This may be obvious but these AARs contain spoilers for those wanting to go into the Barrowmaze. The message is that if you're going to, don't take advantage of them. They're called spoilers because they spoil the fun. DON'T BE A DICK!
We had three short, ultimately frustrating, delves into the 'Maze on Sunday. The write-up for the first one is a little longer, so I'll post that today, and the other two together tomorrow.
Barrowmaze – 7 Apr 2019 (First Delve)
Player
|
Character
|
Class
|
Henchmen
|
Notes
|
John
|
Dungeon
Master
|
|||
Ash
|
Grump
|
Fighter
(Lvl 1)
|
Beatrice
Swinn (Lvl 0
Fighter)
|
First
‘Maze delve.
Died
by misadventure.
|
Edwin
|
Kindroleth
|
Elf
(Lvl 1)
|
|
First
‘Maze delve
Killed
by skeletons.
|
Jacob
|
Galmar
|
Dwarf
(Lvl 3)
|
|
|
Laura
|
Petal
|
Druid
(Lvl 1)
|
Theown
Smith (Lvl 0 Fighter)
|
First
‘Maze delve
|
Lizzie
|
Natalia
|
Acrobat
(Lvl 4)
|
Esme
(torch-bearer)
|
|
Sophie
|
Sorlof
|
Moss
Dwarf (Lvl 1)
|
|
|
The Rainy Season
Six
months had passed since the last delve due to the rainy season flooding the
Barrowmaze. We have now entered 843CR.
Galmar
(Ranger) had gone to Ironguard Motte for research in the archives to see what
lore, maps or other information could be found on the ‘Maze. He had written back that the lore-masters
kept their secrets close, but that he had met a disreputable ex-archivist who
was going to sell him some maps. Nothing
more has been heard from him since.
Moonwhisper
(Mage) and Blake (Cleric of St Ygg) had gone off to a newly-opened pyramid in
search of the fabled lost city beneath it.
There they had partied with Grump and Kindroleth and seduced them with
tales of the riches to be found in the ‘Maze. A third new member of the party, Petal (Druid) had seen the posters Cedric had put up around Helix and joined along with her potted plant.
Natalia
has built a house in Helix: 60x60ft made of stone, and with an attached gym,
it is much more substantial than Galmar’s House. Galmar keeps furtively disappearing into his
cellar with a shovel.
Galmar
has developed an interest verging on obsession with the liquids recovered from
the room with three pools which form Chaos Potions. He has been mixing various combinations and
recording the results.
Pre-Delve
The
Silver Standard Caravan Company’s base in Helix is now closed. To the party’s surprise, Merg, their former
hireling, has returned with his family.
He has realised that delving is a mug’s game and that the true wealth
will be made by the middle-men and service-providers. Accordingly, he is now running Merg’s
Mercenaries, introducing hirelings and henchmen to adventuring parties. Merg couldn’t provide a discount, but would
advise his people that the party were a reputable one.
Good old Merg! |
The
party recruited three hirelings:
Esme
Walder of the Wold, a non-combatant torch-bearer (11sp per delve)
Beatrice
Swinn, somewhat venerable and ill-equipped fighter (2gp per delve)
Theown
Smith, a former member of the Ironguard Motte garrison (21gp per delve)
The Delve
The
pre-delve plan was to go back over some old territory and fill in the gaps in
the maps – several options for further exploration were discussed and it was
finally decided to go through the ‘Front Door’, to proceed to the room where Ranya
was killed by the giant snake and then head north (possibly joining up with
other, known territory to the east.)
The
journey through the Wilderness was uneventful.
Due to the season it was hard going (4.5 hours).
Reaching
Five Finger Mound the party entered and found the familiar tripod over the hole in the
floor.
Kindroleth
and Esme examined the mound for surprises while Natalia checked the integrity
of the tripod. As expected the rope,
having been underwater during the floods, was slippery. As Natalia began to fix her own rope up, Grump,
our barbarian-like fighter, lost patience and attempted to climb down with a
lantern. He immediately lost his grip
and fell, smashing the light. There was
no answer to our shouts to him.
Natalia
finished fixing her rope and descended the 40ft to the ‘Maze proper. Next to a pool of burning oil she found
Grump’s dead, broken body.
She
was suddenly attacked by two giant centipedes.
Having been bitten, venom took effect and she collapsed. The rest of the party used ranged weapons to
kill the centipedes from above.
Having
seen her employer killed and Natalia attacked, Beatrice lost courage and
refused to enter the ‘Maze. She declined
the suggestion that she stand guard at the entrance and return to Helix with
the rest of the party, instead heading off on her own.
The
party went down into the entrance room, tried to assist Natalia and stripped
Grump’s body of anything of use.
As
those members who hadn’t been in the ‘Maze before were acclimatising and
examining the wall carvings, they heard a sound from the corridor and were
attacked by six skeletons. These were
defeated, but not until Kenroleth and Galmar had both been severely wounded:
Kenroleth, it turned out, fatally.
With
two members dead, one severely wounded, one poisoned and a hireling having
deserted, the party had no choice but to call it a day and attempt to return to
Helix safely. Nobody thought to examine
the skeletons’ remains.
Post-Delve
The
return journey took 6 hours but there were no encounters. There was no sign of Beatrice.
Natalia
was taken to Brother Othar for healing, but he prescribed bed-rest. She and Galmar healed-up over the next 8
days.
The
gold recovered from Grump’s body was added to group funds.
Group Funds
|
Income
|
Expenditure
|
Recruitment
|
|
10gp
|
Wages
|
|
24gp,
1 sp
|
Recovered
from Grump’s body
|
14gp
|
|
Encounters
Location
|
Nature
|
Casualties
|
Notes
|
Entrance
room
|
Giant
Centipedes (x2)
|
Natalia
poisoned.
|
Only
Natalia in melee.
Centipedes
killed by ranged fire.
|
Entrance
room
|
Skeletons
(x6)
|
Kindroleth
killed.
Galmar
severely wounded.
|
Skeletons
defeated.
|
Treasure
|
Where and how acquired
|
Value
|
Notes
|
None
|
|
|
|
Score:
90
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