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.