Viper Archipelago Session Report - Game 9 - 28 / 05 / 23
Jun 7, 2023 23:35:34 GMT -6
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Post by diogenes on Jun 7, 2023 23:35:34 GMT -6
Hello everyone, here is the ninth “Session Report” from the ongoing Viper Archipelago campaign.
The players for this ninth game were:
T: An experienced player.
R: An experienced player.
L: An experienced player.
G: An experienced player.
J: An experienced player.
M: Pretty sure they’re experienced, so I’ll just list them as an experienced player from now on.
In this game, T was playing Odd Secundus (W-P 3), R was playing Colby (W-P 2), L was playing Langham (F-M 2), G was playing Davlan (F-M 2), M was playing Thorvald (M-U 2), and J was playing Maxim (T 1). Note that I am temporarily allowing the use of a homebrew Thief class, which J is playing, in order to test out how I feel regarding the inclusion of such a class going forward. Two retainers were hired for this adventure, for the purposes of acting as torch-bearers and porters. Since these retainers were not expected to engage in combat, they were hired on in exchange for a half-share of the treasure.
The party made their way through the jungle, proceeding to the ziggurat they had entered before. With no messing about, they quickly made their way up the stairs to the entrance at the top, and made their way inside. Descending the stairs into the dungeon depths, the party made their way along to the room with the jade masks they had visited before, circumnavigating the traps that they had previously discovered.
As the party packaged up the jade masks, there was a dread skeletal rattling from the urns on the east side of the room, and a moment later, a pair of skull-headed skeletal snakes emerged. These bony monstrosities rose up, their hollow eye-sockets flaring with unnatural blue light. These magical light somehow “transfixed” Maxim, and one of the torch-bearers.
The party briefly considered running, but didn’t want to leave their comrades behind, so battle was joined. Thorvald hung at the back of the group, preparing a spell. Colby began dragging the transfixed torch-bearer out of harm’s way. Everyone else rushed forward into melee. Langham struck the creature a massive blow with their silver dagger, and the creature was sheared in half in a flash of crackling magical energy. In the same instant, Odd landed a perfect strike with his mace, smashing the creature’s skull and finishing it for good. The second creature (which readers of the AD&D 1E Monster Manual may recognise as a Necrophidus) was staggered by a telekinetic shove from Thorvald, and then on the next round, was mauled by the remainder of the party as they piled on a wild melee. In this second round, the lion’s share of the damage was inflicted by Odd’s mace, but it was a team effort that secured the kill on this second creature.
There was a door in the west side of the room, leading deeper into the dungeon complex, but the party wanted to backtrack with their treasure, and check out some of the other “branches” of the dungeon. The party went back to the central chamber with the four columns, and headed south down the large flight of stairs. There was a large semi-circular chamber at the bottom, which was littered with countless bones and human skulls. There was a huge circular pit in the centre of this room. Thorvald examined one of the skeletons littering the floor, and noted that the torso of this skeleton seemed to have suffered catastrophic damage, as if it was dealt a massive blunt strike, like would be dealt by the club of an Ogre or similar large, powerful beast. Suitably frightened, the party backtrack up the stairs, having no desire to meet whatever monster may have caused this particular scene of death.
There was one branch left to check on this level of the dungeon, the eastern branch. The party cautiously made their way down a long corridor, coming to a room with six large stone sarcophagi. There was some dissent among the party on whether to open the sarcophagi or not, as the party had great fear of waking up any slumbering undead that may be lurking in the sarcophagi. Thorvald cast his “Detect Magic” spell, and detected a strong magical presence coming from the inside of one of the coffins. With this, the decision was made to open the sarcophagi, despite continued apprehension from some of the party members. The party gathered round, weapons raised, ready to deal with any undead that may be lurking within.
The sarcophagi was opened, revealing the skeleton of a humanoid Serpent-Man inside, a bronze-headed epsilon axe still held in his bony fingers. To Thorvald, it was obvious that this was the source of the magic radiating from the coffin. As the party pressed forward to retrieve the axe, T urged caution, reminding the players that they could be harmed, or even slain outright by touching certain weapons with opposing alignments. With that in mind, Davlan cut up one of the sacks they carried, and used that to gingerly pick up the weapon without touching it directly.
In a moment of Hollywood-esque timing, at the exact moment that Davlan picked up the axe, my wandering monster roll finally came up positive. A dice roll later to determine the number of type of monster, and things weren’t looking good for the players. There was a scraping over towards the east side of the room, as a stone door was pushed open. A dozen pale, gaunt humanoid creatures came pouring through, shoving and shouldering in their eagerness to get through the doorway.
The creatures flowed into the room, immediately taking notice of the players at the other end. The creatures began rapidly making their way towards the players, their hostile intentions clear. I asked the party to declare their general intention for the round, as well as their spells, and everyone decided to flee.
Everyone, except Colby, R's Warrior-Priest. Colby was going to use a scroll of Protection from Evil, and remain at the back of the group as they made their way up the stairs. I felt it would be very possible for Colby to cast this spell before the creatures got to him, but at the same time, I could easily see it going the other way, with these voracious creatures being able to reach the brave Warrior-Priest before the spell could be cast. In this situation, I figured it would come down to the initiative roll, so after informing R of his 50 / 50 chances of success, and confirming that’s how he wanted to proceed, I had him roll Initiative.
In true “Murphy’s Law” fashion, this climactic moment is when my computer started acting up and freezing, not letting me roll the dice on the server, so I had R roll for their creatures as well. I couldn’t see the results of his dice roll yet, so I decided to reset my computer. As I reset, I was feeling the excitement, wondering what the result would be. It was like a “cliffhanger” moment, and as I turned my computer back on, I saw that R’s luck had held. He had won initiative, and just as the creatures reached Colby, he completed his prayer, and the “Protection from Evil” spell was cast, causing the creatures to fall back, shrieking. Colby was positioned in the “bottleneck” of the stairs, and the creatures weren’t able to pass him by the attack the remainder of the group as they retreated. This was a proper cinematic “Hollywood” moment, and it continued as Colby slowly ascended up the stairs through the darkness, holding the creatures at bay the whole time. The creatures continued to follow the party up towards the surface, but as the first rays of sun reach the stairs, the creatures fall back, retreating back into the darkness from where they came from.
With their treasure in hand, the party is able to return to town without further incident.
Until next time, players.
The players for this ninth game were:
T: An experienced player.
R: An experienced player.
L: An experienced player.
G: An experienced player.
J: An experienced player.
M: Pretty sure they’re experienced, so I’ll just list them as an experienced player from now on.
In this game, T was playing Odd Secundus (W-P 3), R was playing Colby (W-P 2), L was playing Langham (F-M 2), G was playing Davlan (F-M 2), M was playing Thorvald (M-U 2), and J was playing Maxim (T 1). Note that I am temporarily allowing the use of a homebrew Thief class, which J is playing, in order to test out how I feel regarding the inclusion of such a class going forward. Two retainers were hired for this adventure, for the purposes of acting as torch-bearers and porters. Since these retainers were not expected to engage in combat, they were hired on in exchange for a half-share of the treasure.
The party made their way through the jungle, proceeding to the ziggurat they had entered before. With no messing about, they quickly made their way up the stairs to the entrance at the top, and made their way inside. Descending the stairs into the dungeon depths, the party made their way along to the room with the jade masks they had visited before, circumnavigating the traps that they had previously discovered.
As the party packaged up the jade masks, there was a dread skeletal rattling from the urns on the east side of the room, and a moment later, a pair of skull-headed skeletal snakes emerged. These bony monstrosities rose up, their hollow eye-sockets flaring with unnatural blue light. These magical light somehow “transfixed” Maxim, and one of the torch-bearers.
The party briefly considered running, but didn’t want to leave their comrades behind, so battle was joined. Thorvald hung at the back of the group, preparing a spell. Colby began dragging the transfixed torch-bearer out of harm’s way. Everyone else rushed forward into melee. Langham struck the creature a massive blow with their silver dagger, and the creature was sheared in half in a flash of crackling magical energy. In the same instant, Odd landed a perfect strike with his mace, smashing the creature’s skull and finishing it for good. The second creature (which readers of the AD&D 1E Monster Manual may recognise as a Necrophidus) was staggered by a telekinetic shove from Thorvald, and then on the next round, was mauled by the remainder of the party as they piled on a wild melee. In this second round, the lion’s share of the damage was inflicted by Odd’s mace, but it was a team effort that secured the kill on this second creature.
There was a door in the west side of the room, leading deeper into the dungeon complex, but the party wanted to backtrack with their treasure, and check out some of the other “branches” of the dungeon. The party went back to the central chamber with the four columns, and headed south down the large flight of stairs. There was a large semi-circular chamber at the bottom, which was littered with countless bones and human skulls. There was a huge circular pit in the centre of this room. Thorvald examined one of the skeletons littering the floor, and noted that the torso of this skeleton seemed to have suffered catastrophic damage, as if it was dealt a massive blunt strike, like would be dealt by the club of an Ogre or similar large, powerful beast. Suitably frightened, the party backtrack up the stairs, having no desire to meet whatever monster may have caused this particular scene of death.
There was one branch left to check on this level of the dungeon, the eastern branch. The party cautiously made their way down a long corridor, coming to a room with six large stone sarcophagi. There was some dissent among the party on whether to open the sarcophagi or not, as the party had great fear of waking up any slumbering undead that may be lurking in the sarcophagi. Thorvald cast his “Detect Magic” spell, and detected a strong magical presence coming from the inside of one of the coffins. With this, the decision was made to open the sarcophagi, despite continued apprehension from some of the party members. The party gathered round, weapons raised, ready to deal with any undead that may be lurking within.
The sarcophagi was opened, revealing the skeleton of a humanoid Serpent-Man inside, a bronze-headed epsilon axe still held in his bony fingers. To Thorvald, it was obvious that this was the source of the magic radiating from the coffin. As the party pressed forward to retrieve the axe, T urged caution, reminding the players that they could be harmed, or even slain outright by touching certain weapons with opposing alignments. With that in mind, Davlan cut up one of the sacks they carried, and used that to gingerly pick up the weapon without touching it directly.
In a moment of Hollywood-esque timing, at the exact moment that Davlan picked up the axe, my wandering monster roll finally came up positive. A dice roll later to determine the number of type of monster, and things weren’t looking good for the players. There was a scraping over towards the east side of the room, as a stone door was pushed open. A dozen pale, gaunt humanoid creatures came pouring through, shoving and shouldering in their eagerness to get through the doorway.
The creatures flowed into the room, immediately taking notice of the players at the other end. The creatures began rapidly making their way towards the players, their hostile intentions clear. I asked the party to declare their general intention for the round, as well as their spells, and everyone decided to flee.
Everyone, except Colby, R's Warrior-Priest. Colby was going to use a scroll of Protection from Evil, and remain at the back of the group as they made their way up the stairs. I felt it would be very possible for Colby to cast this spell before the creatures got to him, but at the same time, I could easily see it going the other way, with these voracious creatures being able to reach the brave Warrior-Priest before the spell could be cast. In this situation, I figured it would come down to the initiative roll, so after informing R of his 50 / 50 chances of success, and confirming that’s how he wanted to proceed, I had him roll Initiative.
In true “Murphy’s Law” fashion, this climactic moment is when my computer started acting up and freezing, not letting me roll the dice on the server, so I had R roll for their creatures as well. I couldn’t see the results of his dice roll yet, so I decided to reset my computer. As I reset, I was feeling the excitement, wondering what the result would be. It was like a “cliffhanger” moment, and as I turned my computer back on, I saw that R’s luck had held. He had won initiative, and just as the creatures reached Colby, he completed his prayer, and the “Protection from Evil” spell was cast, causing the creatures to fall back, shrieking. Colby was positioned in the “bottleneck” of the stairs, and the creatures weren’t able to pass him by the attack the remainder of the group as they retreated. This was a proper cinematic “Hollywood” moment, and it continued as Colby slowly ascended up the stairs through the darkness, holding the creatures at bay the whole time. The creatures continued to follow the party up towards the surface, but as the first rays of sun reach the stairs, the creatures fall back, retreating back into the darkness from where they came from.
With their treasure in hand, the party is able to return to town without further incident.
Until next time, players.