Nightwick Abbey Session 7

I'm breaking my temporary blog silence to give you a recap of last night's session.  I normally wouldn't have, but this one was rather special.  We had two new characters so the current roster of the "Adventure Capitalists" -- as they have termed themselves -- reads...


Ffraid -- A Cleric/Druid in training
Slimey -- The recently deceased Slick's younger cousin whose come looking for revenge
H'oak -- Magic-User par excellence whose favorite spell is Dancing Lights
Big Bad Barley Brownbeard the Beer-breathed, Brothel-baron of Baxley Barrow -- a Dwarf known for darkening the lower halves of the doorways of many a lady of the evening
and Ma'ongo -- A fighter so stupid he was unable to free himself from his private inn room to join the others on their adventures (his player was absent)


On a rather snow day in Nightwick Village, the party attempted to recruit some hired help.  This they did only after some effort, gaining two men at arms with rather pitiful equipment and stats.  Few were willing to sign on with the company due to the death toll of their recent excursions into the benighted halls of Nightwick Abbey. They were relatively happy with this, and also purchased supplies from a Frogling whose mood was dulled due to the inclement weather.


They then returned to the abbey, only to be ambushed by Hobgoblins at the dungeon's entrance.  Though they took no casualties, the fighting was fierce enough that it forced our band of ne'er-do-wells to return to the village for some R&R.  Before this, Barley Brownbeard took a number of the hobgoblins jutting teeth in order that he might make a necklace.  When they had regained their full hit points, thanks to Ffraid's magics, they returned to the abbey with renewed determination.


This time they elected not to enter Wodewick the Wrathful Wight's territory but instead to clear out the room with the zombie mural painters.  They found that they had moved their post to the adjacent room, and that their numbers had been rekindled.  Fierce fighting broke out, but in the end the party was victorious.  Barley Brownbeard continued to whack the corpses with his ax after their apparent death since they had nearly ended his life.  The preceded to explore the section beyond, finding that it was dominated by twisting hallways.  


Eventually they found a chamber that contained a zombie-like creature (a coffer corpse for those of you with a copy of the FF).  Ffraid used the magic sword they had picked up a few sessions ago to lop of the creatures head, which caused a terryfing scream to issue from it's gaping neck wound.  A green flash of light then ascended into the ceiling and the creature was no more.


The party the set about searching the chamber, but little did they know the strange scream had attracted a number of Mites.  H'oak attempted to use his Dancing Lights to frighten the creatures, but they seemed unimpressed.  Feeling overwhelmed, the party fled through a door they had not yet opened only to find that it ended in a room with no exits.  They nailed the door shut and managed to get a few hours of rest (though not enough for the Cleric and Magic-User to regain their spells).  


During this time, Slimey was able to find a secret door along one of the walls.  It opened into a small, enclosed treasure chamber, much to the party's dismay.  While the gold was surely enough to cause some of them to increase a level (including the newly recruited Slimey), the lack of an exit meant that they were still at the mercy of the Mites.  However, Barley proved to be invaluable.  He noticed a strange piece of construction that turned out to be yet another secret door.  This lead to a passage that brought them back to a section they had already mapped.  They then ran as fast as they could to the exit.


Upon reaching the surface, they found a group of deer-headed orcs rummaging through the surface ruins.  The party was able to intimidate them into fleeing.  Thus they were able to return to the village with their largest hall yet.  Ma'ongo will not be happy.


I've started using quite a bit from the AEC for Labyrinth Lord, and I must say I like it.  I'm still not sure what to do about Druids, but Ffraid's player (who also happens to be my wife) prefers the Rules Cyclopedia method so for now we're sticking to that.  I'm still using race as class, as one can see with Barley Brownbeard.  I've been thinking off and on about developing AEC races for Dark Country Gnomes, Changelings, and Froglings, but I haven't had the time yet.


This was the first session in which any of the characters leveled and also the first session to include none of the characters who were in the first outings into Nightwick Abbey.  I'm not sure what to make of that.


Finally, this session saw the first d30 roll at our table.  H'oak's player (who gave it to me in the first place) decided to use it to roll initiative against the orcs at the end of the session.  I've decided the party as a whole can only roll the die once so that the prospect of rolling it adds a bit of tension at the table.  So far I think it's worked out.