Summary
The party explores a number of tombs over the Barrowmaze, and take heavy losses.
Player characters
- Donnie the Bard, played by Malley
- Grick the Half-Orc, played by Modest Mace
- Sky the Druid, played by Captain Caveman
- Ulrik Ironsworn the Paladin, played by Isaiah
- Uriel the Ranger, played by Dante
Hirelings
- Arnd the Dwarf
- Bran the failed magician
- Garbash, Cleric of Crom
- Irya the Archer
- Manks, Cleric of Hathor
Details
Acquiring the accompaniment of a Paladin of Crom, the group treks back to the barrows, seeking out the ominous obelisk they have yet to explore. On arrival they witness a group of boglings leading four humans tied up, shuffling towards the towering stone.
The group calls out, hoping to find the frogfolk friendly, but one of the beings raises a dart gun in defense. The party enters into combat, with Donnie enrapturing four of the beasts with his magics, and Sky catching two with an entanglement spell.
One of the frogs leaps high into the air, and drops down upon Ulrik, skewering him and ending the poor Paladin’s life.
Grick creeps upon the entranced frogs and stealthily slays one. The others leap into action, and the rest of the party continue to fight the creatures to a man, or frog. Rescuing the bound people, they learn this was a caravan of traders beset upon by the boglings, their caravan destroyed and their goods buried.
Taking the four to protect, the knaves descend into a sealed tomb, finding a variety of fine amphora depicting an Odyssey-esque tale. Surmizing them to be worth quite a bit, they ask their rescued companies to haul them back.
The group proceeds east, passing a buried tomb to yet again plunder a sealed tomb. Inside they find a dark, wet cavern with water up to their knees. Truding through the water, they enter into a room whose walls are covered in yellowed mold, and a tablet set upon a plinth at the far end. They ask Bran to grab the item, and he does so begrudingly.
The group discovers a secret door back in the main room heading west. Inside is an amazing diorama of stone depicting a leaping elf battling three lizardfolk. The sword held by the elf statue glows dimly in the tomb. They also discover a box hidden in the murky water, containing a box, containing yet another box.
The find that it is a 3’x3’x3′ cube containing a 1’x1’x1′ cube, and placing Arnd’s journal in the large cube teleports it into the smaller.
They ask Bran to grab the glowing sword from the diorama, and when he does the lizardfolk statues spring to life, immediately decapitating him. The party runs, and when they notice the statues have yet to follow them, they return.
Donnie decides to examine the eastern room again, and after burning a bit of the spooring mold, he strikes it with a hammer. This causes the entire room to spray a cloud of spoors all over. Donnie and Arnd are caught in the spray and choke to death in a few minutes.
Their bodies are mournfully burned to contain the spread of the mold.
Closing thoughts
Tough session – three deaths, including a new player who died on the first roll. Also the death of a beloved npc, and the death of the pc who had survived the most session. Despite hitting 0hp several times he pulled through quite a bit, but unfortunately was killed by the ever deadly yellow mold.
I love old school games and while I am bummed by these loses for my players, I think it makes victories and surviving feel all the more heroic, since death and dismemberment is an ever present threat.