Session 13 – The Stoneheart Dungeon IV (Lost Lands)

Deep dungeons….

Game System | Blood & Treasure Complete

Setting/World | The Lost Lands by Frog God Games

Dramatis Personae

Blitz Dunkelsturm | Mountain Dwarf Cleric of Jamboor 5 [Death domain] | Berndt

Haxxl Rosethorne | Wild Elf Duelist 5 | Berndt

The Old Sleaze | Human Sorcerer 4 | Martin

Make Me | Human Paladin 4 | Martin

Hoder | Ogre Fighter 4 [Brute variant] | Flan

Fenrir the Vain | Human Barbarian 4 [Thane variant] | Flan

Meatshields & NPCs

Men-At-Arms | Garfield

Torchbearers | Ranulf | Wee Dingwall

Absent this session

Angelina d’Monica III | Human Assassin 5 [Acrobat variant] | Djuro

Alba Dayanite | Half Elf Psychic/Magic-User 3  | Djuro

Rektolas | High Elf Fighter 4 | Mats

Nitrolas | High Elf Magic-User 4 | Mats

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Session Thirteen – Purple Haze

No level-ups this session.

Obituaries

After having rested near the entrance, the PCs delve into the dark deeps again. This time, Hoder the Ogre fighter and Fenrir the vain barbarian join in while Angelina, Alba, Nitrolas and Rektolas stay by the entrance. The plan is to go back to the big cavern where they fought the creature from below, but it turns out that the ogre is too large to pass the narrow passage into the cavern. The party then decide to split up (always a jolly good idea ;)). Team A (Hoder, Blitz, Sleaze and hirelings Wee and Ranulf + zombie Garulf) go west through the singing corridor to investigate the Y-section with the obviously man-made heaps of rock. Team B (Make Me, Fenrir, Haxxl and hireling Garfield) go east to the big cavern and then into the passage they found in the pit where the monster attacked. Zombie-boy Garulf tags along group B as a moving lantern-holder.

Team Alpha

Upon returning to the Y-section the PCs start to check the little cavern before the two blocked passages more thoroughly, but nothing is found except for semi-hidden extra tunnel going south and ending in a dead-end. They then decide to take the right passage. Wee is left behind to guard the left passage.

Since the passage is so narrow they must proceed single-file (Hoder, Ranulf, Blitz, Sleaze,  Garulf the zombie) and everyone except Hoder must climb over the stone heaps blocking the passage. As the point of the file is negotiating the second stone obstacle, they find a narrow passage going south-west into the rock. Ranulf is coerced to get in there in search of gold and glory. Blitz cast a light spell on a smaller rock and Ranulf throws it into the passage that turns out to be quite long (∼60-70 feet) before it sharply turns north. As Ranulf slowly advances into the dark, Blitz sits on the heap of stones keeping his eyes open for trouble.

Suddenly, a savage roar is heard from behind them as a huge scarred ogre leaps over the rear stone heap and smashes the head of poor Garulf the zombie! Next in line is Sleaze the sorcerer who tries to turn and fight, but instead gets hit in the chest by a vicious sweep of the ogre’s huge and very evil-looking morning star, sending him crashing into the stone wall of the passage. Things look bleak for our protagonists, but Sleaz-o manages to cast a Sleep spell with a good effect, sending the ogre to a sudden slumber, arching backwards over the stone heap. The ogre is quickly put down of with multiple coup-de-grȃce stabbings and Hoder steals its Mad-Max style armor as well as the evil-looking morning star. Checking on Wee the rear guard, he must have been surprised by a sneak attack as he is on his back, his head caved in to a mushy pulp.

Before they get to rest or properly assess the situation, a group of blood-smeared skeleton warriors armed with shields and swords attack from behind! The fight is quickly finished however, as the dwarf cleric manages to turn them. When the skeletons flee, the PCs follow and cut some them down with little resistance.

[Did we play this group any more here??]

Team Bravo

Meanwhile, the other group has snuck down to the cavern where they found the illusory wall and entrance to the hidden Temple of Muir. The high-roofed cavern has two exit points – one goes north-east and is situated high up on the wall. The other goes south east and is a continuation of the cave. Our boys go south east, keeping a low profile. The cavern is narrowing and widening again, branching off a at several places, creating a quite elaborate cave system with many side tunnels. As they are edging along into the caves, they suddenly become aware that a strange creature is looking at them. A large centipede like beast with tentacles surrounding it’s mandible area. The creature just stands there, emitting an annoying hum and following their every move, slowly closing in… Out of the blue, it rushes to attack. Simultaneously, two more of the things appear.

Haxxl the wild elf duelist leaps and attacks, slaying the first beast. After this he makes an acrobatic move and jumps out of the centipede’s melee range. Make Me charges into the battle and manages to score a few good hits, but is getting hit on the hands by several tentacles and topples over, unable to move. Fenrir also charges in and fights valiantly, slaying a beast but is hit in the melee and falls, paralysed. Meanwhile, Haxxl stands back and shoots arrows at the monsters. At last, everyone except Haxxl and one of the beasts is lying on the ground. Before the beast is able to strike, Haxxl manages to hit the creature, killing it instantly. The wild elf checks the rest of the party, finding that they are alive, but unable to move and sits down to wait for them to “wake up”. After over an hour of anxious wait, they start moving again and after a rest with bandaging and healing our now shaken heroes continue deeper into the caves, where they find a stash of many coins in leather bags hidden under a heap of revolting offal.

Running directly east is a passage that turns south after some 90 feet, ending in a curved stairway leading down to a T-section with yet more passages, one of them filled with a purple haze*. The PCs decide to backtrack and take another route that they saw earlier. In the most southern (west) part of the cavern system is a passage leading down, featuring a short stair cut directly from the rock. At the bottom they find a T-intersection going west to a dead-end and south east to a passage filled with a moist and cold purple haze. It seems they have to negotiate the mist anyhow they turn…

Fenrir ventures into the mist, following the left wall. Upon reaching a turn, he is suddenly hit by a sharp object, wounding him in the torso. Returning out of the haze it is apparent that he has been hit by a trap or weapon. Since he is better armoured, Make Me is chosen to venture into the haze, a rope attached to his waist. Inside the haze, vision is restricted to just a few feet and even then it is blurry. After following the wall for a short distance Make Me is hit squarely in the abdomen by a sharp object just like Fenrir before him. Make Me retaliates and swings his sword blindly, connecting to something! After some confused bling fighting [we used old school -4 to hit, but I later saw that B&T states a hard -10 to hit when fighting blind, which we will use henceforth] the paladin manages to slay whatever is attacking in the haze. After searching along the cave floor he finds the assailant and a weapon. It turns out to be a zombie-like creature, dressed in chain armour and a once white tunic emblazoned with a spider-like symbol, armed with a nasty-looking pole arm.

Spider, spider on the wall….

Haxxl ventures back in, now unassailed, finding a branching system of narrow tunnels leading east. After some 120 feet the tunnels widen up and form a cross with passages going north, south, west (where they come from) and east. He then follows the rope back to the others and the whole party advances to the cross-section where they decide to stop while Make Me and Haxxl scout on eastward, where the haze dissolves. After about 50 feet, there’s a side tunnel leaving north (which is not explored) and some 40 feet further into the narrow tunnel it seems that the tunnel is blocked by a mass of stone boulders, like after a cave in. When they investigate the cave in, they notice that it is merely an illusion and that the passage continues beyond, ending in a well-cleaned little cave with two wooden barrels and a little-used backpack. The tunnel enters the room about 5 feet over the room’s floor level. After visually scanning the room, Haxxl goes in. The backpack contains adventuring gear and the barrels contain water and wine respectively. The only exit from the little cave is an obviously man-made perfectly straight tunnel going south-east. The PCs decide to leave the backpack and barrels untouched and goes back to the tunnel going north, which turns out to lead to the area (marked * in the text above) they decided to skip a while back. They go into the purple haze again where they defeat yet another of the spider symbol adorned zombie-things.

And here we had to break for the session. To be continued…. \m/