Underestimated

My Swords & Wizardry campaign has lasted much longer than I expected. We have been playing for almost four years. The player's characters are now between levels 10 and 14. Finding adventures for characters of this level takes work. Designing them is more challenging. In this session, I modified "enSider 111: Searching the River Styx" a D&D 5e adventure for levels 3-16 by Mike Myler.

The adversaries in the adventure are three demon lords. This gave me a lot of leeway to tailor the demons to fit the level of the players. But I underestimated the players yet again.  A 15th-level demon with a lot of special abilities looks difficult on paper, and it would be for one or two players, but it is not really all that tough for four characters and two hirelings. This is a dilemma for the GM of a high-level campaign. The monsters suggested for this level tend to be solitary. They could kill a PC in a single attack but it is more likely they will struggle to hit anyone and will be buried under a hail of attacks from the players.

Multiple attacks are key. If I was to redesign the encounter I would increase the area of the encounter and bring in multiple underlings for each demon. They only have to be mid-level, it is their quantity that is important. Quantity means more attacks and more targets to draw off the fire from the main monster.

Session 152: The Caves of Avarice

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aldus (human cavalier), Grasshopper (human monk), Domago (human cleric NPC), Aelshara (half-elven fighter/magic-user NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon and Aelshara are in the Underworld looking for their companion Fenris. A fallen angel named Sotira has told them that if they recover the broken pieces of her soul, she can rescue Fenris for them.

The adventurers reach the shore of the river Styx and see the stone dock that they first alighted from. However, there is no bell with which to summon the boatman.

“There is no bell, does anyone have one?” Lakima asks.

“I think the lost souls are not supposed to leave the underworld,” Domago replies.

Aelshara reaches into her bag of holding and produces a bell explaining that she uses it on a tripwire to protect herself when she is camping outdoors. She hands it to Lakima who stands on the stone dock and rings it loudly. The noise startles a flock of the large black birds they have seen before. The birds fly up and circle above them.

A few minutes later the boatman and his craft come into view materializing out of the mist over the river. Lakima walks up and hands the boatman a silver coin but he is blocked from boarding. Grasshopper reminds him that the toll is 2 silver coins. Everyone pays and the boatman pushes off from the dock.

The boatman

“We seek the shards of the soul of the fallen angel,” Lakima says to the boatman who ignores him and continues steering the boat.

The boat moves upriver for a pace before shifting planes and then entering a large lake. On the shore of the lake, the boatman steers the craft into a cave mouth from which a stream exits. They continue underground taking tributaries until the boatman slows the boat and pulls up to a narrow beach with a stone dock. A single lantern hangs from a stone pillar on the dock. Everyone exits the boat and the boatman steers the boat away and disappears into the mist.

“I guess this is the place?” Grasshopper says.

Grasshopper leads the group toward a large cave mouth. He enters and gestures for the group to give him a chance to get ahead of them. Grasshopper vanishes quietly into the shadows. After a minute the rest of the group follows the monk into the tunnel. Soon they smell the most delicious smells of baking food. Domago says he can smell fresh bread baking, Lakima smells kafee, and Eathwund smells roast venison on a campfire. Once they compare notes, they realize each is smelling their favorite meal.

“Careful, I think this is an illusion” Lakima warns everyone.

Grasshopper suddenly appears out of the shadows and warns everyone that he can see an enormous demon ahead in a cave full of rotting sludge. The group signals to each other to make certain all are ready and then they rush around a corner of the tunnel and into a well-lit cave. Sitting in a pile of disgusting slop most of the group see an enormous demon that is buried in rolls of fat. It uses flabby arms to pick up mushrooms, slime, and rotted food and shove it into its mouth.

Seeing the adventurers the demon continues to chew and then says, “Oh goodness me, a live meal! You will taste delightful!”

“Attack!” Aldus yells.

“Attack? I only see a banquet table covered in food?” Domago says.

“It’s an illusion!” Lakima yells at Domago.

Aldus and Eathwund run forward and attack with their swords. They strike deep but the enormous fold of fat prevents a lot of the damage. Grasshopper leaps up upon a huge mushroom and fires arrows into the demon which appear to do nothing.

The demon stands up and breathes out a noxious green cloud from its mouth which envelops Grasshopper and Aldus. The two begin gasping and choking. Lakima uses the staff of power to “blow” the gaseous cloud away from the group allowing them to continue attacking. Aldus in particular slices deep into the side of the creature with his sword deathdealer. He hears his sword yelling in triumph telepathically.

Grasshopper also uses his magic sword and lands blow after blow. With the three of them hacking away the demon loses more and more greenish-yellow fluids and then it suddenly vanishes. All of the attackers pause and look about them in confusion. Lakima casts detect invisibility and he sees the demon standing where it was before rearing back to swipe at Eathwund.

“It is invisible, standing exactly where it was before,” Lakima yells, “Kill it!”

The attackers immediately begin swinging at the very same spot they were attacking before. After a moment the demon appears but it is now swollen and bloated to an enormous size. The demon swells up and explodes spraying everyone in the chamber with greenish-yellow goop. Aldus sees a golden crystal fly out of the creature and land in the slop. He stoops and picks it up. Only Domago and Lakima avoid being covered in slime. With the demon destroyed the illusion is broken and Domago beholds the horrible scene for the first time. He struggles to keep from vomiting into the pits of sludge.

“Let’s get out of here!” Domago yells.

The adventurers begin to leave. Grasshopper calls for everyone to wait and says they should search through the sludge. Putting on his monocle of magic sense Lakima tells Grasshopper that there is nothing magical here.

“Remember what the angel told us about temptation,” he says, “We have a mission let’s get going.”

The adventurers return to the banks of the river Styx. The boatman is gone but soon returns after Lakima rings the bell on the dock. They pay the boatman once more.

“This boatman is pulling in a tidy sum of silver today,” Lakima says.

The boat heads off downriver through the tunnel underground. This time the trip takes only a few minutes and a single plane shift before the boatman pulls up to another dock and narrow ledge in front of a cave.

Grasshopper takes the lead again. He moves quietly into the shadows and makes his way down the tunnel feeling uneasy. After a few minutes, he comes to a branch with a pair of tunnels. On his right, the tunnel continues much the same. On the left, he sees a tunnel littered with obscene and blasphemous graffiti scrawled on the walls and floor. Written in blood, charcoal, and paint or scratched into the rock. Leaning down Grasshopper scratches an arrow in the dirt pointing left. He then moves onward.

Behind Grasshopper the rest of the group reaches the two tunnels and sees the arrow in the dirt. They follow the arrow. As the group continues forward their eyes are drawn to the blasphemous symbols and messages on the walls and floor. Each feels a compulsion to add his own unconscious thoughts he dares not share with others. Hearing that the party behind him has slowed Grasshopper returns to the group. He sees a puzzled Lakima and Domago watching while Aelshara, Eathwund, and Aldus scrawl symbols on the walls of the tunnels.

“Aldus! What are you doing!” Domago asks.

“I think they are under a compulsion,” Lakima says, “It is best to let them get it out of their system.”

After a few minutes, each of the three finishes their writing and seems satisfied. Once they see the others watching each tries to hide their embarrassment.

“Never mind that, let’s get moving!” Lakima says getting everyone's attention.

“I see a light ahead,” Grasshopper says.

Aldus in particular is eager to move on. “Shall I charge in and attack whatever awaits us?”

“Why not?” Lakima says.

With a war cry filled with anger, Aldus races forward his sword drawn. Soon Aelshara and Eathwund join him. Lakima, Domago, and Grasshopper hurry to catch up.

They enter a cave where the floor is littered with hundreds of papers, books, and parchments, piles of them. A hateful crimson-skinned demon stands amongst piles of papers gleefully picking up handfuls and tearing them apart in its powerful fists. Scripts drift down from the ceiling and rain down all over the chamber.

Aldus and Eathwund race straight to the demon to attack it with hesitation. Grasshopper uses the raining papers to hide his movements and he sneaks in behind the demon which is engaged in melee. The demon takes up a 9-foot black, barbed spear and defends itself from attack. The spear strikes Eathwund in the side cutting into the adventurer. But the three adventurers attacking the demon in melee prove too much and the demon is staggered with wounds. It seems the demon will fall but it roars in anger and redoubles its attacks making two strikes to every one from each of the adventurers. Even this is not enough and the demon falls only to burst into flame like it is made of parchment. Nothing but ash remains.

“Look for the shard in its remains!” Lakima yells.

“What remains?” Aldus says. Even the ash has blown away.

The group starts looking hopelessly through the piles of books and parchments.

“These are prayer books and religious texts of lawful gods,” Domago says.

Once it becomes clear that finding the shard could take days, Domago casts the spell locate object moves unerringly to a pile of paper, and pulls the shining golden shard clear of the mess.

“I have it!”

Lakima takes a final scan of the chamber with his monocle looking for magic and sees none. He then waves for everyone to leave. The adventurers make their way back through the tunnels of heresy this time managing to avoid stopping to add their own thoughts. At the dock, Lakima rings the bell for the boatman who returns and picks them up. It is another fairly short trip taking only an hour before they are deposited on the shores of another ledge on the side of the river. A tunnel mouth beckons them to enter.

Grasshopper waves for everyone to allow him to take the lead. Within a few minutes, he sees a golden, shimmering mist ahead. Piles of gold coins litter the floor. It is immediately clear that they are illusions as Grasshopper finds he can step through the piles of gold. It does slow him enough that he finds that the other adventurers have caught up with him. Grasshopper looks at Eathwund and the magical bow that he would like to take and reaches out for it.

“No,” Eathwund simply says and slaps Grasshopper’s hand away. Grasshopper immediately regains his senses and shakes his head. As he starts to explain to Eathwund he sees Lakima reach for Eathwund’s coin purse – but it is securely tied to Eathwund’s belt and Lakima finds he cannot tug it off. Eathwund shakes his head at Lakima who seems bemused by his own actions.

“C’mon,” Grasshopper says motioning everyone forward. He leads the way into a large cave where the floor is buried under mounds of gold coins, gems, and golden objects. Some items are still clutched in rotting or skeletal hands unwilling to part with their possessions in the afterlife. A palpable, iron scent of evil wafts from a black-skinned demon lying upon the piles of treasure.

“Kill it!” Aldus shouts and rushes forward into the mounds of gold. His movement is immediately slowed as the piles of coins shift and sink under his feet.

“Wait!” Lakima shouts and he casts Luminous bridge creating a ramp directly up to and through the demon which is struggling to its feet. Eathwund and Aldus climb up the ramp and begin slashing at the struggling demon. The demon spits out a stream of greenish-black spittle upon Eathwund, Aldus, Domago, and Lakima. The spittle is acidic and burns their flesh and then a moment later bursts into flames igniting their clothes. Lakima takes the time to beat out the flames. Aldus and Eathwund ignore the flames and continue to attack the demon which defends itself with a wickedly barbed polearm. After a few rounds of combat, the demon collapses like a burst bag of fouled wine spilling its poison out over the gold coins.

“Ahh yuck!” Aldus says. While the others search through the piles of treasure for the angel’s crystal shard, Aldus takes out a sack and scoops handfuls of gold coins from an area not covered in demon acid. Lakima just shakes his head but does not say anything.

It is Lakima who finds the golden shard and puts it in a sack. But Grasshopper finds a dented shield, a long sword, and a strangely glowing emerald. Aldus tells him that his sword has told him that the shield is cursed so they leave it. But the other items are placed in the bag of holding.

Looking wistfully at the mounds of coins and gems the group leaves and heads back to the river Styx. Lakima rings the bell on the dock and they soon see the boatman guiding his boat up to the dock. Lakima tries communicating that they want to return to Ankev the city of the dead but the boatman ignores him.

This time the trip takes a few hours and indeed the boatman drops them at the canyon marking the entrance to the city of the dead. The bone gate argues against allowing them to enter but eventually, Lakima convinces it to open. Their trip through the ghoul canyon proves uneventful and they make their way to Sotira’s mausoleum. This time the magic mouth on the door is not triggered and they are able to enter into Sotira’s presence.

“Please give me the shards of my soul,” Sotira tells Lakima immediately sensing that he has them in a bag.

“Where is our friend?” Lakima asks.

Sotira calls out for Eris who shyly steps out from behind a wooden screen. Eathwund asks her if she is all right and Eris tells Eathwund that she feels safe here. Safe for the first time in a long time.

Lakima hands the golden soul shards to Sotira who takes them and carefully assembles them with the other broken shards creating a golden, crystal in the shape of a heart. There is a burst of golden light and a moment later they behold a glowing, beautiful celestial standing before them. All of the adventurers are overcome with awe, some more than others. Domago stands dumbly his mouth hanging open.

“What is your wish?” the celestial asks.

“Fenris?” Lakima asks.

Sotira pauses for a moment and then there is a flash of golden light. Fenris appears, looking almost like he did in life. But he is clearly a lost soul. His skin is drawn and grey, and his eyes are clear whites.

“Fenris!” Eris cries and runs over to him. Uncharacteristically, Fenris leans over and allows Eris to hug him. Then he beholds the angel and staggers back from her golden glow.

“You came back for me,” Fenris says in wonder, looking at each face of the companions he knew in life.

“Of course,” Lakima says importantly, “We are the Company of the Black Dragon, in life and in death.”

“Fenris!” the angel says getting his attention. “I can restore one soul to life allowing them to leave this place, step forward for you only need to feel my touch.”

Fenris takes a hesitant step toward the angel’s outstretched hand. Then pauses.

“No,” he says, “Take Eris in my place.” He then gently takes Eris by the shoulders and moves her forward until the angel’s hand touches her. There is a flash of golden light and Eris stumbles to the ground.

Celestial's Touch

“Goodbye my saviors,” the angel says and vanishes in a flash of golden light.

As the adventurers watch, Fenris turns to smile at his companions and then a puzzled look comes over his undead features. There is another flash of light and he vanishes.

“Fenris?” Eris sobs.

Lakima looks down at the clearly living young girl, “He has gone to a better place.”

“How can we be sure,” Aldus says, “Maybe he is imprisoned by the Lich Queen again.”

“I am sure,” Lakima says, “Now we need to get out of here.”

Grasshopper warns that he expects the Lich Queen to send her minions after them. But when they exit the mausoleum with Eris they are not stopped. They make their way through the city of the dead toward the slums. Along the way, Eris attracts the attention of the lost souls and the undead. Not disguised by a leaden bracelet like the rest of them she is like a beacon to the dead. The group forms up around her and Lakima casts Protection from Evil 10-foot-radius. This is enough to keep the undead that are bolder at bay and they make it to the bone gate and the river Styx.

The boatman and his black boat are waiting for them at the dock this time. Lakima pays for himself and Eris. The rest pay the toll and the boat sets out. The journey seems to take a few hours and they cross many rivers and planes before arriving at a familiar dock near the stairs to the land of the living.

“Can you teleport us out of here?” Grasshopper asks.

“I could only teleport myself,” Lakima says, “But the tomb is mainly full of traps and not creatures and we know where all of the traps are, it should not be too difficult.”

“I am not sure it would be wise to teleport out of the Underworld,” says Domago, “We should pass through the portal again to return, otherwise we may find we are ghosts and not among the living.”

The adventurers and Eris climb the long set of stone steps up to the portal leading to the chamber of pillars. All of them pass through without anything untoward happening. Eris clings closely to Eathwund. From the chamber, it is a short, careful trip through trapped hallways to the exit. In the distance, they see Cloudstealer gently swaying 30 feet up in the air.

“Ahoy on the ship,” Lakima yells.

After a few moments, August looks over the side and throws down a rope. The adventurers climb aboard. Aelshara is amazed by the flying ship.

“Where are you heading?” she says.

“Home to Edgerton,” Lakima tells her. Aelshara had visited Edgerton 120 years ago before being trapped in the mirror and she says she will join them. August tells them that they have been gone for eight days.