This is part two of my narrative retelling for a Dragonbane crawl I led some players on. As with part one, if there’s a part of the narrative which is linked to a distinct Dragonbane mechanic I’ll describe it in a footnote. You can read part one here.
The party is made up of three adventurers, played by two of my regular Basic Fantasy RPG players and my daughter:
- Illyriana Bloodhunger, an elven hunter
- Garmandé Redeye, a human thief
- Halvelda Saltsplash, a human mariner.
“Hell. Hell!” The mariner felt herself being shaken. “Hell, wake up!”
Helvelda reached her hand up to her temple, and noticed it was covered in sticky liquid. “Uhhh…ohhhh…ow.”
“Hell! You had me worried! Illy, Hell’s alive1!”
“Garmandé, if you don’t quiet down you won’t be. What happened.”
The mariner felt two hands reach under her arms and lift her to her feet The sensation of being moved was not pleasant, but she managed to stay conscious as the world swam around her.
“Whoa! Easy Gar, I don’t feel good. What happened?”
“What happened is we got ambushed from behind when a bunch of goblins ran out of the secret door we missed and stabbed you a couple of times. Gar’s been tending to you, but it was touch and go for a while.”
“Why do I hear a hint of self-accusation in your voice.”
Illyriana grunted, “I should have seen it.”
Helvelda grabbed the elf’s cloak and drug him down, “Do you have any sort of great skill finding secret doors?”
“No.”
The mariner patted her companion’s shoulder. “Well there you are then. Let’s stop talking like fools and check out this door we all missed.”
“Gar’s already looked at it. It looks like the door was set up so the goblins could look down the central hallway.”
“So what you’re saying, Illy, is they knew we were here the moment you went down the passage?”
The elf shrugged. “That seems likely. Yes.”
Helvelda sighed, “So the first two guard were..”
“Bait, yes. Good thing we didn’t spend too much time search around their room.” The elf pointed down the right passage. “Gar, you said the secret door connects to that passage?”
The thief nodded. “And another short passage with a guard room at the end. Which is where I found, this!” Garmandé reached into a pouch and produced a diamond the size of a plum. It glimmered in the torchlight.
Illyriana’s eyes widened as the elf reached out and took the proffered gem. “Where did a few goblin guards get that?”
Garmandé shrugged, I guess they were holding out from whoever’s in charge around here. At least, one of them was 2.”
Helvelda reached out and took the diamond as well. As she admired it in the torchlight she said, “OK, then. So we’re out of here now?”
Illyriana’s mouth dropped. “Are you serious? If their boss doesn’t noticed that is missing do you have any idea how much treasure they must have here?”
“And if they have that much treasure are you thinking about what they probably have guarding it, Illy?”
Garmandé nodded his agreement with Helvelda. “Hell’s right, Illy. Treasure’s no good if you aren’t alive to spend it. With that we can resupply and get some good rest before we venture out again.”
The elf shook his head. “OK, look. Let’s just scout out the two other passages and then make up our minds, ok?”
Garmandé sighed. “Fine, but if I die I won’t be happy with you.”
Illyriana noddedd. “OK. What about you, Hell?”
The mariner shrugged. “We’ll probably just get eaten on the way back to town, anyway. Might as well look around a bit, I guess.”
“Great. So, which passage?”
Garmandé turned his back toward the direction of the cave entrance and pointed down the hall toward the guard room. “OK, so we know that’s a dead end, and there’s nothing down there.”
Then he pointed ahead of him, “We know two goblins fled down that way and we haven’t seen them since, but I guessing they’re waiting for us down there.”
He then pointed down the passage on the left. “But we haven’t heard anything coming from down that way.”
Illyriana nodded. “Left it is, quiet is nice.”
“You say that now,” Helvelda replied with a scowl.
The companions worked their way down a 10 meter passage, which opened up into a square room about 8 meters across. Rotting wood littered the floor, and several pillars held up a vaulted ceiling. The remnants of masonry could be seen on the walls and in the floor, but over the years minerals from cave seepage had given the space the same organic feel as the rest of the environment.
“This must have been a scriptorium or something3,” Illyriana said as he looked around the room. “See the desks?”
Garmandé pointed toward the right wall of the room and replied with a whisper, “All I see is them.”
The elf shifted his gaze and saw a second passage leading out of the room. Standing at attention on either side of the opening were two skeletons, who had turned their gaze toward the adventures but were otherwise unmoving.
The elf held out his arms and shepherded his companions back out of the room. “Why don’t we just leave them be?”
“Good idea,” Helvelda replied.
When they reached the four way junction again the trio exhaled in relief.
“Well, I guess we know why the locals think this place is cursed,” Garmandé remarked.
Illyriana grinned. “And who knows what they might be guarding!”
The elf’s companions sighed and, in unison, groaned.
“Let’s head up the way the goblins fled. There’s something special here, I know it.”
The companions turned up the passage up which the two goblins had fled. Time crawled as they attempted to keep their movements as quiet as possible, expecting another ambush. After an age, the passage opened up to square room which had no floor. The entire space was a pit about six meters deep. ropes swung over the trap, suspended by ancient wooden beams which had been drilled into the cavern’s walls. Three passages lead out of the chamber–one straight ahead, one to the group’s right, and another to the left.
“OK, Illy, I think we’re done here,” Garmandé whispered.
“Oh come on, Gar,” the elf snapped back. Look how loose the bricks are. We can climb up and down that, no problem.”
“And then get shot by the goblins when we reach the bottom? No thanks,” Helvelda retorted.
Illyriana rolled his eyes. “Fine. Well…go across on the ropes. Watch!”
Before his companions could object, the elf leapt out into the dark and captured one of the ropes. With some effort Illyriana swung back and forth enough that he was able to launch himself into the passage which continued straight. The elf then turned and grabbed the rope before it swung back into the middle of the room 4.
“Great move, Illy,” Helvelda hissed. “I don’t see how that could have gone bad at all.”
“Well, it did work. I’m going to swing this back to you. Come on over.”
Garmandé caught the rope as it shuttled back toward the other side of the gap. “OK, I guess. But why did you take that passage?”
“It was the easiest for my momentum. Also,” the elf added as he pointed toward the left passage. “I think that might lead back to our skeleton friends.”
The thief shifted his gaze in the direction Illyriana was pointing and nodded. “Yah, I think you’re right. OK…here I come.”
Garmandé leapt over the chasm while grasping on to the rope. Before long he’d reached the other side and shuttled the rope back toward Helvelda, who repeated the process. Once the companions caught their breath they moved up the passage. It wasn’t long, only three meters or so, and opened into a rectangular room. The passage, which held the remains of a rotted door, entered into the room along one of the long edges of the space. The interior was filled with marble fixtures, smashed and strewn about the chamber. Several toppled pillars were also lying among the debris, and from his position Illyriana could make out some writing along their faces. As he read the words the color drained from his face.
“What’s it say, Illy?” Garmandé prodded.
The elf backed away from the room. “Oh, this is bad. That writing is linked to demon cults. I think we might want to leave 5.”
“Now you want to leave,” Helvelda snorted as she stepped into the room. “This is actually inter…oh, look out!”
Two skeletal warriors reacted as the mariner stepped across the threshold of the room. They drew spears and moved to attack the companions.
“OK, that’s our cue, let’s go,” Garmandé hissed as he made his way down the passage with Illyriana following. Helvelda, however, didn’t move.
The thief spun when he realized his friend wasn’t following him “Hell, what are you doing? Let’s go!”
“You get across the pit, I’ll slow them down and then run after you!”
Helvelda’s companions looked at each other and, without saying a word, rushed back up the passage to help their friend. Garmandé ran up to the mariner while Illyriana hung back and drew his bow.
“What are you doing, I told you to go!”
“Well, I told to you to come, so we’re even!”
Helvelda smiled at her friend as she dodged a spear thrust. “Well, I’m glad. These things are tougher than they look.” At that moment the pair heard a whistling sound as one of Illyriana’s arrows flew past, striking one of the skeletons. It shattered on impact and, while the skeleton did look rattled, it didn’t seem to be much harmed.
“Guys, I think this might be harder than we thought!” The elf shouted.
The other two companions rolled their eyes as they exchanged blows with the two undead guardians. Their strikes were damaging the creatures, but not fast enough for their liking.
“Maybe we should think ab..uhhh.” Helvelda turned toward Garmandé in time to see a skeletal spear being pulled back from his side as its owner prepared for another thrust. The thief’s eyes were beginning to roll back in his head as his body began to go limp, but the mariner reached out and grabbed her friend to keep him on his feet.
“No time to rest, Gar, too much work to do!”
Startled, Garmandé shook his head as his eyes cleared. He raised his dagger and rejoined the fight 6.
“I don’t feel so good,” he groaned even as he slashed at the nearest skeleton.
“Yah,” Helvelda agreed. “And this knife isn’t doing anything. So…” the mariner bend down to pick up a bone which had just fallen from a skeleton and proceeded to swing it at the undead guardian. “Oh yah!” she cried as the bone caved in the skeleton’s skull.
“Great idea, Hell!” Illyriana cried from missile range. “Gar, try that!”
The thief groaned has he grabbed the skeleton’s skull, and twisted. The guardian’s spine snapped and the skeleton fell to the ground. Soon followed by Gar.
“Gar!” Helvelda kneeled over her fallen friend.
“I’m OK, Hell. Just resting.”
“Great job, both of you. Now let’s…”
“Get out of here, now,” the other two companions replied.
Illyrian looked down at his friends and sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s get that diamond to town.”
The end?
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In the combat with the second wave of goblins Helvelda had been dropped to zero hit points and was making death saves. She succeeded. ↩
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In Dragonbane treasures are handed out by drawing from a deck. I this instance I drew a gem card and on the random table it came up as a diamond worth 100 gold pieces. That’s a lot of money. ↩
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In our session Illyriana failed his Lore check, so this line didn’t happen. But semi-competent adventurers sound better so I put it in. ↩
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In game, this took an Acrobatics check. Failure would have meant that Illyriana would have fallen into the pit, taking 5d6 damage in the process. This was not the wisest of moves on the elf’s part. ↩
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This time the player’s Lore check succeeded! ↩
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In Dragonbane a character with zero hit points begins making death saves. A friend can rally a fallen comrade, however, which brings them back into the fight. It’s risky, though, because rallied characters still have to make death saves and any damage is an automatic failure. Three failed saves mean the character leaves the mortal coil. ↩
