Today (8/17/25) we played our third session of Barrowmaze 5E. Having spent the previous session exploring the burial mounds on the surface, in this session they decided to return to the dungeon.
The characters have learned to set off early in the morning, because travel time to and from the maze is about 4 hours each way, and they do not want to waste daylight in the maze (they took to heart warnings not to linger in the Barrowmaze after dark!). I use a time tracker that tracks both hours and 10-minute increments, which is useful in a setting in which one checks for random encounters every 20 minutes or so. The players got very lucky - they didn't roll a single random encounter for them in this game, even when they were making noise breaking down a bricked up doorway with sledgehammers!
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: Kasmut, Kenamon, Qalhata, Somintu, and Werenro
4th day of Hardfrost, 1000 CGY
The party entered the Barrowmaze and headed for the large mound they knew contained an entrance to the dungeon below the mounds. They used their own grappling hooks and ropes to enter, as they do not trust the existing apparatus.
The first room they explored was a trap that slammed down a stone slab with Alivin O'Harris and Feles Pugnat in a room and left Omarion Zolond, Sariel Moonblossom, and the mongrelmen outside the room. Then a door opened, releasing several skeletons into the room. Fortunately, Sariel quickly found a way to trigger the stone slab to rise, and the party was able to destroy the skeletons.
After this, the party carefully explored several more rooms, some of which were empty. For the first time they encountered rooms with burial alcoves, and spent time searching them for treasure - which was rewarded each time they searched, despite the cost in precious time! In one room they found a sack with 15 pp, in another room 108 gp from alcoves.
Next, they entered a room full of giant rats. Omarion blasted them with burning hands, and killed them all. The party looted 123 sp from that room!
They risked breaking down a bricked-up doorway next. The sound echoed through the ancient corridors of the dungeon, but brought no new random encounter down upon their heads, luckily! They looted sacks of treasure (300 sp and 400 gp) plus alcoves again (666 sp).
The party then moved into a slightly different area of the dungeon. I note that the maps for Barrowmaze do a pretty good job, considering the size of the task, but contain some oddities, such as areas where letters are used to indicate sub-areas, but the map does not always make clear to what area a sub-area belongs. Another oddity is that moving beyond area 17 leads to areas 60, 61, 62, etc. Like, it is hard to figure out how to number a non-linear dungeon, but sometimes, the numbering really seems to make little sense! Anyway . . .
They party found 115 cp, 2 silver earrings (50 gp), and a silver dagger +1, which ended up in the hands of the ranger, Alivin O'Harris, since the last magical dagger went to Feles Pugnat.
Passing through a room that had suffered a partial collapse, they triggerd another shower of debris, and everyone in the party took some damage from falling masonry.
Finally, the party entered an chamber of many pillars (and some rubble from past collapses) occupied by a giant constrictor snake. The snake ensnared Sariel Moonblossom in its coils and nearly killed her, while the rest of the party engaged it in battle. It continued to lash out with its fangs while restraining Sariel. The party managed to kill the snake, searched the chamber and came up with 6 valuable gems, and then decided to make a retreat back to the town of Helix. They were able to make it back without any further encounters (although they thought they heard the distant war-drums of the Black Legion at one point!).
Back in Helix, the party sold off loot (they made a deal with a merchant to sell him the gems they found for a better price in exchange for promising him exclusive first rights to any gems they find in the future!). The party earned a total of 1072 XP, or 268 XP each. This brought them up to 461 XP each, so they leveled up to 2nd level. Alivin got to choose a fighting style (he picked two-weapon fighting) and Omarion chose necromancy as his arcane tradition.
So now, the new roster of characters is:
- Tanya - Sariel Moonblossom (Half-Elf Cleric of Arcantryl 2)
- Eli - Omarion Zolond (Drow Necromancer 2)
- Aidan - Alivin O'Harris (Human Ranger 2)
- Christopher - Feles Pugnat (Tabaxi Fighter 2)
- Mongrelmen Hirelings: Kasmut, Kenamon, Qalhata, Somintu, and Werenro
Valhalla (R.I.P.)
- Imeni the Mongrelman, beheaded by Varghoulis the Dread Knight and his Crypt Knights of the Black Legion (1/3/1000)
No comments:
Post a Comment