Game summary for February 1, 2022, Classic Quest campaign, Dungeons & Dragons BECMI / RC Edition, for Phoenix Gaming Club. Session included: Arminious Ironkeep (Human Cleric played by Chris Harmon), Garadal Davster (Halfling played by Parker Harmon), Katarina Magdanov (Human Magic-User played by Casey Scruggs), Koehan Rumisar (Elf played by Peyton Harmon), and Valor Eagleclaw (Human Fighter played by Preston Harmon). Game Master for this session was Charles Plemons.
The team traveled on and found a dead human by a copse of trees. While investigating, more humans emerged from the trees astride giant lizards! The men immediately assumed the party had killed their friend. They began talking in archaic Traladaran, which several in the party could speak. After a few tense moments, they convinced them they had not killed him. They learned these are the Traldar and they are at war with the Hutaakans. They told the party the Hutaakans are raising armies of the dead to kill them and they undead attack their villages every night. They agreed to take the party to speak to their chief, Guri-Ben-Kaal. The party was amazed to learn some Traldar have an astounding vocal ability to scream out and send some kind of coded signals across the valley.
The party set out into the woods with the Traldar as night approached. They made camp in a fortified shrine. The Traldar were visibly terrified of the falling darkness and said the dead approached at night. Shortly after dark, they heard chanting like nothing any of them had ever heard. The vocal Traldar yelled out across the valley, and they received orders to stop this group of chanting Hutaakans from doing whatever rituals they were doing. Going out into the night was too much though, and the Traldar shamefully decided not to go. The party tried to convince them to come with but only succeeded in getting two to agree.
They all got astride the lizards and shot out into the woods in a wild ride through the dark. The lizards could see, but most of the party could night! The harrowing ride was fast and brief but certainly exhilarating. After a short while following the chanting they found torches burning and over a dozen Hutaakan priests performing some kind of ceremony. They team charged in and disrupted things. The Hutaakans were shocked and didn’t know what to think about these strange humans.
The high priestess, Kforedz, told them the Traldar were causing the undead to rise because they had sacked the temple and angered The One. The Hutaakans were desperately trying to a ritual to appease it and their angered deity Pflarr. She told them she believes they need the Knowledge of the Elders, an ancient tome, from the Vault of the Elders to return things to normal. The Traldar scoffed and said only filling the altar bowl with water from the Singing Pool would appease the entity. Kforedz said they never actually needed the water from the pool and just told the Traldar that to keep them busy.
Before a huge argument could erupt, a spear burst through the back of one of the Traldar! A horde of undead had closed in around them in the darkness! The Hutaakans fell back in fear shouting, “They are upon us!” as the party drew their weapons!
