"Hey, did you feel that?"
Lysanthir had noticed a sudden judder in the air around him, like time had stuttered and juddered and then resumed. He was attuned to such things through his mystic studies.
"Don't know what you are talking about," chorused the others.
"Yeah, stick to the ale. You know that scumble does bad things to your brain," advised Onesipe and promptly followed his own advice by ordering another mug of Olde Forgetful.
It's been a while. Between the Easter break and catching various lurgies, I have not really been up for playing games. Time to get back in the saddle and try to remember where we were up to in the tales of the Thrappled Lemmings.
As Lysanthir mused on the nature and malleability on time, he heard a Town Crier outside announcing to the world that the merchant Tancred Guttormsson would pay a generous 2 Marks for the return of an item whose nature would be disclosed to the brave souls who volunteered to undertake this task for him. Lysanthir immediately delegated Onesipe to contact Tancred and accept the contract.
He then settled up the bill at the inn for 2 Marks and went in search of the others. He found Onesipe and Drogo sparring. Onesipe confirmed that he had accepted the contract before he got distracted. He told them to be ready to travel as soon as he returned from selling their excess gear at the market.
With all the necessary business done, the Thrappled Lemmings followed the well-worn trail to the Temple and proceeded down into the depths below the earth. As they reached unexplored areas, the halls around them echoed with the gibbering and howling of nameless creatures drawn to the infernal magics of the cultists activities. Twisted, deformed and devoid of sanity, they would visit their own horror on everyone else that all might realise the sights they saw.
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| The Lemmings enter from the bottom left |
Fulrad scouted ahead. His experienced eye noted that this level was larger than the others with more important features. It was clear from the way the level had been carved out of the bedrock with extra care. With such a large area to search, the party decided to split up into three groups. Fulrad was the first to find anything: a bag of gems worth 5 Marks.
"Score!" he thought to himself as Sir Thiebault tried to catch up with him.
Onesipe, also eager for treasure, raced ahead, only to encounter a group of twisted man-beast things emerging from a side passageway just as another group was disappearing down a different passageway in the vast hall that he had entered. Worse yet, he could hear the scratching, shuffling footsteps of another enemy nearby. Drogo moved up alongside Onesipe just as the twisted man-beast creatures spotted the pair and charged. A brief melee ensued with no one gaining the upper hand. Both sides stepped back to catch their breath. Onesipe fired but the beast's thick fur stopped his bolt. Drogo charged in again, crushing a creature's skull with his axe so badly that its teeth fell out onto the ground. Drogo's axe swung as the other creatures attacked. He cleaved one in two and drove the other back with black ichod dripping from mighty wounds.
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| CONTACT! |
But, more were approaching. Onesipe desperately reloaded his crossbow. He aimed and fired at the newest arrival. Blood spouted from a grievous wound but the creature staggered on just the same. The monsters attacked like the maddened beasts they were. Only their stout armour saved Onesipe and Drogo long enough for each to slay his foe. The fight was long and hard and they were panting desperately by the end of it but there was little time for respite.
More of the beast-forms emerged from passages along the way and attacked viciously and unthinkingly. Drogo drove one back as the others approached, ready to charge. The melee dragged on. Drogo's armour took hit after hit but held against the beasts' claws. Surrounded by bodies and slipping in the blood, he nearly fell victim to the fetid breath and razor sharp teeth of one creature, but successfully slipped in under its guard despite being wounded and cut this one down too. The sight of so much carnage caused one of the creatures to drop to all fours and sprint from the hall. That still left four of them though.
As the others fought, Lysanthir found that the floor of one room was unstable and rocked under foot, making it hard to walk on. Fulrad triggered a trap. Fortunately, he was using the ten-foot pole that was part of his Delver's Kit, so he was unharmed. He then promptly opened a door to reveal a room filled with a toxic miasma. Staggering back choking, he shut the door and moved on.
In a pause in the battle, Drogo bandaged his wounds. Onesipe shot but his crossbow bolt failed to penetrate the creature's armour. Lysanthir soon found that he was not alone either. Footsteps were approaching the large chamber he was in.
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| Lysanthir discovers something unspeakable |
The pause was not long for Drogo as the beasts rushed forward once more. He and Onesipe cut them down. Their armour was bloodied and battered by the end, but soon a dozen corpses lay around them and bloody footprints showed where the last of the creatures had fled. They caught their breath.
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| A hard fight |
Lysanthir back-pedalled for all he was worth as a beast-man attacked him. He yelled to Wido, hoping that the warrior would be able to reach him in time. Wido came running. Together, the pair took up station in the corridor as the man-beast pursued Lysanthir, howling and dripping foam from its slavering jaws. It did not matter though. Wido pierced the beast's breast with a single strike of his war spear and the creature fell lifeless to the ground. The gibbering and howling and insanity-inducing noises in this place had all died down. There was nothing left to do but loot the place and camp for the night before returning home for a welcome flagon of ale (or scumble).
"Hey, lads, do you think a lot of people have been here before us?"
"Dunno, why?"
"Well, it just seems like there is a lot of armour lying around, like maybe those beasts ate its former wearers."
"Makes sense."
The four suits of armour would sell well, although Drogo grabbed the one that Lysanthir declared to be magic, after shaking out an arm bone from it that appeared not to have been chewed for a change. His armour was just too scratched up and this magic armour looked both strong and light. They also found a few weapons and some valuables. All in all, it was a good haul. Better yet, they had found Tancred's little black book and could return it to claim that reward too.
Well, Onesipe and Drogo (but mainly Drogo) carried that one. Onesipe's crossbow barely did anything but he did better when he got his sword out, while Drogo's axe did its job and cut down most of the dead enemies. It was good to get back to this campaign and I look forward to the next level of this dungeon. Maybe we should not split the party up to explore it though. This could have gone very badly for Onesipe and Drogo were it not for their armour protecting them more often than normal, although the enemy also did well on armour rolls. Fortunately, using all the Will points they had really helped the Lemmings get through without relying on Story Points this time. With all their loot stashed on their mule, they are ready to take on the next level.
Another thing that strikes me is how well these oversized dungeon maps work for this type of game. The levels are a bit too large, but the maps work well and are easy to put together, which lets me get to the gaming faster. I still quite fancy making a proper terrain set for the dungeons but that will wait.
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