Level Drain in OSR games

I am running a Swords & Wizardry campaign online with a specifically old-school focus. Despite this, I have been avoiding one common old-school element. Undead with level drain ability. I am using a lot of undead zombies and skeletons but no wights, wraiths, or spectres. 

Level drain in OSR games is scary for players. There is no save. The creature need only touch the players' character and a level of experience is drained. Once players get over 3rd to 4th level this is one of the worst things that can happen to their character. Character death would also be traumatic but in Swords & Wizardry characters are unconscious and dying for the number of rounds equal to their level before they die. As we will see in this week's session that is rarely fatal. There is usually someone nearby with a healing potion or spell.

Recovering a drained level is much harder. The clerical spell Restoration can do it but it is a seventh level cleric spell (first available at character level 17!). In my campaign, it is also possible to get a level recovered through some sort of divine intervention or quest. But this is very hard to accomplish. There are a lot of house rules available to minimize the effects of a level drain but in keeping with the campaign theme, I did not want to use them.

After reading some of the online suggestions for handling level drain I decided to just make sure the players were not surprised and understood what they were getting into. The nature of the foe and its level drain ability were made apparent well before they took on the task. Accepting the task was also optional. The players were well aware of what they faced and took as many precautions as possible. They made a lot of plans to keep the undead at a distance with ranged attacks. That all fell apart once they actually met the wights and wraith in the adventure. The creatures got about a half-dozen to hit chances on the players and through luck, I never rolled a hit.

This session's adventures are both modified adventures from Creation's Edge Games; The Well of Woe and Return of the Warlock.

Session 31: Ascent of Medamellara / The Hall of Heroes

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Carric (Elven Thief), Domago (Human cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC), Dag Icefoot (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The heroes have come to the Well of Woe and the urgings of the young apprentice Zia who lost her master to an attack from ogres. They have found the open well spewing forth mana. They have also encountered a band of ogres.

From the room with the Mana Well the heroes head down a hallway with four alcoves leading to doors. Carric checks the doors but does not hear anything. He then opens the door to the chamber marked Workroom and beyond is indeed a workroom. Lakima notes the equipment to make magic rings, wands, and rods. He asks Lantosh to gather up all of the equipment and papers. They then head to another room with an unmarked door. Inside there is a life-sized painted statue of Medamellara (goddess of magic) facing a pool of blue liquid and facing away from the door. Eathwund suggests the statue could be the goddess of magic. Zia glances over the statue and says; “It is supposed to be Medamellara, but it is a poor likeness”. She also seems disdainful of the pool calling it a cheap experiment that uses the mana well. The liquid looks unnaturally blue. Lakima takes a sample in a metal flask. Zia suggests that drinking the liquid would not be wise. Carric elbows Dag and says, “Dag drink from the pool,” Dag laughs at Carric and says, “I will drink it for 10 gold”. Carric gives Dag the 10 gold coins and Dag drinks a flagon from the pool. He reports that the water tastes sweet but otherwise he feels fine. Everyone notices that Dag is now putting out a flowery smell rather than his usual sweaty stink. There are some good-natured jabs tossed at Dag.

The heroes move down the hallway and see one door is marked Emerald Room and the other is marked Ruby room. Above each door is a damaged niche where a gem might have once rested. They open the door to the Ruby room and find a red-tiled library and workroom. A smaller ogre dressed in loose clothes is seen leaning over papers on a desk. His still large form perched on a tiny stool. The ogre angrily yells at them that he is not to be disturbed without looking up. Carric sneaks up behind the ogre but the creature whirls about and spots him at the last moment. The ogre turns invisible.

Lakima pulls out some chalk from his pack and grinds it up quickly. The ogre appears next to Carric and swings and strikes him with a spear. Then the ogre vanishes again. Everyone shouts for Lakima to hurl the chalk powder which he does. The cloud of chalk dust coats the leg of the ogre as it dashes for the back of the library. Eathwund strikes at where he suspects the ogre is standing and hits it, Lantosh also hits it. Lakima strikes it with a pair of darts. The ogre reappears looking badly injured, blood soaking its clothes. It points its spear at the group and says some magical words, a blast of snow and ice erupts from the spear. Most of the heroes manage to dodge out of the way but Lantosh and Lakima are caught fully in the blast and are knocked unconscious near death. Carric and Eathwund shout for Domago to come and help. Domago runs in and sees his two companions lying apparently dead on the floor. Eathwund and Dag advance on the ogre and kill it. Domago shouts that he has no more healing spells! Luckily he finds 2 healing potions on Lakima’s body and is able to revive both of them.

The heroes take stock. Lakima and Lantosh are now alive and conscious but badly injured. Dag has also taken a hit. As they search the ogre’s body they find a pouch containing diamonds. On the table they find notes. Zia says they look like her master Durrakis’ notes about the Well of Woe. Lakima peruses the notes quickly and puts them in his pack. Just then two ogres leave the Emerald room to the north and spot the heroes. The ogres move to attack. Lakima casts Phastasmal force and makes the image of the Ogre Mage appear. The ogre mage waves the ogres away. The ogres stop and look confused. They growl something in ogre. Lakima has the ogre mage image stomp toward the ogres angrily waving its arms. The two ogres back away from the image. Lakima keeps pushing the ogres until they are walked right out of the Temple. The ogres move north from the entrance and are attacked by a number of mana wraiths.

Lakima suggests immediately running for it. But they realize that Zia, Domago, and Dag have remained behind in the Mana Well chamber. They all move back to the mana well. Lakima asks what the hold up is - the task is complete they should be able to leave. Zia nods and walks into the Mana well. She begins to grow in size and her appearance slowly changes. She says, “I was not entirely honest with you.” Lakima quickly exclaims, “You’re the goddess!” She smiles and nods to Lakima. Her form changes to look more or less like the statue of Medamellara they saw earlier. 

“I spent years in the service of mages like Durrakis. Me! A goddess of magic unable to do anything but the most simple spells. But now I return to the realm of magic. My banishment is completed. I thank you for your service. The well should remain for a bit after I’m gone. Feed upon its energies and be blessed! You will remain free of the curse as long as you do not over-indulge!”

With that Medamellar vanishes into the mana well. The mana well flares up and then moves down to a smaller flow of mana. There is a brief discussion about the possibility of touching the mana well. Eathwund, Domago, and Lakima dissuade this suggestion. The heroes sneak out of the Temple of Medamellara and spot the two ogres still fighting Mana Wraiths. The companions walk away. They decide to avoid the trail again worried about bandits. Carric leads them across the country. 

Medamellar revealed

The heroes stick to the woods and stop as soon as it starts to get a little dark. They set up a dark, cold camp with no fire. The temperature drops below freezing and they huddle up in the tents with two on watch at a time. Late in the evening with Eathwund and Lantosh on watch, Eathwund looks over the treeline and suddenly notices a shape sitting near the entrance to the tent. He looks more closely and notes that the shape forms into that of a man in a brown, hooded cloak. As he looks more closely he notices that the figure has two arrows jutting out of its back and the front of the robe is stained with blood. The figure reaches out hands to warm them at a non-existent fire. Eathwund asks the figure what it wants and how he can help. The figure looks up and the hood falls back revealing a translucent, human ghost. The ghost says, “I seek revenge for those that killed me!” Eathwund asks who killed him. “A bandit named Vychan struck me down on the road not far from here!” Eathwund says, “We will try to help if we can.” The ghost smiles slightly and nods. Lantosh steps out of the shadows brandishing his polearm. Then the shape vanishes without a trace.

In the morning Eathwund tells everyone about the apparition he encountered during his watch. Lakima suggests it was likely the wizard Wella Hobba that they met in the Inn in Caster’s Ford and later found dead upon the road. The heroes break camp and head out for Caster’s Ford. They arrive shortly after noon and find extra guards at the gate. The guards ask them if they had any success. Lakima says they did not find much. The guard looks them over and sets the toll. They are told to stay clear of the Hall of Heroes near the docks.

The adventurers walk the short distance toward the docks and spot their hired riverboat waiting. As they near they see a crowd of guards and townsfolk outside the Hall of Heroes. A members-only adventurers hall. Lakima walks over to some local officials and asks what is going on. One of the men waves them over, “You will have to do, come here!”

They hear from Simik Sidlow the Grandmaster of the Hall that the visage of a long-dead warlock appeared in the museum killing some of the staff and taking hostages of the rest. The warlock Kalis Magefire is demanding that the heroes who defeated him be brought to meet him in battle. The Guard Captain Jarred Wittly interjects to tell them that this all happened more than 100 years ago. All of the heroes the warlock wishes to fight are long gone - most are dead and buried. They look expectantly at the heroes. Lakima guesses that they want the Company of the Black Dragon to face the warlock in place of the heroes. But Lakima does not hear about payment so he suggests they move on. Carric raises some objections but given how badly injured Lantosh, Dag, and Lakima are they move on.

Negotiating

The adventurers go to the local provisioner Lore Noski and get the diamonds they took from the ogre mage appraised. Lore offers to buy them but they decide to hold onto them. Carric asks Lore about what is going on at the Heroes Hall and they get some more back-story. Leaving the Provisioners they seek out the cleric Jerome they saw tending to a man outside the hall. The man, Arione is a guard at the Heroes’ Hall. He tells them in graphic detail what happened. He hid in the kitchen but the warlock found him and drained him. He was spared to give the message of the warlock’s demands to the town. The heroes realize that the warlock has at least two other dangerous undead with it that could drain lifeforce. They decide to take on the task.

They let Jerome know and ask for help. Jerome brings his abbot to meet with them at the Blue Dragon Inn. The abbot casts healing on Lantosh and Lakima. Lakima asks the abbot how he is at turning undead. The abbot flushes and says he is just a simple priest. They note his plump appearance and lack of armor and drop the suggestion. The heroes tell Jerome they will take the task. Jerome goes and brings back the Guard captain. Jarred looks at them skeptically with Lantosh especially clearly injured. However, they are brought before the abbot of St. Johan who heals most of the heroes and gives them 4 vials of holy water.

Before entering the Halls they go over the floorplan with Grandmaster Sidlow. He explains the layout. The guard captain persuades Sidlow that there will be a reward for the rescue of the hostages. They decide to enter through the front entrance, finding the entrance hall well lit but empty of any undead or the living. Carric quickly checks the nearby barracks and finds it empty. They pop open the door to the meeting hall room and see a tavern-like setup with a stair leading up to a balcony wrapping around the chamber. Carric moves slowly into the room and is joined by Lantosh and Dag. As they are looking about and talking about going upstairs - two wights suddenly appear and attack. Lantosh keeps one at bay with his polearm and Domago barely pushes one back with his shield. Domago, Carric, and Lakima throw holy water at the undead spirits but they miss smashing on the floor. Dag shouts, “I have the weapon, I have the weapon!” He swings his sword Lawbringer that is glowing bright blue and he strikes one of the wights. Eathwund also strikes the wight and it disincorporates. They concentrate attacks on the other wight and manage to destroy it as well before anyone is touched.

The heroes decide to head upstairs. In the upper hall Carric spots zombies outside the door to the library. Eathwund moves to the front and quickly kills the two zombies with ease. At the Grandmaster’s chamber door Carric hears a crackling noise. They decide to ignore it. The heroes step quietly through the library and listen at the door to the museum room. Carric tells everyone that he can hear several people sobbing on the other side of the door. He cracks the door open and spots seven townspeople huddled in a corner of the room looking pale and afraid. Carric crawls into the room under some display tables and looks about. He does not see anyone else in the room. He spots a stone throne with red cushions set upon it. He also notices a skull sitting on the stone throne.

Lantosh spots the townsfolk huddled in the corner of the room and signals this to the other heroes. He asks through signals what to do. Lakima, and Eathwund signal to get them out of the chamber. Lantosh makes sure the hostages can see him and he motions for them to run for the door. The hostages run across the room toward the door. As they are just about to get to Lantosh at the door the wraith, Kalis Magefire, appears on the stone throne shouting in anger. Eathwund immediately runs into the museum stationing himself to protect the hostages. Dag follows his lead. The wraith cries out, “At last, I will have my revenge!” Lakima, Lantosh, and Domago also enter the room. The wraith seems to recognize them as the long-dead heroes it once fought. Lakima shouts out, “They are not here but you have made an enemy of the Company of the Black Dragon!” The wraith appears incensed that they are not the heroes he wanted to fight. He moves to kill the townsfolk in anger but Carric steps it from behind with his longsword. Domago tries to turn the wraith but it laughs at him. Eathwund strikes the wraith with his sword and Dag hits as well with his bright, glowing sword. Carric strikes the wraith again from behind and it screams in desperation and it dissipates and vanishes.

The heroes go down and step outside the Hall and are greeted as heroes. The Guard Captain comes over to shake their hands as townsfolk cheer. Sidlow asks if the hall is clear? Lakima shrugs, and tells him they killed the warlock and his wights. Sidlow offers to pay for them to check and clear the entire hall. He sends a runner to the Town Hall to get the payment. They re-enter the halls and find that the back entrance is full of zombies. They move in and attack the zombies but find they are surprisingly tough. Dag is hit and Eathwund is struck twice. Eventually, they strike down the zombies and clear the Hall.

Upon leaving they meet with Sidlow who pays them 3,500 gold coins for their efforts in clearing the Hall. They stay the night at the Blue Dragon Inn. That night, while on watch, Eathwund is visited again by the apparition of Wella Hobba. Eathwund asks Wella Hobba a few questions but learns nothing new. As his watch ends, the apparition vanishes.