short distance down the tunnel when they come to an intersection. One tunnel heads off into the darkness and the other leads into a cave. Lakima shines his light into the cave and they see the stone statue of a Dragon. A few moments after their light falls onto the statue, it begins to move rapidly toward them in crashing steps. Alrix casts magic missile but he sees the magic dissipate when the missiles strike the stone dragon (golem). He shouts a warning to everyone that it is immune to magic spells. Eathwund strikes it solidly with his sword and sees a few chips of stone fall off. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla and three berserkers appear and begin striking the dragon doing no damage at all. The stone dragon stretches to its full height and breathes out a cloud of poisonous gas over Eathwund and Alrix but both manage to avoid breathing long enough to get out of the gas cloud. Lakima yells at Eathwund to use the power of Wormbane. Eathwund strikes the stone dragon again and uses the sword’s power to negate its magic resistance temporarily. Lakima waits a moment for Eathwund to nod that it is done and then he casts Magic Missile. This time the missiles blast parts of the dragon apart and it collapses into a heap of broken stone. Eathwund searches through the pile of stones and he finds a glowing red gem.

Flora has been further up the tunnel on guard throughout the fight. Now she hears the sound of men talking urgently in common coming toward her. They are guards that have heard the noise of the fight. She signals to Fenris to hide the two of them and wait for the men to approach. Two men come into view, dressed in leather armor and holding swords and torches. One of them shouts in alarm as he spots Domago, but Flora manages to silence him with a strike from behind. The other man tried to run but is cut down but Flora. He does manage to shout out a warning.

Flora and Fenris try to sneak up the tunnel that the men came from but they encounter a number of men waiting and alert. There is a brief battle, and the men are chased back into a man-made portion of the dungeon. Stone block walls, floor, and ceiling are decorated with faded paintings. In a large hall, they fight and defeat ten men.

The hall they are in has several piles of wooden crates full of food and barrels full of water. All of these supplies are clearly new. The walls are painted in faded images of a Wizard working slaves in a foundry. The paintings look to be very old – hundreds and hundreds of years. Several doors lead from the Hall to a crude sleeping area, a forge, a storage room, and the sleeping quarters for a boss. Here they find a shrine dedicated to some evil god, three empty wooden crates full of packing straw, and three locked iron chests. Between Fenris and Flora they manage to open all of the chests and find some treasure – gold and silver coins, gems, jewels, a scroll tube, a potion, and a bronze jar. Everything is quickly stuffed into the bag of holding.

Leaving the hall, they travel down a smaller hallway that Alrix finds is very tight. Turning a corner, they see that the hallway has pairs of metal pools extending from floor to ceiling every ten feet extending its length. This clearly looks like a trap. Fenris checks and is unable to find anything indicating a trap. Lakima asks Flora to check as well but she also finds nothing. Lakima then asks if anyone has anything they do not need. Eathwund hands him a grappling hook. Lakima tosses the grappling hook underhand down the corridor. It lands and then slides for several feet. No trap is triggered. Lakima then looks at everyone and asks for a volunteer to proceed down the hall. Domago steps forward.

Domago walks slowly and carefully past the first pair of poles, then the second, then the third with nothing happening. But as he passes the fourth pair, a trap is sprung, and lightning arcs between poles and up and down the corridor. Domago leaps to one side but is still electrocuted. He gets up and runs for the far end of the hallway getting struck by lightning again. Lakima casts the Wall of Iron spell as quickly as he can extending the length of the hallway along one wall. This seems to stop the lightning trap. Or it could be that Domago reached the end of the hallway. As they debate this, Domago examines the room he has arrived in. The room is empty but for a circular passage entering one wall. The passage out is a cylinder of grey metal that appears to descend at a slight angle. An ominous red glow shines from the far end. As the rest of the adventurers start down the lightning-trapped hall, Domago carefully steps into the cylinder. Immediately, the cylinder begins to slowly spin, and Domago realizes the surface is coated in slick oil. He desperately tries to keep upright on his feet as he slowly slips toward the glowing end. Meanwhile, Eathwund is leading the way down the hall. As he passes the fourth pair of pillars, the lightning trap activates again – but this time it is grounded by the iron wall. He runs quickly to the far room and spots Domago slipping and sliding in a cylinder. Eathwund reaches out with his quarterstaff and Domago is able to grasp it. He is pulled to safety.

Once everyone is in the room, they do a careful check of the walls and floor but find no secret switches of doors. The cylinder slowly stops spinning. Looking down its length they see that it appears to lead to a cave filled with red-hot lava. Lakima declares that this is odd because one of the men they killed tried fleeing in this direction. He was sure that there would be a passage to somewhere safe. They return back to the large Hallway. Domago suggests checking the walls of the lightning trap hall before the first set of pillars. Flora checks but is unable to find a door. Lakima takes out the Wand of Secret Door detection which quickly finds a doorway and a switch to operate it. Fenris presses the switch and the door swings open. Flora goes ahead into the darkness as Lakima shields his light. She peers around a corner and spots two more of the armed brigands they have met. This pair of men appear at ease, having not heard all of the noise from the fighting. She and Fenris come upon the pair, surprising and killing them. The passage is lit by the glow coming from a large cavern. The glow coming from a lake of lava.

They see a huge iron structure sitting on stone pillars just above a lake of lava. In the center of the structure is what looks like an enormous ladle. Small iron winches and urns hang from chains near the ladle. A descending series of iron platforms held aloft by chains leads to the structure. At the end of the platforms, three humans in dark-grey robes wait expectantly. Apparently having heard the most recent fight with the brigands. Two of the men are hooded but carry no weapons, while the third man stands behind the other two. This man is unhooded, his bald head reflecting the light of the lava. He holds a staff in one hand and a mace in the other. On the platform, they also see, three dwarf-sized figures clad in bulky iron suits that cover their entire bodies. They have closed helms on their heads. Flames occasionally shoot out of vents in the front of the helms. The three creatures are working on strange mechanical devices directing the operation of the foundry.

They take in all of this strange scene, the iron devices and foundry suspended in a large cavern over a lake of lava. Lakima spots an iron chest with glowing runes on its sides, and he immediately guesses that this holds the holy relics they seek. Eathwund and Lantosh step onto the first iron platform which is thankfully very steady. Alrix spreads his wings to prepare to fly up into the cavern, and then the man speaks.

“Halt! Why do you disturb this place!”

Lakima tells the man that they have come for the Holy relics that were stolen.

“Yes – we took them. But they are needed to save our people. To forge a device that will smash the Cursed Ward of Valen!”

Lakima tells him to hand over the relics.

“You are too late; we have melted them down!”

Domago yells in anger at them and runs out onto the iron platform. Lakima yells at everyone to get out of the way and then he casts a lightning bolt right down the platform striking all three of the men. All of them are knocked down but they stagger to their feet.

Moments later, Eathwund, Lantosh, and Domago are upon them. The two guardians fight well but they are unarmored and use only their hands. Domago is struck solidly twice but both of the opposing men are killed. They then move on to the leader. He casts a spell at Eathwund making the fighter’s limbs feel heavy – but Eathwund manages to shake it off and slash the man. He discovers that the man is wearing chainmail under his robes. Before the man can strike back, Domago strikes him in the side of the head killing him.

The chamber continues to be filled with loud hissing from the lava. Lakima yells for them to grab the chest. The three dwarven creatures continue working the machines seemingly ignoring them but blocking their way. Alrix flies over to the largest machine being worked by a dwarf. Lakima yells at all of them to smash the machines. Eathwund brings his sword down on a large metal box with levers on the front of it. The nearest dwarf reacts and strikes him with his metal hammer knocking Eathwund back. Eathwund then turns and swings his sword at the dwarf but he finds that their armor is incredibly hard. Alrix reaches out with his tail to smash a machine and a dwarf swings his hammer at him. Lantosh moves to aid Eathwund.

At this moment they see three more dwarven creatures emerging from the lake of lava. They step up onto a set of stone steps leading up to the iron platform.

Lakima pulls a gem from his pouch and concentrates on it speaking words of magic and he slumps down on the iron platform, his eyes rolling back and his mouth hanging open slackly. Fenris rushes to Lakima side and yells for help. Aashdoshan standing nearby tells him not to worry that it is part of a spell.

Domago blow his Silver Horn of Valhalla and summons four berserkers on the iron platform near the stairs into the lava. The berserkers bravely, and futilely try to stop the advance of the dwarves coming up out of the lava. One by one the berserkers fall. Aashdoshan helps out by striking one of the dwarves with multiple magic missiles. The dwarf, already injured by Eathwund, topples off the iron platform into the lava.

One of the dwarves leaves the fighting and moves over to the iron chest covered with magic runes. In a feat of incredible strength, the diminutive creature lifts the chest up and starts walking stiffly toward the iron platforms leading off the foundry. It passes one of its fellows, who bellows strange, crackling speech at it. It steps over the dead man and moves onto the platform coming toward Lantosh.

“Let it pass!” yells Aashdoshan.

The dwarf keeps walking stiffly up the platforms approaching Fenris, Flora, and the comatose Lakima. Fenris readies his sword but again Aashdoshan waves him off. Fenris watches in disbelief as the dwarf sets down the chest carefully in the stone hallway. Then it turns and walks back down the platforms toward the foundry. Lantosh and Fenris look at it in astonishment.

“Let’s go, we have what we came for, let’s go!” Aashdoshan shouts.

Eathwund and Domago slowly retreat from the platform. The stiffly moving dwarf passes them and stops at the last platform. It strikes each of the chain mounts in turn causing the iron platform to tilt and then fall into the lava with the dwarf upon it. The small platform and the dwarf sink into the lava. At that moment Lakima comes to his senses, shakes his head, and pockets the gem. He gets to his feet and shouts for everyone to leave. Alrix who is furthest away knocks the dwarf he was fighting into the lava. Then he sees two columns of fire approaching the platform across the lake of lava. As they get nearer the remaining dwarven creatures form into a protective circle. He sees that the columns of fire have a roughly humanoid shape – they are fire elementals.

Bracing for more fighting, the adventurers are surprised to see the elementals attack the dwarven creatures. As Alrix flies into the tunnel they all move to leave.

“It is not our concern,” says Lakima.

They hear the sound of combat behind them. Alrix hears what sounds like someone calling out for help. But they all ignore it and close the secret door behind them.

The adventurers regroup in the large hall again. The iron chest is easily opened. Inside is a worn, wooden cudgel, a plain-looking mace, and a battered shield. Domago immediately realizes that the mace is the one that was used by St. Aleena. He picks it up with reverence.

“Lantosh, Domago, you two had better be the only ones to touch these holy relics,” Lakima says. Lantosh nods and picks up the shield and the cudgel.

Lakima tells everyone that they could start planning how to get past the lake of boiling water, the pool of boiling mud, and the maze of lava tubes again, or they could rest. The adventurers elect to rest. A long, quiet rest is spent in the sleeping quarters that the brigands were using. Eathwund checks the corpses and finds some gold coins. He also finds the tell-tale brands that indicate that these were a band Iron Choke Slavers.

The next day Lakima suggests he teleport everyone in the book all of the way back to their manor in Edgerton. A few of the adventurers are nervous about teleporting but it has to be safer than climbing over the mud pit again. He casts the teleport successfully and he arrives in the manor house's main hall. Popping into the book to tell them he was successful, then everyone steps out of the book, startling their manservant Henley who was just setting the dining table for breakfast.

Later in the day, the group takes the Mace of St. Aleena to the Church of St. Aleena. The abbess thanks them and suggests they take the Shield of St. Poul to the Church of St. Cuthbert when they drop off the Cudgel of St. Cuthbert. She also asks Domago to stay. Domago and Abbess stay back to talk. She asks Domago if he will return to his parish in Peake’s Crossing now that his task has been completed. After all, there is no longer any need for him to keep an eye on the Company of the Black Dragon. Domago tells her that he enjoys their comradery and that he will stay with the company for now. He tells her that he reasons it will be good to keep an eye on them. The abbess advises him to keep a careful eye on the necromancer. She then hands him the Mace of St. Aleena.

“I feel confident that she would have wanted you to have this.”

Domago is shocked, but the abbess explains that the shrine in Aleenton is destroyed and there is no safer person to hold the relic.

“Return it when you have no more need for it,” she says.

Meanwhile, the Cudgel of St. Cuthbert and the Shield of St. Poul are handed over to Abbot Marta at the Church of St. Cuthbert. Marta insists on their staying for lunch, and he has some of the holy casks of ale opened. Marta talks with them about new measures to protect the Cudgel in the vault beneath the Church. They will send messages to the Church of St. Poul in Dolmvay to send knights to get the shield.

The next day Lakima uses Identify on some of the stranger items that were found in White Plume Mountain. The brass jar turns out to be an Efreeti jug. He prepares a summoning circle and opens the jar. An efreet who calls himself Khisa appears in a column of flame. Lakima demands that the efreet serve him for a year and a day, but the efreet has other ideas.

He tells Lakima he will ponder his offer.

The Mud Pit

As I mentioned before, I wanted to keep a few of the rooms from the original White Plume Mountain adventure. The one I especially wanted to keep was the Boiling Mud pit room and last week the players got to experience it. I did not run it exactly as written in the original module. One character fell into the boiling mud and was not instantly killed. Because I rolled low on the dice - the players had 1 round to rescue the hapless adventurer who fell.

Session 92: Perilous Pits

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Flora (elven thief), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Aashdoshan (necromancer NPC).

The heroes take a moment while Flora and Fenris empty the small chest they found in the Manticore nest. With four tunnels leading from the large cavern, they search the rock floor for tracks. Manticore tracks lead back and forth down one tunnel so they decide to follow them. The tracks lead past a cavern where thick spider webbing drapes from the ceiling and stretches between pillars and stalagmites. They decide to go around the spider cave.

Fenris takes the lead following the tracks. The tracks lead into a maze of passages but they ignore side tunnels and follow the tracks up a gradual rise. Soon they can smell fresh, cool air and then the sound of the wind. The tunnel emerges into the sunshine on a narrow ledge on the side of the mountain. A sheer cliff drops 100 feet down from the ledge. Alrix decides to take flight and launches himself off of the ledge. He flies about near the ledge looking for more entrances into the mountain. He finds none but he does see a flying reptilian shape well above him circling the mountain. Alrix decides to return to the ledge where the others are waiting.

Alrix suggests that they climb down and look for more cave entrances but the rest of the group looks warily at the sheer drop and counters that they return and explore the tunnels more. The group returns and descends back into the mountain. They are soon back into the maze of tunnels. After a short period of time, they realize that they have no idea where they are. Lakima takes out a charcoal stick and some parchment and starts drawing a map of the area.

A tribe of trolls is alerted by the light from the continual light spell Lakima is holding (cast on a silver coin by Domago) and three trolls ambush the party as they pass a side tunnel. One troll attacks Lakima and another attacks Aashdoshan. Eathwund, Lantosh, and Domago quickly move in to allow the mages to retreat. Eathwund draws his mace and uses his ring to light it on fire. One of the trolls is killed but soon regenerates and attacks again. Lakima yells for Eathwund and Alrix to stand back and he casts Lightning Bolt striking the three trolls and two more further down the tunnel. None of the trolls are killed but all of them are gravely injured.

While they are fighting, three trolls appear at the front of the party of adventurers and attack Domago and Aashdoshan. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla and four berserk warriors are summoned behind the trolls. They immediately begin slashing away at the trolls. Alrix bites and poisons one of the trolls and the creature collapses. Lakima tells Alrix to go help Domago and he casts Aztazibar’s Acrid Finger to begin burning up the dead trolls to keep them from regenerating. Two more trolls attack from another side tunnel, this time surprising Flora and Fenris. Alrix slithers over to help them and poisons another troll. After an extended fight, all of the trolls have been dealt with. One tries to flee but is hacked down by the berserkers. With the battle over, the berserkers vanish back to where they came from. Fenris and Aashdoshan light torches and use them to burn up the corpses of the trolls to prevent them from regenerating.

The group forms back up. Lakima drinks a Potion of Extra Healing to cure the wounds he received when he was struck by a Troll. They head out and soon find a trail of old, dried blood leading to the dead body of an armored warrior wearing the surcoat of a Lawbringer of St. Cuthbert. Eathwund uses the detect magic ability of his sword to discover that the mace and helm of the warrior are magical. Domago claims the items.

While Lakima tries to make sense of his map, the group encounters a malformed giant. The creature tries to crush Eathwund with a large club but Eathwund manages to dodge. Eathwund and Alrix are able to kill the giant. Eathwund searches the body and finds some gems. He also discovers that the giant has an eye embedded in the back of its head. It is some sort of aberrant creature. Lakima suggests the group rest in the giant's cave. The cave is fairly clean but the furniture is far too large for the adventurers. The group makes themselves as comfortable as they can manage on the hard rock floor. Domago prays and heals some of the more seriously injured adventurers.

During the rest, while Lakima and Fenris are on watch, the group is attacked by two stone gargoyles, possibly attracted by the dead body of the giant which still rests just outside the cave where they have taken shelter. All of the adventurers are quickly up and fighting and the gargoyles are smashed into piles of rocks.

Once everyone has rested they set off again. Flora tells Lakima that she is sure they have been this way before. Soon they find they are outside one of the entrances to the spider cave encountered earlier. Domago and Eathwund suggest avoiding the cave again but Lakima tells them he wants to deal with the spiders. They move up to the cave and see some enormous man-sized spiders moving about in the webs. Lakima tells Alrix to ready his Fireball. Lakima casts fireball followed a short time later by Alrix. The explosion of flame kills a half dozen spiders in the cave and burns away all of the webbings.

They soon find that they have made their way back to the cave where they fought the manticores earlier in the day. The group decides to take the one tunnel from the chamber that they have not previously taken. They soon end up in familiar-looking tunnels. Alrix spots the passage that leads to the lava river they found the day before. Lakima suggests they go that way. He has a new spell he wants to try. He also asks Aashdoshan if he memorized Clairvoyance which he confirms he has. The tunnel leads to a ledge overlooking a chasm. At the bottom of the chasm is a river of lava. On the other side of the chasm, there is a stone platform and wall made of large stone blocks. The statue of a mage glares down at them. Lakima asks Alrix if he could fly Aashdoshan over the chasm. Alrix tells them that he has no way to hold a passenger. But he does let Aashdoshan grab hold of his body as he slithers over the chasm. Once on the other side, Aashdoshan tells everyone that there is a passage on the other side of the stone wall. He still does not see any way to pass through it. Lakima casts Luminous Bridge across the chasm and everyone walks over the chasm to stand by the statue of the mage. Laima casts his Passwall spell and an opening appears in the stone wall revealing the passage beyond. The group passes through the wall.

The tunnel goes a short distance and ends on a ledge looking out over a long cavern filled with boiling mud. A series of wooden platforms hang from the cavern's ceiling. As they look out over the scene, a geyser of boiling mud erupts and sprays the ceiling and walls of the cavern.

Lakima casts Levitate and takes a fifty-foot rope with him as he floats out into the cavern. He soon comes to the end of the rope but Eathwund ties another rope to the end he is holding. Lakima continues on and finds another ledge 100 feet from the entrance. A tunnel leads off into the darkness. Lakima tugs on the rope to let the other adventurers know to follow him. Another geyser erupts, this time closer to the far end of the cave. Alrix takes flight and tells the group that he will fly nearby in case someone falls. Lantosh is the first to start leaping from platform to platform using the rope to keep himself steady. Behind him comes Flora, Fenris, and Eathwund. Aashdoshan, his two remaining zombie servitors, and the captive hobgoblin remain behind. A mud geyser eruption sprays Fenris with boiling mud, but he is able to take some cover on a wooden platform. As the group nears the far side of the cavern, they find the platforms veer away from the rope. Now they will just have to use their skill to try and jump to each platform one person at a time. Lantosh mistimes a jump and falls 30 feet down into the boiling mud. He starts to sink into the mud, screaming in pain. Alrix flies down and wraps his tail around Lantosh pulling the badly burnt and unconscious fighter from the mud. Alrix flies Lantosh over to the ledge where Lakima awaits. The rest of the group makes it okay. Finally, it is Aashdoshan's turn - the weakest of the adventurers. he draws his dagger and looks at the captive hobgoblin but then decides to let the creature live. Aashdoshan slowly begins jumping his way across the chamber from platform to platform. Too slowly, a geyser erupts and sprays him with boiling mud burning him. Lakima asks Alrix to go back and help Aashdoshan. Alrix flies over constricts about Aashdoshan. He then picks up the frail necromancer and flies back to the ledge.

The adventurers turn their backs on the boiling mud pit and head off. They travel down the tunnel for a long time before arriving in another large cavern. The extent of the cavern is far outside the light from their torches and magical lights. The cavern has a pool of boiling water about 30 feet below the level of the tunnel. At the edge of the ledge is a stone obelisk with a crystal globe set atop it. The heroes pause to try and figure out a way across.

Lost in the Dungeon

I have been running this Swords & Wizardry Campaign for 2 years and 92 sessions. We play exclusively on Roll 20. Because of the limitations of online play (as I see it) I have been purposely running a lot of smaller maps. But for this latest adventure, I decided to create a really large map. The dungeon area is a maze of lava tubes under White Plume Mountain. Because we use smaller maps online, the players have never had to actually map the dungeon. But now they are managing to get completely lost. It was amusing listening to players state that they could not possibly have circled back around onto their own path.

Session 91: Giant Lizards

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Flora (elven thief), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Aashdoshan (necromancer NPC).

The hobgoblin chief is tied up and Lakima suggests they take him with them. Before they leave the cave, Aashdoshan waves his bone staff and raises seven of the dead hobgoblins as zombies. Two of the zombies grab hold of the hobgoblin chief.

Flora takes the lead scouting ahead in the caves and tunnels. Almost immediately the party is ambushed by cave eels which erupt from the tunnel walls and attack. The eels manage to bite Lakima and Lantosh. The group kills all ten of the eels that attacked them. One of the seven zombies is also destroyed.

Flora again takes the lead. The adventurers push ever deeper into the depths of the mountain. The tunnels begin to look all alike. Flora questions if they have doubled back on their trail. After an hour of clambering through tunnels (or slithering in the case of Alrix) Flora tells everyone that she can see a suspicious heap of gold and silver coins lying on the floor of a cave. The other adventurers move up to take a look and everyone is suspicious. Fenris is sent ahead to check the pile. He reaches out to touch a few gold coins and finds they are covered in sticky slime. As he is about to tell everyone when a pseudopod coated in coins lashes out from the pile and smashes into Fenris. He is launched through the air away from the pile of coins and lands hard on the rock floor. Lakima asks Aashdoshan to send in some zombies and two are sent toward the pile of coins. Both are struck and destroyed by pseudopods.

Eathwund runs toward the pile of coins and strikes at it with his sword. The sword bounces off of the coins as if they were armor. Alrix casts magic missile badly injuring it. Eathwund then finishes it off with a sword thrust into a wounded area. The mound of coins slowly flattens out and brown liquid seeps out in a puddle from it. Fenris tries to collect some of the coins but he finds they are still securely stuck to the pile.

A short distance from this cave they find a number of collapsed tunnels and hear the sound of rock striking rock. Flora checks a cave ahead and spots an enormous, strange creature with three legs, three arms ending in claws, scaly skin, and a huge mouth on top of its body. The creature appears to be eating rocks. Unfortunately, it hears or smells Eathwund and Flora and slowly moves toward them. Lakima tries greeting it in common and elvish without success. The creature reaches out and grabs Eathwund’s shield and tries to take it. This causes Eathwund to attack, driving it off with his sword. Its skin is scaly and tough but not impenetrable. Lakima casts magic missile at it and then directs his charmed cave bear to attack it with claws and teeth. Soon the enormous creature is killed. The group searches but finds that this chamber is a dead end.

Flora leads the way taking the large group of adventurers, zombies, a captive hobgoblin, and a charmed cave bear back the way they came. It takes another hour before they come to unexplored tunnels. Eathwund notices tracks on the cave floor made by hobgoblins and the group decide to follow them. They end up entering a cave piled high with garbage. They spot a large ogre sleeping amongst the garbage. The adventurers decide to back quietly out of the cave. They continue on and come to an area of many tunnels crisscrossing. Alrix spots a red glow coming from a side cave and he calls everyone over.

The group enters a large, high cavern with a chasm passing through the center. At the bottom of the chasm is a river of lava. On the opposite side of the chasm, they see a wall of fitted stone blocks. The stone does not match the natural stone of the caverns. It appears to have been brought here. In front of the stone wall are a pair of pillars and a 15-foot-tall stone statue of a man in long robes. Alrix enters the chamber, flaps his wings, and flies across the chasm. He notices a symbol carved into the stone behind the statue. He flies back over and tells everyone what he found. Lakima gives the wand of secret door detection and Alrix gingerly takes it in his mouth and uses it on the stone wall. He does not find anything. Lakima casts levitate and floats across the chamber and examines the wall and the statue. Behind the statue is a symbol carved into the stone showing a “K” intertwined with snakes. He finds he cannot move or depress the symbol.

After 20 minutes of trying the group gives up and leaves the cave with the mysterious statue. They head in what they think is a southerly direction. Flora continues to scout ahead and she is the first to spot an enormous serpent, at least 30 feet long resting in a large cavern. The serpent lies on the floor, occasionally moving. Eathwund and Lantosh move up to the front of the group near Flora prepared to fight if needed. Their approach is fairly noisy but the creature does not seem to notice – even when Eathwund stumbles over a small rock. Lakima again asks Aashdoshan to send in a zombie. Aashdoshan directs one zombie to enter the cave and touch the serpent. The serpent moves quickly and swings about and bites the zombie in half. It immediately directs its pale white eyes in their direction. The eyes are covered with a greyish film and it appears to be blind but somehow it discerns their direction and releases a cloud of poisonous gas. Flora, Lakima, Eathwund, and Aashdoshan are caught in the gas and start to choke and gasp. Lakima is able to summon enough strength to cast a fireball on the serpent and a few moments later Aashdoshan does the same. The serpent disappears briefly in a wall of flames. When the smoke clears, they see that the serpent is still alive, but it is badly burned and moving slowly. Alrix flies into the chamber and bites it on the neck and Eathwund delivers the killing blow. A search reveals the corpses of a pair of hobgoblins under the mound of dead flesh. Lakima uses the wand of metal detection and notes that there is metal beneath the creature but there is no way to get to it.

A search of the large cavern turns up only a foot-long petrified rat. Fenris finds the stone rat and hands it to Lakima. Lakima warns everyone to be prepared for a possible medusa or basilisk. Flora leads the group into a warren of tunnels. She finds the stone statue of a knight. The knight is in a running pose and is looking over his shoulder with a look of horror on his face. The adventurers decide to head in the direction of his gaze. A twenty-minute walk later Flora spots a cave, a figure crouches near the entrance to the cave. As she moves closer, she sees that the figure is a petrified human thief. She also sees two large basilisks resting on a nest of leaves and sticks. The adventurers move forward, Lantosh takes cover behind the petrified thief, Eathwund moves forward but shouts that it is too dark, he cannot see the basilisks. Domago casts continual light on a silver coin and throws it into the room over Eathwund’s head. Suddenly, everyone can see the pair of giant lizards and they avert their eyes.

Aashdoshan sends his remaining zombies ahead to attack, Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla and four berserkers appear and move to attack. The cave bear lumbers forward at Lakima’s urging and slashes at the basilisks. Three of the berserkers are turned to stone as they attack without concern for the basilisk’s gaze attack. Alrix manages to constrict the smaller of the two basilisks and hold it to the ground. The rest of the group slashes away at the larger basilisk. One of the zombies is ripped apart and destroyed. Eventually, both basilisks are killed. A search of the nest reveals a large pile of gold coins and gems. These are scooped up into the bag of holding. Lakima even takes the time to drain some basilisk blood into a flask.

There are no exits from this chamber, so the adventurers are forced to retrace their steps. However, they are soon lost in a maze of tunnels. Flora finds a large cave where the floor is covered in bad guano. There are also several pools full of boiling and bubbling water. In a nearby side cave, Fenris discovers five enormous bats that are as big as a short man. The group hastily leaves the cave. They end up back in the cave where they fought the huge serpent. This time they chose a different path from the cave.

It is soon clear that they have walked back over their own path several times. They see their own footprints on the cave floor, coming and going. Once they see a tunnel clear of tracks, they decide to follow it. It leads into another large cave. Enormous stalagmites rise up out of the floor. Lakima, Flora, Fenris, and Eathwund enter the chamber and see a pair of manticores stand up on a ledge. The manticores release a shower of deadly spikes. One strikes Lakima and one strikes Flora. Alrix slithers over to the ledge and bites one manticore poisoning it. The manticore succumbs to the lethal poison. The cave bear reaches up and slashes the other manticore with its claws. Then Eathwund uses one of the powers of his sword and casts confusion on the manticore. It stands dumbly staring off into space. Flora climbs up onto the ledge and kills the manticore.

Fenris also climbs up on the ledge and searches the nest. He finds a locked chest that he is unable to open. Fortunately, Flora is able to unlock the chest. Inside they find jewels and gold coins.

Now after 3 hours of searching and clambering over rocks, Aashdoshan suggests that they could all use a brief rest.

Mission to the Mountain

This past week we had a full crew of players for once. Just in time for the adventurers to finally decide to start the mission given to them by the Church of Law (an organization to which they are indebted). I have used a lot of the classic D&D adventures in this campaign. The campaign began with B1:In Search of the Unknown so now I wanted to use S2: White Plume Mountain (sort of). I have taken the basic story of the original and incorporated a few dungeon elements.

Instead of recovering 3 magical weapons stolen by a thief, they are trying to recover 3 holy relics for the church which an evil power plans to use to complete an evil ritual. I have turned it into a large dungeon crawl and this is the largest map I have ever loaded into Roll20. At first, the file size was on the large size but I found that if I blacked out the areas the players would never see (solid rock) the map file size became manageable (I cannot post an image as the players might see it).

Session 90: Mission to White Plume Mountain

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Flora (elven thief), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Aashdoshan (necromancer NPC).

Lakima remembers that there is still a bronze urn from the tomb beneath the Cairn that he has not checked. He tells his apprentice Brice to reach into the Bag of Holding and withdraw the urn. As soon as the urn leaves the bag in Brice’s grasp an ancient ghost is released. The ghost lets out a wail and then grabs hold of Brice by the throat. Brice manages one choked-off scream before falling dead to the floor. The ghost now turns its attention to Lakima.

Lakima grabs the Soul Cage from out of the Bag of Holding and tries to trap the ghost – but it resists the magic of the cage. The ghost advances toward Lakima arms and hands outstretched.

Downstairs in the main hall of the manor, Domago, Eathwund, Flora, and Lantosh are talking over their latest adventures. They all pause as they hear a ghostly wail from the attic. Then they hear Brice scream in terror. Eathwund is the first to his feet. Grabbing his sword Wormbane, he runs from the stairs to the attic. After a short pause, Lantosh follows him. Domago and Flora look at each other and then they get up and head for the stairs.

Lakima manages to fend off one grab at his throat by the incorporeal hands of the ghost. A moment later Eathwund arrives and sees Brice lying dead in the doorway to the library, nearby he sees the ghost menacing Lakima. He strikes the ghost with Wormbane and using one of its powers he negates the ghost’s resistance to magic. The ghost grabs at Lakima again and misses. Lakima tries using the Soul Cage again and the ghost is drawn into the cage. The cage and the bronze urn are put back in the Bag of Holding.

Domago checks on Brice and finds that the young man is indeed dead. He prays for Brices’ soul to return to his body (raise dead) but it does not work. Domago tells everyone that Brice is gone.

The next day the group starts making plans for a trip to White Plume Mountain to fulfill the mission that the Church of Law has requested of them – to find the three missing holy artifacts. Alayna tells Lakima that she will make them six potions of Extra Healing. Lakima asks Aashdoshan if he will fulfill his promise to come along - he says he is a man of his word. They decide that they will leave on Septem 14. Lakima tells everyone that he has studied the powerful teleport spell to get them to the mountain. But after some discussion, it is agreed that it would be far safer to teleport to the Shrine of Medamellara in the Valley of Heroes. All of the heroes enter the Book in a Tower except Lakima. Lakima takes the Book in hand and casts teleport – arriving safely in the shrine.

At the shrine, they speak briefly with the Priest Toffin. Lakima uses the mana well to recharge his Wand of Lightning Bolts and Aashdoshan uses the same well to recharge his Wand of Magic Missiles. Once they are ready everyone except Lakima gets back into the Book. Lakima releases his Horse in a Bottle and rides to the town of Caster’s Ford on the horse.

In Caster’s Ford most of the adventurers get out of the Book and take rooms at the Blue Dragon Inn. Lakima asks the innkeeper Geflion about local news. The next day they purchase horses from the stables and they ride north into the mountains. On the first day, they are waylaid by three giants demanding a toll. The adventurers confer and agree that the 100 gold coin is worth paying. The giants take the money and allow them to pass. They arrive late in the day at Ethelstan Keep (modeled on the  Keep on the Borderlands). The adventurers stable their horses and take rooms at the local inn. That night they go to the one tavern in the keep and talk to the locals. A traveling priest tells them tales of how dangerous White Plume Mountain is, he claims it is the nesting place of fierce dragons.

The next day Domago asks that they visit the local priest Dunwoody. His abbot suggested he could learn more about the local area from the priest. Dunwoody takes them into his confidence once he learns of their mission. He confirms that no one has returned from a trip to the mountain. He also warns them that a flock of wyvern has been seen circling the mountain.

The adventurers set out on foot for the mountain and arrive on the slopes in the later afternoon. They follow the directions that Dunwoody gave them and arrive at a steam vent on the side of the mountain. They have to climb up to a ledge to reach it. Alrix changes into his true form of a feathered serpent and flies up onto the ledge. Fenris and Flora are sent on ahead into the tunnel from which the steam is venting. The tunnel is dark and soon Fenris is forced to stop as he gets further from the entrance. Flora hears voices talking quietly up ahead somewhere but she cannot understand them. She returns to the group and Lakima gives her a packet of the Dust of Disappearance. She doses herself and disappears. Flora goes back into the tunnel and passes Fenris. At a side tunnel, she spots two hobgoblin sentries. She goes back and collects Fenris. The two thieves silently sneak up on the two sentries. Flora kills the one hobgoblin quickly and silently, but Fenris misses and the other hobgoblin turns to run – only to be cut down by Fenris and Flora. They return to the entrance and get the rest of the party.

The adventurers continue through the tunnels, Alrix slithering along at the back of the group the tunnels are only ten feet in diameter but his form fits easily with his wings pulled tightly to his body. A short distance from where they fought the sentries, they spot a half-dozen hobgoblins in a cavern preparing for a war party. Alrix casts the fireball spell and all of the hobgoblins are killed. The spell does make a lot of noise. The group pauses amongst the dead hobgoblins to decide on the best direction to get to the three relics. Lakima pulls out the Arrow of Direction and questions it but the arrow just spins on his fingertip. Alrix suggests that the relics must be shielded from locating spells.

“Okay, let's go north,” Lakima says and points at a dark tunnel heading north.

“Is there a reason for north, or did you just choose randomly?” Alrix asks.

Lakima incorrectly says that going north would lead deeper into the mountain.

The group heads north with Flora leading the way. Her elven dark vision allows her to guide them through the maze of tunnels. Only Lakima carries a light and it is his glowing magical staff. After a half-hour of walking through caves, Flora spots more hobgoblins ahead in a cave. She signals that she can see five or six of the creatures. Lakima suggests that Lantosh and Eathwund charge into the chamber ahead of the group. They should be able to make short work of hobgoblins.

Eathwund and Lantosh agree and they rush as quietly as possible into the cave. Alrix slithers down the tunnel right behind them. They see six hobgoblins conversing with a seventh hobgoblin who appears to be a leader. The leader sits on a rock in front of several banners. Some of the banners appear to be captured human standards. Lantosh heads left and Eathwund heads right. On his right, Eathwund notices a large pile of dirty furs. Just then the pile of furs roars to its feet – it is a 15-foot-tall Cave Bear! Alrix meanwhile had slithered across the chamber to attack the hobgoblin leader.

Lakima, Domago, and Flora also soon join the adventurers in the cave. Alrix constricts about the Hobgoblin leader squeezing him tightly. The Cave bear slashes at Eathwund and misses. A few hobgoblins hack at Alrix’s long body hitting him. Lakima casts the Charm Monster spell on the Cave bear and brings it under his control. He directs it to attack the hobgoblins. Within moments all of the hobgoblins except the leader are dead. The hobgoblin leader cries out that he yields. The Cave bear chases hobgoblins out of the chamber but Lakima calls it back.

Alrix, Lakima, and Lantosh interrogate the hobgoblin. Lantosh acting as translator. They learn that the hobgoblins are mercenaries hired by a group of Black Choke slavers. The slavers reside somewhere deeper in the tunnels. The hobgoblin claims that he does not know where. He asks to ransom himself with a silver elven earring. They do take the earing but continue with the questioning. A search of his belt pouch reveals a number of small trinkets and 8 somewhat rotted human ears. The hobgoblin leader claims that these are used as currency amongst goblins. He did not personally cut the ears off of humans. The hobgoblin also tells them that there are trolls in the caves and a wingless dragon. He claims that there are other more dangerous creatures deeper in the tunnels. Once they are satisfied that he has nothing more to tell, they tie up the hobgoblin.

What to do when not everyone shows up.

So last weekend I knew that the party leader would not be able to make it. Then just before the game was to begin another player let us know he was too tired from jet lag. A new player also did not show. Usually, this does not happen in this campaign but I found I had only 2 of the 5 players available and I was missing the party leader. Luckily, the group was not in the middle of an adventure and I had a nice short adventure that was ready. So I was in a perfect situation to use it and give a pair of the quieter players a chance to be the center of attention. Since it was not in the middle of an adventure I could also give myself a break and not play missing player characters.

Session 88: The Corpsemaker

Eathwund (human fighter), Domago (human cleric), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Aashdoshan (human necromancer NPC).

Lantosh and Fenris spend a week recovering from their near-death experiences. During this time Aashdoshan checks in on Fenris every day anxious for the thief to accompany him into the tombs beneath the Temple of the Dark Lady. Lakima sequesters himself in his library with only his apprentice allowed entrance as he studies the tome, he found in the Frost Giant Jarl’s tomb. Flora stays over one night and then wanders out into the town to explore.

After a little over a week, Fenris and Lantosh are recovered sufficiently and have returned to the Manor House. Aashdoshan calls a meeting in the dining room of the Manor House and asks those adventurers who have assembled to accompany him into the Necromancer Crypts. He knows that one of the body parts of the Ghoul King is located in the tomb of a famous necromancer who was called Corpsemaker. Alrix declines, he has not known Aashdoshan for long and owes him nothing.

“This is not something I am interested in – you are on your own.” 

Aashdoshan looks over the remaining adventurers and Eathwund, Domago, Fenris, and Lantosh agree to accompany him. The group of five adventurers heads over to the apothecary adjoining the Temple of the Dark Lady. They enter and see an unfamiliar man behind the counter. The man asks if he can help them.

“Get Malyn now!”, Aashdoshan demands.

“Why, do you need to speak to Master Malyn?”

“Just get him now, tell him Aashdoshan is here!”

The man leaves and returns with Malyn. Malyn does ask about the whereabouts of Lakima. He goes over the conditions of giving them the key to the Corpsemaker’s tomb. He asks that they not harm the caretaker, do not rob the tombs, and do NOT remove the Masks of Peaceful repose. He steps past Aashdoshan and pointedly gives the key to Eathwund.

Malyn’s assistant takes the group through the old temple and down into its crypt. In the crypt, an iron gate is unlocked and the adventurers enter. The assistant closes the gate behind them and locks it.

Fenris moves ahead and descends some steps. As he enters the first chamber a number of torches spring to life lighting the chamber. Eathwund whispers not to worry this is supposed to happen (Eathwund explored this crypt over a year ago). The rest of the adventurers join Fenris in the lit area. Domago points down one hallway and says, “What is that?”

The adventurers see a large patch of grey ooze slowly moving towards them. Fenris immediately fires a crossbow bolt at it. Domago and Lantosh fire sling bolts. Eathwund lights a torch and tosses it in the patch of ooze. The torch fizzles and goes out. Eathwund switches to his short bow and takes a few shots. The ooze stops moving, seemingly killed.

The group discusses which way to go. Malyn told them that the tomb they wanted was down the Main West Hall so Eathwund suggests they take the west passage. Fenris leads the group but they shortly come to a crypt with a large tomb – a dead end. They turn about and head back the way they came and turn north into a hallway covered in cobwebs and spider webs.

Fenris slashes aside some webs and is attacked by four giant spiders. Eathwund runs up and attacks with his two-handed sword Wormbane. Lantosh uses his War Hammer, Fenris falls back and uses his crossbow, and Domago uses his sling. Aashdoshan keeps well back of the melee. During the fight, Lantosh is bitten twice by spiders and is poisoned on the second bite. He collapses but Domago is able to remove the poison using his Book of Protection from Poison. Realizing they have gone the wrong way; the adventurers pass through the entry hall again and move south. They immediately see a gelatinous cube at the end of a long hallway headed west. Domago asks if they should attack it but Eathwund explains that this is the caretaker and they should avoid it. They head south and then west avoiding the cube.

The group heads down a curved hallway lined with alcoves. In each alcove stands a stone sarcophagus. Ahead they see a square chamber with twin pillars. Four stone sarcophagus rests in alcoves. Fenris leads the way checking for traps. Once the entire group is in the chamber, the stone lids slid back and four ghoul-like creatures (ghasts) leap out and attack the adventurers. Fenris and Eathwund are on the north side of the room and end up surrounded by ghasts. Fenris desperately defends himself with his sword, Eathwund is struck by a claw and paralyzed. On the other side of the room, Lantosh fights off two ghasts. Aashdoshan slinks back from the chamber. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla and summons four berserkers. The berserkers immediately attack the ghasts. With Eathwund out of the fight, Aashdoshan finally uses one of his offensive spells and casts magic missile at one ghast. The fight goes badly at first but slowly, with help from the berserkers, they manage to kill all of the ghasts. Domago gets to Eathwund and tells everyone that he is okay. The paralysis should wear off in about 6 hours.

Aashdoshan asks Fenris to scout ahead. Fenris comes back quickly and tells everyone that there is a sarcophagus covered in chains in the next chamber ahead. Aashdoshan wants to move immediately leaving Eathwund behind but the rest refuse and insist on waiting for Eathwund to recover.

After about six hours Eathwund is able to move properly again and the group moves into the chamber holding the Corpsemakers sarcophagus. It stands upright in a chamber. Iron chains are wrapped about it. A rusty padlock holds them closed. Aashdoshan signals Eathwund to bring up the key. As they talk the sarcophagus thumps loudly twice. As if something inside is trying to get out.

“Are you sure?” Eathwund asks.

“Give me the key!”

Aashdoshan unlocks the padlock and removes it. The chains fall to the floor. He pauses but no one offers to slide off the lid. So Aashdoshan manages to push the lid to one side himself. Inside they behold a mummified corpse with its hands extended like they were trying to push the lid open. Aashdoshan looks for the femur bone of the ghoul king and immediately sees it clutched in one skeletal hand.

Aashdoshan reaches out for the bone, and Eathwund sees the skeletal hand tighten on the bone, he looks up at the skull and sees a blue light glowing in the empty eye sockets.

“Defend me my servants!”, Corpsemaker says in an echoing dry voice. Everyone immediately hears and sees stone tiles being tossed aside on the floor. Cadavers start pulling themselves up out of the floor. The five cadavers scramble up out of the floor and split the party members from each other. Before the Corpsemaker finishes his sentence, Eathwund stabs his blade deep into its chest. The creature's mouth opens and it lets out a horrifying scream that chills Eathwund and Aashdoshan to the bone. Both fight off the impulse to flee.

Aashdoshan draws a magic dagger and slashes and stabs at the creature while Eathwund tries to stab it with his blade. The Corpsemaker lashes out at Aashdoshan with both of its clawed hands. Meanwhile, Domago, Lantosh, and Fenris fight against the cadavers. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla again and this time only two berserkers appear. During the melee, Domago tries to turn the creatures away with his holy symbol but it does not work. Fenris is clawed and feels a strange weakness begin to take hold over him. Lantosh is bitten but he is not sickened by the bite.

Aashdoshan changes tactics and hacks the Corpsemaker’s hand completely off. The skeletal hand falls to the ground and rolls out into the chamber. Aashdoshan grabs the femur bone before it can fall to the floor.

“I have it, I have it!”

Eathwund ignores Aashdoshan and plunges his sword into the creature’s chest once more. The creature cries out again and then the light is extinguished in its eyes. All of the cadavers fall to the ground. They slowly begin reburying themselves beneath the floor.

Eathwund steps over and picks up the severed hand and tosses it into the sarcophagus. He then moves the lid back into place and reattaches the chains and padlock. Eathwund spends a moment checking that all parts of the creature are back in the sarcophagus and that it is securely closed.

“Let’s get out of this place!”, Eathwund curses loudly. Then he turns to Aashdoshan and tells him his debt to him is paid. Aashdoshan ignores him as he watches the femur bone meld with his Bone staff forming a longer staff.

Everyone begins to move back the way they came. Fenris is laboring, breathing heavily, and sweating. Aashdoshan notices and lets out a sigh. He mutters a spell and Fenris immediately feels better. Aashdoshan points a bony finger at Fenris and tells him he owes him a debt.

The entire group makes it to the exit. They see the gelatinous cube cleaning the area where they killed the grey ooze. They see Malyn’s assistant sitting on a wooden chair on the other side of the iron fence, asleep. Yelling at the man they awaken him and he lets them out of the crypt. Locking the gates behind them.

Up in the shop, Aashdoshan strides right out, but Malyn takes Eathwund aside and checks with him that the Corpsemaker is at rest. Eathwund assures him that all of the Corpsemaker is locked back in the sarcophagus.

Everyone returns to the manor.