One hex = six miles
The campaign so far
Here is the latest session of my solo Exemplars & Eidolons campaign. In the previous adventure the warrior Freblun, having spent the night in a cell with the four captive youths from Drothorn, further explored the underground Temple of Madathak in search of the cultist Kulsev who holds the keys to their chains, and in search of the object of his quest which was the Jewel of Athaya.
In a nearby chamber, Freblun encountered three gorgons. He slew two of them and the third, Naestra, escaped. In a chest he found a hoard of treasure including the Jewel of Athaya. He used King Othtar’s Shield, which functions as a magical teleportation device, to return to the town of Bruld. There he gave the Jewel to Dorsunda, the high priestess of Athaya the goddess of healing. Dorsunda used the Jewel, which is a powerful healing artifact, to the cure the victims of the plague that had recently reached the town.
In the infirmary of the temple of Athaya, Freblun visited Mulglonem, the gnome illusionist who was his adventuring companion and who was raised from the dead by Dorsunda after having been killed by a troll in the Temple of Madathak. Before he could return to the Temple of Madathak to retrieve the remainder of the gorgons’ treasure, he was accosted by a strange young woman who was a member of a cult named The Way of the Oracle.
Freblun went with the woman to a house, where he discovered that The Oracle was a vile demon lord named Vorbithu who was presiding over a group of charmed townsfolk. Freblun resisted Vorbithu’s attempt to charm him and to make him sacrifice a young girl. He used King Othtar’s Shield to teleport himself and the girl to the temple of Dronlan, the god of merchants and adventurers, where the high priestess Mulglonem told him that she would investigate The Way of the Oracle.
Freblun then used King Othtar’s Shield to return to the Temple of Madathak. He reassured the four captive youths that he would rescue them from Kulsev, who intends to sacrifice one of them to Madathak when Urkothan, the moon, is full again. Freblun returned to the gorgons’ chamber where he found that most of the treasure had been taken. He obtained a Ring of Delusion, which he thinks is Ring of Invisibility, and a Crystal Ball. He thought that the Crystal Ball was allowing him to spy on Madathak in his citadel on Urkothan, but it was actually a Crystal Hypnosis Ball that Vorbithu was using in an attempt to control him again. Freblun resisted the effect of the Crystal Hypnosis Ball and left it in the chest.
Freblun is a sixth level warrior with eight Facts and six Gifts.
Solo gaming tools
I used Schweig’s Themed Dungeon Generator to randomly generate the Temple of Madathak during play. I also used the following tools:
- The 1st Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide (for dressing for an empty chamber of the dungeon).
- The random letters table from Fernewelt (a set of rules for story gaming).
- Sophia Brandt’s Miso game, a minimalist solo roleplaying game available for free on her blog.
26: Gorgons’ lair
In search of the evil Kulsev, Freblun leaves the gorgons’ lair by the door in the north wall.
27: Skeletons on guard
He enters another rectangular chamber, of the same dimensions as the gorgons’ lair. The first thing that he notices are five animated skeletons on guard with swords.
The skeletons are not ordinary skeletons but rupture skeletons (from the Creature Compendium from New Big Dragon). They are 2 HD monsters with an AC of 7.
Is Naestra the gorgon also in the chamber? I use Miso. D10: she is. D6: she isn’t. She is in the chamber.
Naestra the gorgon
Standing by the far wall is a familiar figure, a woman in a green robe with a hood that conceals her face. It is Naestra, the gorgon who escaped while Freblun was killing her two sisters Chidis and Cholaldia. Quickly, he looks away and wills his Ring of Invisibility to make himself invisible.
He hears Naestra laugh, and in the reflection made by the inside of King Othtar’s Shield he sees that the skeletons are advancing to attack as if they can see him easily. Is it really a Ring of Invisibility or a trap set by Naestra?
I decide that four of the skeletons can get a free attack on Freblun while he is bewildered. None of them succeed in wounding him.
The skeletons strike at him with their swords but none succeed in landing a blow. The inside of King Othtar’s Shield makes a poor mirror in comparison to the flat steel mirror that he carries in his Backpack of Holding, but he cannot drop the Shield as there is no other light source in the chamber.
Freblun has a -2 to his hit rolls for the duration of this combat.
Freblun destroys one of the rupture skeletons, and then uses his Fray die combined with his Titantic Blow Gift to destroy two more. The destroying of the skeletons triggers the magical traps with which they have been armed, which is a poison cloud for two of the skeletons and a 2d6 fireball for the third. All three skeletons also rupture into fragments of flying bone for 1d4 damage. Freblun can make Mystic saving throws against the poison clouds and the fireball, but not against the bone fragments. As the rupture skeletons are 2 HD monsters Freblun has a -2 penalty on his Mystic saving throw and must roll 16 or less to succeed. He succeeds on all three Mystic saving throws.
Fighting the skeletons as best he can, Freblun quickly destroys three of them. As they are destroyed two of them emit noxious clouds of green gas, while the other erupts into a fiery inferno! Then all three of them explode into shards of flying bone. Freblun evades the flames and the poison clouds but he is still hit by the shards.
Hit points: 38
As three of the skeletons have been destroyed I check Naestra’s morale. She stays to fight and uses her Ring of Telekinesis.
The remaining two skeletons attack and are joined by Naestra. She has thrown off her hood and Freblun can see her hideous face in the reflection of King Othtar’s Shield. But she remains behind the skeletons and does not attack with her snake hair. Instead, she raises her right hand which bears a gold ring. The bone fragments on the floor and the three swords dropped by the destroyed skeletons fly through the air towards Freblun!
Naestra is skilled in the use of her Ring of Telekinesis, so the swords have an attack bonus equal to her HD of 6. The bone fragments automatically wound as before (1d4 damage per destroyed skeleton). Her reflection in King Othtar’s Shield is too vague and distant to use her own petrifying power against her.
One of the swords clangs uselessly against the wall, but the other two wound Freblun and he is also hit by the bone fragments. But neither of the two skeletons succeed in wounding him.
Hit points: 32
Freblun uses Titanic Blow again to destroy a skeleton, and uses his Fray die combined with Titanic Blow to destroy the last one. Both of them explode into fireballs. Freblun succeeds on the Mystic saving throw to evade one fireball, but takes 2 points of damage from the other in addition to again being automatically hit by bone shards from both skeletons.
Hit points: 28
Freblun destroys the last two skeletons and both of them erupt in flames. He is burned, and also hit by bone fragments again.
I check Naestra’s morale again. She stays to fight.
Naestra stays to fight, but she is reluctant to get close to her reflection in King Othtar’s Shield. Instead, she continues to use her magical ring. This time five swords fly to attack Freblun, along with a great cloud of whirling bone fragments.
Two of the swords hit Freblun in addition to the bone fragments.
Hit points: 20
Freblun is badly wounded by the bone fragments and by two of the swords. But he rushes at Naestra, still only looking at her reflection in King Othtar’s Shield, and thrusts his sword into her.
Naestra has been reduced to 1 HD. I check her morale again and she stays to fight.
The gorgon screams and attacks desperately with her snake hair, but Freblun evades the hissing mouths. He stabs her again and kills her.
Exhausted by the gruelling combat, Freblun slumps to the floor. The chamber was a guardpost for skeletons, who need no rest, and there is no furniture to sit on. He goes to a wall where he sits down to tend his wounds. He uses a salve from his healer’s bag to treat his burns.
Freblun uses his Hardy Vigour Gift to heal 4 points of damage instead of the usual 2.
Hit points: 24
First turn elapsed.
When Freblun failed his Mystic saving throw and got hit by a fireball from one of the rupture skeletons, I could have used his Force of Destiny Gift which allows him to commit Effort to automatically succeed at a failed saving throw. Never mind.
In addition to her Ring of Telekinesis, Naestra was also carrying one other magic item from the gorgons’ treasure hoard, a Potion of Gaseous Form. She had stashed most of the treasure that she had taken into her Bag of Holding. Was she carrying the Bag of Holding or had she hidden it somewhere else? I use Miso. D10: she was carrying the Bag of Holding. D6: she had hidden it somewhere else. She was carrying the Bag of Holding.
The treasure
On Naestra’s corpse Freblun finds a bulbous crystal vial inscribed with magical glyphs. His Ring of Tongues allows him to read the glyphs, which indicate that the vial contains a Potion of Gaseous Form. He takes Naestra’s Ring of Telekinesis and tries to use it, but finds that it doesn’t work as he is already wearing two other magical rings. He decides to discard his worthless Ring of Invisibility which didn’t work during the recent combat.
There is no penalty on the Mystic saving throw to discard the Ring of Delusion as it is an inanimate object. Freblun can use his Fact of being resistant to magic to temporarily raise his Intelligence to 22, so he automatically succeeds on the saving throw.
He takes off the ring and throws it into a corner of the chamber. He puts on the Ring of Telekinesis again and practices with it, levitating the shards of bone and the swords that litter the floor of the chamber.
Second and third turns elapsed.
In the northwest corner of the chamber he finds a finely woven sack that Naestra was carrying. It turns out to be a magical Bag of Holding within which Naestra had stashed most of the gorgons’ treasure while Freblun was away in Bruld.
The Bag of Holding contains:
- 1,000 electrum pieces
- 20 gemstones
- A Manual of Gainful Exercise
- A Wand of Ice (in a wooden case)
- A Wand of Lightning Bolts (in a wooden case)
- A sword +1, +3 versus magical monsters
- Four +1 arrows
- The four silver goblets from the gorgons’ table.
One of the items of treasure is a magical sword with a gleaming blade and a deep green spinel gemstone set into the pommel. He puts on this sword and leaves his old sword in the chamber. The Bag of Holding is quite heavy, so instead of putting it into his own Backpack of Holding he uses King Othtar’s Shield to teleport to the temple of Dronlan in Bruld. There he gives the Bag of Holding to Medornae the high priestess for safe keeping.
King Othtar’s Shield may malfunction and send Freblun to the wrong destination if it is used twice within a short period of time, but I decide that on this occasion it returns him to the Temple of Madathak.
Fourth and fifth turns elapsed.
He uses King Othtar’s Shield to return to the chamber, where he rests for a while and eats some rations washed down with wine.
Sixth turn elapsed.
He then leaves the chamber by the door in the north wall.
28: Troll statue
The stone statue in this chamber is actually a small mimic (HD 8). To determine the appearance of the statue I used the random letters table from Fernewelt and got the result of SOT which means small old troll. I roll a reaction for the mimic; it is hostile and will launch a surprise attack on Freblun.
The first thing Freblun sees in the chamber beyond is a troll, ancient and wrinkled, and not much taller than a man. He gets ready to fight but then realises that it is just a statue. He examines the statue, without touching it, and suddenly its left arm transforms into a fleshy, shapeless pseudopod which lashes out at him, badly wounding him and knocking him to the floor.
Hit points: 20
Freblun wounds the mimic and uses his Titanic Blow Gift to double the damage and kill it.
Freblun quickly gets to his feet and faces the monster, which has become a mass of shapeless flesh. He thrusts his magical sword into it and kills it. He tends his wound.
Hit points: 24
First turn elapsed.
He explores the chamber and finds nothing of interest.
Second turn elapsed.
The chamber has three exits. He leaves the chamber by the door in the north wall.
29: Murmuring voice
He enters a chamber of the same dimensions as the previous one, and with three exits. The chamber was evidently once a storeroom as the walls are lined with the rotting remains of old barrels and crates that faintly reek of decaying vegetables. There is much mould on the walls.
He is startled by the sound of a murmuring voice nearby, but can see no-one. The voice is too faint to be understood but he thinks he hears the words “Madathak” and “doom.” The voice, apparently that of a harmless ghost, fades away. He leaves the chamber by the left hand door in the north wall.
Third turn elapsed.
30: Arrow trap
Beyond is a four-way intersection. Freblun steps into a tripwire and an arrow whistles out of the darkness to the north, but it strikes King Othtar’s Shield and does not wound him. He goes through the door at the end of the corridor leading north.
Fourth turn elapsed.
31: Poison darts trap
He enters a rectangular chamber. He heads to the door in the west wall. Approaching the door he steps on a loose flagstone in the floor and hears a “click” sound. Three poison darts shoot out of the wall on his left and strike him.
Hit points: 21
The poison in the darts is fatal, but as Freblun has a Toughness saving throw of 20, the poison cannot kill him and he need not make a saving throw.
Freblun feels faint and slumps to the floor, but he pulls the darts out of his flesh and soon recovers. He tends his wounds and rests in chamber for a while, drinking some wine.
Hit points: 24
Fifth and sixth turns elapsed.
32: Magical sword
This is a trapped chamber with treasure. I roll on the “special” treasure table to determine the item of treasure.
He enters another rectangular chamber, this one longer. There are doors in the south and west walls. Approaching the door in the west wall he sees a sword on the floor nearby.
First turn elapsed.
The sword is a magnificent weapon with a gleaming blade, a silver hilt and a large golden topaz set in the pommel. It is obviously another magical sword, but as he approaches it he hears another “click” and this time six darts strike him.
Hit points: 21
He pulls out the darts and tends his wounds.
Hit points: 24
Second turn elapsed.
He picks up the sword and senses that it is a better magical weapon than the sword that he took from Naestra’s Bag of Holding. The golden topaz is a beautiful gemstone, and he recalls Jevund the sage telling him that topaz can ward off evil. For this reason the sword is not in the use of a servitor of Madathak. He leaves his other magical sword in the chamber and takes this one.
The sword is +3 but has no other powers.
He tries the door but finds it to be locked. He uses his crowbar to force it open.
Third turn elapsed.
33: Drold
He enters a chamber where the walls are lined with barrels, crates, and sacks, all of them in good condition. This storeroom is still in use and is well-illuminated by torches in sconces around the walls. There is only one other exit, in the southwest corner.
Standing by a table in the southeast corner is a tall man, dressed in a brown tunic and trousers and with a dark brown goatee. Freblun immediately recognises him as Drold, the man who served as the headman of the hamlet of Drun when the cultist Kulsev, the real ruler of the hamlet, was not present. Drold fled from Drun after Freblun killed nine men and boys of the hamlet who had been ordered to attack him by Kulsev. His skin has started to turn grey, and he is clearly a true follower of Madathak. He bears a sword and appears to have been preparing a potion at the table before Freblun broke the door down; on the table a mortar and pestle stand next to pile of dried leaves and two vials of differently coloured liquids, one white and one green.
I roll a reaction for Drold and he is unfriendly. Drold now has Soldier statistics (from the Exemplars & Eidolons rulebook) and the ability to Cause Light Wounds granted to him by Madathak.
Drold is clearly afraid of Freblun, but then a look of madness comes over his face and he speaks to the hero in a tone of contempt, telling him that Drun was destroyed by hill giants after he left it without a militia. Freblun, confident that this man can give him no real trouble, shrugs and replies that with such a small militia the hamlet would not have survived an attack by hill giants anyway. He asks Drold what kind of potion he is brewing, drawing his sword so that Drold will know that he had better give him an answer.
Freblun must make a Charisma check to intimidate Drold and can use his Fact of having a grim countenance, the result of his battle scars and experience in fighting, to temporarily raise his Charisma to 12. He succeeds on the check.
Drold backs away from Freblun, and then laughs and says that he is preparing a poison with which to kill Kulsev, whom he hates. He intends to poison Kulsev’s wine. Freblun replies that he also wants to kill Kulsev and suggests that since they have the same enemy they may as well make a temporary alliance. He tells Drold about the Robe of Binding that he found in the Strange Caves, which can be used to render a person immobile. Perhaps, instead of offering Kulsev poisoned wine, Drold can offer him the Robe of Binding as a gift instead, after which Freblun can enter Kulsev’s chamber and interrogate him. But of course, Drold can finish preparing his poison so that he has one more weapon to use against Kulsev.
Drold nods in reserved agreement to this proposal. While Drold goes on making his poison, Freblun sits down on a crate to have some rations and wine. But knowing that he cannot trust Drold he keeps his sword drawn…
Fourth, fifth and sixth turns elapsed.
That’s enough for this session. Freblun doesn’t gain any experience points at this point in the adventure. He’ll be awarded experience points once he’s conquered the entire Temple of Madathak.
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