Barrowmaze Play Report: Iconoclasm and... OH SH#@, RUN!

Gaming Supplies
(and a D&D 5E quitstart kit being used as a dice tray)

Our lucky dwarves delves, again, into Barrowmaze, escaping death once more by the skin of their teeth. This time, however, they messed with a god! The statue of one, more accurately. They also fulfilled the OSR motto, according to which, "OSR" stands for "OH, SH#@, RUN!".

We are using ACKS rules, with three house rules so far:

1. Thieves and thief-like characters (e.g. Dwarven Delver) add their Dexterity modifier to Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, Open Lock, Pick Pockets, and Disarm Traps rolls.
2. War dogs take Henchman "slots" and are limited by them.
3. War dogs get Mortally Wounded and may be stabilized by a character with Animal Husbandry. This, of course, entails a roll on the Mortal Wounds table for the poor hound.

The Lucky Dwarves:

• Boulderson the Lucky - Level 2 Dwarven Craft Priest - Eliran
• Rufus Chikenfoot - Level 2 Dwarven Delver - Itai
• + Angus the Cleaver - Level 1 Dwarven Fury - Rufus' henchman
• And dogs, Lots of dogs.

Revised Barrowmaze Map

And thus our heroes tried their luck again among the Mounds. They approached Mound 10, which was sealed, and made a whole ruckus trying to smash its door open. Three giant scorpions came to check what tasty snack makes that noise. The dwarves tried swinging at them but the creatures' armor was too tough and it was apparent that they bear venom. So... OH, SH#@, RUN! And the heroic band decided that discretion was the better part of valor. They ran as fast as they could, and eventually the scorpions lost interest in them.

From there, they walked again to their usual hunting ground - Mound 16, from which a secret staircase - well-known to them - leads to the Barrowmaze dungeon proper. There, they carefully explored the tombs. First came a ransacked burial hall - the dwarves recalled the tomb robbers encountered in a previous foray - and then a well-preserved one. Angus and Rufus wanted to search the many burial alcoves for treasure, but Boulderson the Craft Priest strongly objected. He has no problem looting the undead or Chaotic tombs, but sealed tombs of ordinary people, he believes, are not to be disturbed. However, while Boulderson built a small shrine from stones and performed a short ceremony in memory of the dead, Rufus managed to secretly search some of the burial alcoves and pilfer a few treasures - for himself. A third chamber had a cracked ceiling and two long-dead skeletons in it; luckily, the heroes avoided a collapse.

From there they marched down a long, dark corridor and checked a room to their right. It was a temple to Nergal - complete with an altar and a large stone statue of the dread god. Boulderson approach the altar, and narrowly avoided falling into a pit trap! Not only that, but curses and shouts in Dwarven came from the now-open pit! With a rope, they managed to rescue Ard Cobblestone, a 2מג level Dawrven Vaultguard, from the pit. He was hungry and dehydrated, but once fed, he thanked them and agreed to join them in their exploration of Barrowmaze.

Boulderson sensed great Chaotic evil in the altar. Despite the fact that it appears to allow some sort of augury, he raised his hammer and smashed it!

Nergal was not pleased.

The statue awakened! It attacked the dwarven (and canine) group with zeal. This large animated statue was very tough, and very dangerous with its fists. Our cunning heroes, however, thought of a way to topple this heavy monstrosity by throwing a net and ropes (all of which they had) on its head and drag it, with the muscle of four burly dwarves, into the pit. This didn't work well. However, luckily, they did manage to injure the statue, then push it into the pit with their combined efforts, making it an easy target to their rocks. Thus the dwarves smashed down this unholy idol and walked away - alive but injured.

While they survived the statue and defeated it with great valor, they also made a tremendous amount of noise. This brought about a whole pack of giant rats looking for fresh meat. The same heroes who smashed down a heathen idol, now faced a lesser, but not less lethal, threat. Injured, they remembered the OSR motto... OH, SH#@, RUN! And ran for their lives.

They didn't run fast enough, and a giant rat bit Boulderson in his legs. Rufus carried him and continued running; when tending to his wounds when they reached relative safety, he found out that both of Boulderson's legs were mangled.

Expensive magic corrected that, eventually, but brushing again and again with death now torments Boulderson (the Craft Priest) greatly; one in three nights, on average, he suffers from recurring nightmares which deny him sleep, rest, and spells...

Thus concluded the session.