I needed a map for my online campaign for some caves under a hill on which a cenotaph stood. I did not have time to create one in Blender so I purchased one of the VTT maps put out by Heroic Maps. They are really good quality and they include a version designed for VTT play. I made a couple of really minor changes to the map to fit my needs but otherwise, I used it as is and quickly wrote an adventure around it.
I think I still prefer creating my own maps but when you are in a pinch for time this works. Also, they serve as good inspiration. They do not come with any notes - you just look at the map and decide what will fit it. I used it for Session 22 of my Swords & Wizardry online game using Roll20.
Session 22: The Necromancer
Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Carric (Elven Thief), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Crispin (Human Magic-user NPC).
Last time the players journeyed to the standing stones known as the Nine Men, ostensibly to deliver the wizard Malyn and the Black Ring to a person claiming to be his former mentor and Necromancer Mourne. The players are taking part in a double-cross bringing an imposter and a fake ring.
The players leave their hireling Nash with the horses and mules and descend down large stone steps in a tunnel under the hill on which the Nine Men stand. It actually appears to be more than five adventurers, the wizard Lakima has four Mirror images with him. At the bottom of the steps is a wooden double door that is barred on the opposite side. Carric uses a metal file from his thieves’ tools to push the bar up and out of the way. It clatters to the ground. The doors creak open revealing a charnel pit. Human and humanoid bones litter the stone floor of a cave. The walls are dark grey and covered in soot. A bubbling tar pit in one corner of the cave. Lakima tells young Cedric to use the Mirror Image Scroll he gave him. Cedric uses the Scroll and two more images of Cedric appear. He also asks Cedric how the black ring works. Cedric tells him he can animate the dead.
Moving past the bones they come to another wooden door. This one is a single door and it is held closed by a simple latch. Carric listens at the door and hears tar bubbling on the other side. Opening the door they see a long tunnel leading to another door at the edge of their sight. Two tar pits bubble in the chamber. As they watch a bubble in one pit burst and sprays hot tar over a 15-foot area. The group confers and Lakima and Carric agree they will wait for a tar burst and then run past the pits. The plan works and they get past the bubbling tar that seems to burst at regular intervals of time.
At the next door, Carric listens and hears the guttural language of ogres. He warns everyone and steps back. Eathwund and Domago move to the front and shove the door open. They see a large cave. A group of three ogres is seated around a rough plank table eating what looks like a large turkey. A stack of barrels is located behind them. Carric quickly sneaks into the chamber and hides in the shadows. The ogres take no notice of the heroes, the noise of the door opening being masked by the bubbling tar pits. Growing impatient, Lakima shouts at the ogres from the doorway. One turns to look and spots them. It shrugs and goes back to its food seemingly unconcerned with their presence (the ogres are used to the men working for the Necromancer coming and going and they cannot tell them apart).
Lakima shouts some more asking questions about the man they are chasing and about the necromancer. The ogre responds in simple common that it does not care and does not know of any necromancer. Carric steps out of the shadows and into the line of sight of the ogres. The ogres see the elf and immediately jump to their feet, “Elves, you not friends, you food!”
The three ogres move to attack but there is only enough room for two of them to get at the heroes. Eathwund and Damago move forward to block the ogres. There is a flurry of blows and both Eathwund and Damago are hit by clubs wielded by the ogres. Eathwund staggers to one knee badly injured but he manages to stand and stay in the fight. Domago casts Bless and Lakima casts Strength on Eathwund. Still, the fight continues to go badly. Eathwund and Domago are hitting the ogres but the ogres are not weakening. Meanwhile, both of the heroes are getting pummeled. Lakima casts Lightning Bolt and both Ogres in the fight are burned and fall dead. The third ogre is badly burned and turns to run shouting at the top of its lungs as it approaches a door leaving the cave. At this moment Carric leaps out from the shadows and stabs the ogre from behind killing it. The ogre's lifeless body topples to the floor in front of the door. Eathwund moves up to the door.
Carric listens at the door. He hears heavy footprints approaching. He reports this and the door is yanked open. A pair of surprised ogres are standing on the other side of the door. One of the ogres says something and then glances down at the dead ogre at Eathwund’s feet and the bloody sword in his hands. The ogre roars and ducks beneath the door lintel attacking Eathwund.
Eathwund manages to hold the single ogre in the doorway. The second ogre is unable to attack. But only Eathwund has room to get in the fight and it starts to go badly for Eathwund. Eventually, Eathwund manages to press the fight to the ogre and it retreats into the next cave. The second ogre can now get into the fight and it moves up. Both Eathwund and Domago are able to get onto the attack. Carric dashes up and spears the ogre while Lakima throws darts. Both ogres fall dead. By now the heroes are all badly injured and Eathwund has to consume a pair of Healing potions.
The group splits up and searches the chamber but they find only stolen human supplies. Nothing of real value. They head north into another chamber with bubbling tar pits. The incessant smoke starts to get to their eyes making vision difficult. Carric opens another door and sees another cave with a bubbling pool of tar in the center. They decide to turn and go another way. Carric leads the way down the tunnel and steps on a tarp covering a pit trap. As the tarp tears and drops him into the pit, he manages to grab the edge and pull himself up. Carric climbs out of the pit and makes his way to another door. Listening at the door he hears movements and the rattling of chains. The rest of the heroes skirt around the pit in the floor and stand by this door. Carric opens the door and they see a small cave. In the cave are seven animated skeletons. Some of the skeletons are manacled to the wall with chains. Domago tries to turn undead and a few of them run from his sight. Others attack but Eathwund makes short work of them. All of the skeletons are destroyed by Eathwund with some help from Domago. Lakima and Carric have a discussion and convince themselves there must be a secret door in the chamber but they are not able to find any sign of one.
Since this appears to be a dead-end, the group heads back to the door leading to the chamber that was filled with thick smoke from a tar pit. Two more exits leave this chamber. Carric spots something shiny on the other side of the tar pit and goes to investigate. He finds an unsheathed longsword that is strangely clean with no sign of rust. The hilt of the sword has been shaped with the form of an unlidded eye on both sides. Cedric offers to cast Detect Magic and does so. He detects that the sword is magical, both improving the welder's skill and some sort of hidden watchfulness.
They head to the right and open a wooden door into a small cave that is clear of smoke and refreshingly cool. Eathwund checks the floor and finds some tracks made by a man who was running. They take the time to rest in this chamber and those whose eyes were red and sore manage to recover. Once the rest is over, they head north through another door. They enter another cave with a bubbling tar pit. The wall to their far-right is bricked up with stone blocks. Carric is immediately suspicious and locates a secret door but he cannot figure out how to open it. Everyone searches for a trigger with Lakima finding a floor stone that can be depressed. The stone wall slides open to one side.
Carric motions for everyone to wait and then silently, and carefully moves into a hallway beyond. The passage is man-made with stone block walls and floor. On the floor, he spots metal chaos symbols that he is immediately suspicious of and warns the others. Then he sees a tripwire crossing between two stone skulls on either wall about one foot above the floor. Carric points it out to the other adventurers still waiting at the secret door. He continues down the hallway and spots another tripwire. Just then two men emerge from around a bend in the hallway and fire arrows at Carric, missing.
Eathwund charges down the hallway to Carric’s defense and Carric retreats toward the secret door. Unfortunately, Eathwund’s sword sheath snaps one of the tripwires, and a gout of flame blasts both he and Carric. Still, a burned Eathwund manages to reach the two men and attack. One of the men appears to be a tall warrior and the other looks like the man they chased from the stone circle on the hill above. The warrior moves forward and strikes Eathwund with his sword. Eathwund groans and falls to the floor unconscious. Domago and Carric race forward to defend their fallen companion followed closely by Lakima. While Carric keeps the warrior at bay, Domago pours his last potion of healing down Eathwund’s throat reviving the fighter. Carric stabs the other man and that man turns and runs away. The warrior yells, “Kert, get back here!”
Eathwund and Domago move in on the man but he backs away. As they follow around the turn in the hallway they see the smaller man has returned and is helping the injured man. Domago and Eathwund advance on them. Seeing that he cannot get away, the injured warrior pushes the man he called Kert away and tells him to flee, “I will hold them, get help!”
Kert vanishes down a side passage and a door can be heard opening. Domago and Carric try to get around the wounded warrior but he blocks them. So with Eathwund they all attack the man and kill him. After the fight, Lakima tells Cedric to use the Black Ring on the man. Domago bristles with anger, “Blasphemy!” Cedric uses the ring anyway and animates the corpse of the warrior into a zombie. They send the zombie through the door that the man Kert had passed through. They do not find Kert in the room beyond but they do see five bedrolls, several crates of supplies, and a large traveling trunk. In the trunk, they find a lot of clothes and some basic weapons.
Carric moves to a door to the south and listens but hears nothing. He opens the door and they let the zombie pass through. Immediately, the zombie is blasted by a magic missile and collapses in a heap. Carric and Eathwund rush into the next room and come right on top of an older man wearing chainmail, holding a sword and a shield. Just behind the man is an old robed woman holding a staff. Nearby, they see a pair of wooden double doors and the man Kert before them. Before they can attack, the woman chants words of magic, and a sticky, almost impassable web fills the room trapping Eathwund and Carric. Domago tries to help and also gets trapped in the sticky strands. Standing in the doorway, Lakima casts Charm Person on Kert and convinces him to attack the old woman. The older man tries to stop Kert but the sneak thief gets past him and stabs the woman. Lakima also casts magic missiles at the woman from his wand. The old warrior attacks Eathwund who is caught up in the webs. Kert stabs and kills the woman and Lakima yells at him to attack the warrior. Kert turns and shouts, “Sure, I was just working for these guys” Lakima also goes around to the back of the webs and casts Aztazibar’s Acrid Finger. The stream of acid burns through the webs and strikes the old warrior. The warrior moves over to the double doors and pounds on them, “Talmea! Let me in. We are under attack out here!” But the doors remain closed.
Realizing the situation is hopeless, the old warrior drops his sword and surrenders. He volunteers little information about himself or who is beyond the doors. But Kert tells them it is the necromancer Talmea Pak on the other side of the doors. He also tells them that the older man is Bragor Stannon, the leader of a group of Adventurers from Makaar Mor. Searching the man they find some loot and a Writ of Adventuring issued by a Baron Raalston of Makaar Mor. The warrior they killed earlier, the old woman, and the old man also all have a strange black mark on the inside of their right wrists. Lakima asks Kert about it and the cheerful thief proudly shows them his unmarked wrist. Lakima asks Cedric to animate the dead body of the old woman. Domago looks shocked. But Cedric tells him he does not want to use up the Ring's charges on an old hag. Bragor looks at Cedric in surprise. “That is not the Black Ring! And you are not Malyn!” He yells it out through the door, “Talmea, they are imposters!” They decide to tie up Bragor and open the doors. Carric finds the doors are latched from the other side but he manages to jiggle the latch loose and open the doors.
The double doors open into a large chamber, a 20-foot square metal chaos symbol lies flat on the stone tiles in the center of the floor. Stone skulls decorate the walls. Several dark alcoves lead off from the chamber. On the other side of the chamber, they see a throne decorated with human skulls. The young woman they met at the standing stones sits on the throne smiling at them. The woman waves them into the room. “Welcome, I am Talmea Pak, and you are imposters!” Cedric winces on hearing that. “You are not Malyn!” She points an accusing finger at Cedric. Cedric sort of half-waves and steps behind Domago.
Lakima steps into the center of the room and then accuses Talmea in turn. “You are not the Necromancer from the letter! So if we are all here on false pretenses we might as well go our own ways.” Talmea considers this and smiles, “You may go. Leave immediately and unhand Kert and Bragor.” Lakima tells Talmea that they could kill her. She laughs at his bravado and motions to his right, and an enormous black bear steps menacingly out of a darkened alcove and paces towards them. “Easy Chambra,” she says, “Now you see who is in danger here.”
Lakima agrees to withdraw, and they start to back out of the room taking Bragor with them. Kert races from the room and down the hallway. Then, Talmea casts a spell and the room is dropped into darkness. Only Eathwund is outside of the darkened area leading Bragor the prisoner. They hear the bear pacing through the darkness and a roar followed by a yell of pain from Domago. Lakima and Carric stumble out of the darkness into the hall. They see Eathwund and Bragor but Kert has vanished. Cedric and Domago do not appear at first. Then Domago stumbles from the darkness bleeding from a fresh claw wound to the shoulder. The heroes back away from the darkness, they can hear the bear thudding about in the dark. Lakima asks for a torch and Eathwund pulls one from his pack. Lakima lights the torch and waves both the torch and the Continual Light Staff into the darkness but both cannot penetrate the magical darkness. Just then the bear lunges out of the darkness. Eathwund races to block it from killing Lakima. Lakima drinks a potion of animal control and settles the bear. Lakima spends some time trying to give directions to the bear. He sends it back into the darkness to kill Talmea but nothing happens and it does not return.
Lakima shouts Cedric’s name a few more times and then gives up. The adventurers confer and decide to leave the dungeon. They head back to the secret door and find it closed but opening it from the inside proves fairly easy. They then make their way back through the caves and out into the sunlight. Even with the valley covered in smog, it is much brighter and clearer outside than in the caves. A short distance away, Nash is waiting with their animals, unharmed. He sees how battered and bleeding they are and nervously asks after Cedric. Lakima tells him Cedric was eaten by a bear. They put Bragor on a horse, still tied up, and then head out of the valley. On the way they see skeletons moving about aimlessly, no longer under control apparently. Lakima asks Bragor if the old woman controlled the skeletons but he shakes his head and says, “Talmea”.
On the ride out of the valley to a campsite, Carric talks with Bragor for a while. The man is now a little more forthcoming. He tells Carric he is part of an adventuring company from the Kingdom of Makaar Mor to the north. Carric learns that he is from the area beyond the Valen Peaks that is thought to be a wasteland full of undead. It is known as the Kingdom of the Ghouls to people on this side of the peaks. Lakima asks about the name and Bragor calmly talks about the rebirth as undead that comes to all people in Makaar Mor. The undead creatures live among them. All beholden to the King Lorrgan Makaar. Once they are out of the Valley they make camp. The sun is still well up in the sky but everyone agrees that a rest is needed.
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