Near disaster

This last session was the nearest I have come to a total party kill in all 66 sessions of our Swords & Wizardry campaign. We have had a pair of characters killed to date but for a few moments in this past session, it was touch and go as to whether the characters would survive as the two best melee fighters went down one round apart. The players pulled it off but the brush with disaster was really invigorating for the campaign.

I used an adventure of my own authorship that I quickly wrote the day before the session. I wanted the party to face a challenge while returning from this long detour from the main story.

Session 66: That’s a really big centipede

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

Most of the members of the Company of the Black Dragon have traveled to the Temple of Medamellara, goddess of magic. After charging some of their magic wands they spent the night. The next day they set out on horseback for the town of Caster’s Ford.

Barely a few miles from the Temple they halt as Fenris spots a body hidden in some brush beneath a fir tree. Lakima urges Fenris forward to investigate. He finds an unconscious human who has two arrows in his back. The man is still alive but just barely. Alonso hands a Potion of Healing to Fenris who questions using it on a stranger. Alonso insists and the man is given the potion and soon gasps awake.

The man tells them his name is Glason and he is the scout for a group of adventurers called the Red Banners. Lakima tells Glason he has heard of them – which seems to surprise Glason a little. He asks for their help in rescuing his companions from a Hobgoblin cave. He believes his friends were taken alive. It probably happened yesterday but he is not sure how long he has been unconscious. Lakima asks about the reward for rescuing his companions and Glason offers them 50 gold coins. This does not seem to interest Lakima but Glason suggests the Hobgoblins might have valuable goods that they stole from local merchants.

The party decides to help and follow Glason up the hill through trees and snow. Glason points out a cave mouth in the distance. Tracks in the snow and dirt lead back and forth to the cave and piles of debris rest outside it. While they watch, Fenris points at a fir tree in the distance and tells them that there is a Hobgoblin lookout in the tree. No one else is able to see this. Lakima casts Web at the tree Fenris is pointing at and they see a hobgoblin shriek and then fall into the sticky webs that wrap up the tree. Two more hobgoblins break cover and run across the clearing toward their webbed companion. Alonso and Eathwund intercept the hobgoblins and kill one of them. The other turns and runs for the cave. Lakima casts sleep and drops the fleeing hobgoblin.

Glason expresses admiration for their quick work and warns the party that his group was ambushed a short distance inside the cave tunnel. Lakima mentions that they are the Company of the Black Dragon and Glason immediately lets them know that he has heard of several of their exploits. Lantosh ties up the sleeping hobgoblin and then slaps him awake. Aashdoshan raises the two dead hobgoblins as zombies and has them hold the captured hobgoblin. Lantosh tried getting information out of their prisoner but the hobgoblin refuses to speak. So Lakima casts Parlor Trick and makes it seem that he is inhaling the spirits of the dead hobgoblins. This frightens the hobgoblin into talking. The hobgoblin tells Lantosh that they captured four humans and took them to the Hobgoblin chief.

Glason is left with the prisoner and the party moves to the cave entrance. The zombie hobgoblins are sent ahead followed by Fenris. The cave tunnel descends into the darkness beneath the earth. After about 50 feet they hear voices in hobgoblin call out from the darkness. Lantosh tells the others that the voices are yelling at the dead hobgoblins to get back out on scouting duty and come back at dusk. Fenris points out four hobgoblins on a ledge on the left and six more on a ledge on the right. Aashdoshan casts Stinking Cloud at the hobgoblins on the nearer ledge on the left. The hobgoblins all succumb to the poison and run away choking and gasping. Lakima casts Sleep on the other ledge and traps all six of the hobgoblins. Fenris is sent to climb up the wall and finish off the sleeping hobgoblins.

The party moves forward again until they come to a crossroad of tunnels. From their right, they hear the choking, poisoned hobgoblins stumbling towards them. Eathwund and Alonso attack the hobgoblins with surprise and three are killed quickly. One hobgoblin turns and runs back the way it came. Alonso chases it down and kills it.

The party sets out again, with the zombie hobgoblins in the lead. Lakima tells Fenris to follow them but Fenris complains he cannot see in the dark. So Lakima tells Fenris to take out a dagger and then he casts Glow on the dagger. While following the twisting tunnels they are surprised by an attack from above. Four hobgoblins hurl spears at the adventurers from above and all miss. Eathwund uses his magic armor and steps into the ethereal plane. He drifts up behind the hobgoblins and then returns to the Material plane and attacks. One hobgoblin dies immediately, surprised by the attack. Fenris scales the cave wall up to the ledge and slashes at a hobgoblin but misses. Eathwund kills a second hobgoblin but Fenris is stabbed in his side and begins bleeding badly. Eathwund moves to help Fenris and one of the hobgoblins runs away into the darkness. Fenris is stabbed again trying to defend himself but Eathwund kills the hobgoblin. Fenris slumps to the ground and tries to stem the flow of blood. Eathwund drops a rope down to the rest of the party who climb up. The zombies are left below.

Alonso offers to use his last Healing potion on Fenris but Aashdoshan tells him to save it. He uses his Life Transference spell and cuts himself with his dagger. Lifeforce flows into Fenris completely healing him. Fenris nods his thanks to Aashdoshan. Lakima tells Fenris to be more careful and “Don’t run into a fight next time!”

Fenris sets off in pursuit of the hobgoblin that got away. As the tunnel turns northeast Fenris peers around a corner and waves everyone to silence. Coming back to the group he whispers that a large group of Hobgoblins is waiting at the ready around the corner of the tunnel. Lakima tells everyone to hold back. He moves forward and peers around the corner and sees a number of Hobgoblins. The light from his staff alerts the hobgoblins but before they can advance, Lakima casts Lightning Bolt off the cave wall. There is a crash of thunder followed by flashes of light and a lot of screaming. Then Eathwund and Alonso rush forward. They see three blackened hobgoblin corpses lying twisted on the ground. Another six hobgoblins can be seen retreating north. Alonso and Eathwund rush forward and catch up to the hobgoblins. After a brief exchange of blows in which Alonso is injured, the hobgoblins are killed.

Alonso, Eathwund, Lantosh, and Lakima move down the tunnel quickly looking for more hobgoblins that may have gotten away. Aashdoshan and Fenris hold back and investigate a cave where they find a fire burning in a pit and several sleeping pallets of grass and leaves. Meanwhile, the rest of the group enters a large cave where they find a hobgoblin cooking over a pair of cook fires. The smell of cooking meat fills the cave. Three goblins are also seen helping the cook. The goblins hear the party entering and turn and hiss a warning to the cook. The goblins run toward the fighters and are chopped down quickly. The hobgoblin retreats behind the firepit but he is also killed quickly.

Fenris and Aashdoshan rejoin the group in this large cave. Everyone searches about the cave but not much is found. Lantosh notices a gold armband on the arm of the cook but he has to chop the arm off the corpse to tug it off.

They continue to explore the tunnels and come to a large cave gallery with no exits. After a little searching, they find two tunnels entering the chamber from 12 feet above. Fenris climbs up into one tunnel and scouts ahead. He returns a short time later and tells them that he can see a lit chamber where a hobgoblin and a goblin are waiting. Fenris drops a rope and helps everyone up to the ledge. A short distance down a tunnel they find a goblin and a hobgoblin shaman in a chamber that has several workbenches covered in clay pots and cups. As they run toward the hobgoblin, Lakima shouts out, “take them alive!” But as he finishes that statement Alonso has already stabbed the cowering goblin through the chest. The hobgoblin backs away and tosses a clay ball over the head of Eathwund toward the feet of Lakima and Lantosh. There is an explosion and all of the heroes except Aashdoshan are caught in a ball of flame and smoke. All of them are burned and injured. Eathwund strikes the hobgoblin with the flat of his blade. The hobgoblin casts a spell and heals some of its wounds. But it is not enough and Eathwund cracks the hobgoblin shaman over the head knocking it unconscious.

The group searches the chamber. Lakima removes 3 more clay bombs from the shaman’s bandolier. Gold chains are also removed from around the shaman’s neck. The hobgoblin is tied up and then slapped awake. Lantosh begins to interrogate the hobgoblin in goblin speech but the hobgoblin informs them in crude common tongue that it can speak “man-talk”. The hobgoblin is offered its life for information. It tells them its name and the name of the chief and roughly where the chief’s cave is. The hobgoblin tells them that the chief kept the humans recently captured alive to search the “stonewall” for a secret entrance. The chief is certain there is a large treasure behind the wall. The shaman is skeptical.

They leave the shaman tied up in the cave. Lakima tells him that he should be able to chew himself free in a day or so. Alonso asks Lakima if he wants him to kill the shaman but Lakima tells him they made a deal and should stick to it.

Fenris leads the heroes to the other tunnel on the ledge. The hobgoblin zombies are hauled up to the ledge with ropes. The entire group now moves north and enters a large cavern. Stalagmites and pools of water dot the floor of the cavern. In the distance they see a chasm cutting across the cavern – spanned by a well-built stone bridge. From out of the darkness a human voice shouts, “Look out!” As they move closer six hobgoblins are spotted in the darkness on the other side of the chasm. At their feet is a battered, unconscious human. The hobgoblins spot the heroes but do not advance. Fearing a trap, Lakima tells Aashdoshan to send the zombies over the bridge. They stagger across the bridge and move toward the live hobgoblins. Those hobgoblins swiftly attack and finish off the zombies. Eathwund and Alonso follow over the stone bridge, but the bridge suddenly tips over perpendicular dumping both heroes toward the chasm. Eathwund tumbles down into the chasm but activates his armor and steps into the ethereal plane. Alonso manages to grab the edge of the bridge and pull himself up off the edge of the bridge. Eathwund drifts through the ethereal plane and then materializes amongst the hobgoblins, catching them by surprise and laying into them with his sword ignited in flame.

Alonso tightropes along the edge of the bridge to the other side. Lantosh, Fenris, and Lakima quickly follow. Alonso moves to attack hobgoblins standing near the edge of the chasm, as he stabs and kills one, he kicks it tumbling over into the chasm. Eathwund is surrounded by hobgoblins and kills a pair of them. As Lakima brings his light closer they spot more hobgoblins at the north end of the cavern. They also see that a section of the cave wall is actually carefully crafted stone blocks. Before the stone wall is a large stone throne with a hobgoblin seated upon it. Near the stone wall, they see a human wizard under guard by a hobgoblin.

Alonso fights through more hobgoblins and hears something large and multi-legged down in the chasm moving towards them. Fenris is stabbed by a hobgoblin and retreats to hide behind a stalagmite. Lakima is also stabbed by a spear – he casts a blast of acid at the hobgoblin. Aashdoshan stays on the far side of the chasm and launches two bursts of magic missiles at the Hobgoblin chief. The loud sound in the chasm comes nearer and nearer so that everyone can hear it. Then they all see an enormous cave centipede crawl up out of the chasm. The creature rears back on half of its legs and darts forward grabbing the body of the downed human chopping him in half with enormous mandibles the size of swords.

Alonso kills the last hobgoblin near him and moves to attack the centipede. Several of the remaining hobgoblins flee away from the creature. Eathwund kills one hobgoblin that turns to run right near him. Alonso slashes at the centipede but it proves to have an armored carapace and his sword bounces off it. The centipede turns toward Alonso and clamps onto his waist with powerful mandibles dripping in green ichor. Alonso struggles to free himself and feels a wave of sickness – he passes out unconscious. Eathwund tries to come to Alonso’s aid and strikes through the centipede carapace with his sword. Green fluid spills out of the creature. Aashdoshan casts magic missile again striking the creature. Lakima casts Charm Monster but it fails. Eathwund strikes it again but the creature grabs Eathwund by the arm with its mandibles – the lethal poison enters his system and he loses consciousness.

With two fighters down and things starting to look desperate, Lakima yells at Lantosh to pull Eathwund to safety. Lantosh runs forward and grabs Eathwund’s lifeless body by the arms and pulls him to safety. Fenris fires crossbow bolts but they just bounce off the armored carapace. Lakima yells for everyone to get back and he casts Fireball on the creature. There is an explosion of flame and noise. The cavern shakes and debris falls from the ceiling but the spell is successful and the creature writhes and collapses in a heap. Alonso’s body is also scorched in the fireball.

The cave falls silent other than the noise from the still twitching giant centipede. Lakima gives his last potion of neutralize poison to Eathwund reviving the big fighter. Eathwund blinks and crawls to his feet.

The heroes move to confront the remaining hobgoblins. They find the chief and two of his bodyguards have moved behind the throne and have a firm grip on a human wizard in red robes. Lakima tells Lantosh to tell them to surrender. After a brief negotiation, Lantosh convinces the hobgoblins to drop their weapons. He and Eathwund tie up the three hobgoblins and free the wizard. The wizard tells them his name is Rune. He is the last surviving member of a group of adventurers. Alonso corrects him and tells him that Glason is still alive. When Rune dismisses Glason as useless – Lakima tells him that Glason convinced the Company of the Black Dragon to come and rescue him. Then he asks Rune about the stone wall. Rune tells them that the hobgoblin chief wanted him to open the wall. He figured out how to open a secret door hours ago but did not want to tell the hobgoblin for fear that they would kill him once he opened it. Lakima tells Rune to open the door or he will kill him. Rune looks at Eathwund for support but the fighter just shrugs and glares at him.

Rune moves a combination of stones and a secret door moves to one side revealing a stone-lined passage. Lantosh reminds Lakima about Alonso who is lying dead on the cavern floor. Lakima takes out the Ring of Wishes and uses the only charge on it to bring Alonso back to life, wording it carefully so that he is free of poison. Alonso weakly gets to his feet and thanks Lakima.

Fenris leads the way down the secret corridor to a room lit with glowing blue magic. The three magic-users Lakima, Aashdoshan, and Rune follow Fenris into a chamber with an enormous glowing circle glowing on the floor. Lakima recognizes a seal designed to hold something in. He also feels uncomfortable around the glowing circle. He asks the others if they feel anything. Rune says no. Aashdoshan does not say anything. Fenris says that the glow gives him the creeps. Lantosh arrives and says that he can feel a wave of goodness from the circle. Eathwund and Alonso stay back guarding the hobgoblins.

Fenris and Lakima move toward a corridor leaving the room. Lakima steps into the hall and feels the stone beneath his feet shift. Four spears fire from the wall and three of them strike the wizard. Fenris pulls Lakima back to safety, “That’s my job boss, what are you doing.”

Lakima waits with the other magic users while Fenris moves down the hallway. Lakima casts Detect magic and notes several spots that radiate magic in the hallway to Fenris. In the distance, they can see a chamber with a stone coffin. Fenris manages to deactivate a spear trap and trigger a pit trap safely. As he nears the end of the corridor, he trips a poison gas trap and quickly retreats. Luckily, the gas is heavier than air and slowly descends into the open pit. After several minutes it is safe to advance again. Fenris enters the final chamber and shouts back what he sees. Lakima detects that a rug before the coffin is magical. Fenris tells Lakima that he is nervous about the coffin, especially with all of the fighters incapacitated. Lakima looks over the tapestries on the walls and the ornately carved coffin and nods in agreement. They all leave the chamber and return to the cavern.

Fenris takes a key off of the Hobgoblin chief and goes to use it on a locked strongbox. Luckily, he finds a poison needle trap and disarms it. Inside the strongbox are bags of gold and silver.

The heroes settle down to rest. Rune asks about his share of the treasure they have found and is rebuffed. He does show them how to reset the bridge trap. A campfire is built to provide some light and heat. After a few hours, they hear several footsteps coming from the south. A voice calls out in hobgoblin indicating that the weapons are repaired. Lantosh tells the hobgoblin chief to tell whomever it is to go away. He does and the footsteps recede away into the darkness. The heroes set watches.