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Stuart Robertson
Canada
Guelph
Ontario
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The group once again descended into the dungeon below the old monastery, and started losing retainers almost immediately!
Rob W had lost his character (Max the Fighter) in the last game so in 1980s style D&D that means he wasn’t invited back to game with us. Okay, that’s not true. He had to go out of town and couldn’t make our game night, so we were one player down this time.
Having brought so many men along with them, the players share of the experience was only 250 points, and about 50 gp in treasure. Not nearly enough to level up, but helpful in buying some more lamp oil and a suit of platemail for Brother Giles.
Hogbert and Scrogs, two of the surviving retainers, failed their morale checks as well and opted to retire from adventuring with their share of the loot. Fortunately two new mercenaries were successfully hired to replace them.
The group once again set off at dawn for the dungeon, amidst a rather gray and dreary drizzle. Wisely choosing to establish a more consistent marching order, and opting to leave the 10′ Pole behind, the party once again began exploring the Ancient Academy. Using their map from the last expedition the group moved more quickly this time, and didn’t burn through as much of their oil. At least not for providing illumination.
After checking on some previously explored rooms the group found a putrid pool in a sunken room with something sparkling in it’s depths. After some trepidation the perhaps overly enthusiastic Mercenary Baldric tried to fish the object out of the water with his spear. A grave mistake, as water bloated zombies rose from the pool and pulled the retainer to his doom.
Two of the other hired men tried to hold off the creatures while the rest of the party fell back to the doorway. Seeing one more of their men being pulled into the murky waters, and another being overwhelmed by the undead, Grundy the Thief decided to try shooting at the lantern the hapless retainer was holding. A very luck roll doused the monsters in burning oil, and sadly the hired help as well.
I had been a bit nervous of this encounter as it certainly had the potential for multiple players losing their characters – but good luck was with them. Grundy went toe-to-toe with one of the remaining Zombies in melee, and was hit for d8 damage. Since he had only 2 hit points, we thought he was probably finished. It was quite exciting to see his luck hold out and a ‘1′ get rolled for damage. The survivors were able to dispatch the last two zombies, and found a very large gem at the bottom of the pool.
After this encounter the party was much more cautious, avoiding an eerie looking statue of a bipedal frog-man (and homage to Dave Arneson), and next met a group of goblins hunting for food. Gaining the element of surprise they quickly overpowered the creatures who surrendered to the adventurers.
As the evening wore on, the party found itself retreating once more as the sounds of the rampaging Cavemen prisoners they’d released faded behind them. Blocking their path however, was a familiar face — Mort the Mercenary. Mort, who the party had left behind in the ancient crypt, looked to be in pretty rough shape. He stumbled toward the party, and let out a low moan.
Not wanting to stop lest the Cavemen catch up with them, the adventurers tried to rush past their highly suspect former companion. Figgin wasn’t able avoid Mort’s grasp however, and an even smaller group fled through the dungeon to their makeshift base of operations.
After catching their breathe, and exploring a few more nearby rooms, the party left the dungeon with an elven sword, another sack of coins, and a Cultist they took prisoner when they found him ransacking an old pantry.
The Ancient Academy dungeon is available for download if anyone would like to run it for their own group.
A recording of this game session is available if you'd like to hear an actual game in progress.
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Chad Carlton
United States
New York
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Both of these session reports are a nice read.
Good work.
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