Tomb of Horrors 3.5 post-game report part II (looong post!)
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Apologies if this is over-long. It did occur to me that it might be better suited to the story-hour forum, but it's more of an in-game/post-game analysis of the adventure than a straight recounting, so I pray you will pardon my indulgence, Gentle Reader... 
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Right, many months after session one, my gaming group’s wild and wacky schedule finally presented an opening for a return trip into the Tomb of Horrors. We picked up where we had left off last time (see post #13 in this thread for session I), with the only alteration being that Garm was being played by someone else as his original player was unable to make the game. To recap, the characters were:
Garm - Half-orc Barbarian (boar totem) 4 / Half-orc Paragon 3 / Bear Warrior 2
Mungo the Breed - Half-orc Barbarian 1 / Fighter 2 / Rogue 6
Alma - Human Evangelist 9 (from Dragon #311, with Air, Knowledge and Time domains)
Miniris - Irda Wizard (abjurer) 4 / Wizard of High Sorcery (white) 3
Short version: TPK!
Long version: When last we left our brave dungeoneers, they had just bested the lich and were licking their wounds and pondering how best to proceed. With her
gaseous form spell still running, Alma headed back into the lich’s chamber once the illusion of its collapse subsided and reconnoitred what treasure there might still remain there for the looting. She recovered the magical mace that the group had previously avoided and bundled it and all of the lich’s personal belongings into her bag of holding. Rejoining the group, she used
detect magic to examine the items, with the group deciding which single item should be the beneficiary of Miniris’
identify spell.
They decided that Miniris should concentrate on the mace, and so they were able to divine its powers. The concept of a “false Acererak” seemed to be particularly significant to them, and I got the impression that they were expecting to run into more pretendy liches later in the adventure, judging from the amount of times that I was asked “is the mace glowing now?” Miniris also took stock of the arcane scrolls that they found, and Mungo donned the lich’s ring and cloak (having lost all of his items to the Chapel of Evil’s glowing mists last session). While Miniris was finishing the
identify, Mungo also searched the entirety of corridor 18A (finding nothing) and Alma returned to the lich’s room to strip the divan of the gold leaf. Garm stood guard and twiddled his thumbs.
There followed a thorough re-reading of Acererak’s poem, while the players attempted to figure out where they were in relation to the list of clues and how they should proceed. Personally, I was quite worried that they wouldn’t find the secret door at area 17 and would instead march steadfastly to their deaths in area 16, thus finishing the session in a lava-induced TPK after only 20 minutes. I needn’t have worried (well, not about that at any rate). The group were certain that the corridor they were currently concealed a hidden exit of some sort and it was eventually Miniris who took 20 all along the length of the hallway and discovered the secret door at #17. In a typical gaming quirk, Miniris had maxed out his Search skill and, thanks to his high Int, was actually a far better scout than Mungo (who had spent his first couple of levels - and the attendant skill points - in getting levels of fighter and barbarian). I had also expected the characters to spend time at the beginning of the session recovering all of their spells, hit points and ability score damage (based on comments made by the players prior to the session). As it happened, they instead chose to forge onwards without further ado. It would prove to be a fateful decision.
Garm used his portable ram to batter the secret door down after other methods of passing through it failed, and the party shortly arrived in the Lab and Mummy Preparation Room. Mungo quickly identified the room for what it was. There was talk of using
detect magic on the chamber, but the idea was discarded and so the party missed out on the mummified hand graft – probably not a bad thing as it really is a rather unpleasant item. Finding no obvious exit, Miniris and Alma set to searching the walls, with Alma discovering the secret door in the southwest with a very lucky roll in her final round of searching. Garm and Mungo, meanwhile, spent their time examining the vats and found the two halves of the first key.
Investigation with bits of cloth and coins revealed the acidic nature of the middle vat and the equally acidic and gelatinous nature of the easternmost vat. Mungo’s player joked that it must be a gelatinous cube cleverly stuffed into a vat to foil unwary adventurers. Many a true word
… The group used a bizarre combination of a grappling hook tied to Alma’s 10’ pole in order to fish the first half of the key out of the acidic vat. Certain that the eastern vat posed a more sinister challenge, Garm came up with an even more unusual approach to net the other half of the key.
While his companions variously climbed onto tables or stepped out of the room, he lay on his back underneath the vat (I had ruled that the vats were big metal things on clawed feet, riveted to the floor like old-fashioned baths) and, with an iron spike, proceeded to hammer a hole in the bottom of the vat right beneath the key and prise the metal back “like with a big can-opener”. For a brief moment, he gazed in satisfaction at the bottom of the gelatinous cube, before I had it come flooding through the bottom of the vat to attack him. Mungo had tied a rope around Garm’s waist in preparation for trouble of this kind, and he rapidly yanked Garm away from the vat as the cube came surging out. Garm weathered the cube’s opening attack easily and then the rest of the party rained 9th-level death down upon it from all sides. The poor jelly only lasted a single round. And there was much rejoicing. The two halves of the key were swiftly joined together and on they went.
The open pit at area 20 was met with derision and suspicion in equal amounts, as the group were sure that such an obvious threat concealed some other type of danger. Mungo stepped down into the pit and carefully picked his way between the spikes. Not carefully enough, however, as he triggered the trap at the end of the pit and was slit up a treat by the telescoping spikes (as were those of his companions who were unlucky enough to be standing near the edge of the pit). Once he had struggled to safety, the party set up one of those complicated rope-relay things that adventurers are so fond of and shimmied their collective way to the other side.
After more lengthy searches, they found the entrance into the Agitated Chamber. Garm went over and opened the fake door and was promptly speared, following which the perturbation trap went off. At the time, Alma was probing the western tapestry with her 10’ pole and Mungo was peering behind it when it tore and green slime flooded out. Alma was far enough away to avoid contact with the stuff and Mungo was actually standing off to one side, so instead of being engulfed he took a standard hit and lost more Con. Already drained by the bloodmote swarm in the Chapel of Evil, he really began to suffer now, with his maximum hit point total dropping far below the norm. Still, nobody was killed and both tapestries were swiftly put to the torch. In addition to killing the green slimes, this also revealed the hidden exit out of the chamber. Did the group proceed swiftly onward? Did they pick up the pace and delve further into the depths? Er, no. Not exactly.
I don’t remember who suggested it, but someone noted that I had mentioned coffers and chests in my initial description of the room. So, of course, they decided that they needed to search them. All of them. The six chests (being empty) were soon discarded. But the fact that there 24 locked coffers, and the fact that Mungo’s player had just bought some d24s was too good an opportunity to pass up. So the players rolled to see which coffer to search. Over and over again. Mungo rolled terribly on pretty much every open locks roll, leaving Garm to smash the coffers open. Some contained loot. Most contained snakes. Snakes with only 4 hit points and a BAB score almost utterly incapable of successfully hitting 9th level characters. Still, they gamely proceeded from chest to chest, snagging sapphires and squashing hapless vipers amidst much hilarity. I don’t really recall how long this went on for, but suffice to say that my spirit hadn’t been entirely sucked dry by the tedium of it all by the time they tired of their efforts and continued with their exploration of the tomb.
I think that their valorous victory over the serpent hordes of the Agitated Chamber took the edge off their caution, however, as Mungo blundered straight into the pit trap at the centre of the intersection at area 21. He plummeted to the bottom of the pit, taking the full 10d6 damage and landing with but a single hit point remaining. Garm immediately rappelled down the pit after him, his rope secured by the other two. When prepping the adventure, I had decided that the bleakborn at the bottom of the pit would remain inert for one round, as a way of having a cool moment of horror when it rose to its feat. As it happened, this decision also saved Mungo’s life.
Garm reached the bottom of the pit and immediately gave Mungo a potion of
cure critical wounds. As Mungo quaffed it, the bleakborn rose to its feat and its cold aura washed over the two half-orcs. Combat immediately ensued. Against two opponents in a confined space, the bleakborn is a nasty, nasty opponent. Its armour class is high and it does solid melee damage. Combined with its cold aura and contingent healing 10, Garm and Mungo were soon in trouble. At the top of the pit, neither Alma nor Miniris could see what was going on down below. Alma cast
light on the end of the rope that they were holding and dropped it into the pit, illuminating the area below but removing any immediate method of escape for the hapless half-orcs. (As Alma’s player pointed out, the evangelist only had Int 8…
) Garm learned the hard way that his
flaming great axe was actually healing the bleakborn, and was promptly felled to negative hit points by the creature. From above, Alma fired
undead bane crossbow bolts and Miniris unleashed a
lightning bolt. Mungo grabbed up Garm’s axe, quenched its fire, and with some solid rolls was soon able to hew the bleakborn limb from limb.
Alma dropped down into the pit with her
feather fall ring and administered healing and, now with three characters at the bottom of the 100’ drop, they set about figuring out how to climb out. Garm borrowed Alma’s ring and started to climb out, but after he failed something like 16 or 17 Climb rolls, his player gave up in disgust. Thank heaven for small mercies. So Mungo tied the rope to an arrow and fired it out of the pit. Miniris secured the other end and out they climbed. I used their ensuing, er, "discussion" on the merits of tactics, coordination and rope use to check up on some stats for later in the adventure
…
Well, the exploration of the rest of the intersection went pretty much by the book. Alma explored the southern branch and was speared for her troubles. Mungo checked out the eastern branch and narrowly avoided falling into another pit trap. Miniris took the northern branch and correctly guessed that there must be a secret door behind the false one and found it with little trouble. Garm stood guard and twiddled his thumbs.
The party headed north into area 23, missing the secret door in the floor. They were immediately suspicious of the double doors at the end of the hall. Viewing the recessed hinges, Garm’s player quipped “It’s almost as if they’re rigged to allow something huge to come charging through and crush us!” Many a true word…
They opened the doors, releasing the sleep gas. In a wonderful twist of die rolling fate, the two characters with the best Fort saves (Garm and Mungo) both failed their saves and passed out. Alma cautiously proceeded beyond the double doors, wondering what the sudden rumbling signified. She and Miniris soon found out, as the elephantine juggernaut cruised into view. They swiftly dragged the slumbering half-orcs up the stairs at the end of the hall and settled down to observe the movements of the juggernaut. Alma took a quick exploratory trip into the chamber that originally housed the juggernaut, scrambling back to safety as it came rumbling back along its route, and then retreated back up the stairs.
Once they had discerned a pattern in the juggernaut’s path, Miniris quickly set about searching the hallway for another exit. Miniris’ player exhibited a sound knowledge of timing and action, searching portions of floor and then scurrying back to the stairs as the juggernaut returned. The half-orcs woke up midway through this procedure, watching Miniris with bemusement. Garm, clearly now quite tired of twiddling his thumbs and standing guard while the others did the search routine, decided that this was the perfect time for action. So, at the next pass of the juggernaut, he leaped from the steps and grabbed hold of its trunk, clinging on for dear life as it trundled off.
While his companions (and the DM) stared in shock at this audacious move, Garm rode the juggernaut like, well, a weird sort of half-orc cowboy. When it arrived in its home chamber, he leaped clear and tried to push it over. In an opposed Str check, he came within a couple of points of success and, emboldened, tried again. The second attempt was far less successful, however, and he only narrowly avoided being squished flat. In the meantime, Miniris had discovered the secret door in the floor and so Garm rejoined his fellows and the party quickly headed into the crawlway. The players commented on the fiendish nature of the triple-blind of the false door, secret door and secret trapdoor at area 23A – a very cunning piece of design, well constructed to channel characters north into the path of the juggernaut.
Arriving in the Pillared Throne Room (after a truly paranoid bit of investigation that saw them pass the metallic reinforced door), the group set about exploring the chamber. Based on their readings of Acererak’s inscription, the party had been expecting to reach the many-pillared hall for some time, and so took it as a real landmark of progress. By this time, I really noticed that they had the measure of the tomb. Their investigation of the chamber was thorough, methodical and deeply cautious. Without touching a thing, they managed to get a solid overview of the situation. I couldn’t keep myself from chuckling as I showed them the picture of the glowing orange gem. Has
anybody ever touched that thing? The picture absolutely screams “Your Character Is Going To Dieeeeee!!!” – I can’t imagine anyone actually plucking up the courage to lay hands on the thing.
Miniris carried out a solid examination of the throne and cleverly guessed the significance of the gold crown/silver crown on the throne and gold orb/silver orb on the sceptre. After a bit of fiddling, he touched the silver orb to the silver crown and opened the secret door. Sceptre in hand, he hurried through with the rest of the party, coming into the Wondrous Foyer. There had been some talk of checking the doors to the north prior to this, but I was secretly grateful that these were not followed up. The rooms north of the pillared hall are, imho, some of the most awful sections of the Tomb. I was somewhat buoyed by the party’s success and clever play and so was in no rush to see them get sliced up by the swords or blasted to bits by the greater mummy.
Miniris stayed on form in the Wondrous Foyer and used the golden end of the sceptre to open the Mithral Valves. Although there was some suspicion that the False Treasure Room beyond was Acererak’s resting place, the party soon discarded this line of reasoning, given the obvious nature of the room and the hints in the verse they had found. Once more good fortune smiled on the characters when they realised that they could move the black metal statues. The very first one that they chose was the one that concealed the trapdoor and, after pitching the statue down the stairs into the foyer, they dropped into the passageway below.
Consulting the verse of clues, they party were certain that they were moments away from reaching Acererak’s final resting place. Without realising how close, however, they walked right past the secret door to his vault and soon found themselves on the other side of the phase doors at area 31. Arriving on the eastern side, the group soon found the Cavern of Mists.
Especially in the revised version of the module, the cavern is a lethal encounter area. The combination of the confusion mists and the crypt chanter’s music can reduce a character to zero levels in very short order. But, true to form, the group steered clear. You could almost see the hairs standing up on the backs of their necks as they became certain that this was all an extended red herring. Again Gygax’ design showed its strength in channelling the characters into dangerous area – but this time around the players were wise to it. They retraced their steps back north, past the false door, through the pillared hall and false treasure room and back through the trapdoor. And then the searching began.
It was not long before they discovered the secret door leading to the vault, using the gold key to gain access. Unfortunately, they also used the gold key in the inner keyhole, suffering a minor explosion for their trouble. After a quick regroup, Miniris turned the bronze key the requisite amount of times and was pulled to safety by his fellows as the mithril vault itself rose into view.
Now, I should point out at this juncture that it was 2am on a Tuesday morning. The players were both tired and keen to crack the final challenge of the Tomb, riding high on their successes up to this point. Furthermore they were also expecting another combat with a lich, and not the soul-sucking monstrosity that awaited them. All as the designer intended, I imagine. So while they cast a couple of buff spells and shared a moderate amount of healing, they critically didn’t step back and recover all cast spells or buff themselves out the wazoo. Ah well, you can’t win them all…
Garm took hold of the mithril ring and pulled open the door to the vault and in they stepped. It was, I suppose, Mungo who set things off. Overjoyed to see the gear he lost in the Chapel of Evil, he immediately grabbed hold of his axe, thus awakening both the ghostly guardian and the demilich construct itself.
Round One. Garm activated his barbarian rage and Miniris buffed him with a
bull’s strength. Mungo hefted his recovered axe and dealt the ghost a solid blow with it, bypassing its incorporeal miss chance. The ghost, however, promptly possessed Garm before he could act. The demilich unleashed its first souldrain against Mungo, who managed to save. Alma cast
true strike and readied her
undead bane crossbow.
Round 2. Garm, possessed by the ghost, unleashed a full attack/power attack combo on Mungo, knocking him into negative hit points. The demilich used its second souldrain on Alma. She failed her save by only two points, and perished. Realising the danger that was upon them, Miniris fired a full spread of magic missiles at demilich – with no effect.
Round 3. Miniris dispelled the possession of Garm with an excellent roll. The ghost responded by whacking Garm, somewhat ineffectually. The demilich used its third souldrain on Garm, who rolled abysmally and crumbled to dust.
Round 4. The demilich used its fourth souldrain on Miniris. Miniris followed suit with another unlucky roll, failed his save and went the way of all flesh.
Round 5. The demilich unleashed its fifth souldrain on the unconscious Mungo, who defied fate by saving again. The ghost, however, swiftly performed a coup-de-grace on his prone form, killing him outright. Game over.
And this after several hours and two sessions of some of the finest dungeoneering that I have ever seen. Small consolation...
On any other day, in any other game, it wouldn’t have ended this way. On any other day, in any other game, I would have called a halt to proceedings and reminded the players of where they were, what they were facing and the importance of buffing yourself until the end of your nose glows bright blue. And I would have counted myself a poor DM had I not done so.
But not this day. Not this dungeon. I had decided at the start to let the dice fall as they may, let the players succeed or fail on their own merits and (despite my urges to the contrary) I stuck to that approach to the bitter end. And bitter it was. I certainly wouldn’t dare running this adventure as part of a regular campaign – unless I wanted it to come to a nasty and abrupt end, that is, heh heh…
Reinbowarrior’s post above sums up the general sentiment on the part of the players. They enjoyed the adventure in all its trap-filled, trick-laden glory… right up until the 5-round TPK. All mentioned that they were kicking themselves to one degree or another for not properly preparing for the final battle and felt that this made the ending of the game something of an anti-climax. In their defence, as I mentioned above, it was very late and they were all not as sharp as they had been at the start of the evening. But them’s the breaks at the end of the day. For all intents and purposes, they cracked the Tomb of Horrors wide open. Just one small matter of a demilich prevents it from being a total victory
…
I mentioned this in my earlier post this evening, but as the game progressed, I found myself ever more impressed by the design of the dungeon. This kind of killer dungeon isn’t for everyone, and with good reason (I prefer a
far different style of game in regular play myself). But there’s no denying that, as far as dungeons go, this comes from the hand of the master. It’s simple in design, devious in execution, fiendishly clever in the way it predicts and channels player actions – and all of this in only 33 encounter areas. I think that I would go mad (or be lynched) if I built a campaign this way, but as a one-shot (well, two-shot) it is the business.
Oh, and to Alma, Miniris, Mungo and both Garms… hats off, my lady and gentlemen. What’s next? Nightmare Keep or Rappan Athuk….?
