Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for April 5, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel “Legend” Telemnar (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Gust Kingchanter (magic user enchanter), Nicholae Dragos (cleric elder), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf myrmidon).

The team quickly tried to follow Maerie and found the door locked.  Joined by enchanter Gust Kingchanter, the group by-passed the door with a knock spell.  This revealed a short hallway and a second locked door.  Nicholae broke the door down to reveal a fog-shrouded room.  The group stretched out a rope and each grabbed hold before moving into the concealing fog.  Within, Elasha succumbed to confusion and attacked the party as over a dozen nightmarish kal-muru emerged from the fog!  The battle was swift with several blows landing as the party fell back to make room for Gust’s fireball spell.  The flaming magic made short work of the kal-muru, and the team moved on after the party cast bless and haste.

Before long, the team was able to enter the chamber occupied by a mirror imaged KalnaKaa (the pig-man), his daughter Maerie, and half a dozen topis!  KalnaKaa yelled “you’re ruining everything” before casting a slow spell at the group, cancelling many of the haste effects.  The topi moved in slowly, and Maerie slinked to the side.

The party wasted no time entering the fray, and Gust stepped forward and unleashed a devastating lightning bolt that killed two topi and caught KalnaKaa in the edges.  The electrical arc then ricocheted off the wall and hit him again!  With smoke rolling from his ears, the pig-man staggered about.

The topi succeeded in holding the party back for a few moments while KalnaKaa shook off the lightning attack.  He snarled at Gust and shouted, “I can do that too, but better!”  The magic user then launched into casting and fired his own, larger, lightning bolt back at the team.  Gust was unable to avoid the bouncing spell and fried in his own boots.  Theobald took a hit from the rebound but avoided the worst of the effects.

The deadly topis began landing telling blows even though the party slowly cut them down.  Maerie charged in with her dagger and fell to Elasha’s deadly elven short blade!  Enraged, KalnaKaa shifted into a massive boar-like form as two summoned boars arrived.  KalnaKaa charged Theobald, mauling him terribly while the boars tore into anything that moved.  Theobald and Ma’Kala ran to the mangled, smoking corpse of Gust and dug out his potions which Theobald then quaffed gaining speed and healing.  Meanwhile, Legend worried the devil swine with his blade as Elasha jockeyed for position among the undead, boars, and lycanthrope.  Nicholae went down in a spray of blood as KalnaKaa mauled him to death.  Legend shielded himself with protection from evil and Theobald found a charging topi in his way.  Things looked grim, but the Conquerors of Chaos soldiered on dropping enemies and layering wounds on the devil swine.  Finally, Legend slipped in past the monster’s guard and cut him down with his enchanted sword!

In the battle aftermath, Ma’Kala performed a funeral ritual for Gust and Nicholae as the bodies would be left behind.  The rest of the team decapitated KalnaKaa and discovered a storeroom filled to bursting with gold and jewels!  They also discovered KalnaKaa’s journal and read about his secrets.  Using this information, the team loaded all their treasures onto a large outrigger canoe and returned to the Belle Venture just off the coast.  The team returned victorious to Thyatis and collected their rewards from Rollo Bargmann.

With many friends dead in the last month and a half, and wealth beyond most kings’ treasuries, the team decided to retire for a bit, live a safer life, and enjoy some of their heaps of gold!

Thus concluded 11 game sessions to complete X8: Drums on Fire Mountain using BECMI / RC Dungeons & Dragons rules.

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

Game summary for March 29, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel “Legend” Telemnar (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Meriwen Arnatule (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Nicholae Dragos (cleric elder), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf myrmidon).

The team moved down the stairs following the trail of the pig-man to find a massive fungi-filled chamber with two pools of water.  Meriwen crept forward seeking treasure and was attacked by a pair of giant leeches that attached to her draining blood.  The team engaged the vermin but the creatures continued draining away.  Meriwen pulled forth a dagger and sliced one of the leeches away while a pair of giant toads charged up from the fungus!

The toads attacked Ma’Kala, mauling her leg, and moved against Nicholae but failed to harm him.  The mighty cleric flattened a toad with a deadly charge!  Legend cut down another leech and spun about to attack the last toad, killing it.  The team healed Meriwen, and the elf then moved about invisibly and lead the group past several more toads.

The Conquerors of Chaos found a long half mile tunnel leading to a large room blocked by two iron gates.  They explored a bit and opened a far door revealing another long corridor.  Nicholae took out an iron spike and tried to hammer the hinges of the gates, and the barriers sprung to life!  The flailing bars whacked several team members, sending them scattering into the hallways.  The group tried to get the gates to move past the doors, but the mobile metal barriers stayed put.

Meriwen tried to clamber through the bars invisibly and was suddenly trapped by the crushing metal!  She let out a scream as ribs shattered.  The team listened in horror as the invisible elf was squeezed to death by the constricting bars!

The team decided to attack the gates full force and rushed into the hallway.  The team battered against the iron as it animated and attacked again.  Ma’Kala and blind Maerie stayed down the hallway out of harm’s way.  So the team thought.  Maerie, no longer faking blindness, stepped forward yelling “advance!” and revealing a magic dagger as she backstabbed Ma’Kala.  The iron bars shove the rest of the team backward past the exits while Ma’Kala tried to run from Maerie.

Maerie moved into the room, opened a door and yelled a warning, “Father, they have a scroll of fireball!”  She then moved through the door and locked it.  The group smashed one of the juggernauts to pieces, but Legend was crushed between the last gate and the wall!  He pulled out Myth, the folding horse, to try and make space.  However, the horse was crushed back into cloth form.  Nicholae and Ma’Kala frantically dropped cure light wounds on the pinned elf while the team pounded away on the bars.  Just as the last life was about to spew out of Legend, the team smashed the second juggernaut!

The team licked its wounds and said a prayer over the invisible corpse of Meriwen.  They then prepared to move on through the door and try to face off with the pig-man and traitorous Maerie!

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

Game summary for March 22, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel “Legend” Telemnar (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Nicholae Dragos (cleric elder), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf myrmidon).

The Conquerors of Chaos proceeded down a hallway flanked by six niches occupied by crystalline statues with animal heads.  As the team moved down the hallway, the statues animated in pairs and attacked!  With hammer, sword, and spear, the team thrashed away on the stony monsters causing them to explode when destroyed!  The team was showered with razor-edged shards and pounded by stone fists but eventually proved victorious.  Each step cost dearly in blood and time, and the team used many spells of healing as well as charges from Ma’Kala’s staff of healing.

The team then went down a long hallway and found a huge cylindrical chamber filled with steam and mist and over a hundred swarming stirges!  The group got the jump on the creatures and ran down a spiral stairway, stirges fluttering after, and got to safety at the bottom!

Legend sat in some stone thrones they found and discovered he could view other rooms around the complex.  He tried each seat and found one that revealed the fleeing pig-man!  He was doing something with a pair of gates before heading through another doorway.  The group looked for tracks and found clear human-sized prints heading further down the chamber stairs.  The group set off with haste to try and catch the pig-man!

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

Game summary for March 15, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel “Legend” Telemnar (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Meriwen Arnatule (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Nicholae Dragos (cleric elder), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf myrmidon).

The room of horrors disgorged nearly a dozen shrunken hideous corpses with long sharp claws!  The creatures swarmed around Meriwen, tearing into her flesh and poisoning her with the venomous bile dripping from their talons!  Nicholae, too, was afflicted.  The poison sapped their strength, making them slow and ponderous.  Thinking quickly, Ma’Kala blessed most of the party while Legend hastened the group.  A fierce battle was joined, and devout Nicholae began driving the undead back through his pious faith.  While they went back, the rest of the team closed in and picked off the small monsters one by one.  Elasha proved especially effective in the battle, her skills with the short sword shining!

Theobald ran (hastened) about the battlefield hurling his spear and recovering it, only to hurl at another opponent.  Meriwen spent most of the fight in flight from pursuing topis, which would have killed her but for the healing power of Ma’Kala.  Soon, however, the fight was over with the Conquerors of Chaos victorious.

The group then searched the areas and found a secret door.  When “opened” it revealed a trap—a crushing 15-foot slab of stone!  Several of the party were injured but all survived.  They then followed booted tracks down a three-quarter mile corridor they hastened down in short order.   At the end, they discovered and threw open a door.

Within the massive room rubble littered the floor.  A gaping tunnel disappeared into darkness, and an enormous purple worm writhed in agony, a scorch burnt down its side.  It lunged for the party in rage and hunger!  The group reacted more quickly, however, and charged into the fray.  Meriwen launched a fireball on its flank, burning it even more.  Nicholae hammered it and Elasha came in swinging with haste.  Then, the mighty Legend charged in and slew the beast with his terrible swift sword!

Searching the rubble, they found a scroll and a torn black cloak like the one worn by the missing pig cult leader.  The group opened two other doors exiting the room to reveal identical hallways and a choice of direction.

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

Game summary for March 8, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel Telemnar (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Meriwen Arnatule (elf swashbuckler-enchanter), Nicholae Dragos (cleric elder), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf myrmidon).

After waiting for Nicholae to become unheld, the team moved into a glass room occupied by two displacer beasts!  The creatures attacked viciously but were not match for the party’s blades and arrows.  Legend lead the charge with his magical sword, and the rest of the team dished out punishment on his heels.  Each slain creature wore a jeweled collar.

Moving on, they discovered a storeroom and a room of utter darkness.  They then found themselves back in the room of hanging crystals.  The team then moved back into the pillar room and found a chamber with a lectern and cawing crow.  Meriwen blasted the feathered creature with a magic missile in case it was a familiar.  Upon the lectern, they discovered a locked spellbook they were able to open with the key found on the body of the slain elf.

The team then found a secret door and spent time wandering around lost in the hallways trying to make sense of their maps and what they were seeing.  After some debate and consternation, they figured out they may need to head down the corridor unexplored leading away from the throne/lab room.

The group found this corridor to extend for close to a mile before continuing up a flight of steps to a door.  Legend cast invisibility and haste.  On the other side, the team found four purring displacer beasts gnawing on mounds of bones!  Meriwen quickly dropped a fireball into the room while Nicholae and Theobald held the front lines.  One of the displacer beasts went down in the blaze, and the others fell to arrows, hammers, and spears.

The team moved in to the three doors in the room and threw them all open at once.  One seemed to head to a dead end while another was a large room with a strange red circle on the wall.  The third room contained a charnel house of corpses that rose up to attack!

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

Game summary for March 1, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel Telemnar (elf hero-magician), Nicholae Dragos (cleric curate), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf hero).

The Conquerors of Chaos continued their interrogation of Maerie until convinced she was a captive held for ransom.  They then proceeded into what appeared to be a bedroom and discovered a large pig costume stuffed into a chest.  The group then discovered a ransacked magical lab with a strange stone throne in the center.  When Theobald plopped down on the throne, he could suddenly see (and be seen) in the volcano room where kara-kara began throwing spears at him.  He jumped up and “returned” his consciousness to the lab.  Searching around, Legend discovered a secret passage leading to a room glowing green, then blue, on through the rainbow.

Cautious, the party moved in and busted open the door across the room, which triggered some sort of trap striking Ma’Kala and Maerie blind.  Nonplussed, the group advanced through the open door and found a haul of treasure from the raided pirate ships.  Nearly mad with gold-lust, they stuffed their pockets and a bag of holding with platinum, gold, gems, and jewelry!

The Conquerors then moved into a massive room with four crystalline pillars from which emerged deadly shadows.  The party charged the shadows and engaged in melee.  Out of thin air (cloaked by invisibility), an elf appeared and fired a magic missile.  A rapid exchange brought the elf dead to the ground.  As he died, a voice cried out, “Geldered!”  The sounds of armored men running could be heard.  Meanwhile the shadows began to drive the party back as Nicholae’s attempt to turn them failed.

The charging sounds materialized into two more armed men attacking Legend, one of whom wounded him terribly.  The elf ran back to blind Ma’Kala for magical healing and found himself pressed by three shadows trying to kill him and the healer!  Elasha hurled her spear but missed, and Theobald moved up against the fighter and cleric revealed from hiding.  Nicholae cast a hold person, freezing the fighter in place.  Theobald hit him with several spear blows before killing him.  The cleric proved more dangerous, casting his own hold person on Nicholae, making him fodder for the shadows in the moments to come.

In the meantime, Legend shielding himself with protection from evil only to discover the shadows could no longer touch him.  In a few moments, they realized this as well and turned to drain the strength from Nicholae.  Legend destroyed one shadow and charged into the moving group with his arcane sword.  In moments, two more were destroyed.

Elasha and Theobald tried to defend Nicholae from the remaining shadow and cleric, finally slaying the last shadow using the magical sword dropped by the evil fighter.  The group pressed the cleric into a corner, still taking hit after hit, until Legend slipped in a blow laying the man out.

Quickly, the team ransacked the bodies and gathered several magical items of note as well as a key hidden in the elf’s dagger pommel.  Now, four unexplored doors face the adventurers.

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

Game summary for February 23, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel Telemnar (elf hero-magician), Meriwen Arnatule (elf hero-magician), Nicholae Dragos (cleric curate), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf hero).

The Conquerors of Chaos proceeded into the hallway, the pounding of drums louder than ever.  They followed a branch of hallway to discover an empty room garishly painted in reds, yellows, and greens.  After looking around, they found they had circled back to the room previously containing the wood golems.  The team then explored the other branch with the drums growing louder with each step.

The group opened a door at the hall’s end to find themselves beside nine drumming kara-kara warriors near a pair of manwu-papas beside a drop down into the fiery heart of the volcano!  Across a swaying bridge danced and chanted hundreds of kara-kara!  Overlooking the scene sat a pig-faced creature on a stone throne.  As the party entered, the drumming stopped and hundreds of kara-kara charged forward in a rage, hurling spears and guttural curses.  The pig-creature stood off the throne and vanished from sight.

A brutal fight ensued, with Meriwen shooting one of the kara-kara off the swaying bridge while the rest of the team fanned out to interfere with the approaching orcs.  Legend ran forward brandishing his ancient sword of power and sliced through one of the support ropes, toppling the swaying bridge and dumping a dozen kara-kara into the flaming lava!  From the far side came hurled spears, and the manwu-papa from near the throne closed in.  They unleashed hold person spells that Nicholae shrugged off before he succumbed to a cause fear.  He bolted for a doorway while kara-kara tried to maneuver around the party to close them in on two sides.

Meriwen, seeing Nicholae compelled to bolt, grappled with the priest to try and keep him from running into the kara-kara down the hallway.  Ma’Kala, knowing the cleric’s deep infatuation with her, flung open her bodice to distract him and help shake off the magical compulsion.  It took several moments for him to clear his mind, but the shock was sufficient to break the spell!

Regrouping, the party laid out several kara-kara warriors and surrounded the manwu-papas, cutting them down with swords, arrows, hammers, and spears.  They then spiked the doors shut and blocked them with the massive drums.  The party then ran to the throne to investigate.  Finding no sign of the pig-man, they ran down a hallway discovered behind the throne.  Beyond the throne was a confusing room filled with hanging crystals that caused intense disorientation.  However, the party overcame it by each party member going to one of the six exit doors and opening them at the same time.  They then proceeded out of the short southern exit to find a room of mirrors.

Nicholae discovered the mirrors were flexible when he struck it with his hammer, getting it stuck halfway through.  Meriwen saw this and ran face first into the mirror, finding herself able to pass through to the other side revealing another mirrored room.  The team found several such rooms and continued going through southern exits until they stumbled upon a lavish bath.  Past this room, they found a bedroom with a toppled chair to which a beautiful woman was bound.

Legend ungagged the woman who revealed herself to be named Maerie, a hostage from the Lady’s Triumph captured two weeks ago by green-skinned pirates.  The group untied her, and she revealed the leader of the pirates to be a man in a pig costume named KalnaKaa.  She said he came in, tied her up and fled right before the party arrived.

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

Game summary for February 16, 2012, In Search of Adventure campaign, X8: Drums on Fire Mountain adventure; present characters included Dinendel Telemnar (elf hero-magician), Meriwen Arnatule (elf hero-magician), Nicholae Dragos (cleric curate), and Theobald Goblinbane (dwarf hero).

Following the dark hallway, the group proceeded to find a room filled with four wooden pig-headed statues and the pounding noise of ritual drums echoing from deeper within the complex.  The group crept in and was attacked as the statues revealed themselves to be wood golems!  The menaces proved impervious to mundane weapons, making several of the party ineffective.  The elves unleashed an onslaught of magic missiles once this was discovered.  Legend used his ancient sword to cut down one of the golems in a single swipe.  Theobald’s trusty spear proved the end of all the rest.

The group then moved into another room occupied by eight kara-kara warriors and a rotund kara-kara manwu-papa!  The kara-kara began chanting and working themselves into a frenzy as the party swarmed in and cut down several of the green-skinned orcs.  The manwu-papa caught Borislav and Theobald in a hold person spell but was unable to lay a curse on Nicholae.  The warriors proved fairly ineffective, but the manwu-papa and his iron mace were of tougher stock.  The pig priest fought like a dervish, smashing his mace into Legend, driving the elf into retreat.  He then found a clear shot on paralyzed Borislav and slaughtered the mighty warrior with a single blow.  The party closed in around the witch doctor and brought him down, but only after suffering several more injuries.

Nicholae performed a quick ritual over the fallen body of their companion while they waited for the hold person spell to dissipate.  Once it did, they found a large chamber with thirty-foot deep pits spiked with sharpened bamboo around the edges.  Within one were three naked kara-kara males cowering in a corner.  Enraged over the recent death of Borislav, Meriwen rained arrows down on the three, killing them in the hole.  The team then recovered some skeletal remains from the other pit and found a platinum belt worth a king’s ransom.

Faced with two exits from the pit room, the team decided to follow a trail they believe cuts back close to where they came.  What dangers lie down the dark hallway?

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