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View Full Version : A trapped dungeon [my session]



Kaww
2011-04-23, 12:31 AM
Yesterday was a good gaming day for me. Like the previous (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=173273) extraordinarily good session I wanted to share this one with you. It didn't make anyone cry, but it made everybody nervous, which I was aiming for. One disclaimer: I never played/read/DMed Tomb of Horrors, if there are any similarities they are there by chance, don't point them out I want to enjoy that dungeon one day. It's a spin of an old dungeon design, redone and remodeled to suite my game's purposes.

Cast:

L - Warblade, scarred Human that seeks glory and wants his name remembered. In his free time he plays a lute. (LN)

J - Druid, Elf she is a convict, sort of wrongfully convicted, she and her sister killed a man who threatened their village. They were convicted for murder. (NG)

V - Druid, J's twin sister, player has ADD she causes the party an equal amount of problems and solutions, mostly to problems she causes. (CN)

IS - Sorcerer, Half-elf, generally nice and shy person, no more description for now, party doesn't know who she is or why she is there. (CN)

G - Cleric of Cyric, not a nice guy IC, want's to get away with murder and cruelty every chance he gets. He sat this one out in an insane asylum... (NE)

The campaign is taking place in a custom setting. The party members are convicts doing their sentence in mountain guard/escort/protection force. L is the only volunteer in this party, IS got there by accident. They are searching for a NPC rogue which they are associated with. They are all sergeants in the Mountain guards, including Alton, the missing rogue. He was sent on a secret mission with his squad to check out some coordinates they found in an abandoned mage's laboratory.

The altitude is really high (2km the main fortress complex, others are higher, this session takes place at 7km above sea level), it is really cold (-25F), daylight lasts for five and a half hours and it is getting shorter. Light sources produce less light and mysterious ancient creatures have started waking up. If you know what is the base for this campaign please don't post it here. I'm using the signs and the template, but that is all.

I hope you enjoy the read, I'm gonna try and finish this by Monday.

Kaww
2011-04-23, 12:32 AM
The party was walking through desolate, ice covered mountain for nine days. Most of the time there was a snowstorm, so their visibility was next to null. They had former knowledge of the region, which they acquired via several maps. They lost their way several times, which had no real consequence, save for time loss.

They got to a mountain side which was their destination and after some five hours found a secret door which led to what they thought was another wizard's laboratory. A switch was also found easily, since there were three fresh scratch marks right beside it. They opened the door by pressing the button and a 24'x15' piece of mountain was moved to reveal a white tunnel with black stone floor. The walls of the tunnel enhanced light radius since they are rather reflective.

Inside after some 300ft they found a cart of similar making as their sledge and a mechanical mule that pulled it. They brought the mule with them, because it is always handy to have a mechanical mule. after 900ft they got to a crystal door that had a button that opened it. This is all very similar to what they have found previously inside the last lab, with the exception of mule and cart.

The door opened as L pressed the button. This revealed a flight of odd stairs that led down. Next to the door was an indent in the wall, obviously built in by whoever made the place. Inside it there was room for one large creature to squeeze in or for three medium ones, also squeezing.


L: "****, a rolling boulder trap. Can my character make this conclusion?"

Me: "Well, it is pretty obvious... Also the mule can't go down the stairs, for moving down/up the stairs at normal speed DC 3 balance check, 23 for running, 13 for skipping a step."

L: "OK, anyone have any idea on how do we do this?"

Nobody had any idea on how to approach this. The general consensus was that they should let shapeshifting druid go ahead and if a boulder drops after her she should turn into an avian form and fly down as fast as she can until she either finds a place to hide or reaches the bottom of the stairs.

V proceeded step by step until she reached the next indent 600ft further down the stairs. She called out her team mates and all except J went down after her. The process was repeated once more successfully and then as they were standing next to the third indent they spotted 150 ft bellow a smear on the stairs.

L: "I'll go down and check it out, I will skip every other step."

Me: "No problem, you don't need to roll it" *His balance is 12*

Me: "J after some 20 minutes you hear a loud slam as a giant stone cylinder hits the stairs. The rest of you may hear this with a 30 listen check"

J: "I shout out a warning"

Me: "Alas, you barely heard yourself from the thundering noise made by the cylinder"

V failed with 29... L was still approaching the pancaked corpse of an unlucky private. They all heard it after it got to 600ft from them. L started climbing with his normal speed, but the cylinder was being rather loud and L decided to run... He rolled an 11 which with his 12 was enough for a cheer from across the table.

Me: "As you enter the cavity a huge stone cylinder roles behind your back"

The party organized and deduced that every seventh step was trapped. It took them three hours OoG and V tumbled town the stairs, activated the trap and barely survived during that experiment, but somehow they reached the last cavity. They deduced that if they activated the trap and then followed the boulder they could move from one indent to another; V's fall gave them the clue that there is only one stone rolling down.

Kaww
2011-04-23, 12:33 AM
To be edited with ascent...

Kaww
2011-04-23, 12:34 AM
To be edited with epilogue...

This is a running campaign, I might post more latter...