Session LX: Dogs On Your Tail

It has been quite a while since we were into our Swords & Wizardry campaign.  I didn't at all mind the break.  As DM it takes time an energy to put together even the lowest of prep-games and I welcomed not having to expend the energy running sessions.  Our group just switched over to boardgames for these many months and it's been quite enjoyable being able to relax with my crew and getting lost in some non-Role-playing game, though at times, some of these board game rules can be quite cumbersome.

So here we are, back into this crazy campaign now using the newer Swords & Wizardry Complete rules...

A bit of background...

With the public murder of Lord Blackmoor, a fierce battle broke out between followers loyal to the fallen lord, his sellswords, the priests of Mithra and the priests of the Dark Gods. Caught in the middle of all this were our fearless adventurers who held in their possession the sword Blackrazor and the Soul Gem.

Fighting their way out of the city erupting in civil war yet again, the party high-tailed it on stolen horseback to the town of Blackmoor and the temple of Morpheus with elements of all the fighting factions in hot pursuit. The path to Blackmoor was paved with blood as Televon, wielding the bloodthirsty Blackrazor hacked down the party's foes.

Entering Blackmoor in secret, the party split up, with Televon and Skwanky returning to the temple of Morpheus carrying the bloody and soul filled magic sword and the Soul Gem while Gnarly Blunderbrush and Maximus the Giant Slayer, under the cover of night, commandeered a row boat and paddled across Lake Blackmoor and into Brush Wood.

 At dawn, the two companions reached the opposite shore as an autumn rain began to fall.  Looking back they saw fires burning on the horizon where the town of Blackmoor would be.  Maximus and Gnarly worked their way into Brush Wood but as evening approached, the temperature dropped and the rain turned to sleet.  To make matters worse, they stumbled upon a hunting party of Gnolls who  pursued them to the entrance of a ruined Abbey.

Under the hail of arrows the two weary companions stumbled into the Abbey only to run into an Atlantean Edan Kael and a female Ranger Enus and a strangely pale fellow known as Tibag (yes, the original PC Tibag who had fallen into the icy blue lava too many sessions ago) who had also been chased into this ruined Abbey by the Gnolls who appear to have been under some kind of spell as their eyes were lacking pupils and white.

The Gnolls were reluctant to enter the ruined abbey, however, and the group made their introductions and explored the structure which provided some respite from the chilly damp weather.

They found a statue entwined with dried dead branches deeper in a corner of the Abbey.  The statue appeared to be that of some kind of priest and had his hands outstretched as if holding something.

Exploring further into the ruins they found a young girl hiding in a small chamber.  The frightened girl, Jute, had been part of a caravan from town of Larm heading towards Fishersville when they were waylaid by the Gnolls.  Her father helped her escape and she had made her way to the Abbey.  There she has stayed, scared, cold and hungry for two days, protected from the Gnolls but trapped from leaving.

The group rests for the night and the next day explore the rest of the Abbey and find a looted tomb and a barred door.  Going beyond the barred door the find a crypt with a set of stairs heading down into beneath the Abbey while Gnarly guarded Jute in the main hall.

Through a series of tunnels they found four statues of dogs with gems in their forehead and fountains.  Collecting the statues and matching them with the fountains they were able to reactivate these ancient wells and they bubbled up colored water in red and green.  Filling two decanters they found two basins in rooms tiled in red and green, and filling the bowls heard stone gears grinding.

In a previously deadened hallway,  a door opened revealing a hidden tomb and a boney horror on an iron throne, above the throne wrapped in a purple swirl of magic was a glowing spherical green gem.  The Spectral Scavenger claimed that the group were sent by the priests and that they will, yet again, fail as it raised it's sword and blasted a bolt of lightening at the party standing in the doorway.  

Surviving enough to react, Maximus blasted the demon back with some lightening of his own as Tigbag ran around behind the throne.  The the Spectar 'alive' and angry, he caused boney hands to burst forth from the ground and grab the ranger just as Tibag drew his blue flaming sword which greeted the thief with a cheerful "Happy Birthday!".  Tibag leaped over the back of the throne and brought his sword down upon the back of the beast which cried out in pain and Maximus finished him off with a bit more of his magic.  The Spectral Scavenger turned to dust and the glowing green gem, freed from it's magical cage fell to the floor and rolled over to Maximus who snatched it up and put it in his pocket.

Just then from, up the passage, the guttural sounds of four demon dogs sounded.  Bursting to the room were these headless hounds, bodies shredded to exposed muscle and bone and that's when things went from bad to worse...