Session 1 - The Lake Region - Tuesday group
OUR PARTY: Clovis (Fighter 1) Alyssa (M-U 1) Ralami (Cleric 1) Goatsberg (Thief 1)
Our party meet and sign on as an adventuring company in a little fortified trade-post in the windswept, witch-scoured, heather-scrapped hills. From the mercenaries, the master of the place, and the various laborers at the tower's sleeping-hall, they've heard about a fortress dug into the cliffs by the Lake which was raided by some nomads a few weeks back, as well as bandits out East and a ruined tower further West. They decide on the fortress, and head West. The place is dug into the cliff, some thirty feet from the surface above. They note four potential entrances - a warehouse deck with a winch-spool, two buildings with a broken bridge between them, and a tower jutting out with the lake. They descend to the smaller of the two buildings
They have little trouble descending the cliff with rope, lighting a lantern and sending the thief ahead. They advance forward, bullseye lantern giving excellent visibility, coming to an intersection with a door on their left, see four giant ants, and immediately shut it again, then break rightward down the corridor. The thief, in the lead, peers into an open space where a door used to be - he sees a massive demonic statue and seven (!!) zombies, one with a spear thrust through it. He tries to run away - but loses initiative, and is killed in one hit. The zombies shamble up the passage, so the main body of the party baits out the giant ants and lets them fight the undead horde. The ants kill the zombies, neatly disassemble the bodies, and carry them off.
Our party continues on down the way the zombies were, into the room with the statue, and find a bag full of silver - and yellow mold. They place it in the corridor for later. They also find a bunch of crates of rotten meat and leather. Finding little of value, and wanting to avoid messing with the statue, they cross to the other side of the corridor and investigate a door - a giant ant! They run for their lives, back into the room with the rotten meat, and throw the crates to the ant - the ant, busy with the crates, ignores them leaving past it. Searching the room beyond the one with the ant in it, they come upon a room with a disturbed floor - and discover a pit trap - fortunately, with the pole. Smashing the covering causes a dangerous cloud of yellow mold spores to spray up - fortunately, the magic-user makes her save vs poison, and the party turns around to go the other way. They go into a large natural cave, find nothing but a door beyond and a suspiciously similar-looking thief rappelling down from a chimney in the roof, and listen at it - the thief hears conversation and gambling beyond, in an alignment tongue (Chaotic Evil) that he doesnât know. Fortunately, the cleric does know it, and she takes her turn at the door - deciphering the words, she hears a man say âpraise be to Demogorgon!â as money changes hands. She tells the party that they sound like very nice people. The party turns around again, and heads back up the passage, to a broken bridge over a chasm. Theyâve backed themselves into a corner, with stone at their sides and the chasm at their backs, as a flickering shadow crosses their lanternâs beam - then closer - then a humanoid silhouette coalesces out of the darkness, and speeds forward in a charge! The magic-user casts her missile, the cleric fails to turn, and they throw much oil - but, immune to normal weapons as it is, the party canât really do shit to the shadow, and they book it as far and fast as they can. The cleric reaches the room with the chaotic evil humans again, and tries to negotiate - the magic-user and thief, carrying the unconscious fighter, juke the shadow in the cave and flee out toward the tower that projects over the lake. In the tower, they find three zombies - the witch and thief drop their charge, slam the door shut, and make ready to fight with oil and darts. Retreating up the bridge, they manage by a stroke of luck and a good oil flask to slay the undead creatures - and retreat to town. Twelve days pass in the trading post, they get a new cleric and a huge ladder, and return to the dungeon. Carrying the ladder to the chasm, they see a ghoul, cross it, and find themselves in deep ant territory - so they turn around to brave the ghoul, which is killed easily. Finally, they go back to the cave and kill the berserkers, and thatâs where we ended the night
The players missed a lot of loot this time - I was a little stingy with it, largely because the other group had already largely cleared the place out. The players had bad luck with random encounters, as well, scoring the two nastiest ones in the entire dungeon. I was a little slipshod with timekeeping and shouldn't have let those zombies roll initiative - the thief ought to have gotten away.
I think the group's play was good, if cautious - they listened at doors, they checked for traps, they retreated when they could have advanced. A lack of axes cost them forward progress, and I think I perhaps ought to have had something worthwhile across the chasm. They'll finish out the current delve, but I'm not sure they'll attempt Cliffport again - maybe the druid tower?
RUNNING MILLIWHACKS: 500