The Hidden Library

As part of a conversation with the ghost of a sage in the local cemetery, the characters learn about a hidden library containing books from the past. This was just a spur-of-the-moment hook I tossed out to the players. I had no intention of coming back to it. But one player caught hold of this hook and held fast. He made a deal to learn the location and wanted to go immediately. I was able to put him off to the next session of the game. In the meantime, I quickly wrote up a secret library of knowledge using the library in the adventure "Seven Days of the Serpent God" by Alex Kurowski. It is part of the Goodman Games Fifth Edition Fantasy adventure series.

Session 157: The Hidden Library

Lakima (human magic-user), Aldus (human cavalier), Domago (human cleric NPC), August (human magic-user NPC).

It is late summer in Edgeron. The skies are clear, and the weather is warm. The members of the Company of the Black Dragon are taking their time to prepare for an expedition to Lockeland to clear the area of goblins. While everyone is busy, Lakima decides he has time for a quick trip to the City of Glass to see if he can find the Hidden Library.

Lakima asks if anyone is interested in going with him to the Bridgeway and the City of Glass. Well rested and just back from a tournament in Uthersberg, Aldus says he is ready to travel. Lakima decides that his apprentice August and charmed bodyguard Luna should accompany them. He also wants to bring Brovin, but the thief is still recovering from his near-death experience.

“I have a few free days, and I will join you,” Domago says.

Surprised, Lakima asks if Domago should not be preparing for the trip to Lockeland, but Domago assures him that everything is ready. Grasshopper and Eathwund decline to be involved in the trip to the Hidden Library.

Early the morning of Augrast 8th, they set sail on the Cloudstealer for the Bridgeway. Clear skies and a light breeze send them on their way. As they start to pass over the Arkwood forest, they spot a swarm of eight giant wasps heading up from the forest toward their ship. Aldus loads the ballista and manages to strike one of the wasps. Once the wasps are within range, Lakima casts a fireball spell into their midst. Three of the wasps drop, flaming from the sky, while the rest scatter and head back down toward the trees.

“That showed them,” Lakima says.

“We should let them go,” Domago says, “I wonder what stirred them up?”

In another hour, the ship reaches the lonely stone bridge in the forest that holds the magical bridgeway portal. The bridge seems deserted. They descend until they can all exit the ship on a rope ladder. Lakima knocks on the door to the bridge. After a few moments, he is greeted by the custodian, Ezmeralden. The custodian is surprised by their visit since they had just left two days earlier. He asks if they have come to install the teleportation portal.

“No, the arches are not ready yet,” Lakima says, “We want to go to the City of Glass.”

“I have a lead on the location of a hidden library in the city,” Lakima continues. When Ezmeralden asks about the library, Lakima elaborates.

“It is said to hold magical knowledge of the lost age, magic tomes, poetry, history, all waiting to be found.”

While a little skeptical, Ezmeralden expresses interest in joining their group. He asks if they can wait 4 to 5 days while he arranges with the elves to have someone watch the bridgeway.

“Unfortunately, we are on a tight schedule,” Lakima says, “We have our next adventure already lined up. Perhaps you can join us next time. We will report back to you on what we find.”

Ezmeralden sets the bridgeway device for the City of Glass, and the adventurers step off the bridge onto a bridge within the city itself. After a short walk, they arrive at the Central Square.

“What are we looking for?” Domago asks.

Lakima explains that the library they seek has been hidden away for centuries below the city's Great Library. He asks a passing local and is told that the Library of Hukara is a large square building next to the Palace of the Emir. The man turns and points at the palace's towers.

Thanking the man, the group makes its way to the library, a square, two-story building built of local stone. A pair of stone lion statues flank the only public entrance doors. Once inside, they find a cool, clean chamber leading to the areas where books are shelved. A bored-looking guard informs them that the library is only open to the city's citizens (the nobility). He directs them to a librarian sitting behind a desk in a nearby chamber.

“How can I help you?”

“I am Lakima, and my stepmother is a citizen of the city,” Lakima says. I would like entry for myself and my companions.”

The librarian looks at the group with some skepticism. He then informs them that foreigners must pay 10 gold coins each to enter the library. This cost is per visit, and they can only read the books and not take them out of the library.

“Here are 100 gold coins,” Lakima says as he hands over a cloth bag full of gold, “I would like to donate to the library and pay the entrance charge; I trust this is sufficient.”

The librarian happily scoops up the coins. He makes one more comment about taking care of their valuable collection of books and waves them on their way. As soon as the group enters the library, they come to a central sky well. Sun shines down from an opening in the roof forty feet above them, illuminating the courtyard and a fountain. In the center of the fountain, there is an ancient statue of a sphinx. The fountain looks a few hundred years old, but the statue looks genuinely ancient. Lakima checks if anyone is nearby and finds the area deserted.

“Harvest knowledge and let it be shared,” Lakima says in a clear voice. The group all waited patiently, but nothing happened. Lakima discretely used the Wand of Secret Door Detection, but it revealed nothing.

“Hmm,” Lakima says, splashing one hand into the fountain's water. It is cold and clear and appears to be normal water. Noticing the four sets of circular staircases heading up to the second floor, Lakima points and tells everyone they should check upstairs. Upstairs they find that the courtyard is smaller, there is a circular opening in the floor looking down to the level below and the hole in the ceiling. Two hallways lead to rooms full of shelves of books. No one seems to be around.

Again, Lakima repeats the command phrase Arcos the Ageless gave him. A stone staircase instantly appears in the sky well leading down. They see no sign of the floor below—just a stairwell circling far down beneath the library.

“Quickly, let's go!” Lakima says, “Domago cast find traps.”

Domago takes the lead and casts the spell. He descends what he thinks is about sixty feet to the bottom of the staircase. The stairs lead into a chamber with a tiled floor. Stained glass windows line the walls, letting in magical sunlight. A dozen small statues of local animals rest on stone plinths.

“It looks safe to enter,” Domago says.

The group enters the rotunda. Lakima takes a moment to look at a few statuettes, then points to the door in the east wall. There are also open archways leading into dark corridors heading north and south. The hidden library is calm, quiet, and dusty.

“It looks like no one has been down here in 100s years,” Domago says. Then he tells everyone that the door looks safe. Aldus opens it, and sunlight streams into the chamber.

“It’s a garden?” Aldus says in surprise. The garden chamber has a path around the edges and through the center. Grass and neatly trimmed hedges grow under the false sunlight of a flat, magically lit ceiling forty feet above. In the center of the garden is a statue of a scholar with his hands outstretched.

“It looks like he wants us to place a book in his hands,” Lakima says as he approaches the statue.

A disembodied deep voice calls out from the statue.

“I find myself nostalgic for the stories of Kalmakhis the Dawnbringer, bring me the epic poem, The Banishing of Chaos.”

“Where can we find this book?” Lakima asks. The statue continues to stand quietly.

Lakima uses the Wand of Secret Door Detection to locate a section of the stone floor that appears to conceal a platform that descends, but he cannot find a trigger.

“We need to give it the book it requested to open the door,” Lakima guesses.

The group heads north because there are no other doors from the garden. Here, Domago warns them about approaching a pair of trapped doors. The pillars on either side of the pair of doors are carved to resemble curving pythons. They head north and find a hallway with four pairs of stone statues that resemble scholars pondering a book.

“The hallway is trapped; there is a trigger between the first two pairs of statues,” Domago warns.

Lakima summons his armored protector and tells it to lead the way. As the empty suit of armor clanks between the first pair of statues, they hear a voice call out.

“Sssshh”

“Did the statues just shush us?” Aldus laughs.

The suit of armor continues down the hallway and passes a second pair of statues. A wind magically rises out of nowhere, building until it is a hurricane-force gale blasting down the hallway. Domago loses his balance and is tossed twenty feet down the hall into the wall. Everyone moves back from the chamber, Domago crawling out on his hands and knees. Once everyone leaves the hallway, the winds subside.

“Trapped indeed,” August says.

“Listen, guys, what if the statue was telling us to be quiet?” Aldus asks.

“Maybe it gives me an idea,” Lakima says, and he casts a wizard eye spell. Using the Wizard eye spell, Lakima views the hallway to its end. Here, he finds a pile of scattered sheets of parchment on the floor in front of what appears to be a magic portal. Turning the other way, he enters a large chamber full of bookshelves. The hidden library at last! There is some damage as part of the second-floor balcony of this library has collapsed, but thousands of intact books sit on bookshelves. Most of them appear to be in good shape. Those books that have fallen on the floor have decayed into piles of debris, but the books on the shelves are intact.

The other party members wait while Lakima stares off into space, narrating what he can see through his wizard's eye. Eventually, he relaxes and dismisses the spell.

“I think I could get through the trap using an anti-magic shell,” Lakima says, “But it would only protect me.”

“I still think we just need to be quiet,” Aldus says. Taking a mimed quiet step, his armor clanks ominously. Aldus shrugs.

“I can cast a silence spell on myself,” Domago says. "To be safe, Everyone would have to stay within 10 feet of me.”

Domago casts silence, and the adventurers stay close to him as they go down the hallway. Lakima makes sure that the suit of armor sticks close as well. They make it to the end of the hallway and pick up the pieces of parchment that Lakima has identified as coming from the epic of Kahlmakis the Dawnbringer.

“Let’s head to the library!”

Lakima rushes to the library and looks at books stacked on the many shelves. Domago also excitedly looks over the shelves. The others are less interested.

“I doubt there is anything here in books that will help me become a better warrior,” Aldus says.

“The greatest warriors know to study their enemies' moves and learn from their peers. Look at a book on martial tactics,” Lakima shows Aldus.

Aldus begins going through the shelves as well. Lakima dumps a few books into the bag of holding.

“How many do you think I can take?” Aldus says. Lakima quickly calculates the capacity of the holding bag.

“We cannot take them all!”

Domago then walks up to Lakima with a stack of 6 books detailing ancient prayers, he points to the bag of holding and with a sigh Lakima opens the bag.

“Okay, six books each,” Lakima says.

Aldus, Lakima, Domago, and August each pick out some books and add them to the almost full bag. Once that is done, they take time to study the library. A second-floor balcony holds more shelves of books. Near the entrance, the second floor has collapsed. Domago calls everyone to him and shows them a shelf with a library catalog.

“Look for the title, The Banishing of Chaos,” Lakima tells him. Domago finds the card for the book and heads over to the shelf. But they find that the shelf the book was on is destroyed by the collapsed second floor.

“I think the rest of the book is beyond the portal,” Lakima says, pointing at the teleportation arch.

The adventurers brave the teleportation arch without knowing where it will send them. Stepping through, they find themselves in a desert near a gully. A sagging rope bridge crosses the dry gully. On the other side lie ancient stone ruins. A colossal statue of a sitting sphinx, more than 100 feet long and 60 feet high, towers over the ruins. The group decides to head toward the sphinx. As they head in that direction, a voice calls out to them.

“The Company of the Black Dragon,” the voice growls. "At least Lakima, Aldus, Domago, and companions are there, but where are Eathwund and Grasshopper? Never mind. I wish to speak with you.”

The group approaches the ruins of a temple. The front of the temple has collapsed, but the rear is still largely intact. Sitting on a stone dais is a living sphinx. A winged lion with the head of a man. He beckons them closer, and Lakima engages the sphinx in conversation. The sphinx tells them that the sphinx queen, Hukarramma, built the library many centuries ago. The portal they came through was one of twelve connected to the library from the cities of the Sphinx Empire.

“Did anything come through the portal recently from the library?” Lakima asks.

“No. The portal was last used by the Bookwyrm to enter the library many years ago from a portal in the mountains. I re-directed the portal because I wished to meet you.”

“Why did you want to meet us.”

“Because I foresee I will have a task for you when you come more into your power.”

The sphinx tells them that the Bookwyrm is a red dragon, odd for its kind in that it does not horde gold or gems; it hordes books and knowledge. He explains that this is the Bookwyrm's weakness.

“For it will not breathe fire in the presence of its precious books,” the sphinx explains.

The sphinx then bids them return to the library and destroy the bookwyrm. When Lakima notices the pile of cold gems and jewels lying on the chamber's floor, the sphinx notices.

“They are gifts. Humans come and ask me questions or ask for advice. When I tell them what they need and should know, they gift me these baubles. What I really desire is knowledge.”

Lakima suggests they could bring books from the library, but the sphinx tells them they cannot remove them.

The adventurers return through the still-open portal. They step through into the cool but stale air of the hidden library. Lakima quickly checks the bag of holding and finds that none of the books are in the bag. He nods knowingly.

They head back to the library shelves and explore, finding a section of collapsed walls and ruined shelves. A burrowed tunnel leads into the library through the wall. They also find a single door in the wall. Entering the door, they find themselves in an even bigger library chamber. A tiered atrium comprising three levels. Shelves of books line the walls, and steps that seem to hang in the air lead between the levels. Forty feet below, at the bottom of the tiers, they can see a red glowing light. In this chamber, the books are pristine, and the floors are clean. Lakima quickly checks the shelves and finds books on art, poetry, history, and naturalism.

The Great tiered library

They decide to explore the burrowed tunnel in the library wall. It appears to have been dug by some enormous clawed beast. They follow it, and it leads into another chamber. This chamber is under a permanent silence spell. Ritual candles lie on the floor in a circle, burned down to the bottom. The shelves here are rotten, and mounds of debris indicate their ruined contents. But on the floor is a fresh pile of parchments. Checking the parchments, they find more pages from the book they seek.

“Collect all of the pages,” Lakima urges.

As they collect the pages, eight giant silverfish emerge from under the debris and scuttle toward them. Two of the silverfish rear up and cast magic missiles at the group. The adventurers can quickly kill most of the insects. August uses a death spell he has on a scroll to finish them all off. Once the pages have been collected, they leave the chamber through an open archway and see the rotunda ahead.

Lakima tells Domago to lead them to the bookbinding chamber. Here, Domago uses his dormant priestly skills to bind the pages they have found into a complete book. It takes him four hours.

“Lakima, while we wait, I think I will read one of those books I gave you,” Aldus says.

Lakima tells Aldus that the books are all back on their shelves.

“We cannot take books from the library.”

“It was all a waste of my time?” Aldus asks.

“Maybe not, be patient,” Lakima says.

Once Domago declares that he has finished the book, they gather around the table to look at the restored book, “The Banishing of Chaos.” Lakima flips through a few pages.

“It is an epic poem or play about the exploits of a hero called Kalmakhis the Dawnbringer,” Lakima says. “Let’s take it to the statue.”

Lakima then casts a limited wish spell, and an exact duplicate of the book appears beside it.

“Why did you do that?” Domago asks.

“I wanted to see if it would work. This is how we can copy and take books from the library,” Lakima nods at Aldus, “You will be able to take your books. It was not a waste of your time.”

The group heads to the library, and Domago places the restored book in the statue's outstretched hands. The statue animates and steps down from its base. The base immediately begins to rise while the floor sinks. The statue steps down on the descending floor and disappears out of view. Lakima ties a rope around the statue base and tosses the rest in the hole in the floor. Aldus is the first to descend, followed by the rest. They find a hallway leading into a tomb. The statue stands with the book still in its hands, facing a stone sarcophagus. The walls are covered with hieroglyphics. Most are hard to interpret, but they do see symbols showing books being brought to the library from all over the world and from worlds beyond.

“Should I open it,” Aldus says as he points at the stone sarcophagus.

“Once everyone is set,” Lakima says.

Aldus waits until everyone nods and then shoves the stone lid to one side. Inside the sarcophagus is a damaged mummy of a man. Claw marks can be seen on its chest and legs. Everyone is silent for a few moments, and then the mummy grabs the edge of the coffin and pulls itself upright.

The mummy shrieks at them and raises its wooden staff in anger.

“Begone allies of the great wyrm! Not satisfied with the desecration of the great library? Now, you must plunder my tomb?”

“Wait!” Lakima shouts raising his hands, “We are no friends of the wyrm, we wish only to study in this library.”

The mummy hesitates for a long time and then asks them more questions. Lakima explains they are not new servants or librarians, just simple travelers looking to study the books in the library.

“Should you destroy the wyrm, I will allow you to read the library books at your leisure,” the mummy says.

It explains that he was once the head librarian of the library during Queen Hukarrama's reign. When she died, he was entombed along with her to maintain her life’s work—the great library. Other servants were also entombed with him but have long since left. He had done his job faithfully until the wyrm arrived. He fought it and lost. He has been resting, trying to recover enough strength to fight it again.

Lakima asks about the locked and trapped doors, and the mummy tells them it is the door to the forbidden library. Where evil texts are taken to be destroyed. If they cannot be destroyed, they are chained in the chamber.

“But there is something else in the chamber now. I can sense an evil intelligence beyond the doors.”

Lakima assures the mummy that they will return with reinforcements to clear the library of any interlopers. The group then leaves the tomb and returns up the stairs to the library of Hukara above. Stepping off the magical staircase, they surprise a young woman named Sereen, who is reading a book in the library. She questions where they came from and their use of magic. When Lakima tells her his name, she is shocked.

“There is a bounty on your head, Lakima, the grey of 2,500 gold coins, set by Princess Orla herself.”

Lakima tries to get more details on the bounty, but Sireen is scared to tell them. They only learn that most of the people of the City of Glass hate Princess Orla, who taxes everyone far more than previous rulers. Sireen refuses to help Princess Orla, so she runs away, telling Lakima she will not tell anyone about him.

The magic stairs vanish, and the group heads to the first floor. Lakima goes to see the librarian at the front desk and asks again about the “Banishing of Chaos.” The librarian tells him again that the book is lost to time. Lakima then reaches into his bag and takes out the copy.

The librarian is astonished and asks where they found it and if there are any other books. He offers to buy it immediately. The head librarian is sent for, who also examines the book.

“It looks like a copy made in ancient times,” he says, “How much do you wish to sell it for?”

“I wish only for an audience with Princess Orla.”

The librarian looks intently at Lakima, “I am sure that can be arranged.”

What to do when players are absent

I have often read online discussions of what to do when a player is absent from the table. For me, it happens a lot because I am running a weekly game that is online only. Sometimes players vanish permanently without so much as an email. Sometimes they just miss a session.

If the player characters are currently in the middle of an adventure, I treat the missing player's character as an NPC and try to run him/her as I believe the player would have. If we are at a break in the adventure, I will come up with an excuse for why the character is not available. This could be as simple as the character saying they are not interested in the latest adventure, busy, or off somewhere. For this week's session, I knew that one player was going to miss a few sessions. His character was a cavalier which made it easy for me to tell everyone that the character was off at a tournament with his squire. A second player was unexpectedly absent for this session so I had his character tell the other players that he was more interested in staying in town. With only 2 players this week I let the players decide the direction of the story and tossed in a few minor incidents that could become future plot hooks.

Session 156: Hot time in Mirdton

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), August (human magic-user NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon return to Edgerton after rescuing Malyn the mage and putting an end to the hauntings at the cemetery. The next morning, Lakima tells Eathwund he wants to return to the cemetery to remind the ghost of the sage of his promise. "I'll go with you," Eathwund says. The two adventurers decide to walk to the cemetery, and Lakima decides to take Luna along, who is still under his charm. It's not far from the city gates, and it's a nice sunny day. Upon arrival, they find the cemetery quiet, with no sign of ghosts, caretakers, or visitors.

Remembering where the grave is, they head over to the still-open grave, finding the coffin of Arcos the Ageless closed at the bottom. "Hey, Arcos," Lakima shouts, "We are here to collect on your promise." After waiting a minute, Lakima tells Luna to break open the coffin. Once she reaches for the lid, which is nailed shut, the ghost of an old sage appears. They haven't seen Arcos before, as he possessed Fendar the last time they met him. "Who disturbs my rest?" the ghost asks. "We have come to collect on your promise," Lakima says.

"What promise? Go away, I'm busy with research," the ghost replies, proceeding to ignore them and pantomime opening and reading a book. "We brought your golden cat back to you, and you promised to tell me the location of a vast library of magic," Lakima insists. "Oro, he is right here," Arcos says, and a ghostly cat leaps up on his leg. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Maybe we need to take your golden cat again to get your attention," Lakima suggests. The ghost of Arcos pulls the ghostly cat close and tries to shield him from Lakima. "I'm busy and accustomed to being paid for my research," Arcos says. "You promised if we found Oro and returned him, you would reward us," Lakima says impatiently. "Fine, fine. I know of a Library of Knowledge. A hidden library. Have you ever heard of a city called the City of Glass?" Arcos says. "I have," Lakima says. Arcos seems put off by Lakima's knowledge of the City of Glass, but he explains that the Hidden Library is accessible from inside the Great Library of Hukara in the City of Glass. The entrance is hidden inside a sky well. A staircase will be revealed if they say the password while standing above the well, "Harvest knowledge and let it be shared." Once he has given up his secret, Arcos disappears.

Lakima, Eathwund, and Luna head back to the Manor house. When they meet Domago later that day, they ask about Brovin. Brovin is recovering from his near-death experience under the care of the priests of the Church of St. Aleena. "There is also something I wish to discuss with all of you," Domago tells those gathered for supper in the Manor.

Domago goes on to tell a little of the history of the Church of St. Aleena, how St. Aleena died fighting a mage known only as the Infamous One, and how she was declared a Saint by the Church of Law, with a shrine erected near her hometown. "Two years ago, that town, now called Aleenton, was sacked by goblin raiders. The entire area has become a dangerous wilderness where war bands of goblins, kobolds, ogres, and trolls move about freely. All contact was lost with the brothers at the Shrine, and they are assumed to have perished," Domago says. He explains that he has always felt it was his mission to drive the goblins from the land about the town and clear any interlopers in the shrine. He also tells them that St. Aleena's tomb is in the shrine and deserves to be protected. "I was not strong enough before to try this on my own. I am probably not strong enough to do it on my own now. Will you accompany me to the Shrine and free the land from the goblins?" Everyone agrees they will aid Domago. Lakima asks when Domago wishes to go, as he has some tasks he would like to look into first. "The land has waited two years for release from the goblins. It can wait a few more weeks," Domago tells them.

Lakima then asks Eathwund, Grasshopper, and August to accompany him on a quick trip to the Bridgeway. They leave the next morning on the Cloudstealer. It takes them only half a day to reach the hidden bridge. Greeting them when they arrive are the custodian Ezmeralden and his young apprentice. "Trouble?" Ezmeralden asks them. "No, I have something to ask you," Lakima says. He explains to Ezmeralden that he has created a successful portal between the Mages Guild in Edgerton and the Temple of Medamellara in the Valley of Heroes. "I would like to create a portal between our Mages Guild and the Bridgeway," Ezmeralden is unsure at first, raising concerns about misuse of the bridgeway, which is an artifact of the ancients and has been kept secret for centuries. But Lakima convinced him with promises to allow the gate to be closed at this end and for the opportunity for his apprentice to study at the Mages Guild. He eventually agrees to the plan and even suggests that he might want to teach some classes. Shaking on the deal, the adventurers spend the evening at the Bridgeway and head back the next day. They arrive in Edgerton late in the evening.

"Fires ahead!" one of the crew yells out. As they near Edgerton, they see the glow of fires in the area of Mirdton. Eathwund rushes to the bow, looking anxiously to see if the fires are near his tavern. As they fly closer, it is apparent that the Cheese Factory in Mirdton is burning out of control. Dark smoke blackens the night.

Once the Cloudstealer is docked, Lakima, Eathwund, Grasshopper, and August head over on foot to Mirdton. Crowds of onlookers watch the fire while a chain of locals stretches from the fire to a nearby well. Buckets of water are passed along the chain of people until they reach a member of the town watch near the fire. A constant stream of buckets of water is tossed on the fire, but it appears hopeless. The building is blazing out of control. "I know one way to put an end to this fire!" Lakima shouts to his friends.

He chants an incantation, and an enormous water elemental erupts out of the well, towering more than ten feet above the square. Many of the locals run in fear of the elemental, but Lakima points at the fire and yells at the water elemental to put it out. The water elemental moves quickly to the fire and begins spraying it with blasts of water. It has an immediate effect. The fires begin to be put out. The force of the water blasts also knocks over damaged walls and ceilings, but soon the fires are put out, and the water elemental looks actually smaller. Lakima then dismisses it.

Fire fighting Water Elemental

The crowds of people near the fire immediately begin cheering. They talk to a member of the Town watch who tells them they do not know how the fires started or why they were burning so fiercely – almost supernaturally. The watchman suggests that there might have been squatters living in the abandoned Cheese Factory. The adventurers return to the Manor to get some rest. The next day they begin to make plans to travel to Lockeland where the Shrine of St. Aleena is located. Lakima does go to the mason and collects the three helms he asked to be constructed for the Duke's flying ships. He tells the mason that he has plans for him to build another pair of stone arches made from the strange aetherium they discovered in Whetwhistle.

Ghosts of the past

I usually have three or four short adventures prepared at any one time in case the players finish an adventure early in our game session. I can then drop in a hook to a short adventure. During this session, I ran two short adventures back-to-back. "Malyn Missing" was a quick adventure I wrote to make use of the Darkvale Abbey map from Heroic Maps. The second adventure is a re-written Ghosts in the Graveyard 5e adventure written by William Fischer for EN Word ENSider. The published adventure was written for 5th-level adventurers but it was easy enough to make it work for my much higher level campaign.

Session 155: Ghosts of the past

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Domago (human cleric NPC), Brovin (human thief NPC), August (human magic-user NPC), Aelshara (half-elven fighter/magic-user NPC).

Lakima, Eathwund, Domago, Brovin, August, and Aelshara have journeyed north from Edgerton on the flying ship Cloudstealer on the trail of the kidnapped mage Malyn. The trail has led to an abandoned monastery in the Northern Hills.

“It looks deserted,” Brovin says, surveying the abandoned monastery. A two-story square tower and a ruined one-story building are attached to a walled courtyard. The walls have crumbled to the ground in many places.

“Scout the courtyard,” Lakima says to Brovin.

The thief puts on his ring of invisibility and vanishes. A few minutes later he returns to tell them that the courtyard is full of rubble but no one is there. With a signal, the adventurers approach the fallen doors to the courtyard. They behold two statues standing to either side of the entrance. One is little more than a pile of rocks but the other, covered in vines, is intact and depicts a broad-shouldered man in an apron holding a smith’s hammer in his right hand.

“Domago,” Lakima asks.

“It looks like Saint Helm,” Domago replies, “Patron saint of blacksmiths and stone workers.”

“Why would the monastery have been abandoned,” Lakima asks.

“It looks like it was attacked and the monks likely were killed or quit the monastery after the attack,” Domago says, “This close to the mountains, attacks from humanoid tribes would not be unexpected.”

The group enters the courtyard and Brovin points out the door to the tower.

“Check it out, Brovin,” Lakima says.

The thief moves over to the door and listens. He can see a wooden beam barring the door shut from the outside. Inside he hears a low, curious growl.

“I can hear something growling like a bear!”

“Do we check it out?” Lakima asks.

Aelshara nods that they should while Eathwund just shrugs his shoulders.

Moving to the door Eathwund grabs the bar and swings it up. The door flies open in his face. A fierce owlbear stands in the doorway and rushes toward Eathwund. Eathwund prepared for a possible bear attack is ready and drops the owlbear with a stab of his sword into its chest.

“Stand back,” Lakima yells and casts charm monster on the second owlbear. But the spell fails.

Eathwund ignores the request from Lakima seeing a second owlbear is already leaping toward him. This time Aelshara also strikes the bear with her sword and the two warriors kill the second owlbear which collapses on the corpse of the first.

“Did you get them all?” Brovin calls nervously.

Without answering Eathwund and Aelshara climb over the dead owlbears and into the tower room. Lakima impatiently tells Brovin to get in the chamber and check for treasure. A quick search reveals nothing but long-wasted provisions. A broken stair leads partway to the roof. The three climb back over the dead animals and out into the courtyard.

“Hey there is a ladder to the roof over here,” Brovin says pointing at a wood ladder just outside the courtyard wall.

“And it looks new.”

At the urging of Lakima, Brovin climbs up the ladder to the roof. A few minutes later he returns telling everyone that the roof is empty but that there is a wagon and a mule just outside the courtyard. Brovin is sent to check the wagon but finds only an empty wood crate inside it. The mule grazes peacefully on some grass nearby. Brovin returns and tells everyone.

“Well, someone is here,” Lakima says.

The group goes to the most intact building where two open doors lead to a hallway.

“I saw something move,” Brovin whispers.

“Eathwund, Aelshara, move to the front,” Lakima says.

Just then two men yelling war cries come charging toward the open doors to attack Eathwund and Lakima. Lakima casts his Protector spell and a suit of armor appears between him and the attackers. Eathwund defends himself from one attacker while the protector fights the other. Domago and Aelshara move to help but are stopped by a sudden shout.

“Behind us!” Brovin yells and points at two more bandits entering the courtyard behind them. Domago and Aelshara move quickly to block the two bandits.

Lakima casts a charm person spell on one of the bandits, a young woman.

“Stop, there is no need for this we are friends,” Lakima tells her.

The woman stops her charge and lowers her weapon looking about in confusion at Aelshara dueling with the other bandit.

“Ercan, stop!” the woman yells, “These are the guides sent for us!”

The man turns and looks at the woman in surprise.

“What! Are you stupid, they are the Black Dragon bastards from Edgerton!” he yells back.

The woman keeps trying to convince her friend to stop fighting, even grabbing his sword arm.

Meanwhile, Eathwund kills the youngest of the two bandits near him and the other bandit starts to slowly withdraw toward an open door. The protector swings ineffectively at him. Eathwund then steps inside his guard and cuts his throat open killing him.

“HOLD!” Domago yells and casts hold person on the bandit in the courtyard. The man stops moving paralyzed by the spell.

“I don’t understand, why did you kill them?” the woman asks.

“What is your name?” Lakima asks.

“Luna.”

“Luna, you know how the bosses get, we are here to take the prisoner and get rid of any weaklings.”

The bandit who gave her name as Luna is confused by the fight but agrees to take them to Malyn who she tells them is down in the cellar. The held bandit is tied up, gagged, and tossed into a broken horse stall next to the bones of a long-dead horse.

“This way, be careful of the mushrooms they are poisonous,” Luna says leading the adventurers to a stair descending down into the cellars of the monastery.

“Thanks,” Lakima says looking at the glistening, large black mushrooms that he had no intention of stepping anywhere nearby.

Luna descends the stairs first and calls out to those below.

“Our guides have arrived for the Pass of the Dead!”

Two men stand below in a cellar and look up in surprise. The room is lit by two torches in the walls burning blue flames. A large wood box lies on the floor, a door is open to the right, and directly ahead they see two prison cell doors.

“These are not the guides you fool,” one man yells while jumping out of a chair, “They are the Black Dra… aaahh,” he tries to finish but is cut off when Lakima shouts a single word at him. The man appears stunned and falls to the floor.

Black Choke Slavers

“I stunned him, get him,” Lakima yells at Eathwund who rushes the other man. The man is clad in dark robes but Eathwund quickly learns he is protected by chainmail under the robes. As Eathwund slashes the man he casts a spell at Eathwund. A beam of yellow light strikes Eathwund in the chest but does nothing. With a quick thrust, Eathwund shoves his sword halfway up the blade into the surprised man’s chest. He slides off the sword dead.

Aelshara runs to the open door and lets out a shout of anger raising her sword and striking another bandit. Lakima runs over to join her and sends the Protector into the melee as well. Then he casts charm person but it fails.

Seeing Lakima casting spells, the dark-skinned man says a quick prayer and a beam of light from his outstretched hand strikes Lakima. But again, nothing happens.

“You fool, I am the master of spells here!” Lakima shouts and casts disintegrate at the man but it also fails.

“Ha,” the man says, and avoiding the blows of the protector he steps back and aims another spell at Lakima. Lakima feels a brief wave of sickness come over him but realizing it is magic he fights it off.

Meanwhile, Aelshara takes the opportunity to stab the man in the side wounding him grievously. He staggers apparently dying and gets off one more spell aimed at Lakima but it also fails. He drops to the floor dead.

“Brovin, over here!” Eathwund yells, waving Brovin toward the cell door near him.

“Help! Eathwund get me out of here!” they hear.

Brovin deftly unlocks the door and they find a frantic Loric in a squalid cell. He thanks them profusely and tells them Malyn is in the next cell and is dying. Brovin also quickly picks the lock to the second cell and they find Malyn lying unconscious on the floor. His clothes are soaked in sweat. Domago runs to Malyn’s aid immediately.

“His heart is weak, and his blood flow is very faint,” Domago says, “I think that it is the effect of the geas, there is nothing I can do to save him.”

“We need to return him to his shop in Edgerton quickly,” Lakima says.

Lakima then notices Luna the bandit, confused and hesitantly sneaking back up the stairs.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Something is not right here,” she says, “I don’t understand it but it's not right.”

“Have you not seen factions fight before?” Lakima asks.

“I guess,” Luna says.

“It is nothing more than that, we are taking over,” Lakima says.

“You want the Ghoul King’s bounty?”

Lakima talks to Luna and learns that the group of bandits are members of the Black Choke slavers. They sell human slaves to the Ghoul King in the north. This group of slavers decided to collect on a reward offered for Malyn, to be brought alive to Ghoul Keep. Luna continues to be suspicious of what is happening but the power of the charm on her is enough to keep her compliant.

A talk with Loric reveals that the slavers were also asking about the Black Ring. They were uncertain which of the two was the real Malyn. Since Malyn claimed to be the apprentice and then soon became sick. Not knowing about the geas, neither Loric nor the slavers realized it had given Malyn away.

“Once they mentioned torture I would have told them anything I know,” Loric says.

Loric tells Lakima that life as Malyn’s apprentice may not be what he bargained for and Lakima suggests he join the Mages Guild of Edgerton.

“I might take you up on that,” Loric says.

The bandits are searched and hundreds of coins are found along with some jewels. Lakima tells Brovin to tie up the stunned bandit who Luna tells them is Onufrio. Eathwund lifts up Onufrio and carries him up to the courtyard.

“What about him,” Eathwund says shifting the bandit leader to his shoulder and pointing at the bandit they tied up and threw in a horse stall.

“He is just an underling,” Lakima says, “We do not need him.”

“There is a bounty of 250 gold for any Black Choke Slaver brought in alive,” Brovin says.

Lakima shrugs but Eathwund reaches down and easily hefts up a second bandit.

“Bounty,” Luna says, “I don’t understand, I thought you were slavers too?”

“Put this on,” Lakima says to Luna and he hands her the cursed helm of free action.

Once Luna puts on the helmet her questions are quelled.

It is an uneventful journey by flying ship back to Edgerton taking a day and a half. Once in Edgerton, Malyn is rushed over to his bed in the Apothecary. Abbot Marta takes charge of his well-being and promises to inform them of any change. Once in his bed, he asks for his ring and the green dragon statuette shows them how to open a secret compartment that holds the ring. Malyn takes the ring and falls unconscious. Lakima offers Loric a place in the Mages Guild with no tuition. He tells him there is one condition, he must honor the goddess of magic – Medamellara. Under this condition, Loric respectfully declines. He has pledged his soul to the Dark Lady. Changing that pledge would have dire consequences.

Back at the Manor, Lakima questions the leader of the slavers. The man answers their questions admitting to kidnapping Malyn for the bounty offered by the Ghoul King. He is unmoved by Lakima’s threats. They decide to turn him and his underling in to the town watch. They inform the watch that these are Black Choke slavers. The Watch captain checks the two bandits for the tell-tale choke tattoo of the slavers and finds it. He promises to send their reward once the slavers are questioned.

It is almost a week before they receive word that Malyn has recovered. Eathwund and Lakima go to visit him. Lakima takes the charmed Luna along. Malyn is grateful and a little surprised that they came to rescue him. 

“What will it cost me?”

“A favor,” Lakima says.

“I do not want to be beholden to you,” Malyn says, “I will reduce the price on the air elemental captures for your helms.” Lakima agrees.

“You need better protection,” Lakima tells Malyn.

“I had an excellent guardian but he is now trapped in here,” Malyn says tapping the magic mazestone on the counter.

“Perhaps you can use her,” Lakima says pointing at the charmed Luna.

Malyn is intrigued until he learns she is a charmed black choke slaver. He declines saying that she is charmed by Lakima, not him, and after having tried to claim his bounty he would not trust her not to try again.

The conversation turns to the bodyguard Malyn used to have been assigned by the temple of the Dark Lady. The cleric is trapped in the Mazestone. Lakima offers to free him. Malyn agrees to deliver the helms for no cost if he can free his bodyguard. Lakima casts a limited wish but it does not work.

“Nothing.”

“The mazestone is an artifact from the time of the Seven Cities,” Malyn says, “Even a wish spell might not work on it.”

When Lakima and Eathwund return to the manor they are told by Huntley that a man is waiting to see them in the mud room. “He was too dirty to let into the hall.”

They find Fendar waiting for them. He nervously asks for help. He has spotted a ghost walking the graveyard after dark. The ghost of a young woman.

“Perhaps if you did not steal for the dead, they would not be so restless,” Lakima says. But he does agree to help and asks Brovin and Eathwund to join him that night.

Lakima, Eathwund, and Brovin arrive at the graveyard outside Edgerton a few hours after sunset. They see a lantern light on the hill amongst the graves and the dark shape of a man digging a grave. Heading toward the light they see Fendar digging up a grave while a large dog circles nervously near him with its tail between its legs.

“Fendar, what are you doing,” Lakima says.

Fendar ignores them and the dog starts to whine. Eathwund walks up to Fendar just as he swings open a coffin revealing a recently buried man.

“It’s not here!” Fendar growls in a deep voice.

“What’s not here?”

“My cat, Oro?” Fendar says.

Fendar continues to speak strangely of his missing cat.

“He’s possessed, that’s not Fendar” Lakima says.

“Of course not, I am Arcos the ageless, sage of Edgerton,” Fendar says proudly. He then asks for their help in finding his cat. Eathwund notices that the grave next to the open one says “Arcos the scribe – 975”. Lakima uses the arrow of direction to locate the cat Oro and the arrow points back at the town of Edgerton.

“Will you find my cat?”

“We promise to find and return your cat,” Lakima says.

Fendar then collapses in a heap. A moment later his familiar voice returns as he questions what he is doing out in the graveyard. His dog stops whining and jumps up on him.

“Down Ripper, what's got into you,” Fendar says. Brushing himself off he gets up. Lakima explains what happened and questions what the open grave has to do with Arcos. Fendar has no idea. The grave is that of a merchant adventurer named Danforth. He had no connection to Arcos that he was aware. Fendar and his dog hurry off to their cottage.

“Let’s get out of here, we can investigate this in the morning,” Lakima says.

“Ah, Boss,” Eathwund says and points at an approaching spirit. The spirit of a young woman in a long dress can be seen floating amongst the tombstones coming towards them. Eathwund moves to meet her halfway.

“Can I help you miss,” Eathwund whispers.

The ghost pauses as if she has just noticed Eathwund.

“I am looking for my locket, it is strange that you are here in my house, did you take it?”

Eathwund assures the ghost that he did not take her locket. She tells him that the locket was a gift from her parents, it is silver and has an image of both her parents inside.

“It is all I have of them now, and is precious to me,” she says.

Eathwund learns that she is Catlina Jovani. She cannot understand where her locket has gone as she always wears it. She even turned down an offer from Gabriel Valcori to buy it for far more than it was worth. It is too important to her to part with. Once Eathwund promises to look for it she slowly vanishes.

“Now two ghosts are missing items,” Lakima says.

“Boss!” Eathwund says and points at a third ghost drifting toward them. The ghost is that of a large, fat man holding a sword in one hand. His other hand is missing and ethereal blood drips from the stump.

“You there! I know you have my hand! Return it now or die!”

Eathwund is forced to fight the ghost. With two quick slashes, the ghost is torn asunder and falls to the ground. The ghost is slowly sucked into the earth.

“You have not heard the last from Bruno Montanari, I will return every night to hunt you down!” the ghost says as it disappears.

“Three ghosts!” Lakima exclaims, “This is ridiculous, let’s get out of here while we still can.”

“What could be stirring them all up?” Eathwund asks.

“Danforth, let's check into his friends, maybe they were at the funeral.”

They head over to the caretaker’s cottage and knock on the door repeatedly. There is no answer.

“Get out here Fendar, I know you are in there!” Lakima shouts.

Fendar slowly opens the door. Lakima asks about Danforth’s friends. Fendar checks the death registry and shows it to Lakima. It appears he had only six people at the burial and all were representatives from merchant guilds. No apparent friends or family.

“No friends then, what is his connection to Arcos, or Catlina, or Bruno?” Lakima asks.

Fendar starts at Bruno’s name. With some hesitation, he confesses that Bruno Montanari worked for Gabriel Valcori, the graverobber. Fendar had been paid to allow them to rob graves.

“We will have to pay a visit to this merchant Valcori!” Lakima says.

“Begging your pardon, but you can’t”, Fendar says.

“Why not.”

“He’s dead, I buried him in the cemetery five days ago,” Fendar says.

“Show us the grave,” Lakima says with a sigh.

“Back out in the cemetery?” Brovin asks with a quiver in his voice.

Fendar leads them back out into the cemetery. During the walk, Lakima tells Fendar that he needs to promise not to disturb any more graves. Knowing full well that Fendar used to sell corpses to their fallen companion Ashdoshan. He tries putting a geas on Fendar but the gravedigger is surprisingly resistant and the spell has no effect. Lakima resorts to threatening Fendar if he learns of any graves being disturbed.

“Here it is,” Fendar says pointing at a freshly closed grave. A mound of dirt lies above a grave. The tombstone says, “Gabriel Valcori – beloved husband and father, benefactor to the poor and destitute, 498”. Lakima tells Fendar to dig up the grave.

“But you said…”

“Never mind what I said, dig it up.”

Under the moonlight, Fendar gets to work digging up the grave. Since it was a recent burial, the work goes fast. He reaches the coffin and grasps the lid. Before Fendar can touch the lid the spectre of a well-dressed merchant rises from the grave and grasps Fendar around the neck. Fendar lets out a gurgle and collapses. Eathwund frees his sword and quickly attacks the spectre slicing through the ethereal form. In turn, the spectre twice tries to reach out and touch Eathwund but he is too quick for it. At last, Eathwund slashes through the spectre's neck and it is dispatched.

“Search the coffin,” Lakima says to Brovin.

Without complaint, Brovin searches the coffin. He finds a fresh corpse of a man and goes through the man’s pockets and searches under him finding nothing. Eathwund checks Fendar lying crumpled on the ground but tells everyone that Fendar is dead.

“This is a mess, we need to let the church know about this,” Lakima says. 

The three men leave the open grave and coffin and leave the cemetery returning to the manor.

The next day Lakima, Eathwund, and Brovin go to visit Abbot Marta. They explain what happened at the cemetery. Marta agrees to go to the cemetery that day with some guards. Lakima suggests he bring some assistants.

Later in the day, Marta returns. He tells the adventurers that Fendar has been laid to rest. He would have risen as an undead in a few nights. They consecrated the ground of Valcori’s grave which will hopefully put an end to him.

“I suggest we make an official visit to Valcori’s family,” Abbot Marta says.

The adventurers go with a few members of the town watch and Abbot Marta to the Valcori manor in Edgerton. They are let in and meet with Gustav Valcori the head of the family. Gustave is indignant that any stolen items could be in his home.

“How dare you speak ill of my father, the Count will hear of this,” Gustav says angrily.

“I have already talked to the count and we are going to search the manor,” Marta says.

The two guards search the house but do not find anything suspicious.

“Marta, let me check for the items,” Domago says.

“What is his standing here!” Gustav shouts.

“It is only a spell,” Domago says. He casts the locate object spell and describes the golden cat.

“The golden cat is in the cellar,” Domago says matter of fact fully.

“Well?” Marta demands of Gustav.

Gustav claims that there is a locked cellar that they have never been able to enter since his father died. He is sure there could be nothing of interest there.

“Lucky for you we brought a Locksmith,” Lakima says pointing at Brovin.

Brovin, Eathwund, and Lakima descend into the cellar and find a locked door. Brovin manages to open it. They find an empty room. Using the wand of secret door detection Lakima locates and opens a secret door to a hallway.

“I think there is a trap in here triggered by that flagstone,” Brovin says pointing at the floor. He reaches down and carefully tries to disarm it.

“I think I got it,” he says and then they hear a clunk and a blade whirls out of a pillar slicing Brovin in half. The thief manages a brief scream before dying.

Brovin dies

Domago pulls the mangled corpse out of the hallway.

“He is surely dead,” Domago says.

“We'll bring him back,” Lakima says.

“What. Here?”

“Why not here?”

Domago sighs and then concentrates and prays over Brovin’s mangled corpse. Calling out Brovin’s name several times. A glow settles over the corpse and the injuries slowly disappear, then his chest begins to rise and fall. Domago checks Brovin carefully.

“He is alright. But he will not be moving around for a few weeks.”

Lakima instructs August to stay with Brovin while he, Luna, Eathwund, and Domago continue on.

“We should send for Grasshopper,” Lakima says. He tells August to tell the guards to send a runner with a message for Grasshopper.

“We can manage,” Domago says and casts Find Traps. He quickly points out the trigger for the blade trap and finds another. The three adventurers (and one charmed captive) carefully make their way past the traps. Another locked door blocks their advance. Lakima instructs Luna to use the Helm to open the door. She casts Knock to open the door. Here Domago finds a small chamber with a pit trap. He instructs everyone how to get past it. Luna uses the Helm to unlock another door. This leads to a trapped hall where Domago shows them how to bypass it. A locked door blocks them again and Luna uses the last charge in the helm to open it. This locked door leads to a small room. There is a fine walnut table with a chair, three large lockboxes, and two jewelry boxes on a side table.

“The large jewelry box and the middle lock box are trapped,” Domago warns.

“And us without our lockpickers,” Lakima says.

“We should wait for Grasshopper but I am impatient,” Lakima says. He casts a spell on the lockboxes and all of the wood is turned to dust. The metal brackets and lock fall to the floor. Inside they see many sacks. Searching these they find jewelry, gems, gold coins, silver coins, and a gold statuette of a cat.

“Oro, I assume,” Domago says.

“Well at least we found the gold cat,” Lakima says.

As they are searching, they find two ledger books. One is a fake accounting of the Valcori assets and the other shows all of the items Gabriel Valcori stole from the graveyard. Grasshopper arrives having been summoned by the town watch. Lakima asks him to open the two jewelry boxes. He tries to disarm the one that Domago tells him is trapped. He fails and is pricked on the finger by a needle. But nothing untoward happens. Either the poison has dried up or he is just resistant to it. Then he opens it finding a small silver locket with two faded portraits in it.

“The locket, of the young lady,” Eathwund says.

“Surely, this final jewel box cannot contain that man’s arm?” Lakima says.

“Hand,” Eathwund says.

“What?”

“He was missing only his hand.”

Grasshopper is unable to pick the lock on the large jewelry box so Eathwund picks it up and tears the lid off ruining the fancy box. Inside, resting on a velvet pillow is a silver prosthetic hand. Eathwund holds it up triumphantly.

Brovin starts picking up all of the stolen treasure.

“We can’t keep it Brovin,” Lakima says.

“Why not?”

“It is not ours,” Lakima says with a sigh.

“Are you sure, no one will know?”

The treasure is handed over to Abbot Marta who promises to return it to its rightful owners using the information in the ledgers. The silver hand, locket, and golden cat will be re-buried with their owners.

“I guess when the thief Valcori was buried in the same graveyard he used to steal from it disturbed the rest of the dead,” Domago says.

“Let’s avoid that cemetery from now on,” Lakima says.

The Hook

I was thrilled to have one of the players in my game group pushing the other players to go back into a tough adventure and finish things. With this group, the leader usually decides whether the adventurers should continue based on a very mercenary risk/reward ratio. His character did not want to re-enter the adventure because of the danger. Two characters died last session.

Once the Spider Caves were cleared I had a half-dozen hooks for the party for the next adventure. I need a lot of hooks with this group of players because their characters frequently pass on adventures if they do not feel the reward is worth it. Such as the trial of having high-level overly rich characters in the campaign. One of the characters rarely spends gold and has accumulated a King's ransom. I always eagerly read articles on separating characters from their gold but I usually find the suggestions disappointing.

The hook they chose was the kidnapping of an NPC who has been helpful to them in the past. This is always a good hook to get any character involved but I have to be careful not to overdo it. This adventure was a one-session encounter that I wrote. Though I do use and modify a lot of pre-written adventures I still do occasionally write something new.

Session 154: The Spider Caves

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Grasshopper (human monk), Domago (human cleric NPC), Brovin (human thief NPC), Aelshara (half-elven fighter/magic-user NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon are at a Copper Mine camp near the village of Whetwhistle. Having dealt with a strange abomination that attacked some miners they discuss whether to head back down into the mines with Whexley Windham the part-owner of the mine.

“We’re not going back down there if there are giant spiders,” one of the miners says.

“Could you go back down and make sure all of the spiders are dead?” Whexley asks.

“Certainly, it is good for the village and the mine if we clear this,” Grasshopper promised.

Whexley looked relieved but Lakima interrupted and provided a caveat. He requested that all of the aetherium be removed from the mine as soon as possible. Whexley was quick to agree. The foreman Astrid spoke of how long it would take but Whexley waved her quiet.

Domago cast healing spells on Grasshopper and Aelshara because they were injured. Everyone else indicated that they were okay. Eathwund looked like he had never taken any injuries just a half-hour earlier.

Astrid accompanied the group back into the mine and manned the crane lowering them down to the lower levels. From there they quickly made their way down to the lowest levels of the mine where they had recently fought the giant spiders. Lakima checked with the arrow of direction for more spiders but it just pointed further down.

“Try southeast,” Lakima says to Grasshopper.

Grasshopper led the group through the strange burrowed tunnels until he arrived at a collapsed tunnel. A slight breeze with a hint of rot in the air suggested that the tunnel might lead somewhere.

“Eathwund, do you think you could move these stones?” Grasshopper asked.

Eathwund set down his weapons and shield and got to work. He used his magical giant strength to shift huge boulders out of the way. Grasshopper helps by moving some of the smaller rocks. Soon a breeze of foul-smelling air filled the tunnel as Eathwund shifted a last, large boulder out of the way.

“Let me get out in front a way,” Grasshopper whispered.

Grasshopper soon disappeared quietly down the tunnel which curved a few times and then went steeply down entering natural caves. The floor, of the caves was covered in fungus and giant fungus grew up to heights of more than six feet. Several tunnels headed off in different directions.

After a moment of thought, Grasshopper points east into the largest cave. Within a few steps as the light of his torch fills the cave they hear the piercing, unmistakable sound of a shrieker. Brovin and Aelshara fall to the cave floor clutching their ears while the others quickly stuffed cotton in their ears.

“It’s a shrieker!” Lakima shouted.

Seeing a translucent form in the distance moving slowly into the cave Lakima acts quickly and casts disintegrate. The object vanishes reduced to powder.

“I hope there was no treasure in it,” Brovin says.

“Oh, yeah,” Lakima shrugged.

The sound of the shrieker continued until the group rushed through the cave. As they exited the cave and the shrieking stopped Eathwund saw a giant spider scuttling rapidly toward them. Grasshopper fired several arrows and Lakima threw several darts hitting the spider before it reached Eathwund. Eathwund then quickly dispatched the spider with his sword.

Following Grasshopper the adventurers enter a large cave with a pool of water where they are ambushed by four giant spiders. One circles behind them and attacks Eathwund and Aelshara while three more attack Grasshopper and Domago. Lakima casts an Ice Storm spell that drives off one spider and badly injures two others. While Eathwund hacks down one spider, Grasshopper takes care of the other two. Then Grasshopper chased after the fleeing spider hitting it with several arrows. It was later killed and eaten by a 20-foot-long giant centipede. The Centipede was killed by the adventurers through the use of darts and arrows.

In the large cave, Grasshopper identified and killed three more shriekers. Leaving the cave, they returned to the tunnel they entered from that led back up to the copper mine. Heading north they encounter more spiders and kill them. Grasshopper having learned the weak spots of the spiders kills two with single blows with his fists. Later they come across a chamber lit by sunlight.

Looking upward, Grasshopper sees a narrow shaft 100 feet long leading to the hillside above. The shaft is covered in weeds and vines.

“Looks like this is how they are getting into the mines,” Grasshopper tells the others, “The miners could use this entrance to access these caves.”

Heading north Grasshopper silently sneaks into a cave and spots a giant spider resting atop a huge five-foot-tall mushroom. He heads back and tells Eathwund. Eathwund moved quickly into the chamber and attacked the spider as it leaped down. Soon another spider joins it and both are killed. Looking west into a dark cave they see a much larger spider sitting amongst a clutch of white eggs.

“Let’s be done with this,” Lakima says.

Lakima casts a fireball spell detonating it in the cave with the spider queen. A wall of fire bursts from the cave and the spider also comes flying out at the adventurers. After a brief fight, Eathwund and Grasshopper kill it.

After checking the remaining caves in the area and finding them empty the adventurers returned to the surface. At the surface, the adventurers meet with the miners and assure them that the spider nest has been destroyed. It is safe to enter the mines. The miners seem unconvinced. Whexley tries to convince them as well. Astrid comes up from the mine after having viewed the aetherium deposit for herself. She tells them that aetherium is rarely found so close to the surface. The dwarves have a monopoly on it since it is usually mined so far underground. Lakima has a conversation with Whexley and the miners and he offers 1 gold for every pound of aetherium brought out of the mines. This excites the miners who quickly get to work.

Astrid tells the group that there are thousands of pounds of aetherium in the find below. Lakima decides to change his offer to the first 1,000 lbs of aetherium brought out of the mines. The group settles in at the Goose Inn in Whetwhistle. Lakima sends a boy back to Edgerton with a message for August his apprentice. Later that day the boy returns with August who is carrying the magical spade of excavation.

Eathwund and Grasshopper descend into the mine to help the miners. But with the spade of excavation and his giant strength, Eathwund extracts the entire deposit of aetherium in little more than an hour. The aetherium ore, broken into small chunks is transported by cart to Whetwhistle where Lakima asks for it all to be dumped into a large pile. Using a limited wish spell Lakima makes all of the aetherium vanish.

“Did I just imagine the rock?” Whexley says looking at the empty field in astonishment.

“Yes – it was just an illusion,” Lakima says.

“But why?”

“I work in mysterious ways,” Lakima says, “You should forget about this.”

With the copper mine up and running the group mounts their horses to return to Edgerton. Lakima has a few words with Whexley suggesting that with the spade of excavation being left with Astrid he expects much better results out of the mine.

Late that day they return to Edgerton. Alayna asks Lakima why a simple spider infestation at the mine took so many days to clear up. Lakima takes her down to the vault in the cellar to show her what they dug up. When he opens the vault door, aetherium spills out into the hallway.

“You filled the vault with rocks?”

Lakima tries to explain aetherium to Alayna. She takes a small sample to study on her own. Domago heads over to the Church of St. Aleena. Aelshara disappears for a few days. Eathwund visits the Sign of the Purple Bugbear. He sees Eris has been moved to waitress from her chambermaid position. His manager, Yana, tells him that Eris’ dangerous manners work best in the taproom. Yana reports no issues with the local gangs. Eathwund’s last talk with the local gangs seems to have them giving the Inn a wide berth.

Grasshopper goes to see the smith Cromly. He negotiates a price for two magical brass knuckles which Cromly says he will have ready in a week.

Lakima contacts Willy Brunch, the stone mason they used for a few projects. Lakima invites him over to the manor and asks him if he can construct a pair of archways out of the aetherium stones. Willy agrees and the two spend several days coming up with plans. Once they are ready, Lakima and Willy go over to the Mages Guild and set about installing an archway in one of the classrooms. Kenrae and Rune Frost arrive and ask many questions about what they are doing.

“I am building a permanent magical gateway between the school and the Shrine of Medamellara far to the north,” Lakima tells them.

“I have seen such things, but I have not heard of one being built in modern times,” Kenrae says, “Most were built in the distant past.”

“I am the most powerful mage in Dolmvay, and I plan to rediscover the secrets of the ancient magics,” Lakima states grandly.

A few days later, Lakima invites the other members of the Company of the Black Dragon to journey north with him to the Shrine of Medamellara. Aelshara is not around, but Brovin, Domago, Grasshopper, August, and Eathwund join him. They board the Cloudstealer with its crew and head north. A day and a half later they land in the Valley of Heroes not far from the entrance to the shrine.

Lakima points at the colorful statues outside the shrine’s entrance and tells Grasshopper that these are representations of his goddess Medamellara. Inside they meet with the high priest Toffin and Lakima shows Grasshopper the Mana Well.

Eathwund tells everyone that he has decided to risk recharging his plate mail armor in the well. Lakima tells Grasshopper that this is a rare event, and he will get to see the mana well in action. Eathwund holds his armor out into the Mana Well holds it there for a few moments and then withdraws it. Lakima comes over to check the armor, using his magical Lens. He tells Eathwund that it worked. The Armor is undamaged and has gained charges.

Lakima, Willy, and Toffin are joined by Lethnearinos (a silver dragon who is in elven form) to discuss where to place the teleportation arch in the Shrine. Toffin is at first concerned about the possibility of the shrine being attacked from the archway. Lakima assures him that the Mages School is very safe. They decide to construct the archway in a secret room in the study hall of the shrine. Willy spends a few days constructing the arch out of Aetherium stone. Once he is done, Lakima spends several days with the enchantment. Using knowledge from the notes of the forgotten mage of the Ghost Tower and his magic Lakima successfully readies the archway to receive magic. He casts a teleportation spell on the archway connecting it to the archway in Edgerton. But this is only a one-time spell. He then casts a limited wish spell to make it permanent.

The group watches as an image of the room in the mages' guild back in Edgerton appears in the archway.

“Did it work?” several voices ring out.

Confident in his own work Lakima steps through the archway and arrives unharmed in Edgerton. He then steps back through and looks about expecting applause. His companions seem more shocked than anything. 

“Well I am all for a quick way home,” Brovin says and steps through the archway to Edgerton. Grasshopper passes through the archway a short time later.

Lakima spends a few hours with Toffin discussing the safety of the archway. Toffin wants to construct a portcullis on this end but Lakima envisions students from the Mages Guild passing back and forth at will.

Once everything is cleaned up the remaining members of the group board Cloudstealer and return to Edgerton in a few days. While he is away a Ducal Messenger calls with a letter for Lakima. Refusing to relinquish the letter to anyone else, the messenger stays in a room in the Manor until the Cloudstealer returns. Meanwhile, Grasshopper goes to Cromly’s and picks up and pays for the magical brass knuckles.

“I call them Cromly’s Fists of Fury!” Cromly says with a flourish. “But you can call them whatever you wish.”

Grasshopper takes the knuckles and tries them out on some stone blocks from a local stone worker near the shop. He seems satisfied.

The next day the Cloudstealer returns to Edgerton. Lakima accepts the letter from the Ducal messenger. It is a letter from Duke Robert informing him that they will begin construction of the first of the four ships. The Helm should be provided (and will be paid for) in 3 months.

Lakima begins plans for the construction of four helms for the Duke’s flying ships. He feels confident that with the aetherium he does not need Malyn’s help but he decides to consult the mage anyway. Lakima asks Eathwund to join him on a trip to the apothecary. Once they arrive, they see that something is amiss. Watchmen stand outside the shop. They are let in and find more watchmen in the shop along with Abbot Marta and Brother Donegal of the Church of St. Cuthbert. Marta explains that Malyn and his latest apprentice are missing. They have been missing for a few days.

“Malyn is under a geas not to leave the town, I believe that if he did the effects would be pretty severe,” Marta says looking at Lakima.

“He will be feeling very sick already, and in a few days, he will die,” Lakima says.

“Someone took him,” they both say at the same time.

There are no clues to indicate what happened. No sign of a struggle. While Lakima and Marta are talking, Eathwund examines a beautiful green statuette of a dragon. The dragon winks at him.

“That green dragon whelp winked at me,” Eathwund whispers to Lakima.

Lakima then suggests that he is here only to pick up the green dragon statuette that Malyn was examining for him.

“He lies!” the statuette squeaks in a high-pitched voice, “My master Malyn would never give me to anyone else!”

There is a lot of shouting at once but eventually, Lakima manages to get everyone to quiet down so he can speak to the dragon. He learns that Malyn and his apprentice were abducted two days ago by three men in black robes. The men stuffed the two victims into a coffin they found in the abandoned church attached to the shop. The watchmen check up on the story and learn that a group of six men dressed as monks passed through the north gate with a cart and a large wooden box.

“Maybe we can head them off,” Lakima says.

The company is joined by Aelshara and they board the Cloudstealer and head north. They stop at the end of the day at the village of Deepford. Here they speak with the head Warden.

“I seen ‘em. They were a strange group. Very suspicious. They stayed at the Inn last night and claimed to be priests of St. Johan, but they never said a word to our local priest Hetagg. One of the boys heard them planning to head north to Darkvale abbey,” Warden Newman tells them.

They get directions to Darkvale Abbey only 20 miles north of the village. The Cloudstealer descends near to the ground a few hundred feet from the ruins of the small abbey. From what the villagers in Deepford told them, the abbey has been abandoned for eighty years.

Quantity over quality

I had a recent Swords & Wizardry session that really demonstrated the importance of quantity over quality in high-level play. I was running a heavily modified version of The Hulking Abomination, a Level 6 D&D 5e adventure by Elven Tower and Victor Escalante. As a 6th level D&D 5th edition adventure I had to make some changes to get it to work for 12th level Swords & Wizardry. I just adjusted the statistics of the two main adversaries. I made the single Umber Hulk a 14 HD abomination and I increased the number of wolf spiders and made them 8th level. I also created much larger maps to allow for the increase in the number of monsters. The umber hulk was no match for my party of high-level players. But the wolf spiders decimated the characters. Two of the characters failed saves on lethal poison and had to be teleported to a nearby church. The players had to retreat and come back a few days later when they had recovered. The Wolf Spider ambush was a lot of fun to run as a GM and the players also had a lot of fun.

Session 153: The Hulking Abomination

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Grasshopper (human monk), Domago (human cleric NPC), Brovin (human thief NPC), Aelshara (half-elven fighter/magic-user NPC).

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon return to their home in Edgerton aboard their flying ship the Cloudstealer.

In Edgerton, Lakima introduces Aelshara to his wife and servants. He also tells Alayna about their journey into the Underworld but he downplays the dangers. Aelshara takes a guest room in the Manor and asks if she can stay awhile to get used to this new time she has landed. Lakima offers her access to the Library of the Mages Guild which Aelshara takes advantage of.

Eathwund suggests to Eris that she might work as a chambermaid at his Inn the Sign of the Purple Bugbear. Eris appears completely lost now that she is back among the living but she accepts the offer. Eris is rude to guests who dare to speak with her but in Mirdton this sort of behaviour is not uncommon. Eathwund drops in every day to keep an eye on the Tavern and on Eris.

The journey to the Underworld seems to have unlocked new ideas in Lakima’s mind and he realizes he now can manipulate the magical energies required to cast spells of the 7th Circle. He sets about immediately studying how to recreate a spell of this complexity that he has encountered in his research. Lakima spends days in his quarters in the Mages Guild.

After a week back in Edgerton, Ian brings an announcement to Aldus about the Black Eagle tourney in Uthersberg. They decide to head to the tourney to compete. Aldus and Ian say goodbye to their friends and ride off to Uthersberg (the player who was running Aldus and his squire was away for a few sessions).

Grasshopper spends the days of downtime wandering about the large town. He gives a lot of his share of the treasure to poor children and the homeless. Soon he gains a reputation in the town for charity. He does set aside some gold for a magic item he wants to purchase.

A week later, a Royal Messenger arrives at the Manor. Alayna greets the messenger but he informs her he can only give the message to Lakima the Grey. Lakima has to be sent for but the messenger indicates that he will wait. When Lakima arrives, he opens the sealed letter from Duke Robert requesting an exclusive deal to supply flying ships to the Ducal fleet. Lakima writes a brief reply accepting the offer.

A few days later, a message arrives from the duke asking for a meeting at his hunting lodge in four days. Lakima asks Eathwund, Domago, and Grasshopper if they would like to join him. The three adventurers fly on the Cloudstealer to the Duke’s hunting lodge outside Dolmvay. Here they meet with Duke Robert and his retinue and discuss the construction of flying ships. After some negotiation, a deal is struck for Lakima to provide helms for four ships for 75,000 gold and the title of Mage of the Realm. With an agreement reached, they get back aboard the Cloudstealer and return to Edgerton.

Back in Edgerton, Lakima remembers that there are powerful spells he could not decipher in the spellbook he took from one of the twelve mages of the White Worm. Checking the spellbook he finds spells of the 7th Circle. He spends a few days studying the spells and manages to learn two of them and write them in his spellbook.

A letter asking for help arrives from Whetwhistle. Their friend and business partner Whexley Windham says that there was a collapse in the mine trapping two miners. When they dug a rescue tunnel for them, they did not find the two men but they did see strange, monstrous-sized tracks. Whexley asks if they could come and clear the mine. The miners are refusing to work.

Lakima, Eathwund, Grasshopper, Domago, Brovin, and Aelshara set out on horseback for Whetwhistle which is only six hours away. They head directly to the Goose Inn and speak with Whexley. He tells them nothing new has occurred. They have not abandoned the mine but they are not entering the lower levels.

“Well, it is not producing much of a profit for us so why don’t we seal it shut?” Lakima tells Whexley.

Whexley sputtered at this suggestion which would be the end of the hamlet. He insists that the mine has been producing a lot of copper and he is just waiting on a payment from the Mining Guild before sending the profits to the Company in Edgerton.

The adventurers accompanied by Whexley head up into the hills to the nearby mine. The journey only takes an hour. At the mining camp, they speak with Astrid Brightfist the mining foreman. She tells them the cave-in occurred at “Cave B” on the lower level where the new workings are located. Astrid leads them into the upper workings and shows them the lift that takes miners down (and ore up) from the lower workings.

“I will work the lift,” Astrid tells them, “Yell if you need to be brought back up.”

Astrid tells them if they are gone more than six hours, she will come looking for them.

The adventurers descend into a dark chamber lit dimly by the glow of a forge. Lakima uses the Staff of Power to cast light on Aelshara, Eathwund, and Domago. Grasshopper quietly slips into the darkness and tells the others to give him a lead he will scout ahead. Brovin silently follows him.

Grasshopper follows the tunnel and mine tracks to an open area. A hand-painted sign says “Cave A”. Two tracks enter a low tunnel (5 feet high) where there is a sign saying “Danger Low Ceiling.” He calls out for the other adventurers to catch up.

“Which way?” Grasshopper asks.

Lakima points south.

One track follows a tunnel to the southeast and the other follows a tunnel south. They can see immediately that the tunnel to the southeast has collapsed. While the others wait Grasshopper moves down the tunnel to check if it is impassible. He sees it is clearly impassible and he also sees movement.

“Look out!” Grasshopper yells as a flock of stirges erupts from the tunnel and flies amongst all of the adventurers trying to latch on and suck their blood. Grasshopper, Eathwund, and Lakima are attacked by many stirges while the others only have to contend with a pair each. Domago, Grasshopper, and Lakima each have a stirge grab onto them and start sucking blood. But they can throw them off or kill them. The stirges continue to fly about the group, getting killed when an adventurer can strike one. Domago and Lakima are again struck but eventually, all of the stirges are killed or driven off.

Stirges

“Let’s try the other tunnel,” a blood-soaked Lakima says.

The tunnel goes another 20 feet before they come to a cave-in. A 3-foot-high tunnel extends around the cave-in.

“This looks like the rescue tunnel,” Grasshopper says.

Grasshopper gets down on his hands and knees and crawls into the rescue tunnel. It is shored up only in a few spots and dug recently. The rest of the adventurers follow him. The rescue tunnel enters another cave where they can stand up.

“Cave B,” Grasshopper says pointing at a hand-painted sign on the wall.

This area shows signs of having been worked recently. Pick axes lie where they were dropped. A mine tunnel with tracks heads southeast. Grasshopper checks the cave floor for tracks and there are plenty, all human boot prints.

They continue to the east and enter another cave marked “Cave C”. A circular tunnel that appears to have been dug by a creature enters from the north. A pool of iridescent liquid lies before the tunnel. The group checks the pool but it seems harmless. Grasshopper leaps over the pool and scouts the area ahead. He finds a burrowed tunnel descending deep into the earth and another tunnel connecting to the mine. He comes back and tells everyone. They walk through the shallow puddle on the floor and head down the burrow deeper into the earth.

The burrow comes out in a small burrowed cave. Piles of rock debris lie about the chamber. Everything seems to have been dug from solid rock by a burrowing creature.

“Wait here and I will scout the surrounding area,” Grasshopper says.

While the other adventurers wait Grasshopper scouts the area. Tunnels enter from all directions and wind about in a maze. Some tunnels are impassible with large rocks blocking passage. Grasshopper does see a metal object on the floor of a cave shining in the light from his torch. He picks it up and finds it is a battered mining helmet. Grasshopper returns to the group and shows them the helmet.

“I don’t think we are going to find the miners alive,” Lakima says.

Grasshopper takes the lead and follows the most accessible tunnel entering a crossroads of tunnels he is startled when a pile of rubble erupts and an enormous brown, hairy spider covered in debris leaps out at him. The spider is larger than him and 3 feet tall. Grasshopper can barely yell a warning before spiders erupt from side passages and attack all of the adventurers from all directions.

Deadly spiders

Brovin who was in the back runs away down a side tunnel and hides. The other adventurers fight the giant spiders as best they can. Several of them are sliced by giant pincers dripping in ichor. Eathwund is cut from behind on his back and succumbs to darkness collapsing. Domago is cut off and slashed repeatedly before falling. Brovin, seeing what is happening tries to go to Domago’s aid and desperately kills a spider that is trying to drag Domago away. Grasshopper uses his fists on the spiders killing two and then killing one with a single punch to the thorax. Lakima casts magic missiles at the spiders as does Aelshara. Finally, the last of the spiders are driven off but Domago and Eathwund are dying. Thinking quickly, Lakima teleports both of them away.

“Where did you send them?” Grasshopper asks.

“To a friend in Edgerton,” he says.

Lakima suggests they retreat. They have lost two of their number and they can hear the clicking sounds of more spiders or worse echoing through the tunnels. The adventurers stagger to the tunnel leading up and out. On the way, Grasshopper hears a low moan and they find one of the missing miners.

Yelling for Astrid to lower the lift the group exits the lower mines.

“Where are the others?” Astrid asks.

Lakima tells Astrid how badly things have gone. They make their way to the surface to talk to the miners. One of the miners is overjoyed that his twin brother has been found alive. He is only unconscious and exhausted. They listen in horror as the adventurers describe the fight they had with the giant spiders.

“But these spiders could not have been what left the three-toed tracks and burrowed through the stone,” Whexley says.

When the unconscious miner is revived, he tells of being attacked by an insectoid creature standing on two legs. The creature had four sets of eyes and its gaze was hypnotic.

“We should close the mine and block the entrance,” Lakima says.

“But, without the mine, Whetwhistle will be abandoned,” Whexley pleads, “We need the mine!”

After some arguing Grasshopper convinces the others to sleep on it at the Goose Tavern. Lakima is reluctant to re-enter the mine, especially without Eathwund on hand.

Meanwhile, Eathwund awakens in a strange bed in a pleasant room. He sees the smiling face of Abbot Marta looking down at him.

“It was a near thing, my friend,” Marta says, “A few more moments and you would have been dead. It was lucky for you that it happened to me near when you appeared.”

“Tell me what sort of trouble you and Lakima have been getting yourself into.”

Eathwund briefly describes what happened. He sits up feeling remarkedly fit and healthy. Looking over he sees Domago resting in a nearby bed apparently still asleep. Seeing his gaze, Marta assures him that Domago will be fine.

When Domago awakes an hour later, he finds Eathwund already packed and ready to go wolfing down some beef stew.

“I arranged for horses,” Eathwund tells Domago, “I assume Lakima must have survived and magicked us out of those tunnels. But we had better rush back to Whetwhistle and see what happened.”

After a good night’s rest, Lakima, Grasshopper, Brovin, and Aelshara have breakfast at the Goose Inn. Lakima is still inclined to abandon the mine. As they eat, they hear horses ride up outside. The door to the Inn opens and Eathwund and Domago stride in. Domago immediately goes to Lakima and gives him a strong embrace.

“I owe you my life,” Domago says.

Eathwund merely nods at the group.

“Eathwund and Domago are back. I say we head back into the mine. This time we will be ready.” Grasshopper says.

“Do you two want to re-enter the mine?” Lakima asks Domago and Eathwund. Domago tells them yes and Eathwund shrugs.

“Okay,” Lakima says, “But be ready to get out of there if we encounter another nest of spiders.”

The adventurers and Whexley return to the Copper mine. The miners have kept watch on the entrance but no one has had the bravery to enter. Astrid volunteers to man the winch again to send them down into the lower mines.

Once on the lower level, the group makes their way into the burrow. They travel with fewer lights this time. Searching through the maze of tunnels, they see a cave in the distance where the rocks emit a strange blue glow but they cannot find a clear path to the cave. All of the tunnels near it are blocked by boulders. They can only peek through small openings.

“Maybe we can shift some of the rocks,” Lakima looks at Eathwund.

“This way,” Grasshopper waves, “I think I see a path.”

Following Grasshopper the group circles through the tunnels and arrives at the entrance to the strange cave. Grasshopper enters ahead of the others. The rocks are a dark grey but blue magical energy that seems to flow through the rocks like tiny sparks of lightning. In lights the rubble-filled cave in an eerie blue glow. Looking down at the floor, Grasshopper sees massive footprints of a three-toed creature and he sees a gnawed human femur bone.

“Look at this guys,” Grasshopper says. From the corner of his eye, he sees the rubble shift and an enormous insectoid creature stands up on two legs and moves toward him grasping with three-clawed hands. The creature has a pair of insectoid eyes on its head and a second pair of more humanoid eyes.

All of the adventurers hear and see the creature stand up. Lakima beholds the strange eyes on the creature and shouts a warning.

“Don’t look into its eyes!”

Eathwund and Grasshopper attack from close in while averting their gazes. They still manage to strike the hard carapace of the creature several times. Aelshara looks at the creature and casts a magic missile striking it. She finds the eyes mesmerizing but manages to look away. Domago tries to cast a spell but is struck with confusion when he regards the creatures’ eyes. Lakima summons his protector which slashes at the creature with its mystical sword.

Suddenly, the confused Domago takes a swing at Aelshara with his mace barely missing her head. She screams in anger at him.

“He is under a confusion charm,” Lakima yells. Aelshara tries to move away from Domago. Lakima speaks a single magical word to Domago and the priest is stunned and falls to the ground.

“That will take care of him for now,” Lakima says.

“Spiders!” Brovin yells from the back of the group. Looking behind them, Lakima sees a pair of giant spiders crawling toward Brovin. He casts a Wall of iron and blocks several of the tunnels leading to them.

Meanwhile, Eathwund and Grasshopper have been avoiding the claws of the abomination and have landed many hits. The creature begins to stagger then it burrows into the walls of the chamber and vanishes.

“Where did it go?” Lakima asks.

Everyone looks about. They can hear the creature digging its way through rock all around them. Stone begins to shake in one of the blocked passages and then it clears and they see the creature, some of its wounds regenerated, and four giant spiders behind it.

“Lightning bolt,” Lakima yells and casts a bolt of lightning straight down the tunnel and into the abomination and the spiders. All of the creatures are struck and only one of the spiders manages to drag itself away. Grasshopper chases after it but it squeezes itself through a narrow hole in a blocked tunnel.

Once the rest of the group arrives Lakima casts passwall clearing a section of the tunnel. But it is not enough the tunnel is still blocked.

“We have done enough,” Lakima says, “Let’s get out of here.”

Before leaving Lakima and Grasshopper take samples of the strange, magical rock. The adventurers make their way back to the surface. They meet up with Astrid and tell her the worst of the creatures are dead.

Up in the mining camp, Lakima apprises Whexley of the situation. He tells him that the borrowing creature is dead but that there still appears to be a nest of spiders in the lower levels. Maybe they should only work the upper levels. Whexley is downcast. He tells them that the best veins of copper are in the lower levels. Lakima also tells him that they saw signs of a vein of gold in the lower mines.

“Any idea what this strange rock might be,” Grasshopper says to Astrid and shows her a small stone. Even in the bright sunlight the grey stone still shows dim flickers of blue magic.

“I am not sure,” Astrid says turning it over in her hands, “It couldn’t be.”

“Aetherium!” she breathes with astonishment.

Astrid is reluctant to say more but eventually admits that it could be aetherium. A rare stone found only deep underground in the Callahiem Mountains. It is mined by the dwarves and sold to the gnomes to make magic items.

“Now we have to keep the mine open,” Whexley says hopefully.

“We will think about it,” Lakima says.

“We can head back down after another day of rest,” Grasshopper says.