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The four mighty Dungeon Squad heroes finished their quest for wagon wheels last night. After their battle with the goblin chief and his half-hearted minions, they were still short two of the four wheels stolen from their caravan. Continuing down a long passageway past the chief's lair, they discovered a chasm with a shaky bridge crossing the yawning gap. A hobgoblin archer stood on guard, watching the far side of the bridge, and he was quickly overcome by the team of sneaky (and not so sneaky) dungeon delvers.
As Leakey thethief rogue explorer went through the fallen goblin's belongings, discovering two potions of undead repellent, a trio of skeletons armed with bows emerged from the shadows beyond the end of the bridge and advanced slowly across, firing arrows at the group as they came.
Dan the wizard hurled a bolt of lightning or two at the skeletons while P'ing the warrior-woman peppered them with arrows shot from the hobgoblin's recently liberated bow. Leaky in a fit of bravery strode onto the bridge and laid into the last ambulatory foe, knocking it from the bridge with a solid blow. All four adventurers paused to count as the skeleton fell. Seven seconds to hit bottom it took. Leaky continued to the far side of the bridge and encountered a group of swirling shadows, whispering promises from the dark of the cave ahead. Dan threw a dazzle spell and a lightning bolt into their midst, and drove back the ephemeral undead. Eagerly Leaky took up the wheel and brought it back to the group.
They decided to go back and see if the remaining wheel was to be found anywhere else in the mine that didn't involve crossing a rickety bridge over a drop of hundreds of metres.
The group returned to the first chamber of the mines, and struck off down a passage they had previously passed by. They came to a large room cut from the rock, that looked and smelled like it was used as a goblin midden. Lurking in the web-choked recesses of the roof of the cave a giant spider lurked, waiting to pounce. P'ing incautiously advanced to investigate a web-swaddled goblin corpse, wrestling with the strands of web to free a potion bottle stuck in the dead goblin's belt. The spider struck and only P'ing's new dwarven helm saved her from the poisonous mandibles of the beast. The others attacked and quickly reduced the arachnid to a mess of legs and broken parts.
The room unfortunately did not yield the final wheel, so the group returned to the bridge over the chasm and assayed a crossing.
Leaky set up a rope across the chasm, and the group moved forward, making it safely to the far side. The shadows were cautious and kept their distance. One braver shade advanced and offered a deal. Two dwarven lay nearby, slain by the creatures deeper in the caverns. The shade would show the four where they lay and let them take away their magical swords if they in return stopped hurling hurtful lights at the shadows. This deal was agreeable, and the adventurers were shown the fallen dwarves. The swords they wore, still sheathed, proved magical and powerful. When drawn the first let out a glorious light that drove back the shadows and promised great strength against undead. The other weapon was a contrary blade, sharp like a razor, but prone to cutting its owner on occasion.
Bolstered by their finds, the four adventurers continued deeper into caves, following the track of a wagon wheel clearly rolled along through the dust on the floor of the cave. In the next room, a sensation of dread settled on them, as a voice spoke from the air. "Continue no further, you violate the tomb of Altara. Leave this place or face her curse!" Dan was unnerved by this and was for fleeing, but Leaky handed him the undead biting sword and that steadied his nerve. They pressed on.
Ahead lay the tomb of Altara. On a bier lay the mummified remains of the necromancer, around her stood six armoured zombies. Propped against her bier stood the last of the wheels. Their goal was in sight.
P'ing and B'ert chucked their undead repellent as P'ing charged forward to grab the wheel. Dan cranked up a lightning bolt and Leaky crept forward in the shadows, hoping to cover P'ing should she be blocked in her grab for the wheel.
Altara rose from her deathly slumber and mumbled the words of a spell. Three of her dead guardians retreated from the repellent as the others pressed forward to bash the intruders.
Lightning flashed from Dan's fingers, B'ert threw a bolt of pain at the necromancer as P'ing grabbed the wheel. The zombie nearest P'ing attempted to interfere but was quickly cut down from behind by Leaky. Heaving the wheel's weight onto her broad shoulders, P'ing began to retreat, Leaky guarding her exit.
Leaky managed by luck as much as skill to avoid the dread gaze of Altara as she cast a spell ominously called the Dread Gaze of the Abyss, and quickly followed P'ing from the room as the two mages blasted the zombies who attempted to follow them.
Hurrying the four retreated to the chamber outside Altara's tomb, and waited for the zombies to follow. Without their mummy they were easy prey and the adventurers cut them down quickly. With the wheel in their possession they decided to return to the surface world rather than return to finish off the necromancer.
And blinking in the light, the four exited the abandoned dwarven mine victorious, with the four wheels they needed to get the caravan back on the road. Now it was time for ale and whores!
As Leakey the
Dan the wizard hurled a bolt of lightning or two at the skeletons while P'ing the warrior-woman peppered them with arrows shot from the hobgoblin's recently liberated bow. Leaky in a fit of bravery strode onto the bridge and laid into the last ambulatory foe, knocking it from the bridge with a solid blow. All four adventurers paused to count as the skeleton fell. Seven seconds to hit bottom it took. Leaky continued to the far side of the bridge and encountered a group of swirling shadows, whispering promises from the dark of the cave ahead. Dan threw a dazzle spell and a lightning bolt into their midst, and drove back the ephemeral undead. Eagerly Leaky took up the wheel and brought it back to the group.
They decided to go back and see if the remaining wheel was to be found anywhere else in the mine that didn't involve crossing a rickety bridge over a drop of hundreds of metres.
The group returned to the first chamber of the mines, and struck off down a passage they had previously passed by. They came to a large room cut from the rock, that looked and smelled like it was used as a goblin midden. Lurking in the web-choked recesses of the roof of the cave a giant spider lurked, waiting to pounce. P'ing incautiously advanced to investigate a web-swaddled goblin corpse, wrestling with the strands of web to free a potion bottle stuck in the dead goblin's belt. The spider struck and only P'ing's new dwarven helm saved her from the poisonous mandibles of the beast. The others attacked and quickly reduced the arachnid to a mess of legs and broken parts.
The room unfortunately did not yield the final wheel, so the group returned to the bridge over the chasm and assayed a crossing.
Leaky set up a rope across the chasm, and the group moved forward, making it safely to the far side. The shadows were cautious and kept their distance. One braver shade advanced and offered a deal. Two dwarven lay nearby, slain by the creatures deeper in the caverns. The shade would show the four where they lay and let them take away their magical swords if they in return stopped hurling hurtful lights at the shadows. This deal was agreeable, and the adventurers were shown the fallen dwarves. The swords they wore, still sheathed, proved magical and powerful. When drawn the first let out a glorious light that drove back the shadows and promised great strength against undead. The other weapon was a contrary blade, sharp like a razor, but prone to cutting its owner on occasion.
Bolstered by their finds, the four adventurers continued deeper into caves, following the track of a wagon wheel clearly rolled along through the dust on the floor of the cave. In the next room, a sensation of dread settled on them, as a voice spoke from the air. "Continue no further, you violate the tomb of Altara. Leave this place or face her curse!" Dan was unnerved by this and was for fleeing, but Leaky handed him the undead biting sword and that steadied his nerve. They pressed on.
Ahead lay the tomb of Altara. On a bier lay the mummified remains of the necromancer, around her stood six armoured zombies. Propped against her bier stood the last of the wheels. Their goal was in sight.
P'ing and B'ert chucked their undead repellent as P'ing charged forward to grab the wheel. Dan cranked up a lightning bolt and Leaky crept forward in the shadows, hoping to cover P'ing should she be blocked in her grab for the wheel.
Altara rose from her deathly slumber and mumbled the words of a spell. Three of her dead guardians retreated from the repellent as the others pressed forward to bash the intruders.
Lightning flashed from Dan's fingers, B'ert threw a bolt of pain at the necromancer as P'ing grabbed the wheel. The zombie nearest P'ing attempted to interfere but was quickly cut down from behind by Leaky. Heaving the wheel's weight onto her broad shoulders, P'ing began to retreat, Leaky guarding her exit.
Leaky managed by luck as much as skill to avoid the dread gaze of Altara as she cast a spell ominously called the Dread Gaze of the Abyss, and quickly followed P'ing from the room as the two mages blasted the zombies who attempted to follow them.
Hurrying the four retreated to the chamber outside Altara's tomb, and waited for the zombies to follow. Without their mummy they were easy prey and the adventurers cut them down quickly. With the wheel in their possession they decided to return to the surface world rather than return to finish off the necromancer.
And blinking in the light, the four exited the abandoned dwarven mine victorious, with the four wheels they needed to get the caravan back on the road. Now it was time for ale and whores!
(no subject)
I also liked our truce with the unclean shadow creatures. Very "Theathe Thith Thentheleth Thlaughter!"
(no subject)
(no subject)
Seven seconds to hit bottom it took.
I did like the counting the seconds bit, and then deciding to look everywhere else to see if they could avoid crossing the bridge. They would have felt pretty dumb cleaning out the whole rest of the dungeon only to learn that the wheel was behind a tapestry in room 1, eh?
Re: Seven seconds to hit bottom it took.
By rights I should have rewarded them for the counting the seconds and refusing the bridge at first. It was very much in character and got a laugh. However, the good undead foes were across the bridge (where they were when the dwarves first spanned the chasm, and subsequently had to abandon the mines after rousing the dead from their slumber) and I didn't want to wrap things nearly an hour early.
Dungeon Siege was pretty good fun, and really easy to add bits to as we went along. I played pretty fast and loose with the advancement rules, as I knew we were only playing the one scenario and didn't really have to worry about coming back to these characters again. The system has a lot to recommend it in fact, as a simple set of rules for monster bashing. I'd probably add more one-use or limited use resources (spells, charges, potions, etc.) to make more of the resource management element of D&D show up in the game if I were to do a full-on big dungeon crawl.