At the entrance of the Forgotten Temple, the party continued their battle against the bestial Norkers.
But ominous sounds from the stairs were a portent of reinforcements arriving!
First session: THARIZDUN: Session 1 – Brawl at the Entrance of the Black Temple
A party member was a bit slow in arriving [new player], but the finely-dressed half-elf joined the fight: Wilhelm Pembroke, a magic user. His comrades were engaged in a furious melee, standing on a pile of corpses.
The party was just turning the tide of the fight against the Norkers when the Trolls arrived.
Gary Gygax wrote Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (PDF at DTRPG) to be a dynamic dungeon adventure. These monsters will NOT just sit in their rooms, waiting for their door to be kicked in!
Gygax devised a reinforcement schedule, detailing when the denizens from below will arrive to repel invaders.
For the Trolls, I rolled “5”, so they arrived at the end of this round.
The PCs saw Trolls come shambling up the east and west stairs. The rubbery beasts loped in a wide approach, taking them out of the party’s sight.
The next round, the Trolls slammed into the group. A giant two-headed Troll led the horrors!
The Trolls began tossing Norkers aside to get their claws on the party!
The gnomes accompanying the group got in some lucky sling hits on their giant foes, knocking two in the head, stunning them briefly (including the Giant Troll).
I gave these gnomes a special property with their slings, and two got remarkable rolls, with correspondingly poor rolls by the Trolls.
The Onslaught
The Trolls battered the party with their claws and bites. They hit much harder than the Norkers.
Rolen and Wilhelm knew what to do! FIREBALL!
And Again!
The Fireballs slayed the Norkers and singed the Trolls. They were known for regenerating damage, but not against fire!
Delmar the thief got pummeled by the Giant Troll and went down. Yebarinscrud the dwarven cleric stepped in front of his gravely wounded ally.
Another Fireball!
Then Yebarinscrud was beat down by the Giant Troll! The party was on a knife’s edge. Some of the gnomes began retreating.
The 4th and last Fireball killed all the trolls. And the Giant Troll, seeing his little beasties all dead, and burned by hated flames… failed morale check and fled!
A couple of PCs took parting shots at the routed Giant Troll, but the party was too exhausted to do much more.
Then roaring from downstairs heralded the arrival of yet more giant humanoids!
See also:
THARIZDUN: Session 1 – Brawl at the Entrance of the Black Temple
WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN: Session 1 – Our game group’s run of this classic module.
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