The trip into the midden had been bad for Onesipe. His armour was damaged, so he took some armour that the Lemmings had found after the fight with the Orcs. It turned out to be better, so he was very happy. He and Fulrad then spent a little time sparring (+1 XP each) and learned a bit from the exercise. Meanwhile, Lysanthir pored over his scrolls and books.
"Hey, guys," he announced suddenly, "This map I found seems to indicate that the Orcish hideout is actually near Fikaby. We should probably do something about that now that we have invested so heavily in the settlement."
The Orc Hideout has been located at hex 1806 (-6 Adventure Points).
"Right, let's get moving. We can deal with the Orcs when we need to travel back to Fikaby to sell all the loot."
The Lemmings moved off through the entrance to the mound that stood in the centre of the stone circle. There were two routes down, so they split into two groups and were soon moving slowly through stone halls that reeked of patchouli oil and incense. Fulrad scouted ahead and reported to Lysanthir that the place was much bigger than seemed reasonable, which suggested good chances for finding loot.
Going olde skoole with this scenario and the other levels in the delve. I bought the pdf for The Temple of Elemental Evil from DriveThruRPG ages ago and have printed off the map to use as a battlemat. I shall do the same for the other levels in this dungeon. Each square on this map is 15mm across. This is about half scale which will make fighting in the passages cramped, but that works for me. I shall print off the other levels from this dungeon too and use them for the rest of it, if this level works out ok. I was tempted to redraw the maps in Campaign Cartographer but just couldn't be arsed. I wanted to play instead.
As they made their way through the tunnels, the Lemmings could hear the chanting getting louder. Suddenly, a small group of cultists appeared round the corner and started throwing stones at Onesipe.
The woman following this small group of cultists saw Onesipe and her eyes grew wide.
"Ha! I have found you. You Thrappled Lemmings will not leave this delve alive, I promise you that!"
"I guess she is here for us," muttered Onesipe to Sir Thiebault, who was just behind him.
He stepped back a pace and Sir Thiebault took up station in front of him. The oncoming cultist fought viciously and it was only his armour that saved Sir Thiebault from harm as he was driven back by the frothing madman's assault. Wido stepped into the breech and wounded the gibbering lunatic but was driven back in turn.
The cultist's next onslaught was even more frenzied, but Wido had got his measure. The cultist died and the slinger with him bolted. The female warrior stepped up and drove Wido back further. There was little that Onesipe and Sir Thiebault could do in the narrow confines of these passages, but they aided as best they could. Wido had soon wounded the warrior, but her armour was strong and many of his blows failed to pierce it. The exchange of blows went on for an age. Both warriors were sweating and heaving for breath, their armour being the only thing that saved them time and time again. Eventually, the warrior paused at the wrong moment and Wido sank his spear into her throat. She collapsed to the floor dead.
Elsewhere, Fulrad was drawing a blank in his search for treasure, while Drogo had found some armour and a shield they could sell. He and Lysanthir were just leaving that chamber when a column of cultists appeared round the corner. Flustered, Drogo's first attack was driven back. It was fortunate that he had invested in heavy armour else he could have been dead on the floor now. Wounded and bleeding, Drogo was driven back as each cultist pushed past and attacked in succession. Lysanthir stepped up and quickly bandaged Drogo's wounds as the combatants paused a second to catch their breath. In the end, though, it was too much. A cultist got through Drogo's defences and laid him flat on the floor.
As the cultists advanced on Lysanthir and Fulrad, they retreated into the chamber behind them to give themselves more space. Fulrad had time to fire a shot that hit one cultist right in the heart. The others howled vengeance. A second shot bounced off a cultist's armour. Lysanthir leapt into the fray, only to be driven straight back by the cultists. Fortunately, his ring of protection held and he was not hurt.
Fulrad then cut down a howling cultist, but harsh chanting could be heard as another cultist approached from the Temple entrance, and the remaining cultist wounded Fulrad. Lysanthir used his magic to heal Fulrad, and the pair prepared for a renewed onslaught. As Fulrad and Lysanthir slowly whittled down the cultists, finally one broke and ran. In the ensuring quiet, they had time to pause for a breath but not for long. They could hear more chanting and footsteps approaching.
Meanwhile, Wido was excited because he had found a stash of loot. He was about to plunder it when he heard more cultists coming up behind him. Sir Thiebault's shout of surprise as he rounded a corner and almost bumped into them in his hurry to catch up with Wido was the alarm Wido needed. He took the opportunity to plunder the stash of weapons he had found before turning to face the cultists.
The clash of arms filled the delve. Two cultists fell and another fled for his life. Onesipe sniped a cultist from a side passage. Sir Thiebault was wounded but wounded his attacker in turn. More cultists fell and another fled. The fight was hard and none of the Lemmings was unhurt by the end. They caught their breath before searching the Temple thoroughly. As they did so, Wido opened a door and stepped into a haze of greenish gas. With a sigh, he collapsed.
The Thrappled Lemmings gatherered their loot and their fallen comrades and returned to the fresh air above. The Cultists were definitely storing weapons here, judging by the wide array that the party had found.
Once up in the fresh air, they found that Drogo's wounds were moderately serious (2 turns). He would require bed rest for a while to recover. Wido was lightly wounded but would not be able to fight for a short while either (1 turn).
As they rested up before returning to Fikaby with their wounded, Sigrid the Beggar dropped by. She told them about the new Orc camp near Fikaby and increased Orcish activities in the area.
"This is getting serious. The Orcs are massing for an attack and it looks like Fikaby will be the target," she informed them.
The Thrappled Lemmings nodded as one. They could take a hint. They would have to take a break from looting the Temple to sort the Orcs out. Well, they were good at that sort of thing and the Orc camps might be full of loot, so it would not be a pointless exercise.
That night, the Lemmings told their story to Sigrid and it got bigger with every telling. Suddenly the cultists had tentacles and eldritch powers and were allied with unspeakable evil. It was a great tale and Sigrid was sure to spread it. After a hearty breakfast of salt pork and beans, the group prepared to travel back to Fikaby. They fed Drogo and Wido a dose of Tonic each to help the healing process. As they travelled, Onesipe and Fulrad practiced shooting at anything that moved and a few things that did not. It was a quick journey because they had mapped out a safe route and they were soon drinking ale in the Mucky Duck and planning how best to proceed with dealing with the Orc threat.
Phew, that dungeon delve was a bit rough. It cost me several Story Points to keep Lysanthir on his feet and things could have gone a lot worse with Drogo and Wido. The map worked quite well, although it felt a bit large for the game. The narrow passages made it feel very claustrophobic, especially when a character got wounded and I had decided that being in combat prevented figures from squeezing past each other. I'll make up the next map for the next level soon, but the Lemmings now have a reason to deal with the Orcish threat, so they need to do that first. With all the characters levelling up at a point that generated Enemy Threat rolls to see what plans were afoot, it made for interesting times. I was particularly interested to see the dice focusing on Fikaby, which is also the Lemmings' focus. It's almost as if the dice were cooperating in the storytelling!
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