Gelatinous Cubed

Tomb of the Serpent Kings (2021.08.17)

Dangerous Dungeon Delving featuring The P Is Silent

Preface

As an introduction to OSR dungeons and to this peculiar little system I built, I prepped and ran Tomb of the Serpent Kings (by Skerples at Coins and Scrolls) for my usual crew. It's a great beginner dungeon, and I think I learned a lot just by reading through it. Watching my players stumble through it was an absolute joy. I look forwards to using this again to introduce groups to old-school adventures.

Dramatis Personae:

• Ralof. A mechanist with two magical passengers - D’Ave and one unnamed.
• Sparrow. An archaeologist.
• Linguine. A pasta chef with a bloodhound named Meatball.
• The Courier. A messenger without a single coin to their name.
• Andre. A construction worker in chain mail armor.
• Agalan (NPC). The clearly insane man who dragged them to the tomb.

Session Summary

After poking around for a bit outside the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, the party stepped into the False Tomb. They worried about traps for a bit, but Ralof (with the help of D’Ave, his spell of second sight) pushed them to take some risks.

Sparrow was knocked out temporarily by some poison gas in a coffin, but was revived shortly thereafter. Once they had learned the coffins contained poison gas, the party moved to chipping them open and running out of the room to allow it to disperse. They retrieved a couple of amulets and a ring which endowed Sparrow with a poisonous fingernail.

Linguine looked around for a bit, and managed to trigger the battering ram trap at the end of the hallway in a surprisingly non-fatal manner. Once the trap was sprung, the party opened the door to find the end of the False Tomb, an ornate burial chamber.

Ralof opened one of the coffins, alerting the skeletons within. Linguine took a serious blow to the leg with their own axe in the ensuing scuffle while tackling a skeleton. The party took a bit to catch their breath and regroup, then met up with Agalan outside. He healed up Linguine’s leg, and sent them back into the tomb.

The party advanced through a secret passage found under a hideous statue in the next room, and cautiously entered the Upper Tomb. Ralof noticed a statue out of alignment and twisted it back into place, revealing a hidden room. There were a couple of spears within, finally giving The Courier a proper weapon.

Continuing along the passage, the party found themselves in an octagonal chamber with doors along each wall. The first triggered a lightening bolt trap, frying Sparrow and Linguine. The injuries were serious, but ultimately not fatal. The Courier looted a shiny disc of electrum (the focus of the lightning spell). They avoided the next room altogether based on the thumping and D’Ave’s warning.

The Courier tried to trigger the lightning again and got jumped by a pair of mummy hands from the mucky pool of water in the center of the octagonal chamber. The party, after some shenanigans, trapped them in the room that the lightning came from.

The third room held a sarcophagus with a black pudding in it. After The Courier threw their torch into the pudding, everyone noped out and closed the sarcophagus and doors.

The fourth room they entered was on the far right, and it held a secret passage that Ralof, The Courier, and Sparrow followed down to the Lower Tomb. Beyond its door they found the Basilisk. Or rather, the Basilisk found them. It nearly petrified Ralof, but The Courier tackled them back into the passageway and they made their escape.

The fifth room held some scrolls. Sparrow deciphered a few words about a demon and a name, but that was all.

It was around this time that Ralof decided to dive into the murky pool and try to retrieve the magical thingy D’Ave had detected at the bottom. Ralof found a ring that caused an eyeball to pop out (it could still see), a golden chain, and some assorted jewelry.

The final room was not a room at all, but a hallway. Andre triggered the trap on the third step, sending the “knight” sliding down into the spikes at the bottom. With some rope and quick thinking, Andre was saved.

The party moved a bit into the room beyond, encountering the Serpent Stone Guardian. Which they decided not to fight. Session ended around here, with the party leaving the tomb.

Playtest Notes:

• Everyone was very afraid to roll the Ruin die. Maybe it needs to be more friendly?
• People rolled quite a few times without asking. Remind them to say what they want to do, and roll IF AND ONLY IF the referee tells them to.
• Don’t let people roll to find traps anymore. If they look in the right places, they’ll find them. If they don’t, don’t give it to them. No more softballing. Telegraph lethality, pull no punches.
• Everyone ran from the Basilisk and the Stone Guardian quickly. That’s good. They know these things can kill them.
• Injuries work well, as nebulous as they are.
• I’m excited to see what happens in possible future sessions, when they venture deeper into the tomb.