Hello gentle readers...sit back, relax, and let me take you to the days of yesteryear. Well, ok maybe not yesteryear. More like two days ago. Anyway with out further adieu.
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 start off with our party of adventurers deep in the bowels of the Ruined Monastery, standing at a three way intersection. Their mission, to find the black key and then, the black door. Once through, they must retrieve the Red Book of Knowledge as well as St. Gyxag's Sword of Truth. These are then to be returned to the old monk in Botkinburg for a reward.
The faint sound of metal striking stone can be heard off to the left..reverberating through the stone halls. A staccato "crack" punctuates the sound every now and again. Ember, who is currently leading the group, confers with Isabella and they decide that they'll go towards the noise first.
A few minutes of traversing the dark corridors finds the group peeking around a corner at a drowsing yellow skinned humanoid. Dressed in thick leathers, he leans casually on a pike, his head dipping now and again as he drowses. Safira takes careful aim with her shortbow and dispatches the foe with nary a sound.
Around the next corner they spy a group of the yellow skinned blighters picking away at what appears to be a blank stone wall. They're being spurred on by a red cap...the evil fey wields a long wicked whip and cracks it over their heads on occasion and yelps that they should be digging faster.
Again, it's Safira who quietly dispatches the foe, this time with a well placed sleep spell. The rest of the party hastily moves in and makes sure they never again rise up to plague the lawful world again. Fura nearly makes the mistake of getting up and personal when doing in the Red Cap. The girls warn him off just in time, explaining that the creatures explode in a ball of flame when they die. He nods, eyes wide, moves back and kills the creature. No damage is incurred.
*DM NOTE: I forgot to instigate my new coup de grâce rule...Maximum damage and if that doesn't kill the creature then a save versus death magic must be made. Not sure if that rule's going to do the trick though. How about at higher levels? Why couldn't you just as easily slay a completely helpless 20th level fighter as you could a 1st level fighter? I need to think about this a bit more.
Looting the bodies produces a parchment, it seems that Melchert has found the Black Door and now knows the location of the Black Key as well. About 200 copper pieces are found as well...seems that Melchert is running low on funds and is now resorting to lowly coppers to pay his help. A little searching in the area of the goblin's pick work reveals a secret door which is only detectable by Ember. She even attempts to place Safira's hand over the thin cracks...and yet Safira feels nothing.
They eventually find the means of egress and it turns out that only Ember and Belinda are able to pass the door's threshold. Not happy about this situation the two carefully make their way into the inky darkness with a candle lamp lighting their way. After a few turns of the hallway they can see that it opens into a room and that a large square dark shape occupies the room and a darker yet shadow seems to loom beyond that.
Ember and Belinda both scurry out and inform the rest of the party of what they've found. Isabella asks why they didn't go in further...Ember answers that she's SCARED!
*DM NOTE: Ember is played by my 8 y/o daughter..she's the youngest and this seriously scared her. It took her probably 20 minutes in real time to screw up her courage to the level that would allow her to enter that shadowed room.
They are goaded by the rest of the party and finally decide that they should indeed find out what lies in the darkness of the room. Back down the tunnels they go and move into the room far enough to see that it's a large wooden desk w/ a skeleton sitting in a chair, skull bowed forward over it's chest. The hands are clasped at something near it's neck. What is not clear with the amount of light brought to bear, so the girls move closer.
Amongst the rotting robes lies a leather strap, and whatever depends from the terminus is what is clenched so tightly in the skeletal hands. Belinda pries them apart as Ember stands ready, holy symbol in hand. It turns out to be the black key. They rush out letting the other know that they've found the key.
After a brief celebration the two re-enter the room and rifle through the desk and the wardrobe found in the corner. A bone scroll tube and small key are discovered in the desk drawer as well as a small stone, iron-bound chest in the wardrobe. Again they bring forth their treasures to show the rest of the group.
*DM NOTE: I've been incredibly stingy of late, so to compensate I have added a bit of loot the this room...where previously there was none.
Ember checks the chest closely and finds a small catch inside of the keyhole. As she's about to insert the key Fura speaks up and suggests that it could possibly be trapped. He offers to open the chest instead. Sure enough, needles spring forth from the front of the lock as Fura carefully turns the key while it's attached to the end of a 10' pole.
*DM NOTE: A couple of things are working against me here in terms of every day DM'ing. The girls have a bit of emotional investment in their characters and they have a distinct lack of knowledge. So teaching them the "hard" way isn't really an option. So, how do you do it? Well you let a more experienced NPC take the lead every once in awhile.
Just as the lid clicks open a shadow detaches itself from the hall with a leap, and knocks one of the henchmen lookouts to the ground. A massive jumping spider has snared a meal! And of course it's not alone. The fight is on.
Unfortunately Belinda takes a shot as well and is within 1 hp of dying but is also poisoned (paralytic in this case). Ember heals her back up during the fight but can not fight the poison's course. Eventually, after losing one henchman and a paralyzed Belinda, the group destroys the three arachnids.
And again, that's where we ended it.
*DM NOTE: I know I've mentioned this before, but when you're playing with kids you have to take it easy and not rush them. My youngest was very very tentative with the skeleton...it literally took her forever to make up her mind. But once she did, she was quite proud of herself. It's an awesome feeling. We didn't really get much done in the span of nearly 2 hours. But again, it takes a little time for them in some of these newer situations.
All the same, it's so much fun. They're enjoying every little detail and don't want to stop by the end of each session. So for all of you parent gamers out there...don't hesitate, get the kids playing. It's seriously fun.
4 comments:
You're a nifty GM. :D
Thanks much Timeshadows! It's appreciated...almost as much as I appreciate the opportunity to play with my kids. ;-)
I'm glad that there are people out there passing the RPG hobby on to the younger generation. And I'm glad there are others playing Labyrinth Lord too.
You know, I'm not sure if I can say this often enough, it's really a hoot playing these types of games with kids. They're so new to both the genre as well as those old tricks of the trade that it makes it all seem new to me as well.
You could say that it brings that missing lustre back to an old, jaded heart. ;-)
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