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| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Almaric the Legendary | Elf level 1 | Very smart and quite good looking; adventuring just for the money. |
| Gomm | Thief level 5 | Swarthy, good looking, dark-skinned thief. Sweet opium-like aroma is his fragrance of choice. |
| Bairstowbury the Chaotic | Halfling level 2 | Remarkably muscular for a halfling. |
| Hartwig | Thief level 1 | Hailing from Ghinor Highlands, now seeking treasure in the Barbarian Altanis. |
| Centuria | Elf level 1 | An academic elf fond of teasing those of lower status. |
| Abdashtarth of the Field | Cleric level 1 | A farmer clad in armour, follower of Zodraz, petty god of seeds and toil. |
| Ajar of the Plan | Dwarf level 1 | Unbelievably strong and dexterous dwarf. |
“This must be it...”
Mere days ago Gomm had accepted a mission from Leleia the Swift, headmistress of Hara's thieves' guild. The client asked for a daring thief to retrieve a pineapple sized golden egg from a temple-fortress secluded in the mountains just west of the town.
Reward?
Stunning ten thousand gold pieces.
Conditions?
Egg must be entirely intact and unopened.
The client promised they have means of knowing if the egg had been despoiled.
Gomm assembled a hit team consisting of himself as the leader; Hartwig, newest member of the thieves' guild; Almaric the Legendary, as the brains with brawn, but most importantly, Floating Disc in his repertoire; and Bairstowbury as compact muscle that can fit into tight holes. Centuria, Abdashtarth, and Ajar were recruited to act as the rearguard and step in if anything goes wrong.
Now they found the stone temple hidden between the hill tops. It was a simple stone structure with a long stone ramp leading up to the top where an opening yawned into darkness.
The party circled the temple for an hour, hoping to spot any danger before it spots them. After all, they've been informed the place is thoroughly trapped and protected by a clan of abominable birdmen.
Although they have not spotted anything dangerous, they did observe a curious set of boulders leaning against back side of the temple. Lo and behold, behind them was another opening leading into a dark corridor.
An hour of investigating the rocks led them to believe they were indeed just rocks that are entirely untrapped. Gomm scaled one, and then helped others climb on top and descend.
Illustration by IdleDoodler.
“Watch out!”
A shin-height tripwire was just ten feet ahead of the party. It was trivial to jump over. Lighting a lantern produced much needed light to see further. A t-shaped junction was just ahead, splitting to the right.
Suddenly running footsteps could be heard coming from around the corner! Bairstowbury and Almaric pulled their weapons and counter charged. Gomm and Hartwig were just behind, at safer distance.
Elf and halfling found themselves facing four entirely naked sinewy humanoids with crow heads. They had feathers for hair, protecting the duos innocence. All four were armed with spears. No side was surprised.
First exchange of blows went well for the party, and they hacked one of the birdmen down. Second exchange went well for the naked birdmen, as they skewered Bairstowbury and Almaric to death.
“Time to run!” Gomm shouted at Hartwig as he uncorked web nuts. The thieves ran out, with Gomm throwing the vial at the junction. A ball of web filled the whole passage, blocking the birdmen with their corpses.
Then the duo retreated to the nearby camp.
“Centuria, Abdashtarth, we need you to fill in two spots...”
“Let's take the front entrance this time!”
Indeed, the new quartet ascended the stone ramp to the opening atop the temple. Ahead was a sharp descent, also without stairs. Gomm anchored a rope with several iron spikes, and threw it down the slope. Then Hartwig descended and explored on. Signalling he is safe, cleric went next. As he let go off the rope and stepped forth to follow the new thief, he promptly fell through the ground on his head. Alive but bruised, he was given the hand by Hartwig and easily climbed out of the pit. Gomm and Centuria were careful to jump over the descent landing.
Adventures were now exploring a wide chamber with three doors. Each were eight feet wide, with an iron ring on the right side and an inscription on the front. First read “Dexterity,” second “Strength,” and last “Intelligence.” Flexing his physique, Abdashtarth suggested they go for the second doors. He gripped the iron ring and pulled with all his might. The doors were indeed a challenge, but he was a man of strength and resolve, a true farm-boy.
He was soon rewarded by a rabid hound leaping out of the chamber, frothing at its mouth. Centuria sliced into the charging canine. The beast jumped at Abdashtarth and bit into his neck with its mighty jaw. Farm-boy wrapped his mighty hands around the beasts neck and snapped it. Then he collapsed to the ground, and died of asphyxiation. His windpipe was in the hound's mouth.
Illustration by IdleDoodler.
Ajar of the Plan rolled down the ramp and jumped over the pit trap.
“I had a feeling you might need me!”
Indeed, at the other end of the “Strength” chamber were another doors, identical to the ones they came through. They too were heavy to open. Ajar flexed his muscles and opened them with ease. No hounds to be seen.
Instead a junction. Path forward was into a large chamber, right to doors, and left into a corridor that turned right. To their left was a door that said “Dexterity” to their right two smaller doors with no inscription, and to their far right another large doors, also without any inscription.
Forging on, the party entered a most curious chamber. A raised stone platform, ten feet wide and ten feet long, was in the center. Four statues surrounded the platform, facing its corners. Each statue was made of living stone, but without any visible joints. They resembled oddly proportioned, blocky humans.
Adventures made a wise decision to give the platform and statues a wide berth. Thus they limited their interaction to visual inspection only. Ultimately, they did not touch them and followed the norther path leading them to yet another junction.
Left path joined up with the left path of previous junction. Right path led to a dead end with wooden bench and deranged stone relief of an obese raven with baby's head sitting on a shinning egg being fed crying humans by a flock of birdmen. Forward path led to a door.
Illustration by IdleDoodler.
Unable to hear anything beyond, the party opened them and ventured forth. They were overcome with smell of dampness and rot. Gomm could spot two golden orbs levitating some ten feet off the ground in the north-western corner of the room. The party split into duos to search this sixty by thirty feet chamber.
Centuria and Ajar had the good fortune of running into a massive ball of black feathers. Atop the avian body was an oversized human-like baby head. Snot hung from its nose, and yellow teeth adorned its mouth. The abomination rocked in its nest and attempted to bite the elf. Luckily, Centuria was quicker.
Gomm struck the monster with an arrow, making it cry. Then others hacked it to death, with Hartwig delivering the killing blow. He plunged the sword straight into the soft belly, and then jerked it sideways. Obese monstrosity collapsed back into its nest.
“Is there a golden egg in the nest?”
“No.”
Illustration by IdleDoodler.
But there was another opening, leading into a circular chamber with a well. Using roped to measure depth, there was around seventy feet before the water level. Opting to lead by example, Gomm descended with the lantern.
He soon discovered that the well exits into a large water filled chamber. Some thirty feet to the east was another slope, leading up into yet another chamber. Water slowly streamed into the chamber Gomm was currently in. Descending yet another ten feet, master thief swung himself and then jumped onto the slope. Truly an acrobatic feat! Hartwig soon joined him, accomplishing no less fascinating feat.
The duo entered a rectangular chamber. A circular opening dominated the center of north wall. Water slowly streamed out of it and down the corridor they came through. A marvellous golden egg rested on a red cushion with gilded embroidery, sitting on a stone plinth at the south end of the chamber. Two large stone boxes flanked it, each on a stone plinth of its own.
Gomm prepared his backpack for the precious cargo, while Hartwig prepared a supplement for the egg to be placed on the cushion. The duo quickly replaced the egg with cloth surrogate and then fled the chamber. They could hear sounds of rushing water as they ascended the rope through the well.
“Run! Run!”
Ajar and Centuria followed the duo, albeit a bit slower given they were both in metal armour. The temple shook as it filled with water.
An army of naked birdmen rushed out of the rightmost doors by the first junction, aiming to cut off the adventurers' retreat. Centuria's quick thinking saved the day. She cast Ventriloquism, imitating the fat, baby-headed raven's call. The trick worked, and all the birdmen ran north, to the chamber where only a corpse awaited them.
Four survivors ran out, and then went straight back to Hara.
“Should we open the egg and see what is inside?”
“Absolutely not.”
And so they collected their ten thousand gold pieces.
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| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ambros | Cleric level 5 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Tarkus the Promising | Cleric level 3 | Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom. |
| Beorg the Gravedigger | Fighter level 3 | Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers. |
| Thorm the Dwarf | Dwarf level 1 | Ashen hair, beard, and eyes. Left his own clan due to financial trouble. |
| Riker | Magic-User level 3 | A magic-user seeking glory or death. |
| Gomm | Thief level 5 | Swarthy, good looking, dark-skinned thief. Sweet opium-like aroma is his fragrance of choice. |
| Dalkanarion | Fighter level 2 | A youthful specimen in full strength, full of purpose, bluster, and eagerness to prove himself. |
| Almaric the Legendary | Elf level 1 | Very smart and quite good looking; adventuring just for the money. |
Hagar's flesh rapidly necroticised. Nightmarish creature's venom was potent indeed. Without much to do about it, the party had decided to peek around the only unexplored corner of this accursed labyrinth.
Doors!
Forming battle ranks, the adventurers pushed forth bravely. A simple but well furnished room with several bookcases, comfortable sofa and a bed. More importantly, it was not empty.
A dark-skinned lithe man stood by the bookcase, thumbing through some of the books. He was guarded by a large, muscular man sporting well oiled muscles covered with little more than a cape, helmet, and few select pieces of armour.
After a bit of back and forth it was established that the man was Master Thief Gomm, and Dalkanarion was his bodyguard. The duo decided to assist the party in the further exploration of the dungeon.
Adventurers spent rest of the day trudging through unexplored rooms finding nothing of value. Exhausted, they retreated above and camped by the dungeon entrance. Akasi was distraught with Hagar's death, worried what will his father do to him when he finds out the bad news.
Either way, the party slept well, and Akasi's mercenaries did a solid job during night.
“Let's go deeper!” Tarkus proposed, and finally everyone agreed to it.
The party traversed the first floor without any resistance. Following the stairs down led them to a rectangular chamber, fifty feet deep and thirty feet wide. There were two doors on the east side, one door on the north side, and two on the west side.
Adventurers fanned out and listened at each of them.
“Pssst! Over here!”
Loud snoring could be heard coming from the second doors on the west wall. Gomm tried to identify the source, but failed due to all the noise from his allies.
Strongest fighters took the lead, and everyone stormed the chamber.
Large, brutish figure stumbled up from a straw mattress. Groggy and weaponless, it was quickly hacked to death by the adventurers. Dalkanarion delivered the killing blow—a straight piercing move through the belly. The party then ransacked the monster's chest and chambers.
The room had a door on each side. Interestingly, all doors but the one they came through led into the same corridor. Exploring slowly, the party opted to head north.
After few turns they came to a straight corridor ending with doors. Moreover, there were two doors to the left, and one door to the right.
Sneaking, Gomm could hear sounds from the first doors to the left, as well as doors up north. Securing all the doors sans the first ones, the party formed a marching order and charged into the room.
Four hairy, tiger-faced monsters stood in the corner, seemingly arguing over something. Adventurers caught them by surprise, and encircled them in seconds. Thorm killed one of the monsters with a strong blow with a warhammer to the side of the head. Ambros was the next to draw blood with a majestic over head sweep, smashing into the monster's temple.
Dalkanarion took serious beating but stood his ground, allowing others to attack monsters safely. Almaric drove his spear straight through one monsters ear to the other. The final beastman was slain by Gomm. What an ignominious death it was! Gomm first chopped off the beast's arm. Then he sliced its face. Lastly he gouged out its eyes. The beast writhed as it bled to death.
Clerics administered healing spells, and Gomm handed out several vials of healing liquid. Restored, the party took their attention to the northernmost doors. Once again they formed battle ranks and stormed through the doors.
This time beastmen were not surprised.
Large oak table dominated the center of the room. Massive ogre sat at the north side. Two hyena headed beasts sat on the west side, and two tiger-faced beastmen on the east side.
Dalkanarion rushed forth and grabbed the table with hist mighty thews. Gomm yelled for him to wait as he uncorked a bottle with strange substance in it. He chucked it at the ogre.
The vial smashed straight on the beast's chest. A giant ball of thick, stringy web exploded forth, enveloping ogre, one gnoll, and one bugbear.
With most of the adversaries trapped, the adventurers had little trouble overcoming the remainder of beastmen. The skirmish was brief and brutal. The party had suffered no losses!
“Chop off ogre's head so we have something to show in Hara.”
And so they did.
Collecting coins in the room, the party decided to leave the dungeon and head back to Hara with all the accumulated treasure and Hagar's corpse.
Akasi was a nervous wreck, completely consumed with worry.
The party had debated what to do about Hagar all the way to Hara, without reaching consensus.
How will they explain this one?
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| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hagar the Hewer | Dwarf level 4 | Imagine Conan as dwarf. |
| Ambros | Cleric level 5 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Tarkus the Promising | Cleric level 3 | Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom. |
| Beorg the Gravedigger | Fighter level 3 | Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers. |
| Riker | Magic-User level 1 | A magic-user seeking glory or death. |
| Leticia | Cleric level 1 | Extremely righteous, borderline zealot, devout follower of Rasthri, Goddess of Strength in Revenge. |
| Almaric the Legendary | Elf level 1 | Very smart and quite good looking; adventuring just for the money. |
“Where are some beastmen to slay?! Show them and I'll kill 'em all!”
Akasi Namelin boasted to Hagar and his crew. The eldest son followed the party shortly after they left Hara. He was accompanied by Leticia and Almaric, just to make sure no ill fortune befalls him, despite marching with three dozen light footmen.
“Remember to keep the kid alive.” Riker reminded everyone.
“I'll go first, you right behind me!” Hagar commanded to Namelin's eldest heir.
“Yes! I'll be right behind you! Let's go!”
“Let me remind you that monsters here are intelligent. Don't rush forward blindly–” Riker attempted to educate young man, but was interrupted with brash “I have hunted before!”
“You might become the hunted here...” commentary went unanswered.
Heran Marod left the dungeon and waited for the party above, overseeing a Akasi's thuggish band.
“Where to next?”
The party had three possible venues: go down the stairs and deeper into the dungeon, go east and explore the beyond the ransacked library, or go north down the corridor with exploding barrels.
Afraid to go down or to face the fiery doom, they opted for the second option and went for the library. Nothing much beyond a large kitchen with adjoining pantry, and two dead ends with smashed statues.
Having adventured for nearly sixteen hours, the party withdrew from the dungeon and camped by the tree. Surely nothing would dare disrupt their sleep with their numbers.
Well rested, the adventures continued their delve. They explored kitchen surrounding in the time it takes a lantern to burn through on filling of oil. Little did they find beyond more looted rooms. In an act of desperation they caressed and tapped many walls, hoping to find any secret shortcuts.
“We will have to go through that corridor. There is no way around it.”
“There was a large dinning table in one of the rooms. Let's break it and turn it into a mantlet!”
“What a great idea! Let's do that!”
More hours went by as they put their plan in motion.
Once in the bell shaped chamber, Beorg shot a lit arrow and hit the doors out of which, supposedly, barrels were rolling out of.
Nothing.
Next Leticia stripped her metal armour, lit a torch, and sprinted down the barrel corridor. Reaching the junction she jumped left and peeked around the corner.
Nothing.
So she ran up to the doors, knocked, and ran back.
Nothing.
Remaining party formed ranks and advanced up the corridor, with Riker and Ambros ready to unleash magical and divine wrath alike.
Nothing.
Almaric brought Leticia's armour on his Floating Disc, so the lady was armoured once more.
Reunited, the party marched to the doors.
Nothing.
A dwarf and an elf decided to listen at the doors.
Nothing.
Finally they pulled the doors open!
Empty barrel rack was all there was to be found. Besides three rusty levers, that is.
“Unbelievable!”
“Let's check the corridor we passed...”
Indeed there was one unexplored corridor leading east, then turning north. Faint smell of death and rot could be felt. Marching on soon revealed the nature of the challenge: a labyrinth. Multiple dead ends, sometime empty, sometime with insulting traps. Skeletons of long dead monsters and humans alike. One of the skeletons was a large human with a bull’s head. A rusty massive battle-axe rested next to it.
Hours and hours went on as adventurers trudged through endless corridors. At one moment the stench of death became almost overbearing. By now the adventurers had learned this must mean trouble. They carefully proceeded, ready for whatever might await them.
Hagar at the front turned the corner and came face to face with a horrible creature. A human female-looking face floated some eight feet in the air. Its eyes were almond-shaped; long, lanky black hair was stuck to its pale face; fangs and long split tongue protruded out of its slack jawline.
“Purge the Evil!!!”
Tarkus yelled and charged past Hagar; the dwarf charged too. Almaric and Beorg went right behind them, while others backed them.
True extent of the creature's unholy existence was revealed with approach of light. The face was not floating mid-air. No. It was attached to a tubular body made of most horrible make—mangled, broken, and headless bodies of women.
Hacking into the monster made it ooze slimy, dark purple ichor. The creature gazed into Hagar's eyes. Stout dwarf resisted voices in his head and struck the creature. Next the monster flew up in the air and swirled in circular motion. Almaric, Leticia, and Akasi dropped to the ground, sleeping soundly.
Riker's spell had failed to produce any effect. On the other hand Riker's Awakening Palm worked quite well on the sleeping members of the party.
In a moment of shock, the ghastly creature towered over Hagar and then bit him in the neck. Dwarf's eyes turned upside down and he went limp in seconds. The monster wrapped its long body around Hagar and flew off with him into the darkness.
Ambros pursued the monster without missing a beat, with Tarkus, Beorg and Almaric right behind him. Follow purple snail trail was easy. Moments later they caught up with the abomination and hacked it to pieces.
Tarkus the Promising delivered the killing blow straight to the face of this horrible creature. Its body fell apart, leaving a pile of mangled corpses on top of Hagar.
“What a blessed dwarf he is...”
“Oh no...” Akasi muttered, distraught.
The bite marks were already necrotic-black; the flesh rotted away. Hagar's veins were dark purple, bloated and firm. His eyes were completely white, with yellow pus on the lower lid. Spittle and foam caked his angled mouth.
The future castellan of Hara had died.
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A zine chronicling the Conquering the Barbarian Altanis D&D campaign.
This issue details session 60. Adventurers get a lucky break—or do they?
You can download the issue here.
Overlord's Annals zine is available in print as part of the legendary Alarums & Excursions APA, issue 587:
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Fight On! bundle (issues 1 to 14) available for limited time!
Get fourteen issues for 50% off! Legendary OSR zine jam-packed with essays, adventures, house rules, art, comics, magic items—you name it!
The sale will run for just a week or so after Calithena or Ignatius (Fight On! editors), announce it publicly so don't wait for too long. This is a great deal.
Update: the sale will run until October 11th.
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| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Riker | Magic-User level 1 | A magic-user seeking glory or death. |
| Tarkus the Promising | Cleric level 3 | Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom. |
| Beorg the Gravedigger | Fighter level 3 | Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers. |
| Hagar the Hewer | Dwarf level 4 | Imagine Conan as dwarf. |
| Ambros | Cleric level 5 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Heran Marod | Cleric level 2 | Bearded, aging man with shaved head. Follower of Umannah, the Sun God, The Radiant Death. |
Hagar led a new party to the Den. Half of the men were clerics, armed with Cure Light Wounds and Hold Person, as well as one magic-user with two prepared Sleep spells. Once again the party had borrowed six horses from the Namelin stable, allowing them to reach their destination in six hours.
Two shabby towers as well as wooden palisades still surrounded the tree. No new sentries were to be spotted anywhere. Scouting the environs revealed no traces of ambush or anything suspicious. The party descended into the dungeon, and opted to march straight ahead through the open archway.
Long corridor gently slopped upwards, something Hagar spotted after fifty or so feet of marching.
SLAM!
A loud thud of wood hitting against stone wall could be heard up ahead. A large, six feet wide barrel rolled out of the darkness and towards the party. A lit fuse could be spotted on its right side.
Luckily the party was just at the junction so there was plenty of space to evade the rolling danger. Unfortunately two members failed to jump to the side. Stalwart Heran decided to hold his ground, shield raised up while agile Riker opted to jump upwards. The former was hit by the barrel, forcing him against the wall. The latter was hit by the barrel mid-jump, landing with his belly on the top.
Due to Heran's interference the barrel changed course, turning right and getting stalled in the corridor. Lying on top of the barrel, the burning fuse was just in Riker's face. Heran sprinted around the corner, some twenty feet away, and stopped, for whatever reason.
Magic-User tried to extinguish the fuse with his palm, but only suffered burns and blisters. This was one inch thick rope, soaked in flammable oil. Unwilling to risk any further, Riker slumped off the barrel and sprinted to the junction and then left.
Heroic Beorg charged from around the corner, leading with his polearm.
“I will cut the fuse before it burns up!”
Beorg the Legend reached the barrel just in time for it to explode, suffering maximum impact and fire damage. Those that lurked around the corner were singed as well as forced to the ground from shock.
Smell of burnt flesh permeated the corridor.
Clerics rushed to heal each other. Surprisingly, charred Beorg was carbonised but alive.
SLAM!
The same sound was heard once more. This time everyone ran left and around the corner, and then burst through the doors, slamming them shut just in time. Little flames surged from underneath. Dramatic, but harmless.
Catching a moment to breath, the party realised they fled into a familiar chamber. A small altar with the symbol of three crossed swords was in the middle. Bunk beds line all the walls.
“There should be a one-way secret passageway just there...”
Indeed, the adventurers had easily found the secret doors they perused in the past. From there they easily found their way to the bell shaped entrance chamber. But their way was barred!
First, they caught an orc by surprise. Pig-faced monster was waiting with a club, facing the doors leading into the entrance chamber. It certainly did not expect a bunch of adventurers to exit from the doors behind it. Monster was hacked to pieces in seconds.
Second, the doors were nailed shut. Without equipment, Hagar spent significant time to tear down plank by plank. Eventually the party broke through and fled back to Hara to lick their singed assess.
Healed but hairless, the adventurers returned to the den once more. One their way out of the town, Akasi Namelin derided Hagar for putting their plans into jeopardy. The dwarf had little patience for Namelin's eldest son.
Riker the Wise remembered to bring a magical construct which had been collecting dust in the companies vault. It was a palm-sized bee which can follow simple instructions and offer one to three word description of what it sees. Scouting the dark corridor from whence barrels rode revealed little but closed doors.
Checking remaining three doors in the bell shaped chamber revealed they were all barred from the other side. Hence the party decided to go through the broken doors. From there they rethreaded some of the chambers they've been through before.
Passing the stairs down, the party decided to explore southern portion of the dungeon. Alas, they were mostly empty and junk rooms. Peak excitement were a gelatinous cube guarding a completely empty room, and a finger ring-sized snake eating its own tail resting on a pillow under a glass dome. Beorg broke the later, and then one of the adventurers grabbed the ring. Nothing ill happened to anyone, despite the warning uttered to them.
“One last doors to check” led the party into a thirty by thirty foot trap chamber. The doors slam shut behind them, and green gas begun filling the chamber as magic mouth spoke:
“Unbidden, I come at night Unasked, I am gone by morn.”
A set of glyphs appeared on the door in vertical line: a star on top, crescent moon in the middle, and a sleeping man on the bottom.
Half of the party immediately succumbed to the gas, dropping to the ground as if dead. Tarkus yelled the correct answer but nothing happened until he touched the correct glyph as well.
Gas stopped hissing and doors opened by themselves.
Tarkus dragged everyone outside and administered awakening slaps.
Once everyone got back to their senses, the party stopped to think about their further course of action. They were at the literal and proverbial junction.
Where next to conquer?
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Through September I hosted the RPG Blog Carnival with the theme of Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers.
Here is the chronological round-up of all contributions:
A lot of cool and gameable material (I especially like the d100 table by Elemental Reductions) that can be easily used.
Just comment if I missed your contribution and I'll add it to the list.
Since this was fun, I think I'll host the Carnival again next year.
Let me know if there is a topic you are yearning for! ;)
#RPGBlogCarnival #OSR #Resource
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Fight On! presents: a
David A. Trampier and David C. Sutherland III Memorial Art Contest!
Honoring the dedicatees of Issues #16 and #17 of the legendary fanzine!
Rules: Artists retain ownership of and all rights to their work, except that winning artists grant Fight On! Publications the right to first publish that work in an issue of Fight On! and subsequent collections including that issue/article in perpetuity. No AI.
All Submissions Due by November 30 to iggyumlaut@gmail.com.
Prizes! Color Division: $80 First Prize; $40 Second Prize; $25 Third Prize. B&W Division: $75 First Prize; $35 Second Prize; $15 Third Prize. Trampier Memorial Prize: $50. Sutherland Memorial Prize: $50. (Multiple third prizes possible. Last two are for work inspired by or in the style of; can stack or award separately.)
Judges include:
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| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hagar the Hewer | Dwarf level 4 | Imagine Conan as dwarf. |
| Ambros | Cleric level 5 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Darius | Cleric level 4 | Follower of Dacron, God of Craftsmen. |
| Hector | Fighter level 3 | Balding warrior in the dwarf corpse retrieval business. |
| Tamren | Cleric level 3 | Stoic paladin of Coriptis, the Goddess of Battle and Inamorata of Berserkers. Aventail hides all but his two piercing blue eyes. |
| Lucie | Fighter level 1 | RPhysically competent, but mentally and socially inept. |
Large chestnut tree towered above the poorly concealed entrance into the drug den. As always before, the hole had been covered with a wooden plank, which in turn was covered with bushes and brambles and soil.
Unlike before, the tree was now flanked by two shoddily made wooden towers and several rows of poorly made wooden palisades. The latter were in fact just sharpened tree trunks driven into the ground at an angle.
None of that was enough to stop Hagar and his crack team. They jumped two sleeping pig faced orcs and killed them in cold blood before either could squeal. Then they dispatched orcs on the towers.
Stupid pigs were blind as bats during the day. And even if the weren't, they could possibly not match the bloodthirsty Tamren, bent on earning absolution for his cowardice at the same place months prior. He would never stand a chance of being consumed by Coriptis eternal flame—-unless he bathes in blood of those that had broken his resolve once.
But they weren't here for Tamren's redemption. No. They were here to demolish and eradicate the beastmen that established camp so close to Hara. Not due to benevolence nor heroic aspirations, but due to Hagar accepting Namelin's offer to become their candidate for Hara's new castellan.
The party chucked the plank to the side and descended into the drug den.
Bell-shaped entrance chamber was different than before. It was cleaned. There were no impaled corpses.
Adventurers decided to head right. They swept chamber after chamber. All empty. Rotting straw mats, broken weapons, signs of being lived-in by filthy creatures. Gone.
“I recall orc and goblin barrack being around here. These were probably their rooms.”
Ransacked library housed three mutilated corpses. Hagar recognised Celeborn of Revelshire whom he had adventured twelve months ago with. Two decayed humans were unknown to him, but were probably adventurers as well.
Pushing on, the party followed a twisting corridor into a dry, tobacco smelling storage room. There another door led into a trap that failed to foil Hagar and Tamren. Upon forcing the doors open, they both noticed a corridor extending into infinity. Instinctively, both looked away.
There was no magic, only trickery of perspective using two bottom to ceiling mirrors facing each other. Averting their gaze, the adventurers pressed forth, into a sixty feet wide chamber with a thirty feet long pool.
“What a weird chamber...”
The chamber was pristine. The water was crystal clear and warm. Stone pegs jutted out of north wall.
“Look, a dagger!”
Indeed in the center of the pool a dagger rested at the bottom. The bottom was at an incline, with south side being three feet deep, and north side around ten feet.
One of the adventurers pushed the dagger with the ten foot pole to the south end. Then Hagar jumped into the water and picked the dagger up. It was a nice looking weapon, but ultimately mundane.
“The night should fall soon. We should get out before orcs come out and realise somebody killed the guards.”
And thus the adventurers rapidly backtracked, hopped on their horses and rode hard to Hara. They got lost during the night, but once they found the Farhills river it was trivial to follow it downstream.
They reached Hara on Sunstrong 3rd, few hours after sunrise.
Beastmen got to live yet another day.
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