Keep on the Borderlands – Game Session 009

Game summary for November 10, 2011, In Search of Adventure campaign, Keep on the Borderlands adventure; present characters included Nicholae Dragos (cleric adept) and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf warrior).

The team introduced themselves to Captain Timotei Miklos of the watch as he trained some new recruits.  The team discovered he had heard of their exploits with the goblins and owlbear.  They spent some time teaching the recruits a few pointers.  He agreed to speak to Captain Maximinus Polymeru of the guard about potential opportunities for employment.  They decided to meet up later in the bar.

The Captains came and told the characters about a missing knight, Sir Valentinus Mardas.  They provided a map where he was expected to have entered a cave and disappeared approximately two weeks earlier.  They described him and his ornate plate armor as well as how the knight’s family is offering a 500 gp reward for his rescue or proof of his final fate.  The team set out at once.

The team returned to the Caves of Chaos and stopped to speak with the Bloody Fist orcs.  They talked with one of the guards and were able to locate what they believed to be the correct cave.  The team asked if he knew what was within, and he replied that he thought it very close to the bugbears and too far from the gnolls.  He had seen cattle enter on several occasions but had not been inside.

The team then approached the cave and did find hoof-prints in the mud leading to the opening, including some around the entrance.  Ma’Kala ignited a torch, and the group advanced.  Within the walls began to waver and move, a sense of vertigo sweeping over the party.  In moments they were hopelessly lost in a maze of corridors.  They discovered the partially consumed carcasses of some stirges down one branch.  Wuldric then had the idea of taking the paint they found the day before and marking an “X” on the wall.  The group was quickly disappointed to wander about and find the “X” several times.

As they moved about, they noticed a red light down the hallway approaching quickly.  Along with the light came numerous click-clack noises.  Nicholae urged them to hide in ambush, but Ma’Kala’s torch proved the undoing of that plan.  Seconds later, three fire beetles ran down the corridor to attack!  Nicholae moved into the hallway to engage backed up by Wuldric and Germanus.  Nicholae cracked the carapace of one beetle, and Germanus finished it off with his glaive.  Theobald used his spear, enchanted against bugs, to blast a hole through another.  The third beetle clamped its vise-like mandibles on Nicholae’s armor but could not penetrate.  In moments the third insect lay dead as well.  The group decided to then extract the glowing red glands from the bugs to use as a light source.

After some more wandering, the group stumbled into a wider section of caverns.  From the shadows charged a massive bovine form, a chainmail-clad minotaur!  The horned monstrosity impaled Arathorn the elf and hurled his lifeless, broken body against a wall.  Undaunted, the team engaged to land blow after blow.  Despite scoring many hits, the minotaur kept swinging, injuring the party greatly.  Finally, the hammer of Nicholae slammed into the creature’s spine from behind, breaking its back and killing the horror.

The party then ransacked the caves, no longer afflicted by disorientation, and left with a wealth of coins and jewels.  More importantly, they discovered the ornate armor of Sir Valentinus Mardas.  The group took the horns of the minotaur as a trophy as well and delivered the carcass to the orcs for a roasting.  They then returned to the keep.  Once there, they were able to speak with Castellan Horvath who rewarded them with 500 gp as well as the knight’s magical armor!  In addition, and more importantly to Theobald the dwarf, he decreed that there first drink every night in the tavern be on the house!

Wasting no time in taking advantage, the party went to the tavern.  Within they talked with all the mercenaries gathered and hired every one of them for a single mission: eradicate the bugbears!

The above summary is for a game session of Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC edition played by the Phoenix Gaming Club.