Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Scarlet Heroes Single Player

 I am running a one-player Scarlet Heroes campaign set nominally in the default setting that comes with the rules. The default setting is a scattering of islands that can have just about any climate and culture. I used my Isle of Respite setting that I used once before for solo play.

It was my first chance to try the Scarlet Heroes rules (which I really like) as they were designed to be used. The rules are meant to allow a single player to run through OSR adventures with little to no changes. When I attempted it with solo play I did not get more than a few sessions. This time, as a one-player game, we managed to make it to a 4th session. Then the player died an ignominious death.

I don't think this means the rules do not work. I just think low-level characters in OSR games are always at a real risk of dying. I did not drop the player right into a classic OSR dungeon crawl. Instead, I wanted to work up to B3 Palace of the Silver Princess with a few starter adventures. Ideally entering what I had renamed the Palace of the Jade Princess at level 3.

My player ruled up a truly ordinary hero. All attributes bonuses were zero except for a -1 Charisma. So he named his thief Genero. Genero arrived at the village of Darga on the Isle of Respite fleeing the encroachment of the Red Tide on the island on which he was born. His first adventure involved an ogre demanding tribute from the village. I used the Dungeon Crawl Classics Adventure, Legends are made, not born by Chris Doyle (2003). Things went well and in three sessions Genero had rescued the local villagers, killed the ogre, and killed the evil wizard lurking in the caves. One on one against the Ogre he actually did very well and killed it in three rounds. Here the healing rules were essential as he was able to heal much of the damage from the ogre before descending deeper into the caves.

After returning triumphantly from the ogre cave, Genero learned of the disaster that has struck Haven (Palace of the Jade Princess) from refugees just arrived in Dargo. He decided to set out overland for Haven. On the way, he met a widow who pleaded with him to rescue her two children who were kidnapped by Frog men. Here I used Lair of the Frog King from the DMs Guild by RP Davis.

Genero entered the Croaking Mire on the trail of the frogmen, met a friendly trapper who told him where the frogmen laired and warned him of a giant dire beaver in the area. Thanking the trapper, Genero pushed deeper into the mire - and was attacked by the giant beaver.

Here things did not go well for Genero and he was killed. During the seven rounds of the fight the Beaver struck 4 times and Genero struck 3 times. But the Beaver did damage on every hit and Genero rolled a 1 (no damage) twice. When Genero was down to 1 HP and was struck by the Beaver for 1 point of damage we looked up the Defy Death rules. And read them again. And again.

I am not sure I did them correctly. Genero rolled 1d4 twice as he was 2nd level. The first roll was a 1, the second was a 4. So he still died because while the first roll did no damage, the second did 2 points.

We are going to roll up another character and try again, probably somewhere else on the island.

Genero sneaks up on the sleeping ogre






Monday, 28 June 2021

Tomb of the Lizard King

In this session, the Tomb of the Lizard King was completed in my campaign. I took the storyline from the original adventure published in 1982 and parts of the dungeon complex. Basically, a slightly modified lair of the Black Dragon Aulicus (see my last post on how that fight went) and the final tomb of Sakatha. In between, I placed a small Lizardfolk lair. It was designed to soften up the player's characters before the final fight. It worked perfectly. The characters were pretty well exhausted before they could reach the final boss fight against Sakatha. Amusingly, they decided to rest to recover spells in a chamber right next to the throne room where Sakatha waited. Sakatha, of course, has been spying on them with his crystal ball. Sakatha would not let them get any rest before meeting them in battle and the players actually had to retreat from the Lair to return later. In the end, they managed to "kill" Sakatha.

Session 56: Sakatha the Lizard King

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

The adventurers settle down on the hard, damp stone floor of the alchemist chamber deep in the Tomb in the swamp. Everyone except the magic-users is badly injured and needs rest. Lakima and Lantosh agree to take the first watch. A table is pushed against one door and Lakima casts Hold Portal on the other.

After about 2 hours, once most of the heroes have drifted off - Lantosh shouts a warning and points at one of the doors. A greenish mist is drifting into the room from the gap under the door. Lakima begins to wake everyone. Lantosh shouts and points at the other door. Mist is seeping in under the other door as well. Then two lizardfolk materialize in the room. One is a little larger than most of the lizardfolk they have fought earlier and wears a golden crown on its head. The other is smaller and looks like it might be a female. Both bear long fangs at the heroes and move to attack.

Eathwund and Lantosh find themselves fighting off the female lizardfolk and Alonso and Vervork the male with the crown. Fenris backs into a corner and readies his crossbow. Aashdoshan unleashes several magic missile barrages from his wand at the male Lizardfolk. During the fight, they notice that the wounds on this pair of lizardfolk do not bleed and they seem to slowly close up as if regenerating. The lizardfolk are gradually overwhelmed and are put on the defensive. And then they turn to mist and vanish under the door.

The heroes debate what to do. Run from the dungeon or continue to search for the missing villagers. Domago and Vervork argue for searching. In his head, Lakima hears a voice taunting him to come out. They decide to stay and try to rest again despite the constant danger. This time three will be on watch at all times.

Lantosh, Fenris, and Lakima take the first watch. But moments after the injured heroes start to relax, the door that is supposed to be magically held shut slams open, and they are confronted with the cackling visage of a nine-foot-tall winged bird-like demon. Alonso immediately recognizes it as a Vrock demon and his demon-slaying sword Nuldrang calls out in his mind to attack. The demon is hovering in the entrance so it can bring its clawed hands and feet to bear in an attack. Alonso rushes to attack swinging Nuldrang the demon slayer in a sweeping arc chopping deeply into the demon. Eathwund also strikes the demon while Vervork finds his strikes hit but do no damage. Alonso shouts that it can only be harmed by magical weapons and Lakima hands a magic dagger to Vervork.

The demon strikes Alonso twice but is also again hit. Flames burning in its eyes it says something in the abyssal tongue and the chamber is plunged into absolute darkness. Alonso runs through the darkness and out into the light in an empty hallway. He shouts for everyone to follow. They head down the corridor and find a chamber full of wooden coffins. As they move past - the lid flies off one coffin and the female lizardfolk they were fighting earlier leaps out and attacks. They are able to strike it a few times and it retreats to its coffin. Aashdoshan tells them they need to stake it through the heart quickly. Unable to find a handy wood stake - Lakima chops up the 10-foot-pole he has in his Bag of Holding. As the stake is pounded through the heart of the creature a rush of blood erupts from the heart and the creature cries out once before going limp.

The adventurers at this point are almost all badly injured. Fenris is barely able to stand and is being helped by Domago. Lantosh is bleeding badly. Almost all of their spells have been cast. They decide they must leave the tomb. On the way back to the surface they do take the time to search some side chambers and find a small amount of treasure. Once reaching the outside they clamber into lizardfolk canoe and paddle away to the ruin they stayed at the previous night.

At the ruin on the island, they recover and rest. Watches are set in case of more Lizardfolk attacks. As the sun begins to drift lower in the afternoon they take stock. Domago lets them know he can now cast two healing spells. But looking about he sees many in need of healing. Domago suggests he heal Alonso who will need to be at the front of the battle against the demon. He states that Fenris and Lantosh are just too injured to continue. Fenris is happy to agree. But Lantosh takes some convincing. Once it is explained to him that he needs to stay to guard Fenris he agrees. Lakima casts Read Languages and reads through the notes from the alchemist lab. He learns that the lizardfolk were creating potions of human control. The three potions they found in that chamber match the description of what is in the notes. The final ingredient of the potion is a liquid derived from “the green flame of the tower”. Alonso hands Vervork his magical longsword for the coming fight.

Rested and hopefully ready the heroes set out by canoe for the tomb again. They descend through the upper works without incident. It appears that nothing has changed. All of the lizardfolk in the upper levels must be dead. Aashdoshan asks for a pause while he animates two of the dead lizardfolk as servitor zombies. Arriving back in the lowest level they make their way down the corridor past the alchemist chamber. At the end of a hall, they find a locked door and they can hear sobbing coming from behind it. As they talk before the door they are heard and human voices cry out asking for help. There is an argument over whether to rescue the prisoners immediately or to continue to search for the Vampire Lizardfolk. They decide it is too dangerous to rescue the prisoners now. As they walk away the voices behind the door desperately cry out for help.

They find themselves in a throne room next. A wooden throne with human skulls decorating it sits before a stone platform with a wooden coffin resting on it. They cautiously approach the coffin and lift the lid but find it is unoccupied. They do find that a layer of wet dirt lies on the floor of the coffin and they find an iron ring with two keys on it. Lakima searches the south wall of the chamber and triggers a secret door leading into a passage.

Alonso takes the lead and they head down the passage. They find a dead end. Checking the walls they find another secret door. This one leads into a small, square chamber. Alonso walks into the chamber and a trap is revealed. The floor opens up and he plunges into a pit landing on metal spikes on the floor ten feet below. Badly injured he is pulled out on a rope by the rest of the heroes. Seeing that this is a dead-end they return to the throne room.

Lakima checks the north wall and finds another lever for a secret door. This one opens in the north wall of the room, but as it slides back a circle of absolute darkness begins to slowly move into the room covering the opening. Nuldrang shouts a warning in Alonso’s mind that “the demon is here!”. He charges into the darkness, raising Nuldrang in a mighty swing that connects with something and he can hear Nuldrang crying out in joy. The darkness drops even as a mist pours into the chamber and the Lizard King Sakatha appears right beside Vervork. Sakatha leaps and tries to bite Vervork in the neck but he is beaten back. Eathwund rushes across the chamber and joins Vervork in attacking Sakatha. Aashdoshan strikes the vampire lizard with his staff of withering but it appears to have no effect. Lakima casts Aztazibar’s Acrid Finger and burns a line across the vampire's body. Aashdoshan unleashes a blast of magic missiles. Eathwund slashes Sakatha with his elven long sword and it again turns to mist and departs the throne room.



The heroes check the chamber where the demon emerged and find another wooden coffin. But this one is also empty. Figuring that Sakatha cannot heal or rest without his coffin they spread out looking for him. Returning to the chamber where they heard human voices, they find they are able to unlock the door with one of the keys from the coffin. Inside they find a large number of human captives clad in rags and in very poor condition. Suddenly they hear screaming from further in the chamber and see Sakatha appear and grab one of the villagers. He bites down into the villager tearing open his neck and drinking his blood. Vervrok and Eathwund try to push into the chamber to get at Sakatha but a flood of humans running from the chamber makes it difficult. Vervork gets past but Eathwund is knocked down to the floor. Lakima decides to try the potion of human control. Drinking it down he orders a crowd of humans out of the way directing them into the throne room. The humans stop rushing and walk calmly into the chamber. This allows Eathwund to get to his feet and aid Vervork he is fighting Sakatha on his own. Eathwund arrives and strikes the killing blow. A wooden stake is produced and is pounded into Sakatha’s heart.

The adventurers take time now to search Sakatha, taking a necklace and his crown. Alonso chops the heart out of the demon and removes its head. Lakima heads back to the chamber with the pit trap and discovers a keyhole in the wall. Using one of the keys they found he is able to open another secret door and close the pit trap. Cautiously stepping over the floor where the trap resides he steps through the door into Sakatha’s treasure chamber. Gold and silver coins are strewn about the floor in unmanaged piles, along with several other items of interest including javelins and a simple gold ring. The heroes pack what they can - unloading some of the silver they got from the dragon’s chamber to make room for more gold. Aashdoshan gets the idea to drop a few hundred gold coins down the mouths of the two zombies he animated.

The heroes lead the thirty or so villagers they have found to the surface. There they make use of all of the lizardfolk canoes and the rafts they arrived on earlier to make their way across the swamp. They pick up Lantosh and Fenris who report no problems in the few hours they were left alone. The huge flotilla of canoes and rafts makes its way across the swamp for the rest of the day.



Friday, 11 June 2021

Just another Dragon

 Last weekend in my Swords & Wizardry campaign the players entered the Tomb of the Lizard King based on the classic adventure of the same name that was published in 1982. The first encounter they have is with the legendary Black Dragon Aulicus - the terror of the Cursed Marshes.

It took them a few rounds to kill Aulicus and none of the characters were really in any danger. So a bit of a letdown. Every time I include a Dragon in this campaign I put a lot of thought into it because the players love interacting with Dragons. They named their group the Company of the Black Dragon after an early kill. Dragons are just special. But how they are handled in Swords & Wizardry is a little odd. I keep rereading the rules to see if I am messing it up.

From the rules:

"Do not roll hit points for dragons as normal. Instead, determine the number of hit dice and the age category of the dragon. The age category indicates both the dragon’s hit points per die and how much damage the dragon’s breath weapon inflicts, given as points per hit die."

As I understand it an adult Black Dragon would have:

"Adult: 4 hit points per hit die; 4 hit points per die inflicted by breath weapon."

Here is how the dragon statistics came out:

Aulicus, Adult Black Dragon (1): HD 7; HP 28; AC 17; ATK 2 claws (1d4), 1 bite (3d6); Move 9, Fly 24; Save 9; AL C; XP 1,100; Special: Spits Acid in a line 5 x 60', Spells: Charm Person, Shield, Detect Magic, Read Magic.

The 28 hit points made him fairly easy to kill. Now he does make up for this by having a very good armor class and a breath weapon that does 28 points of damage. But the party killed him using spells that could not miss (magic missile).

The rules do make note of this:

"Note that dragons, while they are dangerous opponents, are not by any means invincible. In a medieval-type fantasy world, dragons are a common problem rather than godlike creatures of legend—so the statistics for dragons reflect a deadly but not mythical foe."

Perhaps for the next dragon encountered I will make note of this one more important comment from the rules:

"The Referee is, of course, free to create stats for a more “mythical” conception of dragons. Since dice are not rolled for dragon hit points, it is possible for a truly mythical dragon to have more points per die than it is actually possible to roll on a hit die."

Next time I might just give the Dragon more hit points because I can.

Session 55: The Tomb of the Lizard King

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

The Company of the Black Dragon poles their three rafts up to the stone temple rising up out of the swamp. Unbeknownst to them, a man watches their approach from the cover of the nearby trees. This is Vervork Merwin, a new adventurer out of the west who has tracked Lizard Men into the Cursed Marsh looking for kidnapped villagers from nearby Tahn. He is uncertain of the companies intentions and watches from cover.

Fenris scouts ahead first. He quietly makes his way across the platform past a blood-splattered stone altar and reaches the open door of the Temple. Fenris makes his way back and reports that he can hear the deep, heavy breathing of some enormous beast inside. Excited that their quest for the bounty on the head of the Black Dragon might be ended so quickly - the Company makes plans to attack. Alonso is wearing armor made of Black dragon scales and is thought to be protected from the Dragon’s acid attack so he is to lead the way followed by Eathwund and Lantosh.

Alonso enters the temple and sees an empty chamber. A few carved drawings on the walls but he steps past them to another open door. Looking in through the door, Alonso spots a sleeping Black Dragon. Just then the dragon opens its eyes and peers at Alonso. The Dragon rises up and begins to speak but Alonso immediately attacks, followed shortly by Eathwund and Lantosh. A furious battle ensues. The dragon immediately breathes acid at Alonso but what does hit him splashes off his dragon scale armor harmlessly. The dragon concentrates all of its attacks on Alonso while growling out in common that Alonso is wearing the scales of his daughter. Lakima takes up a position in the first chamber and tries to cast Confusion on the dragon but it fails. Aashdoshan sends his zombie minion up to attack but it misses. Most of the blows to the dragon come from Alonso and Eathwund. After only a minute of combat, the dragon starts to falter, in desperation, it tries to leap past them to escape to freedom and it crashes down on poor Lantosh. Alonso strikes the killing blow as the dragon collapses.




Once it is clear that the dragon is dead, the men of the company get distracted butchering the poor creature. Lantosh removes its head as a trophy. Lakima collects a few pints of blood in a sack. They also remove some of its leathery wings. While this is going on Fenris and Eathwund explore the dragon’s chamber and find a large pile of coins and some gems.

Distracted by the butchering of the dragon, the adventurers’ are almost surprised when six Lizard Men emerge from the swamp at the edge of the platform. The lizardmen are just starting up the steps behind the heroes when Domago shouts out a warning. Spotting the danger the heroes turn and defend themselves. They kill the Lizard Men one by one.

Fenris complains that the dragon’s horde seems small for a full-grown black dragon. Lakima agrees and tells Fenris to start looking for a secret door. He finds one after a short search. A concealed trap door behind the altar. Fenris opens the trapdoor and reports a set of stone steps leading down into the darkness. The adventurers begin to debate whether to continue exploring or turn back since their mission to kill the black dragon has been accomplished. As they are discussing this, they are hailed by a man in the cover of some trees. The adventurers set themselves in defensive positions as the man slogs through the mud and water to the temple. He introduces himself as Vervork Merwin. He claims to be an adventurer tracking Lizard Men who attacked the village of Tahn and took several villagers as prisoners. The adventurers can see that the man is already wounded from a recent encounter with Lizardmen. The adventurers decide to follow the stairs down looking for treasure and rescuing any villagers they might come across. The newcomer, Vervork is given one of their potions of healing. Aashdoshan busies himself raising one of the dead Lizardmen as a zombie servitor.




The entire company (plus a lizardman zombie) descends the stairs into a small chamber beneath the temple. The chamber does not appear to have been entered in a long time and there are no apparent exits. Not believing it is a dead-end, Lakima asks everyone to look for a secret exit. After many minutes of fruitless searching, Fenris is finally able to locate a lever that opens a stone doorway. Beyond is a large, dark chamber lit in the distance with the faint red glow coming off of braziers of hot coals. The adventurers file into the large chamber with Eathwund, Alonso, Vervork, and wounded Lantosh in the lead. Suddenly, a number of Lizardmen rush out of the darkness and attack. These lizardmen appear fairly primitive, not wearing clothes or carrying any weapons or armor. But they attack ferociously with teeth and claws. Alonso and Eathwund bear the initial brunt of the attack. Aashdoshan sends both of his zombies forward to aid them. The battle rages for several minutes. Alonso is bitten and clawed several times, Lantosh is bitten again, but Eathwund chops down several Lizardmen. Emboldened, Eathwund pushes forward and is soon surrounded and fighting off a horde of lizardmen. Lakima casts Mikda-Err’s Practical Tilt causing many of the Lizardmen to fall to the ground. Aashdoshan’s Lizardman zombie tries to aid Alonso but it is torn to pieces. Just as the tide seems to be turning in the adventurer’s favor another horde of Lizardmen join the attack. Lakima uses his Pearl of Power and recalls a spell and casts Mikda-Err’s Practical Tilt again to even greater effect. The lizardmen fall one after another until only a few remain. One runs away but the rest fight to the end.




They move to explore the rest of the chamber and are again struck by a number of lizardmen coming from a side passage. After this group is defeated, Lakima spots a shrine down a side passage. Four lizardmen shamans in brown robes stand on guard to protect the shrine. Alonso, Eathwund, and Vervork are sent down the passage to attack them followed by Lakima. They see a Lizardman shaman casting a spell and silence falls over them. Then the lizardmen attack. The rest of the adventurers waiting in the main chamber also come under attack by more lizardmen coming out of more side passages. Eathwund begins to fight the lizardmen shaman when another spell is cast. This one fills the entire area with a cloud of poisonous spores, Domago is overcome by the spores and collapses retching on the floor. Alonso pulls Domago to safety. Vervork and Lakima also abandon the area of the spore cloud to fight the lizardmen in the main chamber. But Eathwund charges into the chamber and kills two of the shamans, the rest run away. He then confronts the high shaman of the lizardmen. Lakima casts web spells from his wand immobilizing two groups of lizardmen but one manages to claw Fenris in the throat and Fenris falls unconscious. Aashdoshan sends his remaining zombie servant and one skeleton into the cloud of spores to aid Eathwund. A minute later the spore cloud dissipates and Domago recovers. He goes to check on Fenris. Eathwund emerges from the temple with the head of the lizardmen’s high shaman held high. The remaining lizardmen are trapped in webs and are killed.

Domago is able to heal Fenris with a potion of healing. Eathwund and Fenris then search the temple and find a closed chest. Fenris checks it and tells everyone that there is something slithering around in the chest. Eathwund opens the chest by kicking it open but only sees a silver bowl and ceremonial dagger. When he flips the bowl over with his sword, a deadly viper emerges and strikes at him missing. Eathwund chops it in two with his sword. They also find several clay jars that are stoppered and full of a muddy-smelling liquid.

As all of the heroes explore the temple chamber they take note of a crude stone statue of a crocodile-headed demon. Lakima asks Lantosh to destroy the statue. Lantosh cracks the statue with iron spikes and with help from Eathwund topples the head onto the floor where it strikes the altar - pushing the altar forward. Beneath the altar is an opening and a set of stairs leading down. All of the heroes sit down as Domago tends wounds. Everyone is seriously injured by this point and all but one of their healing potions have been used up. They debate whether to continue downward or leave. Vervork speaks passionately about rescuing the villager’s taken prisoner and convinces everyone to continue. Aashdoshan tells everyone that he is out of magic - but Lakima gives him a Wand of Magic Missiles.

They continue down the stairs into a chamber lit from the fires smoldering in two braziers. Before them is a stout wooden door banded with iron. The first door they have encountered in this primitive lizardman temple. Fenris checks the door and then opens it. Ahead of them, they see another large chamber lit dimly by more braziers. They move cautiously forward and see another stone altar.

Four large, lizardmen leap from the darkness and attack. These lizardmen have more bestial, almost crocodile-like heads and they are heavier and taller than any lizardmen they have previously encountered. There is a quick and vicious fight. These lizardmen creatures are tougher than those previously encountered but Aashdoshan uses the wand of magic missiles several times to great effect. Once only one remains - it flees behind the altar and opens a secret door to escape. Fenris finds the release for the secret door and Eathwund leaps through the opening door - right into the waiting lizardman. But Eathwund is able to prevail and the lizardman is killed.

The secret door has led to a narrow, stone hallway that heads south to an intersection. They open a door down a side passage and find a primitive alchemical workshop. Aashdoshan makes note of several bowls filled with human blood - taken recently and wonders about all of the human blood they have found. Lakima declares that this must be the shaman’s workroom and since he is dead it should be safe to rest here. The exhausted heroes pause and set watches.




Thursday, 10 June 2021

Prelude to the Tomb of the Lizard King

Last week in my Swords & Wizardry campaign I prepared to send my players into the classic adventure I2: Tomb of the Lizard King by Mark Acres (1982). I ran this module, with many changes, way back in the 1980s for a B/X campaign. For my Swords & Wizardry campaign, I completely changed the module. While it is my intention to run some of the classics in this campaign some changes are inevitable. The change to Swords & Wizardry rules is needed but also I do not want to run large dungeon crawls in an online-only game. I like to keep things fairly short. So I kept the basic plot - a recently risen vampire lizard man king / magic-user threatening human civilization. But I removed much of the overland portion to fit my campaign and I removed the brigands. It struck me as odd that the first level of a Tomb of a Lizard King had so few lizardmen in it in the published adventure.

I was concerned that the 5 maps I created would be blown through by the players in one session but they got sidetracked for the first few hours of the session with a hunt for an assassin encountered in the previous session. For this encounter, all I had was the maps for a few locations the players had already investigate around their hometown and the statistics for an assassin. Then I played it by ear. When the players gave me a logical opening I had the assassin move in.

Session 54: The Assassin

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 day after the ritual by Malyn the full Company of the Black Dragon gathers in the Chapter House common room. Lakima lays out a plan to catch the assassin who is targeting some of the group (Lakima, Eathwund, Domago). The three adventurers who are being targeted will stay at the Chapter House hopefully drawing the eyes of the assassin to them. Fenris and Aashdoshan will head to the Sign of the Purple Bugbear tavern. Lantosh and Alonso will head over later in the day and cover the exits.

Lakima, Eathwund, and Domago do head over to Alayna’s shop and bring back three potions of neutralize poison.

Fenris and Aashdoshan head over to the tavern. Aashdoshan carrying two skeletons in an old barrel. He places the barrel in the kitchen where his skeletons can be quickly summoned. Aashdoshn brings a chair up to the second-floor hallway and sits down to wait. Around noon Fenris spreads flour all over the floor on the second floor and on the ladder to the attic (the assassin had previously used Dust of Disappearance). Soon after Alonso and Lantosh arrive and take up positions outside the tavern guarding both doors.

As evening falls, the remaining three (Lakima, Eathwund, and Domago) make their way over to the tavern and enter.  They make themselves comfortable in the tavern room. Lakima sends Fenris to climb up on the roof of the next-door building where he can watch the door to the attic of the tavern. Aashdoshan spots the tavern’s ghost floating down the second-floor hallway. She pauses and then passes through a wall into one of the rooms. Aashdoshan slips down the hallway and enters the room - leaving his tracks going through the flour down the hallway. In the room, he finds the ghost hovering over the bed. He casts Speak with Dead and asks the ghost three questions.

“Why do you remain here? Because my killer has not been brought to justice.”

“Have you seen a stranger in the tavern, not with our group?” The ghost seems puzzled and does not respond.

“What is your name? Mari Kell.”

The ghost then vanishes. Aashdoshan steps back into the hallway. He starts to retrace his path through the flour but stops as he sees a new set of tracks that have come down the ladder from the attic and head down the hallway to the stair to the tavern. He quickly runs down the hallway and shouts, “He is here - in the building!” As he turns the corner to the stair he comes upon a hooded figure. Both are startled but the figure reacts first - stabbing Aashdoshan with a dagger coated in poison. Luckily, Aashdoshan is not cut deeply enough to be poisoned. He casts Stinking cloud into the stairwell. The assassin acrobatically does a forward tumble and manages to avoid the cloud of poison, and he ends up back in the hallway.

Downstairs, the other heroes hear the shout and the commotion. They see a cloud of poisonous gas billowing down the stair. Eathwund tries to hold his breath and run up the stairs but he is overcome and staggers to the floor. Lakima rushes out the main door of the tavern and casts Levitate. He begins to rise up in the air. Domago tries to get to Eathwund but he is driven back by the cloud of gas. Upstairs, the assassin runs away from Aashdoshan and scrambles to the ladder to the attic. Outside, Lakima ascends over the roof of the tavern and casts Wall of Ice - blocking the exit from the attic to the rooftops. Aashdoshan casts Web just after the assassin scrambles up the ladder. The webs block the ladder from use.

Out in the street, Alonso shouts for a passing member of the watch. He explains the situation and the watchman blows on his signal whistle to summon more men. Inside the tavern, the cloud of gas begins to dissipate and Domago helps Eathwund to his feet. Above his head, Aashdoshan hears a banging sound and the sound of splintering wood from the attic. Eathwund and Domago join Aashdoshan in the hallway. They confer for a few moments and then hear a crash and a thump in one of the guest rooms.  Outside on the street, Alonso and Lakima see the shutters from a second-floor window swing open. A hooded figure takes out a small crossbow and aims at a building across the street. Several guards run-up to Alonso summoned by the whistle. They look up just as Lakima casts a Lightning Bolt through the second-floor window. One guard yells, “No magic within the Town Walls!”

The Lightning bolt partially hits the figure in the window and blasts off a shutter. Eathwund shoulders the door open to the room and sees the blackened figure standing on a bed near the window. The figure throws a dagger at Eathwund, but Eathwund deflects it away.

Eathwund draws his sword and summons fire onto its blade he swings at the assassin who partially deflects the blow with his forearm. The blade bites deep into the assassins’ arm. The assassin staggers to the window and jumps out, falling to the street below. As he falls toward the street three magic missiles strike him cast by Aashdoshan.

On the street, Alonso and three members of the watch converge on the assassin and demand that he surrender. The assassin staggers to his feet and hurls a dagger at Alonso but misses. Alonso strikes the assassin with his sword, Lakima hurls darts from above hitting once. Then Eathwund drops his flaming sword, draws his bow, and fires an arrow right through the back of the assassins’ head killing him.

One of the members of the watch quietly says,  “We wanted him alive!”



A search of the body reveals a pouch with gold and silver coins and a large ruby. Lakima gives the gold and silver to the guards with a suggestion that they leave and forget what they saw. The guards quickly leave. The body of the assassin is dragged into the tavern and tossed on the floor. He is examined closely. They find he is a bald, unremarkable-looking man. They do notice a black tattoo of a hand on his right shoulder. Lakima asks Aashdoshan if he can use Speak with Dead but Aashdoshan tells him it will have to wait until the next day.

The body is brought to the Chapter House and left on the floor in the common room to be discovered by their startled man-servant the next morning. Aashdoshan casts Speak with Dead on the corpse. They learn that the assassin was working for Zweis Radu who is currently in the Shattered Isles. They also learn he was working alone and they should not have to worry about more assassins. Although, the corpse does threaten to come after them from beyond the grave. Aashdoshan takes care of this eventuality by raising the corpse as a servitor zombie.

Later in the day, the Company of the Black Dragon heads to the Citadel and requests an audience with Lord Colten Brightmoor. They ask about the bounty on the head of the Black Dragon of the Cursed Marshes. Lakima asks for the group to receive the currently abandoned Radu estates as a reward for killing the dragon. He argues that this is a just reward since the Radu family has tried to kill them so many times. Lord Brightmoor is taken aback but does indicate that something can be worked out.

The Company spends a week preparing to head to the Cursed Marshes. Eathwund arranges with the carpenter Issac to repair the damage done to the Purple Bugbear tavern. Alonso picks up his Scale mail armor that Cromly has made from the scales of the Black dragon they killed a few weeks ago.

Eventually, they set out for Whetwhistle. Most of the company on horseback and Aashdoshan driving a cart loaded with a barrel containing his servitor skeletons. In Whetwhistle they meet with their partner Wexley. The halfling tells them that things are going well at the Copper Mine. More men have been hired and a few people have moved to Whetwhistle. The village is slowly growing. After a night at the Goose Inn as guests of Wexley, they are ferried across the river to the swamp. They find that the rafts they used on their last trip into the swamps are still resting on the riverbank.

The adventurers divide into three groups to distribute their weight amongst the three rafts. Lakima uses the Arrow of Direction to point the way to the Lair of the Black Dragon. They set out to the southwest. After a few hours, they have an encounter with a giant crocodile but manage to drive off the enormous reptile with missile fire. That night they camp on an island in the swamp.

Each morning Lakima again consults the Arrow of Direction to make certain they are on the right track. Around noon on the second day, they see a swarm of Giant Mosquitos approaching from the west. Once the mosquitos are within range, Lakima incinerates them with a fireball spell. That night they manage to find another, reasonably dry island to set up camp.

On their third day in the swamp, they spot a shack on stilts in the distance. The shack rests on a small hummock of mud. The shack almost looks deserted but a thin wisp of smoke drifts out of a metal chimney. They approach and shout a greeting but get no response. Fenris leaves a raft and scouts around and underneath the hut finding only some small snake and frog bones. Lakima and Alonso climb up to the platform around the shed and knock on the door. An old woman answers. She tells them her name is Rosalinda. After some prodding, she agrees to let Alonso and Lakima into her hut. Inside they find that the hut has a single room that is jammed full with birdcages and herbs hanging from the ceiling, shelves full of jars, and stacks of pots. Rosalinda seems happy enough to answer questions and in turn, asks about the adventurers and what brings them to her abode. She offers them a greenish-brown soup but they decline. Lakima surreptitiously casts Detect Magic and the woman, the soup, and a number of other items amongst the hut glow magically. She pays no mind to this but says, “Nothing gets past you does it?”

Eventually, Alonso and Lakima leave. They continue on to the southwest. Just before sunset, they see a ruin of white stone poking up from the swamp. They stop at the ruin which sits on a small island. The ruin is barely three walls and a stone floor but it is the driest place they have encountered in the swamp so they stop to make camp. They find the remnants of a campfire that is very old. On two of the remaining walls of the building, they see carvings depicting a humanoid snake man. Alonso suggests they could be depictions of the Ophidians. Creatures lost to legend. They build a fire and sleep peacefully that evening. As the sun rises and they eat a meal they spot a hill of mud on the horizon to the southwest. Lakima checks the Arrow of Direction and finds it is pointing directly at the mound.

Setting out on the rafts they travel for a few hours as the mound comes into view. The ruins of a stone temple can be seen partially buried under a slide of mud. The temple platform goes to the edge of the swamp. Tied to several wooden poles before the platform is a dozen canoes. The Temple is not completely abandoned. A doorway at the rear of the platform leads deeper into the side of the hill.