GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Jozy Zim, Eric Fattig, Demian Kendall
System: Shadowdark
Our crew
- Sraxl, played by Demian our Cartographer
- Lenk, played by Jozy our Timekeeper
- Gendry, played by Eric our Note Taker
I was racing around this entire week so I only had about 30 min before the game to setup and prep myself. The downside is that it meant me spending a little more time looking things up in the book or the adventure. The upside was we still had fun and things were just as precarious as I could have hoped for!
Of note, dungeon crawling is more dangerous for smaller groups, not only because there are fewer of them, but because the GM turns to player turns increases when there are fewer players. I found myself drawing a LOT of encounter cards, and of course one happened right as they were grappling with a deadly trap and the lights went out. My kingdom for a decent torch!
Note keeper’s journal
Gendry, Lenk, and Sraxl set up camp to rest for the night. Unwilling to venture to shore for more firewood, the party instead goes into the hills.
Local knowledge: Sraxl notes that the citadel is rumored to be rife with secret passages.
From the hillside, the party sees that part of the citadel roof has collapsed, giving the party a glimpse of a a room containing a great onxy bull statue. The party hears something within snorting, and a mighty bull-like creature slams into a pillar blow, shaking the ground.
As the party collects firewood, a shadow passes overhead. It’s a wyvern! The beast doesn’t notice the party, and discretion being the better part of valor, the party returns to the camp under the protective cloak of Sraxl’s fog.
It’s only now that the party realizes Giuseppe is gone. He happears to have stolen one of the mysterious rowboats that have been moored alongside the shore when they came out of the citadel.
Gendry regales the party with takes of the high-leaping faun who he had a fling with as a younger dwarf [1 Luck].
In the night Giuseppe comes sneaking back in, clearly intent on robbing the party before making his escape, but Gendry catches him, and is willing t overlook (or simply not realize) Giuseppe’s attempted betrayal and agrees to protect Giuseppe in exchange for “his” coin purse, which Gendry promptly returns to Lenk. [Giuseppe had stolen it but didn’t have a chance to look inside. When he was caught he offered it to Gendry for protection but then when he opened it and saw it was full of gold, cursed himself…he should have just run!]
In the morning the party enters through the main door and descends into the citadel. The path branches and the party goes left and finds a long room with a great bull statue, much like the one that gored Orwin.
The party opts instead to go the other way. Finding a stuck door, Sraxl tries and fails to force it open. Instead Gendry uses a little Dwarven know-how to pry it open with iron spikes.
Beyond the party finds an L-shaped room, one wing of which appears to be protected by another bull statue trap. In the other corner, crude graffiti reads “KILL IT WITH FIRE!”
Sraxl coaxes her frog familiar to hop down the hallway toward the trap. It makes it halfway without incident. Falsely reassured Gendry starts down the hallway only for his greater weight to trigger the trap. Gendry is gored and loses consciousness.
Sraxl is able to rouse him, right as.
THE TORCH GOES OUT
Gendry, cursing, tries and fails to light a torch. The others also try and fail, which Gendry notes is ironic given that he had always been told the Horth and Amaranth love darkness. Finally, Gendry
RELIGHTS THE TORCH
Lenk cagily tests the limits of the trap, but the statue remains still. Sraxl also tries to deceive the trap with a shadowy illusion, but does not succeed. While Gendry heals himself, Lenk darts forth trying to trigger the trap but leap back before it can strike.
Lenk is half successful. The trap gores her but unlike Gendry, she does not lose consciousness. Sraxl darts into the safety of the room [across the hall]. She also beckons her familiar, Blurp, to join her.
Gendry and Lenk try to pry the gem loose, or climb on top of it, but neither is able to succeed. The bull reseeds, getting closer and closer to resetting.
Giuseppe joins Sraxl in the comparative safety of the next room. Sraxl inquires about what motivates Guiseppe. He relates his tale of woe and struggle to a curious Sraxl.
The bull is almost back in place. With just enough time for one last attempt, Gendry lunges for the gem…and fails.
In that moment, chaos erupts. Lured by the prospect of fresh meat caught by the trap, noy one, but TWO groups of humanoids burst into the room where Sraxl is waiting. A band of beast men come through one door while a swarm of spider folk come through the other.
Giuseppe cowers, Sraxl strategically withdraws under the cover of the summoned mist, leaving the groups to fight each other. Lenk bravely scrambles atop the statue, risking setting it off, but her luck holds and the trap doesn’t gore her. Afraid to move Gendry tosses her an iron spike so she can pry out the gem, but doesn’t move from his spot.
With great effort the mighty Lenk finally smashes the gem, having given up on the idea of prying it loose. With the trap finally disabled, she climbs down and lights a fresh torch to replace Gendry’s guttering one.
The party leaves the two fighting groups [and Giuseppe!] behind and goes through an unexplored door before they realized the party has escaped.
They enter a room with an apparent ceremonial purpose. Mosaics on the wall depict cavorting dolphins and white robes hang on a hook. A skeleton hands on the wall, held in place by a spear.
At this point Gendry realizes they’ve lost Giuseppe in the confusion, but the party decides it’s too dangerous to go back and look for him.
Sraxl conjures a witches cauldron in order to mend the broken gem. Gendry heals Lenk. The party descends into a natural cavern. The walls are bedecked with several great webbed bundles, possibly left by the spiderfolk before.
Lenk goes to wrest the spear loose, and despite her great might, is only barely able to free it. Something with impossible strength must have thrust it into the wall. [Sraxl takes the blood red leather armor it wears, and repairs it in the cauldron as well, and Gendry takes the bronze short sword at it’s side]
The party lights one of the webbed bundles on fire, revealing a desiccated beastman corpse within.
The irate spider folk who have been lurking on the ceiling descend and attack, although not before Sraxl conjures a protective fog. The spider creatures Rask, Msk, and Bisky wrap up Gendry and Lenk in webs.
The party strikes back, landing some blows, which leads the spiderfolk to shift tactics from violence to mere extortion. Lenk takes this poorly and maims one with her axe [Nat 20!]
Sraxl, ever crafty, tosses them a bag of coins, or appears to, at least because the coins are illusionary. Seizing the distraction she and Gendry bolt while the spiderfolk take the bait.
Knowing the spiderfolk will soon realize Sraxl’s deception, the party flees and spikes the door behind them shut.
The party finds Giuseppe alive – somehow – huddled in the hallway. He appears overcome by the horror of what he’s seen, but Lenk rewards his valor with the bronze short sword].
The party staggers back to the entrance with the last bit of torch light [a burning spider arm] and rests…
SESSION END
