Dungeon Crawl Classics #0 Legends are Made, not Born
An Adventure for 0 Level Characters
An Adventure for 0 Level Characters
Turn 6: Tomb it may concern.
The door is wide open, Newt scuttles around inside.
“Come on, it’s safe.” He grins. “Probably.”
The others file in, except for Anya, something on the door catches her eye.
The chamber is twenty by thirty feet with an eight foot high ceiling, towards the back, in the centre, is a flat unadorned stone sarcophagus, either side of it a pile of bones with a weapon planted in the midst of each, to the left a greatsword, to the right a glaive. However, there’s something else, and Newt has found it, a body, lying behind the sarcophagi- an ancient dwarven skeleton, Newt kicks it- it crumbles, even the waraxe it grips in its hands is rotten, but not the breastplate with griffon insignia. Carefully Newt drags it free of the rotten carcass, shows his find to the others.
“Anyone want this?”
“Jim, why don’t you have it- it’d suit you well, a bit of cleaning.” Cas states. Jim grins again, begins to shrug out of his Chainmail.
“No, not yet, let’s see what else awaits us.”
A bone pile collapses as Bec grabs for the greatsword.
“Can I have sandwich?”
He finds a space and practice swings, “it suits you.” Cas adds. The sword is serviceable, not great quality, Bec stows his spear and takes up the blade.
“Well… Do we or don’t we?” Cas stares at the sarcophagi.
Newt chuckles rushes over, begins to lever at the top stone.
“Bec, get here you freak.” Bec shuffles over grinning, swats Newt aside, and lifts the corner.
“Wait.” Anya shouts.
A cadaverous hand reaches out searching for Bec’s arm.
FWUMP
He drops the lid back down, trapping the hand.
“It says on the door to the chamber ‘Here lies Lord Tulwar, our… despicable leader’, that must be him then.” Anya finishes nodding towards the flailing hand.
“I’ve heard of him, can’t remember why though, despicable, that’s not good. Everyone ready?” Cas mentions.
The others form a half circle, weapons drawn; give each other plenty of room.
“Ok. Bec if you’d be so kind.” Cas points back at the sarcophagi’s lid.
“Hang on.”
Newt closes on the still twitching hand sticking out.
SMASH… SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH.
It’s pulp.
“Ok now I’m ready.” Newt grins.
Bec hauls off the lid, it CLUNKS to the floor. An emaciated figure, some ancient warrior returned as a ghoul, levers itself up- just.
CRUNCH
Jim’s battleaxe.
SMACK
Newt’s heavy mace comes again.
The creature is no more.
In a moment Newt is up the side of the sarcophagi and in. He rifles inside, eventually dumping the body out to get more room, “Nothin, although...” He trails off as he spots the pommel of the Ghoul warrior’s longsword- a ruby sat within it.
“Leave it.” Cas comes over, “it may be enchanted, besides look at it- the dull sheen, it’s cold iron, like Mischa sickle, good against demonic foes. I shall wield it- if you please.”
Newt gurns, then grins, “have it, no use to me.”
Cas nods his thanks, “the chainmail the ghoul was wearing looks to be of good quality too, although it will take an age to remove the stink.”
All done the adventurers file out, no-one wants the chainmail, although Newt insists that Bec takes it as, “it could be worth a bob or two.”
The party return to the beetle chamber, except for Jim who takes the opportunity to change into his new breastplate, he has only one watcher, but for now, I’ll not tell who that is.
There are two passages from the chamber, the first, straight on, it seems to go for some distance.
“I suggest that’s the way to the Ogre’s cave.” Mischa states.
“Perhaps then we should see what awaits us that way, we don’t want leave any enemies behind us.” Cas points to the other exit.
They creep over, their torchlight illuminates another circular-ish cave, Newt sparks a sunrod, bathing the chamber in a glorious white light.
The floor of the cavern is littered with a miniature jungle of ochre coloured toadstools, the room is warmer- moist, and… there, up right, an opening about ten feet up the cavern wall.
Newt grins then goes to march in. Mischa grabs him, “they’re poisonous.”
“What?”
“The toadstools. The colour, a dead give away.”
“How the hell are they going to poison me, I’m not going to eat them you feckin Witch.”
Mischa shakes her head, gently touches Bec’s arm.
“Bec go get one of them beetles, a carcass… I mean body.”
Bec does as he’s told returns clutching a beetle.
“Now throw it… there.” Mischa points.
FLING-CRUNCH-SPPPPPPPRAY-SIZZZLE
The beetle is flung, crunch-lands, the toadstools hit release a fine spray, which eats its way through the carapace of the beetle. The thing’s not destroyed just half the mass it once was.
“Bloody hell.” Jim announces.
“Perhaps we should make a pathway to the ledge.”
Several minutes later it’s done.
Newt, of course, is first over, but he’s struggling at the wall.
“Feckin’ thing, give me a boost.”
“Can you not wait?” Cas is getting angry again.
“Fekowf tinman. BEC BOOST.”
Bec complies, the Gnome scrambles up onto the ledge.
“I’m going in.” Newt states as he disappears from sight.
“Pelor save me. Just hold on a minute.”
Bec stares up, then hops up, flaps a hand onto the ledge and drags himself after, he’s up in seconds. He points into the cave ahead, now brightly lit by Newt’s sunrod.
“There’s nothing up here.” Echoes from inside.
Bec stops, stares down at the others, shrugs. Then turns back, someone, Newt as it turns out, is whispering.
“Shhh. Come here Bec, here.”
Bec plods forward, and from below, “where’s he off to?”
Newt’s stands staring at the remains of a crude campsite, a very dead human lying on the floor.
“See.”
Newt squats and points, Bec looks, there’s something, correct that, some things wrapped around the half-skeleton human’s ribcage- they’re centipedes, a whole nest of them.
“Now give me that.” Newt takes Bec’s greatsword, balances it just, “and you have this”, he passes over his heavy mace, he’s still whispering. “If any of the buggers come out, smash ‘em.”
Bec grins- ready.
Newt hooks the tip of the greatsword through a strap on the dead guys backpack, tips the sword, it skitters down the blade, and into his hand.
“Hmmm HUmmm Hummmm.” Newt grins and hums as he works.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” From outside.
“Now this is the hard one.”
There’s a silver chain around the dead guys neck, it takes a little while but, as with all things shiny, it’s soon in the Gnomes grasp.
“Now, pass me that back, and grab your spear.”
Bec does as he’s told.
“Fun time.”
Newt steps in and.
CLUNK
He smashes his heavy mace down on the centipedes, destroying two of the creatures in one fell swoop. Three more burst from the nest, another remains coiled tightly around the dead guys frame.
Bec spears another- dead, the two left running snap and coil around their legs, alas in seconds they’re no more; which only leaves the one still coiled around the dead guy’s ribcage.
CRUNCH.
“There, all done.”
Newt nudges Bec’s knee and grins up at him, “you can get off now- I’ll follow you out.”
Bec grins and goes to leave, Newt grabs him again, “Shhh, don’t tell the others- we’ll see if we can find some other fun later. Well done.”
Bec out of sight Newt drops down and pats down every inch of the corpse, there’s something there, he stuffs the backpack and the corpses cloak in a sack and then into his own haversack. Pockets the silver chain, actually it looks to be some sort of holy symbol.
And in less than thirty seconds he’s back at the ledge, a pair of monstrous centipedes in hand.
“What kept you?”
Newt throws them down.
“These did, if it wasn’t for Bec…”, he shrugs.
The giant man lifts Newt gently down.
The group head off again, the only passage left, to the Ogre.
By the time they’re two hundred feet down the passage they’re all in a crouch position moving as quietly as they can, they needn’t have bothered.
Next Turn: I will survivf, hic.
