OSR Skirmishes

A few sessions ago I had to run a fairly large fight using the Swords & Wizardry rules. On one side were seven adventurers and on the other side were 30 Lizard Men attacking from multiple directions. This is where OSR rules like Swords & Wizardry really work well. In d20 this would take the entire session. In 5e I think it would be a little smoother but still a few hours. In Swords & Wizardry, we were able to finish the battle in about an hour.

I spread out the Lizard Men ambush to prevent the player magic-users from wiping out all of their opponents with a few well-placed area-effect spells but the wizards still controlled the battlefield. As the players increase in level the magic-users become more and more powerful. Effecting battles with many opponents with area spells like Fireball, Sleep, and Web and also impacting single, powerful opponents with spells like Confusion, Charm Monster, and Lightning Bolt. It means I have to put a lot of thought into creating situations where the two human fighters have an important role.

The adventure this week is a slightly altered version of the Creations Edge Games Swords & Wizardry adventure Swamp of Secrets written by Matthew E Kline.

Session 52: Lizard Man ambush

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alonso (human fighter), Aashdoshan (human necromancer), Domago (human cleric NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC).

The adventurers pole their rafts up to a sandy beach below the rock outcrop where their map notes the Lizard Men lair. As they step off the raft the view of the cave entrance they had spotted earlier is blocked by a shelf of rock ten feet high. Lakima orders Fenris up onto the shelf to scout the cave entrance. Fenris deftly climbs up and moves forward followed by Eathwund and Alonso. As Fenris nears the edge of the shelf he spots a band of Lizard Men just below and before the entrance to the cave. He signals the other adventurers. Aashdoshan climbs up on the shelf and casts a Web spell. The sticky, web strands drop from the sky and cover the large group of Lizard Men. Fenris, Lantosh, and Eathwund fire arrows and sling stones into the entangled Lizard Men. As they all move forward to attack the struggling foes, bands of Lizard Men rise out of the water to their right, and behind them amongst the rafts. Another group pours out of the cave's mouth. In all the adventurers find themselves surrounded on a shelf of rock by at least thirty Lizard Men. Aashdoshan would later remark that the creatures seemed to be lying in wait for them.

Eathwund and Fenris continue to fire on the Lizard Men caught in the webs. Meanwhile, Aashdoshan successfully casts Sleep on the Lizard Men south of the shelf. He also throws his magical dagger but it misses and sinks into the swamp. The Lizard Men sink beneath the level of the water. Lakima moves to the back of the shelf facing the beach and casts Fireball on the Lizard Men rising up out of the swamp near their rafts. The fire blasts through the defenseless Lizard Men and all but one of them are killed.

The Lizard Men that exited the cave mouth split their forces. Half attempt to skirt around the webs and reach Alonso and Eathwund. The other half of Lizard Men swim out into the swamp and begin waking up the Lizardmen affected by the sleep spell.

Lakima spots this action and walks back across the shelf and casts another Fireball spell. This one lands amongst the sleeping Lizard Men and the Lizard Men trying to wake them. All of the Lizard Men are killed instantly.

At this point, only five or six of the thirty attacking Lizard Men remain standing. Eathwund and Alonso leap onto them and attack with swords. Domago finds himself in a struggle with one maddened, burned Lizard Man who slashes him with claws several times. Aashdoshan tries to help Domago but struggles with the tight melee and is also slashed and bitten. Lantosh and Lakima end up rescuing the pair Lakima using expertly tossed darts and Lantosh using his Battleax (Aashdoshan the necromancer is almost killed, showing how magic-users are in melee).

Finally, the battle is over. All of the heroes remain standing - while Lizard Men lie dead and twisted on the beach and floating face down in the swamp. It is all over in a matter of a few minutes. Aashdoshan spends a few minutes trying to find his dagger in the swamp without success.

Fenris is ordered to lead the way into the cave. He grabs a torch and lights it and leads the way in followed closely by Eathwund and then Alonso. Fenris spots a group of Lizard Men waiting to ambush them on a high ledge above the passage. The Lizard Men are armed with wooden spears. Eathwund, Alonso, and Lantosh rush forward toward the crude stair of rock leading up to the ledge while the Lizard Men hurl spears at them. Eathwund uses his shield to bash away the spears. Fenris moves to a position to cover them with shots from his crossbow. As Alonso mounts the first step up the stair he becomes aware of a dark shape moving further back in the cave.

The cave they are in has a high ledge where the Lizard Men reside tossing spears, and the cave also drops away to a lower area. As Alonso turns to face the new threat he perceived - he sees a Black Dragon raise its head to the level of the area he is on. It opens its mouth and blasts him with a stream of steaming acid that splashes over the fighter burning through clothing and armor. As Lakima is yelling for everyone to get back and he begins to prepare a spell, Lantosh rushes forward to confront the dragon. The Dragon looks down and grabs Lantosh in its jaws, crushing the screaming man and hurling him through the air into a rock wall. With the area clear, Lakima casts the spell Lightning Bolt. The bolt hits the Black Dragon right in its exposed chest and lightning courses down its body. The Black Dragon collapses to the cave floor in a smoking heap.

Meanwhile, Eathwund has worked his way down the group of Lizard Men chopping them down one at a time. He is aided by two skeletons under the control of Aashdoshan. In the melee, both of the skeletons are destroyed but all of the Lizard Men also fall. Lantosh staggers to his feet.

Fenris comes forward with his torch and Alonso checks the Black Dragon corpse. He confirms that the 20-foot long beast is dead. The heroes congregate about the body and begin discussing what parts of the body they can harvest. Aashdoshan pulls out a knife and starts working on removing a tooth. Alonso starts sawing away at a hardened scale. Domago goes to Lantosh’s aid and casts Cure Light Wounds on the badly injured man. After several minutes, the heroes remember their mission and begin looking about for human captives. Fenris finds piles of coins hidden under a bed of leaves. Eathwund notices a wooden door to the north. Eathwund shoulders the door open and finds the six missing miners, battered and hungry but alive. He brings them back to the main group.

Searching through the treasure, Fenris finds a pair of boots and a suit of chainmail. Lakima casts Detect Magic and discovers they are magical (one boot more than the other). In the toe of one boot, they find a potion. Eathwund searches beds of leaves scattered in another cave and he finds a few items including a rotted journal. One readable page in the journal contains The Ballad of Sakatha.

Lakima spends some time convincing the bedraggled miners to carry some of the gold and silver that has been found out of the mine. Eathwund finds another door and opens it. In the chamber is a small ledge over a pool of swampy water. He spots a chest and moves toward it. As he does he feel a strange influence over his mind but shakes it off and quickly leaves the chamber. Hearing that there is a chest in the chamber, Lakima tells Fenris to check into it. Fenris comes back with some rotting sacks and a short sword. He also reports some evil influence in the chamber that he was able to fight off.

With a total of 12 men and 1 woman in the party now counting the miners, the group has a decision to make. They decide to split up. Lakima, Eathwund, and Fenris will remain in the cave. The rest will take the three rafts back to Boggy Bifor’s. Once there they will drop off the miners and return with the rafts to collect their comrades.

The plan almost goes awry as the trio left in the caves is attacked the next day by a small hunting party of Lizard Men. Lakima’s Lightning bolt kills most of the creatures and Eathwund finishes them off. Aashdoshan, Alonso, Lantosh, Domago, and the rescued miners are attacked by a giant snake while making their way across the swamp. Alonso manages to kill it.

At Boggy Bifor’s they are greeted by the dwarf hermit. He askes them a lot of questions about what happened. They send the miners on to Whetwhistle village in boats. Aashdoshan finds an opportunity to confront Bifor alone and accuses the dwarf of warning the Lizard Men that they were coming. The dwarf angrily orders them off his island.

The adventurers collect the heroes remaining in the Lizard Man lair and then return via BIfor’s hut to the river. Once there they signal the village and boats are sent to pick them up. They all head immediately for The Goose tavern. Wexley listens to their story and tells them what he knows about the legend of the Lizard King Sakatha and his Ring of Wishes. They give 150 silver to each of the miners and tell Wexley to use much of the rest to hire mercenaries to protect the mine.

The next day the adventurers return to the town of Edgerton. Lakima checks in with Alayna and gets to work on sending out invitations to the wedding which is just over a week away. Alonso takes some Black Dragon scales to a leatherworker to get them made into a purse. He also speaks to the Smith Cromly about getting a suit of Black dragon scales made. The price of 2,800 gold is very steep and he decides to think about it. Eathwund goes to check into the progress Issac has made on cleaning up the Ten Bells Tavern. He is pleased to see how far it has come. The two main floors are cleaned up and ready to receive customers. He just needs staff and provisions to get things open. He also shows Issac the sign he wants for the tavern. Issac tells him that he can get a sign made for him.

Late one night, after everyone has gone to sleep Aashdoshan and Fenris slip out of the town to the nearby cemetery. Aashdoshan raises his two skeleton friends and sets them to work digging up a grave.