(or, “Let’s go to the Action List.")
(This is foner’s test drive of AD&D first edition, played entirely by-the-book. The module is “Trial by Fire” from Judges Guild.)
PCs
- Kalem, Elven Mage, played by BlueLightning
- Reggio Emilia, Gnome Illusionist/Thief, played by skidoo
- Torlock, Human Fighter, played by dorje
NPCs
- Cael, a spear carrier
- Stan , a spear carrier
- Timmy, a spear carrier
- Cartman, a linkboy
The Anonymous Party of Auburndale had enjoyed the hospitality of Torlock’s family barn for several weeks now. Torlock needed a few of those weeks, after the snake-in-the-box episode, to spend a little of his newfound wealth redecorating the house for Ma and Pa. Perhaps he’d finished dusting the new cabinets, or perhaps Ma and Pa encouraged their boy to go out and give them some peace… in any case, Torlock was ready to take up the Lucerne Hammer once again, for Kalem and Reggio had a numbered list of mysteries to solve in The Secret Fortress! The first mystery was… what happened to that spare chicken they bought last week? Ah, Torlock ate it.
At the entrance to the dungeon, Reggio distributed lettuce to his gang of rabbits (dubbed “The Wild Buns”) that stand watch for him. They had seen no other big ones open the hard flat things (the "doors"). The Anonymous Party descended, and proceeded to their first goal: the room with promising niches and glowing stuff (41). As they attempted to jam the secret entrance open from the inside, the door shut upon them, trapping them within the chamber. No attempts to reopen it were successful.
The niches were occupied by thirteen standard niche-inhabitants, skeletons. One on the west wall held a glowing sword. The party had heard many tales of the unwise adventurer touching an obviously valuable object and receiving an animated ass-dicing from skeletons. Since exit was currently impossible, there seemed to be no other options but to face this battle with thirteen of them. They doused four in oil to make them easily flammable. This caused skeleton heads to turn, but not strike. Their fears stoked, Reggio prepared the party's expensive vial of holy water for hurling. Torlock stationed himself in front of the skeleton with the glowing sword, with the hirelings upon the skeletons in adjacent niches, ready to strike the first blow prior to animation.
The count was given. 1… 2… 3… STRIKE FIRST BLOWS!
Two skeletons shattered, and ten more fell forward. The only one that animated was the one with the sword. The holy water and Timmy’s spear ended the animation quickly. The victory only cost the party 27 gp in equipment. On the other hand, there was a single gold piece in the niche, and the skeleton’s sword glowed attractively. Torlock took it, said its name was Ruthie, and insisted it could talk. He waved it before the secret door, and the party was free once more.
The next order of business was in the military library (19). The books the party took from this room were odd indeed: Their writing had vanished when the books were brought to the surface. Kalem brought a book back down, to see if the ink returned. It did not. The book was only fit now for Torlock to sketch dirty pictures on its pages. The trapped ceiling chamber to the north was also searched more thoroughly, but yielded no more than the rocks it had already dropped.
Next, the trophy room (24). The party searched behind the plaques in the room, but nothing was found. The trophys appeared to be without value [Unless you think something like 300 yr. old bowling trophies are cool, which hell I do — skidoo]. To the north, Reggio checked the hall to see if it graded to accommodate the map (it did not). The chapel (23) was searched again, and this time Kalem left a gold piece on the altar, in hopes that it might yield something next time.
The party had a bit more luck in the rumpus room (25). Reggio searched behind the dartboard and found mugs full of copper. A couple of wine bottles behind the bar were still sealed and perhaps valuable to oenologists in Yettin. Coppers, wine and dartboard were packed. It was at around this point that the party began to get an uneasy sensation, as if being watched. The murals on the wall depicted manly soldier-men doing manly soldier-things like fighting&drinking&fighting&gambling, and the soldier-men were slowly moving. At first this seemed dangerous, but the painting-soldiers made no threatening moves, merely repeated their fighting&drinking&fighting&gambling over and over again. After gaping at this fantasy version of lenticular printing, the party decided to head for the watermelon blob and try out a magic missile and/or Ruthie on it.
However, as they passed through the white pillar room (28), they noticed, perhaps for the first time, that there was a slight breeze blowing from the south. Looking for the breeze's source or egress, Kalem located a secret door on the north wall. Reggio tested the nearest pillar for rotation, as the pillars did in another chamber, and succeeded. He found that all of the pillars moved but, through a failed attempt to use the other party members to spin them all at once, he found he was the only one that could move them. Finally, the party hit upon the idea of Reggio running among the pillars, spinning them as he did, much as the disc spinner referred to in the rhyme from the magic basin. This unlocked the secret door! The party found five sacks, with coins and potion vials equally distributed among them. Kalem and Torlock speculated that these sacks might have been standard payment for the soldiers in the fortress.
The party packed up this treasure, and returned to the surface, barely wounded and laden with treasure. Reggio promised extra heads of lettuce to the Wild Buns next time!
Casualties:
Torlock (lightly wounded by skeleton)
Treasure:
1 gp (left on altar)
1 glowing sword named Ruthie
100 cp in mugs
1 Dartboard
2 bottles of wine
500 gp
5 small bottles of blue liquid.
Monsters killed:
One skeleton
written up by skidoo