They Met at a Tavern 21: The Bloodsoaked Gem Caverns That Weren't (plus mini-review)

Who's hanging at Bristleback's Inn?

• Seana: Zanegar, 1/2 orc Sea Wolf
• Chris: Roult, human Basilisk Warrior
• Rick: Bjorn, 1/2 orc Paladin
• Tony: Holmarn, human Fighter
• Wayne: Pharan, human Sea Wolf

Note: Wayne is better known as Fulvus, halfling terror, from my OSE campaign. Tony asked to watch, as he needed to be somewhere, then said, "give me a character."

The ferry/packet arrived. Certain hooded individuals met with Hebetha Solace, carrying off a certain package. A couple of new adventurers stepped off the boat. Holmarn, newly arrived in town, was on the hunt for portable wealth, preferably gems. He checked in with Kalgor the gemcutter in his shop for possible leads. Kalgor greeted him and, after conferring with "Olaf," an apparently invisible friend. After some back and forth, Kalgor sketched out a map to an abandoned mine that was worth a look.

They stopped at the trading post for supplies. Rasmus, in addition to normal tack, had also recently traded for a prism and some vials of acid. The party bought a vial. 

Off they went. 

While trekking to the "X" on the map, the party encountered a like-numbered group of beastmen. Bjorn, as is his way, greeted them with his cask of ale (I really need to enforce slots better. Is it one or two? Anyway...). The leader hesitated, but a drinking horn was produced. Some language difficulties overcome, the party asked about the local terrain and what the beastmen were up to. "Well, we hunt, maybe we take things from settlers." "Do you attack caravans?" "No - Too many spears. Like you guys. Too many spears. Oh, here's a silk robe and slippers we "found" in exchange for the ale."

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The two groups parted ways, and the party found their way to the mine, Some poking around, and they found a winch/elevator to get them into the works. The rope held, and into the caverns they went. 

The first cavern contained a sphere on a tripod. As the party approached, they heard some scuttling just out of torchlight, and the cavern was wreathed in darkness.  Dammit. They retreated to the elevator, then carefully advanced, one hand on the right-hand cavern wall.

Emerging from the darkness unharmed, they found themselves in a large, cut chamber. In the center was a rusty barrel with legs and claws. Ah, a BBQ pit, said Holmarn (he's not the brightest). The BBQ pit activated, metallic voice pronouncing "Eliminate the Intruders!" Dammit. The party attacked, Bjorn scoring a critical, and Holmarn piecing it with a javelin. Some back and forth (including a crit miss javelin that barely missed Bjorn). Bjorn stated that the crit meant that he had skewered the thing with his sword and was just tearing out it mechanical innards on his subsequent hit. Zanegar hacked the thing apart and it collapsed into a rusty heap. Pharan collected a gear from the machine as a trophy.

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More poking around, and Bjorn came face to face with a bear. With the head of a beetle. OK. But the thing apparently was intelligent, and grateful for being rescued from where the machine had cornered it. Another offering of ale.

It gestured to the party to follow. They did. The group continued with their guide through a few more chambers. It helped them bypass a trap, then greeted some of its kin who were sorting gems. Holmarn may have drooled. Much chittering and gesticulating. The party was allowed to pass. Pharan poked at a couple of interesting barrels in another chamber until their guide shooed him away. They eventually came to the chief's lair. More chittering and gesticulating. The chief was lounging in a silken hammock. He slid out of it and appraised the party with compound eyes. Some rough, inflected Common, and he understood that the party had defeated the beetle-bears' nemesis, the "Rust Spider." Bjorn also gifted him the silk robe and slippers. The chief couldn't wear it, but found it useful for polishing his carapace.

"May we help you in some way?" asked the party. "Well, can you remove whatever causes the darkness, it blinds even us." One of the gem-sorters tossed a small gem to Holmarn on the way out.

Back to the entry chambers (with detours to side rooms to pop a safe: gems and good booze, and discover a latrine: Huck in the wreckage of the 'spider').

Again, the tripod, the scuttling, and the darkness. The party confers, let's just smash it. Zanegar attempts to snag it with a grapple. Bjorn and Holmarn gingerly enter the dark zone, Holmarn wielding his warhammer with smashing intent.

"Please don't smash. It's my only protection," from the dark. "Who are you, show yourself."

A bipedal crab-man tentatively appears, trapped down here by its curiosity. The orb is a magical device, some old knowledge lost. The party agrees to escort it out, safe from the beetle-bears and back to its home. The crab-man shows them how to detach the orb from the floor, and they lug it out. 

Back to the crab-man's home lake, and celebration ensues. Ale spent. 

Back to town, and the party displays the gems found in the mine to Kalgor. They also show him the orb, which arouses the dwarf's curiosity. Kalgor says, "Olaf! Watch the shop!"

Back to the inn, where Kalgor plies them with food the drink. They tell Kalgor about what they encountered, and that the beetle-bears were trying to mine. Did you find a mining machine? Umm, it was broken when we found it (Pharan hides his trophy gear). Very interesting. 

And we close as everyone orders another round....

DM Notes:

Reaction rolls. That deceitful 2d6 that helped turn a bunch of fighters into first-rate negotiators. First with the beastmen (random encounter from the SD book, as was their 'gift'). As well as the very thankful beetle-bear.

I should have dumped them into a barrow full of undead... Anyway... So we have "Coleopteran Ursus" occupying and working an old dwarven mine. I'm sure the dwarves of the region will let that go without issue. The bears now have free reign of the place, we'll see how long that lasts. The party scored a pretty cool relic that might fetch a good price somewhere with better resources. 

A quick review of the adventure: I found the adventure on the Eldritch Fields blog (also available on his Itch-io). I'd printed it out as an one-shot option but hadn't read it through. Looking for quick adventures to give Meetup parties a choice of delves, I gave it a closer look and thought, "Hey, this is pretty good." And with a name like "Bloodsoaked Gem Caverns" what adventurer wouldn't immediately be drawn to it? 

Anyway. Eight pages, plus separate enlarged map. Level 2-3 proposed difficulty. Generic stats for easy OSR-ish table use (although missing atk/damage info). Desriptions are brief and terse, and easy to use at the table without much pre-work. Some good color descriptions to help get a feel of the place. Looped dungeon, with multiple approaches or routes possible. A potentially debilitating trap room (think two-part epoxy). Lost opportunity to call the Coleopteran Ursus literal bug-bears. :) 

It was designed as a potentially combat-heavy delve, with about a dozen bears and supporting critters, depending on the level of hack and slash that a party brought to bear (pun not intended). There are a couple of other environmental hazards and navigation challenges off in one route that could require some coordination to negotiate past. Good treasure potential, as well as some quick-and-dirty rules for operating the mine, if the party chooses to take over its operation. 

I'd recommend it as a stick-in-the folder adventure for a one-shot or sidequest for a lower-level party. Depending on the party's demeanor and the vicissitudes of the reaction dice, it could truly become bloodsoaked (I'll need to foist it on another party and see how a battle goes down...).