Valiant Swords of Greyhawk: Session 15 - Down the Hatch!

 

Our Heroes:

• Braeden (Human Ranger)played by Battletech Terry
• Sir Kentor (Human Paladin) played by Paladin Steve
• Sir Lantor (Human Fighter) played by Boom Gun Brandon
• Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
• Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David
• Malice (Human Bard) played by Grognard Mike

Everyone is level 3/4-ish at this point. We begin on Day 43 of the campaign (in game time).

Before the Valiant Swords head down into the secret passage, we share some old stories and Sir Kentor’s chili. Jaric returned to camp, having gone to collect the elven cloak that Inigo had left for us. Having our cleric with a possibility of sneaking is not an entirely bad thing. And then the waiting is over! Back into the tower, and down thirty feet into the darkness we find a small room with several boxes in it. Samson checks them out, sees that they’re untrapped, and is able to pick their locks to find a small stash of treasure. And, a trio of potions. We can also see that there is only a single passage out of the room, a 5’ wide tunnel hewn into the stone beneath the temple, following what looks like once a natural fissure that had been widened.

They were a bit annoyed with Inigo's player bailing on so many sessions so they went and got the one magic item his character had acquired. He was OK with it.

We have a brief discussion about how best to test the potions, and given that there is a chance that it is a poison, or, mystical urine, we - somewhere between a joke and bullying - get Samson to dip a tiny finger into each bottle. They are a potion of greater healing, speed, and water breathing. Malice recommends, with a fair amount of dripping disdain, that Sir Lantor should carry the potion of healing. With much less acrimony, Braedon takes the potion of water breathing, and Sir Kentor takes the potion of speed.

Verminax glows, and Sir Kentor takes the lead. Malice casts the light spell on Sir Lantor’s greatsword, and it glows as well. The more targets, the better. Then, single file, we progress down the tunnel. It goes about five hundred before it opens into a natural cave, where there is an opening on the north side to continue on. We move slowly through the cave, checking the walls as we go. Braedon and Samson find a secret door on the East side of the room! Before we continue to the north, Braedon pivots the secret passageway open.

We change directions, following the secret tunnel. It travels a long way, sloping deeply, and then the passage doubles back on itself and widens up. We form up to two abreast for the first time, and then make our way into a larger room. The knights, Sir Lantor and Sir Kentor are the first around the corner, and they are horrified to discover that there is a basilisk staring right at them. Sir Kentor is petrified – standing still as if he was turning to stone! And, flames ignite, and trough channels of what might have been well soaked wicks, or perhaps even clear oil, the dancing fire lights the room well.

The basilisk shuffles around the room, getting to where it can gaze at Jaric and Braedon as well – though like Sir Lantor they remain mobile. Malice calls out quick, but obvious advice, lacing it with words of magic for Sir Kentor. Jaric and Sir Lantor to rush the Basilisk. Braedon is fast to react as well, moving into a position on its flank, and puts an arrow into the six legged beast – but it doesn’t look like it caused much damage at all. And this is even with his bow enchanted by Samson. Jaric slams into it with the staff of striking, and it crackles with power. It should do an amazing amount of damage, but instead, the beast is unharmed. Jaric isn’t sure that its really there, this could be an illusion! But then, what happened to Sir Kentor? Sir Lantor waves his hand through it, and confirms that its just an illusion. As we shout back and forth, Sir Kentor is finally able to move.

Malice calls out to stay on our guard, we’ve made only slightly less noise than a small army. She asks Samson to listen at one door in the small room, Braedon to listen at the other, and then everybody else to shush so we might hear what would be coming. Appearing in our midst is a blur, and a shortsword stabs into Sir Lantor, and the wound is deep and bloody. Only after the attack does a half orc female become clear to our sight. She snarls in a bloodlust.

Malice takes a few steps and is right behind Jaric, lunging with her glaive, but the nimble half orc dodges the blow. Braedon, though, is able to find his mark with his bow. The arrow sticking out of her does not seem to slow her down much at all. Sir Lantor spins, swinging his greatsword in a wide arc, and it is only through a stroke of luck that his blow lands. Still, any time the powerful knight is able to connect the blow is going to be of significance, and she finally shows signs of the wound. Samson darts from the door, attempting to punch with his magical gauntlets – but there is no way for his short reach to land on the fast moving half orc. Sir Kentor turns, shouting that stabbing from behind is a cowardly move, and he judges her unworthy! Verminax’s glow becomes more blessed in nature, filled with the Paladin’s fury, and he drives it into the would be assassin. The wound is deep, but the half orc still stands.

The door that Samson had been looking at is opened just a crack, a finger points into the room, and a single magical word is uttered. Lightning cracks, blasting through Malice, Jaric, and Samson. Malice and Samson, at least, are able to avoid the worst of it, but Jaric takes the full force of the blow. The Assassin attempts to move away from the mass of melee, and only Sir Kentor is able to get a swing at her, but she is quick enough to avoid even his skilled blow. Malice flings a firebolt at the fleeing half orc, burning her slightly, but Braedon gives chase and hits her from nearly point blank, and the assassin woman finally falls. Sir Lantor takes a few steps, and tries the door that the wizard is behind, and discovers it was locked. With a mighty boot, he kicks the door open.

The room behind the locked door is obviously the chamber of a wizard, with a thaumaturgic triangle, and shelves with many stuffed creatures, and magical accoutrement throughout the room. Sir Lantor attempts to jump over the triangle, but his foot crossed the threshold of the triangle. Nothing happens, yet, but the wizard is given the time to stay away the knight’s bloodsoaked blade. Samson is fast to follow Sir Lantor, and punches the wizard square in the knee. Ooh, that has to hurt, but there isn’t a satisfying crack of a broken bone. Sir Kentor charges into the wizard’s room, and only with a well timed flash of light as a distraction does the wizard keep mighty Verminax from hitting its mark.

A terrifying bat creature appears flying next to the wizard. It screeches, and a lock of Sir Lantor’s hair turns white. His teeth chattering and his hands shaking, the Knight tries to slice the wizard as he repositions himself in the room, and blasts again with lightning. Samson is out of the way again, and manages to catch the wizard with another quick punch. Both knights and Samson are all caught with his electrical attack, and both knights are in bad shape after the blast.

Malice warns Jaric that there is going to be something coming through the other door, and then rushes into the room. She has to quickly decide whether to heal or to attack – and her longer term healing magic is still empowered, so she chooses to stab the wizard. Braedon darts to where he can see the bat thing, and shoots it – and it responds with an exclamation in some infernal tongue. Jaric is quick on Malice’s heels, and the staff of striking crackles with energy, and the thrust of the long pole blasts clear through the wizard, who is thrown back against the wall, and slumps down unmoving. The bat thing screeches again!

Sir Lantor, still in the grips of the magical fear, swings weakly at the bat-thing, but is nowhere near connecting. Samson jumps on the bed, then leaps at the bat-thing, punching it midair, giving the creature nearly a full body bruise. Sir Kentor, his skin scorched by the lightning, still closes with the evil bat thing and slashes it with Verminax. It proves its strength by remaining in the air. It curses once more, and then disappears from sight.

Malice watched its move, and calls out that the creature is still here, but is just invisible. She steps up and grabs the blanket and swings it in a wide arc, hoping to possibly to reveal where it might be – but doesn’t manage to actually catch it at all. Braedon tries to spot it, and while he heard it flying by him, he has no idea where it is now. Jaric gives a quick word of healing, and the knights, though still wounded, are neither at death’s door. Sir Lantor pulls his crossbow, and stands at the ready. Samson pulls the sheet off the wizard’s bed, and runs past Braedon swinging it wildly. Then, much more calmly Sir Kentor walks to beside Braedon, and reaches out with divine senses. To his holy eyes, the demonic bat comes into sight, and he is able to charge it! Bats are sometimes known as flying rats, Malice thinks, as Verminax bisects the evil thing.

A rare exception to the rule in this fight

We break into groups and search. The wizard was carrying Bracers of Defense and has a magical scroll. The assassin has a short sword +1, leather armor +1, a shield +2, and a ring of spell storing, with two invisibility spells. Braedon takes ownership of the short sword. As a group we decide to sell the magical leather armor. Sir Kentor takes ownership of the half orc’s round shield. and then Jaric takes his kite shield. Malice takes the ring of spell storing. We decide to hold the Bracers of Defense for Xyzzifax. Malice takes the scroll of wall of force.

In the wizard’s chambers, there is a map on the south wall, and a parchment on the east wall. The room also has an oddly branched candle holder of forged electrum worth 1500 gold pieces. Samson starts to examine the map, and realizes that it is trapped with explosive runes. Malice notes that makes it a trap we can bring with us. Then Samson examines the other parchment, and finds a second glyph of explosive runes. Samson is the one to carry both of those.

So close ... the Artificer is already ruining my fun ...

Surprising nobody, a short hallway that lead to nowhere has a secret door at the end of it that was Braedon was able to suss out. So, we have four choices before us – a door from the room with the illusory basilisk, a door from the wizard’s chambers, the secret door in the short hall, or back the way we came to the cave with a passage north. And, additional searching reveals a hidden door in the Wizard’s room as well – a fifth option! As we discuss things, no spellbook was found in the wizard’s room, or on his body. Sir Kentor is sensing something unsettling on the door on the Wizard’s room. Before we press on, Malice casts a healing spell on Sir Lantor, completely healing him, and both Malice and Sir Kentor have their wounds dressed by Jaric, and they too are fully healed.

Braedon suggests we look into what is almost certainly the assassin’s lair. We agree, and he finds that the door is not locked. A plainly furnished room, with unusual weapons on the walls. But only a narrow cot to sleep, a table with full set of chairs, a wardrobe and chest. Samson follows Braedon into the room, and is quick to the chest to check it for traps. He finds the poison needle, and quickly disables it. The tray in the top of the chest has 1500 gold pieces worth of gems and a pair of gold rings, both worth 2000 gold. And, there is a belt with a pouch with fifty pieces of platinum. In the wardrobe we find six bottles of poison, which Malice takes. And there is a second potion of speed, which is taken by Sir Lantor.

We discuss once again which direction we should go, and finally decide to use the standard door out . Inside is a simple work room, with even additional magical gear, and a chest with a large lock. Samson goes to the chest, and Malice casts detect magic and can see that there are 9 wands that glow, and three bottles on the shelf that glow. Samson can see the trap has been sealed with wax all the way around the chest. Whatever this is, it will be tricky to disable. We decide to look at the wands and potions before Samson does anything more with it.

The potions are Diminution, Healing, and a potion of Poison. Malice takes the potion of poison. Braedon takes the potion of Healing. Samson takes the potion of Diminution, to the snickers of the rest of the party. Samson’s examination of the wands are all magic, but he is not determining a type from them. They perhaps have a magic aura cast on them, or they may be blank slates, ready to be turned into a real wand. We clear out of the room, and Samson is able to disable the chlorine gas trap. Inside he sees books, and a blank scroll. The books are written in an alphabet we do not immediately recognize.

Malice is building quite the collection of these

We gather our treasure, and pull back to the surface to prepare to face the evil that Sir Kentor had sensed. Malice and Jaric work together, and the ring of spell storing is now prepared with an Invisibility, a See Invisibility, and a 1st level circle Heal.

So much fun this session! I managed to get two lightning bolts off with a wizard, a familiar contributed something useful, lots of good intra-party interaction, an illusion actually worked, an assassin actually got to strike ... it was a lot of fun to DM this one. Also, a proper level of paranoia has been instilled as they carefully check everything this time. They know they are in the real temple now and they are cautious. 

One thing to keep in mind with these recaps is that they are written in real time by my players - often Malice, sometimes Xyzzifax (you can tell when it's him, trust me) so you get blow-by-blow combat moves, treasure numbers, magic item ID's , etc. I do light some editing when I post them here but I decided to leave most of this kind of thing in as this is what a real game session can look like so why not?

When someone mentions "luck" or "lucky" that's usually a flag that Luck was used on the relevant roll. It's a great mechanic that is in constant use and as time goes on I start using the DM version of it - Doom - to help keep the opposition in the game too.

Also after this session they started to realize they did not come in the normal "front door" of the dungeon. They don't know it but the trap door + tunnel leads down to level 3 - of 4. So the opposition here is a definite step up from the Moathouse and Nulb. 

Valiant Swords of Greyhawk: Session 14 - The Bandit Tower

Our Heroes:

• Braeden (Human Ranger)played by Battletech Terry
• Sir Kentor (Human Paladin) played by Paladin Steve
• Sir Lantor (Human Fighter) played by Boom Gun Brandon
• Samson (Halfling Mechanist) played by Shootist Will
• Jaric (Human Cleric) played by Variable David
• Malice (Human Bard) played by Grognard Mike

Everyone is level 3/4-ish at this point. We begin on Day 41 of the campaign (in game time).

There was some discussion of how things should be approached and they settled on the one intact (ish) tower as the starting point. Our sessions now always start with "chili and stories" as the ToV backgrounds give various small abilities and the Paladin has the ability to make some food and the Ranger can tell stories to raise morale. The game effect is to grant a few temporary hit points which becomes less important as they level up but the ritual is important. Kentor makes chili - typically out of whatever creature they have fought most recently. Spider chili was much discussed during the moathouse run. Braedon is not a great storyteller and constantly re-tells the story of how his brother was killed by a werewolf to quiet groans from the party. It was funny to see how quickly this became a thing for the group.

Sir Kentor catches up the party as we come into the clearing, and look upon the Temple. We look upon the complex, and the only thing standing besides the temple itself is a ruined tower. It is chained and barred from the outside, as if somebody is trying to keep something trapped within. Samson picks the locks on the chains and pull them off, and leaves it to Sir Kentor to slide off the bar and open the door as Jaeric casts light on his shield. Kentor draws Verminax, and throws the door open.

The tower in question is in the upper right corner

There were archers and crossbowmen waiting inside, who loosed their weapons immediately, filling both Sirs Kentor and Lantor with hits. Still, they are hardy warriors, and keep their feet. They charge inside, followed by the rest of the party. Malice provides magical support to them with a dripping with sarcasm “Watch out, there could be archers.” Samson is close on their heels, but the first of us to get a shot at the enemy is Sir Lantor with his forearm crossbow.

The ravens at the top of the tower croak out a warning to the bandits inside but they have no reason to join the fight as it develops. I think this: "An illusion at the Tower's top renders all creatures thereon to appear smaller." is a stupid thing to have at the top of a ruined tower and it punishes players for paying attention when you have what appear to be normal ravens suddenly turn into giant ravens. As a random encounter they are fine but as this weird magical ambush thing ... I am not running that in my game.

Braedon moves in, and shoots a piercing shot at what is apparently the leader of the the bandit gang. Malice fires a trio of scorching rays, mostly missing, but one does hit one of the enemies now in melee with the Paladin. The enemies continue to pour fire on, with only Sir Lantor taking a hit. Sir Kentor’s shield of faith keeps him well protected, and he follows it up with a slash from mighty Verminax against the leader of this troupe of n’er do wells, cleanly beheading him. More enemies charge Sir Lantor out of the darkness, but he is able to parry their blows. Jaric rushes to Sir Lantor’s side, but they are able block with their shields. Samson swings at another with has magical gauntlets, a blow powerful enough to kill. Shortly afterwards, Sir Lantor swings his greatword in a wide arc, hitting a pair of the assailants.

Breadon shoots and kills one of the enemy crossbowmen. Malice finally gets into the swirling melee, and leads with an arc of burning hands, killing a footman and wounding half on the enemies. An enemy crossbowman is able to hit Sir Lantor, but fail to find their mark on Sir Kentor, who a blink of eye later runs an enemy swordsman through with Verminax. In a clash of arms, the heroes get the upper hand, with Jaric killing an enemy swordsman. Samson once more jobs with his tiny but mighty fists, killing an unfortunate enemy. Sir Lantor’s foe manages to keep his blade in the way of the greatsword, but leaves himself open to Braedon’s shot. An arrow to the eye is a heck of a way to go.

Malice thrusts with her glaive, slaying the last of the enemies on her side of the battlefield, then moves to cover behind the table that the now dead enemy bowmen were taking behind. Sir Kentor closes with an archer, who attempts to flee – but it is futile. Verminax claims another life. But, that just means that the crossbow men take their shots at the Paladin, now the nearest of the Valiant swords to them. But he is not done, charging them, and wounding the same crossbowman who shot him.

One of the enemies has a heavy crossbow, but Sir Kentor is quick with his shield. A second with a heavy crossbow does manage to hit Jaric – not a bad hit, but Jaric dashes towards the enemies. On the other side of the room Samson mimics Jaric’s advance, and then Sir Lantor follows as well. Braedon moves out of cover, and takes a clean shot at one of the men with heavy crossbows, and in a rare moment misses. Malice fares no better, throwing a firebolt that slams into their makeshift mantlet.

The evil crossbowmen who’d been charged drop their ranged weapons and come out with axes. Only Jaric is hit, but he weathers the blow. Sir Kentor makes a quick tactical move, and with a spirit filled with justice, swings at one of the men with a heavy crossbow, but he keeps his distance and Verminax doesn’t connect. Then, he draws a morning star, but has no luck with it. Similarly, the other heavy crossbowman tries to hit Jaric, who then closes and connects with the Staff of Striking. With a blow that echos through the tower, he staggers the man, but surprisingly enough he is still standing. Samson makes a powerful uppertcut, killing a man with his gauntlets of power. And Sir Lantor gives a mighty yell as he thrusts at an enemy, but his powerful blow is parried.

Braedon is back on his groove, hitting his target, neatly killing his mark. Malace moves up one of the bandits and drives her glaive through his chest. The last of the crossbowmen takes a shot at Jaric, and once again the cleric is struck, and he continues to just keep powering through the blows. Sir Kentor gets a lucky blow in on the morning star wielding bandit, but he empowers it with a smite killing his foe. From off in the distance, a voice calls out to the few remaining bandits to fight on, and then we hear a door slamming shut, and the really perceptive of us can hear that the door is quickly locked. Jaric, tired of being shot, closes with the crossbowman and jabs him in the throat with the staff, dropping the foe. Samson takes just a few steps to the last of the still standing bandits, but he is able to stay clear of the halfling’s fists. But Sir Lantor closes as well, and that is all that is left of the enemies of the fight, the last one being split from crown to crotch.

As Jaric crosses the room to the door, he illuminates a second one with his glowing shield. A flight of stairs winds up the side as well. We search the room and see where there are torches that the enemies doused, and we relight them. It quickly becomes clear that the stairs don’t really go anywhere as the upper level is collapsed. The main tower room is well lived in, and there is plenty of food around. Jaric moves to patch up the knights, and then we press on. Samson checks the locked door, and finds that the lock is well built. At Malice’s suggestion, Samson turns his magical crystal into a prybar. The knights put their backs into it, and the door pops open.

Sir Kentor is the first into the room, and it looks like the room is obviously a leader’s – with the only comfortable bed in the tower. But, the leader himself is long gone. Obviously there is a secret way out of the room, and it is Kentor himself is the one that finds it. There is a loose flagstone in the floor, once covered by a rug that was hastily thrown aside. It lifts silently, revealing a bronze ring set into the floor. There is a three foot square passage leading down into the darkness.

We close the trap door, and drag the chest of drawers on top of it. And then we take to searching. We find a few valuables – a jeweled sword and fur lined finery. Checking the chest, and Samson disarms the poison needle that he was expecting, and then find that its full of coinage. It turns out the best way to carry it all is the chest its already stored in. The other room looks like a barracks, and it too has strong box. Malice checks over the dead, and finds keys on a few of the them, so the strong box is no trouble. It contains a potion of healing, coinage, a jeweled dagger, and four bolts of silk. Sir Kentor reveals that he is in a courtship, and wants to keep the silk. We talk about the treasure, and decide that returning to Hommlet is a better idea than to try going back to Nulb. Before we go into tunnel, Jaric performs a prayer of healing for himself and Sir Lantor, and both are ready to venture forth.

All the times I have run this adventure and no one has ever found the trapdoor in the tower! They didn't realize it, heck, I didn't realize it - this has a huge impact on how the exploration of the dungeon flows as we will see in future installments.