To summarize the situation, the PCs gathered up all of their NPC allies to mount a combined assault on Keep on the Borderlands’ the Shrine of Evil Chaos. The larger NPC party (led by Ivy Almyr) went South while the smaller one (led by Berrybert of Molehill) went North. Ivy’s party put a big dent in the shrine’s contingent of undead troops but suffered two deaths and one serious injury. Meanwhile the PCs found the evil relics they were on a quest to destroy, but things went sideways. Berrybert fell under the relics’ spell and is fleeing with a cursed goblet in his back. Another NPC, Elfarran Half-Elf, had her leg shattered by an evil cleric’s mace and can now only hobble slowly with another character supporting her.
Every zombie and skeleton in the place is currently marching down the hallway towards our PCs.
At this point in the combat I stopped to look at the map and consult OSE’s rules for movement rates. Moving at Elfarran’s snail’s pace, the front rank of zombies would reach the PCs in three rounds. It would take the party 12 rounds to successfully exit the dungeon. The odds weren’t great.
In the party’s favor:
The first ranks of undead were all zombies, who automatically lose initiative in OSE. This meant that they would always get to move backwards in their fighting retreat, and could flee at any time (either to make a dash out of the cave once everyone else got clear, or to abandon Elfarran and run for it).
Trigg and Tansybell both have very high armor classes. If Ivy was able to reach them then they’d have another fighter with 18 AC for the front rank.
Dolf’s spear and Gimwort’s pole-axe meant they were both able to attack from the second rank, while none of the undead had polearms. The PCs would be able to put out more damage per round than they’d be receiving.
On the other hand:
They were facing down 20 zombies and 20 skeletons.
The corridors are wide enough for four fighters. If the party can’t maintain a solid fighting line they could easily be split up, cut off, and killed.
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| "Each must die some day!" |
TURN 8 – Combat
As Berrybert flees the dungeon and the two elves shepherd the limping Elfarran around the first intersection, Gimwort and Dolf step up beside Trigg and Tansy. With a cry of “ELDRED!” the four friends prepare to sell their lives dearly. The endless ranks of the dead march steadily down the corridor.
Suddenly a clear voice rings out, singing the words of an elvish song. Taravol, glowing with fairy light, steps in front of the PCs. Warded by his Protection From Evil spell, the undead cannot attack him unless some hostile action breaks the enchantment.
Meanwhile at the southern end of the shrine complex, Bert’s cries and the tolling of the iron bell have alerted Ivy’s party to the danger. Ivy tells Flarkin to leave the bodies of their fallen comrades and get the wounded Ringlad brothers out of the dungeon. She starts running North.
For several rounds Taravol dances across the zombie’s front rank, preventing any of the undead from slipping past his guard to attack the others. Given the width of the hallways I was rolling Dexterity and Constitution checks for him every round to see if he’d either slip up or tire out, but the elf seems tireless. For a moment it seems as if everyone might make it out safely.
Ivy reaches them just as the elf begins to flag, hauling Tansy behind her to take the halfling’s place in the front rank. Then battle is joined. Taravol draws his jeweled sword, his song of peace turning to a keening war-cry.
For six more rounds the party fights a grueling rearguard action. At round 10 the wounded are clear of the temple. On the 11th round Tansy and Dolf peel off and run for the exit while the front rank of Trigg, Ivy, Gimwort, and Taravol continue to hew dead men. In the 12th round they break off and run as well. The exhausted and bloodied survivors break into the golden light of day while the undead stand silently in the tunnel behind them, unwilling to step into the sunlight.
THE TALLY
Ivy’s Party
8 Zombies: 160 xp
12 Skeletons: 120 xp
4 large garnet gems: 2,000 xp
Total: 570 xp per survivor
Fallen in Battle: Alho Rengate (fighter 1), Welleran of the North (fighter 1)
PCs & Berrybert’s Party
4 Acolytes: 40 xp
2 Adepts: 40 xp
Amulet of Protection from Good: 0 xp
Cursed Goblet: 1,000 xp (Berrybert only)
Total: 10 xp each
The Rearguard
8 Zombies: 160 xp
Total: 27 xp each.
Ivy and Berrybert both advance to level 3.
Back in Eveningstar: July 1–2
Flarkin, and the ranger brothers Oak and Elm Ringlad are both shaken by their experiences and refuse to enter the shrine a second time. Ivy is now alone, having been abandoned by her second party in a row. Driven by her oath, however, she will see the quest through.
Elfarran retires from adventuring – while Sassaran’s healing potion saved her life, her shattered leg will never properly heal. She decides to remain in Eveningstar for a time, studying and scribing scrolls.
Berrybert is determined to return to the shrine in order to secure the rest of his treasures (he is being steered to this course by the cursed goblet, although he doesn’t know it yet).
Down six characters, all of their healing potions, and a considerable amount of treasure, the party holds a hurried debate: remain in Eveningstar another day in order to buy more holy water, heal wounds, and for Sassaran to get her spell back, or return to the shrine as soon as possible, before the cult has time to prepare for the next assault? In the end, all three leaders agree that time is of the essence. They redistribute what supplies they have, eat a hurried breakfast, and trudge back up the path to Starwater Gorge. Even the weather has turned grim: the day is overcast and unseasonably chill. They cannot count on a safe retreat again.
Behind the Curtain
This past session and downtime really proved the old OSR saw about keeping strict time records for me. Knowing exactly what round things were happening in the dungeon kept things interesting, like Ivy’s group not having time to recover the bodies of their dead friends. Meanwhile in town the slow healing rates mean that the party is heading back to the dungeon with a couple of wounded characters and with their healer down a spell, which you would never do in the absence of time pressure.
I was probably over-generous with letting Taravol keep the entire group of zombies at bay with his protection spell: a strict rules-as-written interpretation would probably have had him blocking one zombie while the other three closed to melee with the rest of the party. However, it was so dramatically satisfying in the moment (I had completely forgotten he’d prepared it, so it came as a relief to both the PCs and me as a player) that I’m happy I let it properly pay off. There are still a ton of nasty undead left in the shrine, and if/when Berrybert betrays them he’ll be fighting at AC 20 and could easily kill a character or escape with the cursed treasures and prevent them from being able to resurrect Eldred
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