This is a recap of an adventure already in progress and a campaign that is almost at the end of its beginning. We’re close to wrapping up Mitra’s Bones, Meet Thy Doom! And by close, I mean this is the 3rd time I thought this session was going to be our last. But clearly you can’t put time limits on rollicking adventure!*
This time our party consisted of Poundfoolish (aka Pogo) the halfling, Nicklas the wizard, Stacia the cleric, Calvert the dwarf and Chandler the thief. Umbobo was suffering from a wicked case of sand diarrhea, but he was the only party member absent. And a reminder of how few of the original party are now left. There were 15 at the beginning of Sailors of the Starless Sea, and that’s not including add ons along the way.
This session started with our party in a cave beneath the cairn. Mostly recovered from the last savage session, they decided to leave through the true Temple of Mitra. That meant climbing out with the rope left hanging from the false temple above. Calvert, who wanted to show that one arm couldn’t slow him down, ascended up the rope first. When he got to the top he saw the old woman Avvani sitting and apparently sleeping on a bench across the room from him. The rest of the party soon followed, being extra sneaky. The sneakiest being Chandler, who tried back stabbing her. But his sword found no purchase, as Avanni was really a phantasm!
The party soon found themselves confronted by the true Avanni, Akken, and Sword Dak. Avanni, upon seeing Imhotep’S Rod of Resurrection being carried by Stacia, started trembling with rage. And this is where the combat that would make up the entire session began.
Akken successfully cast curse at Stacia, lowering her luck and spellcasting. Nicklas cast sleep and rolled so well that most of the party realized for the first time he really was an actual wizard. Dak and Akken failed their saves and fell into an unnatural slumber. Avanni made hers, and invoked her deity, the dreaded Set. She rolled high enough to get him to wake up Dak and Akken.
Nicklas again shocked everyone by casting Animal Summoning with a high enough spell check to summon a massive, 4HD scorpion! The scorpion attacked Dak and Akken, striking with lethal tail strikes.
But it wasn’t just a magic fight. Chandler fired off some crossbow bolts and Pogo some arrows. They were making a Boromir out of Avanni, until Akken used his cleric powers to lay on hands. And it was a helluva roll, a detail I didn’t really disclose to the players because it would’ve just been discouraging. She got 5d healing with Akkens roll of 23! Akken also responded to the missile strikes by casting darkness and covering a 20′ diameter.
But the fight did not go well for the denizens of Mitra’s Crossing. Akken’s boots had spat acid at the party but proved to be a bit inaccurate. Dak, who managed to get a couple magic missiles off also didn’t have quite the lethal power the enchanted statues of Set had on our players in previous sessions. He was soon fell, as did Akken.
Rahkert, Akken’s buff assistant camel ranger, had a scimitar that he couldn’t get a hit with to save his life. He even fumbled and the blade flew off the hilt. Calvert made short work of him** with his warhammer. Calvert even hit him with his shield bash, which is more of a shoulder bash since most of his shield arm is in the gullet of a hipposaurus.
Avanni made her escape down the treacherous trail back to the village, dodging arrows along the way. She stopped and shouted “parley!” Claiming she had information that could be useful to them, her life was spared for now.
Next time I am almost certain that we will wrap up this module. Will Avanni prove useful? What will become of Lord Snort, Sad Jim, Thin Rizzo and Beans? Could it be that we may actually move on to the proper Dark Tower campaign? We’ll find out next time.
*Or digressions about unrelated nonsense.
**I know, I know. What other kind of work does a dwarf do?
