Wherein, our mighty adventurers agree to enter the
Magic-User: “About how long have we been climbing?”
DM: “As a Magic-User, you’re good with numbers and recognizing patterns, so I’ll say you’ve been counting steps this entire time. By now the party has almost twice as high as the previous set of stairs.”
Magic-User: “We must be getting closer to the surface! Maybe this is another way out!”
Fighter: “Using the 10 foot pole I’m going to prod along the steps ahead and make sure there aren’t any traps.”
DM: “So far so good, the steps finally end at a large 30 by 30 landing, there’s a rusty iron door barely hanging on its hinges in the center of the northern wall. The room is very dusty, and the rotting remains of a table and a few chairs are stacked in front of the door next to the short humanoid skeleton in corroded metal armor.”
Fighter: “30 by 30? Got it!”
Cleric: “Can I identify what race the skeleton is using my training as a Cleric of Lawful?”
DM: “It appears to be the skeleton of a Dwarf. Easily dead for a hundred years.”
Magic-User: “I’m going to try and search the room.”
Fighter: “Me too.”
Fighter: “And me! Watching out for traps.”
(rolls)
Fighter: “I got a one!”
(Still no wandering monsters)
DM: “Awesome Fighter! Beneath the skeletal hand of the dwarf you find a small piece of parchment, miraculously untouched by age and covered in thick silver runes.”
Fighter: “Magic-User! Magic-User! I think I found another Scroll!”
Magic-User: “I speak Dwarven, let me have a look at the runes.”
DM: “I’ll get back to you in just a moment Magic-User, Cleric what have you been doing all this time?”
Cleric: “While they’re searching the room, I’m going to say a prayer for the fallen Dwarf and take out the Wand that we found in the Kobold room. Is there anything on the wand that gives a hint about how it works or what it does?”
DM: “The wand appears to be made of finely carved ivory, potentially from the horn or tusk of some giant beast. It’s hollow and one end is decorated with a stylized eye carved out of a blue gem. Small shiny brass axes are inlaid on the “handle” and form the wand’s grip.”
Cleric: “Brass Axes. Like the Brazen-Axe clan? I bet this wand is dwarven.”
DM: “Magic-User, the runes on the parchment do not appear to be magical in nature, but it does contain a message. I can read it out loud and just assume that you’re translating it for everyone. OK?
Magic-User: “That’s fine.
DM: The parchment says: “Hid axe and wand where those barking buggers will never find ‘em. Groma if you find this, use the wand to find the supplies by Lawful, we’ll need ‘em against the mother. Gasses getting heavier. Seeping in. Forgefather protect us! I have failed you my King!”
Magic-User: “Bummer.”
Fighter: “I HAVE FOUND THE AXE! I guess that makes me smarter than the kobolds!”
Cleric: “And this wand is probably the wand in the message that we need to use to find the supplies. Magic-User can you tell me anything else about it.”
Magic-User: “I don’t know, can I?”
DM: “You can definitely tell that it is magical, probably not of an arcane nature though, and you know from your training that most wands need a command word to operate.”
Cleric: “What’s the Dwarven word for Lawful?”
Magic-User: “Dwawful”
Cleric: “I hold the wand out and point it away from everyone and say “Dwawful” in a firm even voice.”
DM: “The tip of the wand glows brightly, illuminating the room in a pale blue light. The light seems concentrated on the flagstone beneath the dead dwarf.”
Fighter: “I MOVE THE DWARF!”
DM: “The blue light outlines the dusty flagstone.”
Cleric: “Awesome. Wand of Secret Door Detection or Find Traps. Be Careful!”
Fighter: “Using the 10 foot pole, I try to pry up the stone.”
DM: “It slides uneasily out of the way, revealing a dark opening.”
Magic-User: “I approach with my torch, what’s do we see.”
DM: “Your torchlight glimmers off of what appears to be a cache of fragile glass vials, filled with liquids.”
Fighter: “POTIONS! Magic-User!”
Magic-User: “I know. I’m on it. Do any of them look similar to the amber one that I gave to Fighter after his run in with the skeleton?”
Fighter: “ALAS HE HAD NO BLOOD TO SPILL, BUT I DESTROYED HIM AND AVENGED MY DEATH!”
DM: “Yes. Four of them appear to be remarkably similar to the amber potion. There are two more that are different though.”
Magic-User: “What color are they?”
DM: “Both are sort of a pale green color and slightly fizzy. Kind of like this...”
DM gestures to the Mountain Dew on the table.
Magic-User: “Mountain Dew? Seriously!?”
DM: “Ancient Dwarven Secret. Dew from the Mountains!”
Magic-User: “Is it Magical Dew?”
DM: “Could be. Who wants to test it?”
Fighter: “I HAVE ONLY 1 HIT POINT. STAND BY WITH AMBER POTION! I take a small sip of the Mountain Dew.”
DM: “Even though it is a small sip, you feel invigorated and full of vim and vigor…”
Fighter: “So it’s just plain Mountain Dew then?”
DM: “The ache in your muscles seems to vanish, Fighter, as do the circles under your eyes. The tiny cuts from your battle with the skeletons completely disappear.”
Cleric: “Looks like some kind of Super Healing Potion.”
Fighter: “Works like Mountain Dew!”
Magic-User: “We should definitely divvy these up. Everyone take an Amber Potion. Cleric and I will take a Mountain Dew a piece.”
DM: “I’ve created a monster… So what now?”
Fighter: “Is there anything else in the alcove?”
DM: “The potions appear to be resting on something metallic, but it’s difficult to identify with all the cobwebs.”
Fighter: “Magic-User, can I use your torch to burn away these webs?”
Magic-User: “Yes, but be careful. There may be scrolls in there.”
Fighter: “I carefully use the torch to clear away some of the webs in the hole, and use the extra light to get a better look at the metallic object.”
DM: “It appears to be a shield of some sort. There’s an inscription on it.”
Fighter: “OK, I’m going to reach in and pull out the shield. Can I read the inscription?”
DM: “It’s in Elven script but the words are Dwarven. Magic-User translates “To Groma, adventurer and ally to the end! I hope you return soon with help from your Elves!”
Cleric: “The concept of the relationship between the languages on this makes my brain hurt.”
Fighter: “I THINK I HAVE GROMA’S ARMOR IN MY PACK…”
Fighter: “I put on the Shield. How does it feel?”
DM: “Surprisingly light on your arm. You have a feeling that it may be magical.”
Fighter: “Magic-User? Oh, nevermind.”
Magic-User: “Yep. I can’t identify anything yet.”
Fighter: “Oh well, I’ll wear it.”
DM: “Great, there doesn’t appear to be anything else in the niche, and the room seems devoid of anything else interesting. What are you going to do, Caller?”
Magic-User: “If it’s cool with everyone, let’s get in order and try the door.”
Cools all the way around.
DM: “The door is very rusty and barely seems to be hanging in it’s frame. Who wants to open it?”
Fighter: “I WILL OPEN THE DOOR.”
DM: “Great! It swings open slowly into a well lit cavernous room. As your eyes adjust to the light, you notice that the floor of the cavern seems littered with thick Purple Fungus.”
Cleric: “Everybody stop! This could be bad news.”
DM: “In the distance you hear a low roar.”
Magic-User: “Is it like the roar before?”
DM: “Very similar.”
Magic-User: “Great. Everyone watch out, I think we just found a back door into the waterfall room. Here be dragon.”
Fighter: “I WILL SLAY HIM FOR THE GLORY OF THE BRAZEN AXE!”
Fighter: “I’m going to poke some of the fungus with the 10 foot pole.”
DM: “ The fungus exudes some sickly looking violet spores. I need a Save vs. Paralysis from everyone.”
Party: “Crap.”
(I hadn't actually planned to have the spores have a negative game affect, but what can I say, it’s always fun to see them squirm.)
Fighter: “I ROLLED A TWELVE.”
Magic-User: “Sixteen.”
Cleric: “18.”
Fighter: “It landed on a corner. But I think it’s supposed to be a fourteen.”
DM: “Awesome. Everyone manages to bring a free hand up to their faces quickly enough to prevent themselves from inhaling the strange purple spores. The cavernous room looms ahead full of stalactites and stalagmites.”
Magic-User: “Stalactites are on the ceiling. The C is for Ceiling. The G in Stalagmite is for ground.”
Cleric: “Do I recognize any of this fungus?”
DM: “You have a feeling that it might be useful somehow. Probably for the clearing the lungs. You’re not really sure.”
Cleric: “Don't spores usually do the opposite? Better not risk it. Is there a way to get across the room without disturbing the Lungus.”
DM: “It seems to clump around the bases of some of the larger Stalagmites. So it should be possible to navigate through it if you move slooowly.”
Magic-User: “Slooowly guys. Let’s go.”
Fighter: “How big is the room?”
DM: “Whoops. It’s large. Uneven. The ceiling is probably about thirty feet high, the room itself is a cavern, roughly a hundred feet wide. The Roaring sound comes from the north.”
Fighter: “I hate mapping caverns.”
Magic-User: “Waterfall is north. Everyone try to be extra quiet and careful. Last time we saw a waterfall, there was a dragon.”
Fighter: “A green horse dragon.”
DM: “A dragon as big as a warhorse. You creep slowly and carefully through the fields of fungus, drawing nearer to the roaring sound of the waterfall. Soon you reach a ledge that overlooks the dragon sleeping atop its hoard. The ledge is about 50 feet high. The roar of the waterfall means that there’s little chance that you’ll be overheard.”
Magic-User: “Alright guys, looks like we’re fighting this dragon whether we want to or not. We should probably get a strategy together…”
To be continued further...
Loving this! Don't stop :)
ReplyDeleteMe too! This is great. I love your playful use of color in this one as well.
ReplyDelete- Brian