Delve 11 – A Shot In The Dark

"Be bold, be bold, but not too bold"

Gimwort remains in town, recovering from the wound he received in battle with orcs on the previous expedition. Trigg leaves Emelda and joins the party on the road – he needs to make some money soon to cover his taxes and farm repairs. Their plan is to continue where they left off, exploring the side passages off of the Room of Pools.

As a reminder, I’m rolling on this wandering monster chart.

I filled in the Haunted Halls’ many un-keyed rooms with rooms 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.

OUR HEROES

Trigg Sunbold, Fighter 3

Tansybell of Merry Meadow, Halfling 3

Old Dolf, Thief 3

Eldred the Enchanter, Illusionist 2

Mell of the Moonwood, Fighter 1

The party's route

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 – The Room of Pools

The party turns south to explore more of the side passages of the mysterious Room of Pools.

TURN 3 – B19: Access Room: “In the northeast corner of the room and along the north wall are log sections of various sizes… The room is otherwise empty.”

The party decides to dig through the logs.

TURN 4 – B19: Access Room

A turn of searching uncovers a gold circlet! They give it to Mell to carry as her first treasure, and move on.

TURN 5 – B18: Smithy: “In the center of the room is a gigantic forging anvil. A hand bellows hangs on the wall to the west”

Four orcs are working the smithy, repairing their gear. Mothclaw, the orc that the party let free last session, is not among them. Upon seeing the party the orcs grab weapons and prepare to defend themselves. One speaks halting Common: “You Mothclaw?” Trigg is about to draw steel when Tansybell pipes up “Yes, we know him!” The orcs hesitate, and she continues: “We told him to clear out of here! You should do the same. But if you won’t fight us, we won’t fight you.” The orcs either don’t understand this or don’t believe it. They maintain their menacing postures but do not attack. At Tansy’s direction the party backs out of the room.

A morale check indicates that the orcs will pursue the party, hoping to ambush them.

TURN 6 – B13: Implement Room: “This elongated room is used primarily for storage of tools, equipment, and implements of various types.”

As the PCs enter this room a portcullis crashes down behind them, locking them inside! Dolf spots a lever on the far wall, but the sound of flapping feet out in the corridor signals that the orcs are coming to investigate.

TURN 7 – Combat

R1 – Trigg and Mell struggle to pull the lever, but it won’t budge. Tansy draws her kobold hand-crossbow and loads one of her few remaining darts, preparing to cover them. Eldred takes cover behind some of the piled crates, and Dolf begins a frantic search of the room looking for a way out of this apparent dead-end. The orcs arrive at the portcullis, carrying crossbows and laughing.

R2 – Tansy, shield raised and crossbow ready, calls out to the orcs for help. Grating laughter answers her, like stones falling. “Mothclaw say you kill Lokug and Skraglurk.” They raise their crossbows. “Kill you now, maybe!”

Mell is quicker on the draw, and shoots her heavy crossbow. A natural 20! Her bolt punches through orcish mail and an orc falls, dead as if he’d been struck by lightning. The others return fire – Dolf and Mell are each struck and badly wounded. Tansybell wings another orc with hand-crossbow, but he does not succumb to the sleep venom coating the tiny dart.

R3 – Mell ducks into cover, turning the crank to reload her arbalest. Tansy shoots, wounding another orc. This one collapses, asleep. The two remaining orcs also duck out of sight, reloading. 

R4 – The orcs pop back around and loose two more bolts. One thunks into Tansy’s shield, a near miss. Mell shoots back, but her bolt goes wild. The wounded Dolf bellycrawls over to a second lever and pulls it, opening a secret door. “This way!” he shouts, crawling inside.

R5 – The orcs duck back out of the doorway to reload. The party follows Dolf into the tunnel.

TURN 8 – A30: Battle Chamber: “This room reeks of death. A large scorched area covers the east wall. A dead orc wearing silk robes and a leather belt adorned with gems lies face-down on the floor. An axe is buried in the back of his head.”

A dead end. The party discovers a grim scene, but what treasure! Six bluish-white, faintly glowing moonstones, a hand-axe of throwing +2, and a wand of some silvery-blue metal. The hand-axe is as good as a battle axe to a hobbit and Tansy takes it, thrilled to finally have a magic weapon to match Trigg’s and Dolf’s. Eldred gingerly pockets the as-yet unidentified wand.

The party debates what to do. There is no way out of this chamber except back the way they came, so Dolf volunteers to creep back up the tunnel and see if the orcs are still there. If they’ve gone, he spotted some tools that they might be able to use to cut the portcullis bars and escape. Lacking any better plan, Trigg agrees.

TURN 9 – A30: Battle Chamber

Dolf slinks up the tunnel, lantern hooded. He hears the orcs muttering to each other, just out of sight, and returns. Mell reloads her crossbow.

TURN 10 – Combat

Trigg and Tansy lock shields and advance, with Mell behind them. Dolf and Eldred bring up the rear with their lanterns.

R1 – The orcs hear the party coming and shoots. Trigg is struck for 8 points of damage, losing nearly half his HP. Mell returns fire, killing the orc that Tansy had previously wounded. Tansy shoots and misses.

R2 – The remaining orc runs for it. Mell reloads. Trigg turns Scalebane, his magic sword, on the bars in frustration while Dolf unpacks chisels and saws from one of the shelves.

TURN 11 – B13: Implement Room

The enchanted sword shears through the bars while Dolf is still distributing the mundane tools. The work makes a great deal of noise, but they can still hear the terrified wailing of the fleeing orc. They can hear too when it is suddenly cut off. Stepping out into the corridor, Trigg sees a hulking reptilian shape looming at the end of the corridor to the North. An orc leg dangles from its long jaws, but the creature still sniffs the air hungrily. 

The basilisk has come.

"Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

TURN 12 – Combat

R1 – The basilisk has cut off their line of retreat, and the party is already badly wounded. They can try to fight the creature, or to flee South into the unknown. Trigg steps forward. The red runes on Scalebane’s blade blaze hungrily. 

“Dolf, leave the lantern and lead them out. Eldred, you’ll have to light their way. If I don’t make it back, tell Emelda I’m sorry”.

Dolf laughs. “Reckon I’ve lived long enough. I aim ter be a knight, an’ that looks like a dragon ter me,” he says. Tansybell nods, gripping her new magic axe.

Wordlessly, Mell aims her crossbow and shoots. The moment is only very slightly ruined as the bolt goes wide, missing the basilisk completely.

R2 – The basilisk charges. Mell frantically reloads. Eldred aims his new wand down the corridor and activates it blindly, hoping for the best. Unbeknownst to him, this is a Wand of Cold with 7 charges remaining, and a blast of bitter cold engulfs the charging monster. The basilisk takes 21 damage!

The others are braced to meet the charge, but must first save to resist the deadly stare. Trigg freezes in place (Scalebane howls with frustration, a keening just on the edge of hearing), but Tansy and Dolf can still move. Tansy’s axe rebounds off the scaly hide, and Dolf’s magic spear Shimmer glances harmlessly off the basilisk’s snout. Trigg is knocked prone, taking 5 damage.

R3 – “Basilisk!” Eldred shouts. “Don’t look it in the eye!” He activates the wand again, eyes tightly shut. The basilisk is grazed by the jet of frost but still takes 10 damage. Tansy and Dolf meet the creature’s eye and freeze in place. Mell resists the creature’s gaze and shoots. Her bolt barely penetrates the creature’s thick hide, dealing 2 damage. Trigg, underneath the basilisk and momentarily safe from its gaze, strikes upward with two hands. Scalebane sinks deep into the monster’s belly, runes burning with grim delight.

The basilisk thrashes wildly as it scrambles around, trying to escape. Trigg and Tansy take 5 damage, and Tansy is bowled over. Dolf is struck by the lashing tail for 3 damage.

R4 – The basilisk flees to the end of the hall. Mell reloads. Eldred looses a third blast from the wand at the retreating monster, dealing 19 damage. The basilisk collapses, dead. The rest of the party gets painfully to their feet.

TURN 13 – Corridor

The PCs examine the fallen creature, its deadly eyes now filmed over. After a moment, Trigg hacks the creature’s head off. They lash Dolf’s rope around the great jaws and haul it after them.

TURN 14-15 – Corridors

TURN 16 – A8: Welcoming Trap

A mote of some ancient spell drifts past in an almost imperceptible shimmer of color. Trigg accidentally inhales some of it and is suddenly seized with the compulsion to shut the great bronze doors. Tansy is unable to stop him, but does manage to drag him clear as the doors slam shut – the now-active lightning trap crackles through the air above them, but nobody is injured. “Enchanted,” explains Eldred after Trigg comes to his senses.

TURN 17-18 – Escape!

THE TALLY

• 4 orcs – 40xp

• gold circlet – 250 xp

• 6 moonstones – 450 xp

• 1 basilisk – 950 xp

• Hand-Axe of Throwing +2

• Wand of Cold (4 charges)

The party receives 338 XP each. Dolf reaches level 4! He receives +3 HP and +1 Dexterity, bringing it up to 12.

Downtime in Eveningstar

July 28 – August 3

The heroes are feted by the regulars in the Golden Unicorn as they tell the story of slaying the mighty basilisk. They make a gift of the basilisk’s severed head to the proprietor of the Golden Unicorn, who intends to have it stuffed and mounted over the fireplace. Such a wonder is sure to draw the punters in.

Eldred sells the circlet and moonstones for 560 gp, and the party splits the proceeds. Trigg pays his 200 gp in taxes and 38 gp in farm expenses for the month. He’s left poorer than when he started, but is still too badly wounded to join the rest of the party when they return to the Haunted Halls for their next adventure.