Griffin's Rest Mord Mar Session #1
After the break, I have finally revamped a lot of Mord Mar. This was in anticipation of running the megadungeon at my FLGS, The Griffin's Rest. We had our inaugural game this afternoon. I missed one player (not realizing he was there for the game - Sorry, Farber! Next week!) We had 10 registered on the site, but 6 showed up (plus the player I missed).
We did character generation (see this post) and I plopped the wanted posters onto the table. Now, keep in mind, I expected them to go for the low hanging fruit - goblins. That went awry quickly.
Here's the character list:
Human Ranger (name unknown)
Elf Thief/Magic-User (name unknown)
Firban Brighthand - Halfling Thief
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf Fighter
Boris - Dwarf Fighter/Thief
Khazgar was quickly the defacto leader, and he convinced the party to look for the Opalaxe Clan's axe. This brought the party quickly away from anything I had planned. (The joys of a sandbox game!)
They headed down the teleportation hallway toward Forge Road. A wandering monster check brought them face to face with a returning party. These adventurers warned the party that the giant rats were "very active" today. They talked about the bear-owl, confirming it is still in the Keep's central area. No, goblins haven't been active. Probably because of the bear-owl thing. Pleasantries were said and the groups separated.
Nothing else happened on the way to the Old City. On the Forge Road, they take the first right available and head into the Lords' District. The road here is quite different. It is 10' wide instead of 30'. It has a ceiling about 20' tall. They follow the road, and find "paths" staggered on both sides of the passage about 45' apart. (On each side of the road there is 90' between "paths.")
They listen at a few, and choose the 7th one (630' down the road). They follow the path to a 50' square carved "cavern" with a golden colored door at the far end. Before entering, they search and find a pit trap. The elf notices a secret door at the bottom of the pit, about 4' tall. They open it and find a stairway that winds down into the darkness, but heightens back to 10' quickly.
They decide to check the golden colored door first, and find it untrapped, and easy to open. Inside they see a doorway on the left wall, a stairway up straight ahead and a closed door to the right. Khazgar enters and notices a statue on the left wall. Approaching and inspecting it, he sees a holy symbol of Bashiel Ashmouth and some runes under the symbol. He fails his save, and falls over.
Firban steps in to help him, and the statue's head follows the halfling around. Eventually, the group gets Khazgar out (with the help of Boris.) Radovan inspects the runes and also becomes paralyzed. The statue's head follows any non-dwarf in the room, apparently too.
The thieves here something BIG stomping around upstairs as the paralysis wears off. A huge statue comes down the stairs and the party flees, shutting the golden colored door behind them. The statue blasts the door off the hinges and pursues. The party flees into the secret door at the bottom of the pit, assuming that the giant statue would not fit. They were right.
Following the stairs (which were carved by dwarves, but not master craftsmen like the rest of the stonework seen) leads them to a room with an open sarcophagus, and an altar (again to Basheel.) The elf notices that there is a secret door behind the altar. Khazgar inspects the sarcophagus and skeleton inside, and finds an axe matching the description of the Opalaxe Clan's. He grabs it, after hitting the skeleton's skull. This triggers something appearing in the corner. It looks like a flaming skeleton.
Combat ensues, and Khazgar is dropped. The human ranger is able to finish the flaming beast a few seconds later, after taking a hefty blow himself. Boris inspects the sarcophagus closer, and finds that there is a secret compartment under the skeleton. Meanwhile, Radovan heals Khazgar. Boris pops the hidden compartment, releasing a green gas into the room, and those in its range make their saves. 250 gp, 200 sp and 2 gems are hauled out.
Meanwhile, Firban has figured out how to open the secret door. It opens into a similar room, with a larger altar inside. There are also 8 skeletons standing inside. They decide to leave for the day, with their new treasure. They make their way back to the pit trap, and see that the statue has re-entered the house, and replaced the door (it hangs askew, but has covered the doorway.)
They rest for 2 days, and head back to finish the room with the skeletons. People take turns crossing the threshold, only to find that a magical darkness doesn't let those in the room see. But, the people outside can see in.
They worry that the skeletons will attack, so they lasso the skeleton nearest the altar, dragging it out, and making the altar begin to glow. It does not animate. Instead they find it was bound with mithril wire(!) and begin to unwind it. They repeat the process with the other skeletons, but they each collapse instead of getting drug out.
Thinking the threat is contained, the Elf MU-Thief steps into the room again, finding that the light from the altar allows him to see. He finds a secret compartment on the altar, and an Iron Cobra attacks from within. He flees and the party makes quick work of it.
Khazgar decides to smash the skulls of the skeletons, and they all begin to coalesce in the room. They shut the door and flee. As they do so, the skeleton they pulled out magically moves toward the secret door and begins beating on it.
End of Session
We had a lot of fun. I wasn't prepared for them heading in this direction. But, we all had a blast. The players got a real good taste of what megadungeon play feels like. Everyone had fun, and I expect them all back next week! I love sessions like this.
There will be a signup sheet for next week up sometime tomorrow in the FB group and on the website. Look for it.
*EDIT* the axe they found was not the Opalaxe clan's. It was a +1 axe, which is now in use by the party.
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