Yesterday I ran the second session of an open-table Barrowmaze game on the OSR Pickup server. Six gracious players joined me:
- Aed the Thief, played by K_Moon
- Barkface the Druid, played by EvilTables
- Donnie the Bard, played by Malley
- Nanko the Fighter (deceased), played by Graytung
- Sky the Druid, played by John/Captain Caveman
- Uriel the Ranger, played by Dante
- Vermund Borgarsson the Barbarian, played by Graytung
After crashing at the Brazen Strumpet, the returning group from the previous session meets up with a new group of sellswords in the center of Helix – young Nanko donning his fathers armor, Barkface the Druid, and Aed the Thief.
The group meets again with Tamson, the Miller’s boy, who is intending on working on his Ranger skills, so he offers to return the party to the Barrowmarsh after Nanko pays him five gold pieces, part of a loan he acquired from H.H.R. Huffnpuff.
The group decides to return the mound they entered through previously, debating whether or not they wish to attempt to napalm the zombies who nearly caused Donnie’s death the night before.
The group opted instead to investigate a door that had auspicious cracks in the floor, they heard hissing, squeaking and fabric tearing from within. Throwing the door open they saw massive yellow teeth and beady red eyes as five giant rats fought over a leather satchel.
The rats dove for fresh blood, one leapt onto Donnie and tore open his artery. As he sprayed blood all over, Nanko slammed the door shut. Barkface shot the rat with a masterful sling strike, and Aed grabbed the rat and butchered it, utilizing his former career to dissect the beast.
The rats started crawling from under the door in a blood rage, Sky and Nanko slaying several, while Uriel quickly patched poor Donnie up and dragged him to safety. Donnie in a delirious state from loss of blood, charged mightily into combat but was only able to strike the door and the corpse of the rat that struck him.
One of the remaining rats crawled form underneath the door and up Nanko’s over-sized plate armor. It burrowed into his stomach and the poor lad died choking up blood. The group pulled his armor off as he died, and Aed and the rest slew the reaming rat.
The group split up Nanko’s gear and said goodbye to the poor adventurer. They investigated the room and found a sack full of silver. They decided to proceed east, witnessing a room that apparently held some creature that burst through the wall some time earlier. They found a concrete wall that had sealed a tomb in, and set to smashing it down, while Sky and Uriel kept watch in the hallway. Uriel tossed a torch down to increase the group’s sight.
Off in the distance a new tomb robber descended the rope into the maze, a northerner by the name of Vermund. He told the party a tale of how he was separated from his group of treasure-hunters in the marsh above, and thought he would descend to investigate the glow of torchlight from below. Asking if the group needed muscle, the party obliged to his joining the group.
Aed, Barkface, Donnie and Vermund work to tear down the concrete wall, and after doing so they looked upon a hidden tomb. Inside stood the small statue of a demon, flanked by two bags, with alcoves lining the walls. Barkfaced used his druidic magic to determine that there was no threat in the tomb, although the party remained cautious. They started to investigate the alcoves, but heard a commotion out in the hallway.
Drawn by the scent of blood, a pair of stirges buzzed down the corridor at the party. One dove for Sky who was barely saved by the shield they took from Nanko’s corpse. The party unleashed a volley of arrows, striking the stirges, and Sky tossed flaming oil into the hall, splashing the creatures, burning their fuzzy emaciated corpses.
Retrieving silver and gold from the tomb with the statue, the group marched onward. Vermund kicked open a door revealing a trap from within – a rope affixed between the door and a crossbow caused a bolt to fly out, striking him. Inside they found more alcoves, although they had already been searched by another party.
Continuing east, they walked through a room that had an eerie tapping sound emanating from it, although the source could not be determined. The found more alcoves in a hallway north of this room, and found silvered earnings, a silver dagger, and more coin.
Proceeding even further east the group faced a cave in, although the lead Vermund was able to jump out of the way, only becoming minorly shaken by the incident. The group then cautiously proceeded north, finding a massive room with pillars to the west and east, and a massive pile of refuse in the center of the room.
Vermund and Aed tip-toed in, and Barkface rolled a rock into the debris, exposing a giant rattle snake that had taken the pile as its home. It slithered out and bit Barkface, poisoning his shoulder.
Shaken by fear, Donnie tried slamming the door shut before Sky prevented him. The horrible creature reared up to strike further, but the party successfully unleashed a levy of shots and strikes upon the snake, coating it in flaming oil, as Vermund snuck up behind it and split the creature in half, fiery snake blood pouring all over the floor.
Seeing Barkface rapidly losing consciousness, Vermund discarded his armor and rushed him to the entrance, so that he and Sky could scout out herbs and antidotes. Vermund found a milky thistle to neutralize the poison if the victim can withstand it, and Sky found muckcaps, a fungus that slows metabolism, preventing the poison from taking hold too quickly.
Applying the thistle, Barkface successfully saved against the effects of the venom. While all of this was going on Uriel set out to dissect the massive serpent, removing its head as well as its rattle. The group met back up with him and dug through the debris, finding coin and gems.
The group met back up with Tamson at the old, stripped white oak they planned to meet at, and returned to Helix, exchanging their wealth for coin.
R.I.P. Nanko, the young fighter whose recklessness outpaced his strength.
Final Thoughts
Overall I had a ton of fun. Lots of new people dropped into this session which was awesome, and there was a lot of fun interactions and dynamics going on at the table (I need to do better with marking down quotes and who said what). We had to wrap quickly so most of the town stuff was glossed over, but I’ll make sure to let any returning players have quick goals/interactions/activities in town during the next session.
Let me know what you think, or if you want to jump in feel free to message me!