Songs of the Dead

Session four at Castle Xyntillan was a good time for all. The finalization and implementation of my much anticipated dungeon master screen provided a major boon for the ease of play that was experienced throughout most of the nearly four hour first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. Before laying out the recap of that very satisfying adventure I’d like to brag about the positive features of my newly crafted screen. If you don’t know what a dungeon master screen is used for let me elaborate a bit.

The purpose of the dungeon master's screen is twofold. First, it serves to add a bit of mystery by blocking what the referee is actually doing to keep track of all of the moving parts of the game the game is actually taking place in person. Since this current campaign I'm running is actually taking place online, the wall between the players and myself isn’t really necessary, which makes the second purpose the number one reason why I need one. This second purpose is that vertical barrier always has quickly accessible charts and graphs on the game masters side. Most will also have some original artwork on the obverse side to display to the players. The absence of reliable reference materials on the inside surface and actually, the complete void of any traditional DM screen at all has been a major headache for me since day one. I've been grumbling about it to my players Vincent, Mike, Bryce, Stefan, and Jacob for nearly two weeks now.

Without further ado, here are the five pictures of what I have created using a combination of screenshots from relevant rule books and a vector graphics program called Inkscape. 

 

 

This last page is page one from another custom DM screen that I found called "DM_Screen_by Peyre".

Finally, here is a picture of how the thing looks in real time.

Last night was the trial run for this new gaming aid. Initially I was very pleased with it’s usefulness. After a good amount of game time had passed, I did eventually realize that there were at least two much needed reference materials missing from my concoction. In the future, the tables for Thieves Skills and Turning Undead will need to be added somewhere. Otherwise, I’m very happy with my evolving comfort for running the game coupled with this valuable new resource I’ve created. Feel free to share your thoughts or any feedback about my new toy in the comments below.

Now on to the recap. When we rejoin the band of adventurers who are fast becoming brothers, they have just started a daily rest in the previously explored stables. The sole benefit of 90% of the rests that have been taken for the entire campaign to this point seem to be just to memorize spells again, whether that be through intense arcane study or by extensive prayer to whatever deities the holy men have decided to follow.

Sunset quickly arrives and the group divides up into night watch shifts previously decided upon that are based upon grouping of strengths with weaknesses. The actively resting characters bed down in the loft above the stables while those standing guard remain in the stable area below. The first watch passed with nothing substantial to report.

However, during the second watch overseen by the flawlessly good human Naill Ravenwing and Gunner Tarneson the dwarf fighter, the howls of a potentially large pack of wolves could be heard at increasingly closer distances to the watch location. Even Ray the war dog was uneasy about the mysterious unrest of the creatures. Reardon Gray, the half-elf ranger/cleric/thief had fortuitously used iron spikes to brace the doors closed before the night watch had even begun. It was because of this that the door remained unopened when a mysterious visitor “gently” tried to push the one of the doors inward as the wolf-song increased in proximity and intensity over the remaining hours of the nighttime vigilance. This inward pushing was described as giving the door a rubbery appearance as the strength of it was carefully put to the test. Eventually the howling subsided, day broke, and the crew was able to resume their expedition into the unknowns of Xyntillan.

Returning to the hallway that had been filled with cobwebs the previous evening, the adventurers opened the door at the end of it. Inside they saw a soldiers barracks covered in still more cobwebs. Naill took a step into the neglected room only to have a swarm of around 1500 spiders descend from a cluster of webs near the ceiling. After winning the ability to act before the spiders could reach him, Naill quickly dropped the torch he was carrying and slammed the door shut. Soon smoke billowed from under the door as the many webs were quickly consumed by fire and the explorers decided to search two other rooms before returning to see if the fire had died down.

The first of the two rooms was a nearly identical barracks to the one now on fire excepting that it was not covered in spider silk. A thorough toss of the place unfortunately yielded no loot. The second room that got checked was a slightly larger troop barracks with mostly the same furnishings save one: housed in this place was an ornate footlocker adorned with a placard that read “Contains type IV treasure”. The box was not secured by a trap or a lock, so the thief opened the lid to the strange storage case only to find it empty. Furthermore, there did not seem to be a false bottom or any other type of hidden compartment. Several party members ventured guesses as to what the meaning of this situation could be with the most interesting theory being that elsewhere in the castle there could be a magic lock that would work to reveal potentially hidden contents once affixed.

Returning to the room that had been lit afire, the door was reopened and Reardon crawled upon his belly to reach a previously spotted footlocker. On his way, he felt some discomfort as he moved over a couple of hard round marble sized objects. Collecting them, the half elf pushed himself back out of the room. Victory was realized when the thief discovered the lumps to be beautiful pearls worth approximately 80 gold pieces each. A total of eight pearls were discovered after another search was made of the floor below the smoke.Nothing but worn out boots were found in the foot locker Reardon had been attempting to reach.

Pressing further onward with apparent dreams of wealth and conquest, another room was opened where rotten sacks of potatoes and two, thirty gallon wooden drums of flour were found. Two additional doors led out of this room, one to the east and the other to the northeast. As the adventurers listened at the door to the east, they were dumbfounded by the sound of a large group of men singing a drunken tavern song. I would record a lyric or two from the jingle that I was urged to recreate in real time but I don’t wish to distract too much from the excitement of the retelling of this story with my magnificent and awe inspiring musical talents.

The door was opened with little trouble and the front ranks of our heroes were amazed to see that there were 25 skeletons seated at a long refectory table united in undead merriment. Reardon the ranger was the only one to win the element of surprise and chose to use his advantage to unleash an arrow attack he had readied prior to opening the door. Six arrows were loosed into the group of unaware revelers which unquestionably precipitated the ensuing hostilities. What followed was fifteen amazing rounds of bone crunching melee.

Almost immediately after taking to their feet, the skeleton horde split into two groups, one half crowded the doorway that the waylayers had recently opened and the other half cut north to an area as yet unexplored during the these expeditions to Xyntillan. Over the course of battle, several times, portions of the two groups were made to turn and run away by the two living clerics and the one paladin when each brandished the holy symbols of their respective deities. In the end, even as three skeletons armed with short swords tried to go north around the front line through unmapped hallways and rooms to mount an unsuccessful attack from behind, the forces of the living won out against the entire undead troop with an overly superior victory.

Sifting through the destruction, eleven of the short swords the skeletons bore were found to be serviceable and were stashed in the previous room next to the barrels of flour which at one point in the skirmish had been used to barricade a door. It was agreed upon by all of the party members that at some point they would return with a horse and cart to haul the valuables back to the town Savoy where they could be sold.

Only about an hour had passed since the castle had been entered but the spell casters had used a good portion of their spells and the decision was made to return to the relative safety of the stables to rest, study, and pray.

It was still only mid-morning on this 22st day of Tarsakh, 1367 DR or Dale-Reckoning.This is the seventh day in game time since the beginning of the campaign.

Loot gotten – 8 pearls @ an estimated 80 gold a piece.

Monsters slain – 1 spider swarm and 25 skeletons

One final innovation that we put into use during this game was the use of the mapping program at mipui.net At the conclusion of the game, everyone agreed that it was a vast improvement from the mapping styles attempted previously and lent a tactical variable to game play that was lots of fun.

Thanks for reading & play more games

-Brian