[The Revengers decide to infiltrate the Temple of Set using the (little) intel they received from the patrol leader and the robes they took. How far will they make it? Read on!]
[Also? SPOILERS! This series will spoil what’s in Barrowmaze, so take that into consideration before reading.]
PCs (The Revengers)
Daphne – female human Blade-Adept (6th level Bladedancer)
Boris the Fighter – male human Exemplar (5th level Fighter)
Adam – male human Thaumaturge (5th level Mage)
Hrglclxin [pronounced her-gull-klack sin] – male human Forester (3rd level Explorer)
NPCs
Dergos – male human guide, still sold on the glory of adventuring, hired by Boris
‘Len – professional torchbearer, full name is Morgullen but he never uses it, hired by Boris
Vorgand – female human porter, a university student earning coin, hired by Daphne
Nolig – male human porter, hired by Hrglclxin
Verya [pronounced Vir-uh] – female human Woman-at-Arms (1st level Fighter) , hired for 1/3 share of any treasure
Magusday, July 23rd, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Adam traveled from Helix to Ironguard Motte to visit the bookshop there. He bought the Web scroll he requested and picked up a Fireball scroll as well. He plans to spend time committing both to his repertoire in the future, but wanted them both available for when that time comes.
Cromsday, July 24th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Adam traveled back to Helix with his scrolls. The rest of the Revengers alerted their various hirelings that the group would be heading out in the morning. Daphne verified that Verya was also available.
Freysday, July 25th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Early in the morning the Revengers and gathered at the Mercenary Guild building and met up with their guide, torchbearer, and porters along with Verya. After apportioning spare equipment to the porters, the group headed south into the moors. On the way to the field of barrows, the group spotted a hunting party of eight trolls. Not wanting to fight this threat, the group relied on Hrglclxin’s abilities to get them around the threat safely.
Four hours after setting out from Helix, the group arrived at Barrow 35, just outside of the field of barrows. They entered the barrow and used the stairs down inside to access Barrowmaze itself. There they put on the stolen necromancer robes. They had enough for everyone but one and chose Nolig to pretend to be a captive. Nolig was not thrilled, but also did not want to be left alone in the dungeon to wait.
Once everyone was in the stolen robes, the group went around the corner into the first room [Room 189]. Boris opened the secret door, triggering the Exploding Rune on the door. Again. Adam examined the remains of the rune and suggested that a password would likely have bypassed it. The group made note to try that on the next secret door they found.
Past the secret door six skeletons with black inverted triangles on their foreheads advanced to attack. Daphne turned three of them and Boris advanced to destroy the rest. He cut through the first one…and it exploded into bone shards! Daphne turned the remaining two, who fled back into the room they had emerged from [Room 206] where the first three were cowering. Hrglclxin then plinked them safely from a distance with his bow until they were all detonated.
Hoping no one heard the skeletons detonating [a not unreasonable hope], the adventurers opened the secret door in that room, gaining access to the room with the portcullis. Not only was the portcullis up, but a patrol of necromancers was coming through it. They were all staring at the adventurers. Adam spoke up and spoke with the leader of the outgoing patrol, convincing him the adventurers were another patrol returning. [I rolled a d20 to see if the cultist bought it and rolled a "1" - hook, line, and sinker.] The leader of the outgoing patrol waved the adventurers in, telling them to hurry up so the portcullis could be closed. The adventurers complied and entered unopposed.
Once the adventurers were in the room with the portcullis control [Room 208], the guard there lowered the portcullis and waved them into the next room [Room 213]. There the guards were setting up some zombies and skeletons as a defensive line. The guards told the disguised adventurers to move along so they could finish. With shrugs, the adventurers exited the room through a door on the east wall, entering a long corridor.
Once the door was closed behind them, the adventurers discussed what to do next. Adam spoke the password out loud to see what would happen and a nearby secret door popped open. Accepting their good fortune, the adventurers went through the secret door and down the corridor behind it, Adam periodically repeating the password out loud, just in case. Near the end of the corridor was a pair of double doors before the hallway turned left. Not wanting to leave any potential enemies behind them, the Revengers opened the double doors and found the Temple of Set [Room 215].
With no obvious threats, the adventurers were not certain exactly what to do next. They quietly debated their next course of action until the high priest of Set, along with his black skeleton bodyguards, walked out from behind a curtain closing off a back section of the temple and noticed them. When the high priest demanded to know who they were, Adam replied with the password, which confused the high priest a moment. He then call out an alarm and set the two brass jackal constructs in the corners of the temple and all of his bodyguard skeletons after the players. The Revengers stood to fight until the black skeletons hit Boris and Adam, causing Fear in both of them. [They both blew their saving throws against the attacks.] Both Boris and Adam turned and fled with the rest of the Revengers following their lead. [In fact, Hrglclxin was already running...]
During the retreat, Daphne cast Protection from Evil, Sustaining, which kept the jackals from being able to attack any of the adventurers or their hirelings during the retreat. Hrglclxin had the fastest movement and was able to open doors and the portcullis for the fleeing Adam and Boris, much to the flabbergasted guard’s amazement. The party ran back the way they came until they reached the surface again. Boris and Adam kept running for a while after that, but the rest of the adventurers stopped at the surface when they realized that none of the undead nor the brass jackals were pursuing them anymore.
Eventually the fear effect wore off and Boris and Adam returned to Barrow 35, rejoining the other adventurers. Once they returned, the entire group decided to head back to town to recuperate and heal. They had no encounters on the way back to Helix. [I chose not to roll as it was late by this point and we needed to wrap up.]
End of Session
[So Godric and his henchman Proximo keep appearing and dropping out because the player is a concert musician and the holidays are a busy time for him. This is unfortunate for the game (Godric is a healer and mini-tank, both things the party could use), but good for his career, so I don’t blame him one bit. I’ve always held that real life trumps the game every time, especially when it comes to paying your bills and putting food on your table. So I will always hold a seat for him or any of my players while they take care of business, even if I’d rather they be at the game.]
[Also, at this point I should mention that the writer of Barrowmaze combines Set and Anubis together in his world, so all the Set-related decorations and symbology in Barrowmaze have the Anubis jackal head for Set and not the proper Set Beast head. I noticed and emailed him to ask before springing it on my players. If you or your players are Egyptology purists, it might be distracting but get over it or pay someone to redraw all the art yourself. This is still a damn fine dungeon.]
The Motley Crew
Session 1: The Start
…
Session 11: TPK
The Revengers
Session 12: Rise of the Revengers
…
Session 22
Session 23
Session 24
Session 25
Session 27
[Also? SPOILERS! This series will spoil what’s in Barrowmaze, so take that into consideration before reading.]
PCs (The Revengers)
Daphne – female human Blade-Adept (6th level Bladedancer)
Boris the Fighter – male human Exemplar (5th level Fighter)
Adam – male human Thaumaturge (5th level Mage)
Hrglclxin [pronounced her-gull-klack sin] – male human Forester (3rd level Explorer)
NPCs
Dergos – male human guide, still sold on the glory of adventuring, hired by Boris
‘Len – professional torchbearer, full name is Morgullen but he never uses it, hired by Boris
Vorgand – female human porter, a university student earning coin, hired by Daphne
Nolig – male human porter, hired by Hrglclxin
Verya [pronounced Vir-uh] – female human Woman-at-Arms (1st level Fighter) , hired for 1/3 share of any treasure
Magusday, July 23rd, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Adam traveled from Helix to Ironguard Motte to visit the bookshop there. He bought the Web scroll he requested and picked up a Fireball scroll as well. He plans to spend time committing both to his repertoire in the future, but wanted them both available for when that time comes.
Cromsday, July 24th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Adam traveled back to Helix with his scrolls. The rest of the Revengers alerted their various hirelings that the group would be heading out in the morning. Daphne verified that Verya was also available.
Freysday, July 25th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Early in the morning the Revengers and gathered at the Mercenary Guild building and met up with their guide, torchbearer, and porters along with Verya. After apportioning spare equipment to the porters, the group headed south into the moors. On the way to the field of barrows, the group spotted a hunting party of eight trolls. Not wanting to fight this threat, the group relied on Hrglclxin’s abilities to get them around the threat safely.
Four hours after setting out from Helix, the group arrived at Barrow 35, just outside of the field of barrows. They entered the barrow and used the stairs down inside to access Barrowmaze itself. There they put on the stolen necromancer robes. They had enough for everyone but one and chose Nolig to pretend to be a captive. Nolig was not thrilled, but also did not want to be left alone in the dungeon to wait.
Once everyone was in the stolen robes, the group went around the corner into the first room [Room 189]. Boris opened the secret door, triggering the Exploding Rune on the door. Again. Adam examined the remains of the rune and suggested that a password would likely have bypassed it. The group made note to try that on the next secret door they found.
Past the secret door six skeletons with black inverted triangles on their foreheads advanced to attack. Daphne turned three of them and Boris advanced to destroy the rest. He cut through the first one…and it exploded into bone shards! Daphne turned the remaining two, who fled back into the room they had emerged from [Room 206] where the first three were cowering. Hrglclxin then plinked them safely from a distance with his bow until they were all detonated.
Hoping no one heard the skeletons detonating [a not unreasonable hope], the adventurers opened the secret door in that room, gaining access to the room with the portcullis. Not only was the portcullis up, but a patrol of necromancers was coming through it. They were all staring at the adventurers. Adam spoke up and spoke with the leader of the outgoing patrol, convincing him the adventurers were another patrol returning. [I rolled a d20 to see if the cultist bought it and rolled a "1" - hook, line, and sinker.] The leader of the outgoing patrol waved the adventurers in, telling them to hurry up so the portcullis could be closed. The adventurers complied and entered unopposed.
Once the adventurers were in the room with the portcullis control [Room 208], the guard there lowered the portcullis and waved them into the next room [Room 213]. There the guards were setting up some zombies and skeletons as a defensive line. The guards told the disguised adventurers to move along so they could finish. With shrugs, the adventurers exited the room through a door on the east wall, entering a long corridor.
Once the door was closed behind them, the adventurers discussed what to do next. Adam spoke the password out loud to see what would happen and a nearby secret door popped open. Accepting their good fortune, the adventurers went through the secret door and down the corridor behind it, Adam periodically repeating the password out loud, just in case. Near the end of the corridor was a pair of double doors before the hallway turned left. Not wanting to leave any potential enemies behind them, the Revengers opened the double doors and found the Temple of Set [Room 215].
With no obvious threats, the adventurers were not certain exactly what to do next. They quietly debated their next course of action until the high priest of Set, along with his black skeleton bodyguards, walked out from behind a curtain closing off a back section of the temple and noticed them. When the high priest demanded to know who they were, Adam replied with the password, which confused the high priest a moment. He then call out an alarm and set the two brass jackal constructs in the corners of the temple and all of his bodyguard skeletons after the players. The Revengers stood to fight until the black skeletons hit Boris and Adam, causing Fear in both of them. [They both blew their saving throws against the attacks.] Both Boris and Adam turned and fled with the rest of the Revengers following their lead. [In fact, Hrglclxin was already running...]
During the retreat, Daphne cast Protection from Evil, Sustaining, which kept the jackals from being able to attack any of the adventurers or their hirelings during the retreat. Hrglclxin had the fastest movement and was able to open doors and the portcullis for the fleeing Adam and Boris, much to the flabbergasted guard’s amazement. The party ran back the way they came until they reached the surface again. Boris and Adam kept running for a while after that, but the rest of the adventurers stopped at the surface when they realized that none of the undead nor the brass jackals were pursuing them anymore.
Eventually the fear effect wore off and Boris and Adam returned to Barrow 35, rejoining the other adventurers. Once they returned, the entire group decided to head back to town to recuperate and heal. They had no encounters on the way back to Helix. [I chose not to roll as it was late by this point and we needed to wrap up.]
End of Session
[So Godric and his henchman Proximo keep appearing and dropping out because the player is a concert musician and the holidays are a busy time for him. This is unfortunate for the game (Godric is a healer and mini-tank, both things the party could use), but good for his career, so I don’t blame him one bit. I’ve always held that real life trumps the game every time, especially when it comes to paying your bills and putting food on your table. So I will always hold a seat for him or any of my players while they take care of business, even if I’d rather they be at the game.]
[Also, at this point I should mention that the writer of Barrowmaze combines Set and Anubis together in his world, so all the Set-related decorations and symbology in Barrowmaze have the Anubis jackal head for Set and not the proper Set Beast head. I noticed and emailed him to ask before springing it on my players. If you or your players are Egyptology purists, it might be distracting but get over it or pay someone to redraw all the art yourself. This is still a damn fine dungeon.]
The Motley Crew
Session 1: The Start
…
Session 11: TPK
The Revengers
Session 12: Rise of the Revengers
…
Session 22
Session 23
Session 24
Session 25
Session 27
