Post date: Oct 2, 2014 1:56:29 AM
Mission: the mayor asks the heroes to re-establish the status quo relationship with the goblinoid tribes (which have been recently dominated by a cult of evil chaos)...or destroy them.
These are the classic Caves of Chaos from the Keep on the Borderlands, one of the first adventures for D&D, published in 1979. This version is from the Fifth Edition playtest packet.
The party enters the goblin caves first and decides to parley. They make an agreement with the goblins to resume Sandpoint's "protection money" if the goblins will help them get rid of the cult. The goblins want their "snake head" queen to return as paramount chief. The goblins point out the cave where the cult is based, on the far end of the valley.
In the cult's cavern, the party has a hard time with the axe-wielding zombies. Probably a tactical error to close and fight hand-to-hand. They had a whole long hallway to hit the zombies with ranged weapons.
Enters a room with some novice cultists. The illusionist dispatches all but one with color spray (and coups de grace). The lone novitiate surrenders and forsakes the cult after a stern warning: "You were promised eternal life--on your way out, look at the eternal life that you would have received!" They make sure he leaves the caves after taking a long hard look at the piles of zombies in the hallway.
Some of the party members desguise themselves in the cultists' robes.
Onward to an evil shrine, with purple glowing unholy artifacts. The dwarf cleric picks them up and becomes possessed! Then an alarm bell goes off. Everyone hides, except the sorcerer who's wearing the cultist robes.
Cultists come running and the sorcerer yells out--"The interlopers went that way!" and points them to the outside exit. He aces his Bluff check. They turn that way. This gives them some time.
After searching another room, they are confronted by the high priest himself and a troop of skeletons. The grand battle begins...or does it?
The sorcerer successful casts Charm on the dark priest and convinces him that the unrobed party members are new recruits who blundered by touching the shrine relics. The priest beckons them to come to the main sanctuary to be converted into proper cultists (along with maybe a sacrifice or two). The party follows close behind him, walking amidst the throng of skeletons. They reach the entrance to the sanctuary...and then all hell breaks loose. The fighter and barbarian in front (walking right behind the dark priest) wink at each other and surprise attack him from behind, with some success; but even with a circumstance bonus, another attack is deflected by his plate armor. One of the party clerics does a Turn Undead, causing the skeletons to flee in both directions (since the cleric is standing right in their midst.)
...Now the grand battle begins. Black tentacles erupt from the shrine and pummel the party. The illusionist effectively blocks the line of sight of the dark priest by throwing up a figmentary wall. It was a knock-down drag-out fight. The player didn't realize the dark priest is a 4th Level Cleric! The barbarian was enthralled by Hold Person for several rounds. The fighter kept trying to trip the dark priest, and sometimes succeeded...but the priest had a +2 strength himself, and sometimes, tripped the fighter back! The barbarian almost died, falling to negative hitpoints after having been hit by the dark priest's unholy mace (with Divine Favor on top). The dark cleric would use the tentacled area to give him space to cast Cure Wounds on himself. Still, without his minions (the skeletons and the other cultists) even a 4th level cleric is worn down by a party of seven 2nd-level adventurers. There were no casualties by the time the barbarian finally slew the dark priest.
Near the end of the fight, the other cultists returned, only to be mostly stopped by an illusionary wall. The one who passed through was killed, and the rest then fled.
We had to end the session before the party found the queen. And then there's the possessed dwarf...
That's the end of the campaign for now.