Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 6, Death by Crowdsurfing

Looking a bit down, there Bloggah - rough day out?

***

Meh. We're still in our trees, it's dark, and the dead are on the march. Oh yeah, it's snowing now, too. Definitely not giving this part of the Komor Forest a good review.

And we still don't have a cleric-type. Dremont, you are on The List.

Anyway, best we can tell, the dead are marching east. Hopefully we can just stay quiet, and they won't notice us...

Damnit, there are a few with glowing red eyes. One pauses, scans around, and starts up Elinar's tree. It's got fierce, sharp skeletal claws, making quick work of that tree. I try to see if magic is driving it, but something goes haywire, and, well, Columbo is not magical.

I hear Elinar casting something, but something goes wrong for her, too, and suddenly she's hanging from a branch, cackling like an idiot. So much for the stealthy bit. 

That skeleton homes in on her, clawing her. The boys do their best, and I zap it, but that damn thing's tough. It gets ahold of Elinar, and she tumbles into the morass of marching undead. Damn.

The Mosh Pit of Death

Finally, they pass, and we climb down. Not a sign of the elf, not even a smear. 

I fire up the lantern. It digs into my hand, sucking blood. So that's how it lights. Lovely.

The forest clears, and we find a mound with a weathered statue on its top. There's no other place like this place on the map, so this must be the place... I think we've found our barrow.

We poke and prod, digging around. Columbo tries a few spots with his crowbar, but only manages to bend it. I thought dwarves were good at this sort of thing. He and I are on top of the mound, checking out the statue, when several hobgoblins appear. Great.

But little to worry, as they look beaten within an inch of their lives. I approach, greet them. A few look burned, and ... melted? All the leader can say is, "light." Musta been a bright light. We let them be. 

We go back to poking at the barrow, when some stones on the mound raise up into an arch. Looks like my bailiwick. A glowing light fills the arch, and I hear, "Where do you want to go?" Columbo, behind me, says, "Hounds Head." And steps through. Knowing the magic in this place, it teleported him to 600 feet above the ground.

I shrug and wave everyone through. As the gate fades, I step through. 

And we are in Hounds Head.

The boys seem to have found their purposes, and bid us adieu. Maybe they'll be back. We toss them some coin and wish them luck. Time to breathe and see what's next.

***

Two critical fails for magic casting right off the bat. A proud moment for our crew. 

Truncated session this week, as Paul/Elinar got stopped to death by skeletons. The first death of our campaign so far. Not so bad, considering our close calls, and bears. Paul rolled up a new human fighter, and we'll see how we meet the new compatriot next session.

Death and dismemberment here

I had to drop from the session to take a phone call, hence my sudden disappearance (not trampled by skeletons, honest).

We'll be taking a slight pause, with a one-shot of Tomb of the Iron God (Swords & Wizardry) planned for Monday.

Paul's assessment of Elinar's death and campaign deaths in general here...