Habis the Wanderer by GusL.

Introduction

Hello again, Gentle Reader. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the last game and am unable to give you a firsthand account. However, Gus was gracious enough to allow me to post the brief play report that he wrote up regarding the events of the session. Words and art (I mean, always the art) are by him. I'm just putting everything together and adding pictures (it's a compulsion at this point).

Iron Barrow Session 6

Characters:

• The Stranger: Fighter 1 - Templar of the Prison Spires
• Morgwen: Fighter 1 - Templar of the Prison Spires
• "Mackie" Palamides: Fighter 1 - Fop

Leading expedition sponsor Truvidas Grape and his man Bear into the depths of the Iron Barrow, the trio of fighters descended through the brigand's shaft and moved with alacrity toward the 3rd level's sealed, treasure-rich tombs. They proceeded past the pyre pits without incident, protected by the Kosse Sildarian holy symbols recovered last session, and returned to the U-shaped hall where Morgwen had looted a suit of bronze plate armor in the previous session. In the distance, there was the sound of metal on metal - the clanging of sword and shield to the South.

Carefully removing the lid of the first sarcophagus, the party found only bronze weapons and a desiccated corpse. Before they had the chance to undertake the same delicate process on the remaining tomb, the one with a robed woman painted on it, they are distracted by a group of masked figures moving up the hall. Raggedly robed and wearing crowned bronze death masks, these tomb denizens carry obvious wealth: one being adorned with a jade crown and amber studded silver pectoral. The three in the rear moaned with horrible, gurgling voices, but the one in the front quickly stepped forward and raised her hand in a gesture of greeting.

This group was much more friendly than the three that Iosis had to torch a couple of sessions back. Art by GusL.

Even as they backed away, the adventurers returned the masked wraith's friendly gesture, and it began to speak. Its name was Ama, Queen of the Water Meadows to the South and West, and she required an escort for her and her handmaidens back to her homeland. If the party (obviously a group of free swords) aided her, she would reward them with wide-horned cows and good marriages (for the men), and rich lands and the status of hearth-women for the women of the party.

Rather then dismissing Ama's proposal (or mentioning that it seemed impossible) the party claimed that they were on an errand and could help when they were finished. Ama and her handmaidens were unhappy, but The Stranger made a gift of his wine flask that mollified them, and the party managed to wander off while the dead queens sipped from the flask and make snide comments about the quality of the wine contained within.

Moving to the East (and so away from the known location of Chariot King Canine the Mad and her "army") the party discovered a pair of sagging, bronze-studded doors. Within was a clear pool that smelled of mountain air and contained a riot of spectral water plants: cattails, lily pads, lotus flowers and reeds. Beyond the ghostly plants, there were three stone coffins that proved to be empty except for a single couplet on the underside of one coffin lid: "If I should wake beneath the loam, memories pool will take me home. When life again begins to lack, bloody waters will bring me back."

The party flicked a drop of blood into the pool, but nothing happened.

Perplexed, they ventured South and then East and found themselves at another tomb. Upon entering, they found that black stone of the tomb's pillars, walls, and sarcophagi were scored and pitted with deep holes. Exploring the tomb further, The Stranger probed one of the holes with his sword and suddenly an iron centipede, a 4-foot long creature with dripping mandibles and a black ferrous shell, burst from the opening (Naeolin's Note: I dub these Ferropedes).

In the ensuing combat, several more centipedes burst from the tunnels and dropped from above. The party experienced difficulty in the swirling melee and several members are injured in the chaotic exchange of blows. Worse still, they discovered that the spit of the centipedes dissolves steel and iron armor. However, they proved to be simple beasts, and at the edge of being overwhelmed the party discovered they could be distracted with iron "food". This led to them flinging a grappling hook and iron darts around the room, resulting in one centipede being nearly fatally skewered. The rest of the creatures descended upon the wounded one and began to devour its iron shell, which gave the party the opportunity they needed to retreat.

They escaped from the centipede lair and returned to the surface. Though they left empty-handed, the adventurers enlarged the map of the barrow's third level and encountered yet another group of undead who asked a favor.

Map by Gus L. Alliteration by me (it's a sickness)