Having rested a couple of days at Gudaliva's Inn and spending all their recently acquired gold to purchase an enchanted dagger and halberd, our group descends once again down the rickety ladder. Hopefully prepared for the undead they are going to see and kill before leaving our hostess. Who is getting a bit antsy as she saw a wanted poster in town that looks suspiciously like Argon. And mention of a vampire, which makes her put out garlic in her bedroom when she goes to sleep.
They decide to go down the parallel corridor, passing the rotting remains of the basilisk they killed. Billy noticed it had been chewed on but could not tell by what. Moving on, Tecton manages to trigger another spiked pit trap while Argon leapt backwards fast enough to avoid falling into it. Again, the thick gargoyle skin protects the gargoyle and he received a mere scratch.
Back in the room of pillars, they search and find nothing else new. The columns are sealed back up without a seam to be seen, and there are piles of splintered bones covering the floor. Checking the door for traps, they are attacked by two green slimes, who both missed. Billy swings his torch but a critical fumble and he drops the torch, and it goes out (he rolled an 18). Tecton in a few blows manages to kill the other slime with his torch while Billy backs away, and manages to retrieve his torch. A couple rounds later, both slimes are smelly charred lumps on the floor.
All the ruckus raised another creature to attack them. Hearing a rustling, they find that they are getting attacked by a parchment golem made of books! While not looking like the origami monster from the TFT Bestiary, I did use those stats.
Knowing that the door is trapped, Thade and Argon (Tecton? the same guy playing two gargoyles make it hard for me to keep track of them) go back around a corner while Billy and Tecton toss a rock at the door, triggering the whistle and light. Being prepared this time around, no one takes any damage.
The magical specter is visible through the open door, but neither side seems to want to move. Eventually the magical creature darts out to attack Billy, and the others move in.
 |
| No, YOU move first! |
Billy cannot do much of anything against this undead mage, and tries to dodge. Unfortunately the undead grabbed Billy and he felt his shoulder grow cold at the touch, taking all of 2 points of damage (I rolled great for the attack, then snake eyes on the damage!). Thade had moved behind the undead wizard and managed a significant blow with his enchanted dagger. Did you know weapon mastery gives an extra 1d6+1 damage (maybe +2...) with an aimed blow at -4DX. And attacking from the read negates that -4. Thade is somewhat overpowered in some ways, but only carries a dagger. The undead wizard pivots to attack Thade as Billy is not a threat. Argon, armed with his halberd, does a pole weapon attack, charging the undead wizard. The next round Thade kills off the undead, and his body dissolves in a coiling black smoke, leaving just his clothes lying crumpled on the floor. They rest 15 minutes, getting the torches replaced and Billy gets one of the points of damage back as it counted as fatigue damage.
The next room is the Princess' reading room. A nook with a fireplace and bookshelves, a couple of chairs on a fancy rug. The books appear to be mostly children's books but disturbing them brought out another parchment golem! Again, not a single paper cut as the torches did quick work and ignited the paper golem in quick order. Searching the room triggered both doors to slam shut.
Lighting the fireplace turned out to be an error in judgement: a vapor came from the logs. Somehow Billy was the only one to not avoid breathing in the toxic fumes. The gargoyles battered down the other door, and they escaped into a room full of dresses. That turned out to be an illusion: touching them they disappear. But that also revealed two secret doors. Choosing one, the head down a corridor to fund a circular room with 8 glowing purple columns encircling a kneeling man.
And this is where we left for the day. A few things to note: the younger player is a lot more cautious now realizing his characters could die a lot easier than the 5e game he is used to. And in reading the rules, I've found two things I've gotten wrong over the years:
- You can use weapons you don't have a skill in, but use 4 dice against your dexterity to hit. A high dexterity character can probably use about any weapon, though you do still have that 16+ automatic miss. and with 4 dice have a better chance of dropping and breaking your weapon. Which actually makes sense from a mechanical perspective.
- You can use weapons that have a higher strength than you have, but at -1 for each strength you are using. If you are a ST 12 user using a ST 15 weapon, you are at a -3 to hit. For a high DX character, you may be able to do more damage this way
Another rule I always have a hard time finding is the injury rule: 5 points or more of damage gives you a -2 on your next to hit roll. For some reason that is not in the attack and damage rules section but a few pages later. I think it should be in both places. I always seem to be flipping pages to find it.
I think they had a good time, though we've only been in 2 dungeons and not much in the way of actual role play. I figure they will finish this next session depending on how cautious they are, then we may hit the road and have more social encounters above ground. I also need to remember that they went to Edge City to find the vampire who turned Thade, so I need to drop some hints in there. Perhaps the inn keeper knows something of this, as she is keeping a lot of garlic in her bedroom!
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