Campaign Log: B4 - The Lost City

Session Six

This session's roster:

• 1 Fighting Man PC
• 1 Cleric PC
• 1 Thief PC
• 1 Fighting Man/Magic User (Elf) PC
• 1 Normal Man NPC (desert nomad - I named him Aziz)

Seeking counsel with Kanandius and the other Brothers of Gorm, the PCs decided to make a quick return to the headquarters of the Warrior Maidens, hoping to find and secure their treasury. Some of the Brothers (led by an NPC Brother named Draco) proposed seizing control of the Warrior Maiden chambers. Kanandius argued against this. He felt that conflict was probably inevitable, but that seizing temple of Madaura was too aggressive, and might even swing the Magi against the Brotherhood. While he obviously disagreed, Draco submitted to the authority of Kanandius. Draco (who was the leader of the eight brothers who just came up from the city) offered to go with the PCs, and brought three brothers with him. Fuad, still wounded, stayed behind.

The band set off to the third tier. Draco informed them that the door they had assaulted, earlier, led to the living quarters of the Warrior Maidens. To get to the temple entrance, one used the rotating passage to travel to the NE. However, he said that no Brothers have ever passed the Temple Guardians, two statues that flanked an arched doorway, so he wasn't sure what lay beyond. Knowing the door to the living quarters to be barred, the PCs decide to explore the temple area. They used the rotating corridor to travel to the NE.

The door slid open to reveal an antechamber, about 10' x 10'. It was clean and tastefully decorated; the usual carvings had been carefully painted. As Draco had said, an arched doorway led to a passage leading NE, and two statues of warrior maidens flanked the doorway. Each life-sized statue stood on a pedestal. The statues appeared to be made of stone, but they were also painted, looking very lifelike. They were garbed like warrior maidens, and had real Masks of Madaura covering their faces. Each statue held a spear so that the weapons were crossed over the arched doorway. Passage through the doorway required single-file movement between the statues and underneath the spears.

Suspecting a trap, the Elf and the Thief moved forward with torches, carefully examining the statue and the archway. Their search of the floor turned up something odd: just beyond the statues was a paving stone with seams that appeared to be unmortared. The party moved through the archway and down the passage, avoiding the suspicious paving stone. The passage ended in a locked wooden door. Looking through the keyhole revealed nothing, so the thief attempted to pick the lock. Unfortunately, it was beyond her skill, so the party decided to simply bash down the door. This took about ten minutes, as it was a stout portal, but finally the wood splintered and gave, falling inward, half-off its hinges. It ripped down a section of heavy white drapery that had been hanging in front of the door; similar drapes hung along the walls of the large chamber, which was faintly lit by some altar candles on the far side of the room. Like the antechamber, the temple's nave was clean and tastefully decorated. The place smelled of burning incense, and was free of dust and grime. Plush green carpets covered the floor. Everything seemed oriented towards the altar, upon which sat the thick white candles, a brazier, and a statue of Madaura.

The PCs decided against disturbing the altar, but they immediately set to searching the walls behind the curtains. It wasn't long before the Elf discovered some suspicious holes amidst the usual decorative carvings. These went very deep into the wall, which seemed to have a hollow area behind it, at this point. Twisting and pushing the carvings (while standing well-clear of the holes), the PCs discovered a concealed button that opened a secret door, revealing a hidden chamber.

This new room, a long, hall-like space some twenty feet wide, was mostly bare. Racks of weapons hung on the walls, and there were a few rolled-up carpets. The most interesting feature was a large stone vault positioned in the center of the east wall. It appeared much like a stone wardrobe, decoratively carved, massive, and heavy. There was a keyhole in its front panel.

The thief edged close with her torch and searched the keyhole, looking for traps. She detected a thin wire set deep within the lock. [I explained that it would be difficult, but not impossible, to pick the lock without disturbing the wire. My wife then asked if the key would break the wire.] Examining her key, the thief noticed a line inscribed part-way up the barrel; it looked like the key would not break the wire if inserted up to the line. Taking a deep breath, the thief inserted the key up to the line an turned it. The vault unlocked with a click, but nothing else happened. Breathing a sigh of relief, the thief opened the vault, revealing a dozen small, bulging sacks. A quick search confirmed that the sacks contained coins: gold, electrum, and even platinum. Draco told them these were coins minted during the reign of King Alexander.

Although they had secured the treasure, the PCs knew they hadn't found everything, because they hadn't found the other entrance to the warrior maidens' chambers (i.e. the door they had assaulted). The Elf searched the south wall for secret doors; knowing generally where to search and how the doors were commonly hidden, it wasn't long before she found one and had it open, revealing the living quarters of the Warrior Maidens.

This room was large and square, and dominated by a round table with ten chairs. Like the other rooms, everything was clean, tidy, and pleasant. Ten beds stood against the walls, each with a small chest containing clothing and personal effects. Some guttering candles dripped wax on the table, which was laid with a meal that appeared to have been interrupted. The west wall was pierced by a stout portal, securely barred with a wooden beam (here was the door they had assaulted). The Elf suggested a thorough search of the place, including the chests, walls, and floor. Seeing that this would take at least an hour, the PCs decided to split up. The Fighting Man, Aziz, Draco, and one Brother would take the treasure back to the headquarters of the Brotherhood. The Elf, the Cleric, the Thief, and two Brothers would stay and search the room. [I'd been rolling for wandering monsters all along and turning up nothing. However, my final roll turned up an encounter while the party was split. A check on the table turned up six Baboons hunting food which automatically became six Subhuman Slaves in my version (q.v. Slave Castes of Cynidicea in the background spoilers). I also rolled d6 to see how many encounter rounds would pass before the Fighting Man, et al., would return: the roll came up three rounds.

The PCs searching the room were surprised [they rolled a 1; I rolled a 3. I rolled 2d6 to see how aggressive the subhumans were, and came up with a 3, making them hostile and very aggressive. I decided they must be feral slaves.], and the subhumans rushed forward with hooting cries, brandishing bones and crude clubs. [I decided the initial charge would have two purposes: first, to try and drive off the male PCs, and second, to grab the females.] The subhumans were mostly on the PCs before they could react. Blows rained down on the men, while leering subhumans with arms stretched wide moved towards the women. Of course, the PCs were having none of this. The thief flung a dagger, which buried itself in a hairy, muscular torso, but failed to bring the subhuman down; it snarled and moved forward, and a second dagger missed. The elf drew two blades and slid into a fighting crouch, and the cleric and Brothers drew weapons and started defending themselves, rather than running. Unfortunately, subhumans are strong and capable in melee [2HD monsters], and one of the brothers fell before he could strike a blow [exactly zero hit points]. The cleric was wounded, but stood his ground and fought.

The melee didn't go well. With their superior numbers, the subhumans moved into flanking positions around the men, hooting and flailing with their clubs. The defenders wounded several of the brutes, but none mortally, and the subhumans continued to inflict punishment with bone-jarring blows [Six 2HD monsters was really too much for the group, but I knew that the rest of the party would come in within a few rounds -- I figured they would just have to pay the price for splitting the party and spending so much time searching]. The thief ran around the chamber, hotly pursued, and the elf engaged in melee, but couldn't bring her enemies down, even with her blades flicking subhuman blood across the floor. The wounded creatures howled and hooted angrily. [At some point during this, I gave a more detailed description of the subhumans: man-sized, with long arms and powerful muscles. Ape-like faces with heavy brows and large deep-set eyes. Very pale skin covered with fine white hair. Some wore tattered loincloths. Some had leather harnesses crisscrossing their chests. Their hooting and growling seemed something half-way between animal noises and speech.] The subhuman the thief had wounded with her dagger finally dropped as a Gorm Brother buried his shortsword in the creatures belly. Unfortunately, the Cleric was felled by a brutal strike to the side of his head at about the same moment. [A subhuman rolled a natural 20, which means maximum damage. The already wounded Cleric dropped to -3 hit points. The players were aghast; I reminded them that critical hits work for them, but also against them, and pointed out that I get to roll more often than they do.]

Even as the PCs started to despair [players, too: my wife was sure they were going to die, and was getting upset -- she really gets into the characters], the Fighting Man's group returned, charging into melee and hitting several subhumans from behind. The tide of the battle turned quickly, with previously wounded subhumans falling under blows from the fresh warriors. The creatures' morale broke, and they began shrieking and trying to flee. That didn't work well, with vengeful enemies standing in front of the doorway (the secret door was closed). They also exposed their backs to the outraged thief, who made good use of her backstab ability. A few more rounds of combat brought down the last of them. [My son enjoyed being able to lead the charge and save the day.]

Everyone except the Fighting Man was wounded. The Cleric was the most seriously hurt (I'm using Gary's OD&D house rule on hit points, so a 2nd level PC can survive to -3, and that's exactly what he was taken down to), and will require at least a week of bed-rest, even if he uses spells to heal himself. I'm also ruling that the blow to his head has caused some permanent damage: he'll have some scarring around his cheek and his left pupil is permanently dilated.] One Gorm Brother had been knocked unconscious, but would recover. No one had died (although it was a near thing). The party immediately returned to Gorm headquarters to recuperate. The PCs questioned the Brothers about the subhumans, learning that they are a slave caste from the city, and that sometimes they "go feral" and become very dangerous.

[The good news is that the XP from using the magic mace, using a magic scroll, the big treasure haul, and the combats (not to mention his near-death experience) was enough to push the cleric to level 3! He'll now get two spells per day. The Fighting Man is advancing rapidly, too, but hasn't had any magic items to boost him along, and his level advancement chart is slightly slower than the Cleric's, anyway. The Elf is advancing slowly (splitting XP between two classes does that), and the Thief is still a new PC, but her fast level advancement chart and bonus to XP is bringing her along nicely, too.]