Real date: 2/11/18, 2/25/18 In-game date: October 5th and 6th, EY632
PCs:
Ambrose (Swordsman – Fighter L3)
Zort (Adept – Cleric L2)
Imric (Warrior/Seer Fighter L2/MU L2)
Roger (Outlander – Warden L2)
Hirelings:
Thom (torchbearer)
Rolgrim
In our last session, Asher the thief met his demise at the hands of a giant serpent. The party stayed for a week in town and got to know their new companion, Zort, Adept of Odin. Imric scribed another sleep scroll while Roger foraged for some raw material for his healing poultices. Thus rested & restocked, the party headed back to the Giant Fall dungeon.
They wanted to continue exploring the northern section, past where Asher had been killed. But they never made it that far – passing the old library, they ran into a pack of Goblins led by three white apes. After a round of flaming oil and a few rounds of melee, several of the remaining Goblins fled north with an ape. While deciding what to do, Imric spotted a large wolf approaching from the south, soon followed by the Goblins and ape that had fled. They were trying to sneak up on the party! Instead, they faced Imric’s bow and sleep spell, and a few more rounds of melee for good measure. In the end, Zort, Rolgrim and Ambrose were wounded, so the party collected a few meager coins from the Goblins, the ape and wolf pelts, and returned to town.
While in town the party sold the ape pelts to an exotic clothier they came across in the Frostmark market, and Imric bought a tome from a traveling salesman that was said to aid in identification of magical artifacts (Ellwood’s Forgotten Compendium). Zort visited the Temple of Soldra and managed to procure a potion of healing and a vial of holy water. The next morning they returned to the dungeon, this time exploring the south and east portions.
First, they came across an old workshop. Inside were various old tools and benches, mostly in a state of disrepair. There was one exit door. Imric listened at it, hearing clattering and scraping noises. Zort’s desiccated finger became warm, signaling chaos nearby. They opened the door, and ten skeletons in chain armor were almost upon them! Zort turned away four with the help of Odin, leaving the party to battle the remaining six. In the ensuing melee, the skeletons were destroyed but Roger and Zort were wounded. They retreated back to the workshop to heal themselves, and continued on.
Next they came upon a circular room whose floor was covered in weeds. They could see an odd lump in the center of the room, beneath the weeds, and Roger, not wanting to take any chances, fired an arrow at it. Almost immediately, the weeds formed into three spider-like creatures who advanced faster than expected. The party met them in the hallway outside the room, and was able to defeat them with minor injuries to Imric and Roger. When they entered the room, they discovered that the lump under the weeds had been the body of some poor adventurer. On him they found a pouch filled with gold coins and a scroll of undead protection.
Moving on, the party came to a large chamber with cracks in the floor and chunks of stone scattered about, with a larger pile of stone at one end. A strong smell of decay wafted up from the cracks in the floor, but before the party could do much they were attacked by two ghouls. They killed the ghouls without too much trouble – luckily no one was paralyzed. Roger dropped a torch down one of the cracks, and peered down, spying more ghouls in another chamber perhaps 20 feet below, moving in and out of the torchlight. He had limited success throwing rocks at the ghouls from above, while the others searched the rubble. Imric had much more success at locating a secret panel in the floor beneath the larger rock pile, concealing a chest in a small hollow. Inside were gems and jewels, and some appeared to be quite valuable.
Imric collected the loot and the party headed north. They went through a door and into a dimly lit room where they were surprised by a man in chain armor, surrounded by four skeletons. Zort quickly turned the skeletons away but the man inflicted a grave wound on Imric with but a touch. Imric backed away and the (now presumed to be) evil Cleric soon fell in melee. The party stripped him of his chain armor and mace, and returned to Frostmark.
DM notes: The initial encounter with the goblins and apes was a result of ‘dungeon re-stocking’, which I am now known for and which makes the players leery of long delays in town. They never know what might appear in a previously cleared section of dungeon.
The OD&D treasure tables can sometimes give crazy results. The chest the party found contained over 10,000gp in jewels. I kept the result as-is since I rolled it randomly and the party had not had any hauls of that magnitude in previous sessions.
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