In our last session, the man-at-arms Sturdoon and the Barbarian Gruk
were gravely wounded. They decided, upon returning to Frostmark, to
retire from the adventuring life. Gruk headed north, back to his
people and Sturdoon left town for the civilized lands to the
east. The rest of the party spent a week recovering. Imric, of
course, made a scroll of sleep, Ambrose relaxed with his wife, while
Asher and Roger kept their ears open at the Empty Purse.
It wasn't long before they heard rumors of an abandoned Hobbit
village from a traveling pilgrim, who had come from beyond the
ruined tower to the southwest. They purchased horses and a wagon and
set out the next morning, to clear skies. Within a few hours the
party approached the hill and ruined tower, beneath which had
already been plundered by Asher and Ambrose. As they drew closer to
the tower, in the distance, off to the north, Imric spotted a flying
creature approaching. After a minute its form became clear – a red
dragon [DM note: Wandering wilderness encounter]! The party
dismounted and ran towards the tower ruins, making it down the
stairs just in time to avoid the dragon's fiery breath. Their horses
and wagon, however, were not so lucky. As they peered out from
below, they could see the dragon flying off, a horse in his
claws. The remaining horses and wagon were still ablaze.
Considering themselves lucky, they emerged from the ruins and
continued southwest, this time on foot. A few hours later they
approached a series of small mounds in a vale, each overgrown but
clearly at one time a Hobbit village, from the small, round windows
and doors still visible. Most of the windows were blackened with
dirt or soot, so they could not see through them. They approached
the closest mound and Ambrose opened the lone door. What they saw
appeared to have once been a stable, but they did not have time to
investigate further as four stirges flew at them from
within. Ambrose thrust his spear at one while the rest of the party
fired arrows – a few lucky shots and the stirges were dead. The
stable floor was mostly covered in quano, so the party moved on.
While walking past a tree in the center of the village, Roger
noticed a wooden platform with trapdoor high in the
branches. Climbing up and exploring it proved a mistake, as it was
home to three fire beetles. Although they gave the party no real
trouble, they also had no treasure to speak of. Asher did cut out
and stash the beetles' glowing glands, just in case they were
needed.
Next the party turned its attention to one of the larger
mounds. They entered an eastern hobbit-door, and saw what appeared
to be a mostly empty living area, complete with a fireplace and a
dead body on the floor. As they moved to inspect the body, Asher was
surprised by a large, tentacled white worm that slithered in with
surprising speed from the shadows to the west. The worm's tentacles
bit into Asher's flesh, and he felt all sensation leaving his body
as he fell over, paralyzed. Even as Ambrose and the others attacked
the worm, another entered from the north! They had a tough battle on
two fronts, but ultimately prevailed [DM note: Lots of lucky save
vs. paralysis rolls]. With the worms dead, the party again turned
its attention to the body, which appeared to be a long-dead
adventurer. Among his belongings they recovered several vials of
holy water and a potion of healing, which was put to good use
immediately to heal poor Asher of his paralysis. Meanwhile, Roger
decided to take a closer look at the fireplace and discovered a
hidden compartment in the hearth floor which contained a
strongbox. Inside was a cache of gold and a large, blue gem.
Moving west, the party explored some bedrooms, one of which they
were surprised to find contained an undead Hobbit. They made short
work of the creature and moved on to the kitchen, spending some time
fretting over a bit of harmless green slime oozing from one of the
window frames. They exited after looping back to the living room,
and headed to another mound off to the north.
This mound was smaller, but infested with Hobbit zombies – five in
all. After defeating them, in one of the rooms they discovered a
jeweled necklace, Asher pocketed this and having had enough of small
zombies for the day, the party headed back to town.
# Referee Notes:
I pulled this little site-based adventure out of the Basic Fantasy
module 'The Chaotic Caves'. I modified it on-the-fly as needed.
