Tomb of the Orc Slayer Part 1 | D&D Sessions

Tomb of the Orc Slayer Part 1

It has been a while since I have posted an adventure log, but fear not, we are still playing on a regular basis. Unfortunately for most of the players, their characters died, with the single exception of Guido, who's player Kathryn decided to retire so she could play a druid starting in this campaign.

The current characters are as follows:
• Venalfi (aka Milli Vanilli), half-elf ranger, wields a quarter staff or shortbow. He is fairly acrobatic, and has a distinct hatred for Orcs.
• Serfina, human evoker specialist. She has an obsession with fire, and spontaneously causes lots of problems for the party with her sometimes unwise decisions. Some of her proficiencies provide comic relief, since she is prone to making significant mistakes in concocting, herbalism and alchemy.
• Preseli, (aka Blue), half-elf druid. New to the party, she wields a scimitar, and is secretive about many of her powers.
• Lucious, son of the Light, human paladin, wields a longsword and shield. Jon's longest-lived character is a fanatic at best. He has an NPC hireling, a bandit he captured in the Village of Hommlet, whom he has converted to study the Light. Halatosis Hal isn't quite the paragon of goodliness, but he does try.
• Preston Prescott Esqwire the Third Esquire; elven archer, shortbow specialist. Preston Prescott is a lot to deal with. He grew up with significant privilege, and looks down on everyone at all times. He is, despite his harsh, judging personality, an exceptionally effective warrior.
• Ragnar, human fighter, wields a battle axe and shield. He was once Guido's wagon driver, when Guido became a very wealthy man. Ragnar trains and keeps guard dogs, of which he has two presently.

The Tomb of the Orc Slayer is a 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons location-based adventure written by Chris Perkins that I have rolled into our use of the Scourge of the Slave Lords modules. This will be the step to take the characters from third to fourth level in order to start A1 - Slave Pits of the Undercity. I've decided to place the dungeon in the mines in Darkshelf, where A0 - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry took place.

Introducing the dungeon

I fit this campaign in between T1 - Village of Hommlet, and A1 - Slave Pits of the Undercity. The party initially arrived in Hommlet chasing their former party member, Necromancer Jim, who had betrayed them. While there, they worked with Rufus to undermine a group of bandits harassing the road to the north, which led them to the dungeon below the moathouse. Instead of using the Temple of Elemental Evil theme, I've wrapped Hommlet into my world by making Lareth the Beautiful and his minions followers of the Cult of the Earth Dragon. Having defeated Lareth, even though he eventually escaped, they learned that Necromancer Jim agreed to work for him, and headed off to Darkshelf, where he had apparently uncovered what it was that Bazili had initially been sent here to discover. Not wanting to rouse the suspicion of the new owner of the mine, Clyff Sharp Junior, Jim had rallied a group of kobolds and was apparently approaching his find from a different part of the mountains behind Darkshelf Village.

The party agreed to go to Darkshelf, even though most of them aren't true enemies of Jim's, in order to put a halt to anything that the Earth Dragon cult, or Lareth, are plotting.

Finding the entrance

Clyff Jr. was willing to show the party where it was that Jim had been looking. Between Lucious and Preseli, the priestly characters easily identified that there was something of terrible evil behind one of the walls of the mine shaft. They hired some of Junior's miners, and together with Preseli's use of the "soften stone" spell, they eventually uncovered the entrance to the tomb, a wall with a dwarven face carved in relief into it. Around the dwarven sculpture was an engraving, which Serfina magically translated:

Herein rests Olek the Orc Slayer - Let curses be upon any who disturb his slumber

Opening the Tomb of the Orc Slayer

The party offered extra pay to the miners if they stayed on overnight, and the miners agreed, so long as they didn't tell Mr. Sharp. At this point, Serfina suggested that the miners should unionize. In the morning, during our next session, Sharp will arrive very upset, for having been cut out of the deal for the night's labors, for making his crew useless for the next day, and for inciting trouble among his employees. Surely, the party will pay dearly for that, as Clyff is a very savvy businessman.

Even the trained miners, though, couldn't break through the adorned wall that marked the entrance to the Orc Slayer's tomb. Serfina attempted to knock it open, but the enchantments on the door outmatched her, and sent her flying back into the opposing wall. Finally, the party consulted an older dwarf in the village itself.

The party consulted an elder dwarf they were introduced to at the warf about Olek, the Orc Slayer. He told them story that the story of the Orc Slayer is an ancient one in Dwarven mythology. Apparently a great champion protected his clan from orc invasions for years, until he eventually destroyed their chieftan, an evil priest of some power. He took an artifact as a trophy. That thing eventually drove Olek insane, and he murdered his entire clan. Eventualy he was put down by a group of dwarven priests, who walled him up in a tomb, along with the evil artifact, never to be seen again. The dwarven fisherman warns his friends that if this party has found the Orc Slayer, they should stay away from this group, since Olek's curses are of the ancient and dangerous variety. However, he also let a piece of information loose: the doors to these tombs often accept a sacrifice of some kind to allow entry. Generally it has to be something that the occupant of the tomb would appreciate. Of course, the party ignored the option to get, say a dwarven weapon to sacrifice, or a barrel of ale or hard liquor. Instead, they came up with the idea that they should sacrifice orcs. They attempted using Venfali's necklace of orc ears, and pushed it towards the door. The great mouth opened, and accepted the sacrifice, but only trembled slightly and would not allow passage through.

Finding the Sacrificial Lamb

Venfali and Preston Prescott had the idea to split the party (WHY DO THEY ALWAYS DO THIS!!!???) and head off into the mountains to find an orc to capture and feed to the door. They did actually capture one, and escape with it, but are being pursued by the orc war party from which it belongs, as well as their ogre leader and probably a few goblin minions. We ended the session with Venfali's horse dying of exhaustion from sprinting away from the Orc encampment, and Preston Prescott donning his guile suit, and climbing a tree to set up a trap for the oncoming ogre and his soldiers.