Characters:
Finrod, elf 1
Black Phalaros, necromancer 1
Clif, elementalist 1
Kelci Hind, spy 1 (Lost an arm. Demoted to NPC after the adventure)Jan, cleric 1 (NPC)
Machado, fighter 1 (NPC)
Tafari, cleric 1 (NPC)
In the distant east, halfway to the City-State of the Invincible overlord, a group of adventurers gathered at a remote lake. At the bidding of a priestess of the dragon-god Bahamut, they were on an expedition into an ancient tomb. Their goal: to find the legendary Black Blade, a cursed sword once wielded by a long-forgotten warlord.
The tomb turned out to be infested with zombies, a sleeping vampire, a zombie crocodile, another vampire, living statues, a ghoul, & a gigantic slime monster!
Machado the fighter carried a Lawful magic sword, and managed to stay alive through wave after wave of zombie attacks, and far worse.
Clif's elementines were tremendously useful, keeping zombies at bay and solving problems throughout the dungeon.
Finrod the elf had his ribs broken by a zombie and had to sit out the rest of the adventure, recuperating back at camp.
Black Phalaros the necromancer was able to animate plenty of corpses in the dungeon (including with a handy scroll he found), and used the skeletons & zombies in clever ways to deal with the dungeon's many monsters & obstacles.
The group sent a sleeping vampire to his final rest, and confiscated his magic weapons. Both were curved blades of ancient & exotic make, one larger and one smaller. Their full properties are unknown.
[DM NOTE - these swords prompted me to double-check the magic weapon rules. Some of these might not be usable by the same characters, but nobody will take damage from them when play resumes -- we will assume that the proper character has been handling them. Their alignments are posted below. No more oopsies on this matter will occur!]
Jan the cleric was killed after reading an enchanted book in the library - his brain just melted!
Kelci Hind stabbed a vampiress in the back, dealing a powerful blow, but for his troubles he had his arm torn clean off and barely survived! Only clever magical preparations on Clif's part saved the whole group from certain doom in that battle.
Black Phalaros: "If you like, I could re-animate your hand for you..."
Tafari the cleric of Asmodeus was helpful, healing the group whenever possible, but didn't really say much - was it natural reticence, or something more? We don't know yet.
The group found many strange & deadly traps and illusions. Clif touched an embroidered green carpet and was assaulted by a spectral horror only he could see! Clutching his chest, he managed to survive the almost heart-stopping horror...
Clif: "I saw the price tag, guys!"
They found The Singularity, a strange illusionary man who berated and confounded them with illusions - its only purpose seemingly to waste their time. It was guarding a vault of trade bars! The party loaded 115 gold bars out of the dungeon with the help of their zombie servants, a massive hoard! Unfortunately they learned too late that that the gold was all cursed...
They disturbed a gigantic purplish-black puddle of slime, which chased them out of the dungeon completely! When they returned, the slime had eaten all the organic matter in sight. Dead bodies, wooden shelves, leftover books, everything else. From then on, they had to keep watch for the giant slime-puddle and occasionally run away from it, or have one character lead it on a chase away from their goals.
The party found several preserved body-parts throughout the dungeon. A softly mumbling severed head on a shelf, a petrified arm in a basilisk's lair, a set of legs inside the stomach of a zombie crocodile. Slowly they assembled the pieces, which had not decayed at all, into an intact man. When they used a Stone to Flesh scroll on the petrified portion, the man returned to life. He was confused and helpless, but led them to the Warlord's final resting place.
In the extra-dimensional space where the Warlord was buried, four pillars held his final ghoulish lieutenants. These were destroyed one at a time by the group, and the black coffin fell open: inside was only a pile of dust, and the Black Blade. This cursed weapon was secured safely (thank goodness) and transported swiftly back to High Priestess Annavalaxia at the church of Bahamut. She rewarded the party with 1,200 gold pieces, and promised to destroy this weapon of evil before it could fall into the wrong hands.
The confused man was recognized at the church, and Annavalaxia brought forth a book about his legendary life: he was St. Nolan, a powerful Patriarch who lived over a century ago, lost without a trace on his adventures.
St. Nolan wished to rejoin his church in Viridistan, and asked the group to accompany him. As they had spent some of their cursed gold before anyone realized its ominous properties, the locals were only too eager to see them gone!
The State of Things:
- The party is traveling to Viridistan, accompanying St. Nolan as he returns to the temple of Seker.
- They have their gold bars & other treasures loaded on a cart & team of horses.
- Finrod is recovering from his injuries, but we will assume that when the group gets to Viridistan and are available to play, he will be fully healed.
- Everyone except Finrod (he wasn't there when it was taken from the dungeon) is has been cursed by the gold bars, and suffers -4 on attacks/saves, and possibly other effects, until this curse is removed. Note that unless the curse is removed from the gold itself, it will fall on any person who accepts even a single bar.
Monsters Defeated:
Zombies (many)
Sleeping Vampire (no XP though)
Blinded Vampiress
Living Statue
Ghoul
Zombie Crocodile
Warlord's Guardians
Treasure Obtained:
*** please note who is carrying what if you haven't already ***
Drum set
4 dangerous magical books (used & sold)
magic scimitar - Manhunter (Chaotic)
magic great scimitar - Aeon Blade (stats as greatsword) (Neutral)
scroll of wizard lockscroll of stone to flesh (used)
metal scroll case
scroll of flyscroll of remove curse (used)
assortment of potions (healing & some others unidentified)
some silver coins (already distributed)
wand of fireballs (1 charge remaining)
ring of spell storing (M-U)
dagger +1
chainmail +1
immovable rodstaff of healing (given back to St. Nolan)
115 cursed gold trade bars
(6 bars spent, 109 bars remaining - 54,500 silver pieces total value!)
Treasure Sold & Shares:
glowing topaz (500 sp)
chest of wizard's books, non-magical (1000 sp)
silver brooch w/ emeralds (3000 sp)
sapphire (1000 sp)
1,200 gold piece reward for finding the Black Blade
(split 6 ways is 200 gp each)
Cost-of-living and the cost of identifying some magic items has already been deducted.
Finrod: 193 sp + 200 gp
Clif: 1185 sp + 200 gp
Kelci: 1185 sp + 200 gp
Black Phalaros: 858 sp + 200 gp
Machado: 526 sp + 200 gp
Tafari: 526 sp + 200 gp
Experience:
Black Phalaros, Machado and Tafari reached level 2!!
Clif and Kelci have reached level 3!!!
Finrod is still at level 1... such is the struggle of elves in this decadent age.
Machado & Tafari can be upgraded to PCs, or come on adventures as hirelings, but because they have classes & levels they'll get their own shares of XP automatically.
