In this session report, the party seek to rescue some merchants from the clutches of a band of thouls.
Characters
Malik – Fighter 2 – A Thalazian blade master and leader of a gang of pirates.
Andros – Cleric 1 – a lawful good priest of high morals
Thalzir – Barbarian 1 – a blue skinned warrior with a short temper.
Retainers
Hestia – Cleric 1 – carrying her stag holy symbol
Kall – man-at-arms – a swordsman
Guludad – Magic-user 1 – claims to be a great and powerful mage.
Tully – Magic-user 1 – a bumbling wreck
Six land pirates – thief 1 – though most of these are employed as light footmen guards.
After returning from the temple of Omiron, the party took a few days to heal from their wounds. Whilst doing so they heard a rumour that three merchants had gone missing, captured whilst in the south. The large fish market of Renton on Fie pooled a reward for their safe return.
The PCs were not the only adventurers interested in claiming this bounty, at least four other adventuring parties had mustered and were prepared to try and find these missing merchants. The race was on. The PCs had one advantage however, they had many horses and mules. So they set off south one hex and began searching. They followed the bridal ways and found no evidence of footfall. They spread out their search, and after four hours they concluded that the wooded bluff in the north-east of the hex was probably the best place to look. There they found humanoid tracks and followed them to a cave mouth where many human bones were strewn about.
Malik had two of his thieves go up the cliff face to search for additional entrances. Unfortunately one of them fell thirty fee to the ground and died. Poor Eden, RIP. The remaining thief searched and found nothing. So the party entered the cave.
What originally appeared as a cave soon gave way to a delicately carved tunnel leading towards an arch capped with a carving of a crying elven maiden. This arch led to a set of deep stone stairs. The party went down.
There was a long corridor and a door to the west. They went inside the door and found large chamber lined with arches. A door in the south had a stone carving of an elven warrioress above it holding a bronze great sword aloft. The party listened at the door and heard footfall approaching. They set up a trap. The door soon opened to reveal a green skinned man with long white hair down to his buttocks. He had great claws that dripped black ichor. There was a brief showdown, the green man intimidating them and telling them to leave his lair. The magician Guludad successfully cast charm person on him. With the monster hypnotised into believing Guludad was a friend, the party questioned him thoroughly.
They learned:
- he was the leader of three monsters, they laired in the north, inside a chamber that would only open with his key.
- They had many kobold slaves guarding their captives.
- The green skinned man had many treasures hidden away in the north.
- There were some dwarves to the west, who had paid him many gems to allow them to mine here.
The monster, named Grima, took to hugging the magic user Guludad, and was becoming increasingly protective and covetous of him. The party convinced the monster that Guludad could help protect his gems from thievery with magic, so off they went to complete this mission. Grima led them him towards his lair, where his brothers dwelled. They came upon a large stone door. The key around Grima’s neck unlocked the chamber, causing the stone door to recede into the floor. Inside there was a smoky chamber with two figures next to a fire. In the north a large pile of coins glistened.
Grima began conversing in goblinoid with his kinsman and was becoming increasingly confused. His brothers were trying to convince him he’d been tricked or cursed. The large clawed Grima dragged Guludad to the north. Grima’s two brothers then charged at the party.
There were a tense few rounds of combat, Malik, Thalzir, and Andros were in the front rank attacking the two monsters, the spears of their thieves helping from the second rank. Eventually the magic user Tully used his sleep spell and it worked a charm. Then the PCs slew them whilst they slept and threw their bodies into the fire.
The party then counted out the treasure finding many silver and gold pieces, a medallion with a rune carved onto it, and a special sword with a rune embossed on it.
They spend about thirty minutes putting coins into sacks whilst Andros figured out what the medallion did. He found that when he concentrated he could read minds, but only within thirty feet. A powerful artefact.
Then the party went north, through a series of alcoves and found a closed portcullis. The arch of this portcullis had a carving of an elven queens wearing a bronze crown on either side. Andros could hear the panicked thoughts of Guludad, who was locked in a darkened room. He also heard the thoughts of the monster.
The thief Kirk pulled on the crown of the right statue and the portcullis rose up.
What transpired next were some severe mind games. Andros attempted to convince the the monster they were leaving, all the while reading its mind from where it hid in the north, gaslighting it, and trying to enrage it into attacking. This eventually worked and the monster charged them at in the portcullis gate.
The party threw burning oil onto the monster, and Kirk pulled the crown of the right statue, hoping this would cause the portcullis to fall, but unfortunately his finger was pricked by a hidden needle. He immediately died.
The battle raged for a few rounds, Andros was hit and became paralysed. Malik was also hit but managed to fight off the poison of Grima’s claws. Then, the battle was over, the monster was defeated.
The key was taken from the monsters neck and the large stone door inside the room was opened. It receded into the floor and Guludad was saved. The party located a sack of thirty gems. One turn after the door was opened the stone door once again closed and the portcullis dropped. There were two identical statues on this side of the portal, Malik had another thief pull on the left statues crown and it rose up.
The party had a difficult decision to make then. They had much treasure but they hadn’t located the prisoners. So they went south. Another thief died to a pit trap, then they went through a secret door and headed east. They found a guard post with two kobolds and killed them. Then they went through a series of trapped rooms. The first had carvings of moths, when Thalzir went through the archway some strange dust fell on his head. He wasn’t feeling so well but he didn’t die. The next room had a circular room with dragon headed doorways. Grates were in the floor below these doors. The dragon carvings spewed acid down when they were opened. The party managed to bypass them by stuffing food stuffs into the mouths of the dragons.
Then they came upon a room of Kobolds. These dog headed men were having a tussle, and the party took full advantage of this and charged into the room killing four of them outright. The beastmen surrendered.
The kobolds led the party to the captive merchants and freed them. Inside the prison was also a noble woman named Cordelia Nerva, she was also freed. Then the kobolds led the party to the exit, where they made their way back to town atop their steeds and enjoyed the bounty of their treasures and the reward for saving the merchants.
Below is the party map of the Elven Catacombs.
Dreadlord Games 