Barrowmaze 5E Session 2 - Into the Barrowmaze and the Black Legion

 

     Today (8/10/25) we played our second session of Barrowmaze 5E. It was certainly an unpredictable good time!

     So, to start off, I had the characters roll on the Trinkets table in the Player's Handbook - it's a fun little assortment of knick-knacks that I had forgotten to have them check for the first game, so we did it now. One character got a silver snuff box, another got a book about the rise and fall of a famous hero with the last chapter missing, etc. Just stuff for role-playing. Also, it was noted that since the PCs had recruited 6 mongrelmen, many of the townsfolk muttered darkly about the mutated folk who live in the area of the Barrowmaze. They even heard a rumor that the mongrelmen enslave outsiders . . . the PCs didn't believe it (well, Feles Pugnat was inclined to believe it, but the others didn't!). Anyway, a little bit of backstory stuff, and the party was off to the maze! They planned to loot some more burial mounds before delving back into the dungeon!

The roster of characters:

• Tanya - Sariel Moonblossom (Half-Elf Cleric of Arcantryl 1)
• Eli - Omarion Zolond (Drow Wizard 1) 
• Aidan - Alivin O'Harris (Human Ranger 1)
• Christopher - Feles Pugnat (Tabaxi Fighter 1)
• Mongrelmen Hirelings (Non-Combatants): Imeni, Kasmut, Kenamon, Qalhata, Somintu, and Werenro)

3rd Day of Hardfrost, 1000 GCY

     The party got an early start and headed for the Barrowmaze. Alivin suggested trying to loot a burial mound at the far end of the area. They found a sealing stone marked with a skull in front of a rose - according to legend, the mark of the Black Legion, a dark army that served the ancient cult of Nergal under the dreaded warlord Varghoulis! This did not deter the heroes! Using iron spikes and sledgehammers, they smashed open the sealing stone and entered the tomb! 

     Inside they found a stone sarcophagus marked with a similar seal to the one on the coverstone, but with eyes of rubies! While examining the crypt, they discovered a \secret door. They opened this door and found an indentical sarcophagus, containing, Kenamon and Alivin were badly wounded, and the PCs were forced to flee.

 

     Sariel Moonblossom was able to get Alivin and Kenamon on their feet again, and the party decided to try a different burial mound far away from that Varghoulis. On their way across the Barrowmaze, they saw another party, the  Boon Companions, and exchanged words with them. The two parties did not seem to like each other very much, and the PCs actually encouraged the Boon Companions to head toward Varghoulis' crypt! 

     The party entered another mound and fought a ghoul, defeating it and taking its treasure, and then tried another mound, where they defeated two skeletons and took their loot. They later discovered that a dagger they had acquired was a dagger +1, +2 vs. undead, which certainly seemed like it might be useful in the Barrowmaze! They also found a scroll with some spells that Omarion later added to his spellbook! 

     At this point, the PCs needed to return to Helix before nightfall. They sold some antiquities to Mazzahs the Magnificent, and used the gold to buy some healing potions, holy water, and other needed gear. That night at the inn they saw the Boon Companions, who were angry that the PCs allowed them to walk straight into Varghoulis and his allies . . . which apparently now includes a risen Black Legion of skeletons, zombies, and crypt knights! 

     The PCs earned a total of 250 XP from this expedition, or 75 XP each, bringing each of them to 193 XP. Since 300 XP are needed to earn level 2, it is likely they will level up in a session or two, assuming they survive. The surviving mongrelmen grieved very much for the loss of Imeni, but were grateful that the party protected the rest of them; Kenamon was especially grateful to Sariel Moonblossom for keeping him from bleeding out and reviving him. Their loyalty scores generally increased, with Kenamon especially feeling loyalty to the PCs for saving him from the Black Legion. 

     The Black Legion is now potentially a power in the Duchy of Aerik and a threat to the entire region. Good going, guys . . . 

Valhalla (R.I.P.)

•  Imeni the Mongrelman, beheaded by Varghoulis the Dread Knight and his Crypt Knights of the Black Legion (1/3/1000)

Barrowmaze 5E Session 1 - Into the Barrowmaze (8/3/25)

     So we finally began our D&D 5E Barrowmaze campaign! We set aside some time on Sunday afternoons to play - in slots of about 2 hours, because the kids do not have great attention span - and then had to wait another week after character generation (session zero) because Eli was out of town. 

     The roster of characters:

• Tanya - Sariel Moonblossom (Half-Elf Cleric of Arcantryl)
• Eli - Omarion Zolond (Drow Wizard) 
• Aidan - Alivin O'Harris (Human Ranger)
• Christopher - Feles Pugnat (Tabaxi Fighter)

     We started with some framing stuff - the characters are already in the town of Helix, have procured lodging and such (at a lifestyle cost of 2 sp/week), and have been hired by the local wizard, Mazzahs the Magnificent, to investigate the Barrowmaze and bring backs treasures and lore, and to seek out more information about the dungeon said to lie under the burial mounds. Also, I'm using the calendar presented in Michael Curtis' Adventurer's Almanac from Goodman Games, and starting the game in winter, in the beginning of a new year - the first day of Hardfrost. There is no built-in year for the GCY calendar (Grand Concourse Years), so I arbitarily assigned the date as 1000 GCY. 

First of Hardfrost, 1000 GCY

     The party got an early start from Helix. It takes about four hours to make it from Helix to the Barrowmaze. They picked out a burial mound to investigate - it turned out to be a covered mound that would require excavation (fortunately they had stocked up on shovels and picks). It took about eight hours of work to excavate the mound, so the sun was getting really low before they entered the barrow. At this point they realized they had not stocked uop on torches or lanterns, and had no light source, but they made makeshift torches from branches, and descended into the tomb. They found a crypt with four sarcophagi - and several giant centipedes, one of which surprised the human fighter by dropping onto him as he entered! This was their first fight, and they did OK. They killed the centipedes, looted the barrow, and headed back to Helix to heal and sell their loot to Mazzahs. 

2nd Day of Hardfrost, 1000 GCY

     Having stocked up on supplies, including a new lantern, the party again got an early start. Four hours to the Barrowmaze. This time the party followed a path of cairns to a large central barrow and entered it. They found a rusty old tripod and rope descending about 35' underground. They didn't trust the tripod, so instead used their own grappling hooks and rope to descend. They found thmselves in the dungeon about which they had heard speculation back in Helix! 

     The party began to carefully explore the dungeon, deciding to favor passages to the right. As they entered the first door to the right, they were set upon by some wandering giant rats! The rats landed some painful bites, but the party prevailed!

     The party continued their exploration and came upon a party of six mongrelmen who were apparently descendents of the original builders of the Barrowmaze. They apparently live in fear of The Necromancers of Set. The party recruited these mongrelmen as guides and helpers, offering them protection. There are three males (Imeni, Kenamon, and Somintu) and three females (Kasmut, Qalhata, and Werenro) - they agreed to help, but not as combatants. 

     After this, the party decided to retreat back to Helix to plan their next moves! 

DM's note: The Barrowmaze text gives no names for the mongrelmen and precious little info on their culture and such. Since there are some ancient themes in the ancient background of the setting (Nergal is Mesopotamian, Set is Egyptian, Orcus is Roman, etc.), I decided to give the mongrelmen Ancient Egyptian-flavored names. I rolled these ones randomly on some tables in the back of Xanathar's Guide to Everything. The party was non-threatening to these mongrelmen and immediately offered to protect them from The Necromancers of Set when they learned of the mongrelmen's fear of them, so I decided that they were recruitable as followers - this makes a bit more work for me, but seems worth it in opportunities for role-playing! 

     The session ended there, with the PCs earning 118 XP each. Since 5E requires 300 XP to reach 2nd level, it seems likely that if the PCs survive and continue a similar trajectory, they'll level up in about three games. The combats went more smoothly than they did on my previous attempt at 5E - maybe it is just that the kids are a little older now and better able to figure out the math and what is going on? Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it flowed. DCC RPG is still my go-to game, but 5E doesn't seem that bad! 

P.S. I later created NPC sheets for the mongrelmen with Loyalty scores and space for equipment and such. I gave them all personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws, based on the tables for the "Hermit" background from the Player's Handbook, as this seemed the most applicable. It was a bit of work, creating separate sheets for 6 different NPCs, but I think it will pay off down the line . . .