Dramatis personae
Ash, squire
Kim, thief
Mayhem, short barbarian
Caleb, wizard
Anêr, swashbuckler
Yémos, cleric
Villûdē, guide
Quid occurrit
On the morning of 17 Skraptôs the gang awoke. They set forth and, after some leading astray by Mayhem on the trail, reached a hill with brush about an hour later, where the tracks stopped. Kim looked around, and found a hole under some brush. After tying up the horses, the heroes went into the hole.
Once inside, they came to a fork in the tunnel. They kept right, and found themselves in a room with a big divot in the middle of the floor. Off to the side was a big stone box with many beads in the shape of men on it, which, when anyone looked at it, seemed to move like they were tilling the ground. Villûdē put her hand to her mouth in surprise, as this was the box for which she had been looking, but sadly, it was too heavy for her to lug with her. After dragging the heavy box a few inches, the others agreed it was too heavy, and Kim lifted the lid after checking for traps.
After lifting the lid, a whoosh of air came out of the box and it shaped itself into a funnel. The funnel went up to Kim, then to Villûdē, then to Caleb. After stopping before Caleb, it darted down the hall, and a few seconds later everyone heard a crash. They walked back to the opening only to find it had fallen in on itself.
Unfazed, the gang went back down the tunnel, this time choosing the middle tunnel. It stopped in a cave that had a ring of polished stones and skulls in the middle, with four small hearths burning at the foot of the wall. Once they stepped towards the middle, a bolt of lightning shot from the middle of the floor and hit the ceiling above Ash.
From where the lightning came was now a naga, who tried to bite Anêr as he came to strike her. She missed, and took a rapier cut to her mouth as she bit. Ash tried to swing at her but pulled his muscle, his arm falling limp. Mayhem stepped forward and smote the naga, but she stayed up, even after Anêr landed another blow.
The naga turned her bite to the hapless Ash, who could not block her with his shield, but her poison did not weaken him. Kim took a shot with her bow and hit the naga, Mayhem landed another hit, Yémos cast Shield 2 on Anêr, and Caleb missed with the Fireball he tried to lob. Anêr got one last blow, and then the naga’s head fell to the floor.
In the middle of the ring of skulls of men and orcs was an egg. They didn’t know how far along the naga inside it was, but they didn’t care, and smashed the egg, forever aborting the demon inside.
The heroes went back to the crossroads and then down the left hall. The hall split, and they went right. Coins, mostly copper farthings, littered the ground in this cave. A lantern lit the cave, which Caleb thought was a magical light, so they took it. They filled their bags with the loose coins, and got 440 copper farthings, 48 silver pennies, and 12 gold pieces.
They went to the other room, and saw a fine mail suit with ringlets pressed to look like bricks and a moon on the left breast. Ash tried to see if he knew whose sign was on the mail, but he did not, though he did spot a pennant with a shark on it, which he knew to be the coat of arms of a noble out west. Ash took the mail, which, while not magical, was of high quality.
At last they turned their heed to the blocked tunnel. Kim tried to look through the caves for another way out, but she could not find any, and Caleb cast Rive to help get through the boulder. Kim made sure the hole he dug would not fall in on itself again, and Yémos cast Major Healing on Ash.
When they crawled out of the hole, it was midday. They took care to look for another way into the caves again, but could find no other. They chose to walk north until they stopped for the night, and Yémos set up camp.
The next day was hot like the last one. At midday, they met two rangers: Daútōr, a young man with warts on his face, and Ōnpátōr, a gnome with only one tooth left. The two were lost, having run into a naga while on patrol, and had lain low for a few days before trying to go back to their camp somewhere to the east, back in the swamp. After some banter back and forth, the rangers, having learnt they were speaking to outsiders who knew little about the swamp, picked up their tent and left.
Later that afternoon, the trees started to thin out, as did the land, but the gang had little time to enjoy the swamp before a big rock came flying at them. From afar, they saw a giant bellowing at them to get out of his home. They agreed that was the best idea, and moved back onto dry land.
That night, Villûdē told them that they needed to hunt and forage the next day, as she was low on food. They agreed, and went to bed. That night, Ash was on watch when he spotted a big beast with nine heads coming towards them—a hydra. As it came nearer, Ash threw a log into the tent to wake the others, and got off a shot before the hydra got up to him.
Anêr was the first one to get to the hydra, who parried its bite with a blow to its head. Ash got off another shot, and Anêr gave it another blow before the hydra turned and fled. Knowing the hydra would be a tough fight, they chose not to follow. The next day, the gang gathered food, filling their packs again.
Res aliae
This took a week for me to bother to write up. Lazy bum. I'm not sure what else to add, other than that's the last time I use a product mostly as-is without minion monsters in GURPS. "The nagas consider themselves dangerous enough without relying on defense that could conceivably harm them as well" might be their epitaph.
