4AD Adventure the Fifth

Adventure 5 – Raiding the Necropolis

Introduction – Thieves in the Temple

Krud the warrior and the Hedge Wizard Ildore were, as usual, almost terminally short of cash. On a whim, they foolishly chose to attempt a robbery at the Temple of the Brotherhood of Night. This resulted in them being caught and having to perform a task for the Bishop (the alternative was taking the role of the sacrifice during the following Sunday’s service). Their penance was to take a trip East to recover an artefact (a ring with a strange symbol on it, “a dark sun with three rays”) from a very unpleasant location…

 

Game

To the East of Mournestead, in the dry treeless plains just over the large black line known as the fold in the map, lies the dusty, windswept Necropolis of Antiarth. The site is surrounded by a high wall with two gates. The adventurers enter from the South gate…

(Note on game mechanics – the location was already set up so a direction dice was used to randomize movement and the Room contents table was used for each tomb visited, with a game specific table for any minions encountered and a final Boss monster pre-created.)

 

 

 

1.       On entering the gate, they move left following the line of the wall. “Let’s try that one”, says Krud, pointing to a tomb. They approach cautiously and peer in the broken door. This House of the Dead consists of a large dusty chamber with an empty sarcophagus and a stone man-sized statue. Krud searches the tomb but finds nothing; “It’s empty, let’s go” he grunts. “Wait” says Ildore approaching the statue, “I wonder…” The wizard lightly touches the figure, which promptly crumbles to dust. Among the debris there is the glitter of gold! (90 gold coins)

2.       They move North to the next structure. On this tomb, the door is intact and Krud checks it for traps before putting his shoulder to it. Inside is darkness; “Lantern!” the warrior whispers. Like the first tomb, there is nothing here but a sarcophagus. As the adventurers approach it the ghost of a woman in ancient garb rises up: “Travellers bold! Go East and retrieve for me a branch of the Tree of Life so that I may live again” wails the spirit. “Err, we’d rather not” says Ildore. The ghost sighs. “Close the door on the way out then” she says and vanishes. The room is bare so they leave…

3.       Moving North and East our heroes choose the door to the first tomb in a row; “Terrace housing! Welcome to the cheap seats” quips Ildore (the old cynic), “I doubt the Ring will be in there”. Krud ignores his colleague and enters. Inside the small chamber among the dust and debris is a disarticulated skeleton. The warrior recovers some ancient jewellery but no ring.

4.       Further East they explore a larger building. This was clearly the resting place of more important individuals. Carved stone chairs and beds line the walls but there appear to be no funerary goods surviving, just mounds of dust and debris. “This one’s been raided before” says Krud, but as he turns, six animated skeletons rise up from among the detritus (think Harryhausen animation). Ildore raises his staff (pilfered previously from the Mountain King) to ward off an attack and is surprised when a fireball flies from it destroying the approaching skellie. “Nice” rasps Krud as he reduces the remaining animated bones to rubbish, “I should keep that. Could be useful”.

5.       Emerging from the tomb they cross the path to the one opposite. As previously, raiders have been here before them but clutched in a skeletal hand, Krud retrieves a curious bronze box. “Perhaps the ring is in here!” he cries and sets to, attempting to pry it open with his dagger. “Give it here” says Ildore, “It’s obviously a puzzle box needing a keen mind”. “Where are we going to find one of those?” the warrior chortles handing the box over. After an hour of pacing the chamber Krud hears a click and a disappointed sigh from the wizard. A few coins are all the box contains. “Let’s go” says Krud, “It’ll be dark soon and I want to be away from here when night falls.”

6.       Moving North through the Necropolis, the pair see a very large structure looming through the gathering dusk. “This is the place” whispers Krud, “The ring will be in there somewhere”. “Along with something very unpleasant I’d imagine” mutters Ildore. Inside the broken doorway all is silent. In the lantern light, they see a sealed room lies in the centre of the tomb. Crossing the dusty space Krud starts to check the door; as he touches it a Groaning Spirit materializes behind them. The warrior goes into a temporary state of shock (diced for fear) but Ildore’s staff aids them once more and the spirit departs to the netherworld.

 

(Image from AD&D Monster Manual)

Having ascertained that the door is safe they enter the inner chamber. Ildore mutters a protection spell (for himself) and illuminates the room with the lantern, keeping his staff raised. Stacks of grave goods line the walls, pots and furniture for the afterlife, and in the centre is a dais on which has been placed a throne. The throne is occupied by the robed and crowned form of a large man. He has clearly been dead for many years however something (evil will?) is keeping his corpus in an articulated condition. “Look!” squeals Ildore, “On its hand!! The Ring!!” Judging by the number of explanation marks being used, even Krud comprehends that an important moment has arrived; he slowly advances. As the warrior reaches out the figure springs up! An axe appears in its claw-like hand and Krud is forced onto the defensive. The fight is long and Krud suffers some wounds but his strength prevails, aided by a well-aimed fireball (in the back) from the cringing Ildore. The creature is finally put to rest (again) in a lot more pieces.

While Krud is bandaging his wounds, Ildore takes the ring from the skeletal hand. For a fraction of a second the room appears to go slightly out of focus. “Did you feel that?” says the wizard, “What?” “That… something, like the world had shifted slightly” says Ildore. “I felt a bit of indigestion coming on if that’s what you mean” says Krud who suffers from an acute lack of imagination. “Let’s go and give that ring to the Bishop before the damned Brotherhood come after us”.

7.      Departing by the North gate they emerge into a sunlit verdant valley. The lush grass is damp as if it has rained recently. Down the hill, on the edge of a forest a herd of deer are grazing. “That’s odd” says Ildore. “What, the fact it’s suddenly day-time? Perhaps we were in there longer than we thought?” replies Krud, “Or do you mean the six-legged, blue deer?” “I meant the dry dusty plains suddenly becoming grassland, but now you come to mention it…. I think that meddlesome priest has tricked us”. Ildore turns to re-enter the Necropolis in time to see the gateway and walls fade away. “Oh heck!”