Session #19 “Tentacled Horrors and Purple Mist” – 11/1/15

Although the various adventuring parties have explored all of level 1 of the Caves of Woe at this point, I make a point to restock rooms when at least a few days have passed. Certain rooms the players avoided early on (thinking them to be traps) they came back to when their PCs were higher level. This is what happened in this session with a mysterious room whose floor was covered by a dense, purple mist.

~

The party explored more of level 1 in this session, running into some wandering rock spiders, and burning alive a Worm of 1000 Cuts at the bottom of an earthen pit. They also recovered a golden ring (Ring of Archery) on a Dwarf skeleton tangled in vines with the clever use of a potion of plant control. The trouble came in the purple mist room –  actually filled 20 feet deep with cold water shrouded by a topmost layer of mist, and home to a tentacled horror. Garros discovered a narrow ledge on the edge of the room, leading to an opposing door. While trying to traverse it, he lost his balance and fell into the water, then frantically tried to jettison armor and equipment as he sunk below. Tentacles grabbed him, wounding him and pulling him to certain death, but he was saved in the end by M, who jumped in and cut through the tentacles holding him, then grabbed a rope thrown by Rozell. The party retreated to the caves entrance, warning Garros up with a fire and heading back to town.

PCs:

Garros the Dwarf Fighter (Level 5)
M’Segobaor the Elf FM/MU (Level 4/1)
Rozell the Cleric (Level 1)

NPCs:

None

Hirelings:

Kilgard – Survived!
Stavros – Survived!
Tal – The porter – Survived!

Monsters vanquished:

Worm of 1000 Cuts, at the bottom of a deep, earthen pit above a tripod
12 Piercers, in a cave whose floor was covered with vines and hiding a Dwarf skeleton
5 Stone Spiders, wandering

Monsters Encountered:

Tentacled horror living underwater in purple mist room

Treasure:

White gold ring found amongst vines on Dwarf skeleton’s hand (ring of archery, +1 to-hit with any pulled bow)

~

Session #18 “The Underdark Encroaches…” – 10/16/15

The party headed back to the caves after a week, M spent the time researching his magic and crafting a scroll while the others rested and enjoyed the company of townsfolk in the Dead Witch Inn. They returned to the caves via the north entrance, this time encountering no resistance as they made their way south, towards the one area not yet fully explored – the stone warrior room.

PCs:

Garros the Dwarf Fighter (Level 4,)
M’Segobaor the Elf FM/MU (Level 4/1)
Marton the Fighter (Level 1)
Farfuleg the Bold (Level 3 Fighter)

Hirelings:

Stavros – Survived!
Tal – The porter – Survived!

Monsters Encountered:

2 Flagstone spiders (slain)
1 Dark Elf (ran and disappeared)

Treasure:

Battle-axe “Skull Cleaver” (Finely crafted equivalent +1 but not magical)

~

Arriving finally at the stone warrior room, the party found it quiet and undisturbed, the remnants of their prior battle with the stone warriors still scattered about the floor. The main room was a luxurious foyer with hearth, bearskin rug, unlit fireplace and two sconces on the wall providing (clearly magical) light. To the south, the party could see large double doors. Marton explored an open archway to the north, while Farfuleg explored a broken door to the east. Marton walked through the arch, into a small room with an empty dais of green marble on the north wall. He approached the dais and touched it with his sword, Garros and M watching from afar as he blinked out of existence!

Meanwhile, Farfuleg entered the broken door into a room whose floor was cluttered with stone fragments, a battle-axe, and the remains of a long-dead adventurer next to a rotted leather backpack. Farfuleg prodded the backback with his sword, intent on opening it. As he did so, a cloud of yellow dust burst forth. He leapt back out of the room, just in time to avoid the dust. When it settled he approached again, this time avoiding the backpack but retrieving the battle-axe from the floor. It was finely crafted, blue-tinged steel with runes carved on the shaft. They appeared to be Dwarven runes, but even Garros could not decipher them, thinking them some ancient form of Dwarvish.

Before leaving, the party decided to investigate the double doors to the south. When Garros opened one of the doors, however, beyond was darkness not even he could see past – almost certainly magically enhanced. A bit of crafty exploring showed that the darkness extended 10 feet, beyond which were two more doors, leading outside. Two spiked pits were between the inner doors and this egress, one taken up by a large, decomposing creature. The party decided to leave the pits and return to find Marton, exploring the by now well-known southern reaches of the caves.

Meanwhile, Marton found himself in darkness but at least on a stone floor, unharmed. He lit a torch and saw he was in a 20’x30′ room with a half-raised portcullis to the east and black bone shards covering the floor. He threw caution to the wind and started exploring alone, to the east. He made it through several rooms the party had previously explored without him, passing four dead giant toads and finally ending up in one of the large jail-cell rooms. He had been there but a minute when he heard shouts to the west and ran that way, back towards the portcullis room.

While searching for Marton, Garros had run into two wandering flagstone spiders just outside of the portcullis room. He had no problem slaying them, but Marton heard the sounds of battle and appeared in the hallway several minutes later, just as Garros slew the last spider. Happy to be reunited, the party decided to head back to town and try their luck with the lower levels of the caves another day.

On the way back to the north entrance, Garros was scouting ahead as normal when he rounded a corner and found himself face-to-face with a Dark Elf! Garros tried to engage the Elf in a parley, but the Elf saw through his offer of a map of the caves and attacked with a glowing sword! Garros drew his handaxe, now also glowing, a bright red. The rest of the party rushed to his aid, too late as the Elf enshrouded he and Garros in a globe of pitch darkness. Garros dove to the floor and rolled towards the Elf, but a lucky sword strike by the Elf hit home. By the time Garros and the others emerged from the globe of darkness, the Elf was gone, and Garros was badly wounded.

~

Session #17  “My Gods Man, Look at the Armor!” – 10/11/15

This was a short session, but fruitful for the Elf who needed magical armor or Elvish chain in order to cast spells while wearing said armor. I also introduced the party to the Grendel, tougher than normal humanoids who fight with two weapons.

PCs:

Garros the Dwarf Fighter (Level 4)
M’Segobaor the Elf FM/MU (Level 4/1)
Marton the Fighter (Level 1)

NPCs:

Farfuleg the Bold (Level 3 Fighter)

Hirelings:

Stavros – Survived!
Corsus – RIP – Killed by the skillful blades of a Grendel fighter
Tal – The porter – Survived!

Monsters vanquished:

6 Grendel

Treasure:

Elvish chain armor

~

After a several-day rest in town, the group headed to the caves on a grey, overcast, cold morning, joined by Marton the Fighter.  They approached the usual north entrance and from a distance, saw an odd sight – two man-sized creatures fighting with several smaller ones. The one-sided fight ended quickly, and as there was nowhere to hide, the group decided to try and draw the larger creatures to them. With that in mind, Marton ran parallel to the caves, indeed drawing one of the creatures out, but the other briefly disappeared, presumably to call for reinforcements. This was confirmed when even as Marton engaged the one creature, four others appeared in the cave mouth. They were humanoid, with pointed ears and protruding, sharp teeth. Each wielded two swords.  The rest of the group rushed the cave entrance, meeting the five creatures halfway. The battle was on. The creatures were quite adept at two-weapon fighting, and were able to wound both Farfuleg and M, and slay Corsus before they were killed. Luckily, Marton made short work of his opponent, and after scrounging a dozen gold coins from the bodies, the group secured Corsus’ body in the wagon and approached the north entrance again.

Having cleared most of the first level at this point, the party was on the hunt for any treasure they may have left behind in their wanderings. First up was the locked door in the Kobold lair, also the site of the recent troll encounter. The party made their way back to the door, set atop a narrow staircase on the east end of that room. Marton and Garros set about breaking the door down, as it was still locked. When done, they looked into a small (10’x10′) room, empty save for a large, brass chest in the middle of the floor. Marton cautiously threw a rope lasso around the chest and pulled – he did not move the chest but an inch before the floor around it melted away before their eyes, being replaced by wall-to-wall water, save for the small island upon which the chest rested. The party devised a plan to get the chest by laying wood from the broken door across the water, this done Marton retrieved the chest. He popped the silver hasp with a dagger, avoiding a needle set in the lock, and opened the chest. Inside was a finely crafted suit of chain armor. As soon as M saw it, his eyes lit up. It was of Elvish make! Negotiations ensued, with the end result being that Marton had a new sword (M’s magical sword) and M had the suit of Elvish chain. Content with their take for now, the party decided to head back to town.

~

Session #16 – “In Which M’ the Elf has Fun with Goblins at a Barbecue” – 10/4/15

PCs:

Garros the Dwarf Fighter (Level 4)
M’Segobaor the Elf FM/MU (Level 4/1)

NPCs:

Farfuleg the Bold (Level 3 FM)

Hirelings:

Stavros – Survived!
Freya – RIP – Killed by a troll!
Corsus – Survived!
Tal – The porter – Survived!

Monsters vanquished:

34 Goblins
One Ogre
One Troll

Treasure:

None!

~

When we last left out brave adventurers, they were investigating a giant mushroom-filled cavern with mud covering the floor up to 10 inches in depth, at least as far as Garros had tried to test it. A bit of cautious exploring led to the discovery of a half-dozen cave inhabitants, short, stocky, grayish beings [Note: Skinkmen] who were happy to talk after the party shared some rations. They warned of a few trapdoor spiders far down the eastern exit tunnel, and the party took their leave, trudging east through the muck until it grew shallow and the party was back to dry cavern floor. Garros attempted to scout ahead, keeping a wary eye for spiders, and heard many boot-falls coming his way, he guessed at least 20 from the noise in the ever-widening eastern tunnel. Trying to stay concealed, he waited a minute and spied a large contingent of sword-wielding Goblins, marching in ranks of three abreast. He quickly informed the others, and they devised a plan of sneak attack. Waiting until the last possible minute, M’ leapt out from behind a cave wall, discharging his wand of fireballs at the Goblin horde. A fireball filled the long tunnel, and the wand disintegrated [it had but one charge remaining], but the fire had worked better than intended. When the smoke cleared, only nine Goblins remained standing. Garros and M’ rushed in before the Goblins could get away. One fell to Garros’ glowing handaxe, eight others were slept by M’s sleep scroll. M’ and Garros stood back and surveyed the scene – the wide tunnel was filled with fallen Goblins, 34 of them! Garros killed seven of the eight sleeping Goblins, then attempted to question one, but to no avail – it spat at him and spoke of its master being angry and that he would seek revenge. Garros put the poor creature out of its misery, and the party continued exploring.

This time, they returned to the large room that had been a Kobold lair, now dark and empty save for the two stone chairs and statues of archers facing one another. Garros moved up a small staircase to investigate a locked door that they had not examined last time they were here, but he never got a chance to open it before a large Troll and Ogre walked into the room from the southern exit. M’s Elvish hearing warned him of their coming just in the nick of time, and he cast sleep from another scroll [we’re using the Holmes scroll creation rules], sleeping the Ogre but unfortunately also affecting Garros [sleep in S&W WB affects 1d6 creatures of 3 to 4+1 HD], still on the stairs, behind the Ogre. The Troll was not affected by such pedestrian magic, and moved in fast, gutting Freya with his powerful claws. The party was in dire straights! They could not run and leave Garros, so M’ fell back and opted for another spell, even as the others continued to fight. This time he cast light on the Troll’s head, blinding it. The Troll raged, clearly trying to use its sense of smell but not landing any blows. The party landed a few hits,  but the Troll’s wounds seemed to close in front of their eyes! M’ ran around the melee and woke Garros, and the two attacked from the rear as the rest of the party redoubled their efforts. Finally the Troll was slain, and quickly doused in oil and set alight. Merely happy to have survived, the party gathered Freya’s body and returned to Ravendale.

~

Session #15 – “In Which Dingo Loses his Hair” – 9/26/15

PCs:

Dingo the Bald – Level 1 Hobbit FM: RIP skewered by a goblin’s sword

Hirelings:

• Marton – meatshield
• Werig – meatshield
• Sturig – meatshield
• Burgard – torchbearer

Monsters vanquished:

Giant crocodile
Fearsome man-beast
2 goblins atop 2 wolves

Treasure:

7GP

~

Dingo the Hobbit set off for the Caves once again, with his entourage in tow, after a few days of R&R in town. The day was cold and overcast as they set off at daybreak. The journey was uneventful, and it was mid-day when they arrived at the bandit cave. The bandit’s bodies had been dragged from the cave, by what the party could not discern. Dingo set about examining the east door, and the rubble pile.  The door was found to be locked. After some discussion, it was decided the party would circle the hill and search for another entrance. Another entrance they found – on the opposite side of the hill, down a long, narrow tunnel accessed by a cave. Dingo crawled in and soon saw a set of winding stairs, plunging into the darkness. He fetched the party and with lit torches, they descended the staircase.

The stairs opened into a dark cavern, by the torch they could see the start of a pool of dark water in the center, which Dingo tried to give a wide birth by moving the party along the north wall. About 30 feet in, however, a giant crocodile slithered from the pool and attacked! The party fled into an adjoining room, the croc snapping his jaws at their feet. With no other options, t

hey turned and fought, eventually killing the croc. They had but a few moments to celebrate, however, from the darkness to the south they were surprised by a greyish, man-like creature who attacked without warning. He did not survive the party’s onslaught. but they decided to avoid the southern route with possibly more of such creatures.

So they proceeded east, through a door. On the other side of the door they found a small room, empty save for a mirror on one wall, surrounded by gold trim. Dingo was first to try and move it – as he touched it, he felt a jolt and was quite surprised to have aged some decades hence, having completely lost the hair from his head. A second try and he felt rejuvenated [+1 CON]. Not wanting to be left out, Sturig touched the mirror next. He did not feel at all different, until he tried to walk and noted his feet squeak loudly at each step.

Not wanting to tempt fate, the party moved on, with squeaky in tow. They explored further east and then south, through winding tunnels and eventually ending up in a finished stone corridor, next to a door. Dingo opened the door, which opened inward suddenly, almost sending him headlong into a black pit which took up the entire floor area of a small room. A single torch fell to its doom, but the party was not able to hear it hit bottom. Wisely moving on, the party soon came to another door, which opened into a long, narrow northern corridor. Dingo set out to scout ahead, but had to turn back when he was almost hit by an arrow trap. The arrow whizzed past his head, the noise of it hitting the opposite wall and alerting something that approached quickly.

Dingo ran back south, now being pursued by two goblins atop two wolves. Dingo made it back to the door just in time – Sturig slammed it shut and the party formed up as the goblins attempted to open it. They did so in short order, and the battle was on. One wolf fell to a hail of arrows, the other advanced, the now riderless goblin next to it. All three were killed in the battle that followed, but poor, bald Dingo was skewered by a goblin’s sword and died in a pool of blood. Marton and Sturig searched the goblin bodies and discovered the princely sum of 7GP. Having had enough, the party gathered up Dingo’s body and set out to return to town.

The party made haste to the spiral staircase and left the caves, only to find it was now getting dark! They looked for a good spot to camp, and luckily had a quiet, yet cold night in the Ravenwood. The next day, about an hour after departing, they saw two large, flying creatures who circled and quickly dove in! The party dropped the body of Dingo, running for the woods. The pair of flying creatures [cockatrices] scooped up the body of Dingo and were gone. They were not seen again, and the party made it back to town a few hours later, less the body of poor, bald Dingo.

~

Session #14 – “Wherein Go the Black Loses his Head” – 9/14/15

This was a fun session I ran for one player with a PC and several hirelings. After hearing the rumors in town about the Caves of Woe and the wild exploits of Garros the Dwarf, et al,  he decided instead to explore the nearby Caves of Discomfort.  This was not the wisest decision, read on for the details…

PCs:

Go the Black – Elf FM/M-U:  RIP Beheaded by a bandit’s sword

Hirelings – all survived!

Dingo the Hobbit: (FM level 0)
Marton – meatshield
Sturig – meatshield
Burgard – torchbearer

Monsters vanquished:

6 Orcs
4 Bandits

Treasure:

125GP
Jade lion figurine worth 330GP
80GP reward for killing 6 Orcs in the wild
80GP reward for saving the caravan

~

Go the Black, a freshly minted Elven fighter/mage, gathered a few hirelings and made off for the Caves of Discomfort in search of a bandit troupe. Reports had them raiding supply caravans from the north into Ravendale from a cave they were using as a base; the proprietor of the Dead Witch Inn, Latina, offered 80 gold in reward for anyone who could ensure the next caravan’s safe arrival.

With the knowledge of the approximate location of the caves, the party set out at dawn, under grey skies and with a late fall chill in the air. They headed north along a wagon track, the dense Ravenwood close on either side. Dingo was sent ahead to scout, and indeed, after a few hours the party heard his call from beyond a hill just ahead. It was only a minute before the party saw Dingo running towards them as fast as his Hobbit legs would carry him, his sling gripped tightly in hand. Two Orcs followed closely, snarling and brandishing a club and sword. They ran smack into the party’s front rank as Dingo slipped in behind to safety, drawing his sword.  After a few moments the Orcs lay dead, but the party’s celebration was cut short as four more Orcs came at them from atop the hill. Perhaps the two were just a scouting party? In any case, melee was joined again. Victory was theirs, however in the process Marton was wounded. Go the Black tended Marton’s wounds as best he could, while the party scavenged what they could find from the bodies (including an ear from each), along with any salvageable weapons. Go noted a black arrow tattoo sported by all of the Orcs.

Continuing on, it was but another hour before Dingo spied a cave entrance 60 yards from the wagon track, where it turned north and west. Inside he could see three men, seated around a fire, their backs turned away. Go approached the front of the cave, while Dingo and the others moved left, approaching the cave from the west. The plan was to get Dingo in the scrub brush above the cave, with his sling, while the mercenaries were to sneak attack from the west. Plans quickly changed, however, as a crossbow bolt whizzed past Dingo’s head. A lookout! The man was above the cave entrance, in the very spot where Dingo sought to hide! Dingo hurled a sling stone, which struck its mark, wounding the lookout. The man yelled in alarm, and the three men in the cave stood and ran towards Go, swords drawn. They were as yet unaware of Dingo and the others.

Go threw his handaxe towards the men (whom he presumed were the bandits they had been searching for), killing one, but the other two were upon him in a flash. Marton and Sturig were just out of range for their thrown spear and handaxe, so Go fought the men alone as Marton and Sturig rushed to his aid. Too late, a bandit’s sword wounded Go, another beheading him quickly thereafter. Marton and Sturig avenged their master, killing the two bandits and watching as Dingo slew the lookout with another well-placed sling stone.

The party searched the bandits and the cave, finding a bit of gold and a jade lion figurine. They noted the bandits had the same black arrow tattoos as the Orcs. They also saw a locked door to the east, and a large pile of rubble to the north, the latter appeared to be blocking an exit. The party gathered the body of Go, intent on returning to Ravendale. As luck would have it, the caravan they were sent to protect rounded the bend from the north at that instant, and they rode back with it, collecting their reward in town. Lord Kelby was interested in the six Orc ears, and gave the party a further reward of 80 gold for removing a clear future threat.

~