St. Aleena

The NPC cleric in my Swords & Wizardry Campaign is devoted to St. Aleena (of Basic Set fame). I have always intended to modify the "Shrine of St. Aleena" adventure from Small Niche Games. This past few sessions, I finally got around to it. The adventure, as written, was for 3-6 first-level characters. I had to make a number of changes to fit my level 10-14 characters.

Session 160: Quest for the Shrine of St. Aleena

Lakima (human magic user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aldus (human cavalier), Domago (human cleric NPC), Ian of Darkhollow (human cavalier NPC), Jon Wallus (human thief, NPC), Valen of Edgerton (human fighter NPC).

Eathwund, Aldus, and Ian return to Edgerton on horseback, having just killed all the Slavers at a hideout in the Northern Hills. The encounter was not one without incident for the group as ghouls nearly ate them.

Once arriving back in Edgerton and heading to their Manor, they discover that Lakima and Domago are waiting for their return. Everything is ready for the group to head to Lockeland and clear evil from the Shrine of St. Aleena. Lakima tells his apprentice August to remain at the Manor and check the crystal ball every day to see if his stepmother messages.

The rest of the company board the Cloudstealer. Joined by the crew of the ship, they set sail in the sky for Lockeland, which is judged to be 3 days journey to the west. The first day is uneventful. On the second day, they come across two woodsmen beset by wolves. Aldus and Eathwund descend by rope to the ground and fight the wolves, and Lakima teleports the two woodsmen to the boat. Domago examines the wolves that the two fighters killed and finds that the wolves have been turned into undead ghouls. This is not something any of the heroes have encountered before.

On the third day, the Cloudstealer comes to the town of Peake’s Crossing, the capital of the Earldom of Lockeland. For capital, the town is not very large, about half the size of Edgerton. The arrival of the flying ship causes a commotion in the town, but thankfully, there is no hostility. The ship is set down beside a dock in the river. When a crowd of people gathers, Lakima threatens the crowd, and the town watch steps in to clear the crowd and post a guard on the dock. The adventurers head to a local tavern. Luna is left behind to guard the ship along with the crew.

At the tavern, Lakima speaks to locals and gathers more information about the wilderness north of Peake’s Crossing. The locals warn that the goblins, orcs, and trolls are forming an army to attack Valnwall.

The next day, they fly north toward the ruined village of Aleenton. On the way, they encounter an enthusiastic, somewhat dim mercenary who claims to be on the hunt for a red dragon spotted in the area. He introduces himself as Valon of Edgerton. When talking to Eathwund, he is surprised to find out that Eathwund is the owner of his favorite tavern in town – the Sign of the Purple Bugbear. The group convinces Valon that for his own protection, he should travel with the Company of the Black Dragon. Valen tells them of the large warbands of goblins he has seen in the area. The company decides to set an ambush for the goblins should they return. Shortly before sunset, the goblins do return. A warband of 40 goblins is encountered, traveling loudly through the woods with no concern for stealth. Lakima kills 9 or 10 goblins with a death spell. Eathwund charges into the goblins and kills a dozen before they can react. Aldus kills 6 more and Ian, Luna, and Valen kill a few. After a brief fight, a few of the goblins flee into the woods, and six goblins are captured. They question one of the dead goblins using a speak with dead spell and learn the goblins were pushed to come south from the mountains by a demon known as the “spawn of the infamous one.” The company then questions the captured goblins, but no one understands goblin. One of the goblins communicates in limited common, telling them about the goblin chief and where they are camped.

Heading north, they arrive at a lake and the ruins of the village of Aleenton around dusk. They encounter an old fighter who introduces himself as Sir Grimwald of the Vale. Sir Grimwald is badly injured from a fight he had with an undead creature the night before. A creature he calls the bedlam. Sir Grimwald asks if they have a healer in the group, and Domago heals him. The knight is unwilling to accept any more help, telling the group that this is his fight. Domago tells the group that the old Knight wants to experience another great battle before dying. That night, the bedlam appears and goes directly toward Sir Grimwald. Sir Grimwald is killed after a few rounds of combat. Once the knight falls, Lakima casts disintegrate on the bedlam. The bedlam is either disintegrated or just vanishes from sight. Across the lake, they hear the drums and see fires from a goblin encampment. The captured goblins confirm this is the war camp for their tribe, the Deathwhisper goblins.

The next day, the ship ascends and crosses the lake until it is above the goblin camp. As it is daytime, they only see a few goblin sentries. Once the shadow of the ship falls over the camp, alarms are raised, and dozens of goblins pour out of large tents. Lakima casts a fireball, incinerating dozens of goblins. Other goblins are picked off by Eathwund and Luna using their bows. The goblins panic, break ranks, and flee into the woods. Lakima brings the ship down low and talks with the captured goblins on board the ship. He tells them that all goblins had better flee north out of human lands or face his wrath. The goblins are then tossed overboard and flee into the woods.

The Cloudstealer now heads northeast, following the stream that empties into the lake. Soon, they come to a waterfall and see the twenty-foot-tall statue of St. Aleena that marks the Shrine of the Saint. A pond lies at the base of the waterfalls. A burned building sits by the shore. The Cloudstealer descends, and all the adventurers disembark. Lakima uses a wizard eye spell to scout the waterfall and discovers the shrine hidden behind it. The only way that they can reach the shrine is by boat to a narrow ledge that heads behind the falls.

Eathwund, Aldus, Domago, and Ian board the boat first while the others wait on the shore. Eathwund rows the boat across the lake. Ian suddenly shouts a warning, and everyone looks to see the head of a hideous hag rise out of the water. They all feel a magical wave of horror pass over them. The hag disappears back under the water. The hag rises under the boat a few moments later, breaking it in half and flinging everyone into the water. As they all wear heavy armor, they sink quickly to the bottom of the lake 10 feet below. Before falling into the water, Domago manages to cast a water-breathing spell. The hag attacks Eathwund and Aldus at the bottom of the lake, and they struggle to defend themselves with their swords underwater. On the shore, Lakima sees Ian struggling for the shore while the other three men remain underwater. He uses the bowl of commanding water elementals to summon a water elemental and send it to the aid of the three men. Eathwund and Aldus kill the hag with the aid of the elemental, and then the elemental drags everyone to the shore and deposits them on the beach. Jon Wallus goes over and drags Ian from the lake.

The water elemental is then commanded to carry everyone to the ledge except for Lakima, who needs to concentrate on controlling the elemental. Once everyone is safely on the ledge, Lakima dismisses the elemental. Then Lakima is forced to swim over to the ledge and be hauled out of the water by Eathwund. The ledge leads behind the falls into the shine. They come before two giant doors leading to St. Alleena’s tomb. One door is slightly ajar, and black corruption covers the bottom of the doors and the floor. Carefully, Domago enters first. Beyond is a tomb, the walls carved with scenes of bravery from St. Aleena’s life. A large tomb rests in the middle of the room. As Domago goes to place a hand reverently on the stone tomb, the lid slides across, and an enormous serpent slithers out of the stone tomb. The serpent attacks Domago, trying to bite him, but the cleric keeps it at bay with his shield. Aldus blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla, summoning a half dozen berserkers who swarm over the serpent. Lakima strikes the serpent with a barrage of magic missiles. Once a few of the berserkers have fallen, Eathwund attacks the serpent with the aid of the remaining berserkers, killing it.

Domago checks inside the tomb and finds it empty. It has the appearance of never having held St. Aleena’s body. There are no other exits from the tomb, so the group tries another door they passed earlier. This door leads past a kitchen and further up until it comes to a cave with an entrance to the plateau at the top of the falls. Here, they find and kill a nest of harpies. Domago casts a silence spell to protect everyone from the song of the harpies. The group exits the cave on the heights above the falls but finds nothing of interest, so they head back down. This time, Lakima uses the Wand of Secret Door detection. He finds nothing until they re-enter the tomb of St. Aleena. Here, they find three secret doors. Domago picks a door, and they open it, finding a room of contemplation where the brother of St. Aleena once mediated in prayer.