[DnD] Crusader (GFF D&D Adventure 2)

After an extended period of wild gesticulation and half-understood discussion with the locals, the group eventually secures directions to the dilapidated neighborhood of Stag End. From there, it's a simple matter to locate Lord Broden's home: none of the other residents have a warhorse stabled outside their hovels.

Broden is tending to the steed, half-dressed in a suit of plate. A symbol of Bahamut hangs around his neck, and he sighs heavily as the party approaches.

"Here about the sword, are you? Look, I don't mean to be short with you but there's a minor zombie problem I've got to go resolve. After that, I'm going to sleep, probably for a good three days. Have you got a city map?"

He studies the battered map with a frown and draws a circle around the location of Finagill's home.

"There you go. The sword's probably somewhere inside. If I had the time to find it myself, I would, but frankly I am — to put it lightly — a little busy. I warn you, you're the fourth group to come see me about this and none of the others have come back. Perhaps they just looted the place and then abandoned their responsibility, perhaps something unfortunate happened to them within. I can only warn you to be cautious. Finagill was a paranoid old man at the best of times, and his home's defenses have probably outlived him. He was getting senile toward the end, muttering this word over and over: 'Sarathar'. No idea what it means, but it seemed important to him."

Normally I wouldn't condone this sort of wholesale looting, but I need my sword returned to me and I lack any significant wealth of my own. You'll know it when you see it — it's a silver broadsword with a lion's head on the pommel; 'Crusader' is etched into the blade in Dwarven script. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what will happen should you steal it from me."

Thus informed, the group makes it way to Finagill's abandoned home. It's a simple dwelling; two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a study. There's no obvious evidence of anything magical, or even that the former occupant was a wizard at all.



Jam it back in, in the dark.

The party rifles through the entire house, finding absolutely nothing remarkable.

Argumentus finishes his meal of stale, weevil-infested bread and moves to a mirror to clean the remaining weevils out of his stubble. In a typical move, he briefly confuses the face of the reflection with his own and moves to brush off the reflected weevils. Unfortunately his hand passes right through the surface of the glass and, overbalancing, he tumbles through entirely and disappears from sight.

Argumentus falls out of the other side of the mirror with a thump, and finds himself in a cramped room whose contours remind him of delicious pie. Along with the mirror, four additional doorways appear in the stone walls. Four identical statues depicting a young man in wizard's robes stand in a line, staring blankly toward the northwest corner. Five levers jut out of the floor on the west wall, and a small hourglass sits in a niche above them.



There's nowhere I can't reach.

The levers are marked A, B, C, D, E from north to south. Argumentus pulls lever B toward himself. Neither the doors nor the statues respond, but the hourglass in the wall immediately flips over. It looks like the sand in the glass will take about three minutes to pour out.

Or, 48 hours forum time

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Argumentus pulls lever D. There is a pleasant chime.

Ding!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Lever A. Ding!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Argumentus ignores Motsognir's pleading and pulls Lever E. Instead of the pleasant ding, there is a loud and unpleasant buzzer. An electric shock travels up the lever and into Argumentus' arm, and he reflexively releases it.

All the levers flip back up to their original positions.

4 damage to Argumentus

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Ding,
Ding,
Ding,
Ding!

FELIPE NO

Argumentus pulls Lever E. There is another ding, and then a tinny and faltering voice emits from one of the statues.

"Combination. B. D. A. C. E. Door. E. Closing."

Suddenly the reflection in the mirror disappears, and it becomes a sheet of ordinary glass.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Argumentus pokes and prods at the statues, but they fail to react in any significant way. He discovers seams in the stone around the shoulders and hips, but fails to see the artistic value in it.

Repeating the combination, the mirror does indeed return to its former state. Argumentus and the dwarves are no longer trapped.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Argumentus pulls lever A. As the first in a sequence, it produces no apparent result.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Argumentus pulls Lever B —

BZZZZT



The levers reset.

5 damage to Argumentus

Most amazing jew boots

Argumentus starts over again with Lever A, then E. BZZZZZTTT, levers reset. 3 damage

Motsognir investigates all the stone doors, but they're all locked and no sound is audible beyond any but the door in the southwest, which houses a muffled but distinct hum.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

While the statue neither breaks apart nor responds physically to Argumentus' assault, it does emit a peculiar noise.

Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

I was speaking idiomatically.

The statue does not respond further to provocations of this nature.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

B. No response.

D. DING!

C. BZZZZT 1 damage

FELIPE NO

Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding

"Combination. B. D. A. C. E. Door. E. Closing. Again."

The mirror goes blank for the second time today.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Lever A. No response.

Lever C. Ding!

Lever B. BZZT

3 damage

The hourglass is about half-empty.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

"Combination. A. C. E. B. D. Door. D. Opening."

The door in the southwest corner of the room slides slowly into the floor and vanishes, revealing another wedge-shaped room. Brigid briefly considers doing something extremely silly, then thinks better of it.

The otherwise empty room is dominated by a large runic circle stretching from wall to wall. Massive arcs of electricity flicker across it every few seconds.

The sand in the hourglass freezes in place.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Arcana check: Success

Argumentus burns a surge: +11 HP

Bob calls upon his knowledge of matters arcane, hoping to understand the nature of the runic circle. This is a warding glyph, with a fairly powerful lightning spell clearly bound to it. It's a fairly common form of security for your more powerful wizards, usually enabled or disabled by speaking a given command words. Anyone crossing the circle will trigger the lightning spell, unless the glyph's enchantment is either dispelled or disabled with the command word.

Of course, Bob's mastery of magic (mighty though it may be) has not yet unlocked the secrets of dispelling.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The runed circle abruptly flickers and dies halfway through Gabriel's diatribe, leaving only some burnt stones and the smell of ozone to announce that it had ever been there at all.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Although it is exceedingly well hidden, Gabriel lingers in the room long enough that he eventually notices the secret door in the north wall.

Lucky, that.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Bob hesitantly swings open the secret door. It opens onto a squarish chamber dominated by a large altar in the shape of a human hand. As the door opens, a coiled-up mechanical cobra lurking behind the altar swiftly uprights itself. The iron snake, nearly 7 feet tall, regards the intruders blankly. In the same halting voice as the statues, it recites a warning.

"Good. Afternoon. Please. Place. The. Keystone. On. The Altar. Or. Leave. Immediately. You. Have. Fifteen. Seconds. To. Comply."

How ya doing, buddy?

"Combination. C. E. B. D. A. Door. A. Opening."

The door in the northeast of the room slides open. Behind two mechanical guard dogs sits a plain wooden chest. One end of a rusty chain lies on the floor in front of the hounds; the other end leading through a tiny gap in the wall.

The dogs make no hostile moves.

FELIPE NO

"Combination. D. A.... Okay. You. Get. The. Idea. Screw. It."

Both the remaining doors slide open, revealing 10' square rooms. To the north, a large chest sits against the wall, bound with heavy chains and locks. To the west, a marble block with a huge ruby set into the top.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Brigid hurries across the little room, prying the ruby out of its setting. Even as she turns around, though, the floor starts to give way beneath her. She falls uncontrollably into a 30' pit, landing with a bone-crunching thud in a shallow pool of weak acid.

23 damage to Brigid (doesn't die)

Bob and the iron cobra continue their staredown. "You. Have. Five. Seconds. To. Comply. Four. Three. Two. One. I. Am. Now. Authorized. To. Use. Lethal. Force. BZZZZT. Please. Enter. The. Room. So. I. Can. Use. Lethal. Force. On. You. BZZZZZT. Bibor. Fezwig's. Reliable. Housekeeping. Apparatus. Number. 209. Is. Not. Authorized. To. Leave. Its. Station. BZZZZT. You. Are. Making. Me. Very. Cross."

Jam it back in, in the dark.