Here is the write-up from our third session of our Back to the Basement AD&D (2nd Edition) campaign. Spoiler Alert: There are potential spoilers below the break for the module, Under Illefarn…although significantly less than in the first two sessions since we’ve already been sidetracked. There are spoilers for the adventure, Ashtar’s Temple, from Dungeon #81 (although with modifications).
This write-up is from Todd, who was playing the recently deceased Davos and is now playing Ellio. My GM comments are in [italics and brackets] as usual.
[When we last left our party, they had just finished fighting a handful of stirges and had fared quite poorly. Davos was slain as too much of his blood ended up in the belly of one of the stirges. The party had left his body out in the open as they decided to search for their abducted companions below the ruined temple. As they had lifted the wardrobe blocking the stairway down, a cold wind blow up from below.]
The group headed down the stairwell to see if they could find their missing companions. The stairway exited into an empty room with a couple of corridors and a door leading deeper into the catacombs. Opening the door, the party found three people, hooded, tied up and gagged. The first individual they unhooded was a young man that no one immediately recognized. He introduced himself as Ellio, the son of a farmer and merchant in Daggerford.
[Actually, while they didn’t recognize Ellio at first…poor vision in the torchlight and all…the party did recognize him. And, of course, this was Todd’s new character. Ellio had been traveling with the other farmer that Jocko had captured and had sent to fetch the ransom money…or so we kind of decided on the spot.]
The other two captives were Kethenor and Delora. Once Delora was ungagged, she resumed her angry accusations against Kethenor and Davos and held them responsible for her abduction…even though, of course, Kethenor was a fellow captive. As Kethenor caught up on the recent happenings, Delora continued to express her displeasures. When she learned that her father had given the party a dozen of the healing potions they had been transporting to Daggerford, her displeasure reached a new high before she became rather despondent.
[Delora actually made some mention of how the loss of that many potions meant that she and her father were ruined. Although Merrick some snide comment about they must not be very good merchants if this meant their ruin, no one actually asked Delora why this meant their ruin…of course, she hadn’t endeared herself to anyone either.]
It was quickly decided that, having found those they were seeking, the party should head back to The Way Inn. Heading back up the stairs, it was discovered that the door leading out of that room simply would not open. While it had opened easily before–even opening and closing (apparently) all on its own–it would not budge. With no other options, it was decided that there might be another way out through the catacombs. Tycyn even suggested that they might be able to find the giant weasel tunnel and exit that way.
[Although RJ made some choo-choo noises indicating that they were getting railroaded and I responded with a comment about how I was getting tired of preparing stuff that they would just ignore, that wasn’t really why the door was stuck. Although the party wouldn’t learn this for a bit, the ruins were an old monastery/temple of Ilmater, the Crying God. The monastery had fallen many years ago and the captain of the guard was bound to the ruins as a ghost. In the many years, only bandits and ne’er-do-wells had come to the ruins. She had sensed that this group–at least most of them–were good-hearted and might help put her to rest. She was holding the door shut so they would come back to the catacombs where she could meet with them…once she had determined that they were the individuals who could aid her.]
Tycyn took the lead in the exploration of the lower level. One of the rooms explored had a pool of water, covered in algae. Kethenor entered the room and was attacked by two giant frogs hiding in the pool. The elf dispatched the frogs with a little assistance. As Kethenor dragged one of them out of the pool to carve it open to look for treasure it may have swallowed, Tycyn jumped into the pool to also search for treasure. He had to do so by feel since he couldn’t really see in the murky, algae covered water. He felt something and pulled it out…it was a human skull! As he threw it out of the pool, the cold breeze that had been blowing throughout the lower level grew stronger.
[Ruh-roh Raggy!]
Moving on, the party explored more of the catacombs as they searched for a way out. A couple of the rooms explored had fissures or chasms splitting their floors. One of the chasms dropped down about thirty feet and opened into what looked like a larger cavern. Another one of the rooms had LOTS of spider webs covering the ceiling above the chasm.
[So, as written, the Ashtar’s Temple as a lower level full of typical dungeon critters that aren’t too scary to low (or no) level characters. But, here’s the thing…how’d they get in there? Did they all come through the weasel’s tunnel? Other tunnels? So, I re-did the map, making it smaller actually and cutting out some of the beasties, and added the fissures leading…somewhere. That somewhere is where most of the baddies in the lower level had come from.]
One of the rooms had the lower part of its door missing. Wildly kicking in the door, Kethenor saw a glow begin in a far corner. The glow is coming from three giant beetles. Although Hannah suggested that they be left alone, Kethenor, Merrick, and Tycyn move in to attack them. After their attacks bounced off the beetles’ hard carapaces, they backed out of the room. The beetles, fortunately, did not follow.
It was also discovered that something (or more correctly, somethings) had started following the party. Dozens of beady eyes could be seen just beyond the torchlight. Kethenor moved into position to get a better look and saw a very large spider, the size of a man, that scurried around a corner. The party decided to go a different direction rather than go towards the unknown number of spiders.
At the end of another hall was a single door. It was slightly ajar. When Merrick opened the door, the cold breeze that had been moving throughout the halls gusted and blow out the torches. They were quickly re-lit showing that the spiders had advanced some but, again, scurried away AND to show an apparition of a woman standing just beyond the recently opened door.
Merrick screamed in terror and fled, almost knocking all of us over in his haste. The apparition didn’t look that frightening to anyone else. She did say, however, that the party had defiled the temple (something about disturbing the bones of the dead…like a skull). The party tried to explain why they were there (or, for some, to give excuses for their behavior) but the apparition insisted that the party leave as they were not the ones she needed. The door which they could not open previously would now be open.
As the group left, Kethenor remained behind. He spoke to the ghost and apologized for their behavior, explaining none of it was done to harm or desecrate. He learned the ghost’s story and that the monastery–the Monastery of the Broken Hand which was dedicated to Ilmater–had been attacked. She, Tralisa, had been the captain of the guard and had been bound to the temple since its fall. Her bones required a proper burial to release her. Kethenor agreed that the group would see to her release and the ghost told him that her bones could be found in the old barracks.
[Ah, so now things start to make sense…or at least a little more.]
Kethenor turned to catch up with the others and realized that the spiders were inching closer and closer. He turned and, yelling for the others, ran for the stairway. He barely made it up the stairs before the spiders caught him.
[I was nice. The spiders easily could have caught the elf. Everyone had been assuming that it was the torches that kept them at bay. It was not. It was their numbers. Kethenor remained alone in the catacombs. By all rights, he should probably be dead as I’m thinking that multiple hairy spiders could have taken the lone elf without much problem…and had a tasty snack in the process. Hopefully, a lesson was learned.]
Merrick had not just run up the stairs in his terror but had gone out the ruined building above and into the woods. Tycyn ran after him while everyone else waited for Kethenor. Once everyone gathered together again and Kethenor explained what he had learned, there was a brief debate about what a proper burial should be but no one had an answer. The group decided to go back to The Way Inn. Heading to where the horses had been tethered, they found that they were gone. In their place was a note from Jocko! He stated that he had taken the horses and the party could have the captives. Everyone knew that they were responsible for the horses, Commander Sherlyn and Sergeant Dep had made it quite clear that compensation would have to be made for any lost or killed warhorses.
[Austin, I think, then looked up the cost of a light warhorse. Such fun.]
After a long walk back to the Way Inn, Delora had rather unpleasant words for her father and everyone had a night’s sleep before before starting the now longer journey back to Daggerford in the morning.
Once back in Daggerford, Tycyn broached the subject of the group’s payment for the escort. Delora was not amused by this. She tallied up the cost of the potions that had been consumed (at 200gp each) and said that they had better accept calling it even before she charged them full price. A half-hearted attempt was made to argue that her father had provided them free of charge but it was given up rather quickly and the party and the Farwanders went their separate ways.
After reporting in and being instructed to report back in the morning, everyone in the party went their own way. Kethenor visited the temple of Chauntea and spoke with one of the priests or acolytes there and explained the need for a proper burial. An appointment with the Duke was established for the next day’s lunch to discuss this issue further.
The following day, Hannah gave a full report to the commander. Kethenor had lunch with the Duke. Tycyn met with Davos’ father to tell about the death of his son. Ellio talks with his father about wanting to join the militia after his recent “adventure” with other militia members. Militia training resumed as well.
Kethenor’s lunch with the Duke led to a new mission for the group (which, of course, now includes Ellio). The Duke asked that they go and finish what the ghost had requested of them. It was agreed that they would and so the Duke would arrange for a priest to meet the party at The Way Inn. No horses, however, were going to be provided for this trip.
Traveling back to the Way Inn, the recruits met with Tammas, a priest of Tymora and the priest that the Duke had sent. After a night of heavy drinking for Tammas (who seems perpetually drunk) and Merrick, the group headed to the Monastary of the Broken Hand the following morning. Tammas demonstrated considerable talent for being able to sleep mounted on a moving horse while everyone else walked. At the Monastery, the party searched the barracks and dug up the floor until they found the bones of, they hoped, Tralisa. A site at the front of the Monastery was selected and a grave dug. Tralisa’s remains were laid to rest and Tammas said a prayer.
To make sure that this worked, the party (without the mounted sleeper Tammas) headed back down to the lower level. They met Tralisa’s apparition in the same spot. The party was initially upset that she was still there but Tralisa explained that she had only remained to thank them and provide them this…she dropped a key into Kethenor’s hand. Saying, “Beware the creatures within,” she faded from sight.
There was another door right behind were Tralisa had been and it was ajar. Pushing it open, the party saw what looked like a ransacked and ruined library. Entering cautiously, they were still surprised by two strange creatures. Each had a round, bulbous body with two long tentacles ending in nasty looking stingers. They sprung from atop a couple of the bookshelves. One of the creatures was killed by the party and the other sprung away into the hallway but not before both Kethenor and Ellio were poisoned by the creatures. The poison wasn’t damaging but did sicken and weaken them (for a short period of time).
Searching the room, the party found a bookshelf that swung on a set of hinges. Behind it was a door with a lock. The key from Tralisa unlocked the door. Beyond was a small room with some shelves. A small chest and a few items (a leather armband, a scroll case, and four flasks) were on the shelves. The small chest had a small pouch with nine gems in it. Merrick quickly grabbed the armband and put it on. Kethenor took the scroll case and handed a flask to everyone but Merrick. It was also agreed that they could get the gems appraised, sold, and split the money.
Heading back out into the hallway, the party saw the body of the creature that had escaped. A number of very large spiders had swarmed it. The party was able to head down a corridor and reach the exit without having to pass the spiders. A good thing as the spiders weren’t really backing away this time.
[It is always good to throw out little reminders like this of the dangers of adventuring without having to attack the party.]
Reaching the surface, it was discovered that Tammas had left. Horse tracks led to the trail leading back to the road. About a mile away, the party found Tammas, still asleep and mounted, and his horse, munching on some grasses in the snow. Leading the horse, everyone headed back the Way Inn.
[And that was where we ended the session. Everyone now has enough XP to become 1st level and I told everyone to think about what class they want to play.
During the week, everyone let me know. Ellio and Merrick plan on being fighters. Hannah is going to be a ranger. Tycyn is going to be a priest of Tempus. Kethenor is going to be a mage. Dory is going to be a thief (although Bridgett prefers the term Rogue).]
