Serpents of Chaos - Delve 9 - Surprise Attack

Serpents of Chaos is a ad&d 1e campaign set in the lands of Hyperborea, a vast region of steppe, inland seas, deep mountains, horse-hordes, fierce barbarians, and hardened adventurers.

During downtime, Zanuptra, Goswin, Laurenzia, Bran, and James received handsome rewards for their roles in protection of Svargorod. These included potions, gold, henchmen, and even an acquired farm (none of which counted towards XP).

Soon after, they were right back in the dungeon. This time the intrepids are Zanuptra (Magic-user 1), Laurenzia (Druid 1), Goswin (Fighter 1), Bran (Fighter 1), and a new face--Ismund (Cleric 1). Also with Zanuptra is a bodyguard of no less than four hirelings. He is close to levelling and only has 1 hit point. Can't you tell? Bran's war dog, Grimm, is also along for the ride.

On their way, the group finally came across some temple-priests-gone-rogue. This group of devotees are clerics of Sarub-Zarug, the God of Death (LN). They performed the important offices of burial and last rites for the dead and dying of Svargorod. A mob burned down their temple, suspecting them of a murder plot on the Lord-Prince Golthrod. One of the characters (James) was part of the mob.

Death-cultist of Sarub-Zarug

The death-priests-turned-cultists seek revenge. The party encounters them on their way to the Cursed Chambers and the cultists make known that they want the head of James Colvin. A hearty display of comradery is displayed by Bran, who sticks his chest out and tells the devotees to shove it.

After that, it's onwards to the Chambers. After poking around in the dank caverns and lotus pool, the party unlocks a door and rolls into a guard room. Inside is a patient-looking serpent-man and his two apish guards. With sly cunning, he bids Bran to sit at a table with him (meanwhile hiding a crossbow underneath), drink some wine, and start a conversation about what they're doing here. They, on the other hand, start getting testy.

Once he's had enough of them and their demands, he gives them a demand. He declares an ultimatum for them to leave the dungeon. Or else he'll have to kill them.

At this time, I rolled a "1" on the encounter die. So here we gooo.. 4 Khitemians joining the room soon enough.

And sooner than that, the serpent-man loses his patience and fires a bolt right into Bran's nether-regions. Combat starts, with Zanuptra launching his sleep spell on the ape-men. A ton of people rush the serpent-man and he starts getting the pin-cushion treatment. Ismund utters a blessing. Zanuptra's bowmen and Laurenzia stay back from the fray.

But behind them, a door opens. And from it come four glowing-eyed Khitemians. Two have bows at the ready, one of them is armed with a scimitar, and the fourth is a large, muscle-bound brute in a long, flowing cape.

Two arrows fly towards Zanuptra, Laurenzia, and the bowmen. 

Zanuptra is struck! And down, bleeding out! He made it so far, just to die in this decrepit dungeon.

A second arrow takes a hireling bowman, Prell. Prell is dead.

The sword-armed Khitemians close in, but hirelings and Laurenzia keep them at bay while Ismund rushes in to cast cure light wounds on Zanuptra. The magic-user survives!

The serpent-man is skewered unceremoniously, but not before he deals a fatal blow to Bran. Bran's dog Grimm gets his revenge and takes a few chunks out of his master's killer.

War dogs by Jim Roslof

Soon the Khitemians are whittled down to just the leader, who flees, his thick cape billowing behind him. The party cleans up, gets their downed comrades out, and searches a room in the northeast corner, discovering a staggering amount of gold and some bracers of defence (6). The bracers of defence are sold after returning to town--bringing in 12,000 gp. This gives the party enough XP to all level up from Level 1 to Level 2 and land within 1 XP of the 3rd level.

Bran is buried and his gravestone marked.

Serpents of Chaos - Delve 8 - Xataian Bounty

Serpents of Chaos is a ad&d 1e campaign set in the lands of Hyperborea, a vast region of steppe, inland seas, deep mountains, horse-hordes, fierce barbarians, and hardened adventurers.

During downtime, Zanuptra the Prestidigitator (level 1 MU) was up to stuff again. The player behind him (and Ursula and Enkidu) has been on the leading edge of collecting information, meeting NPCs, and going on in-between adventures. This time he tried looking for secret knowledge concerning Slissirix and the Serpents of Chaos (which they met in the dungeon in session 7). His search led him to Shemul, the Patriarch of the Temple of Thargrod. Shemul sent him to seek out Murhsumut the sage-priest in Barad (a day or two of travel away). Murshumut kept scrips of lore and old tablets concerning the Serpents.

Murshumut

Laurenzia the Aspirant (level 1 Druid) was also making the rounds in town, looking for henchmen. Posting ads and hiring agents was successful. A fighter turned up to meet Laurenzia at the White Cask. But the interview process fell flat and Laurenzia decided not to hire him.

Now to the session. Five in total joined the crew: Zanuptra, Laurenzia, James (Fighter 1), Bran (Dwarf Fighter 1), and Goswin (Fighter 1). The group decided to look into a bounty offered for two Xataian blade merchants (600 gp dead, 1000 gp alive) who sold weapons to the dungeon inhabitants of the Cursed Chambers. So they chased down a merchant caravan going east, back to Xatai.

At first, the job didn't seem too hard. But when they found out that the caravan had 260 people, 200 of which were heavily armed guards (some of them riding saurian mounts), they had to make a plan. This plan was to sneak in at night and capture a guard patrol.

They ambushed a pair of Xataian guards, Laurenzia entangling them with grasses, then running up and dogpiling them. One of these guards cried out, alerting a second patrol. This second patrol caused some trouble and one almost escaped but Laurenzia ran him down.

Getting information out of the guards proved difficult until James slipped a cursed ring on one of their fingers. That guard was visited by some unseen being. A large snake bite appeared on his wrist and he went catatonic (but succeeded on his poison throw and stayed alive).

Once he woke up, James told him the ring would go back on unless he gave them information on the blade merchants. The guard said they were hidden with a small group of Cimmerian huntsmen travelling on the road just ahead of the Xataians. The guard noted that the merchants were disguised as female bedslaves of the barbarian leader.

A plan was made to ride into camp on horseback, setting fire to tents, cutting leads on pack animals, and cause chaos. Meanwhile Zanuptra and Laurenzia would steal into the largest tent, cast Sleep on it, and steal some Xataians (they heard the bedslaves were in the big tent).

Their information proved to be underwhelming and amongst the havoc no Xataians were found. Zanuptra and Laurenzia did meet the barbarian leader in the tent, which was a funny story. I started describing a large man, thickly muscled, grasping a two handed sword, wearing a headband and cursing Grom (Crom). I hadn't planned on including Conan whole-cloth in the setting but now it's done! I can't go back. Either way, these two spellcasters really pissed off this barbarian.

Conan by Frazetta

Shortly after that, the group had to retreat to a previously agreed-upon location empty handed. It was a disappointment of sorts but the session itself was full of great stories. The PCs made it through without arguments or indecision and all of us got to see a glimpse of overland action which was a nice break from the dungeon.

But speaking of the dungeon, by the time the party got back with their few gold coins (looted from the Xataian guards) they were all eager to stomp the Chambers once again and haul out some real treasures.