Having slain the werewolf Snarla and her besmitten lover Burket, the party set about barricading the north (unexplored) door and the south door they came through. The corpses of the odd couple were tossed unceremoniously into the slick cylinder, dumping them on the far side.
Orgrush the half-orc kept watch through the arrow slit. The rest of the party attempted to rest.
Previously:
- WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN: Session 1 – Entering the Lair of the Mad Wizard Keraptis
- WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN: Session 2 – The Unboiled Crab
Wandering monsters
A short rest was achieved, but wandering monsters arrived to interrupt the party’s long rest. Orgrush heard a clanging and a thump, followed by a moan. A wight tumbled out of the cylinder, and began scratching at the door, before noticing the handle. The second thumped out of the chute. Before it could join its comrade, Orgrush stuck a spear through the slit, squarely sticking the second wight. It seemed little affected, yanking the spear out [non-magical weapon].
The first wight forced the door open, scratching at the dwarf Gimlet, but missing. Quarion and Emlyn blasted it with fire bolts and eldritch blasts, and it stumbled backwards. Sir Valler magicked Orgrush’s bow.
Gimlet Turned the wights, brandishing his holy symbol. The latecomer wight fled back the way it came, spilling out of the cylinder, picking itself up, and fleeing down the corridor, even slamming the door closed behind itself.
The remaining wight stood its ground, but was soon slain.
They passed their rest, and finally explored past the door to the north…
…which was apparently the late Snarla’s bedroom.
“Unlike the room you just left, this place is beautifully decorated. The floor is covered by fine rugs, the walls by erotic tapestries and shimmering curtains, the ceiling by an intricate mosaic depicting a summer sky dotted with fleecy clouds. In the northeast corner is a large and lavishly covered bed, strewn with cushions. Next to it on a low table is a buffet of sweetmeats, cakes, and other delicious-looking comestibles. In the northwest corner of the room is a brass-bound oak chest.”
Would’ve been a much more comfortable rest!
Orgrush the half-orc slammed his greatsword straight through the mattress.
Nope, not a mimic!
Orgrush jumped on the bed. He found it pleasantly lumpy and flat. Quarion tested the cloth between his fingers; it was much coarser than it appeared. He picked up a down feather that had billowed out from the sword thrust. The feather felt like straw to the touch.
Quarion cast Dispel Magic on the room, dismissing the illusion. The sweetmeats turned out to be iron rations. The bed fit for a peasant.
He noted that a faint, sickly green puff waft up from the chest. Turns out there was a stinking cloud trap previously active.
Inside the chest was are 400 ep, 300 gp, and seven gems worth a total
of 1,300 gp.
Gargoyles
The party returned south through the kelpie room. One kelpie poked her head up and swam deep with a squeal.
Sir Valler stumbled off the ledge into the deeper water, right where I’d planted a pair of gargoyles I’d rolled up as a wandering monster earlier. They were invisible under the water, against the stone floor. One clawed at him as he crawled out.
Quarion cast Light on a gold coin and tossed it into the water, among the gargoyles, intending to make it easier for the casters to see them.
Instead the gargoyles became fascinated the the glowing gold coin, fighting over it.
The party hastily exited the chamber through the south.
Drainage
The party stopped by the small side chamber. There was a valve to turn, underwater. They’d tried previously but failed. Still weren’t sure what it’d do, but hey, it was there to be turned, right?
This time Orgrush and Sir Valler worked together and spun the valve. Water began draining from the dungeon.
This time they succeeded. The soggy gynosphinx was less grouchy this time. Orgrush held up Whelm, in his bag. “Great. Get the other two now,” the lion lady mumbled.
They proceeded up the NW passage. It was a better not slogging through foot-deep water, but the floor was still slimy and wet. It would still count as difficult terrain for a while, slowing movement.
The pit was still full of water. They managed to get everyone across through clever use of a Floating Disk that Quarion cast.
Metal-Heating Corridor
Then they reached a corridor lined with 6-foot copper plates.
There was a lot of chin-scratching on this one.
Emlyn cast Detect Magic. The whole corridor gave off a faint magic.
Gimlet cast Detect Traps. He definitely sensed a trap effect, and it felt electrical in nature.
Through a bit of experimentation, they deduced it was a form of Heat Metal effect, growing in intensity the deeper one walked down the corridor.
The party members stripped off all metal armor and weaponry, piling them on Quarion’s Floating Disk, which was still in effect.
They got everyone to the other side, congratulating themselves on their cleverness, when a mob of ghouls rushed through a secret door into the room!
Next:
Resources
I hope y’all enjoyed this session recap / walkthrough. Here’s what I used for this adventure.
White Plume Mountain (S2). The original 1979 AD&D adventure by Lawrence Schick, long out of print but available in the used market or PDF / Paperback reprint at DriveThruRPG (currently $6.50 at this writing). Great art by old school RPG artists.
Tales From the Yawning Portal (2017). The White Plume Mountain adventure is included in this D&D 5e hardcover – unabridged and essentially unchanged from the original. One of several classic modules converted to 5e tabletop play. New art, which is also quite good. The map looks great for VTT play.
We didn’t get to play this module way back when, but once we saw the cover – as Elric fans – we were quite curious.
Once we heard tales of some kids in the area that finally did run it, it set off a sort of arms race in “cool” magic item development among all the DMs of my acquaintance~
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