High-Level Adventure

This past week in my Swords & Wizardry campaign I confronted some of the issues with mid- to high-level OSR adventures. I had a short encounter I pulled from an old WOTC published encounter from 3rd Edition adapted to S&W. It did not seem like it would overmatch the player's characters but it very nearly did. I actually thought it was only a medium difficult encounter that they would handle easily. It was originally meant as a short encounter to pad out a session. But the number of monsters confronting them all at once removed the biggest advantage the group has - namely numbers.

This short encounter took almost the entire session and in the end, the party had to run away with most of their objectives complete. Then I decided now was the time to spring an adventure on them that I have been thinking of ever since linking it to their Siver Horn of Valhalla. I did not have it ready yet but I had the opening map so that was enough to get them started. The adventure is "Aesirhamar" written by Roger E. Moore from Dragon magazine 47 (1984). The published adventure is more of an outline of how to handle a trip to the realm of the Norse gods. I decided to change the gods up to fit the Amherth setting I am using. I have since padded the adventure out with some unique encounters and created a bunch of location maps in Dungeondraft.

Session 99: Life and Death in the Temple of the Naga

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).

Alrix has been charmed by a creature hiding in an ancient temple near the hamlet of Deerford. The creature questions Alrix and reveals that it is a Naga. Alrix tells his new friend why he came to Deerford (to see the couatl reputed to be here) and he reveals that he is a couatl himself. The naga finds this highly amusing and sends for its ally Lerrius the gnome - the head warden of Deerford. Lerrius and the naga discuss how to best use Alrix. The naga tells Alrix to rest on the altar for the night. Four gargoyles emerge from the alcoves of the temple to guard Alrix while he rests.

Meanwhile, in Edgerton Lantosh takes note that Alrix is missing. Domago tells them that Alrix went to Deerford to investigate reports of a couatl being sighted. Fenris suggests that he is likely fine. Lakima is not too sure and suggests they check up on him if he does not return by morning.

The next day there is still no sign of Alrix so they decide to saddle some horses and ride to Deerford. It is a mere 2 hours ride northwest of Edgerton. At the tiny hamlet, they pay a toll to enter and meet with a village priest. The priest remembers Alrix and suggests that he might have headed to the nearby ruins of a temple. The priest assures them that the couatl has indeed returned and resides at the temple. The party set out on horseback for the temple.

The trail to the temple winds through a thick forest and the adventurers encounter 2 dire bears blocking the trail. The bears look fierce and dangerous to approach. Fenris tries scaring them away by making noise but that just focuses their attention on the group. Lakima suggests maybe using a fireball spell but Domago argues that they are just creatures of the forest and should not be killed. He tells everyone he has an idea and he prays to St. Aleena to summon a swarm of bees that fly right at the two bears stinging them and clouding their eyes. The bear's roar in pain and roll about trying to get away from the bees.

Fenris suggests they take the opportunity to ride past the bears. He leads his horse around them but he is struck by an arrow fired from out of the surrounding forest. Lakima casts a fireball spell into the trees which burst into flames. A yelping wolf emerges from the brush and tries to bite Eathwund. Eathwund kicks it to one side and then runs the wolf through with his sword killing it instantly. They hear a howl of anguish from the woods. The party decides not to stay and they ride their horses around the growling bears. They continue on the road for a half hour until they enter a meadow in a clearing in the woods. A moss-covered stone temple ruin lies in the center of the meadow. They are just in time to spot a gnome run inside the temple and then notice two wardens guarding the entrance doors.

The adventurers approach the doors and they are asked to halt. One of the wardens asks for their names and purpose. Lakima tells them that they are the Company of the Black Dragon and they wish to look for their missing friend. The warden assures them that there is no one in the temple except the divine couatl. Lakima asks if they can enter and the warden turns and announces them. Then he bids them to enter. Inside they find an enormous temple chamber the walls crumbling and falling. Sunlight streams into the hall through holes in the roof. Resting on a bed of flowers atop a central altar is their companion Alrix in his couatl form. Alrix is surprised to see them and asks if they have come to see his friend. Lakima is about to answer when a much bigger serpent emerges from the darkness at the far end of the church. The blue-scaled serpent sweeps everyone with its gaze. All of the adventurers feel a compulsion that this creature is their friend but all of them shake off the enchantment and realize that the creature was trying to charm them. An angered Lakima casts a magic missile, and strikes the serpent. 

Alrix yells, “Wait, we are all friends here, what are you doing!”

Domago casts dispel evil on Alrix. Alrix immediately, and angrily realizes he was charmed by this foul, false couatl. In fact, he realizes that it is an evil Naga. He launches himself at the Naga and bites it injecting poison. The bite hurts the Naga but it proves immune to his poison. The Naga tries to bite Alrix right back but misses. They hear noise coming from all of the alcoves about the temple and eight stone-skinned gargoyles emerge to defend their master the Naga. 

As the gargoyles emerge, Lantosh, Fenris, Eathwund, and Flora find themselves all facing a gargoyle. Swords and hammers are drawn and the fight is on. Meanwhile, Alrix casts a fireball injuring several of the gargoyles and the Naga. Domago blows the silver horn of Valhalla and summons four berserkers who immediately attack the Naga. There is a roaring growl from the far end of the church and a purple scaled eight-legged draconic creature emerges. Lakima summons an ice storm that pelts the Naga, some of the gargoyles, and this new creature. It also catches the berserkers in the storm dispelling 3 of them.

The fight is going poorly for Fenris against a gargoyle and he starts desperately retreating. Seeing the danger to Fenris, Domago reaches him and casts a healing spell. Fenris is able to keep fighting. Across the chamber, Eathwund, Lantosh, and Flora are each also fighting separate gargoyles. Even Eathwund struggles to land a damaging blow on the stone creatures. 

The briefly forgotten draconic creature breathes a lightning bolt out that strikes Fenris and Domago. Fenris falls to the floor blackened and unconscious. Nearby, Alrix wraps himself around the Naga constricting it. But he is swarmed by three gargoyles who claw, bite and gore him with attacks. Domago stands near Alrix, who looks to be in trouble, and he also spots Fenris collapsed on the floor and dying. He is briefly unsure, and not far away Lakima yells at him to go to save Fenris. Domago, though has already made his decision, if Alrix falls things are going to get really bad. He rushes over to Alrix and casts healing magic on him.

The draconic creature breathes lightning again this time striking Domago and Eathwund. Both are badly injured. Domago is struggling to hang on. Nearby, Alrix bites the Naga one more time killing it. He tosses the serpent aside in triumph but begins to retreat to get clear of the gargoyles swarming to his side. Lakima casts lightning bolt striking the draconic creature and blasting apart some of the gargoyles. The creature seems unaffected but the gargoyles are destroyed. The last remaining berserker is incredible still in the fight and he single-handily faces down the draconic creature. Lakima charms a gargoyle that had moved to attack him. But when he commands it to attack its fellow gargoyles the charm is broken. Then it attacks Flora but she manages to destroy it. Eathwund kills a gargoyle as well. Lakima begins calling the survivors back in a defensive circle about him. Alrix casts a magic missile destroying the gargoyle fighting Lantosh allowing the fighter to move back with the rest of the group. But Lantosh then falls under the claws of a gargoyle. The last berserker also falls and the draconic creature climbs up the altar and moves to attack.

Lakima casts a wall of iron bringing a wall down between the adventurers and the draconic creature. He casts web to hold some of the gargoyles to allow his comrades to retreat. There are still 3 gargoyles on the adventurer’s side of the wall. On the other side, they can hear the roars of the creature. Finally, the last of the gargoyles is destroyed. Lakima uses a potion of extra healing to revive Lantosh, but Fenris has bled out and is dead. Eathwund picks up Fenris's body and carries the dead thief to the entrance. Lakima suggests continuing the fight against the creature but everyone else wants to retreat.

It is now, in this respite from the fight, that everyone takes note that the ghostly form of a warrior of Valhalla passes through the wall of iron and approaches the group. Lakima asks why the berserker has not returned to Valhalla. The warrior answers that he has been sent by the gods to deliver a message to them. The gods require their audience in Valhalla. A rainbow bridge will be sent for them if they agree. After some discussion, the group agrees and a rainbow bridge appears on the otherwise clear day in the meadow outside the temple. The ghostly warrior steps on the rainbow and begins to climb up into the sky, turning to look back if they are following.

The adventurers climb onto the rainbow and follow ascending gradually up into the air until they seem to enter mist or clouds. Eathwund still carrying the limp body of Fenris. The rainbow begins to descend and they find themselves in a field full of deer, tall grass, flowering trees, and a great wooden hall. Standing before the hall is a 12-foot-tall giant of a man clad in armor. His face is obscured by his helm but what is visible projects a bright light. Their warrior guard near appears alive again and he kneels before what is clearly a god. The warrior then heads into the wooden hall.

Lakima is the first to step forward to question the god. The god tells them that he is Ragin (who they realize is also known as Rangeth – the patron of the Church of Law in Dolmvay). Ragin tells them that he has a task for them that he and other gods would like them to accept. Lakima asks why the gods do not just use their warriors or Valkyries. Ragin replies that there is a good reason and all will be explained. He tells them that they look tired and hungry. He invites them into his hall for a feast which he says will revive their spirits. Lakima points to Fenris and asks for a boon to return their friend to them. Ragin reaches out a touches Fenris instantly reviving him from death.

All of the adventurers enter the hall and find an enormous table, heavily laden with a magnificent feast. Familiar-looking warriors (berserkers the Silver Horn of Valhalla has summoned in the past) sit on some of the benches about the table already eating and drinking. Food and spirits are served by warrior men and women. Lakima has questions but Ragin bids them eat first. As the worn adventurers bite into the food and drink the ale they feel instantly refreshed and they look on in astonishment as their wounds and sore muscles heal right before them.

Once everyone is revitalized, Ragin tells them of the task. It is his job to guard the Bifrost bridge into Gladsheim. He keeps out those that are not allowed in Asgard but he cannot stop those who have the right to travel here. One day the dwarf Brokkir arrived in Gladsheim on the Bifrost bridge. Ragin questioned him on his business and discerned that the dwarf was being evasive. He also noted an invisible dwarf whom he did not recognize, following Brokkir. Suspicious of Brokkir’s intentions, Ragin summoned a Valkyrie and sent her to Brokkir’s forge in Midgard. The dwarf Brokkir is a weapon crafter of the greatest mastery and the Valkyrie found evidence that he had produced a weapon capable of killing a god. Ragin now went to the other gods, worried that Brokkir was headed to Jotunheim to sell the weapon to their enemies the giants. The other gods used their divination abilities but found they could not locate either of the dwarves. The dwarves must be using magic to remain hidden. Modan who could use his throne Hlidskialf to find anyone is away on one of his long trips to the prime material plane. Finally, Lodor the greatest warrior of the gods is away fighting giants somewhere in Jotunheim. Ragin cannot send the warriors of Valhalla or the Valkyries because that would start a war with the giants. The solution is to send a talented team of mortals to locate Brokkir. If he has indeed built a weapon for the giants then it needs to be brought to Asgard and Brokkir needs to be brought to justice. Ragin also would like to speak with the invisible dwarf and learn its intentions.

Ragin bids the adventurers to finish the feast and make use of the sleeping chambers on either side of the hall. Then he rises and leaves the hall to take up his post again at the Bifrost bridge.

Harmless misadventure

The players in my Swords & Wizardry campaign finished up my adapted Creature of Rhyl adventure a few weeks ago. I found the adventure to be uneven. It certainly did hit all of the highlights of an old-school game from the 1980s (not hard to do since it was published in 1981). The dungeon layout was designed to be difficult to map, which just comes across as annoying when you are playing online. Come to think of it, it was annoying back in the '80s as well when I ran my players through similar designs. At some point in the mapping back then, my players' hand-drawn maps would not match up correctly ("How can we be back in this room - it does not connect?"), and they would ask me to correct it for them. The adventure was also strange in that there were very few encounters. An evil wizard has used a pet White Dragon to kidnap a prince (in my game an Earl), and the players need to rescue the prisoner. But when they arrive the dungeon is almost deserted showing signs of a hasty departure. By the end of the adventure, they find that the prisoner starved to death a few weeks ago, and the White Dragon (or dragons in my case) has eaten the wizard.

The adventure ended in the first hour or two of our game so the players head to travel home. I had planned out a few optional encounters for the journey. Things they could investigate or ignore. It is important to give them the choice. But the players found a way to return quickly by a magic portal so I had to ad lib a little. I turned one of the travel encounters into local news and one of the players decided to investigate. But he did it alone, which was a mistake on his part.

Session 98: Search for the Earl of Lockeland

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).

After another day of resting in the now foul-smelling dragon cave, Domago casts Speak with Dead again on the corpse of the wizard Astylis. The shade of the dread wizard rises again. The party has prepared this time, and they have thought of the questions to ask in advance. The shade tells them that the Earl of Lockeland was alive at least up to the point the shade perished. He tells them where to find the jail cells on the second level of the complex.

The party gets prepared to continue. Lakima tells the charmed White Dragon to go off and hunt. Armed with directions the party ascends the lift back up to the first level. They move the statue in the direction they think will open the correct passage. They open the door from the room and find a gelatinous cube blocking the entire passage. Lakima orders his efreeti servant to raise a Wall of Fire between them and the cube. Lakima then fires magic missiles at the cube. Eathwund shoots some arrows at it. Lakima turns to Alrix and asks him to use a magic missile as well. Alrix argues that it is a waste of magic but eventually relents and the cube is melted away to nothing. The wall of fire is dismissed and they find a new passage with a pit trap in it and a dead end. They try again turning the statue in a second direction and they find they have opened the wrong section of the level. On the third try, they get it correct and head to the exit. Near the exit, they find a side passage right where the shade told them to look. This leads to a stair headed down where they encounter a troop of goblins. The goblins are quickly dispatched, Eathwund killing the last one just as it attempts to surrender.

The lower level turns out to be a maze of passages. After a few turns, they run into three trolls. A Wall of Fire keeps the trolls at bay while Lakima casts lightning bolt. Two of the trolls are downed and burned into ash with flame and acid. The third troll runs away. Lantosh and Eathwund set out in pursuit of the troll and come across its mangled corpse a short distance away. Apparently killed by some other denizen of the maze.

Around the next corner, they are suddenly attacked out of the darkness by an enormous, intelligent bear-like creature standing on its hind legs (a Rothran). Darkness seems to cling to the creature. Lantosh, Eathwund, and Domago strike the creature with their magical weapons but they find that the creature seems to absorb the damage. Lakima realizes that the creature is immune to magic and he shouts this information out to everyone. Lakima then hurls 3 darts at the creature striking it near the eye. It howls in anger, pushes Eathwund to one side, and swipes at Lakima hitting him with both massive claws. Lakima is pushed back to the wall and his blood stains his blue robes. Lakima scrambles to get behind Eathwund’s shield and Eathwund expertly deflects more of the creature's attacks with his shield. Using non-magical weapons, they press the attack on the creature. Sling-stones fired by Lantosh and Domago, and Eathwund clubs the creature with his quarterstaff. The creature falls after being hit in the side of the head with a stone hurled by Domago. It collapses dead. Eathwund searches a satchel the creature was carrying and finds a magic hand ax, a scroll tube, and a pair of potions.

A short distance later they find a rough-hewn chamber filled with dark mist. They see a vaguely human shape in the center of the mist. Lakima tells the efreet to raise a Wall of Fire between the party and the mist. It seems to keep the mist at bay. Domago attempts to banish the mist with his holy symbol and prayer to St. Aleena. It does not work but Domago tells everyone that he can sense that the creature is undead. Suddenly, the creature turns ethereal and passes right through the Wall of Fire, and rematerializes in the middle of the party. It concentrates attacks on Eathwund with long misty, clawed hands. Eathwund keeps it at bay pushing the claws aside with his shield. The rest of the group helps Eathwund by striking the creature with magic weapons until it is banished.

The party continues in a northwest direction. Traversing long, boring corridors that seem to have no purpose. Flora and Fenris take the lead attempting to quietly sneak up on anything they might encounter. The corridors begin turning back in on themselves in a spiral, leading to a dead end. More winding passages lead to a more rough-hewn section. The marching order of the group has gotten spread out at this point as they have not encountered anything in an hour. They stumble on a Minotaur at a point where Domago is in the lead. The Minotaur attacks Domago while Eathwund and Lantosh rush up to help. The bull-like beast tries hitting Domago with its ax or goring him with its horns but Domago manages to avoid all of the attacks. The three warriors kill the minotaur with well-placed sword thrusts and strikes from Domago’s Maul.

The minotaur cave turns out to be a dead end so the group finds they have to backtrack through winding tunnels and corridors, over pits filled with rushing water, and through chambers. They get back to where they started. Three directions are open to them. Lakima chooses a direction but quickly decides they are again heading into the minotaur maze. They head back and chose another direction.

After another half hour of walking, they see an iron door set into the side of the passage. Flora and Fenris check the door and find it safe. Swinging it open they see a dark and foul prison chamber. There is only one occupant of the prison and he is not talking. An emaciated corpse sits against one wall with manacles about its wrists attached to the wall behind it. The corpse is dressed in what was once the fine clothing of a noble. Lakima moves in and notes the heraldry of the Earl of Lockeland on its breast. On the floor, an outstretched hand lies near where a ring has been used to scratch a message into the floor. The symbol of a human figure with a raised arm holding a sword. Beneath the arm is an arrow pointing downward.

“He left instructions on how to use the elevator,” Lakima says.

They collect the Earl’s signet ring and contemplate whether they need to bring the corpse to their contact to get paid. Lakima looks at the efreet who is already carrying an enormous mirror wrapped in a rug. It is apparent that the efreet servant cannot carry the mirror and the corpse.

“Can we stuff him in the Bag (of Holding)”, Eathwund asks.

They soon discover that the Earl’s corpse does indeed fit in the bag.

The party retraces their steps to the exit from the complex. It takes two days to trek overland from the complex in the foothills to the village of Leandra’s Row. The party has a few encounters on the way. At one point a pair of giant eagles follow them far above but they eventually lose interest. Returning to the village they head for the Red Smile Tavern. They do not immediately see Sir Angus their patron but some shouting by the barkeep brings the old noble down from his rooms. Sir Angus questions whether they succeeded.

“We have some good news, and some bad news to tell you,” Lakima says. Sir Angus learns that they recovered the items taken from the Royal Treasury and the Earl’s signet ring. But the Earl is dead. In fact, they have his corpse in their Bag of Holding. Sir Angus asks that they bring the corpse to the Abbey of St. Leandra where the sisters can arrange to place it in a proper coffin. The Earl’s corpse will be sent to Dolmvay. Sir Angus drafts a writ and signs it testifying to the fact that the Company of the Black Dragon has fulfilled the contract.

Lakima asks the party if they want to return to Edgerton the hard way or the easy way. All but a few immediately say they prefer the easy way. Lakima tells everyone to pack up and follow him to the bridge just outside the village. Once there Lakima drinks a potion of levitation and floats sixty feet straight up in the air. He then casts teleport and arrives at the Bridgeway, 125 miles to the east. Greeting the custodian of the bridge (Ezmeralden) he requests that the Bridgeway be opened to the bridge in Leandra’s Row.

Back in Leandra’s Row, the rest of the party sees a portal open at the far end of the bridge. They walk across and arrive at the Bridgeway. Then Lakima asks Ezmeralden to open a portal to High Town bridge in Edgerton. This he does, and the party waves goodbye to the custodian and walks across the bridge to arrive in Edgerton. The Vorloi Estate is a short distance away so the party decides to go directly to meet with Baron Vorloi. They are ushered into a Ballroom and the Baron hears their story about the Earl of Lockeland and the Creature of Rhyl. He accepts and checks the writ signed by Sir Angus. The Baron has a servant bring in a wooden coffer loaded with 8,000 gold coins. The agreed-upon amount for finding the Earl of Lockeland. The Baron then invites the company to stay for dinner. Over dinner, Lakima asks the Baron for a favor. An invitation for himself and his wife to a ball in Dolmvay hosted by Duke Robert. Baron Vorloi happily acquiesces, suggesting that Duke Robert would likely want to meet them. 

The Company returns to their Manor House in Edgerton. They learn that nothing particularly interesting has occurred while they have been away. The next day Lakima identifies all of the magic items found in the past few weeks of adventuring. Lakima goes to the Library of Antiquity to research the mirror they found. He learns that the mirror is actually a portal to another dimension where a Mirror Fiend awaits to trap unsuspecting victims. A few days later, Lakima heads over to the Mages Guild with his Efreeti servant carrying the Mirror. He has the mirror placed in his work area – still covered. Lakima also sits in on a beginner-level class to observe the students and teachers. He offers a potion to one of the students to drink. The student hesitantly accepts and drinks what turns out to be a potion of copper spewing. The sickened student throws up streams of copper coins while the other students laugh. Lakima cautions the students against laughing telling them that all magic can have unforeseen consequences.

Meanwhile, Alrix picks up some local broadsheets and learns that a fabled “feathered Serpent” has been reported to have returned to the hamlet of Deerford (the hook). He decides to head over to the Library of Antiquity and check the historical section. After paying the fee to browse the section he finds a book that describes the story of the couatl named Tlanextic who saved a small village from the effects of a deadly plague 40 years ago. The grateful villagers commissioned a beautifully carved statue of the couatl in gratitude. The couatl left but vowed to return if the villagers were ever threatened. The local broadsheets suggest that if Tlanextic has returned, the village or perhaps even the region must be in real peril.

Eathwund spends time at the Sign of the Purple Bugbear. One evening after having a few too many ales, he has difficulty sleeping and then experiences a life-like dream in which he confronted the Great Worm alone slashing it open with his sword Wormbane. But the black blood spilling from the wound he makes does not stop and he finds himself drowning in it. He awakens just as he drowns in his dream.

After several days, Alrix decides to visit the nearby village of Deerford to see if another of his race is indeed in the village. He is about to ask Domago to come with him but instead, he decides to change form and fly to Deerford which is only a few hours away to the northwest. Arriving near the tiny hamlet, he changes back to that his humanoid form and heads toward the hamlet. At the ford leading into the village, he is stopped by a local warden who requests a toll of 3 silver coins to enter the village. He heads toward the small chapel where the idol of Tlanextic is supposed to reside. A young priest tending a garden outside the chapel tells him that the idol was sent to a nearby old temple where Tlanextic now resides. He suggests heading there and gives Alrix directions.

It takes Alrix a few hours to reach the old temple. The temple is indeed ancient and little more than a ruin. Two wardens stand at the open doors and greet him. One asks for his name and his purpose in visiting. Alrix tells them his name and that he would like to meet Talnextic. One of the men loudly announces his name from the doorway and bids Alrix to enter. Alrix enters the ruin and finds that the roof is somewhat intact. Beams of sunlight poke through holes in the roof illuminating the interior. The air is filled with the smell of flowers and a hint of rot. Piles of cut flowers lay about a central altar. Atop the altar, basking in a ray of sunlight is a magnificent, feathered serpent, coiled atop the flowers. Alrix moves up to get a closer look as the feathered serpent raises its head and looks at him. Alrix just has time to realize that this is not a couatl, in fact, it has no wings, and what is that smell of rot in the air, when the creature uses its charm gaze on Alrix.

Alrix immediately realizes that this creature means him no harm even if it is not a couatl. In fact, he trusts this creature implicitly.

Back in Edgerton at supper, Lantosh asks, “Has anyone seen Alrix today?”

Dungeondraft

This blog entry is a return to actually commenting on World Building in gaming. Something I originally planned to be the focal point of the site. But running a few campaigns at the same time takes up a lot of my free time. This week I go over two software packages that will really help a DM with preparation time.

Wonderdraft

I purchased the Wonderdraft software about a month ago. I found it a little hard to get used to at first but I was soon using it fairly well. Below is the Area Map from module L1: The Secret of Bone Hill. Making maps in Wonderdraft does not take a lot of time and the ability to overlay the map over an image makes it fairly easy to replicate maps. It is even easier to make a map from scratch. I have used it a few times and was generally pleased with the results.

Lendore Island Map

Dungeondraft

I was aware of Dungeondraft having purchased Wonderdraft from the same company but I had no real inclination to buy it because I could create just about any map of any type in Blender. But I decided to buy it and try it out. I was immediately impressed with the results.

The objects and textures that come with the purchase have a slightly cartoon-like style but I think it works with maps. Below is an example of a more realistic map with proper lighting made in Blender, and the same map in Dungeondraft. This is the map for the Creature of Rhyl adventure from Dragon Magazine 55 (1981). When I ran the adventure I decided to use the Dungeondraft map.

I have since purchased some more objects for Dungeondraft. Some do not fit the same style as the ones that come with the software. Mixing and matching these does not work very well. They look jarring. So you really should pick one asset type to use per map. I have gone on a map-making binge since getting Dungeondraft creating about 30 maps in 3 weeks. It does not take very much time at all. A simple forest battlemap can be accomplished in 10 minutes. More complex maps take more time but even complex buildings really do not take a lot of time. I am saving a lot of map-making time.

My first maps were fairly primitive, but I soon began to learn ways to add depth and lighting to the maps to make them look better. The maps also give you the option of printing in simple black and white for publishing and full colour. I usually print them using the Roll20 option so that they line up perfectly with the grid overlay in Roll20.

I cannot recommend this software enough. In fact, I have already let a few other friends who DM know about it.

Creature of Rhyl created with Blender

Creature of Rhyl created with Dungeondraft

Roadside Tavern created in Dungeondraft

The Creature of Rhyl

As I mentioned last week the players in my Swords & Wizardry campaign are currently adventuring through a classic adventure called The Creature of Rhyl (Dragon Magazine 55, 1981, Kevin Knuth). It won a dungeon design contest to get published. I had some misgivings about the dungeon once the players got into it.

Like many dungeon maps of the era, it is designed to be hard to map on the tabletop. Since we are playing using Roll20 this just became annoying to the players. Their characters had to do endless walking. My group does not create maps as they play trusting the Roll20 visual interface so they got lost all of the time.

The other odd thing about this dungeon was that there were very few location-based encounters. There was a handful (20 some for a dungeon with 2 levels is not a lot) but most of the encounters were meant to be random. I rarely rolled an encounter with the dice. Eventually, I just threw some in to make things more interesting. This dungeon was designed for levels 1-3 B/X but I found it easy to convert to levels 8-10 Swords & Wizardry. I just used similar but more powerful monsters. Orc jailors became ogre jailors and there were more of them.

I originally created the maps in Blender as 3D maps with the image taken from directly overhead. It took me a dozen hours to create. Before we reached the adventure I bought Dungeondraft and re-made the maps in the latter software in a matter of an hour. I preferred the Dungeondraft map. Now that the players have left the dungeon I will post the Dungeondraft maps soon.

One more thing, this adventure highlighted my annoyance with Dragons in Swords & Wizardry. They are too easy for a group of players to overcome. They have too few hit points. I put them up against three White Dragons at the maximum age and strength. They killed all but one Dragon in the first round of combat because they won the initiative. Even if the Dragons had won the initiative they probably would only have done 14 points of damage to each character with their breath weapons (because the players likely would have saved).

Session 97: The Creature of Rhyl

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).

The adventurers wander about the abandoned halls for a while before it becomes clear they are walking back over their own path. They can make out their footprints from earlier in the dust. Trying a new direction, they run into the Black Pudding again. Lakima orders the efreet Khisa to block the slime creature with a wall of fire. It works, but the creature just moves away from the fire. Fed up with the creature following them, Lakima casts a fireball and tosses it through the wall of fire directly onto the creature. There is a large, blast of flame that billows through the corridor coming close to the party. But the creature while clearly injured continues to follow. Lakima then asks Alrix to use his fireball ability. A second fireball explodes engulfing the slimly black mass. The floor seems to rock and shift, and pebbles and sand rain down from the ceiling. The creature is still there moving steadily towards them.

“Efreet! Raise your Wall of Fire directly on top of that creature!”

The efreet raises another wall of fire, this time directly on top of the Black pudding. It slowly succumbs and its mass burns away into a greasy stain on the stone floor.

After that, the group does not encounter any more creatures. But they just move around in circles in the dungeon. They decide to return to the octagonal room with the statue that they have christened the “elevator room”. Once everyone is inside and the doors closed, Eathwund turns the statue to face the western door. They open the door and see a new opening in the corridor wall leading west into a new area of the dungeon that they have not explored.

They check some crates in a store room and release a carrion fly that tries to poison Fenris who opened the crate it was trapped in. Fenris manages to dodge the creature's spit attack and Domago and Eathwund kill it. A hallway leads to a laboratory with a stuffed Griffon resting in one corner. Lakima picks up seven bottles filled with strange liquids and puts them into the bag of holding. They find a chamber with a writing desk, some empty shelves, and a cloudy mirror on the wall. In one corner are a cold fireplace and a stone lion head statue on the wall. Lakima searches the desk and finds a magic spell scroll (Part Water). He also finds what looks like a wand in a drawer of the desk. Eventually, his curiosity gets the best of him and Lakima looks into the mirror. An impassive face with vague features stares back at him. The eyes in the face are pools of darkness and Lakima feels himself being pulled into the mirror. He quickly blinks and looks away. The face disappears and the mirror goes back to being cloudy. Lakima orders the efreet to wrap the mirror in a large rug and to carry it.

Fenris checks the lion head statue and discovers it has a silver tongue. While trying to pry the tongue out of the statue he triggers a mechanism and the fireplace slides to one side revealing a passage behind it. Following the passage, they come to another chamber. This one appears to be the bedroom of a wizard. Lakima finds a sketch of the octagonal elevator room on a table. In the closet, Fenris finds a wooden box. Inside is a stuffed owl, a skull, and a small cage. The owl is sliced open to reveal a magical dagger.

They leave the chambers and return the way they came encountering a lone goblin. The goblin is easily subdued and Lantosh questions it in the goblin language. The creature tells them it was looking for anything that had not already been stolen. The master wizard went missing a few weeks ago and most of his minions have left having already taken everything which was valuable. After questioning the creature, they let it go on its way.

Certain now that the octagonal room is the key to finding the wizard Asylis and the Earl of Lockeland, the group returns to the chamber and waits for the doors to shut. Eathwund turns the statue to face the same way it faces in the diagram they found. The familiar rumbling noises are heard. Eathwund notices that the arms of the statue might move. He pulls up the statue's sword arm and there is a rumbling noise and this time they feel the unmistakable sensation of descent.

The chamber finally stops after descending for half a minute. Fenris checks some doors and reports that they are now false doors. A stone wall is behind them. But one door opens onto a corridor. The adventurers cautiously walk down the hall and enter an enormous chamber with almost no lighting. They cannot distinguish the extent of the walls or how high the ceiling is above them. In the distance, they see sunlight streaming down from a point above and behind some rock pillars. Nearby they can hear the peaceful breathing of some enormous-sounding creature. Could this be the Creature of Rhyl?

Alrix changes form into a couatl flying serpent and the rest of the group fan out so as not to present a single target. Fenris hangs back by the hallway they entered from. Flora moves forward to the edge of the light from Lakima’s Staff. Domago decides to cast Continual Light on his sling. Slowly, more features of the chamber are revealed as they move forward. To their right flows an underground stream. In front of them under a pool of sunlight, they spot two large, sleeping White Dragons. The Dragons appear almost identical. Then Flora and Alrix spot another sleeping White Dragon at the other side of the chamber resting on a pile of bones. Lakima quietly asks Flora to scout the chamber looking for exits. Flora agrees and heads off into the darkness out of sight.

Flora scouts the perimeter of the chamber finding no exits but does confirm that there are three white dragons here. She also finds that the two under the pool of sunlight also have stone pillars between them and the party. She returns to the group to report.

The adventurers briefly debate what they should do. Three dragons seem like a considerable challenge – possibly a suicidal challenge. The fact that White Dragons are together in the same cave and all appear the same size, age, and appearance is suspicious to them. They decide to attack hoping to gain surprise.

Lakima fires a lightning bolt at the two sleeping dragons under the sunlight. It strikes both dragons and kills one instantly. Alrix fires magic missiles on the single dragon on the pile of bones. Flora and Eathwund fire arrows at the latter dragon as well. Domago blows the Horn of Valhalla summoning five berserkers. Lantosh blows the Horn of Blasting deafening the dragon lying on the pile of bones. Alrix confronts the White dragon and strikes attempting to poison it. The strike hits but the poison he injects does not seem to take effect. Alrix uses the Figurine of Wondrous Power and summons the Woolly Mammoth. The magical construct charges and gores the White dragon twice before it even has a chance to attack. The white dragon is gored to death and flops to the ground.

The last remaining White Dragon, who is itself badly injured, roars in anger and charges the group of adventurers. It breathes out a freezing cloud of vapor enveloping Domago, Eathwund, and the berserkers. All of the berserkers are vanquished and returned to Valhalla. Domago and Eathwund manage to avoid most of the freezing mist.

The entire group turns to confront the last White Dragon. Lakima yells for everyone to hold and he casts Charm Monster on the White Dragon. Incredibly, the dragon falls under his charm. It turns away from Lakima and makes to attack Domago and Eathwund. But Lakima orders it to stop and calm down. Lakima tries talking to the White Dragon in draconic. It appears to understand his commands but it is unable to respond in kind. Domago looks up at the enormous dragon and places a hand on one of the wounds it received from the lightning bolt spell. He heals much of its wounds.

Alrix reverts the Woolly Mammoth back to a figurine. Eathwund begins rooting about the pile of treasure and using his sword to detect magic. He notes two sources of magic but they are under the corpse of the White Dragon. The Efreet is ordered to roll the 30-foot-long corpse to one side. Underneath they find piles of gold, silver, and platinum coins. They also find most of the items taken from the treasury of Lockeland, a scepter, a crown (now badly dented), and the two magic items, a rod and a medallion. They do not find the Earl of Lockeland, his remains, or his signet ring. But they do find the flattened corpse of what they suspect is Astylis the Wizard. Fenris busies himself with filling the bag of holding with the treasure. Eathwund quietly inquires if they think he could cut the head off of one of the dragons without upsetting the charmed sibling. The group almost unanimously tells him that this is not a good idea.

Lakima suggests sleeping the night in the chamber. He asks Alrix to scout the source of the sunlight. Alrix flies up to the top of the chamber and finds an opening big enough for the dragons to fly out. It leads to a ledge on the mountainside. Far below he can see the trail leading to the stronghold. He flies down to report. They decide to make camp in this chamber figuring it will be very safe. They do set watches but nothing disturbs them during the night. The White Dragon appears to have taken a shine to Domago. Licking his face with a cold wet tongue whenever Domago is near to it.

Domago casts Speak with Dead on the corpse. He speaks with the shade that rises and is able to confirm that it is Astylis. The wizard admits that he captured the Earl and left him in the care of some ogre jailors a few weeks ago. Unsatisfied with the three answers. The adventurers decide to rest again so that they can ask Astylis more questions.

Cold Iron solution

The solution that my players came up with to deal with the fey "grombel" was certainly not something that I had anticipated. But I felt it would work. You could argue that the bellows would not work as portrayed but overall I felt it was clever and allowed it.

After dealing with the stealer of children the players continued on their primary mission to locate the missing Earl of Lockeland who has been taken by the Creature of Rhyl. This adventure was published in Dragon Magazine 55, November 1981 written by Kevin Knuth. It was a winner in a design a dungeon contest. The original adventure was written for Moldvay Basic D&D for levels 1-3. I modified it for Swords & Wizardry levels 6-10 but retained the dungeon map, descriptions, and monster locations. I updated some monsters from the module with more powerful versions. But some were kept the same. It is a peculiar dungeon in that most of the encounters are on the wandering monster table. There are very few location based encounters. The map has a very "In Search of the Unknown" vibe common to the era. The dungeon map is purposely difficult to navigate to make mapping it difficult. Something that does not entirely work in Roll20 play. My players do not map the dungeon as they go. Consequently they went in circles a few times without realizing it.

The maps used for "The Stealer of Children" and "The Creature of Rhyl" adventures from this last session were created in Dungeondraft software and I do plan to write a blogpost reviewing it in the near future. I do not want to post the Creature of Rhyl maps until after the players complete the adventure.

Session 96: Cold Iron and Abandoned Halls

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).

Lakima gets the attention of the Warder, Arlen Travers, and asks him to bring all of the children to the abbey before it gets dark. Arlen asks if the fey creature is still a danger and when he learns it is he agrees. Lakima also asks for directions to the local blacksmith. Then Lakima explains his plan to his fellow adventurers. He thinks that the fey creature, which he is calling the Grombel, can be trapped in a cold iron box or sphere.

The adventurers arrive at the village smithy and meet Bryan the smith. Lakima explains that he wants the smith to weld two iron cauldrons together to form a sphere. While they talk another villager arrives with news that children need to be taken to the abbey. The smith’s wife and two youngest children leave. Impressed with the importance of the task, the smith agrees to get to work on it immediately. He also points to a bucket of iron nails lying nearby. The adventurers agree to take them to the abbey.

The village is busy throughout the afternoon with rushing villagers moving their wives and children to the stone-walled abbey. The men of the village gather iron pitchforks and stand sentry about the abbey. Some men spread iron nails throughout the grass around the abbey.

The adventurers spend that evening in the chapel of the abbey, keeping a watch. But there are no disturbances. The next morning as dawn breaks, they head over to the smithy. There they find the smith and his eldest son asleep by the forge. Resting near the forge is a strange iron cylinder. Lakima wakes the smith who proceeds to show them how the sphere has one bored hole in it and an iron stopper. Lakima then asks the smith if they can borrow the large wooden bellows used in the forge. The smith is confused but too tired to ask questions. The efreet Khisa is released from his bottle and given the task of carrying the bellows and the cauldron.

The adventurers head into the Tanglewood forest and after a few hours they reach the clearing with the lightning struck oak. The large rock over the tunnel has been moved back covering the hole and the villagers have piled up smaller rocks. Eathwund and Lantosh go to work clearing everything. Eathwund tries to move the large rock but again fails. He then uses the power of his sword Wormbane to increase his strength and he easily levers the stone to one side. One by one the adventurers slide down the tunnel into the earth.

The adventurers make their way through the winding tunnel finding that nothing has changed. Once they enter the final cave they spot the grombel, sleeping on its nest of clothing. Their light awakens the creature and it starts cackling and repeating “grombelgrombelgrombel”. Quickly, the adventurers rush across the underground stream and move to attack. But they are too late, the grombel turns into its gaseous form. Lakima yells for Eathwund and Khisa to take their actions. Eathwund turns ethereal but he finds that the grombel is not on the ethereal plane. Khisa sets down the cauldron and grasps the large bellow. He pumps the bellows inhaling the gaseous mist and then blows it out into the iron cauldron. Lakima quickly places the iron stopper and tells Khisa to melt it into place. The events are over in seconds and everyone pauses and looks about. Have they trapped the grombel?

Although they cannot see him, Eathwund pokes his ethereal head inside the cauldron. But he cannot discern if there is anything inside. Then Eathwund materializes. Everyone starts asking if they have caught the creature. They search but they find that there is no sign of the creature in the caves. Khisa picks up the cauldron and they all climb back out of the tunnels and into daylight. The adventurers arrive in town and head to the blacksmith. The smith is asked to seal the stopper on the cauldron which he does, melting some wire into the gap. They also return his bellows. They then present the cauldron to the Warder. Once Arlen is told what is inside, he suggests giving it to Mother Mills for safekeeping. He arranges for some villagers to take it to the abbey.

Still unsure if they have succeeded, the adventurers decide to stay in town one more night. They return to the Red Smile Tavern. They do meet Sir Angus Goblinbane, the agent of the Lawlord of Lockeland. He seems unimpressed with their exploits. Viewing the grombel tale as “simple superstition.”

An uneventful night is spent sleeping in the common room of the tavern. The next morning, they check with the warder and learn that no children have gone missing. Believing they have solved the problems in Leandra’s Row, the adventurers set out on foot north of the village into the foothills of the Mountains of Time.

The land soon turns into badlands with twisting canyons and mesa. It would be easy to get lost but on the first day, the adventurers find a trail of many footprints marching north. They follow the trail that is leading them unerringly toward the Mountains. On the second day some mountain lions begin tracking them. Apparently only curious as they never come within bow range. That night, Lakima asks Khisa to set up a ring of fire around the campsite. The campsite is brightly illuminated for miles and it does attract the attention of a band of goblins who are quickly driven off. Eathwund charges and kills several goblins and Domago uses the Silver Horn of Valhalla to summon four berserkers who chase after the goblins. The few that survive for more than a minute turn and try to run.

On the third day, the adventurers follow the trail of footprints into a box canyon. The trail heads right up to an entrance in a cliff face. The two iron doors to the dungeon lie open. They lead to a stair headed 20 feet down into a dungeon.

The adventurers descend into the dungeon and find a number of abandoned rooms. Dust and cobwebs cover everything. There is no sign of intelligent life. They do come across a Gelatinous Cube and a Black pudding slime monster but they avoid them. In an abandoned kitchen they find the corpse of a goblin, apparently dead for at least several days. In an octagonal room with four doors, they find a gold statue of a warrior. Turning the statue to face a door causes a rumbling noise that lasts less than a minute. Then one of the doors can be opened. Eathwund and Lakima agree that the room might be an elevator. They try it a few times but the nearby halls appear to be the same.

In one chamber they find a chapel with a demon idol. Lantosh and Domago feel unsettled by the statue and Domago casts Dispel Evil upon it. After that, the altar braziers dim and go out and the feeling of encroaching evil leaves the chamber. They continue searching through the dungeons looking for any sign of the Earl of Locklande or the Creature who kidnapped him.

The Stealer of Children

In the last session, I was not certain which direction the players would go so I had several adventures ready. One of the toss in short encounters was a modification of "The Stealer of Children" from Small Niche Games written by Peter C. Spahn. The adventure was written for levels 1-3 of Labyrinth Lord but because of the nature of the adventure, I found it quite easy to modify the adventure for levels 5-10 for Swords & Wizardry. The adventure involves a single fey antagonist who has resistance to most attacks.

The adventure went very well. I think the players enjoyed the change of pace. It is more of a thinking player's adventure. The final solution that came up with (in the next session) was not what was intended but it worked out.

Session 95: The Stealer of Children

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).

After a day Alayna has identified all of the potions the Company found in the cave of the mad alchemist. Lakima decides he has some of his own potion-making he wants to do. He heads over to the Mages Guild to make use of the alchemy lab. He is out when Lantosh brings up the issue of recovering Aashdoshan’s body. Domago says he regrets leaving the body behind but the building was collapsing. Eathwund agrees to go with Domago and Lantosh and Fenris gives Lantosh the Spade of Excavation.

Traveling outside the town to the south the three men arrive at the cemetery. They find that the Tower has completely collapsed and is now just a large heap of rubble with a few standing segments of walls. A pair of members of the town watch stand guard (or are actually seated on some stools rescued from the rubble). Lantosh scouts the rubble and gets the spade of excavation digging in the area he thinks is where the upper floor would have collapsed. After an hour the spade has uncovered a large area and they find Aashdoshan’s skeletal remains. An intact coffin is found in the rubble and it is used to remove the body from the hole. Eathwund pays a passing carter with a wagon 20 gold to haul the coffin to the Apothecary shop in Edgerton (likely years pay or more for the carter). Malyn takes charge of the remains and places a golden Mask of Peaceful Repose over Aashdoshan’s “face”.

The three make their way back to the Manor House. Outside they see a fine horse and carriage awaiting with footmen wearing the colors of the Town of Edgerton. Inside the Manor they find Baron Lucien Vorloi waiting for them. The baron swears them to secrecy and tells them that Earl Stefan of Lockeland has been missing for a year – taken in the middle of the night by the Creature of Rhyl. A mysterious beast that has been hunting livestock and the occasional villager during the night in Lockeland for the past ten years. This attack is different from the rest. Rather than a simple hunt for food, it seems more directed. The beast took Lord Stefan and two powerful magic items from the treasury. These are not the actions of a simple beast. The mages of the Ducal Court suspect that the wizard Astylis is behind the actions of the creature.

The Baron tells them that several companies of mercenaries and a cohort of the knights were sent to the location of Astylis’ complex and none returned. Recent divination confirmed that Duke Stefan is still alive so Duke Robert asked his court for suggestions. The Baron explains that he suggested the Company of the Black Dragon be hired. He is counting on their improving his standing with Lord Robert and on their discretion. So far, Lord Robert has been keeping Earl Stefan’s disappearance secret. Eathwund tells the Baron that they cannot agree to the terms (payment of 8,000 gold coins) without consulting Lakima who is busy. They promise to let him know before the sunset of the day.

Eathwund and Domago head over to the Mages Guild and disturb Lakima working on creating Healing potions. Lakima listens and agrees to the deal. A map is laid out and the distance to Leandra’s Row is plotted. It looks to be a journey that will take a few weeks. But Lakima tells them to send a note to the Baron that they will take the job and they will be in Leandra’s Row in 2 days.

The next day preparations are made for the journey. Lakima studies maps and asks Domago (who is from Lockeland) if there are any bridges in Leandra’s Row. Domago goes to Cromly’s and is shown the artisan’s latest creation – Cromly’s Marvellous Sling bullets. He is selling the explosive sling bullets for 100 gold each. Domago asks to buy all 20 that have been produced but has to borrow gold from Eathwund to do it.

The group hires a riverboat and spends 2 days traveling to the Dolm ferry. Lakima, Eathwund, Domago, Alrix, Flora, Fenris, and Lantosh are on the journey. From the ferry, they head north and then east into Kingswood. As the trees begin to close in, they meet some Elven Rangers. Once the rangers realize that they are the Company of the Black Dragon, they let them pass. Shorty, thereafter they arrive at the Bridgeway and greet the Custodian of the Bridge, the wizard Ezmeraldan. Lakima greets the old mage and asks for a portal to be opened to Leandra’s Row. The mage agrees and sets the crystals in the portal. The adventurers then cross the bridge and step off one end at the Cherry Creek bridge in Leandra’s Row, magically transported by the portal magic of the Bridgeway.

As soon as they find themselves in Leandra’s Row, the group sees a young farmer running toward them yelling.

“Help, help, he is trying to kill me!”

They see another man clad in rusted, old plate armor clumsily chasing the farmer. Without a whole lot of time to get an explanation, the adventurers move to protect the farmer who hides behind Lantosh. Eathwund, Domago, and Alrix move to block the knight. Alrix sends his dancing sword to attack. The knight is struck several times breaking off pieces of armor and they see that the armor is animated by a skeleton. After a few more blows the skeleton collapses. The adventurers ask the farmer for an explanation and he explains that he was chopping firewood from a downed tree when the knight exploded out of the very tree. Lakima insists the farmer show them the tree. They travel 20 minutes into the deep woods and find a large oak tree in a clearing. The tree has been split in two by a lightning strike and is badly damaged by fire. The tree grows out of a low mound of earth. A large, flat rock rests over a hole beneath the roots. Eathwund asks if they should move the stone, but they decide to the village and report what they found.

Leandra’s Row is a small farm village along Duke’s Road. The road passes through the village linking Lockeland with Thurmany. There is a tavern with a few rooms named “The Red Smile” and a nearby Abbey. They learn that the land and the village are managed by the sisters of the order of St. Leandra. The town is known for its cherry trees. The village warder, Arlen Travers, has the body of the knight taken to the abbey. Sister Allisen tells them that the heraldic designs on the knight indicate he was a member of Lansing House. The former Lords of Leandra. The Lansings died out hundreds of years ago. The last Lord Lansing was killed in a fire that destroyed Lansing Manor.

The adventurers go to the Red Smile tavern and meet their contact, Sir Angus Goblinbane. Their contact turns out to be a very old knight of some repute. Sir Angus shows them on a map where the location of Astylis’ complex is suspected to lie – about 2 days ride north.

The party spends the night in the tavern. They find they have to sleep on the tavern floor as the tavern has only 2 rooms for rent and Sir Angus has taken the larger one. The next morning there is a commotion in the village. They learn that a child went missing during the night. Disappearing from home with no signs of disturbance. The adventurers do head over to where the villagers have gathered to organize search parties. Arlen Travers is doing the organizing. Lakima tells Arlen that if the Company is paid in gold they will look for the missing child. This angers the warder who asks them to begone from the village.

While walking away from the village gathering, Lantosh stops and tells Lakima that he will return and help the villagers find the missing child. Domago agrees and also turns to leave. Lakima calls them back and tells them that he thinks the child was taken by a fey creature and that the key to finding the child is investigating the lightning-struck oak. He is convinced that it is a fairy mound. Lakima suggests they investigate it immediately.

The entire group heads out of the village and into the Tanglewood forest. Soon they arrive at the clearing with the lightning-damaged tree. Eathwund tries to move the boulder without success. He also tries with Lantosh’s aid and still fails. Finally, Lantosh taps Domago on the shoulder and the two manage to lever the stone to one side. Below the rock is a large hole dug in the ground. Fenris slides down into the hole and calls up that there is a tunnel below. The entire group descents. Lakima provides light with his glowing staff and Lantosh lights a lantern. Flora and Alrix take the lead using their superior dark vision.

The tunnel winds through the earth continually descending. Finally, they arrive at an intersection and see a pair of chambers dug out of the earth. The nearest chamber is full of detritus including some disturbing items like children’s clothing and toys. Lakima enters and looks around and is attacked suddenly by three tiny 1-foot-tall fey creatures. One of them bites him on the leg. Lakima releases the efreet Khisa from its bottle and orders it to erect a Wall of Fire. The fire springs up blocking the creatures from the group but it also fills the small tunnels with smoke. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla summoning a cohort of berserkers to appear on the other side of the flames. They hear some screaming and then quiet. Coughing, Lakima tells Khisa to drop the wall of fire. The flames vanish and they see three hacked-up corpses of the tiny fey. Eathwund searches through the debris and finds the ancient skeleton of a child with a silver locket about his neck. They decide to take the child’s bones and place them in the Bag of Holding.

In the next chamber, they find a disturbingly large number of human bones. All of the bones are clearly those of human children and most are very old. Some have almost disintegrated. The newest bones are at least a few hundred years old. All show signs of having been eaten.

Armed with this knowledge the group moves deeper into the earth following the tunnel eventually arriving in a large cave bisected by a swiftly moving stream. Lantosh leads the way cautiously holding his lantern out in front. Soon the light falls on a fey creature resting on a bed of children’s clothes, dolls, and toys. The creature stirs as the light falls over it. The fey creature is short in stature about 4 feet tall with green skin, short horns, and long hair. The creature rises and taunts the adventurers in gibberish muttered in elvish. Its sentences end in gurgling laughter and the phrase “grombel… grombel… grombel..”

Disgusted by the creature, which claims to be eating the missing child, the group attack. Eathwund and Lantosh strike at it with their weapons and Alrix send the sword of dancing at it. All of the attacks miss. Domago blows the Horn and two berserkers appear and attack but they also miss. Then the creature turns into a cloud of cold mist and slowly drifts over to a dirt wall and passes through it.

The adventurers wait for a short time but the creature does not appear. A slightly rattled Fenris keeps repeating that they need to leave. Finally, Lantosh suggests they check the other passage. This passage leads to a wooden wall with a door in the center. Eathwund moves to the door and Fenris joins him. Fenris listens and tells everyone he can hear a human child crying. Domago cautions that this could be a trap.

Eathwund swings the door open and they see a crudely constructed child’s bedroom. A crying girl of around 5 years of age rests on a bed. Lantosh rushes forward and picks up the child comforting her. Eathwund checks the chamber for magic but finds none.

“We need to get her out of here,” urges Lantosh.

The group immediately leaves and heads back through the forest to the village. The child’s parents eagerly come running once the word is spread that the adventurers found the child. At first, the child is unable to speak but eventually, the young girl tells her parents that a creature appeared in her bedroom and she was frozen with fear. Then it picked her up and they floated through walls and through the air to the bedroom beneath the ground.

Arlen Travers arrives and thanks the adventurers calling them heroes and telling them he was wrong to doubt them. Later he asks them to meet Mother Mills with him at the abbey. The skeleton of a child they found is identified by one of the nuns as Evan Lansing. The locket he was wearing shows the Lord and Lady Lansing, the last Lansing family members to rule the area. Sister Allisen identified the child from the research she had done on the history of the area. The heroes are not certain how this all connects. Lakima is still wondering if this is somehow connected to the Creature of Rhyl. A mission that they need to get started on soon. In the meantime, they return to the Red Smile tavern.

Golem amok

This session was something that came together quickly. The players deftly avoided some travel encounters by risking using teleport from the end of the last adventure directly to their home. I had nothing ready. I did have a former character for a player that left the group due to scheduling. His character, a necromancer, had been gradually sliding towards chaos and the player suggested to me that his character get taken down by his own undead minions. Since the character is carrying an artifact that is central to the overall plot I had been running him as an NPC for a few sessions trying to figure out what to do with him. The need for a quick adventure for the week was the impetus to come up with an idea. I took some location maps that were already done and added a free-willed golem created by a Cursed Manual of Golem creation.

Session 94: On the trail of the Monster

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

The adventurers spend a week resting and recuperating at their Manor House in Edgerton. Eathwund checks in on the tavern he owns and finds everything running smoothly. Alrix goes to merchant Clearwin and commissions a device that will make his physical attacks magical – at a cost of 1,800 gold. Domago speaks with Clearwin and then commissions Cromly the smith to make him magical sling bullets that will explode with fire on contact with a target – for 1,500 gold. Domago also asks Cromly about elemental sling bullets.

Lakima prepares magical protection circles and releases the Efreet Khisa again. He bargains with Khisa. Khisa offers the location of the arch-mage Keraptis’ tower in exchange for his freedom (an obvious adventurer hook). Lakima successfully gets Khisa to agree to the year and one-day standard agreement of service with the promise that he will break the brass jar when the service is complete (so much for that side quest).

After eight days of quiet, breakfast is interrupted by Sergeant Frans of the local Watch. Frans asks to see Aashdoshan but the latter is not around. Frans explains that a Tower appeared overnight in a field near the cemetery south of town. There must be some strong necromancy involved because some of the dead have risen from the nearby cemetery and are preventing the watch from investigating. Frans asks the adventurers for help.

Lakima agrees to help on behalf of the group. Frans tells him the watch will escort him to the tower. When Lakima dismisses the escort Frans insists. The watch is needed to keep locals away. Eathwund, Alrix, Domago, and Lantosh get prepared for some fighting. Flora, Fenris, and Aashdoshan are missing from the Manor. Lakima does go in search of Aashdoshan in the cellar but finds the chamber empty.

Sergeant Frans leads the adventurers south of the town along the Dolm river. Soon they make out the shape of a square tower with a wide base resting crookedly in a field where no tower stood before. Trees and dirt are tossed aside around the base of the new tower. Lakima immediately realizes that the tower is the same shape and form as Aashdoshan’s Tower in a Book that they have used so often. This one is made of stone and not paper. This confirms his suspicion that something must have happened to the Infinity Glass in the tower while it was in Aashdoshan’s possession.

A group of a dozen zombies can be seen standing idly around the base of the tower. The tower has no windows and only a single door where the zombies are the most concentrated. Domago steps forward and presents his Holy Symbol to the zombies causing several to stagger away toward the cemetery. Lakima unstops the efreeti bottle and releases Khisa. He tells the efreet to raise a Wall of Fire to keep the zombies at bay. The men of the watch are terrified of the flaming efreet but Lakima puts their fears at bay.

The adventurers and the efreet enter the tower one at a time. They find themselves in the familiar waiting room of the Tower in a Book confirming their fears. The adventurers make their way through the tower finding many doors open. On the second floor, they encounter some zombies which Domago turns. On the third floor, they find the iron gate torn off its hinges, and in the prison, they find the door of one cell knocked to the floor. They also discover Fenris, badly injured and hiding in a locked cell.

Once released Fenris tells them that he was doing a job in the cemetery with Aashdoshan last night. As they approached the cemetery Aashdoshan cursed and tossed the Book of the Tower to the ground. A moment later the tower appeared with a crash. Aashdoshan ordered Fenris into the tower with him. On the top floor, they encountered a berserk Golem made up of human body parts. Aashdoshan clearly recognized the creature and tried to calm it down but the creature grabbed Aashdoshan by the neck and snapped it. Fenris decided to run but he was struck by a hurled table. He managed to get to the prison cells and locked himself in. He heard the creature pass down the hallway many hours ago.

On the top floor of the tower, the adventurers find the workshop in shambles. Lying near an overturned table is Aashdoshan. Not only dead, but he has rapidly aged to a skeleton. They also find a shattered Infinity Glass and the Manual of Golem creation lying on the floor. Lakima takes the Manual and Aashdoshan’s Staff of Undead Command. Eathwund picks up Aashdoshan’s duffle bag. Domago takes the time to pray over Aashdoshan’s remains but tells the group that Aashdoshan’s soul is gone. He cannot be raised from the dead.

The adventurers leave the tower and begin searching the grounds for footprints. Their activity attracts the attention of several zombies. The zombies all walk into the Wall of Fire and are burnt to ashes. Lakima finds giant footprints leading west from the tower through farmland toward the nearby forested hills.

Lakima tells Sergeant Frans about the escaped Golem and that the tower belonged to Aashdoshan. Frans asks several questions about the responsibility for the golem. Lakima convinces him that Aashdoshan is to blame and not the Company of the Black Dragon. He tells Frans that the tower is unstable and should not be entered. As if to punctuate this point, the tower settles and parts of one wall collapse. Lakima tells the group that they need to follow the trail of tracks. Lakima asks if everyone is ready to leave and Fenris says that he is too injured to join them. Domago casts healing on Fenris removing that argument. Fenris still says it is more important to clear the tower first. Since no one wants to go back inside Fenris goes on his own while the group speaks with the watchmen. He emerges a half-hour later dragging a large sack he has filled with Aashdoshan’s belongings. Lakima forces Fenris to hand each item over one at a time and place them in the Bag of Holding. Domago suspiciously asks Fenris several questions about his motives – seemingly convinced that Fenris is under a charm or up to no good. Finally, the group sets off following the trail of large footprints.

The trail leads through several farms. The adventurers question locals and learn that the creature has gone this way and has stolen a live cow. The trail leads up into the hills to the mouth of a cave on the side of a hill. A rotted rope hangs from a nearby tree.

The adventurers enter the cave and find a recently killed bear lying in a pile of leaves. Beyond the immediate cave is a chasm that cuts across the path. A crude bridge formed by logs has been pushed down in the chasm. At the bottom of the chasm, they spot giant fire beetles moving about. Eathwund tells everyone that this is the Alchemist’s Cave that they explored a few years ago. Lakima tells Khisa to lift the logs out of the chasm to reform the bridge. He descends and with some effort manages to lift the logs into place. Fenris runs quickly across. The logs prove to be slightly unstable so the rest of the adventurers are ferried across by Khisa. He sets everyone down in a large cave with another exit. Half of the cave is flooded with the freshwater of a spring. Khisa looks curiously into the pool and sees a ripple of colored water moving toward him.

A Potion Weird, twenty-feet tall, erupts from the pool and bites Lantosh. The heroes slash away at the weird until it settles back down into the pool and dissipates. They leave the cave and continue on entering the large cavern where the mad alchemist carried out his experiments. Pools of liquid are scattered across the cave floor. A few of the pools are dried up but most of them still contain some liquid. Fenris carefully walks out amongst the pools and the rest of the group starts to spread out.

“Careful, it must be here, there are no other exits,” Lakima warns.

With a loud roar, the golem strides from the shadows and swings at Eathwund with a fist the size of his head. The punch misses, and Eathwund quickly counters with his sword, cutting deeply into the golem’s side. Blood and viscera splatter onto the cave floor. Domago blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla summoning two berserkers to the fight. Alrix attacks with his Sword of Dancing and Lakima strikes the golem with his staff of striking. The staff seems to misfire but the other attacks strike the golem – which appears clumsy and easy to hit. The golem does manage to punch Lantosh in the shoulder knocking the fighter down, but soon the sheer number of adventurers slash the golem to pieces until the light in its eyes is extinguished.

Lakima orders Khisa to return to town and come back with many glass containers. The rest of the group sits about in the cavern waiting for several hours for the efreet to return. Eventually, Khisa does return with a sack full of mismatched glass bottles. Lakima rebukes Khisa for taking so long.

“I had to steal them from several different shops,” Khisa replies.

The adventurers drain the remaining pools into glass containers and then leave the cave. They return to the tower near the cemetery and let Frans know that the monster has been killed. Then they return to their Manor House. Alayna agrees to identify the potions.