–Weeding 17th–
The following morning, a strong breeze carries cool air across my face. The keep’s banner flutters in the wind. A couple of children are tossing sycamore seeds in the air, and watching them flutter about, carried by the wind with their laughter. I smile, thinking of old friends.
–Scene Altered: Negative for Berick of Caravos: the Carrying of Art (maybe disadvantage on my first combat roll?)—
I meet Wellan at Ghor’s shop. I give him the coin for two warhammers he’d made me. I lash the one to my belt, and hand the second to Wellan. We then load up the mule with the rest of our supplies while waiting for the other members of our company. As our companions are apparently taking their time at breakfast, I set my pack down to look through it one last time, and the rune covered bronze orb Tagga had been carrying catches my eye. I pull it out and take a good look at it. I don’t recognize any of the symbols, but looking at them sort of makes my eyes hurt.
“What is that?” Wellan asks. And I tell him how I found it on Tagga before we laid the stones over her. He wonders if we should have brought her remains back to town for a more proper burial, or if lying in an unmarked grave, perhaps unremembered, her soul might not be traped between earth and the heavens. “Those questions are for deeper thinkers than I,” I reply, as I put the orb back in my pack.
The rest of our companions soon arrive and we hit the road once more. I lead the way, Nadja following close behind. Feran regards her warily at first, as women warriors, like Sundi, are much more common in tavern tales than in reality, a good huntress, well, that’s more a matter of a keen eye and discipline. Nadja carries herself with confidence and her weapons look well used and maintained. The old veteran nods approvingly. Kentai leads the mule while Wellan and Helmod bring up the rear. Wellan and Kentai joke with each other as we walk. Helmod is in a taciturn mood.
–(Evening encounter roll, Lone Traveller–is it a peddlar? exceptional yes. (UNE Motivations-Report the Oppressed, Detect Happiness, Implement poverty)–
As evening draws near, we return to the campsite we’d been using, and I am moderately surprised to see someone is already there. He’s an older looking fellow, with a thick grey beard, a brimmed hat, and a thick woolen cloak. He’s seated by a fire, a large hairy farm dog at his side. There is a hand cart laden with wares across from him and a loaded crossbow by his feet.
He greets us as we approach. “Not bandits I hope?” He says cheerfully, “I don’t mind collecting bounties if you are, but it’s wiser to simply trade with me.” he laughs, as his dog regards us a bit more warily than he.
“I am Berick, of Caravos,” I reply, “Odd to see someone travelling alone. Do you mind that we camp here?”
He shrugs his shoulder and says that he always welcomes company. I learn his name is Eryk the Flatfooted. He sells simple trade goods and inexpensive luxuries to the handful of people who live out in wildlands or in small farming villages. He is on the road towards Farwatch having spent the previous week in Southrod. Before that, he was trading with the dwarves of Tor Vanim. We talk ot him about Quasquaton, and about the goblins we fought in the nearby caves. He suggests to us that, if we could obtain permission from the Underking of Vanim Hall, we might wish to explore the ruins of Balta Ratic. He tells us it was an abandoned settlement, whose exact location had long been forgotten. But some shepherds discovered the entrance after a major avalanche a few months ago. He says that there have been a couple of expeditions mounted, but wasn’t sure what became of them. He prefers to find joy in living simply, and has no need to hunt treasures.
I thank him for the story, and ask how one obtains the favor of the dwarven king, as they are notoriously reluctant to allow humans within their holds, yet he has apparently found a way. He laughs and says that it is all in proving yourself a friend to the dwarven people, or at least, to a very influential dwarven person. As anywhere else, it’s all about who you know!
Helmod pipes in, “I guess we’d better make Stoneheart happy then!” I laugh at this, and we finish settling in for the night. Nadja brought a tent of her own, the rest of us rotate with the watch.
–Did Nadja bring her own tent? Yes, but Setback to ‘Obtain Orb of Dread for Stonebreak’: the Neglect of Fears (I’ll work this in later, somehow)–
–Weeding 18th 91 gp —
The next morning we see dark clouds rolling in as Kentai preparea our morning meal. Eryk shakes his head, and wishes us luck, “That’s not going to be a pleasant storm!” Wellan and Nadja collect some firewood to take with us up to the caves while Feran refills the waterskins from the nearby creek. As we move through the woods towards the ravine, we can smell the rain coming…that scent of lightning one sometimes gets.
–Is there any activity in the ravine? Yes -Progress on ‘Obtain Orb of Dread for Stonebreak’: the Control of Leadership (obviously, the tribes are fighting)–
As we arrive at the edge of the ravine, taking care to conceal ourselves, we hear the sound of fighting. I hear goblins shouting, or rather, the deeper voices of hobgoblins warriors, and what sounds like orcish replies. We pause and listen. “Feran? Bugbears too?” He nods.
Kentai says, “The orcs are calling for help.” A few moments later, “A warcry…goblin blood for the black altar!” He shrugs his shoulder.
I notice Nadja sneaking forward to get a look at what exactly is happening in the valley, and I follow..signalling the men to sit tight. Wellan strokes the muzzle of our mule, keeping the animal calm.
Sure enough, there is a large scale melee taking place. Hobgoblins and bugbears battling a larger number of orcs. The orcs though, seem to be getting the worst of it, being outmatched by the huge bugbears. Though few in number, those creatures are a terror in battle!
Suddenly, the clouds burst forth with pouring rain, and lightning peels across the sky. The shouting down below can no longer be heard over the rain and thunder. And the fighters retreat back to their caves…except for two hobgoblins who I see dragging an orc captive up the far side of the ravine.
“Quick! Fetch the men!” I say, as I hurry after them, lest I lose sight as the rain pours down. Nadja races back to get them.
I was careless though, for I thought the fleeing enemies were the only threat! Halfway across the ravine, I notice movement in the trees, and among the dead, and realize there are kobolds all around me…reaping the spoils of another people’s war. A couple of them stop short, on seeing me, and as I back away, hand on my blade, they too withdraw, spears at the ready.
On seeing my companions, they flee altogether towards their own cave. I then look back up the slope, and cannot tell where the hobgoblins have one. They are nowhere to be seen!
“Lost them,” I tell Feran,”Come on!”
My teammates are bringing the mule up with them, a cloak draped over the gathered firewood. I scan the direction where the goblins were dragging their victim, and Nadja points out a dark spot on the hillside. We start climbing our way up towards it.
–learned Entrance A is kobold, Entrances B & C are orc, already knew D & E was goblin, but now know F & D are currently hobgoblin. Bugbears retreated towards H, but that entrance is not visible to me through the thicket. The captive was taken up towards K. Know there are gnolls and undead somewhere in this area.–
–One of the difficult bits of solo play is separating character and player knowledge. For instance, I know that had my team gone two more rooms into the hobgoblin lair, they would have been able to rescue some captives, recruiting a couple of additional fighters, and earning a ransom from two other captives, and a nearby armory would solve the cost of equiping new men. The goblins are wiped out, and the hobgoblins and orcs are both so badly weakened by the PC’s actions against the hobgoblins, and the battle between the two tribes, that the party could likely steamroll any of their caves. In Quasquaton, they missed lots of loot hidden behind secret doors because they weren’t checking. There was no indication of anything that would draw their suspicion, and nobody’s passive perception was high enough to spot them. Additionally, I know that Stonebreak, their patron, never made it to Estkap. There was a Mythic roll that indicated he had a major mishap involving travel, so he clearly has not arrived where they are supposed to meet them. Even if the party is successful, the big payday is likely a pipe dream! I also know that hitting the dark altar and its undead and necromancer guardians is probably the worst thing this party could do right now, with no divine magic, no healer, no arcane spell support, but Berick does not know that. He’s a soldier, on a mission. He knows hammers will break bones, and a magic blade might be needed against certain foes, but that’s about it. Were Altartlan or Tagga alive, they could persuade him to wait, instead, this is what happens!—
Just as we reach the entrance to the cave, the two hobgoblins step outside without their captive. We fell on them, cutting them down almost before they realized we were there. Then we drag their bodies into the cave so that we are all out of the rain before we bother searching them.
Entering the cave, Feran and I step over the some old stone, and we can see where the entrance was once mortared shut with grey and black local stones, many of which lay around the entrance or just inside. But inside the cave, as we light up torches that had been kept dry within our cloaks, we see that the walls and floor are smooth polished stone, though with the same black and red veined appearance as what we’ve seen elsewhere.
Nadja crouches down and signals for the rest of us to be silent. I hold up my hand and Feran signals a knife across the throat. Kentai tries to calm the mule, which is starting to whicker uneasily. “Do you hear that?” the archer says, “Moaning…and piping.” I strain my ears, and she’s right, it’s faint, but definitely there.
–Immersion roll: Touch–
I notice that the veins in the wall seem to pulse…and I pull off my glove, and put one hand against the wall. The stone feels cold, as one might expect, but where the red veins shoot through, it is warm, and seems to pulse, as blood from a beating heart. Listening, it seems to ebb and flow with the sound from deep within the cave. I pull my guantlet back on, sling my shield across my back and light my torch from Helmod’s. Hammer in hand, it is time to press on and earn our pay.
“Kentai, wait her with the mule.” I say. The man nods, and lights a torch of his own, while the rest of us step foward into the great hallway that stretches off to either side of this entryway. Nadja creeps across to the far wall while, checking both directions, while I signal Feran and Helmod to watch south, while Wellan and I watch north.
There are two doorways visible to the north, and a hallway of to the left. Looking south, The corridor seems to make a little jog to the right, and then continue further. The question of which way to go is answered by Nadja letting an arrow fly at some black robed figures rounding the corner to the north! The arrow goes wide, but the figures don’t seem to react with any normal fear. Instead, they just walk calmly, and deliberately towards us. Silent, except for the echo of their armored boots on the stone floor. Great axes resting on their shoulders.
“Form up a line,” I say, as my men ready for battle.
“You know, Berick,” Feran chides, “Throwing axes would be handy right about now…a few throwing axes.” I laugh. He’s right!
Nadja’s second arrow buries itself deep into the lead warrior’s heart. It doesn’t flinch, but continues walking steadily towards us.
“Yep, undead,” I nod. “We are in the right place! Get em!” I yell, as we charge forward. Feran cuts down the one with arrow in its chest, while the rest of us end up locked in battle. Our foes are slow, and clumsy, but beneath their robes, we are striking steel armor more often than not. I crush the skull of one, but when Nadja puts an arrow through its neighbor’s eyesocket, and it falls…it merely rises once more to continue fighting!
“Can these things not be killed!” Nadja cries
–see! I worked in neglect of fears, DC 15 wisdom save for my allies to hold fast!–
Feran yells, “Fall back!”
Realizing that if my men retreat, I am done for, I call for my allies to stand firm, completely shattering the skull of the rising zombie as Feran retreats.
Helmod and Wellan hold the line, blow after blow, dodging as much as they can, while cutting limbs and crushing the bones of seemingly unkillable foes. One of the possessed rises time and again as Wellan completely shatters its shoulders, skull and ribcage. Eventually, it stops moving. Helmod is so badly wounded that he falls back, leaving Wellan and I alone, but he does not flee. Instead, his crossbow finds its mark more than once, helping turn the tide. In the end, the three of us stand over the mangled corpses of long dead men and orcs.
We fall back to the entrance of the cave, where the storm still rages. Our remaining allies have fled. How far? We do not know.
We start binding up wounds and catching our breath.
Wellan chuckles, “What did they expect? Creatures caught between life and death aren’t going to be easy. When the Tyrants possess a body, they won’t want to let it go.”
Helmod shakes his head, “I thought Feran had more grit. And I never thought Kentai would abandon us.”
–Oracle, do our allies return, Unlikely-Yes–
As I finish wrapping Helmod’s injured arm, Feran, Kentai and Nadja make their way back into the cave. Nadja and Feran are looking rather sheepish, Kentai looks angry. “When they ran past me, I thought you were all dead! When they told me they had fled, I told them we had to go back to help you, or avenge you. That we couldn’t leave you to be possessed by the enemy.”
Nadja looks down at her feet. “I am sorry, I shouldn’t have run. These are the things we need to root out of the world. And if we don’t, innocents will suffer.”
Feran just glares at me, but he can’t hold my gaze without turning away. “Yeah, you’re stronger. Braver. You hold the line. I should have been there with you. I won’t fail again.” The shame he feels is palpable.
“It’s done,” I tell them, “all falter. Once. Don’t do it again. We depend on each other, and this place will feed on our fears. Now lets see where they came from.”
Looking around, we see that even though there are no torches in them, there are wall sconces along this entire hallway. We drape the mule’s reins over one of them. She can easily pull free if she tries, but unless she panics, the mild beast will likely just assume she’s tied down securely. At least, some mules are like that. I haven’t owned this one long enough to be sure, but I want Kentai with us now that Feran and Nadja have shown they aren’t as bold as they’d have us believe.
We follow the passage north as quietly as we can, but Feran doesn’t notice Kentai pause to check out some pattern in the wall, and walks into the man. There is a bit of cursing and swearing as tensions flare. “Collect yourselves,” I warn, and focus my attention ahead. Then I nod for Nadja to go forward to the corner next to the doors.
—Uncertain Life, an excellent solo module by David Bond uses a “group stealth” check in a couple of cases, instead of one failed roll botching things for everyone, the group has a target that they must collectively pass. I’ll use that method here, let’s say, 6*13=78 is my target or my party of six. I have two rolling with disadvantage due to heavy armor 14–12-15-3-6-12– No need to bother adding it up! But the guys in heavy armor did well!–
She glances my way, nervously, and then steeling herself, creeps ahead, listening, while the rest of us follow more slowly.
She looks upward, towards hallway on her left, and then she listens closely at each of the two doors while we stop, and wait for her signal. She thn points to the door directly in front of us at the end of the hall, and making the knife sign with a nod, indicates there is someone on the other side.
We quietly as possible move into position. Wellan and I at the door, her behind us with arrow nocked, Helmod and Kentai watching the hall to the left, Feran at the door on the right. I listen, and hear what sounds like slow, rythmic chanting. I carefully push open the door an a wave of incense washes over me, the pungent aroma stinging my nostrils. I see four figures kneeling down around a great brazier, deep in their prayers. The figures wear black robes, like the zombies but as they sway in their rapture, I suspect these must be living souls, but they don’t know we are here.
I nod to Wellan, and we creep foward, Nadja behind us. As soon as we are in position, she looses her arrow, piercing one the men’s throats, while Wellan and I fall on the rest of the group. A second arrow punches a foe through his heart, before he can even stand…so enraptured by their dark gods they were still barely aware of our presence. Wellan brains the third man while the last lunges at me, hands ablaze with unholy fire! I step aside, dropping my hammer, grabbing the man by the throat and slamming him to the wall so hard his eyes roll back. I throw him to the ground, and tell Nadja, “Bind him and gag him. When he comes around, he might be of use”.
Wellan searches the men while I look around the room. He soon holds up a strange looking black amulet, smelted from an unfamiliar metal in the shape of an octopus. “I don’t know who this is supposed to be,” he says, then dropping the amulet, “but it makes me uneasy, just holding it.”
I kneel down and look at it, and then it occurs to me, “When I first came to the Keep, Bumbo told me there was once and ancient temple in this are dedicated to the Tyrant, Drouzal the Deep. Well, octopi are from the deep. Maybe this is a symbol of him? Maybe this is the lost temple Bumbo spoke of?” Wellan asks what else I know, but that’s all I can recall of the conversation. He says that Mevarak would know, or the Curate Xyneg, should we ask them.
I notice our captive starting to come around, I pull him onto his knees and loosen his gag, with my knife at his throat. “Where did they take the orc captive?”
“To the chapel, as sacrifice,” he looks up confused, “you’re here to rescue him?” I slap him across the brow.
“The Orb of Dread? Where is it?”
His eyes drop, and he mutters, “The Great Temple, over the altars three.” Then he looks up at me in defiance,”Now what? You kill me like you’ve done my brothers? My corpse will rise and have its revenge, or worse, my soul will pursue yours to the end of all days.”
I laugh, “Your curses mean nothing. Gag him!” Wellan tightens the gag, and the man is soon choking on his own words, unable to speak. We drag him out into the hallway, and I put the amulet into my pack. But Wellan is right, it feels…evil. I waver a moment, then decide we need it just to be certain of what we are facing here. “Take us to the temple. Show us your gods.” I hiss.
–Even with advantage on Intimidation, Snakeeyes is a bad roll. He’s gonna do something!–
The captive leads us up the slope and to the right, heading northard down a long wide corridor. I hold his arm in my right hand, torch in my left, while Nadja walks next him on the other side. Wellan, then the rest of the men follow. We pass a pair of closed doors, but he shakes his head, and then a third door, as we come to a large room with vaulted ceiling and a great iron bell in the center. Purple tapestries line the wall with profane curses and images woven in silver, black and red thread throughout. Scenes depicting the destruction of all that is good as a great kraken extends its reach from the deep, enveloping humans who over themselves up in surrender, or flee in terror. There are three great black altars, behind the center altar is an ivory throne and above it there is a great black and red orb, glowing and pulsing as though it were a beating heart. The light from it ebbs and flows, dancing across the room, and making the images on the tapestries seem to be dancing. Stepping into the room, black candles suddenly light up, adding to the eeriness of the scene.
Suddenly, the prisoner tries to twist away from me and lunge towards the bell, but I wrestle him back down to the ground while he kicks and tries to scream. Then I hear chanting, and I realize that four of my companions are staring, enraptured at the images on the walls, their lips are moving and strange words spill forth. Kentai looks at me, with fear in his eys as the bell thunders suddenly, of its own accord! I drop my torch, and pull down my shield eying the doors that have suddenly swung open. “Snap out of it!” I yell, as Kentai tries to shake Wellan back to his senses. There is laughter and madness in the captive’s eyes as he crawls away towards the wall, eager to watch our doom unfold!
From the open doors, ranks of armored undead poor forth. Skeletons and zombies, armored and bearing shortblades and axes. Too many to count!
Our only advantage seems to be that, as wide as these halls are, they still cannot bring their full numbers against us if we hold our line.
Waking from their reverie, my men spring into action. I charge into the skeletons, trusting my hammer to shatter them one blow after another, sending fragments of bone across the hall with every swing! “Follow me! Carve a path!” As I push into the narrower hall from which they come. Helmod is first to follow, then Felan, eager to redeem himself carves out an opening that Wellan steps in to fill.
Nadja shouts, “There are more coming!” and she lets an arrow fly as she starts to back down the hallway instead.
“Felan, guard the rear! Wellan, with me!” We start smashing our way through while I hear the snap of crossbow bolts behind us.
Nadya yells out, “They aren’t slowing down!”
Helmod answers,”That one keeps getting back up! Stay down!”
As we push forward, I see that Wellan has taken a heavy hit, but he is still on his feet. Helmod cries out “For glory!” and he is soon in the passageway with us, covering our backs, Fellan at his side shouting, “Come on you two! Fall in or fall behind!”
Kentai yells, “They are closing in behind us! I’ve got your back!”
Wellan smashes another skeleton, and Felan pushes past him, dropping his sword and taking Wellan’s hammer, “Shield wall, Berick!” he says. I know the formation, but I was never in one outside of drills. As another foe shatters, I glance back, zombies have closed behind us. Kentai is holding them, Wellan backing him up. Helmod and Felan are with me, Nadja is nowhere to be seen.
–Who’s got the Grenade? In the Two Hour Wargames WW2 ruleset, NUTS! WW2 ruleset, there is a rule that grenades are a squad property. Don’t worry about tracking which squad member is carrying the grenades. As long as the squad has grenades, the guy that needs one has one. I’m doing that with healing potions right now. Wellan has a healing potion, because the party has three…or rather, two now!—
We battle onward, one fiend after another falls. My arms ache, and I am cut in a dozen places, nothing deep, but too much! Just as we are about to break through, I hear Kentai yell out “Serpent!” And he comes running past us, between the our last two foes. He is battered and bloody, barely on his feet. I know that the zombies will soon follow…and this serpent as well!
–KOTB puts armor on the zombies, but D&D Basic Zombies didn’t get back up when you killed them. They were 2 Hit Die critters, so they were tougher than skellies, but if you can’t hit them, and they don’t stay down, it’s a bit much. So at this point, I swapped them back out for the usual AC 8 variety. The team is worn down, and I am hoping to avoid a TPK, and another four hours of dice rolling between two forces that aren’t hitting reliably–
As I dispatch the last skeleton, and we turn to face the new threat I toss my shield and hammer aside, and draw the magic blade from over my shoulder. If there was ever a time for arcane might, this was it! I immediately split the first zombie in half, the enchanted blade cutting down through the shoulder and nearly to the fiend’s naval. It does not rise again. Then Feran knocks down a couple more. Suddenly, I hear the command “Drop!”, and my weapon falls from my grip. I see a black robed man behind the zombies,a great serpent swaying behind him in the darkness. “You shall all die!” He sneers. “Go around behind them, my servants!” He yells, and several zombies start shambling back the way they cam, to catch us between two groups so we are surrounded once more. I draw my longsword from my belt, reluctant to kneel down before the undead to reclaim another weapon.
Their numbers are too great. Some wear heavy armor, some not. Feran falls, and Helmod steps forward to take his place on the line as Kentai drags the man back. “They are coming for us!” the galley slave warns.
They fall upon the rear of our formation, Kentai falls protecting Feran. I try to cut a path out, but the great serpent intercepts me. And I find myself wrapped in its coils. I hack at it’s neck, but cannot get hit hard enough as it tries to wrap itself around me. Then I see Wellan fall. As I feel my life ebb…I see that Helmod is desperately trying to stave off the horde of zombies closing in around…
—
The black robed priest smiled cruelly as he surveyed the carnage. With a word, the great serpent shrank back down in size, and nuzzling beneath his hand like a cat seeking its pet’s caress, it became a wooden staff once more. A very well fed wooden staff! “Mighty Drouzal, Devourer of Flesh and Souls! I offer this victory in your honor!” he laughs, feeling the power of his foul master coursing through his body.
–Nadja’s tale.–
I saw my companions pushing into the narrow hall. There would be no room for me to follow, so I fell back, firing one arrow after another at the encroaching zombies, hoping to draw some of them away. But no, they most of them turned to follow Berick and the others. I could see Kentai and Wellan fighting to hold them back. My arrows were having little effect.
Suddenly, the wall to my left opened up, and a black robed man stepped out from within. He looked at me, disdain in his eyes. Then he held forth his hand, and droped his staff to the ground. It turned into a great serpent, larger than any such beast I’d seen before! “Be still little mouse, my pet must feed!” I froze in place as the snake coiled itself around me, squeezing so hard I couldn’t breathe. Then I cam to my senses, and slipped way, scrambling back as far as I could and I put an arrow deep into its left eye. The creature recoiled in pain. “I said, BE STILL MOUSE!” and I felt my muscles weaken for a moment. Then the serpent lashed out once more…
–Final Note–
The original version of Keep on the Borderlands was sold with the Basic D&D ruleset for characters level 1 thru 3. At least, that is how I obtained my copy back then. A party of 6 to 8 heroes was not unusual, so I felt comfortable using a large group here. Combat characters typically wore plate mail, even at level 1. For 60 gp out of a 3d6X 10 roll for starting gold, it was the armor of choice for Fighters, Dwarves, Clerics and Elves. Not having healing magic wasn’t unusual, as clerics didn’t gain spells until 2nd level. Not having magic wasn’t odd, there were no good area of effect spells a 3rd level Magic User would have had available for this fight, unless they picked up the Scroll of Fireballs that I think was in the ogre’s lair, but not in this Goodman Game’s version.
I could have saved the party, by doing the smart thing, and retreating. Instead, I did what Berick would have done…which is press forward, hoping for victory. He realized too late there was no hope of victory, and decided too late to try to fight their way back out. By then, the high priest had heard the commotion, cast all of his defensive spells, and casually walked out behind the party, killed Nadja, and was simply watching things unfold. He didn’t even bother summoning the rest of his forces. He knew things were well under control.
Another option would be to replay that decision, following the rules set forth in Tom Scutt’s DM Yourself rules where if you make a disastrous decision, you can go back and replay it. Well, I’ve been through KOTB enough times over the years, that I kind of knew how this was going to pan out. I am not averse to “instant replay” and I’ve done it before, even in this campaign. But not today. At least, not right now. I have another character I want to run.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Posts From a Long Winded Gamer 
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