Deep underground, five adventurers debated whether to continue dungeoneering. Godwin and Heiwae Mann, demoralised and injured, called it quits and went back to base camp.
The remaining three, eager for more glory and gold, chose to stick it out.
- Haisam, a Necromancer.
- Gavel, a Fighter.
- Lalo, a Cleric.
The party, with their flask of snake ambrosia, cured the Leper-Chaun. He introduced himself as Wanamingo and sheepishly revealed the bear trap hiding beneath the pile of illusory treasure. As payment for their help, the fairy gave the adventurers valuable intel - the spores were a weapon employed by a dwarven clan of necromancers and slavers.
The dwarves were clever, preferring technology over magic to control their undead. With hypersonic whistles and bizarre talismans, whose geometries reflected their zombie's echolocation, they trained friend-foe recognition into their reanimated slaves.
In the common tongue, their name was "The Deadlifters". A killteam of the halfmen was in the dungeon, spraying bioweapons and dispatching fungal revenants to flush the fairy out.
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| The Weekly Roll |
Why were they here? The Deadlifters had massacred Wanamingo's people for collaborating with the Dark Elves - their wartime adversaries. In revenge, he'd robbed the tomb of a war hero.
The dwarves hadn't taken it well.
When asked to see the pilfered treasure, the leprechaun produced a comically large sack filled with gilded burial armour, platinum jewellery and rune-carved bones. Wanamingo offered equal shares to each adventurer - if they got him away from the dwarves.
The party agreed, but heeded the fairy's warning that the Deadlifters were able to track the armour somehow - they'd been pursuing him relentlessly for days. They chose to leave the loot in Wanamingo's warded hideout, gambling the dwarves wouldn't be able to find it whilst they continued exploring. They'd come back for the leprechaun and his stash on their way out.
In marching order, the three adventurers made course for the river fork they'd previously ignored, discovering it sloped downwards into a lower area of the dungeon. With no room either side of the river, they hammered in pitons and rope as a makeshift handrail before carefully making their way down the slippery slope.
They found themselves knee-deep in a flooded armoury. Ancient bronze weapons glittered on the floor and waterlogged containers floated in the freezing water. With Gavel standing guard, the cleric and necromancer sifted through the wreckage for valuables, finding:
- A waterproof suit of leather armour, made from dragon scales.
- A reflective bronze shield, surface polished to a mirror sheen.
- A 6-foot bronze staff, with strange protrusions at its tip.
Suspecting the staff was a key for opening the ophidian font, the adventurers ascended back up the sloping passage and waded their way to the baptismal chamber. Haisam inserted the staff into the locking mechanism and attempted to open the statue's mouth. The bronze gears refused to move until the sorcerer focused on the staff - causing it to expel a burst of magic.
With the grinding of ancient machinery, the jaws sprung open and released a flood of ambrosia. It quickly suffused the river, burning away spores and flowing downstream towards Fallowfields.
Satisfied they'd completed the colonist's quest, but concerned about a wandering monster hearing the racket, the party retreated back to Wanamingo's cave. Whilst the others got drunk with the leprechaun, Haisam identified the three magic items they'd recovered:
- +1 Leather Armour of Fire Resistance.
- +1 Shield.
- Staff of Opening, casts Hold Portal and Knock 1/day each.
With fasts broken and bellies filled with wine, the party chose to hole up in the warded hideout and rest for a few hours, before fleeing the dungeon with Wanamingo in tow.
The leprechaun kicked the sleeping adventurers awake - pointing out the fat spores drifting through the illusory wall and the sounds of muffled voices. Creeping forward, the party saw three dwarves clad in blackened maille investigating the waterfall.
The adventurers had Wanamingo use ventriloquism to draw two Deadlifters towards the flooded armoury, but their leader stayed behind - listening for movement. Worried about being discovered, the adventurers struck first - surging out from hiding and attacking the dwarf.
The black-bearded halfman put up a good fight, but was slain by Gavel's blade. With roars of anger, the surviving dwarves charged the adventurers. With no way out but through, Lalo and Gavel rushed to engage. As the two sides struggled in a vicious melee, Haisam chanted an incantation and raised the dead dwarf's corpse, commanding it to attack its allies.
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Blight of the Immortals |
The reanimation of their leader shattered the Deadlifters morale, causing them to flee in terror. Unbeknownst to them, the adventures had hit upon the clan's most unspeakable cultural taboo - being raised as undead made you more debased than the lowest of slaves.
The party didn't pursue the dwarves, instead taking the dead halfman's command whistle and retreating out of the dungeon. Though they came across a pair of fungal zombies, they confused them by whistling conflicting commands and ran past unharmed.
With a king's ransom of loot, their quest complete and the possibility of retaliation from the Deadlifters, the adventurers packed up their camp. Packs laden with treasure, the soldiers of fortune hiked along the river back to Fallowfields - intending to claim their reward.
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