Introduction
Desclaimer: All characters appearing in this game are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Proctoring final exams is pretty dull. What better time to have another solo RPG adventure, or at least set one up! The problem was that I didn’t have my dice with me. Online dice rollers are OK, but a little slow. Then I decided, why not use my students as templates for characters? In a small school like mine, you get to know the students well enough to judge their stats and what sorts of character classes they might be. The characters are mash-ups of several students plus the names were changed to protect the innocent. I decided to make them second level characters because it was an upper level class, so they were all juniors and seniors. Besides, I wanted the game to last longer than the first one I had.
There are a lot more members of the cast that I planned, but it fits the story and the relationships they have to one another. I set this one in my old fantasy world that I used for both role-playing and fantasy war gaming. Again, I am using Basic Fantasy RPG (2nd Edition), the No Budget No Frills Pencil and Paper Dungeon Generator (version 4.1) with a few add-ons I made from Tabletop Diversions blog, Mythic Master Game Emulator, and whatever else I happen to find of use. Since its a solo game, I mix and match whatever gaming mechanisms I want. As I go along, I am continuously tinkering with the dungeon generator.
The Background
On her way to pay respects to her future mother-in-law, the Countess of Erelle, the young Lady Hayleea was kidnapped. Her fiancĂ©e, the dashing Sir Elgrum immediately rode off with a large, armed party to rescue her. Along the way, his party was ambushed. They defeated their attackers but only Sir Elgrum, Sister Yabringa (Lady Hayleea’s dour spiritual advisor, who managed to escaped being kidnapped), and Kassira Kwin (the rescue party’s tracker) survived. They took up the trail, which led them to a small village on the border with Turonia. Several villagers told of a party hurrying north into the wilds. They continued to follow the trail until ended near some old burial mounds. They returned to town, as Sir Elgrum sorely needed help. While at the local tavern, they were told that those mounds were those of the Gails, ancient ancestors of the barbarians that were now to the north that worshipped an evil snake-goddess. They managed to recruit two fighters, two magic-users, and a thief.
The Characters
Sir Elgrum (Fighter. Str: 16 Int: 8 Wis: 8 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Crs: 14HP: 11). Noble and dashing, but somewhat headstrong. Not a paladin, but very religious. Armor: platemail. Weapons: Two-handed axe, longsword.
Sister Yabringa (Cleric. Str: 11 Int: 16 Wis: 17 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Crs: 8 HP: 8). A plain woman with a shadow falling over her, she is always wearing a perpetual scowl. Maybe it’s her strict orthodoxy to the Faith, or perhaps another hidden struggle. She has been a loyal confidant and spiritual advisor to Lady Hayleea for many years. Armor: Padded leather vest. Weapon: club.
Kassira Kwin (Half-Elf Ranger/Druid. Str 14 Int 17 Wis 14 Dex 16 Con: 13, Crs: 12 HP: 9) A petite but physically strong woman. She is also extremely dexterous and gains a +2 when climbing things. Armor: leather vest. Weapons: Quarter staff, Short sword (D6+1), and dagger (D4+1). Elves made her short sword and dagger especially for her. They are not magical but gain the bonus in her hands.
Sir Gladwell Ravenlocks (Fighter. Str: 16 Int: 12 Wis: 8 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Crs: 17 HP:12) A wandering knight, he was renown for doing good deeds. He is a great charmer of women. Currently, he travels and adventures with his companions Youngrin and Cuthwaith. Armor: chainmail (sleeveless, of course!) & shield. Weapons: Longsword, dagger.
Cuthwaith Tunnelruner (Thief. Str 14 Int: 9 Wis:6 Dex:16 Con: 12 Crs:12 HP: 5) A good thief, but he’s not the brightest fellow. Tends to get in trouble and has to have his comrades bail him out. Armor: None. Weapons: Short sword, 4 throwing daggers.
Sir Youngrin Bodin (Fighter. Str: 17 Int: 16 Wis: 15 Dex 12 Con: 13 Crs: 14 HP: 10) Gladwell’s friend and adventuring companion. They are often rivals in everything, including women. He tends to be the realist of the two and often has to bail both Gladwell hand Cuthwaith out of trouble. It is said that he is the son of a very powerful lord. Armor: chainmail & shield. Weapons: Longsword and dagger.
Charnel of the Mystic Glade (Magic User. Str: 12 Int: 17 Wis: 9 Dex 13 Con: 10 Crs: 13 HP: 6) While a very good magic user, she tends to be rather absent minded. She will often neglect her studies with her apprentice. Armor: None. Weapons: Staff and 1 dagger.
Miria Meeksoul (Magic User Str:9 Int: 16 Wis:12 Dex: 10 Con: 7 Crs: 6 HP: 5) A small, quiet woman, she is the apprentice of Charnel. It is not clear why Charnel took Miria on as an apprentice, nor why Miria stays with Charnel. Armor: None. Weapons: Staff and 1 dagger.
Chapter 1: Encounter along the way
The adventures left early from the tavern, as reached the end of the town, an old man hobbled up to them. He tugged on Sister Yabringa, reins. “Please blessed sister, my daughter, Enya, was kidnapped the other day and I’m sure she was taken to the burial mounds! Please find her and bring her home to me. She is all I have!"
Sister Yabringa scowls, but Sir Elgrum cuts in, “good sir, fear not! We will find your daughter and bring her back to you."
The old man thanks Sir Elgrum and shuffles off. The party rides at a quick pace, hoping to arrive before nightfall. But shortly before they arrive to the burial mounds, they heard a scream coming from the forest. Kassira volunteers to investigate.
She quietly moves through the forest floor toward the noise. She enters a clearing an sees a large ogre smacking around a young man. Unfortuately, she gives her location away with the snap of a branch. The ogre quickly turns, picks up a large club, and charges after Kassira. Seeing that there is strength in numbers, she turns and quickly runs back to the party shouting, "OGRE!!”
She easily out runs the ogre back to the trail. The rest of the party reacts quickly and prepares for battle.
The party gets the initiative and Kassiera and Gladwell get the first attack. Gladwell misses, but Kassiera gets in a deadly blow (natural 20) but not enough to kill it. The ogre's club smashes into Gladwell's shield but Gladwell is only shaken by the blow. Magic missiles by the magic users seem to only enrage the ogre. After several rounds of combat, wounds are taken on both sides but the outcome is still up in the air. Ffinally, Sir Elgrum manages to plant his two-handed axe into the ogre and it goes down.They search the ogre but find nothing of value.
The party goes back to the clearing and finds the young man. He is conscious but injured. Yabringa cures him. He tells them that his name is Bral (Str: 12 Int: 9 Wis 11 Dex 16 Con 9 Crs 7 HP: 6). He is a young farmer whose wife was abducted two days ago. He managed to follow the abductors here, but ran into the ogre. They ask him if he is from the village that they came from, but he tells them no. He is from another village. He begs to come with. The party is split, but they tell him if he can carry their items and stay out of their way, they will let him accompany them. He has no armor and his weapon was a staff and a dagger. but they promise to give him any weapons and armor if they find it. They decide to camp for the night and enter the burial mounds the next morning. Nothing happens that night and they prepare to enter in the morning.
Chapter 2: Entering the tomb
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| Entrance into the burial mound |
The morning they gather around an entrance way. It blocks by stones and rubble.The Cuthwaith confidently declares there is no traps, and they have Bral remove the stones. They are in a small room (1) made of earthen walls held precariously up by rotten timbers. At the end of the room are stairs plunging into the earth. Lighting torches and lanterns, they descend the stairs. Reach the bottom stairs and walk along a passage until they get to a 4-way intersection. Suddenly a giant crab spider leaps out at them (2)!
It attacks Bodin and severely wounds him. The poison takes immediate effect and he passes out possibly dead!
The party is stunned by what they see and the spider gets a second attack! It then attacks Bral. Bral tries to jump away but he is hit bad, however the poison doesn’t seem to effect him (successful save vs poison). Instinctively Bral swings with his staff and it hits the spider doing minor damage. The spider then attacks Charnel but misses her due, in part, to her dexterity.
Now, everyone gets a blow. Charnel, being just attacked, manages to fire off a magic missile doing mior damage. Everyone else misses. In fact Cuthwaith nearly hits Charnel. Miria then casts a spell that does a lot of damage and the spider is dead.
They rush over to Youngrin. Both the cleric and Kassira (who also has the gift of healing) manages to cure him of the wounds, but is it enough to stop the poison? Sir Elgrum decides to leave the dungeon make camp. They carrying Youngrin’s body out. While still unresponsive, Kassira pulls out of a pouch some dried leaves, mixes it with some oil and applies it to his wound. She does the same to Bral.
A day and a night passes. Finally in the late morning, Youngrin stirs and seems to have survived. Sister Yabringa is sure it was witchcraft, and mentions it to Elgrum. Elgrum rebuffs her stating that they should be happy that Youngrin is alive. They camp for one more day to help Youngrin recover. Youngrins Con is down 1 point for the remainder of the adventure.
The following day they reenter to the burial mound. A little more cautious, they send the thief up ahead. Reaching the 4-way intersection, they find the spider’s body still there. They decide to turn left. They travel about 60’ down a straight hall and find it ends with stairs going down. Along the way, they noticed a door on the north side of the passage.In protest, Cuthwaith goes down the stairs a ways, stops and listens. Hearing nothing (failure), he quickly runs back up the stairs. They decide to go back to the 4-way intersection but first check out that door. Cuthwaith listens but hears nothing (success). Checking for traps (fails), he finds nothing. The door not locked but stuck. Elgrum bashes the door in. The room comes alive with light and music (3). A sourceless, warm glow suffuses the chamber, and a harp you cannot see plays soothing sounds. Unfortunately, the rest of the chamber isn't so inviting. The floor is strewn with the smashed remains of rotting furniture. It looks like the room once held a bed, a desk, a chest, and a chair (from: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/drdg/index.htm). They search for source of the light and music but couldn’t find it. They leave and continue to the intersection.
And there it ends for now. Stay tuned for another chapter!
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