The morning of June 25th finds our heroes are back on the road through Starwater Gorge that leads to the Haunted Halls. Having recently gotten engaged to Emelda of Eveningstar, Trigg is looking to raise 5,000 gp to pay for a wedding and a small farmhouse. Given the paucity of treasure recovered from the Halls so far, he’s weighing the need to take more risks – heading deeper into the dungeon, or mounting an expedition to the Caves of Chaos to do battle with the monsters there.
As a reminder, I’m rolling on this wandering monster chart.
My procedure for the Haunted Halls’ many un-keyed rooms is to drop in a random room from the first level of B1: In Search of the Unknown, with a 50% chance each for a monster and treasure from the relevant tables in that module.
Rooms marked "A" are keyed in The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Rooms marked "B" are from In Search of the Unknown.
Trigg Sunbold, Fighter 2
Gimwort of Greydelve, Dwarf 2
Sassaran, Elf 1
Eldred the Enchanter, Illusionist 1
Tansybell of Merry Meadow, Halfling 2
Old Dolf, Thief 2
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| The party's route |
THE LOG
TURN 1 – A8. “a pair of closed bronze double doors, flanked by two bronze statues.”
The bronze doors are still wedged open, rendering the statues’ lightning trap harmless (I check every adventure to see if some enterprising kobold has shut them again).
TURN 2 – B6: Closet. “several bolts of cloth are stacked, well covered with dust and partially moth-eaten… several garments are hung, mostly coats and cloaks…”
TURN 3 – A11: Guest Bedchamber. “This room is empty except for a half-collapsed canopy bed carved of some dark, now-rotten wood.”
There are two hidden treasure caches in this chamber: an obvious one behind the half-collapsed bed and another cunningly concealed beneath an illusory flagstone. The niche behind the bed turns out to contain a vial of holy water and a potion from behind the bed. Eldred, with his practitioner’s eye for illusion magic, discovers the second cache, which contains a skeletal hand resting atop a velvet bag. Dolf nudges the hand aside with his stick, then hooks the bag out. The hand suddenly twitches to life!
TURN 4 – Combat
The hand (an undead creature known as a Crawling Claw) leaps at Dolf. Trigg swats it out of the air with his sword, scattering fingers everywhere.
The bag turns out to contain a necklace of golden wire and valuable black stones.
TURN 5 – A12: Throne Room. “a highbacked stone throne atop a triangular, three-stepped dais…”
While passing through this chamber, Trigg greets the mimic that lives under the throne respectfully and tosses it the remains of the crawling claw (the party befriended this creature on their last adventure). The mimic mentions that some “sour-smelling beastmen” passed through the throne room recently, but laments that it didn’t get the opportunity to discover what they tasted like.
TURN 6 – B3: Dining Hall. “The room is moderately decorated, but frugally so, since there appear to be no items of great value which are part of the decor. A nicely carved wooden mantle surrounds the room at a height 7 feet off the floor, and the stone walls are also carved in simple yet pleasant designs”
Three hideous gnolls are rummaging through the broken chairs and rubble here - they do indeed smell sour. Forewarned by the mimic, the party is not surprised. The largest gnoll tells the party to surrender while his two companions move to flank them, giggling. “You first,” says Trigg.
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| I'll go with the Tony DiTerlizzi gnolls this time |
TURN 7 – Combat
Tansy and Gimwort are both wounded in the gnoll’s initial charge before Eldred can loose his Color Spray spell, blinding one of them. The party’s front rank strikes back and makes short work of the creatures. In the aftermath Old Dolf keeps asking if anyone saw him slay that gnoll (everybody did, it was hard to miss).
They loot the bodies and find 4 gold and 28 silver.
TURN 8-9 – A28: Room of the Fallen Giant. “This chamber is weirdly lit by patches of phosphorescent mold growing on the walls, ceiling, and upon a cracked stone table whose halves fill the center of the room. Sprawled atop it is the skeleton of some sort of giant, the spear that killed it still wedged in its ribs. This spear glows”
TURN 10 – A28
Eldred examines the spear before passing it to Dolf, who has been complaining about losing his spear to the throne room mimic. “The runes name this Shimmering. It was forged by elvish smiths for the War Against the Giants”. A tear leaks from Dolf’s one eye. The old tramp has found not only friends, but a magic spear. Old Dolf, equipped like a hero from the stories! He can scarcely believe it.
Gimwort, meanwhile, has been noisily shifting rubble. He finds a few scattered coins and gives it up.
TURN 11 – Hallway
TURN 12 – B10: Storeroom. “Approximately 60 barrels and casks are within the room, in two stacks—one against the northwest wall and the other along the east wall in the southern portion of the room”
While examining the stores the party disturbs the nest of some giant centipedes, which slither out to surprise them. Eldred the Enchanter is bitten but passes his saving throw against poison.
TURN 13 – Combat
Before the party can draw steel the horrible insects strike again. Eldred is bitten again and the Enchanter falls to the floor. Dead!
The centipedes are quickly hacked to pieces. Gimwort is bitten in the melee, but the centipede’s poison is no match for his sturdy dwarvish constitution.
TURN 14 – B10
A weeping Dolf finishes the search and uncovers a small sackful of gold. Sassaran casts Cure Light Wounds on Gimwort, then shoulders Eldred’s frail body.
TURNS 15-17 – Retreat
TURN 18 – A8
The party creeps past a group of living statues. The statues are posed as if engaged in a philosophical discussion, moving very slowly as if in a theatrical tableau. One stony head turns to observe the party as they pass, but the creatures are evidently uninterested.
TURN 19 – Retreat
A tearful party returns to Eveningstar, bearing the body of their friend. He was just 13 experience points away from level 2.
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| The mightiest man can be felled by many centipedes, and he was bitten by many (and also had only 2 HP) |
THE TALLY
Enemies Slain:
3 Gnolls: 60 xp
1 Crawling Claw: 35 xp
3 Centipedes: 18 xp
Treasures Found:
124 gp, 4 sp: 124 xp
Obsidian necklace: 160 xp
Total: 79 xp/character
Old Dolf is raised to level 3!
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