Rivals

A few weeks back I ran my Swords & Wizardry campaign through another Creations' Edge Games adventure. This one called "A Ring for the King". I made minor changes to the adventure as written to fit it into my campaign. The adventure is a short investigation of a Copper Mine that is now the lair of three Rock Apes. To round out the adventure the author tossed in a rival group of adventurers who have been sent to stop the heroes. This is a well-used trope in D&D and I have used it myself in the past. The danger is two-fold. Outfitting rivals at the same level as the players can result in a very difficult fight especially as it is placed after a cave crawl so the players will be down some HP and spells. Secondly, if they defeat the rivals they are going to plunder everything they are carrying. I learned this the hard way in another campaign. I designed what was meant to be a recurring group of rival adventurers with some cool magical equipment. Then the players killed them all and took their stuff.

Session 29: The Hand of Manos.

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

The Company of the Black Dragon has accepted a commission from the best smith in Edgerton to locate Rock Ape teeth for a ring he is making for a local noble. After speaking with the Librarians at the Library of Antiquity they have learned of a Copper Mine overrun with Rock apes in the village of Whetwhistle.

The heroes arrive at the formerly booming mining settlement and find a village that appears almost abandoned. There is a small Inn (the Goose) and four or five cottages nothing more. At the Inn, they meet the halfling innkeeper Wexley. They ask about the copper mine and end up shaking on a deal to take on half ownership in the Mine if they clear it of monsters. Wexley also asks them to find his cousin - a halfling adventurer who went up to the mine a month ago.

Wexley warns the heroes that the path to the mine is steep, so they leave the horses in Whetwhistle and take only the pack mules to the mine. The mine is initially an open area with a pair of tunnels leading off from it. Carric takes the lead and decides to try the tunnel on his right first. The tunnel leads to a cave with a wall of rubble. In front of the rubble, they spot their first rock ape. Carric tries to sneak up on it but he alerts it to his presence. The Rock Ape turns and attacks angrily howling loudly. Domago, Dag, and Lantosh rush up to attack the rock ape as Carric drops back. Dag gets hit once but they manage to kill the Rock Ape. Their goal is to return to Edgerton with Rock Ape teeth but no one thought to bring any tools to remove the teeth. Instead, they decide to chop off its head and drop the still dripping head in a sack.

Carric suggests trying the other tunnel but Dag spots a tunnel in the back of the cave leading down so they follow it. This tunnel leads down into a flooded cave. Carric goes first across the cave and he finds it is no more than 3 feet deep. At the far end, the tunnel emerges from the water. Dag grows concerns as the water level in the cave rises to the height of his shoulders.

The Flooded Copper Mine

A tunnel leads up out of the flooded cave and into what looks to be a natural cave that was not part of the mine. Stalactites cover the ceiling and a few stalagmites rise from the floor. Carric advances into the cave, suddenly a stalactite drops from the ceiling striking Carric with a glancing blow. It hits the cave floor with a wet slap rather than a crash. Carric looks down and sees the stalactite creeping away from him. He shouts a warning that there are piercers in the cave. Carric runs back to the tunnel and two more piercers fall from the ceiling missing him. The heroes discuss whether to turn back. Lakima gets an idea and casts a Phastasmal Image of a large bison. He moves the bison at a slow walk into the cave. Piercers crash to the cave floor vainly trying to gore the phantasmal bison. Then he shouts at the fighters to get into the cave and kill the helpless piercers which are lying on the cave floor. Domago, Dag, Lantosh, and Eathwund all run in and hack away at the piercers. While they are distracted and making a lot of noise a second Rock Ape rushes them from the darkness roaring in anger. Lantosh and Eathwund are hit by the ape's heavy stone fists. But eventually, they manage to kill it. Another Rock ape head goes into their sack.

On the far side of the cave, they find a mine working. Dag digs away at it for a while and produces a chunk of copper ore. He declares that the Copper Mine appears to be still viable. Heading out from the natural cave they enter more mining diggings and find the body of a halfling adventurer lying on the cave floor. A large spike-shaped hole in his shoulder. He is also emaciated. Dag tells them that piercers drain the blood of their victims. From this cave, they head down a tunnel and come to another cave with loose falls of rock. Another Rock ape is picking through the rubble. They attack it with surprise and kill the Rock Ape. A third rock ape head goes into the sack. A tunnel from this cave heads back out into the sunlight.

The mission complete, the heroes return to the village of Whetwhistle arriving in the late afternoon. Outside of the Inn, they see four horses tied to the hitching post alongside their horses. In the tavern room, they meet three strangers who introduce themselves as adventurers. Lakima brags to these adventurers about their recent exploits killing rock apes and he pulls out an ape head and plants it on a table. The strangers seem suitably impressed. The strangers introduce themselves as the cleric (and leader) Xang, Attuk Blooddragon a fighter, and a dwarven female fighter named Ada. Xang tells them that they are hunting black dragons in the swamp. Lakima tells them about the Black Dragon slain by his group from whence they took their name. Wexley seems nervous and rushes about getting ale for everyone. Carric excuses himself and says he needs to go to the outhouse. The conversation continues in the tavern. Wexley delivers some food to their table and Lakima notices there is a note under the food. Casually pulling out the note he sees it as a single word written on it.

Meanwhile, Carric did not go to the outhouse but is actually on the other side of the door to the inn listening to the conversation. He hears a footstep behind him and whirls about. A dark-cloaked woman stands behind him holding a poison covered dagger. She slashes at him and strikes him in the arm. He feels his limbs going numb. He tries to cry out but everything goes dark.

Carric is ambushed

Inside the tavern, Lakima read the word “Danger” on the note. As he turns Xang gets to his feet and picks up a dark, hardwood staff. “Hey, I want to show you this. It is really interesting!” Xang presents the staff to Lakima and mutters the word Darkstrike. The staff leaps from his hand and swings at Lakima on its own. Lakima shouts a warning to his companions as the three rival adventurer's launch an attack.

Ada strikes Lakima with her war hammer hurting the magic-user. Attuk uses an enormous two-handed sword to attack Eathwund. Xang begins to cast a spell. Lakima casts Atanzabar’s Acrid Finger and directs the spray of acid into Ada's face. Xang’s spell goes off and absolute silence falls over the Inn. The fight continues as weapons strike metal on metal without a sound. Lantosh is hit by Attuk and struggles to stay on his feet as blood pours from a wound in his side. Attuk targets Domago and stabbing the cleric in the back. Domago also staggers to the edge of the fight barely alive. Eathwund is also hit several times by Attuk who proves very hard to hit. Wexley shouts a warning to Dag as the dark cloaked woman with the poison dagger appears from the kitchen sneaking up behind Dag. Dag turns to strike her while Wexley throws food and tankards at her and Ada.

Wild melee in the tavern

Slowly the tide of battle begins to turn, the Acid from Lakima burns into Ada who shouts at Xang repeatedly for healing. But it is too late and she falls to the floor dead. The woman in the dark cloak takes the opportunity to retreat back into the kitchen and run away. Eathwund concentrates his attacks on Attuk and Lakima redirects the acid stream on him as well. Lantosh and Domago drive Xang toward the door to the outside. Xang tries to get to the door but is blocked. He yells for parlay but Lakima shouts, “No parlay for killers!” and Xang is struck down. Now Attuk is the only opponent remaining in the fight. Rather than surrender, he redoubles his attacks striking Eathwund for a wound. But it lasts only a few moments before he is also struck down.

Dag runs after the dark-robed woman but through the kitchen and out into the innyard. He stops chasing her when he spots Carric lying on the ground near the outhouse. Dag runs over to Carric and is able to shake him out of unconsciousness.

Wexley begins to talk in a stream of words fueled by adrenaline. The group of four murderers arrived at the Inn only a few hours after the heroes set out for the mine. They called themselves the Hand of Manos. They made Wexley nervous right away but there was little he could do. They asked where the heroes had gone off to and he told them they headed into the swamps hoping they would leave and go in the wrong direction. The adventurers help Wexley clean up the tavern floor. The bodies are searched, stripped, and then tossed into the river. Wexley says that the crocodiles will get them. They do bury the body of the halfling they found at the mine. Wexley says some words about his dead cousin.

The heroes return to Edgerton after an uneventful ride. They take the rock ape heads to the Smith Cromly who hired them and collect their reward. Lakima heads over to the apothecary to consult with Malyn the wizard. He finds the shop is open and Malyn is no longer in hiding. Lakima asks him if the necromancer Talmea Pak is no longer a concern. Malyn shows Lakima the Mazestone - a magical artifact that can trap people in a prison dimension. Talmea tried to use it on Malyn but he grabbed a mirror and the effect bounced back and trapped Talmea. Now the necromancer is trapped in a rock Malyn is using as a paperweight.

Lakima shows Malyn the staff he took from Xang. Malyn examines it deeply and learns there is a mage named Darkstrike trapped inside of the staff. Malyn calls him an evil-minded bungler. Lakima suggests that maybe the mazestone can free the mage. They try it and the mage is pulled out of the staff and into the mazestone. Unfortunately, now the staff is just a wood staff with no magic.