Lost in the Dungeon

I have been running this Swords & Wizardry Campaign for 2 years and 92 sessions. We play exclusively on Roll 20. Because of the limitations of online play (as I see it) I have been purposely running a lot of smaller maps. But for this latest adventure, I decided to create a really large map. The dungeon area is a maze of lava tubes under White Plume Mountain. Because we use smaller maps online, the players have never had to actually map the dungeon. But now they are managing to get completely lost. It was amusing listening to players state that they could not possibly have circled back around onto their own path.

Session 91: Giant Lizards

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human fighter), Flora (elven thief), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), Aashdoshan (necromancer NPC).

The hobgoblin chief is tied up and Lakima suggests they take him with them. Before they leave the cave, Aashdoshan waves his bone staff and raises seven of the dead hobgoblins as zombies. Two of the zombies grab hold of the hobgoblin chief.

Flora takes the lead scouting ahead in the caves and tunnels. Almost immediately the party is ambushed by cave eels which erupt from the tunnel walls and attack. The eels manage to bite Lakima and Lantosh. The group kills all ten of the eels that attacked them. One of the seven zombies is also destroyed.

Flora again takes the lead. The adventurers push ever deeper into the depths of the mountain. The tunnels begin to look all alike. Flora questions if they have doubled back on their trail. After an hour of clambering through tunnels (or slithering in the case of Alrix) Flora tells everyone that she can see a suspicious heap of gold and silver coins lying on the floor of a cave. The other adventurers move up to take a look and everyone is suspicious. Fenris is sent ahead to check the pile. He reaches out to touch a few gold coins and finds they are covered in sticky slime. As he is about to tell everyone when a pseudopod coated in coins lashes out from the pile and smashes into Fenris. He is launched through the air away from the pile of coins and lands hard on the rock floor. Lakima asks Aashdoshan to send in some zombies and two are sent toward the pile of coins. Both are struck and destroyed by pseudopods.

Eathwund runs toward the pile of coins and strikes at it with his sword. The sword bounces off of the coins as if they were armor. Alrix casts magic missile badly injuring it. Eathwund then finishes it off with a sword thrust into a wounded area. The mound of coins slowly flattens out and brown liquid seeps out in a puddle from it. Fenris tries to collect some of the coins but he finds they are still securely stuck to the pile.

A short distance from this cave they find a number of collapsed tunnels and hear the sound of rock striking rock. Flora checks a cave ahead and spots an enormous, strange creature with three legs, three arms ending in claws, scaly skin, and a huge mouth on top of its body. The creature appears to be eating rocks. Unfortunately, it hears or smells Eathwund and Flora and slowly moves toward them. Lakima tries greeting it in common and elvish without success. The creature reaches out and grabs Eathwund’s shield and tries to take it. This causes Eathwund to attack, driving it off with his sword. Its skin is scaly and tough but not impenetrable. Lakima casts magic missile at it and then directs his charmed cave bear to attack it with claws and teeth. Soon the enormous creature is killed. The group searches but finds that this chamber is a dead end.

Flora leads the way taking the large group of adventurers, zombies, a captive hobgoblin, and a charmed cave bear back the way they came. It takes another hour before they come to unexplored tunnels. Eathwund notices tracks on the cave floor made by hobgoblins and the group decide to follow them. They end up entering a cave piled high with garbage. They spot a large ogre sleeping amongst the garbage. The adventurers decide to back quietly out of the cave. They continue on and come to an area of many tunnels crisscrossing. Alrix spots a red glow coming from a side cave and he calls everyone over.

The group enters a large, high cavern with a chasm passing through the center. At the bottom of the chasm is a river of lava. On the opposite side of the chasm, they see a wall of fitted stone blocks. The stone does not match the natural stone of the caverns. It appears to have been brought here. In front of the stone wall are a pair of pillars and a 15-foot-tall stone statue of a man in long robes. Alrix enters the chamber, flaps his wings, and flies across the chasm. He notices a symbol carved into the stone behind the statue. He flies back over and tells everyone what he found. Lakima gives the wand of secret door detection and Alrix gingerly takes it in his mouth and uses it on the stone wall. He does not find anything. Lakima casts levitate and floats across the chamber and examines the wall and the statue. Behind the statue is a symbol carved into the stone showing a “K” intertwined with snakes. He finds he cannot move or depress the symbol.

After 20 minutes of trying the group gives up and leaves the cave with the mysterious statue. They head in what they think is a southerly direction. Flora continues to scout ahead and she is the first to spot an enormous serpent, at least 30 feet long resting in a large cavern. The serpent lies on the floor, occasionally moving. Eathwund and Lantosh move up to the front of the group near Flora prepared to fight if needed. Their approach is fairly noisy but the creature does not seem to notice – even when Eathwund stumbles over a small rock. Lakima again asks Aashdoshan to send in a zombie. Aashdoshan directs one zombie to enter the cave and touch the serpent. The serpent moves quickly and swings about and bites the zombie in half. It immediately directs its pale white eyes in their direction. The eyes are covered with a greyish film and it appears to be blind but somehow it discerns their direction and releases a cloud of poisonous gas. Flora, Lakima, Eathwund, and Aashdoshan are caught in the gas and start to choke and gasp. Lakima is able to summon enough strength to cast a fireball on the serpent and a few moments later Aashdoshan does the same. The serpent disappears briefly in a wall of flames. When the smoke clears, they see that the serpent is still alive, but it is badly burned and moving slowly. Alrix flies into the chamber and bites it on the neck and Eathwund delivers the killing blow. A search reveals the corpses of a pair of hobgoblins under the mound of dead flesh. Lakima uses the wand of metal detection and notes that there is metal beneath the creature but there is no way to get to it.

A search of the large cavern turns up only a foot-long petrified rat. Fenris finds the stone rat and hands it to Lakima. Lakima warns everyone to be prepared for a possible medusa or basilisk. Flora leads the group into a warren of tunnels. She finds the stone statue of a knight. The knight is in a running pose and is looking over his shoulder with a look of horror on his face. The adventurers decide to head in the direction of his gaze. A twenty-minute walk later Flora spots a cave, a figure crouches near the entrance to the cave. As she moves closer, she sees that the figure is a petrified human thief. She also sees two large basilisks resting on a nest of leaves and sticks. The adventurers move forward, Lantosh takes cover behind the petrified thief, Eathwund moves forward but shouts that it is too dark, he cannot see the basilisks. Domago casts continual light on a silver coin and throws it into the room over Eathwund’s head. Suddenly, everyone can see the pair of giant lizards and they avert their eyes.

Aashdoshan sends his remaining zombies ahead to attack, Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla and four berserkers appear and move to attack. The cave bear lumbers forward at Lakima’s urging and slashes at the basilisks. Three of the berserkers are turned to stone as they attack without concern for the basilisk’s gaze attack. Alrix manages to constrict the smaller of the two basilisks and hold it to the ground. The rest of the group slashes away at the larger basilisk. One of the zombies is ripped apart and destroyed. Eventually, both basilisks are killed. A search of the nest reveals a large pile of gold coins and gems. These are scooped up into the bag of holding. Lakima even takes the time to drain some basilisk blood into a flask.

There are no exits from this chamber, so the adventurers are forced to retrace their steps. However, they are soon lost in a maze of tunnels. Flora finds a large cave where the floor is covered in bad guano. There are also several pools full of boiling and bubbling water. In a nearby side cave, Fenris discovers five enormous bats that are as big as a short man. The group hastily leaves the cave. They end up back in the cave where they fought the huge serpent. This time they chose a different path from the cave.

It is soon clear that they have walked back over their own path several times. They see their own footprints on the cave floor, coming and going. Once they see a tunnel clear of tracks, they decide to follow it. It leads into another large cave. Enormous stalagmites rise up out of the floor. Lakima, Flora, Fenris, and Eathwund enter the chamber and see a pair of manticores stand up on a ledge. The manticores release a shower of deadly spikes. One strikes Lakima and one strikes Flora. Alrix slithers over to the ledge and bites one manticore poisoning it. The manticore succumbs to the lethal poison. The cave bear reaches up and slashes the other manticore with its claws. Then Eathwund uses one of the powers of his sword and casts confusion on the manticore. It stands dumbly staring off into space. Flora climbs up onto the ledge and kills the manticore.

Fenris also climbs up on the ledge and searches the nest. He finds a locked chest that he is unable to open. Fortunately, Flora is able to unlock the chest. Inside they find jewels and gold coins.

Now after 3 hours of searching and clambering over rocks, Aashdoshan suggests that they could all use a brief rest.