Session 1 Summary
Cast of Characters
Theren Moonshadow, a Moon Elf Bard played by Payson
Lutheo, a Halfling Paladin played by Dale
Otep, a Half Orc Fighter played by Nelson
Akronos, a Human Wizard played by Alec
Ceress, a Saurien Monk played by Graham
Nathan, the DM. I played in this campaign under David Rooms masterful guidance back in 1998.
Prelude:
Before the campaign began, each of the characters has been captured by their own series of unfortunate events and enslaved onto a digging team. The two spell caster were fitted with slave collars that have Drellisite crystals imbedded in them to prevent them from casting spells.
This is where the players have come into the picture. They have each been picked up by slavers and brought to a dig in the NW mountainous section of the Snowy Timbers forest. They have been here for varying times but have all witnessed the brutality of the leader of the dig, Kelvar, a Black Sorcerer of Duthelm, his right hand man Dalmanakan a Knight of the Abyss and the rest of the guards. The guards act efficient and organized like a military group but wear nondescript armor and clothing. They each carry a short sword, club and whip and wear chainmail armor.
In the group of slaves are two dwarfs, one of which takes a tool out of the dig site and is killed for his transgression. Kelvar kills him and then animates his body as a zombie to dig. Zombies are good at digging, just stupid about it so not very effective when they hit roots, rocks or just dig themselves into a small hole. Kelvar does away with the zombie after a day but it is a good reminder to the other slaves that their fate could be so much worse than it currently is. Kelvar's right hand man, Delmanakan is present for this killing and many other evil acts.
On the day the campaign starts the characters are part of a 12 person digging team that has been working a long ramp down into the earth along side a building. This is the fourth building that has been unearthed and each previous one before has been a dead end. This one was discovered due to the chimney becoming exposed by overflowing rivers and water flowing down the chimney. The ramp down has been paralleling the building and they have finally come to a window. The tools are taken away from the slaves and carried out by one of the weaker slaves. Six guards are assigned to them to explore the building and report back. They have lanterns and are a mix of cautiously guarding the slaves while still keeping them as trap and monster finders.
Inside the ruins:
Main Entry Hall
The waters flowed through the grand entry hall (the only section of the building with a strong enough roof to survive whatever caused these building to be buried under 30 feet of earth) and through a door down into the basement. In this entry hall are two dead warriors, tables, chairs, a huge fire place and book shelves with various books on interesting subjects for a noble to entertain their guest with. The head guard sends one guard back to Kelvar with a shield and both swords of the dead warriors to verify they are what he is looking for. They continue to check and see if there is anything else in here worth finding or if like the other buildings it only had a small section survive and nothing of interest in it.
Water is still seeping through the hall as a small stream when they enter, leaking under a tapestry and the door in the SW wall. The doors to the north are busted open with debris pouring into the hall. The doors to the south are barred shut but when opened were found to have a sold wall of earth behind it.
Stairs and Entry Hall
The stairs to basement have structural damage. Signs of water at the entry hall at the top of the stairs to the basement show a high water line a couple feet up the wall. It is cold and there is damp in the air. The stairs go down about twenty feet. There is evidence that this corridor was flooded to the ceiling at one point recently. The support beams along the hall show signs of being water logged from long exposure. There is still about a foot of standing water in the hall that floods out when the door at the far end is opened. Water has slowly leaked under and around the door at the end of the hall.
After the rest of the party has gone through the hall, one of the orc guards bringing up the rear taunts the dwarf prisoner about the death of the other dwarf. The dwarf gets enraged and shoulder slams the guard repeatedly into a support column breaking it and causing a cave in that kills both of them and brings the whole hall down. The party take this opportunity to attack and kill the 4 other guards but their injuries are serious. By the end of the battle Theren is almost dead and lies face up in several inches of water, one of the other digging crew has been killed, Lutheo was brought to unconsciousness and revived to continue the battle and Otep made an epic leap bringing down the last guard with a flying strike by the short sword he acquired off a dead body.
After the battle, one of the fellow slaves, Fritz puts some of his skills as a gear maker before becoming a slave to use. He uses wire pulled from the hilt of a recovered sword to pick the locks on the Drellis crystals slave collars freeing Theren and Akronos to cast spells.
The cave in has cut off the water supply to the hall stream as well as provided the party some security from Kelvar and his crew on the top side.
Room 1
Past the door from the hall is evidence of the past water seeping around it and across the room and through the open door on the other side. This room has two chairs, a small table, cobwebs, and two dead warriors. They have obviously been dead a long time and all of their gear is showing it's age.
2 - Common Hall
Large clean hall. Tapestries and marble walls. The floor is littered with about a dozen skeletal corpses. Some bloated white spiders about the size of a mouse scurry out of sight when the party enters.The trickle of water leaves out of the open door to the left.
3 - Hallway
The trickle of water goes down the hall and through the door to the left.
4 - Main Storage Room
Empty barrels, boxes, blankets, clothing, boots, cloaks, tunics, gloves, belts, bolts of coarse cloth, pots, pans, cutlery, clay pottery, glasses, mugs, bags, pouches, backpack, rope, chain, saddle, stirrup, bucket, mop, broom, rags, shovel, lots of rotted food and a pack of 12 still edible dry rations wrapped in wax paper.
5 - Water and Wine Storage
Twenty two barrels, 1 large wine rack with 47 intact bottles and several broken ones. Bottle of blue pills. Blue pills are discovered later to be "purify water" pills.
6 - Cold Food Storage
This chamber has 10 feet of steps leading down into it. The chamber is very cold and you can see your breath in the air. This room is 33 degrees Fahrenheit, held constant by magic. This spell is still running. There is 5 feet of water in the room but it shows signs that it has been much higher. The shelves are knocked over and there is a variety of bags, boxes and bottles floating in the water, The water slowly swirls (clockwise) with the debris drifting along. When explored by Ceress it is found to be slowly draining out through cracks in the flooring in the NW corner.
7 - Kitchen
This large room is obviously a kitchen. A large fireplace dominates the west wall. Long tables fill the center running the length of the room. Pots and pans hang from the ceiling. Bread ovens line the west wall. Barrels, boxes, bowls and bags are littered about the room. Stained plates are stacked in the corner on a small table. A huge black cauldron sits in one corner. A thorough search will reveal a barrel of thick dried glue like substance, various intact bottles with colored liquids, a jar of herbs and your standard kitchen gear.
8 - Hall
This is the serving hall from the kitchen to the dining hall. Double doors on both ends swing open away from the kitchen on hinges that are designed to swing close on their own.
9 - Mess Hall
The walls are plastered, the floor covered with mosaic tiles. The paintings on the walls displays scenes indicating that this room was meant for drinking and debauchery. Four long tables flanked with benches fill the room. Cloaks hang on pegs. One chest and one barrel stand in the corner. Two skeletal figures lie on the floor. A deck of cards are scattered about the table and floor. A huge fireplace is in the north wall. The barrel contains lamp oil, about 200 turns worth. The chest is unlocked and holds 10 torches and two hooded lanterns.
There is a table at the east end of the room that is set with crystal goblets, silver dining cutlery and china plates and 6 nicer chairs. The party takes the silverware.
After exploring the mess hall the party takes some of the rope and swords recovered from storage and the dead and work to pull more supports down in the entry hall way. They succeed with causing more of a cave in hopefully delaying the efforts of the necromancer to gain access.
They then take their first real rest since becoming slaves. They get a full 8 hours of sleep and recover from their trials of escaping being slaves. Feeling refreshed after their rest, they decide to continue to explore the rest of the ruins.
10 - Hall
This hall is a mess of death and damage. At the head of the T intersection to your right is all sorts of charred marks and blackened damage. There are what you would guess are burns, lightning, acid and other scars on the walls, floors and ceilings. There are fragments of bones, clothing, armor and weapons sections all over the hall.
11 - Captain's Quarters
Closed door. Very clean, organized and plush bedroom. Small table, chair, bed, chest, book shelf, tall wooden cabinet. Hidden under pillow, large knife. One corpse that looks like it tried to lock itself in after being wounded.
12 - Armory and Stone & Metal Workshop
This room is divided into two sections. The right section has racks of weapons along the walls. Several suits of thick, padded armor are hung on the walls as well. Several tall thin tapestries. Most of the weapons are armor are strewn about in disarray. This room contains: 4 barrels of Greek Fire, 27 sheaf arrows, 1 two-handed sword, 1 Bastard sword, 1 broken long sword, 1 war hammer, 2 clubs, 3 short swords, 1 heavy crossbow, 1 unstrung long bow, 13 heavy crossbow bolts, 1 12' length of chain.
The left section is a cluttered with miscellaneous metal junk, half finished suits of armor and weapons in need of repair. A large table stands in the center of the room. On the table are several books, dozens of small metallic tools, a large hammer, an anvil and several dozen small metal locks in various stages of repair or disassembly. Several books can be seen on a book shelf and on the main central table. In the east wall is a fireplace and bellows. The books cover subjects like engineering, mechanics and architecture.
13 - Barracks
Thirty bunks, moldy blankets. Three skeletal corpses.
14 - Cells
This small dungeon has four stone and iron bar cells, each 10'x10'. In each cell are three orcish skeletal corpses.
10b - Hall down the T intersection
Further evidence of great magical destruction and death show in every step of this hall. Bits and pieces, bone and armor and weapon fragments.
15 - Commander's Personal Quarters
These are larger personal rooms that seems to be part bed chamber and part office. A large woven rug dominates the central floor. Deep plush comfortable chair. Fireplace chamber set in wall. Crossed rapier swords hang above fireplace. Lutheo and Theren each claim a rapier.
16 - Commander's Personal Quarters
These are larger personal rooms that seems to be part bed chamber and part office. A large woven rug dominates the central floor. Deep plush comfortable chair. Fireplace chamber set in wall. Books and scrolls adorn a bookshelf (information about the local politics).
17 - Commander's Personal Quarters
These are larger personal rooms that seems to be part bed chamber and part office. A large woven rug dominates the central floor. Deep plush comfortable chair. Fireplace chamber set in wall. Nightstand by the bed (book of Ynthar in the nightstand). Lutheo takes the book of Ynthar.
18 - Commander's Personal Quarters
These are larger personal rooms that seems to be part bed chamber and part office. A large woven rug dominates the central floor. Deep plush comfortable chair. Fireplace chamber set in wall. Books on nature and morals and philosophy.
19 - Commander's Personal Quarters
These are larger personal rooms that seems to be part bed chamber and part office. A large woven rug dominates the central floor. Deep plush comfortable chair. Fireplace chamber set in wall. Novels about country side and romances and slice of life stories.
20 - Commander's Personal Quarters
These are larger personal rooms that seems to be part bed chamber and part office. A large woven rug dominates the central floor. Deep plush comfortable chair. Fireplace chamber set in wall. Ceremonial Long Sword and Shield on the wall. Books about Duthelm, Caramus and the Citadel.
21 - Conference Room
Long oak table, 8 plush leather, high backed chairs. Nothing of value that the party could find except bits of bodies everywhere.
22 - Wizard's Laboratory
Several large books are open on the main table. These books are filled with hand written notes some of them focused on strange symbols, runes, diagrams, charts, numbers and/or lists. One large and impressive book is on the floor in the grip of a man in plate armor. He has four arrows sticking out of him as well as a deep gash in his waist. The book is bound and locked.
Also in this room are spell components, acids, alchemical equipment, dried herbs, jar of soot, jar of sand, two pearls worth 50 gold piece each and a jar with several dead insects.
23 - Library & Den
This room is very quiet. Its floor is padded with a moldy, but plush carpet. All walls are lined with darkly stained wooden book cases. At the center of the room is a small table, about which sit four chairs. One chair is tipped over. Several dozen books are strewn about the room. A skeleton in robes lies face down on the floor. The room is lit by a soft bluish light that emanates from a sphere set in a mount on the table. This room is virtually dust free. A thorough search reveals 3 scrolls which the part later discovered to be Cure Wounds, Silence and Lightning Bold. They take these scrolls as well as the glowing light.
24 - The Larger Battle Chamber
The doors to this room are blown off their hinges. There is a glowing thin white line that goes across the door and around the whole room.
There is a large amount of dead in this room. Most of the dead are in a semicircle around the far double doors which are open. There are blast marks on both the near and far walls. There was a huge, pitched battle here that has left stacks of dead in the room. There is a blast radius from the double doors and a broken staff in the doorway.
Several dead skeletal corpses lie about the chamber, apparently having died fighting each other. Mostly humans and elves vs. orcs and ogres. Several dead rats lie about in late stages of decomposition.
The corpses littering the floor seem to be of two opposed groups. Some of the corpses are listed below - the good guys (human, elves and half elves) and the bad guys (orcs, humans, half orcs and ogres):
A warrior with a broken blade thrust through his body. A shield lies next to him.
A robed skeleton face down with a dagger in his back.
Short skeletal body - charred black. Carbon burns on floor around it. Fanged skull, possibly a goblin or other humanoid race. Tattered chain mail.
Warrior in black scale armor, jeweled amulet on chain around neck.
Skeleton in chainmail. Sword through rib-cage, clutching a blank scroll.
Large mummified corpse, ugly humanoid, in chainmail and tunic. War hammer next to him. Slashes all over his body. Duthelm badge. (A flat steel and stained black oak brooch bearing a skull impaled on sword).
Human skeleton. Fighter
Elven skeleton. Studded leather.
Upper half of orcish skeleton. Lower half some 20 yards away.
Elven skeleton. Robes. Non-magical silver ring on one hand.
Human skeleton. Studded leather armor.
Twelve foot tall monstrosity. Appears to be a black skeleton with great claws, protruding spikes and bat-like wings. Appears to have suffered massive damage. (Torn wing, cracked skull, broken claw, broken arm). Pieces of dismembered human bodies all around it.
Elven skeleton. Fine chain armor.
Human skeleton. Plate mail armor.
Ogre skeleton with broken leg. Massive hammer beside him. Remnants of cloak and studded armor. Duthelm badge
A man in black leathers and long black jacket. Badly burnt and damaged body. He has his spell book with him but most of the pages are burned out of it. The higher level spells have been burnt out leaving only some 1st and 2nd level spells in the book. He has a small, locked metal box with intricate carvings. He wears the key to the box on a chain around his neck. When opened by the party they find the box contains a gemstone, a folded map and a severed finger on a chain. The gemstone is a fist-sized emerald colored translucent stone which glows brightly with a green energy and bears a symbol inscribed upon it. The symbol is a triangle inside a triangle inside a circle, the symbol of Ynthar, the faith of the monk and paladin.
After taking a few minutes to rummage through the room and find all the magical items and easily collected and carried valuables, they proceed on.
25 - The anti chamber is just 10 by 10 and the doors at the other end are closed.
26 - Hall with symbol of Ynthar around a pit
This magnificent chamber is adorned with the fine marble, silver inlay and intricate carvings in the stone. The entire chamber is built around a large circular pit in the floor. A symbol is built around pit in the tiles of the floor. Odd runes and glyphs run around the perimeter of the pit. The runes and glyphs are glowing and fading in seemingly random patterns. An eerie greenish mist churns about in the pit, illuminated from within as if by lightning. Oddly rhythmical flickering of green light up the room. The symbol around the pit is obviously the symbol of Ynthar, the faith that both the monk and the paladin follow.
The session ended with the party retreating to the room of the large battle, taking the gem, large map of the continent of Ithria and finger on the chain out of the box. The green gem is the size of a large fist and it has the symbol of Ynthar etched into its surface. They played with the map and gem and found out that if they brought the gem close to the map a point on the SE corner of the continent light up red. They played with the finger on the chain and found that no matter where they positioned it, it always swung and rotated to come to a stop pointing to the SE.
Next session: surrender to the necromancer trying to dig them out and hope for his mercy or find a way to escape...
Here are the handouts the players received as well as the map of the buried fortress.
The map of the buried complex.
And the final chamber with they symbol of Ynthar.