Labyrinth Lord Recap

Hello all you eager readers! (Ha...I've always wanted to say that.)

So here we are yet again, time for another thrilling recap of my familial LL game. This time we got just a bit more time to play, roughly two hours, which was nice. I'm eager for the day that we get just a tad more than two hours. It'll come, it's just a matter of time. "chuckle"

The PCs / Players:
Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

We left off right in the middle of the action, which I'm loathe to do. But when two of your players are grade school children and the third is your wife (their mother), then you take what you can get and call it good.

And I just don't have the heart to institute that cruel table that Jeff Rients came up with. I can't imagine what my eldest daughter would do if I rolled a d6 at the end of a session and announced that her character had died. No, that just wouldn't do. My apologies to all you hard core DMs out there.

Four orcs lay dead at the feet of the group while the rest of them are "waking" up and getting camp broken down not more than 30 yards away. A quick plan was made: Safira will again peek out through a crack in the wall and cast her sleep spell, trying to take down the greatest number of orcs in one fell swoop.

This happens without a hitch and Isabella leaps over the wall to confront the one orc that was not taken by the spell. They meet in the middle and the amazon's sword cleaves the porcine fellow in twain. Just...That...Quick. Ember and the rest of the party creeps around and dispatches the rest of the sleeping creatures.

All but one that is. An odd orc was spotted by Safira as she cast her spell, this one, dressed in tattered purple robes, was smaller and seemed to be giving the orders. Turns out he's some type of shaman. This is the first spell caster that they've faced and they take particular interest in him.

Isabella asks if they think he might impart information. Maybe. So they tie him up and gag him. Also of note, they find two beaten and bedraggled children tied to a post on the edge of the camp. It appears that the two are from Botkinburg. One Sari and her brother Samuel, are farm children from along the Hruesen river on the outskirts of town.

Their homestead was attacked at night and their parents tried to fight the invaders off, which ended in blood. The children were tied up, and according to the shaman, were being taken to a place called the "Bleak Theatre", to be sold as slaves. (This information is plied from the shaman via a charm spell.)

Fura has never heard of the orcs crossing the river, but the family (Riversen) is familiar. This is bad news indeed. The shaman imparts that the tribe of the Bloody Eye is going to become wealthy by slowly draining the town of their "stock"...and they'll also eat well in the year to come. Bad news seems an understatement.

Well it's agreed by the group that one of the porters (Tom) will take the children back to the town. They're given extra food and directions and they set off in the morning. Isabella sees no use for the shaman and asks the group if they should free him or slay him. He's much to dangerous and chaotic a threat to let free...so he dies.

* DM NOTE: Now I'm not horribly comfortable w/ these types of situations...BUT, my eldest has read more books than I can count and she's no stranger to that type of brutality. Still, what does one do? Leave him tied up to perish of hunger and thirst? Set him free to terrorize some more? They did a just thing...it's after all a fairly black and white world that I'm running. I'm not interested in a "shades of grey" exercise in morality and I take pains in restating over and over that it IS fantasy.

Their mission, the recovery of the holy items, or at least their whereabouts, is their top priority and with that, they descend into the inky depths of the Ruined Monastery.

At the bottom of the stairs they find two redcap corpses, feathered with bolts, with an orc just a bit further on. It appears that the orcs got into a bit of a scuffle and came out on top.

With Safira, utilizing her elven vision, leading the party, they look at the map recovered from the goblin miners and decide to explore a few areas not on their map. One of the Krieger brothers carries a small shuttered candle lamp, just enough light to see the wall and keep the group together, with out ruining the elf's vision just up ahead.

The mildewy and damp hallways have not changed in the past week...and the dark is still as oppressive. The first door that they come to turns out to reveal a work room of sorts. It looks as if it's been avoided for the most part by the goblins and the red caps. Rotted wooden benches and shelves, festooned with rusting wood working and gardening tools lie on the floors and sag sadly along the walls. They exit the only other door in the room onto a hallway.

This they take to the right and then an immediate turn to the left to find another door. Herein lies an old store room...or larder. Isabella walks in and is immediately attacked from above by two massive spiders. Neither strike proves true and the arachnids are quickly dispatched. They rummage and closely check this room for secret doors but find nothing of value or interest.

*DM NOTE: My eldest, while an excellent adventurer (she constantly uses the 10' pole out ahead of her and is always describing what she's doing and how she's doing it) is very much the most tentative of the three. She HATES the fact that she might perish. Every single door and encounter causes her a great amount of consternation and stress. I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm happy that my wife is playing...she's much more direct and straight forward. I just hope my eldest loosens up a bit. She IS a hero after all, it's just tough convincing her of that.

So anyway, that's where we ended it. We had to take off and go celebrate my father-in-law's birthday.

Tune in for more next week.