Nightwick Abbey Session 2

I'll be brief since, once again, our would be heroes retraced much of what the original party had done.

This time we had:
Slick -- A pagan Thief
Keelyn -- A pagan Changeling
Cornwell -- A non-committal Magic-User
Alma -- My wife's character Cleric from the Hattiesburg game.  The general consensus among the players was that she could keep the character so that we could get to gaming faster.

The party hired a few more hangers on, putting them up to four men at arms and one linkboy, then headed off once again to the ruins.  Once there, they found that a number of squat figures (goblins) were rooting about the ruins of the church itself.  The Changeling and the Cleric attempted to parley.  Just before negotiations broke down, Keelyn was able to make the Goblins realize they were out numbered, and the creatures scampered off into the woods.

They looked a bit around the torture chamber they had to retreat from last time, paying little attention to the room that had perplexed them in their initial descent.  They rather methodically checked the contents of the cells, and then perused other avenues of exploration.  They eventually found themselves in the room with the altar and the deer headed Orcs.  These the slew with a well slung sleep spell.  Unfortunately, Slick and Cornwell had taken some damage, and Clodivec the linkboy met his gruesome end before the first round was over.

They debated whether they should return to town or continue exploring.  They came up with an odd compromise that worked splendidly but could have gotten them killed.  Alma cast Cure Light Wounds on Slick who then elected to go exploring more or less on his own.  Alma and one of her men at arms followed a good distance behind, but for the most part he was alone.  The rest of the party stayed in the room and examined the altar.

Slick explored very intelligently.  He found where several passages, a number of doors, and what appeared to be a crypt.  He fell into a pit trap and decided it was time to turn back.  When they regrouped with the rest of the party they were attacked by several giant spiders.  Flaming oil caused these villainous arachnids to meet their end, and the party went back to the surface.  There, the sold most of the orcs equipment and rearmed themselves with oil and spears.

The second visit was a tad shorter since we had to wrap up the session around 10:00.  They found the room with the painting zombies, and Alma turned them (making the third time if we include the Hattiesburg game).  They decided not to explore much beyond that for fear that they would be jumped by more.

Instead the went down a corridor that led to a room with freshly dead bodies in it.  These bodies were obviously killed by violence, and were dressed in the livery of the Sword Brothers.  Even so, they looked as they they died within the last few minutes.  Slick stripped the bodies, but once their possessions left the room they decayed and crumbled to the point of uselessness.

That's where the session ended.

I haven't had to do any planning for the past 3 times I've run the dungeon.  That's a rather nice feeling.  I need to start involving them more in town and roleplaying NPCs a bit, but right now I think we're fine.

I may have a post later about how actual play has changed the tone of the dungeon and general setting.

If you guys still find these interesting let me know, otherwise I'll only post them when they have some direct effect on my gaming philosophy.