Good evening, fair readers. Sunday night came, and with it, another foray into the lands around Neuforde.
I had expected a full table, so had prepared <REDACTED> with the <REDACTED> final boss battle and a <REDACTED> that I'm sure would have been able survive my players' crits. But we had a couple of last minute cancellations, and I had four at the table one arriving late. Such is life. So I put <REDACTED> on the reserve pile. It deserves a full table and an honest play review.
Tonight's cast:
- Bonk the stabby fighter
- Frederick the arachnophobe thief
and two new folks:
- Urik, Cleric of Garond
- Spike - half-ork on a mission (who rolled a Nat 18 str)
Although OSE has a half-orc class, we just ran Spike as a fighter with a lot of flavor and an urge for righteous violence.
Game-night changes is why I keep a folder of maps/adventures. So I grabbed Nigkoev's Uneasy Rest off the bench and put it in the game.
The party sought out the tomb fueled by rumors of holy relics to further the cause of Garond's battle vs chaos.
[Spoilers for anyone who'd actually want to play in this space]
Finding the anachronistic fountain out in the wild, they spent some time poking and prodding at it. Enough rattling and jiggling finally released the hidden hatch, and Bonk entered the passageway, torch in hand. And was immediately covered in spiders:
Armed with torch and shield, he exterminated the pests. With shouts of encouragement from his brave companions above-ground. Frederick is not getting anywhere near venomous critters.
The party entered the tomb, examining the statues bracketing the entrance. Frederick successfully detected the trapped statue when it whacked him. But as a consolation prize, he also found the secret door.
The party accessed the hidden chamber, and aroused the undead watchdog. Urik's signal to Garond was strong and he was able to stun the creature, allowing the fighters a chance to strike it down. They collected some goodies, including a snazzy dog collar (although we never determined who decided to wear it) and some wardog barding, which we're sure that Goober will flaunt.
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Entering the tomb proper, the party was greeted by a third statue, which intoned a greeting (e.g magic mouth). Spike wasn't about to be ambushed by another statue and attacked it. Which triggered it to animate... Impetuous adventures...
Inspecting a side passage, the party negotiated their way around a well without proper safety railing, and fussed around in a small chamber filled with doors. the doors were found to be wall hangings and more prodding caused Frederick to Poof! out of the room. Bonk, ever logical, tested the same door. Poof! With nothing else to do, Spike grabbed Urik by the arm and dove after.
The teleport put the characters into another side passage, somewhat disoriented, They found a brightly illuminated room dominated by a pair of rotating chandeliers suspended in space. Very snazzy.
Some investigation of side passaged and doors, and the party found a smashed statue, evidence of Spike's passage. They picked their way through a final door, finding a worship chamber to Nigkoev. With another statue. Spike eyed it suspiciously. Urik knelt, offering a prayer to Nigkoev's memory. While he was down, he noticed that the prayer rug on the floor was really nice and rolled it up. For religious purposes, of course.
In the meantime, the sarcophagus slid open in Hammer Horror fashion, and Bego Nigkoev arose, hissing and seething. Battle was joined and it was soon apparent that only Bonk's trident had any effect on the revenant. Bonk and Spike held him off while the other two PCs played moral support (ok, Urik did toss holy water to some effect). Bonk's 'defender' feat (from Carrion Crawler #1 zine) kept the revenant from harming the party significantly, as he and Spike formed a two-man shield wall.
Nigkoev finally fell and the party inspected his grave goods. After some negotiation, Spike got his maul and Urik collected a relic containing protective magic.
Game Notes:
The PCs teamed well and played consistent to their characters. With four, everyone got a role and some moments to shine or make a decisive move. Even if it was just vandalizing the place.
The PCs didn't explore the whole tomb, missing some features, and a treasure stash. Likewise, the chandeliers didn't draw their interest. Which is ok, missed spaces are part of the exploration. Although clues could be dropped to inspire searching (add rumor table?).
Bonk took advantage of testing out his Defender feat, and with a pair of heavy armored fighters, it was pretty effective, even against a moderate-HD foe (+5 to-hit).
DM Notes:
I noticed some inconsistent cardinal directions in my adventure writeup, which I'll need to double-check and revise, as needed. Or maybe I just misread my own adventure. Derp.
The exploration was a bit mundane. Thing-room-thing-room. Buff up description and atmosphere a bit. This space wasn't designed with wandering monsters, but a brief table with a few appropriate denizens of an abandoned tomb would be helpful to break things up and vary the foes.
Again BBEG's need to be buffed up or fight smarter. I have an idea for making this final fight a bit more hectic. More to come...
I have a habit of using Slavic NPC names - I need to make sure they are pronounceable at the table..
Playtesting my writing has certainly highlighted strong and weak points in the adventures. Although I have plenty of resources on dungeon design and stocking, nothing really puts a harsh light on them like running a bunch of PCs through the spaces. This has been really enlightening to work on stretching my writing and game running.
Off to revise.
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