A First-Level Game

   This was a nice first game of 2019 and a smooth introduction for three new players in the group – which brings the grand total to a whooping 10 players. Of course I won’t be able to ever run a game with all ten characters, but the lineup will change constantly, and it is also a solid fix to the problem of those who

   a) cancel at the very last minute

   b) forget there was a game

   c) arrive three hours late

   It was a nice first game of the year for several reasons: there was no alcohol involved, no weed, very little food, and a limited amount of useless talking on subjects not at all related to the game. What I call The Four Pillars of Not Playing were almost completely absent. It was awesome. We even finished the adventure ahead of time, which has never happened since I kicked off this campaign of First Edition AD&D back in July of 2014.

   Four strangers who don’t know each other suddenly find themselves stranded in a drifting Water Node inhabited by grey oozes, giant caterpillars, and maybe a few Tritons or Deep Ones. Landa, the third-level cleric of Istus, has already played several games. The three other “strangers” are a Gnome thief, a Human druid, and a Human monk. The monk is actually one of the pregen characters from last summer’s Caves of Chaos extravaganza. Vincent loved this character and decided to keep it.

   In the Water Node, the party came across Huthak the barbarian, who had been lost for weeks in a network of underground caves and lakes. They also encountered a mule, an 8-year-old boy, and a 10-year-old girl (NPCs). Nobody knew how or why they ended up in this place.

   The players were sharp, focused, and everyone role-played their character to a tee. They cared for the children and even the mule, and moved around freely in this strange dungeon. The party was never huddled in a tight knot like I have seen so many times. It was fluid (Water Node pun unintended) and quite refreshing.

   The monk and the barbarian fought a pair of giant caterpillars. The cleric was targeted by an obliviax and had no choice but to eat that disgusting moss. The thief and the druid had to deal with two grey oozes.

   The thief also inspected the bizarre doors that stood right in the middle of the room, apparently leading to nowhere. No traps were detected, but as soon as he poked his head inside one of the doors, the thief vanished, and a tall, imposing knight in full plate armor appeared, wielding a huge two-handed sword. Greyhawk buffs will recognize this fell crest.

   Let’s just say that the party had a brief encounter with the elusive leader of... that. It was fun and spooky. A double banishment was cast upon the cleric and the monk – the second- and third-level characters in the group. Landa nailed her Save, but Dalmas the monk ended up in Hell for maybe 30 seconds. A very cool devil with a punk-rock attitude took pity on him and quickly sent him back – even forgetting to fill up the appropriate paperwork!

Standard

non - incident

statement

short form

6757049

I hereby declare and assert that nothing of significance

happened between I, ________________, and the Office of the

Monarch of the Dominion of Hell, any of its branches,

subsidiaries or affiliates.

               Initials _______             Clerk’s Initials _______

   The knight approached the barbarian and struck him down with one swing of his two-handed sword. The cleric stepped in and was also slashed by the knight, but did not go down. Even the 8-year-old NPC threw a rock at the knight and hit with a surprising roll of 19! On round four, the cleric brought the barbarian back up to 3 HP. The party needed its tank, badly.

   The druid sneaked behind the knight with a torch, setting his black cape on fire. The knight pivoted, took a swing at the druid, and dealt 8 points of damage, which left the druid with 2 HP.

   By then, the barbarian was back up, and he rolled an excellent To Hit with Landa’s guidance. The knight collapsed in a rustle of armor and shield. It was a short but eventful clash. The monk was shook after his 30 seconds in Hell.

   Nobody dared to touch the two-handed sword or the shield.

   The monk searched the knight thoroughly (apart from sword and shield) and found two gems, a few silver pieces, and a cursed coin in the knight’s right boot. The coin probably contributed to the evil knight’s demise – and now Dalmas is stuck with that double damage curse... If the hidden coin had been a good magic item, the players would have been furious if they missed it. “You searched the guy, but you didn’t tell me you took off his gloves and boots.”

   When Landa entered the “doors to nowhere” along with the two kids, the thief reappeared with a strange magic item in his hands. Each in turn ventured into that pocket dimension. Some saw the exit, while the others saw a mystical cache of floating magic items. They ended up grabbing three of those items before everyone could finally “see” the exit (WIS check) and get out. The thief picked up a Mind Flayer Ray Gun; the cleric picked up a flower-shaped morningstar +4; the monk got himself a Diabolical Flying Carpet (how appropriate!)

   The druid’s high WIS prevented him to see the items as he saw the exit on the very first try. As for the barbarian, he is not allowed to use magic items – not until level 5.

   First Edition, baby.

   Landa is now level 4. Dalmas is now level 3. Barbarian, druid and thief are level 2. The stage is set for the next adventures. Ten players. My feeling is that 2019 is gonna be intense.