May 10, 1084 Korlai Reckoning.
Recap written by Torgo.
Characters:
Ptolemy as "Bromil" & the late "Bob" [70]
Terragen as "Bea" [70]
Torgo as "The Archwizard Blileninane" [70]
Our fateful band of adventurers finds itself short a few members on the morning of their first excursion. Within the tavern at Nickstown are gathered Bob the fighter, Bea the cleric, and Shivgooch Blileninane the wizard. Bob is (was) a young man, wearing boiled leather and wielding an oaken kite shield at odds with his youth and relative inexperience. Still, he is amiable and eager to venture forth in search of gold, glory, and his bloody demise. Bea is a young woman, a junior cleric of Sif whose deep faith gives her a powerful arsenal of priestly magics, but also a sense of overconfidence and a shortcoming in melee combat. Still, her eyes are keen, and she has proven herself to have a strong sense for sniffing out hidden evils.
The Archwizard Blileninane is an old and cantankerous man, better suited for a guild library than a dungeon, but with age comes experience and an arsenal of ubiquitous delving spells. Together, they venture forth out of Nickstown and along the short path towards the dungeon, taking a circuitous route about the dungeon to take note of its three entrances along the south, east, and north, and eventually entering into the north passageway. Descending down a short set of stairs, a narrow passage led into a small sealed room containing a sarcophagus and urn. Though Archwizard Blileninane was quick to unpack some of the torches he had brought along, Bea demonstrated the gifts given her by Sif, and enchanted Bob's shield to shine brightly ahead of us.
Bea, ever sensitive to matters of spiritual malice, was quick to point out that they had best avoid disturbing anything within. Bob, for all his enthusiasm and skill with a sword, began to openly question some of his surroundings, leading Bea and Blileninane to quietly speculate that he might have been the recipient of a traumatic head injury in the past or simply born lacking sense, an unfortunate presage for what was to come. The Archwizard Blileninane, ever versed in illusion magics, was quick to discover that though the room seemed to be a dead end, one of the walls was a magically disguised doorway leading deeper into the dungeon. Passing forth through yet more narrow and winding passages, Blileninane offered up his ten foot long pole (his other ten foot long pole, the wooden one) for use in probing the passages ahead for any traps.
Lo, was this a wise decision, for not but a few turns ahead sprung forth a tightly wound spring loaded axe out of the wall, ancient and rusted but fully capable of felling a man. Travelling further, and more carefully, the trio found themselves faced with the most dangerous foe yet, an ensorcelled doorway which would permit an adventurer to pass deeper into the dungeon, but not to traverse the other direction to escape. Collectively, they decided it would be best to explore their options in one of the other dungeon entrances before risking whatever inescapable fate lay deeper within the north entrance. Venturing out of the dungeon and entering back again through the easternmost entrance, they quickly discovered a branching path, one which led towards a strange maze structure, and another towards a large ritual chamber with a pentagram scrawled onto the floor and a seemingly ordinary goat roaming the room.
Seeing such an intriguing opportunity, Bea and Blileninane put their magically inclined minds towards attempting to decipher the nature and purpose of the ritual room, to no success. Neither then was Bob able to discover any treasures, or objects of interest, until he thought to poke the goat itself with our trusty trap detecting pole. At that moment, with Bea and Bob close to the "goat", and Blileninane standing at the chamber's entrance, the animal revealed itself to be a demon hiding in an illusory form. Immediately, it lunged at Bob and Bea, attempting to strike them down in a terrible frenzy, but was no match for their combined prowess, and soon found itself unconscious on the dungeon floor.
Though Blileninane did his best to study the demon for any insights or advantages he could discover, none were to be found, and Bob struck its head from its shoulders, leaving the foul wretch to dissolve. Tragically though, the victorious trio had no time to search for treasure, for another adventuring party ventured into the eastern entrance behind them. Consisting of a dwarf, a cleric, a wizard, and an elven leader, they presented a false air of amicability and introduced themselves freely as Rhydi’s Raiders, after their elven leader.
Bob, being the mascot of the group, interjected and introduced the trio as Bob’s Barbarians, despite their undeniable civility. Lured into a false sense of security, the Archwizard Blileninane introduced himself to Rhydi and offered to combine their efforts, venturing deeper into the dungeon together than either party could have independently, and fairly splitting the far increased proceeds in a 4:3 ratio. Rhydi, however, had no such intentions. The elven blackguard made clear that if the party did not vacate the dungeon and never again compete with Rhydi’s Raiders for treasure, they would be murdered without compunction. Such an outrageous overture from those ignorant wretches nearly drove the Archwizard Blileninane to smite the four on the spot, but to cast such terrible magics upon his foes would almost certainly endanger Bob and Bea as well, and the trio decided instead to be merciful, departing without revenge.
Left with but one entrance left unexplored, the trio explored the southernmost stretch of the dungeon. Descending yet another staircase, they quickly found themselves blocked off by a number of traps. On one stretch of the hallway was a sturdily locked door, and on another was a pit trap and set of arrow slits, with torchlight and goblin activity clear. Sensing the obvious danger ahead and with no clear path of approach, Shivgooch extended his magical gifts to Bob, granting him the gift of flight, while Bea enhanced his shield with the protection of Sif. Bob, green but full of confidence, took his newfound powers and surged forth past the traps to engage our goblin foes.
Entering through the next doorway over, Bob was met with surprise from a trio of well armed goblins, bearing shields and spears, but they were no match for his empowered form. He flew forth and easily struck down his first foe, but one of the goblin archers nearby proved that skill means nothing in the face of sheer, undeserved luck, and managed to slip a lethal arrow past Bob’s guard. Before Bea or Blileninane were able to come to his aid, Bob had been struck again and again, shortly succumbing to his wounds in that dark and foul place. Hearing his death knell, Bea and Blileninane knew that there would be no saving Bob, and made the difficult choice to return to town without him.
Knowing that the adventuring day would soon be coming to a close, with the pair empty handed and terribly short on manpower, they were forced to come up with desperate measures. Putting aside any grief that may or may not have been felt for the late Bob from their faces, they set about to finding an easy mark about Nickstown, settling for a newly arrived dwarf by the name of Bromil Grumblebottom. Though he lacked the raw talent for violence of the late Bob, the prospect of a dwarf promised certain other advantages for the delving band. In no time at all, Bromil was sweet-talked into becoming the third member of the party, and no time was spared in venturing back out to the dungeon. At first the trio thought that Rhydi’s Belligerants may have already had their fill of the dungeon and taken leave, exploring back down the easternmost entrance in hope of finally getting their own chance at delving.
Blileninane used his wizard eye spell to scout beyond the ritual chamber, and discovered a hallway hiding a sizeable nest of man sized spiders, with a living captive enwebbed and not long for this world. Before we were able to mount a rescue attempt, the four wretches returned from another passageway, cocksure and full of bluster. Despite the parties best attempts to negotiate, and to explain the plight of the enwebbed fellow, no amount of reason could get through the thin, mushy skull of the two-faced elf. Facing the choice of confronting an alerted and defensive goblin tribe or bloodying their hands with the fellow humanoids of Rhydi’s Raiders, the choice to finally venture past the northern passage’s one way door was made. Proceeding as cautiously as ever, Blileninane used his wizard’s eye to scout ahead. To the surprise of the party, there were no immediate threats past the door, but merely another ominous chamber containing a sarcophagus and a large state of a demon, which Bea easily identified as being evil in nature. Advancing slowly and cautiously, the door at the far end of the room was noted to be covered in spikes facing inwards, but not locked, as though it was built to ward off some unintelligent monster.
Becoming more desperate for treasure after such deeply sunk costs, the trio at last resorted to raiding a sarcophagus within the room, belonging to a fellow by the title of Swan. Fearing for the worst, all three adventurers rejoiced to find a treasure heap stashed inside, with 25 gold coins, an enchanted cloak, a powerful wand, a cleric’s prayerbook, and an ornate set of goggles all contained within. This mirth was short lived however, as when Bromil attempted to get the measure of the set of goggles by wearing them, he was struck instantly blind by a curse and unable to remove the set. Careful to make the most of the opportunity, the experienced Blileninane offered to take Bromil by the hand to guide him, and used the dwarf’s hand to pick up the rest of the dubiously cursed objects. With the treasure so desperately sought at last in hand, Blileninane was quick to use his wizard’s eye in order to scout ahead for a nearby exit.
The only available exit to the chamber, the spiked doorway, led to the maze like structure previously discovered in the eastern entrance. Making quiet haste, the trio strode forth with the silent grace of apex predators, finding themselves emerged from the eastern entrance to the dungeon and swiftly on their way back to town. Ultimately, the ornate goggles which had cursed Bromil turned out to be nothing more than that, a cursed luxury good, however the other items proved far more significant. The cloak is a powerful artefact granting the wearer +1 to their dexterity, while the cleric’s prayerbook details the powerful spell Great Healing. As determined by Blileninane’s very measured experimentation, the wand contained at least one more charge for casting a great and terrible lightning bolt. Among themselves, the group decided that the gold and goggles would be liquidated and split, but the other three artefacts were too valuable, and ought rightly be shared among the party and used by those who benefit most by them. After much trial and error, all three had at last returned successful, wealthy and powerful beyond expectations, and hungry for more.
During their well earned break, Bea took the opportunity to carouse about town and listen in for any useful intel on our rival adventuring groups. She managed to learn that there are only two main adventuring groups, Rhydi’s Raiders, and a band of four thieves led by a most regally named “Gumshoes”. Bromil took his time to do much the same, but learned instead that there is (was) an ancient tomb on the first floor of the dungeon, full of treasure but which nobody has yet figured out how to enter. This tomb may yet correspond to the tomb from which they found their treasure.
The Archwizard Blileninane, a seasoned researcher, spent his time at the library and discovered the dungeon was originally constructed by Karl Ulfang, a Wizard with two major apprentices, named Thēdiūs the Swan, named for his graceful footwork, and Jean-Philippe. Karl built the dungeon originally as a stronghold for him and his apprentices, but after Karl's death, Thēdiūs and Jean-Philippe continued the construction and made it into a tomb. Eventually, Jean-Philippe died as well, but how their bodies were sealed into tombs is unknown. The dungeon is full of traps as when Karl Ulfang died, they didn't want people invading the dungeon. Many speculate that the three wizards were corrupted by power as well, and started testing the powers of Necromancy, but this is both unconfirmed and only rumors. It was the sarcophagus of this Thēdiūs the Swan from which the party found their treasure.
Author's Notes
This was written using Archwizard Blileninane's in-world notes.
GM's Notes
This was an interesting session, as it was pretty quickly decided that we would play the game instead of finishing out cMercs, which met its end due to life circumstances changing. We also had the first character death in the first session. We are also dying to find more players, because all my friends have issues with getting to sessions on time, or showing up at all.
Character Advancement
+2pts from Loot
+1pts from Roleplay
+2pts from Exploration
+0pts from Freeing Prisoners
+0 Bonus Points
1 Character Died
Total: +4 (+6 to Archwizard Blileninane for mapping and writing the recap)