[December 14 – 3rd session for December 14 and the Delvers find the Shrine to Elven Imperialism.]
[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement. This session happened April 18, 2022.]
Player Characters:
Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows
Ozrel Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician
Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates
Via Roll20
Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer
Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild
Non-Player Characters:
Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild
Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild
Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron
Yggsday, December 14th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Immediately After the Fight
Vorgand placed her sword on the unconscious Zarek to attempt waking him up from the multiple explosions he had suffered during the fight with the blue flame skeletons. The sword healed him enough so that he gradually awakened on his own. [It gave him back 4 Stun, which was just enough to move him from “GM’s Option” to “Recover Once a Minute”.] A couple minutes later Zarek woke up and asked, “what happened?” Vorgand provided a recap of the end of the fight with the blue flame skeletons and the party’s retreat from the Stone Forest chamber.
Clearly needing a different plan before attempting to enter the Stone Forest and the spaces beyond, the Delvers climbed into the entry room well and descended the chimney to the sloped galley. Using the guide ropes for safety, they descended the sloped galley to the bottom level, past the anti-magic zone.
Reviewing the murals of the elves in the hall that crossed the bottom of the sloped galley, they noticed that rather than simply lording over lesser races, the murals actually showed each elf attacking different peoples. Counting the elves shown, there are 14 elves or elven commanders shown. Ricky took the time to memorize each mural [using his eidetic memory].
The Delvers took the hall left and went around the corner at the end. The murals on the walls here showed various scenes of elves in the previous hall doing things, each mural having a door in it. Discovering on their previous expedition to the Stone Halls that these mural doors covered real doors to tombs, their plan was to loot the tombs of wealth. Ricky used his sledgehammer to fracture and clear away the thick layer of plaster over the first door depicted on the right wall. Once the granite door was fully exposed, he cast Dark Leaching on it twice. Ozrel then punched the depleted door and is collapsed into dust, exposing a narrow [3 foot wide] passage to a chamber. The dust started to harden almost immediately, so the Delvers waited a bit before entering. [Dark Leaching is a Body Drain with no delay in the return of points, so the Body points start returning each Post-Segment 12.]
After squeezing past the narrow passage, the Delvers discovered a large chamber instead of a small tomb. Six pillars supported the roof and there was an altar at the far end of the chamber. Every surface was covered in heroic elven art, showing strong-jawed elves with flowing hair and muscles, marching in formation and heroically staring off to the horizon or the future [imagine Soviet-era Heroes of the Soviet Union propaganda art, but with elves]. A particular set of colors repeated on every surface, including the floor. Every surface was a celebration of elves in an exuberant, if tacky, style. [I told the players to imagine the elven equivalent of “America, Fuck Yeah!” decorations with red, white, and blue everywhere, eagles holding M-16s while smoking cigars and wearing Ray-Banz sunglasses with a red, white, and blue headband, 80s style. Super jingoistic, super tacky.]
Once they got over the décor, the adventurers enter the chamber and explored it. The only thing of note in the chamber was the stone altar against the back wall, 4 feet tall and wide and 3 feet deep. On top of the altar was a rectangular gold offering tray inscribed with a similar motif as the rest of the room. Ricky looked over the altar and his sharp sight noticed a well-hidden concealed door on the right side of the altar. It was locked, but Jala had recent experience working with tough elven locks and was able to open it. Inside a 1 foot by 1 foot by 2-foot-deep hollow were 3 golden urns, a jewelry box, and two large scrolls in cloth protection sleeves.
Zarek floated over and cast Detect Magic, discovering that only the scroll covers were magical. While Zarek still had his spell up, Jala opened the three urns so Zarek could check their contents. The first one held incense sticks that detected as magical, the second fine sand that was not magical, and the third a two part incense holder wrapped in rich velvet.
Jala spent the next five minutes picking the lock on the jewelry box. The box was made from high quality wood and was 9 inches long and tall enough to suggest multiple layers of drawers. While Jala was working on that, Vorgand noticed that the air was no longer cold. She checked out in the main corridor and found it the same. She had Ricky check the weather with his magic mirror and he determined that it was warm outside [wherever that was] with the temperature quickly climbing. This suggested to him that it was still morning, but he was not certain when in the morning it was.
Jala eventually unlocked the jewelry box and opened it. The side came out on a hinge and there were three trays contained inside the box. The top tray contained three scrolls, which Zarek could see were magical. The second tray held two magic potions with empty spaces for two more and the third tray, deeper than the other two, held a gold circlet with a lens and a necklace with several large beads attached, both pieces of jewelry detecting as magical to Zarek.
Zarek quickly identified the two potions as a Potion of Longears [clairaudience, 1 kilometer range for 5 minutes] and Liquor of Will [4d6 Ego Aid, fades 5 points per hour]. Cautious checking of the scrolls determined that each was a spell: Protection from Air [5 minutes of +3 DCV and 5d6 Suppress versus all air/gas special effects at once], Lifekeeping [if used within 5 minutes of death, it keeps the soul in the body so healing will still work to revive the target, lasts 1 day], and Thaumatic Harness [per the 5E Spell Grimoire]. The jewelry took longer to identify, but Zarek drew deep on his readings about magic items [and rolled really well on his Knowledge Skill], identifying them as a Mindlens of Hardiness [1d6 Ego Attack per 10 EGO at 3x END cost, plus cannot be Stunned] and a necklace of Stormbeads [11 beads, 1d6+1 RKA electrical, if hit target triggers linked chain lightning effect (AoE Radius, Selective)].
Pleased with the acquired loot and finished with the gaudy room, the Delvers exited the chamber. After a quick discussion, they decided to try one of the other potential doors, selecting the door furthest down the corridor on the left wall. Ricky again used his sledgehammer to fracture and clear away the thick layer of plaster covering a granite door. He cast Dark Leaching on it twice and Ozrel punched the door, turning it to a pile of dust.
Looking in through the narrow entrance passage while the dust congealed, they could see this was another tomb, with a sarcophagus and two spirit jars. The spirit jars started shaking, their lids sliding to the side as a skeleton in each jar started assembling itself.
End of Session
Guild Postings
[Some good exploring and loot acquisition this session. I didn’t really have this section fully flushed out, so I had to randomly determine what treasures were hidden in the altar. They came together rather well and suggested to me a unified theme for why they were there. In hindsight, I wish I had put the effort in and detailed this section ahead of time as there were things I thought of afterwards that would have improved things. I’m good at improvisation, but much better when I take the time to actually plan things out.]
Delvers Guild
Arc 1
Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions
Arc 2
Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post
Last Session: Arc 2, Session 10
Next Session: Arc 2, Session 12
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