Just in case someone just stumbled upon this blog, you should know that the stories related are all fantasy. They are the adventures of a bunch of fictional characters in the role-playing game of Dungeons & Dragons. Just so you know. And now, on with the latest adventure installment….
Day #2-16 (Airday, 16th Thawmist, 4333 BCCC): Once again, Falafela, Lightstep, Opalent, Vandin Lakesplitter, Vox the Just, and Persis and Tureg, departed their cabins next to Breathy Footsore’s inn and headed to the northeast towards the ruins of Losnoth. This time, though, they had an extra human in the party, the cleric Pangborn, who had been sent from Hawkmoon’s citadel near Popinjay to get a first-hand account of what was at Losnoth. Pangborn came well equipped, wearing chainmail and carrying a small shield. He was armed with a footman’s mace and a sling, and had many accoutrements such as a backpack, a wineskin (containing water), a hooded lantern, five flasks of oil, a rope, and belladonna, garlic, and wolvesbane. Pangborn appeared to be quite young, and it appeared that none of his equipment had been used in any previous fights. But the party was glad to have another body along, if only to use as a “meatshield” for their magic-user Opalent.
After the 10-mile hike, the party arrived at the ruins of Losnoth. The party quickly ascended the steep 60-foot high hill and then descended the south stairwell into the dungeon, which was the same stairwell they had used during their previous visit seven days ago. They did also note in passing that the stairwell they had used during their first visit was still blocked off with rocks as it was during their most recent visit.
This time they moved quickly through the foyer with the two orc warrior statues on guard at the bottom of the stairs and opened the door in the wall on the far side of the foyer. Inside that door was a 20’ x 20’ room that had two wooden doors on the far side wall. It seemed to have been a waiting room of some sort at one time as it had two padded sofas in it. The cushions looked to have at one time been covered with a rich, red fabric, but now they were badly worn and soiled. On the left side wall hung the remnants of a picture frame, but whatever picture it may have once contained was long gone.
The party continued their explorations by opening the door on the left on the far wall. They found it be to a cloakroom off the waiting room. There were rows of pegs along all of its walls, and indeed there were still four old, tattered, black cloaks hanging on four of the pegs. A quick examination of the cloaks revealed them to be quite useless; they looked as if they would rip even more if anyone tried to use them to haul any coins, for example. They were left in place.
The party then checked out the worn and stained red fabric cushions on the sofas in the waiting room. Falafela, in particular, checked every inch of the cushions, pressing her hands on the cushions trying to determine if any items were hidden within the cushions. Nothing was found.
The party then opened the door to the right, and found more hallways on the other side. After a 10-foot straight part, the hall went to the left and to the right. Scouting quickly to the left showed that the hall turned to its left, then dead-ended after 10 more feet. So the party then went to the right. Immediately upon turning right, the hall came to a four-way intersection. Dead-ahead and to the right were dead-ends after 10 feet, but there was a real hallway to the left. Taking that hallway, the party had to turn 90 degrees to the left after 20 feet, then after another 10 feet of travel they entered a five-way intersection. It was a sort of X-shaped intersection, and their hallway entered the X between two of the X’s legs.
Investigating that five-way intersection, the group found that the two left-side hallways each dead-ended after ten feet. The far diagonal right-side hallway went about 20 feet and then there was a stone stairway leading up. But after only about 10 feet up, large rocks and boulders that had been dumped down from above blocked all the rest of the way on those stairs. The party briefly discussed if this was the initial stairs they had descended upon their first visit to Losnoth, but quickly discarded the idea as the original stairway had a pit trap at its bottom, and then the hall from those original stairs led directly into the dining hall. The party also wondered how many other stairways might exist to the surface, and how many of them were blocked off.
The party then had no choice but to take the near right-side passage that bent sharply back from the hallway they had entered the intersection from. That hallway went straight for about 20 feet, then made a gentle curve to the left. There was then a door in their path, but it was partly open. Peeking through the door and shining a torch, they recognized that they were back in the dining hall. They also realized they were entering the dining hall from the same door a party of orcs used to battle the adventurers during their last visit to Losnoth. Realizing that, they made sure to watch their back trail to ensure no orcs snuck up on them.
They then took the right side passage out of the dining hall, which was in the middle of the hourglass shaped narrow part of the room (the now blocked stairway they originally used to enter Losnoth was to their left), and sent Falafela to take a peek down the hallway to their right. The party knew that the left hallway led to the trophy room that they had visited before, so they did not go in that direction. Falafela crept carefully down the hall, then found the hall turned to the left and widened to about 20 feet in width. Edging her way along about 30 feet of wall, keeping her back glued to the wall, she could see into a large, circular chamber with a domed ceiling. The chamber may have been as much as 100 feet in diameter, and the center of the domed ceiling seemed about 25 feet high. The chamber also seemed to be dimly illuminated by some sort of artificial light. Falafela saw several orcs with their backs to her, and the orcs were looking at a large stone idol that was in a sitting position. That idol also had an open mouth and large fangs within that mouth, with what looked like dried bloodstains around the mouth. There was a fuming brazier between the altar and the idol. Falafela edged her way back to her companions and was going to suggest the party should go a different direction when the party heard a human female scream coming from the circular chamber. It was then evident that the orcs were planning a sacrifice.
The party then went into battle mode, sneaking up on the pre-occupied orcs. Although the party had to maneuver around some wooden benches between them and the orcs, fortunately the orcs all had their attention focused on their intended victim who was tied to a blood-stained stone altar. The orcs were also making a fair amount of noise with some sort of a ritual chant. Suddenly Persis, Tureg, Vandin, and Vox struck surprise blows to the rear rank of orcs. At the same time, Opalent launched her Magic Missile spell that severely wounded an orc in the front row, although not felling it. Then the melee was on. Lightstep and Pangborn also entered the fray before it was all over. Tureg was wounded and knocked unconscious by the orcs, but Falafela dragged him out of harm’s way and bound his wounds. Also during the melee, Opalent ran around the orcs and cut the captive’s rope bonds. Just about the time the captive was freed, the last of the nine orcs took a permanent nap. The captive was clothed in a white silk gown with small white cloth slippers, and she revealed her name was Flenda. Before she thanked the party for saving her, though, she quickly picked up a sword from one of the fallen orcs and cut both its ears off! She was furious she hadn’t been able to join in the battle to kill some of the orcs who were about to kill her! She also then donned a set of scale mail armor from one of the dead orcs.
With Tureg sorely wounded, the party was ready to leave the dungeon in order to get the fallen Tureg back to Elwood’s citadel as soon as possible, but Flenda announced she wasn’t going to leave the dungeon until she found her imprisoned sister, Gwenette. So, the party agreed to help find and free the sister. While Falafela, Persis, and Vox stayed with Tureg in the center of the chamber, the others followed Flenda towards where Flenda believed her sister was being held. The party took a wide hallway out of the sacrificial chamber just past the idol’s right ear, then quickly turned left and then back to the right. Flenda led the party down this corridor that had three stone columns down its centerline to an orc barracks room where there were eight orcs sleeping in four bunk beds. The party still wanted to leave, but Flenda shushed the party and boldly entered the room and started slitting the throats of the sleeping orcs with her prize sword. Then Opalent joined in the slaughter with her dagger, and soon the eight orcs would dream no more. Lightstep and Vandin were too short to reach the orcs sleeping in the top bunks, not to mention that they were not armed with any edged weapons, so they would have had difficulty in silently slaying sleeping orcs, so they didn’t join in the dispatching of the orcs. Afterwards Vandin marveled at how bloodthirsty was Flenda!
There were two doors showing on the far wall of the barracks room, and the right-hand door was padlocked. The party quickly found some keys hanging on the wall between a pair of bunk beds, and they found one of the keys unlocked that padlock. When they opened the door, however, instead of finding Gwenette, they found a pair of human brothers, Jorgio and Fredo. The brothers quickly availed themselves of two orc short swords and leather armor. Once again, the party was ready to depart, but Flenda would have none of it. She was sure there was a secret door along one wall, so finally Vandin and Pangborn with their hammer and mace, respectively, soon bashed in the secret door, thus freeing Gwenette to reunite her with her sister Flenda. Gwenette also took a set of leather armor and a short sword and scabbard from a peg on the wall that was between two bunk beds.
Now the party decided it truly was time to depart, with haste. They quickly retraced their steps to the sacrificial chamber where, to their relief, they found all of their compatriots waiting for them. Jorgio and Fredo graciously offered to carry the unconscious Tureg out of the dungeon. Once out of the dungeon, the party retraced their path the long 10 miles back to Elwood’s citadel.
Experience points: Monsters killed: 17 orcs (10 XP each, plus 1 XP per HP) = 17 * 10 + 93 HP = 263 XP. These are divided into two batches. The first 9 orcs were dispatched by the original party members only, so only those party members will claim credit for their 136 experience points. The second group of 8 orcs was dispatched with the help of Flenda, so she will share in the 127 experience points along with all original party members except Tureg (who was unconcious at the time).
The party didn’t find any treasure on this trip. They had barely entered the dungeon when they got involved in the melee with the orcs in the sacrificial chamber. However, since the party did the right thing in rescuing the prisoners, especially by rescuing Flenda just before she was to meet her fate, the wise and benevolent dungeon master awarded 25 XP per victim rescued, making a total of 100 XP. These points are only divided amongst the original party members.
The party did also retrieve four short swords and scabbards (worth 8 GP each, or 32 GP total), a set of scale mail (worth 45 GP), and three sets of leather armor (worth 5 GP each, or 15 GP total). The total worth of salvaged weapons and armor was thus 92 GP. That total also gets added to experience. However, the scale mail and one short sword that was claimed by Flenda will get split among the original party plus Flenda (53 GP worth), while the remaining 29 GP value for 3 sets of leather armor and 3 short swords will get divided amongst all of the original party members except Tureg (who was unconsicous by this time), but adding in Flenda, Fredo, Jorgio, and Gwenette.
Total experience points = 263 + 100 + 92 = 455. This was divided by a complicated formula, and when all was said and done, these were the awarded XP: Falafela 67 XP; Lightstep 67; Opalent 67; Vandin 67; Vox 74 (includes his 10% bonus for high strength); Pangborn 37 (includes a 10% bonus for high wisdom); Persis 33; Tureg 22; Flenda 15; Fredo 2; Gwenette 2; Jorgio 2.
Total accumulated experience points: Lightstep 486; Vandin Lakesplitter 457; Falafela 447; Opalent 447; Persis 223; Tureg 212; Vox the Just 178; Pangborn 37; Flenda 15; Fredo 2; Gwenette 2; Jorgio 2.
— The Dungeon Master
PS Originally, the Dungeon Master forgot to calculate in the value of the weapons and armor retrieved from the dungeon, but now those values have been added in and experience point (XP) values adjusted.
Tags: Breathy Footsore, Falafela, Flenda, Fredo, Gwenette, Hawkmoon, Jorgio, Lightstep, Losnoth, Opalent, orcs, Pangborn, Persis, Popinjay, Tureg, Vandin Lakesplitter, Vox the Just