Labyrinth Lord Play Report

Tags

hangouts, labyrinth lord, larm, online play, play reports

I had a great Labyrinth Lord session via hangouts last night. The prep was last-minute, so I opted for running something I knew well, and used some of Brave Halfling’s old material on the Known Lands, specifically the Village of Larm. It’s a sandboxy type, low-level setting that offers a bunch of adventure hooks and plenty of opportunities for role play.

Only one of our group could make it, so I had Kevin (@kjc at the Goblinoid Games forums) roll up three PCs using a great online generator for Labyrinth Lord, he came up with the following level one characters:

• Dai, a human fighter
• Melian, an Elf
• Arsenios, a human Cleric (with a strength of 8!)

The group made it almost through their first chosen adventure, clearing the old village temple, before they had to retreat due to near-fatal wounds.

Below is the play report. To be continued!

~

On a crisp fall morning the trio of freshly-minted, would-be heroes found themselves at the western gate of the Village of Larm. They were stopped at the closed gate by two guards, and after a brief back-and-forth they were found to be of suitable character to allow entry. They also picked up their first bit of information – that goblin raiding parties had been attacking Dwarven supply caravans from Dolmvay, and were becoming ever more brazen and even approaching the village gates.

The party proceeded through town and to the local watering hole, the Borderlands Tavern. There they enjoyed a fine breakfast and received more information about the village and some goings-on from the proprietor, a Halfling named Jebediah. They proceeded on through town, making brief stops at the armorer, village temple and the mayor’s residence.

It was at the last stop that they found some posted mayoral proclamations – detailing a few issues that needed fixing and offering rewards for doing so. After a brief chat with Mayor Caius himself, they proceeded back to the Temple of the Wise Mother Glenys and inquired as to one such issue – the abandoned temple near the south gate. Abbot Salor informed them that the temple had been abandoned for 30 years after an unspeakable tragedy, and the only person who knew anything about what had happened inside was the old Abbot, Brother Louie. The only problem was that Brother Louie lived on the far side of the river Dolm, in a cave, and was noted to be quite crazy. In any case, the party was offered a reward of 150GP, and given a few vials of holy water and three healing potions with their assurance they would clean out the old temple forthwith.

The trip to speak to the old Abbot proved uneventful, aside from a greedy dock worker who charged a whole GP to ferry the party across the Dolm river. The old Abbot was indeed crazy, and extracting information from him was difficult. With some patience, the group learned that they should openly carry the holy symbol of the old god Thaxon while inside the temple, and that they might see some undead creatures.

The party geared up and entered the old temple, on the lookout for a Thaxon holy symbol they could carry with them (the sign in front of the temple itself proved too large). The temple itself was a one-story, square wooden building with large, double wooden doors. Dai made short work of the boarding over the doors and the party entered the threshold. They immediately noticed the disrepair of the temple, and were assailed with the acrid smell of smoke. The large common room with benches and altar proved otherwise empty, and the party set about exploring the four side chambers in the dim light. One contained two benches and a leather-bound holy book, another some vestments and other religious paraphernalia (Arsenios wisely decided to leave the silver candlesticks, rather than risk the wrath of an unknown god). Upon opening the third chamber, Dai was set upon by two undead skeletons, who were sitting on stools and appeared to be in wait for anyone who would enter. After a brief but pitched battle in which Dai was wounded, the skeletons were reduced to piles of bone on the floor.

The last room contained a winding staircase, which descended into darkness. Not having any torches, the party made some from the stool legs and vestment rags dipped in lamp oil, and proceeded down the stairs. Dai quaffed his healing potion so as to be ready for what may lie ahead.

The staircase descended north to a long and narrow stone-walled room lined with rotting tapestries. Behind one Dai found a secret niche containing a finely crafted sword, with the name THAXON engraved on the blade and the silver chalice holy symbol on the hilt. He wielded it and the party passed through the only door available to them, to the east, into yet another long and narrow room. Here they saw four kneeling skeletons, each holding a green candle. The skeletons rose and attacked, and in the battle that ensued, Melian was wounded and had to briefly retreat to consume his healing potion. Nevertheless, the party prevailed. Arsenios examined the four candles, all appeared unused and had the single word ‘TURN’ written on their sides. Arsenios collected them and the party moved on, through the only available door, which was to the south.

The party entered another long and narrow room, this one containing eight skeletons. The skeletons were far enough away for Melian to dispatch one with his bow. Arsenios held up his holy symbol and spoke some arcane words of power, but his god did not favor him, and the seven remaining skeletons were upon them! The battle was fast and furious, Melian and Dai destroyed three more of the foul undead before Dai fell victim to a vicious wound, collapsing to the floor bleeding and unconscious. Arsenios cast a protection from evil, and thus protected the group retreated behind him, Dai carried by Melian.

~