WARNING! Contains spoilers for Dyson's Delve.
There was no game last week because I was away on business, but that just let me catch up with documenting the previous two sessions. This week we had a full house.
Characters:
- Zarjaz the Zazzy - Magic-User 1 - Male
- Shanks Mcspindlewort - Thief 1 - Male
- Finbar son of Finwe - Elf 1 - Male
- Delast Elfenprincess - Elf 1 - Female
- Barack Kihnos - Cleric 1 - Male
Searching the corpse that had so recently been strangling Shanks, Zarjaz retrieves an ornate dagger that had been stabbed through its chest. The dagger is inscribed with the name "Kmeleneb" and he detects that it is enchanted. Zarjaz takes possession of the dagger for the moment but this is not without controversy. Delast Elfenprincess tries to claim it as "The Dagger of Methanwe", an elven artifact, whereas Shanks (unexpectedly supported by Finbar) wants it because he is "the dagger guy" and the most likely to use it.
The party proceed to investigate the door in the south-west and find it to be a stone slab sealed around with wax. Shanks starts to chip the wax away whilst the rest of the party kibitz and/or mill around uselessly. 2 more skeletal soldiers march into the room from the north corridor and are swiftly despatched. During the fight Zarjaz throws the ornate dagger and Shanks uses the opportunity to appropriate it. Whilst Shanks returns to working on the door Finbar and Delast follow the corridor north into a chapel containing a dried up font and a door leading north back into the east-west corridor.
Eventually the wax sealed door is opened to reveal another small crypt containing a more ornate sarcophagus. Once more Shanks levers it open, after all what are the odds on something bad happening this time? As it happens he's correct and nothing ill befalls the party. The occupant is merely skeletal remains with nothing of interest ... To Barack's disgust Shanks takes some finger-bones to try and sell as holy-relics when they return to Ethanfeld.
After having been in the labyrinth for about 4 hours the party leaves and returns to their camp-site to rest. Delast hunts and catches a brace or rabbits. Finbar looks for herbs and comes back with flowers in his hair and nettle stings on his arms (rolls 1 on a d20). During the evening Zarjaz casts his Sleep spell on Shanks to steal back the ornate dagger, the rest of the party looks on in disbelief. Otherwise the night passes uneventfully and Shanks and Barack recover somewhat from their injuries. In the morning Barack casts the auguries to see whether it is he or Shanks who should benefit from Thor's blessing (Cure Light Wounds spell) and strangely enough it is himself.
The party reenter the cave and follow the rock cut staircase spiralling down to the second level. The staircase opens out into a small cave containing a ransacked nest surrounded by mangled corpses. Following a tunnel west they reach a fork offering north-west and south-west choices. Choosing the latter they enter a largish cave containing another rat's nest, this one occupied. There is a discussion about throwing lamp oil over the nest and setting it on fire. Delast decides this is a waste of oil and instead shoots a flaming arrow into the nest. As this smoulders and the nest begins to catch the occupants erupt out and swarm over the party. In the ensuing combat Finbar is rendered unconscious and Barack gets a rat attached to his unmentionables causing him to scream like a girl. Zarjaz ends this farce with a Sleep spell. The party carry Finbar out of the cave and back to camp. There they make the decision to pack up and return to Ethanfeld to heal up properly and resupply.
After an uneventful journey the party arrives back in Ethanfeld where they take rooms at a good inn. Over the next five days the injured heal, Finbar and Delast trade spells and Shanks fails to pass off any of the finger-bones as "Holy Relics of Saint Odin". The only other event of note is that Zarjaz is "persuaded" to give up the ornate dagger (Delast casts Sleep on him) which is donated to the temple of Thor in exchange for six Healing potions. Zarjaz is somewhat "put out" by this but mollified when the elves trade spells with him. During this period of downtime the party discuss their doubts about finding Dyson Logos alive after all this time.
Rested and resupplied the party return east to their previous campsite. They find that during the intervening period the goblins have erected a crude sign outside the cave saying "Kep Out! Goblinz only". Finbar takes the sign with the intention of slapping goblins with it - apparently this passes as irony amongst elvish circles*.
* In our post-apocalyptic campaign Finbar's player had a character called Clint who owned a "STOP" road-sign. This was a favoured weapon until it was "stolen" by a giant mutant plant that the party nicknamed "Audrey". Forever after he would bemoan the loss of his sign, usually whilst mowing his foes to death with automatic weapon fire, or on one occasion beating an enemy to death with his own helmet.
After camping up for the night the party returns to the fork in the tunnel on the second level and chooses the north-west tunnel. After about 15ft this opens into another cave with the tunnel continuing north-west. As they pass through this cave a pale humanoid in ancient finery detaches itself from a shadowy alcove and strikes out at Finbar with clawed fingernails. Despite this cinematic entrance and some resulting party apprehension the ghoul is quickly dispatched and looted of its finery (purse, gold signet ring, massive decorative key on a heavy gold chain and pair of silver bracelets). The party is unharmed.
Continuing north-west the party reach a T-junction with a tunnel leading off to the south. Just beyond this another rock cut staircase descends further into the labyrinth. The southern tunnel leads into a large low-ceilinged cave scattered with the bones of rats, goblins, humans and others. Shanks and Zarjaz (?) crawl around amongst this detritus but find nothing of note. They surmise that the ghoul lived here.
After some debate the party follows the stairs down to the third level with Shanks taking point. The stairs end in a stone archway and an alert Shanks is fortunate to avoid injury as a massive rock falls from the arch. A slightly less fortunate Zarjaz is hit by a smaller rock that bounces of his pointed hat; leading to general hilarity. Beyond the archway is a small cave from which a tunnel leads north into a bigger cave. The floor of this second cave is littered with (still juicy) broken bodies. At the north end of this cave a carved stone archway leads into a wide, worked stone staircase that leads further down. A tunnel leads south-east.
As the party enter the cave the five bodies start to rise from their repose with a chorus of moans. Barack raises his holy symbol and turns 2 of the zombies who shuffle off down the stairs. Finbar and Delast charge the remainder with Shanks in his usual support role. The zombies are defeated at the expense of some minor injuries. There proves to be nothing worth looting on the bodies.
The party follows the tunnel south-east for about 50ft before it opens out into a huge cavern. The walls are carved with many burial alcoves, the gnawed, crushed and shattered contents of which lie strewn across the cavern floor. Three more recent broken human bodies lie shredded on the floor. The party cautiously make their way around this U-shaped cavern heading west, then south before turning back east on themselves. Shanks and Zarjaz sift through the remains but only recover a single silver piece.
Eventually after about an hour of investigation the party passes east out of the cavern and through a stone archway into a short section of worked stone corridor that ends in a stone slab door. This is forced open and leads into a wide stone corridor heading north. More burial alcoves are built into the corridor's walls. The party follow the corridor with Shanks and Zarjaz continuing to take the time to search the ancient remains.
About 40ft up the corridor there is a side corridor leading east down a shallow flight of steps. 3 zombies lurch out of this corridor but are turned back by Barack. Finbar and Delast follow them down the steps into an ornately decorated sunken crypt. Once backed into the crypt the zombies turn to attack. As the party rushes to engage them they are surprised as 4 foul robber flies drop from above. The battle is fierce and closely fought but with the help of the invaluable Sleep spell the party are ultimately victorious.
The game session ended here.
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