A reduced party sets out for the Haunted Halls: Gimwort, Tansybell, Eldred, and Old Dolf. Sassaran has left on her journey with Taravol, and Trigg is on his brief honeymoon with Emelda.
THE LOG
TURN 1 – A8: Welcoming Trap
The party heads to bronze doors that guard the inner halls and the now-routine dash past their blocked lightning trap.
TURN 2 – B31: The Room of Pools
The party turns south to explore some of the side passages of the mysterious Room of Pools.
TURN 3 – B23: Storage Chamber. “This room is used primarily for furniture storage, although it is mostly empty. There are three large oaken tables, a number of chairs, and fourteen wooden stools stacked against the walls.”
A search of the room fails to turn up anything interesting.
TURN 5 – SP31: Gaming Room. “This small, quaint little room has a game table in the center. A chess set, with a game apparently in progress (or never finished), sits upon it. A large map of a world unknown to the adventurers has been painted on the floor.”
Some of the orc survivors of Ivy’s party’s attack on the Caves of Chaos fled to the Haunted Halls. Three of them were holed up in here, gambling on chess matches and debating about what to do. They heard the PCs approaching and ambush them.
TURN 6 – Combat!
Gimwort takes a nasty sword wound in the initial ambush. On the following round Gimwort repays the wound with interest, and Tansy kills another orc. The third orc scurries behind the gaming table and begins speaking rapidly in harshly accented Common. He’ll fight for them if they don’t kill him! Or maybe they’ll just let him go? They can have all of the stuff, he just doesn’t want to end up like Lokug and Skraglurk.
While Dolf is mistrustful, the others agree to let the orc (Mothclaw) go. Gimwort tells him that the Halls are no place for orcs, and he should head for the Stonelands. Mothclaw lopes off down the tunnel. Will the party live to regret their mercy, or will they be rewarded for their good deed?
The PCs loot the room of the chess set, a bottle of fine brandy, a carved pipe, and 8 silver pennies.
TURN 7 – B31: The Room of Pools
With Gimwort wounded and enough loot to get Eldred to level 2, the party heads for the exits.
TURN 8-9: Escape!
THE TALLY
2 orcs: 20xp
Gold chess set: 250 xp
Anterian Brandy: 200 xp
Carved pipe: 30 xp
The party receives 125 xp each.
Eldred achieves level 2! He rolls extremely well on his stat increases, earning +1 Constitution and +1 Strength, and now has 3 whole HP.
He also learns the spell Spook.
Downtime in Eveningstar – Mell Joins Up!
July 25–27
Gimwort sells the chess set, but keeps the carved pipe as a souvenir. They split the proceeds (43 gp and 77 sp each), then split the bottle of brandy at the Golden Unicorn. Over drinks they discuss their adventures to date and their plans for future delves.
With Sassaran gone and Trigg a married man now, they need another fighter. They decide to recruit Mell of the Moonwood, a huntress and adventurer who has recently arrived in town.
Mell of the Moonwood
Fighter 1 HP: 7 AC: 15 XP: 200/2,000
Str 13, Dex 16, Con 6, Int 9, Wis 8, Cha 8
Gear: crossbow, 20 bolts, shortsword, leather armor, coat of mail
