Cutting things short

I have said several times in the past that when you are playing virtually online, short adventures work the best. At least that is my experience. The sessions for my Swords & Wizardry Campaign are never longer than three hours and the players like things to wrap up at the end of each session. In the last session, we completed module I7: Baltron's Beacon and it took five sessions. I think the players were really interested in closing things up in this last session. Once they found what they had come for they immediately left the dungeon. Leaving more than half of the final level unexplored and missing out on a lot of magic and treasure.

From a character standpoint, it was very wise. All of the characters were low on hit points. They were out of Healing potions and several characters had been brought back from unconsciousness. They had accomplished the object of their mission and found a few magic items. From a player perspective, I am used to players who look under every rock for the last gold coin in the dungeon.

Session 61: Unholy Shrine of the Green Flame

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), Vervork Merwin (human fighter NPC).

After a rest, Domago successfully removes the curse on Eathwund so that he can remove the cursed helm. The entire group crowds onto the platform and Lakima inserts the key. A glowing arrow appears and he turns the key so that the arrow is pointed at the rune translated as “dungeon”. After a few moments of waiting there is an intense flash of light and the entire group finds themselves in one of the open cells in the dungeon beneath the Keep. Luckily, they left the door unlocked and they return to the platform room in the keep. The key is still in the keyhole of the platform. Lakima turns the key to the rune translated as “shrine” and they wait again. There is a flash of light and they find themselves in a large room at an unknown location. They are standing on a platform with a glowing key in the center of it. Lakima quickly picks up the key and pockets it. Four iron doors lead from the chamber one in each wall. One door has a bas-relief sculpture of a demonic face. The only other thing of note in the chamber are four stone pillars holding up the ceiling. The pillars are carved with faces with open leering mouths.

Aashdoshan hops down from the platform onto the floor and makes a step toward one of the pillars. As soon as his feet touch the floor he triggers a trap. Water begins to pour from the mouths of all of the faces on all of the pillars. The demonic face animates and starts laughing, “You fools have sealed your doom!” As the face says the word sealed, they hear loud clicks from each of the four doors. In moments the water has already risen to the level of the platform. Alonso suggests using the key and teleporting away but the teleport platform is already awash with water and no longer glowing. Lakima points at a door and shouts at Fenris to get it open. Fenris rushes to the indicated door and yells back that it is locked. He gets to work and says, “I got it!” with undisguised surprise in his voice. He swings the door open. At that moment the rush of water stops.

Alonso, Eathwund, and Lakima run over to the door and enter the hallway beyond, and stop suddenly. The walls of the hallway are covered in metal and iron spikes 2 feet long. The spikes jut out from the walls leaving only a six-foot clear passage to a door. Fenris checks the spikes and declares that they will not move. But he warns that the black substance coating the spikes is probably a contact poison. They carefully make their way to the door which Fenris opens.

As the door swings open it disappears into complete darkness. The way beyond the door is completely dark. The darkness forms what looks like a physical barrier right at the doorway. As Fenris waves his hand through the doorway it disappears into the darkness. Lakima thrusts his Continual Light staff into the darkness and he does see a faint blue glow. Lakima tells everyone to link hands and to stay close to him as he shuffles cautiously into the darkness. Lakima finds he can see no more than 5 feet in any direction lit by the glow of his magical staff. It is soon apparent that they have entered a room. Lakima stops as he encounters a wall of black drapes. Fenris tears down a section of the drapes and finds a concealed passage.

Stepping through the passage they emerge from the darkness into a rough-hewn passage. The passage is unlit but their light sources are now illuminating the corridor normally. Fenris moves on ahead. Lantosh lights his lantern. Soon the passage leads into a chamber with no exits. Four stone sarcophagi rest on the floor of the chamber. As the strongest of the group, Vervork, Domago, and Alonso position themselves and slide the lid of one sarcophagus aside to reveal a dead body wrapped in rags. As they look for treasure the body moans and then sits up swinging its arms at Vervork. Domago brandishes his holy symbol and attempts to rebuke the undead mummy without success. Eathwund lights his sword on fire and strikes it hard in the chest – sand, and dust pour from the wound. The creature turns and strikes Aashdoshan knocking him unconscious. While Alonso fights the mummy, Domago pulls Aashdoshan to safety and revives him with a potion of healing. Alonso destroys the mummy with a well-placed stab and the creature collapses into dust. Lakima checks the coffin carefully but finds only dirt and rags.

They push open a second coffin and another mummy attacks. As they are fighting it the stone lids on the remaining two coffins slide aside and two more mummies step out and attack. Domago manages to turn one mummy which returns to its coffin. The other mummies are destroyed by Eathwund, Alonso, and Lantosh. Once the three are down the fourth one is destroyed in its coffin. A search of the coffins and the chamber yields nothing so the adventurers head back to the room of darkness.

With Lakima leading the way, and everyone else crowding around him, they again enter the darkened chamber. At the edge of his light – Lakima spots a dark hole in the floor. Dark mists slowly billow up from the five-foot in diameter hole. Without warning, Aashdoshan feels a pair of strong hands grab his shoulders and drag him toward the hole. He shouts a warning but all everyone else sees is Aashdoshan leap up into the air and dive into the pit. He falls down the pit with a yell that recedes into the distance. Next, Lantosh is grabbed by a pair of hands but alerted this time Eathwund and Alonso swing their swords at where they think the attacker might be. The swords swoosh through the air encountering no resistance. Lakima removes a packet of Dust of Appearance and throws it at Lantosh. Immediately, a humanoid form appears clearly clutching Lantosh from behind. Now with a target, Lantosh, Vervork, Alonso, and Eathwund move to attack. Unfortunately, Eathwund does not see the edge of the pit and he slips and falls into it with a yell. Falling after Aashdoshan. Alonso and Vervork continue to strike the creature several times until it dissipates and vanishes.

Far below, Aashdoshan lands with a splash in a pool of cold water. Unable to see anything he peers into the darkness. There are three more splashes and he immediately senses that his undead minions have leaped into the pit after him. He instructs one skeleton to sink down and find the bottom. In the darkness, he hears an occasional splash indicating that he is not alone. The skeleton stops 80 feet below him so he instructs it to swim back up to him. Around him, he senses many undead and he directs his minions to defend him. Aashdoshan swims a short distance away from the fighting. Another large splash is heard in the darkness. Aashdoshan calls out assuming one of his companions has followed him down. But there is no reply.

The splash came from Eathwund who hits the water and immediately begins to sink because of his heavy armor. Thinking quickly Eathwund activates the Ghost Armor and becomes ethereal. The threat of drowning now passed and he can roughly see the extent of the large cave he is in on the ethereal plane. Eathwund concentrates and flies back up the shaft to the room above. Once he is clear of the hole, he returns to the material plane. To his companions, it is as if he just materialized. Eathwund lets everyone know the situation Aashdoshan is in far below. A rope is tied off and tossed into the shaft. Fenris is asked to climb down.

Fenris climbs down to the end of the 50-foot rope still in the shaft. He gets out a torch and lights it. About 20 feet below him he sees the reflection of water. He sees undead Lizardfolk skeletons advancing on Aashdoshan and his skeletons. Fenris calls up to let the adventurers above know what is going on. They respond by lowering him further having attached another rope to the one he is holding onto. Fenris yells for them to stop as he nears the water. With the chamber now lit by a torch, Aashdoshan can clearly see the Lizardfolk skeletons. He uses his necromancy to take control of most of the lizardfolk skeletons. He sets the controlled skeletons to attacking the few he does not control. Then he swims over to the rope. Realizing his frail body will never climb up the distance of the shaft, Aashdoshan casts the spell Strength on himself. Then he climbs up followed by his minions. He directs the Lizardfolk skeletons to fight each other until only one remains.

After a long wait, Fenris and then Aashdoshan climb back up into the darkened chamber. Lakima continues to lead them around the chamber and they find another exit. Once they cross the threshold of the chamber their lights again function normally. The hallway they have entered ascends at a sharp angle up to another door. Fenris cautiously makes his way to the door. He checks it and then tries to open it. As soon as he does, oil sprays from the walls covering the ramp from the door all of the distance to the room with the pit. Eathwund tries stepping and finds it is almost impossible now that the floor is slick with oil. Fenris calls back that the door is fake, there is only a blank wall behind it. He ties a rope to the door and tosses it down the ramp. Everyone on the ramp grabs a hold of the rope and makes their way back down to the room engulfed in darkness.

Walking to the last wall of the chamber they find more black drapes that they tear down. Beyond is another corridor. This corridor ends in a door. The door opens easily and they find themselves in the Shrine. The room is oddly shaped and the floor and walls are covered in black and purple stone blocks. Across from them is an altar on which rests an enormous ruby, a closed book, and a chime. Behind the altar is an iron statue of a robed skeleton. To their right is a stone statue of a frog demon holding a bowl of water. To their left is a granite block on which rest the Brazier of Green Flame. The adventurers enter the chamber spreading out and approaching different items. As Alonso approaches the altar the chime rings out one clear, loud note. The ruby shatters and red mists pour forth. The mist forms into an enormous demon.

The adventurers all turn to look at the 12-foot-tall demon and scramble to draw weapons. Before they can react, the demon vanishes. Lakima tells Aashdoshan to quickly come over to the brazier. It looks like a stone bowl filled with dark green liquid. A greenish-yellow flame flickers across the surface of the liquid. Lakima distracts Domago by asking him to check the iron statue – then he tells Aashdoshan to quickly fill a flask with the liquid. Aashdoshan fills one flask and hands it to Lakima. Then he quickly fills another and hides it in his robe. Curious, Aashdoshan removes his glove and puts his skeletal hand into the green flames. He does not feel anything so he removes it. Lakima then tells everyone that they need to find a way to destroy the brazier (this is the mission the Duchy sent them on). Vervork and Lantosh grab the brazier and dump the contents on the floor. The dark liquid creates a pool on the floor but the flame continues to burn in the brazier. Lantosh tells everyone to look at the flames, and they all see a small amount of liquid slowly pooling beneath the flames in the bowl.

Lakima goes over to the statue of the frog demon and fills a flask with the dirty water in the bowl. He then pours the water on the flames. The flames gutter but do not go out. He goes over to the altar and opens the book. He finds it contains detailed ceremonies of the Cult of Hool written in the old common tongue. He closes the book.

Vervork and Lantosh manage to pick up the heavy brazier and they flip it upside down on the floor. After a wait, they turn it over but the flames are still burning. Domago suggests using the Ring of Wishes to destroy the brazier. But it has only one use so Lakima argues against it. A vote is taken and only Domago and Eathwund vote to use the ring. Once it is clear they have no new ideas for destroying the brazier or putting out the flame, they decide to take it with them. Lantosh and Vervork rig a rope around it and drag it across the floor and out into the corridor. Lakima leads the way as they approach the chamber of darkness telling everyone to stay close. Lakima enters the darkness with Eathwund and Alonso closely behind him. After a few steps, he sees the demon step forward from the darkness towering above them. Perhaps expecting something like this to happen, Lakima is prepared and immediately pulls out the Pendant of Demon Summoning while calling out the true name of a demon he found in the book in Balutron’s library. The demon laughs at the name which is clearly not his. Then stops laughing as Lakima uses the power of the pendant to allow a Charm Monster spell to take control of the demon. The demon growls in frustration but stays back. Lakima orders the demon to tell him how to destroy the brazier. The demon replied that they would need a Wish spell… or just drowning it in water would do. Lantosh and Vervork drag the brazier to the edge of the pit and topple it over the edge. After a few moments, they hear a large splash from below. Lakima then tells the demon that it only needs to perform one task before he banishes it to the abyss. He tells the demon to leave immediately and return with Zweis Radu (an old enemy who got away). The demon then vanishes.

While they wait for the demon to return, the adventurers make their way to the room with the platform and the demon face. A few minutes later the demon returns with a terrified prisoner, Zweis Radu who thought himself safe in the Shattered Islands. Lakima taunts Zweis and tells him that they now own his former Manor House in Edgerton. The demon is banished to the abyss. Aashdoshan asks Eathwund for the details on who this Radu fellow is and he learns about the Veiled Society.

While these conversations are going on Alonso goes over to the demon face. He examines it and the eyes open and the face tells him, “You will never get past me!” and then laughs. Alonso tries to open the door without success. Angered by the taunting he swings his sword at the face. His sword just bounces off the solid iron as the face continues to laugh.

Lakima suggests that they have accomplished their mission and should return to Edgerton. Fenris is the only one who rejects, “But what about Balutron’s gold” Lakima assures him that they can always return. They are the only ones with the key. Fenris can be heard muttering, “that’s what you said last time.” The adventurers gather on the platform and the key is turned to the rune marked “tower”. They immediately teleport to the tower. Lakima is all for leaving immediately. But a quick glance outside reveals that it is the middle of the night. Judging by the position of the moon a few hours after midnight. So, they decide to stay one more night. They set watches. During the night Aashdoshan and Domago are disturbed by a will-o-whisp during their watch. They wait hoping the spirit will move on if they ignore it. But the ball of light launches itself at Domago and shocks him with a blast of lightning. Aashdoshan casts magic missile striking the will-o-whisp and that seems to drive it off. Everyone goes back to sleep.

The next day the group collects the hippogriff from the gatehouse and sets out across the causeway to Bleakmarsh. They stop in for supplies at the tavern. The tavern keeper does not seem surprised to hear that the brigands at the keep of the tower were driven off or killed (likely warned by the fleeing bandits). He does not seem very happy about it. The adventurers put up with a lot of angry glares before deciding to move on to the Dolm river. Late in the afternoon, they arrive at the river – but their boats (and boatmen) are gone. Fenris reminds everyone that they told the boatmen to wait 3 days. They have been gone a week. Just when it seems they have a long walk ahead of them they see a riverboat coming upstream. The boat is flagged down and the captain is happy to take on the strange group once he is paid upfront in gold.