After a sizeable break, it's time to get back to the adventure.
To summarize (or for new-comers), I am playing B1 – In Search of the Unknown solo, with red box D&D rules (the Mentzer version specifically, if you're a retro gamer).
The party consists of Garda, a physically frail magic user,
Ansic, a somewhat simple-minded fighter, Wilim the halfing, Sarry the thief, Elurir the elf and Kater the cleric.
All are first level, though the dungeon has been generous with magical items so far.
We continue our exploration of the first level of the cave system.
Room 12
This appears to have been a library though few books remain.
Elurir and Garda scan the tomes but they are of an entirely mundane nature, nothing to be excited about.
Wilim smirks: "If we found a magic book here, it'd probably be full of demons in any event"
Kater made a sign to the One True God to ward off evil, then gave the halfling a stern glare.
The light in this room is interesting: Rather than torches or lanterns, there are small cages filled with glowing beetles that shroud the entire room in a ghostly light.
We continue our search and find
Room 16
A plain room with a strange crystal on the wall.
It doesn't seem to respond to any manipulation and does not seem to hold significant value however.
We turn to leave but realise that the corridor outside now looks different.
"A teleporter" muses Elurir, but his speculation is cut short as a patrol of 6 skeletons advances on us from around a corner.
Everything happens simultaneously as the two groups lay into each other, one skeleton per party member.
Garda ducks a blow somewhat clumsily and rattles the skeleton with a blow of a dagger hilt.
Ansic is caught off guard, gasping in pain as a rusted blade rips his shoulder.
Wilim circles, feinting with his sword to keep the undead at bay, before realizing that a mindless automaton isn't going to be fooled by such trickery.
Sarry yelps in dismay as she throws herself out of the way of a skeletons blade.
Elurir shouts an Elven warcry as his magical spear easily dispels the curse holding his enemy together.
Kater fumbles for her holy symbol and holds it up to repel the monsters….only to have a skeletons blade impale her throat.
She collapses to the ground, gurgling blood.
(for round 2, I rolled initiative rolls individually)
Garda cursed that these undead would be immune to her sleep spell and began retreating back, narrowly escaping the clutch of her opponent, its claws now bloodied.
Ansic weathers another blow, deflected by his helmet, though the force makes him dizzy and spoils his aim (his Pathfinder counterpart in the other TMP campaign seems to be made of sterner stuff)
Wilim is grabbed by the skeleton he is facing and unleashes a frantic flurry of kicks and shoves before the fiend collapses in a heap of bones with a badly injured halfling on top.
The skeleton lunges at Sarry but she manages to duck under the blade, ram her sword between the ribs and twist, shattering the undead in a shower of dust and bone splinters.
Elurir shouted the Elven word for DEATH, a magical glowing dart shooting from his finger and shattering the skeleton menacing Garda, then backing up as another skeleton advanced on him.
As the two final skeletons advance on the party, Elurir and Sarry close ranks to block off their approach to the wounded, then lay in with swift, accurate blows, destroying both creatures.
The battle is over, but at a high cost.
Kater lies dead and half the party is badly wounded.
With this in mind, there seems to be no option but to retreat to the service and cast about for a new cleric… hopefully one of stronger faith.
The results
This trip gave us positively no treasure and lost us a character in the process.
With as little gold as the party has, I am not even going to try to look up what raise dead might cost.
In any event, I figure the nearby village is tiny and no high level clerics reside there.
The new guy
The replacement is Heinrich, a hulking beast of a man, who seems like he can barely fit in the priest robes (I got an 18 strength).
He also doesn't seem to talk much, communicating mostly in glares and growls (Charisma 6). However, his faith seems genuine enough and he's thankful to receive Kater's enchanted mace as an introductory gift.
((At this point it is also occurring to me that I have one of each class, except a dwarf. Should I add a seventh character so we have all the classes represented or just stick with the 6?))
spies an interesting 'underground' gaming table.
