NOW LIVE! -- ZEITGEIST: Death of the Author for D&D 5E on Kickstarter! Murder. Conspiracy. Secrets. A remote manor. An adventure for D&D 5E.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 3692373" data-attributes="member: 16069">Dungeon Crawl Classics #0 Legends are Made, not Born An Adventure for 0 Level CharactersTurn 8 New Broom Sweeps Clean.WOOOOF GRRRRRR    Then the rattle of chains.“Feck it, it’s chained up somewhere down there.” Newt strides into the Ogre’s chamber, there’s a huge chest.“Hang on.”The other members of the group freeze.“There’s something coming.”Bursting from the passage leaps a snarling wolf, trailing a rusty chain.Anya spins around, points her wand, “Smidgin”, the Magic Missile strikes the wolf hard.ThwongMischa’s arrow hits home.Jim shuffles forward drops his bow, and grapples his battleaxe into position ready to meet the foe.Cas charges in, “for Pelor.”SLYCEThe second critical of the session, a deep blow, impaling the Wolf on Cas’ longsword. The Paladin turns back to the others, kicks the Wolf off his sword, grinning like a Cheshire cat. And at that moment Gurt, the Ogre’s staunch hobgoblin follower, swings around the corner… and comes to a dead stop. He takes in the scene- dead Ogre, dead Wolfie, not a mark on the assembled crowd of adventurers, and where the hell did they come from? Gurt drops his shortsword.“Please no hurt me. Me tell all.”Thirty seconds later the hobgoblin is tied up, or at least his hands are, he’s pushed and prodded into the centre of the Ogre chamber.Jim meanwhile has retrieved his magic arrow, it’s still intact.“Right then, can you understand me?” Cas prods Gurt.The Hobgoblin half-shrugs half-nods.“I can speak Goblin.” Anya settles in, sits, she pats the seat next to her, Cas licks his lips, sits and settles down.“What should I ask him, brave Paladin?” She places her hand on the Paladin’s thigh.“Ask him, ahem, ask him who he is, what he’s doing here, and what’s down that passage he came from.”“Very good.” Anya squeezes Cas’ thigh and starts up her Goblin speak, Cas interrupts- “You know I’m not a Paladin yet.”Anya smiles, flutters her eye-lashes, and continues her interrogation; Cas sits there like a naughty schoolboy.CLICK“Done it.” Newt looks up, the Ogre’s chest is open, there’s a sea of silver coins inside, he begins transferring the contents into sacks- stuffing coins into his pocket all the while, more out of instinct. Bec comes over to help him.“There you go.” Newt shoves a handful of the coins into Bec’s pockets.“Can I have sandwich?”“You certainly can when you get back to town.”Jim and Mischa meanwhile are thoroughly searching the room; the two are working well together.“What do you notice… about the wall?”Jim stares hard, they’re nearly touching, he’s sweating.“I…”“Look there.” Mischa points.“It’s…”“Go on.”“It’s a different colour than the other… It’s a door.”“Good. Good, well done Jim”, she brushes against him, smiles, and heads for the wall.“So.” Anya turns back to Cas, “he says his name is Gurt, he’s the Ogre, Blogg’s, servant, he was captured by the creature. He does the cooking and cleaning here. He says that the tunnel leads to the entrance, but it’s trapped- I think he knows we mean business. I think…” Anya leans across Cas, stares up into his eyes, she whispers, “anyone can see that you mean business Cas.” “Pelor save me.” The Paladin mumbles and gulps.Newt and Bec wander over hefting sacks of coin.“Tell him, tell him we mean him no harm, we will let him free.” Cas stares at Anya’s eyes, cleavage, yes- eyes, no- cleavage. She translates, Gurt nods, smiles and is kicked in the side by Newt, he sinks to the floor. Bec leers over him; Newt is on him and searching for funding.“That’s an outrage, I told him we meant him no harm.” Cas is on his feet.“As long as he plays ball then no harm will come to him. Now get back to your leering.”Cas is about to explode.“There’s a secret door here…”Griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind.Mischa calls over, Jim nods. Cas changes his mind quickly and darts over to investigate, getting tangled in his sword and scabbard in his haste. Anya calls after him, “careful Cas, you don’t want to get blood on your sword.” She smiles cruelly.Newt shows Bec the lump of Onyx he has just swiped from Gurt, he whispers, “more sandwiches big guy- stick with me.” He grins up at Bec and winks, Bec smirks back.The group head through the secret door, except for Anya, who makes a discovery of her own.“Furs”, she rushes over to the Ogre’s bedding, “yeuch”, the first few are smelly and horrible but beneath them are some quality pelts, including a Black Bear skin and a Red Fox pelt.“Divine.” She sashays with the items draped around her. Then notices the others have departed, “hey wait for me.”At the end of the newly found corridor is a ladder leading down into darkness.“Out of the way, let me through.” Newt barges his way to the front.“Newt, seriously, slow down- it may be trapped.” Cas offers.Newt thinks about it, “get Gurt- stuff him down there.”“You’re not honestly suggesting we use him to trigger any traps.”“Exactly god-botherer.”“That’s immoral.”Silence.“What’s your point?”“It would be wrong, I will not allow it.”Newt looks about him, Bec’s grinning, Anya’s not bothered- more concerned with her furs, Mischa and Jim are shaking their heads, and Cas looks stern.“Oh alright, I don’t know, if you want a job doing you’ve got to do it yourself.”Newt lowers himself over the edge, begins his descent, “I told you there’s nothing to be afraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…D.”A rung of the ladder comes away in his hand, Newt crunches twenty-something feet to the hard stone floor below.The sunrod he carries illuminates his face; he’s as pale as a ghost, spitting blood, only just clinging onto consciousness.“Grab this.”Jim and Bec take the strain, Mischa quickly ties her rope around her waist, scurries down the ladder- no more rungs break.Ten seconds later she calls up, “he’s going to be ok.”“Shame”, Cas whispers, looks up at the faces staring at him, “did I say that out-loud?”Newt is soon up and about; his pride has taken the biggest dent, we re-join him mid argument, with Cas, again.“And I say we get Gurt and use him to lessen the impact of some of the traps down here.”“And I say that that would be wrong, against the teachings of Pelor, all life is precious Newt, even lowly forms like Hobogoblins, we are bound to preserve it.”“You’re just scared. Bwwwwwwooork Bwok Bwok.”Newt struts about chicken-like, pecking the air.“Now that’s not an argument Newt.”“Bwokkk Bwok Bwok Bwwwwwwooookkkk.”“Please Newt, let’s just get through this… Please?”“Bwok Bwok.” Newt pecks some more then smiles and creeps further down the passage.Thirty seconds later his voice comes back.“Bugger.”“What is it?” Mischa calls.“’Nother trap. Stay there.”A minute more and the trap is cleared, a huge club set to swing down on anyone breaking the tripwire beneath it.They troop on, Bec grabbing the Greatclub from the trap, along the way.And into an Alchemist’s Laboratory- beakers, flasks and assorted glassware, other tables and chairs, open books, other books, a row of cloaks on pegs and in the corner a broom.“Stay frosty people.” Cas is developing his vocabulary.Anya and Newt eye each other and then run into the chamber, they’re both fond of chemistry sets.“This is…” Newt looks at his new toys, “mine.”Anya’s about to protest when she spots one of the cloaks, it has a silk lining, she rushes over to it, “and this is mine.”“We’re not here just to grab things”, Cas reprimands them, “find out who this stuff belongs to- why it’s here?”The group set about examining the chamber, which incidentally, has three more passages exiting it at the cardinal points, the group entered from the east.Newt grabs some flasks- acid, he stows them away for later use.Anya reads one of the books, then out loud.“This stuff belongs to Suto, this is his, or her, diary. Listen to this- ‘The Voice Below spoke to me again, it whispered to me in my mind, it shares my passion to revenge the death of my father… What the hell is this place?”Anya leaves off and the room returns to silence, everyone listening for the ‘Voice Below.’”Whoops.Jim trips over the broom.“Sor…”The broom dances forward and swats the would-be-Ranger with its bristle end, no real damage, just distracting and a bit stingy.“Help, broom attack.” Jim screams from the floor, the broom lances at him, he catches the end, scrabbles to his feet- holds on. Bec is quickly over, grabs the other end. The broom pulls back and forth trying to dislodge either one of them.“Hold on to it.” Cas offers.Anya’s spotted something, she rolls onto the hard stone floor, immediately beneath the broom- she’s staring hard at the broomstick- there’s something written on it.Mischa backs away; the broom tries again to get free, slips out of Jim’s hands and catches the woodsman beneath his jaw- he hits the deck, wounded pride once again. The broom swirls round in the air, winding up for the big hit on Bec.“SPOT.” Anya yells, the broom becomes inanimate, drops into her clutches, she levers herself upright.Studies the other words on the handle, sets it before her and. “Weesp.”The broom clears the floor in front of Anya, makes sure no dirt gets on to what is left of her Dire Rat Fur Boots.“I shall call him- ‘Swish.’”The others stare on, open-mouthed. Anya recovers the diary, looks for something else to read aloud.“Here’s another one- ‘I intend to finish my father’s task, I must locate the Codex Ilyium- has anybody any idea what we’re doing here now, or indeed what any of this stuff is about?”“He’s a wizard, I’d guess, at least a meddler in the dark arts.” Mischa states.“You mean he uses magic, that’s no biggie tree-lady, so do you, it’s just our magic, my magic, is more powerful than yours.”Mischa looks put out, Jim rests a hand on her arm“No use fighting, you’re right we’re in a wizard’s lair. Newt what do you think?” Cas turns to the Gnome.“What do I care? I think Anya should read the book and we should stop guessing until we’ve got all the facts. I’m having the glassware though.”Cas looks a little frustrated but nods for Anya to continue, the other adventurers find themselves places to sit.Anya reads on.“It is my intention to summon Frogroth a mighty demon to assist me in my search for the Codex… What?”The others look suitably shocked, then more so when the first scream is heard. They leap to their feet; it came from the southern exit.“AAAAAaaaaaaa  Heeeelllppppp us.”They rush to the rescue.Next Turn: Army of One.</blockquote>

Verification