Adventurers

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.

Sunstrong 6th, Airday

“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.

Sunstrong 7th, Waterday

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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Adventurers

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.

Sunstrong 4th, Fireday

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.

Sunstrong 6th, Airday

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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Adventurers

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.

Sunstrong 2nd, Waterday

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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Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Hagar the Hewer	Dwarf level 4	Imagine Conan as dwarf.
Ambros	Cleric level 5	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Foxglove	Thief level 4	A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time.
Darius	Cleric level 4	Follower of Dacron, God of Craftsmen.
Riker	Magic-User level 2	A magic-user seeking glory or death.
Tiberias	Normal human	Regretting his employment.

Longrass 12th, Waterday

Engulfed by noxious yellow gas, Hagar and Amborus could barely see. Led by Darius's voice, they retreated from the chamber where they just faced four demonic creatures.

“Shut the doors! Let 'em come to us!”

But nothing came.

Peeking into the chamber revealed it was empty. It was stained yellow from top to bottom. There was one door to the left and one to the right. Opening the former reveal a spacious chamber with two dwarven corpses. One was lying on its right side, with its back to the adventurers. The other one was torn in half.

Adventurers shut the door and went for the other door.

They moved forward, down the corridor, until they reached a hard turn. Hagar peeked around the corner, only to be dazzled by a festival of colourful lights. Unsure what to do, other adventurers passed Rorik's corpse—a third of it they still had—to Hagar. Then the dwarf chucked it around the corner.

In a split second the party had been flashed and surrounded by glimmering light. Horned dog sized bunnies were all around them! They rammed and gored few of the members before vanishing in thin air.

The party moved on, following the twisting corridor. They found a dead end with thousands of silver and gold coins arranged in small nests. Another dead end was an unfinished room with stairs leading down into nothing. Third dead end were stone doors with skull on it and two large keyholes.

The adventurers were too experienced to be lured by two matching keys laying on the stone table right next to the doors. Thus they backtracked all the way to the chamber with dwarven corpses.

It was a large fifty by fifty feet chamber. There were three corpses in total, all in horrific shape. The corpses were decomposing, but were still much fresher then other dead people they encountered so far. Doors in the south-west corner were covered with blood and gore from bottom to the ceiling.

More interesting was the curious mechanism in the center of north wall. Some five feet above the floor, a tilted horizontal disc jutted out of the wall. From it three rods—as spokes of a wheel—stood straight. On the upper face of the half-disc was an etched mask with frowning face.

Abandoning the contraption, the party backtracked to the chamber with large stone face. It had matching facial expression to the face on the disc—a frowning expression.

Illustration by kicmaniac.

The face was almost twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Dark hole in the mouth was in fact an opening into a tight crawlspace. Tiberias volunteered to investigate it. He had to strip into nothing but loincloth and rope around his waist. Then he improvised a weapon with burning torch tied to it, and went into it.

The space was very tight, forcing him to crawl on his belly with little space for looking forward. After ten or so minutes he heard a voice speak in unfamiliar language. Ignoring it, he proceeded forward. His eyes were red and teary from the smoke coming into his eyes. At one moment he decided to pause to rest a bit. But he couldn't! In fact, he was now sliding forward, scrapping his forearms and knees.

Even worse, moments later he was in a head on free fall.

Hagar felt the rope suddenly move much faster. He dropped his body weight and held onto the rope.

Tiberias felt the rope around his waist tightening. He drop was stopped with a powerful jerk. The shock nearly made him black out. The man vomited down the chute. Then he decided to drop down his torch so he could see what lies ahead.

His torch disappeared in thick darkness.

Hagar was joined by other adventurers in pulling the rope. It was tough until it wasn't. They pulled out empty rope. The loop and knot were still there. Tiberias wasn't.

There was no time to grieve.

Party headed back to the room with weird contraption. There they investigated it for hours until one of the clerics suggested at least three characters try to push on the rods. Lo and behold! The disc rotated. Moments later frowning face was replaced with smiling face.

Running back to the room with stone face confirmed it too had changed its facial expression. This time Hagar volunteered. They tied several hundred feet worth of rope around him. They also agreed on various rope signals.

Getting on all fours, Hagar entered the mysterious crawlspace. Moving on he too reached a moment when he could hear someone or something speaking in an unfamiliar language. He too ignored it and moved on.

As dwarf he could feel several inclines. He turned right, twice. After long time he reached a dead end. But he could feel a cold wheel touching his exposed belly. Since there was so little space, he had trouble getting a good grip. But once he did, he was able to twist it with great ease. Floor underneath him gave in and he fell face first on a hard stone floor beneath.

Dazed but alive, he pulled on the rope, signalling others to follow. Everyone stripped, and made sure to carry only the most valuable items that can fit through crawlspace. They also dragged Rorik's corpse through, as well as stiff FoxGlove.

Reunited, the party lit up a torch. Unarmoured and barely armed, they rapidly moved, following a long corridor forward. They passed a chamber, ignoring whatever might be inside, moved into another chamber, and then left through archway. Here Hagar recognised the chamber with framed gold sheet.

“I know the way out! Be careful for there is a dart trap activated by pressure plate!”

Adventurers exited the ruined tower just as night was about to fall. They camped in its ruins, enjoying the smell of fresh air once again.

Survivors returned to Hara on Longrass 13th. Just in time for Hagar to recuperate and prepare for dinner with Aseti Namelin, one of the most influential people in the region.

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Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Ignaeus	Elf level 2	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiselled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Thorn the Dwarf	Dwarf level 1	Ashen hair, beard, and eyes. Left his own clan due to financial trouble.

Warmshade 3rd, Waterday

“Could we finish our investigation of the lizard caves? I am curious to know what is going on there.”

Ignaeus was the only one to answers Thorn's call to adventure. The dwarf did not rest still, and he employed two retainers, Soalain and Glamina.

Next he hired a rowboat and crew to take them downstream to the cave.

“We will wait until sundown. If pirates or barbarians appear off we go!”

The party entered the caves few hours after sunrise.

They exited just an hour before sundown.

Ten torches burnt through.

They carefully navigated natural tunnels, exploring every nook and cranny. Always tense, always ready for trouble.

Trouble did find them, without surprise, in another lizards' nest. A giant centipede nested there, but it was summarily dispatched by Thorn's might blows. Alas, the eggs were sucked dry and were empty.

A truly valuable cache hid behind a chilly body of water, past wet tunnel. There a skeleton lay, dressed in pristine chainmail. A small, round metal shield was by its side. A curved scimitar to other side. All were in pristine condition, as if unbothered by all the moisture in the small cave.

Satisfied with their thorough exploration, the party recovered these three items and returned to Hara. There they sought identification service from the Wizards' Guild.

Warmshade 8th, Earthday

Whilst waiting for the identification to be complete, Thorn and Ignaeus spent time going through all the notes and intelligence collected by other adventurers whose Company they had joined.

There was much going on in the region; and the Company had its fingers in many pies. But where to focus? Where to strike next? Who to ally with? What is true and what is not? Much was discussed, and much more has to be discussed.

Invitation came on the noon of Warmshade 8th.

“This is the Bender. It is a magical shield that allows you to deflect two mundane arrows shot at you, once a day.” Tangay of Seven Stars presented the shield.

“And this chainshirt I decided to name Zealot's Mail. Besides additional protection it also nullifies any Druidic Magic cast on the person wearing the armour.” he continued.

“Finally, the Volmorin's Blade! If the wielder points the blade at someone and yells “Freeze” the blade unleashes Hold Person upon them. Volmorin has been etched in the pommel, hence the name.”

The duo was most satisfied with their haul.

But the question remains: what now?

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Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Hector	Fighter level 3	Balding warrior in the dwarf corpse retrieval business.
Ignaeus	Elf level 2	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiselled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Theros	Cleric level 1	EYoung idealist committed to proving himself to Sashu, God of Justice and Blind Beggars.
Thorn the Dwarf	Dwarf level 1	Ashen hair, beard, and eyes. Left his own clan due to financial trouble.
Mayonnaise	Elf level 1	Albino elf with long white eyelashes, flowing white hair, magnificent white cape, and long two-handed sword.

Longrass 14th, Fireday

“We shall recover Bob.”

Hector accepted another mission to retrieve a dwarven corpse; something he was especially gifted at. He recently arrived to Hara, along with his fellow adventurers Ignaeus, Theros, Thorn, and Mayonnaise.

He collected information from Leticia, a retainer of the named deceased. Apparently he was a member of noteworthy Company that resides in Hara, and they wished his corpse to be retrieved.

Reasons did not matter to Hector, only future prospects. So he took his party to the described cave. Thorn remained outside, by the cave entrance.

Exploring the cave system by the entrance led the party to discover evidence of fight by the slow moving stream. There they also found a dead lizard—whose tail they promptly removed for the promised bounty of twenty five gold coins.

Axe heads, fragments of shield, and other iron shavings were lodged into the stream's bed. A naked and beheaded human was thrown on the south side of the stream. The man was dead.

Poorly concealed secret doors led into a small chamber that housed a simple desk, straw-bed and demonic idol of fat humanoid with ram head. Mayonnaise cracked open small chest by the bed. Three hundred gold coins, an emerald, and vial with dark red-brown liquid.

Opting not to follow the stream, adventurers moved north, exploring various smaller caves and labyrinthine tunnels. In one of the smaller caves they found two naked corpses of pig faced humanoids and a sack of rotten grains.

Following a long tunnel, which at one moment slopped downwards, led them into another sizeable cave with five exists. Blood trail indicated something had been dragged into south west tunnel.

Tightening their formation, the party proceeded forward.

“Stop...”

Both elves heard sounds of something munching on a bone.

The party stopped to discuss what should they do next.

Alas, their ingenious planning was interrupted by a giant lizard charging them out of darkness.

Adventurers withdrew back into the chamber, where all four could strike at the reptile. The lizard stood little chance against such coordinated violence.

Mayonnaise took the spear passed to him, and the promptly jammed it into the beast's skull. Next he flung the lifeless corpse to the cave wall like it was nothing but a little toy.

“Wow, are you THAT strong?” other adventurers marvelled.

Either way, another giant lizard tail to remove and drop nearby. After all, they did not want to be encumbered before cleaning out the cave system.

Going down the south east tunnel, adventurers reached a cave so expansive their torchlight couldn't even reach the ceiling. Even the softest of footsteps echoed. Sound of running water could be heard as if it was coming from all directions.

The part soon came upon a curious sight. A slain lizard, next to a dead orc. This orc was dressed and had claw and bite marks. Some twenty feet away from them were four orc corpses, all naked. They lied with broken necks and collarbones, as if they fell from above. But all also had deep wounds caused by slashing and piercing weapons.

A rope ladder hung from darkness, leading up the cave wall.

“I am going up!” Mayonnaise announced, lit up his torch, and climbed. It didn't take him long to reach the top. He stood on the edge, overlooking large cave and his colleagues beneath him. To the south was a shallow, slow stream, lazily flowing south east.

“Come down!”

The elf ignored the calls to return, and bravely went south, into the darkness, to explore the chamber and adjoining tunnels all by himself.

Hector, Ignaeus, and Theros waited for half an hour. Then they decided to follow the blood trail leading east. They encountered two more naked corpses. The trail continued south, down the narrow tunnel. Sound of frothing water could be heard up ahead.

The trio pushed on.

The stream was falling down a series of rocks, causing noise. It wasn't too high, but with all the rocks and slipper limestone, traversing it would be difficult. After the waterfall the stream was effectively an underground river, rapidly gaining depth.

Standing at the shore, adventurers scanned the chamber.

A giant lizard came charging from their left.

Another giant lizard lunged out of water from the south.

The trio tightened their ranks in time and successfully defended themselves from the initial onslaught.

Theros landed a mighty blow. Hector followed by splitting the reptile's head with his hand axe. Ignaeus missed.

Mayonnaise appeared at the top of the waterfall. There he stood, with a torch in his hand, and no missile weapons.

Illustration by kickmaniac.

Unwilling to be useless, he hopped down the slipper stones with amazing agility, and joined the fray swinging his two-handed sword.

Theros, possibly distracted by such stupendous display of magnificence, was overpowered by surviving lizard. The beast stood on its hind legs and dropped its weight on the cleric. Then it bit sideways into his unprotected neck, decapitating him with one bite.

Hector avenged his fellow adventurer by severing the giant lizard's tail and letting it die in writhing agony.

Moments later Thorn the Dwarf joined them. He was yearning for some action.

To the south of the stream were two joined caves. A nest of large eggs indicated this was the giant lizard's lair. Close to the waterfall was dwarf corpse missing left leg, left arm, face, and scalp.

“This must be Bob. What the hell is he doing here?”

Some mysteries can never be solved.

The party picked up Bob's corpse, three eggs, five giant lizard tails, and returned to Hara to collect their bounty.

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Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Bob the Dwarf	Dwarf level 3	Midget with big beard in search of an adventure.
Hoffman	Fighter level 1	Bold, aggressive, and ugly. But good at heart.
Leticia	Cleric level 1	Extremely righteous, borderline zealot, devout follower of Rasthri, Goddess of Strength in Revenge.
Lugh	Elf level 1	An elf from faraway secluded area, suspicious of people.
Cesar	Halfling level 1	Brawly trouble magnet, but has good head on his shoulders.

Longrass 11th, Airday

Bob has had it with Hagar the Haughty! Once again Hagar left without Bob, taking other adventurers on an expedition that will make them all rich. But not Bob!

Was it because Bob was defaced by a carnivorous giant fly? Or because he was scalped by an Altanian? No! It was because Bob now wields the mighty Wolfhammer, and Hagar surely envies him!

But Bob decided not to sit idly on his ass. No! He allowed his entrepreneurial spirit to blossom, and he recruited four promising adventurers: Hoffman the Fighter, Leticia the Cleric, Lugh the Elf, and Cesar the Halfling.

Then he found a local merchant who needs help: giant lizards laired close to where rivers Farhills and Cedarwade meet. Twenty-five gold coins per tail were sufficient to buy this newly formed party.

Bob then led the party to the described cave. They lit up a torch and descended into a dark hole overlooking the river bank.

Narrow and slippery limestone slopped downwards. It was broad enough to allow the party to proceed in single-file formation.

“Psst. Stop.”

Bob and Lugh halted the party.

Snoring in the darkness.

The party moved on slowly.

A slumped pig-faced humanoid was snoring.

A hand axe by its hip.

Snot-bubbles coming out of its snout.

Someone fired at the monster.

And missed.

The orc looked up, confused.

Hoffman gingerly smashed its head against the cave wall.

The beast slumped into eternal slumber.

The cave they descended to was quite large, spanning some forty feet wide and sixty feet long, if not longer. But the adventurers were preoccupied with the cave passaged that was lit. Low grunts could be heard coming from that direction.

Sneaking closer, Bob took a peek.

Four pig-faced beastmen sitting around a campfire.

They were blissfully unaware of the horror that is about to jump them.

The party released a volley at unsuspecting foes.

Cesar and Lugh had slain one; the rest fled east; splashing and tripping in the shallow stream.

One gasped as arrow penetrated its lung from behind.

“Onwards!”

Bob charged after the fleeing monsters.

His new recruits followed diligently.

Except Cesar. The halfling crossed the stream. Just to see what's on the other side, you know. There he found two wooden chests. Of course he took a look. The chests were filled with gold and silver coins.

Rest of the adventurers followed the stream. Bob halted the party at the narrowest point.

“We will wait for them here.”

Grunts could be heard in distance. Lugh could understand some of this primitive language. There were cries and complaints. Then somebody said “Go get the Bonecrusher!”

The party readied themselves. Weapons braced. Position reinforced.

Silence.

Silence.

Thunderous cheers.

Sounds of many feet running through the stream.

“Waaagh!”

Eight pig-faced beastmen came charging out of darkness. One towered over them, dressed in clinky chainshirt and wielding a longspear with wicked barbed top.

The ranks clashed against each other.

Bob swung his Wolfhammer, but missed the Bonecrusher.

The orc sidestepped the attack, swung his spear at the dwarf's belly, breaking his ribs. Then he quickly stepped back, rotated the spear, and drove it through Bob's back. Blood and gore splattered all over the adventurers as Bonecrusher yanked the barbed spear out of Bob's lifeless body.

The adventurers tightened their ranks; as did their anuses.

Orcs roared and pushed through the Bonecrusher.

They were eager for blood.

Hoffman stepped forth.

Oh how glorious he was in his plate armour, shield, and superior dexterity.

He deflected blow after blow.

He left no error go unpunished.

Leticia was to his left; Cesar to his right.

“Waa–”

He smashed the face of roaring orc with his shield, then finished him off with a mighty blow.

Halfling was badly wounded. If it weren't for Lugh's quick reaction, Cesar would've been gone for sure. The elf dragged him out of melee, and then he stepped forth. Despite his pathetic strength and thin leather armour.

Hoffman killed another beastmen with a single blow, dropping its lifeless corpse in front of Lugh.

Shallow stream was getting clogged by orc corpses.

Leticia screamed as she crushed her first orc.

Hoffman followed with yet another powerful attack.

Then he jumped on the pile of corpses and bellowed a war cry.

Orcs hacked him to death, and added his corpse to the pile.

Stream was now more blood than water.

Blood stained cave walls all the way up to the ceiling.

Lugh was quickly brought down.

Cesar repaid his life debt by dragging the elf out of melee.

Both were messed up, barely remaining conscious.

Leticia was the last one standing.

Until she wasn't.

She held her ground for good time.

But her blows weren't connecting.

Her shield and plate armour were dented by orcs' relentless attacks.

She slumped on her knees, bruised and battered.

Bonecrusher grunted in ecstasy as he dragged the spear along the cave wall.

Leticia gritted her teeth.

This is a good death.

Law fighting Chaos.

Nothing to be ashamed of.

Lugh and Cesar had to cover their eyes from a sudden sunburst from within the cave.

Once they were able to see again they were amazed by the sight.

Leticia standing strong; her armour perfectly mint; her hammer and shield with yellowish glow.

Cleric screamed as she leaped of the corpses.

She smashed Bonecrusher's head with a single mighty blow.

Elf and halfling threw themselves at the last surviving beastmen. Together they were able to wrestle one and hack him to death.

Rejuvenated by divine intervention, Leticia fought like a Valkyrie of legends. She crushed legs of one orc, throwing him to the ground. There halfling jumped on his and stabbed him to death.

Lugh killed the final beastman.

Leticia moved the corpses aside. Then she took Bob's Wolfhammer.

The survivors then filled five backpacks worth of coins.

Five hundred gold coins and one thousand and five hundred silver coins, to be exact.

Beats whatever that guy would pay for lizards' tails.

They left the corpses to the stream.

The trio left the cave and returned to Hara.

Thus they were welcomed to the Barbarian Altanis.

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Background

I ran an OD&D one-shot at the local gaming club for a group of players that were willing to give older ruleset a try. Three players rolled two characters, and one player rolled three.

Character creation took around 30 minutes, and the game session took around three hours. We played legendary Caverns of Thracia. Everybody quickly picked-up the rules and the game flowed smoothly.

See end of the post for more on preparation.

Adventurers

In alphabetic order:

Character	Class	Alignment
Andre the Pious	Fighting-Man	Lawful
Bojan Bakrovic	Fighting-Dwarf	Neutral
Catalina	Magic-User	Chaotic
Clarisa	Cleric	Lawful
Keith	Cleric	Lawful
Lindon	Cleric	Lawful
Serene	Fighting-Elf	Neutral
Wilhelm Popovic	Cleric	Lawful
Xander	Magic-User	Neutral

One sunny day in the Barbarian Altanis

Adventuring party of nine finally found the fabled Lost City of Thracia. For the past day they've been trawling through lizard-men infested swamp. Most trawled waist-deep; Bojan had to do so at nipple-height.

The party approached the ruins from the west side, exiting the swamp southwards. Carefully inspecting the closest ruined building revealed little of interest. The largest building, what once used to be a temple, dominated the vista. Alas, it had no visible egresses sans the breakage in the walls caused by overgrowth.

Lindon, secured with rope and held steadfast by Wilhelm and Bojan, approached a dilapidated well and peered down. A lone torch burned at the bottom of the deep hole. The dwarf estimated the depth to be between 60 and 100 feet.

Scuttling alongside the temple wall, adventurers proceeded north, investigating their surrounding. Andre the Pious, or the Tenfoot Pole Bearer, led the way tapping and checking for traps. He was asked to inspect the largest crack in the wall, which he was happy to do.

Climbing up the tree trunk allowed him to peek into the ruined temple. Lo and behold, a staircase leading into darkness was visible. Just like four hyena-headed humanoids. Andre dropped back, and the party formed battle ranks by the fissure.

Two gnolls emerged and clashed against the front rank. One of the hairy beasts swung its mighty battle axe, landing it straight between Keith's ears. His head burst like an overripe watermelon. Clarisa the Cleric soon suffered a similar grisly fate.

Bojan and Lindon revenged them in quick succession, murdering two gnolls. A brief exchange of blows ensued with the surviving gnolls, which soon gave up and fled, leaving a bloody trail leading down the stairs.

“Chase them!”

“Wait! My mule!”

Catalina stayed behind, trying to get the mule to climb the tree trunk and enter the ruined temple. Others gave chase and followed the gnolls underground.

Lighting a lantern revealed a large chamber filled with rubble and debrief. Everything was caked with faeces of varying dryness. Blood trail led east. Up north were large double doors, ajar. To the west was a dead end, and to the east a corridor. Looking up, the dwarf spotted hundreds of bats—source of brown material coating the floor, no doubt.

“Let's slow down.”

Adventurers continued their pursuit, albeit now proceeding carefully, tapping the ground with the ten foot pole. A turn, and a turn, and then another turn, and then yet another! But this time, there were closed doors, and blood led to them.

“I have a plan.” Bojan announced whilst taking out his trust iron pitons. Then he knelt by the doors and begun hammering them in, one by one.

Andre watched guard over the north corridor. Alas, he was taken by surprisingly ferocious charge of four gnolls lead by a squat man with doberman head. Wilhelm reinforced the fighter, checking the beastmens' charge. Alas, that spelled doom for the cleric and soon he was nothing but bloody mess.

“Look how pathetic they are! Capture them all!” dog-man barked at the gnolls. One of the adventures understood him, and promptly conveyed the message to others.

Partially spiked doors were constantly banged on; as if something or someone is trying to force the open. Adventurers kept hammering in pitons, preventing the doors from being forced open.

Focusing the efforts on the dog-man soon produced results. The beast was a great swordsman, but it could not withstand adventurers' superior skills. Andre's blow forced the monster to the ground. Bojan ensured it dies an agonising death by brutally severing one of its limbs.

At this moment the party obviously had an upper hand. They rallied and pressed on against four gnolls, slaying two. Remaining two fled down the long corridor. Lindon beheaded the dog-man's corpse and left it in front of the spiked door. Just so beastmen know who they are dealing with.

Once again the party gave chase, but soon gave up after running down several hundred feet long corridor slopping downwards.

“Let's go back and check the double doors?”

“Sounds good.”

Spiked doors were still jammed shut; the captives were still banging to get out.

Passing through the double doors revealed a thirty feet wide, long corridor. Two lines of columns ran along, derelict but still structural sound. Andre ran up to fetch Catalina. The rest pushed on, finding a fissure in the corridor.

Bojan took a look; it was deep, but too scraggy for anything human to climb up. Further north was a pile of rubble flanked by two doors. Left were shut, right were slightly ajar.

Serene took a look.

Two yellowish reptilian eyes looked back at her.

The doors swung open.

Two naked lizardmen with clubs greeted the party.

Behind them was another lizardman tending to a wounded one on the ground.

The elf was knocked unconscious in a single blow.

The lizards grabbed her body and begun to drag her into the chamber. Andre tried to shut the doors, but left that and tried to wrestle Serene's body instead. Alas, lizardmen were stronger.

“Onwards!”

Party forced their way into the room and total chaos ensued.

Bojan was brutally mauled. He collapsed to the ground, with severe headache. The only thing that saved his life was his amazing greathelm. With last ounces of strength he crawled to his crossbow and fired it.

He missed.

Xander the Magic-User suffered traumatic brain injury, courtesy of yet another club wielding lizardman. He lied prostrate.

Andre the Pious delivered the killing blow to the biggest of four lizardmen. But there was no celebration to be had. Catalina gasped as spear was driven through her abdomen. She collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

“Get out! Run!”

Andre yelled at Lindon.

Cleric nodded, and withdrew from the chamber.

Andre took lit a torch.

Then he smashed an oil flask upon the backpack of his fallen comrade.

He knew damn well that backpack was full of flammable flasks.

And then he hit it, hard, with a burning torch.

Lindon could see a ball of fire blowing out of the chamber.

Silence and smell of burn flesh followed.

Turning around, the cleric opened the west doors.

An abandoned chapel.

A long ruined statue of unknown god.

Lindon said a silent prayer.

And then he got the fuck out of the dungeon.

Preparation notes

I decided to used just the little brown books since they have less rules. Since I didn't want to be the bottle neck (e.g. have players wait for me while I'm explaining something to another player), I prepared a series of player facing reference sheets:

• one for each class (Fighting-Man, Magic-User, Cleric)
• one-page for races
• equipment
• character creation steps
• ability score summary
• character sheets

I also printed original reference sheets for myself:

Player sheets were well used during the game, and everyone was able to quickly make several characters. I did not used Judge facing reference sheets, since I apparently remember more rules than I was aware of.

For The Caverns of Thracia I (1) prerolled four encounters for first two levels, (2) prerolled % if someone is somewhere for ground and first level, and (3) wrote down 20 rumours on pieces of paper to hand out.

I also noted vertical connection on my maps. There was no need extensively prepare, since the party can't delve too deep in one three hour session anyway. I did reduce monster hit points, though, since they were obviously rolled with Supplement I and variable HD. So I reduced everything to uniform d6 HD.

That was it, an hour or so of prep.

Final words

The session was enjoyable, and players did great for their first foray into Thracia. Great future awaits Lindon, no doubts about that.

#Wilderlands #OneShot #SessionReport

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Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Hagar the Hewer	Dwarf level 4	Imagine Conan as dwarf.
Ambros	Cleric level 5	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Foxglove	Thief level 4	A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time.
Darius	Cleric level 4	Follower of Dacron, God of Craftsmen.
Riker	Magic-User level 2	A magic-user seeking glory or death.
Araggouk	Dwarf level 1	A skinny dwarf with patches of hair lost from stress.

Longrass 12th, Waterday

“They look like they've been murdered by Magic Missile or similar...”

Three rotting corpses with blast-marks lied prostrate in the chamber ahead of the party. The one to the right laid on its back, arms as if to protect the face. Said face was missing as well as its palms. The one straight ahead was lying on its left side, facing the party. Left side of the head was blasted, and right side was torn open, exposing festering flesh and broken ribcage. The one to the left was on its belly, and had a gaping hole instead of an abdomen.

The adventurers did not fall for the obvious trap. Whatever they threw into the chamber was immediately blasted to pieces by rapidly flying glowing orbs. They would flash on impact, destroying whatever they hit. Ingenious combination of torch on a tenfoot pole and judicious use of Find Traps spell, the party had identified four floating silver spheres, one in each corner of the room.

Illustration by kickmaniac.

Shooting them yielded no result. The party reasoned there must be some sort of pattern one has to follow in order to cross the chamber safely. So they picked up Rorik's corpse—carried by the sole surviving hireling—and chucked it on a square in front of them. Rorik was blasted and reduce to half of what he used to be. Spheres rotated and retracted into the ceiling.

“I think they are recharging! We should just run!”

“No, let's take it slow, maybe this is another trick.”

With that they picked Rorik's remains and threw him forward once more. Nothing. The fighter serves in death as much as he did in life.

“Run!”

Darting through north-east doors led the party into another corridor maze. There they found foul and soiled dwarf named Araggouk. Unfortunate soul got lost in the dungeon more than a week ago. He holed up in one of the dead ends and was biding his time until the rescue party arrived.

Reinforced by the smelly dwarf, adventurers explored the winding corridors. One route took them to suspicious elevated platforms. Roughly forming the shape of three broad stairs, a stone chest was resting atop the final one. It was flanked by two stone heads some ten feet above the ground. Both were roughly reptilian shaped, with fanged mouth stretched agape.

Thorough investigation revealed no visible traps, or rather triggers. After all, it was obvious even to the least experienced in the party that this chest must be trapped. Some horrors will surely come out of the gargoyle heads!

Araggouk successfully convinced others to help him open the stone chest, for he was too weak to lift the stone lid all by himself. FoxGlove stepped forth selflessly.

Oh, how wonderful its contents was! Thousands of shiny gold and silver coins! And two fist sized jewels resting on top of the pile!

Alas, their wonder was cut short by two snakes the fell down their necks from above. By the time Riker had finished casting Sleep, FoxGlove was bitten twice. Araggouk's skin had proven too thick, or too nasty even for a snake.

Ambros ran to the thief, looking for ways to help. He knew damn well what needs to be done. He was woefully aware of his inability to cast miracles like Bishops of his order. FoxGlove went pale, and then collapsed into cleric's arms.

“The pulse is still there, but weak...”

Tiberias was upgraded from corpse-porter to almost-dead-porter. He approved of that and was happy to offload Rorik's mutilated corpse to Riker. Adventurers snatched the gems and continued seeking exit.

Avoiding traps, they reached a large rectangular chamber. In fact, it was so large it took them good time just to walk it. Dwarves marvelled at its geometrically perfect lines. Moving on, the adventurers correctly identified and avoided two more traps, lifted a portcullis and reached stairs leading up.

“I don't believe it...” Darius mouthed, dejected.

Indeed, the party spirit was so low that they even debated if they'd take the stairs leading up or continue looking elsewhere.

Courage prevailed and they went up. And up. And up. Finally they ran into a t-shaped junction. To their right were closed stone doors and portcullis to the left. Behind the doors was an empty chamber with nothing but large mask carved in the east wall. Its smiling mouth was wide open, presenting an inviting darkness.

The invitation was not accepted by any of the adventurers.

Raising portcullis led them into a square chamber with doors in the south-west corner. That in turn led into a wide chamber with new doors to interact with. Opening north doors led into a hexagonal chamber with low stone column in the center. On it stood a stone vessel with an opening on top.

Ambros, desperate to save the thief, took the vessel and brought it to FoxGlove's lips.

“No, stop!”

Hagar prevented a possible tragedy, for the liquid seemed like mercury and not some antidote or similar helpful concoction.

Darius and Ambros studied the vessel, liquid, and pillar. It is possible that this is a divine mercury used in barbarian rituals to summon a god. The diviner would be granted a single simple question, that deity would answer with a word or phrase if they felt generous, or simple yes or no if they felt neutral. And better run for your life it hey were in ill mood.

Feeling tiredness setting in their muscles and bones, the party retreated into an adjoining chamber. Three strong men were needed to lift the portcullis; Riker placed a glass vial so it shatters in case someone or something lifts it while the party rests.

Longrass 13th, Earthday

Relatively well rested, the party returned to the hexagonal chamber. The room had three egresses: stone doors to the south, portcullis to the west, and framed stone slab to the north. The last one was interesting because it looked like regular stone doors from afar, but once up close it was nothing but a stone slab framed as doors.

With thorough investigation, the dwarves surmised the slab ought to be pushed. Doing so revealed two rectangular openings on the sides; one to the left and one to the right. Hagar remembered similar mechanism elsewhere in this dungeon. Last time they opened it by placing a palm in each of the openings. So they did the same this time. And it worked!

The chamber was stained yellow; filthy yellow. Sticky gas rolled around it; driving the adventurers to tears. Four disgusting abominations stood in the center of the chamber. They had fat, rotund bodies, and comically long, spindly arms and legs. Their head were nothing but folds of fat with slobbering jaws.

Whatever these creatures were, the party had surprised them. Tired and suffering sofuckitis, the adventurers charged the monsters head on. Yellow demons responded by beating on their fat bellies, causing an unpleasant cacophony and releasing yellow gas.

Hagar, Ambros, and Araggouk cut into two of them, slashing and smashing. Monsters oozed yellow pus. They cried and banged their bellies, and created so much fog that one couldn't see further than their own nose.

And then the noise stopped.

Blinded and nauseous, the party braced themselves for whatever is about to come next.

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Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Hagar the Hewer	Dwarf level 4	Imagine Conan as dwarf.
Ambros	Cleric level 5	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Foxglove	Thief level 4	A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time.
Darius	Cleric level 4	Follower of Dacron, God of Craftsmen.
Rorik	Fighter level 3	A fighter.
Riker	Magic-User level 2	A magic-user seeking glory or death.

Longrass 11th, Airday

Following a day-long deliberation on what to do that will take less than ten days in total, the party had decided to revisit a ruined tower some ten miles south-west of Hara.

The one where they recovered valuable silver orbs from.

The one where they lost on full party.

Spending a full watch scouting the surroundings for any changes, the adventurers determined nothing much changed. And so they descended down.

Hagar took the lead since he had been here before. They went through the secret passageway under the stairs, then left in the pendulum room, and then through north-west doors. From there they went forth, left, and then right.

“Locked. Can't find the mechanism!”

FoxGlove played with stone doors preventing their further progress. It had three holes, each in different shape: a five-point star, a six-point star, and an equilateral triangle.

They backtracked and moved into an unexplored corridor, then right turn, then more than hundred feet forward, left turn, and then through stone doors into a mostly empty chamber. A set of rusted bear traps were piled in one corner. Some were open, some were closed.

Finding nothing of value they proceeded through south doors, and down another long corridor. Alas, the moment they turned into the corridor a sliding stone slab prevented their return.

“I don't understand this dungeon. Is this to prevent something from coming out? Or us from retreating?” one of the adventurers wondered.

“Step aside, I'll smash it.” Hagar stepped forth with a sledgehammer.

An hour later and all he had to show was a fingernail-sized chip.

“I guess we head down the corridor then!”

Another hundred or so feet, a left turn, and stone doors, and the party entered another chamber. This one was peculiar since it had a long stone bench running along north, west, and south wall. The bench was low, and comfortable for dwarf to sit on. It had no legs and underneath was nothing but empty clearance. It felt pleasant to the bum.

South-east doors led into a large circular chamber with a swirling pattern carved into the floor. Grooves were obvious even to non-dwarves.

“Uh-huh, this is a trap.”

FoxGlove went in by himself, tied with a rope, and carefully explored everything. Alas, nothing much. Unwilling to risk finding out what the trap might be, the party backtracked into trapped corridor and spent significant time investigating every portion of wall. Alas, nothing.

Once the full party entered the round chamber the ground shook and spiral fell down, turning the floor into a downward slide. Ready for this, the party tumbled in a relatively controlled manner.

Lighting up extinguished torches, the party scanned the chamber they fell into. It was a similar circular chamber like the one they were moments ago. Stone doors were to south, and open archway to north. They chose the latter direction.

Navigating the maze-like corridors led them to portcullis with loud snoring, a direction which was immediately abandoned it. Moving opposite, down the corridor led to two dead ends.

The north one had a skeleton pinned to the wall. What they though to be javelins turned out to be long iron quills.

FoxGlove plundered the skeletons sack for some gems, and coins.

Peeking into a chamber filled with skeletons was sufficient to shut the doors and abandon that route as well. Backtracking the maze and following northern route led the party to stone doors flanked with holes, another obvious trap.

Adventurers triggered the trap with tenfoot pole, forcing five spears to launch out of the wall. Then they used the grappling hook with rope to bend each one of them.

Following that Hagar and Rorik forced the doors open. Alas, Rorik failed to synchronise with the beefy dwarf, and went straight through open doors. He stepped on the trap on the other side of the door, and triggered it.

He evaded two spears, deflected one, and got cut by two.

Illustration by kickmaniac.

The chamber had several human-sized skeletons laying on the ground, all facing down. Many had broken bones. The floor was full of small holes.

“Rorik! Rorik! We'll get to you!”

The fighter leaned back, making sure he doesn't step further into the chamber. Five iron spears just behind his back prevented his exit.

“Come on! Pull!”

Bending each spear took around ten minutes.

They could see Rorik sit down.

“Pull! Pull! We are coming for you! Hold in there!”

Rorik could feel his blood burn.

Rorik could feel his flesh ache.

Rorik could feel his heart racing.

Until Rorik could feel no more.

Darius closed the warrior's eyes.

And then two freshly recruited men-at-arms were turned into corpse porters.

Backtracking once more, the part retreated into the round chamber. There they camped and rested as long as it took six torches to burn.

Longrass 12th, Waterday

The adventurers now explored eastern set of corridors. Bunch of dead ends, one with gas trap that left Darius and Riker injured, and one hireling dead. That one was left behind.

“How about we check the south doors?”

This led them into a five hundred feet long winding corridor. They passed one dead end with robed corpse gripping a staff. Naturally they took the staff. The corridor terminated with an archway opening up in a wide chamber.

Three corpses with blast marked lied prostrated on the floor. These ones actually had some flesh on them, unlike ancient skeletons they had found so far.

“Careful there...”

Will the party manage to escape this time?

Or will they suffer the same fate as the party that went missing?

Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.

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