The Ancient Obelisk
This session was played on Friday, October 29th.
The adventurers included:
The dwarf Muligan, his dwarven man-at-arms Thurlin, and torch-bearer Rawin.
The human fighter Tyrius and his man-at-arms Parlo.
The dwarf Drambuin and the NPC Iressa.
The adventurers headed out from town. It is a half-day's march to the burial mounds above The Barrowmaze. Both Muligan and Drambuin managed to guide the party despite the absence of the stout druid Milren on this foray.
Milren would have come in handy too, as the party disturbed a wild boar who rushed out of the swamp brush and charged. The group wacked the thing early and often and - ahem - stuck the pig.
~~Metagame: The members of this particular group had no specific knowledge of the main entrance to dungeon, so they proceeded to the only other entrance they are aware of. See Session 22~~
They entered the dungeon and quickly scouted several rooms where they had previously encountered monsters. These areas appeared empty, although the bodies of the mongrelmen were nowhere to be found.
Instead of returning the large pillared room with the giant poinsonous snake, they decided to head south and explore a set of double-doors. There appeared to be previous traffic in and around the doors.
Using a 10 foot pole to test the floors, contantly looking above them, and periodically looking behind them, the party proceeded slowly and cautiously.
They searched a number of small crypts that appeared to have been searched and cleared by previous adventurers. They disturbed a nest of rats, but closed the door on them to maintain silence. While searching in another, they heard a group of humanoids move past their door heading north, again decided to stay quiet.
At the end of the main hallway, the party moved through a door into a large room with a giant obelisk in the center. The obelisk had three sides: one written in Ancient Common, one in Black Tongue, and another in an unknown laguage. Iressa read the side in Ancient Common. It told a story of Nergal, the terrible God of Death. Nergal begat two sons - Set and Orcus - who usurped their father and then fought for control of The Underworld.
Excluding the door they entered, the room had two double-doors, on the west and east walls (some traffic), and a single door on south (a sealed crypt). They suggested heading through the east door and immediately were beset by 5 [[[zombie]]s wearing tattered chainmail. Muligan took a quick 7 points of damage and wasn't in good shape. They group collectively sheathed their weapons and drew flaming oil. Two of the three zombies were consumed in fire and Iressa turned the remainder who fled east along a 20' passage. The party followed to find them cornered and then pelted them with oil.
From the door they entered this long 20' east-west room had a number of narrow burial alcoves extending to the south. They posted Thurlin at the door they entered and the rest of the party searched for grave-goods. In 6 alcoves they found almost 2000gp in unique valuables (such as gemstones, inkwells, coins, and jewelry) - sadly no random monsters. They also found a magical stone set in an necklace and a cloak clasp in the shape of an elven tree that the dwarves immediately recognized as mithril! Huzzah!
They immediately decided to lift tail back to Barrowcrest with their ill-gotten gains. They found a mage in town who, for a rather expensive fee, determined that the gem in the necklace was a Luckstone and that the Mithril Cloak Clasp functioned to provide a cape/cloak, or robe with the properties of a Cloak of Elvenkind.
Very well played old school session - avoid the monsters and pilfer your guts out for gold/xp.
Please leave comments!
The only session I missed out on turns out to be a fantastic haul of loot. typical!