Iron & Gold
Lost in the Borderlands is based on the module Borderlands of Adventure, by J (who I presume is Walter J. Jones Jr., the copyright holder) and published by New Realms Publishing as NRP 31001.
It was written for Labyrinth Lord and I have converted to Iron & Gold by Precis Intermedia Games. It follows a few other adventures with these characters.
Lost in the Borderlands
Previous Chapter 9. Getting Out —<>— Next Chapter 11. Against The Dragon
10. Clearing Out The Evil[1]
“Okay, do we start from the dining room, or beyond the stairwell?” asked Felewin. “We know what’s in most of the area before the stairwell, and none of it is a big evil monster…rats, zombies, that centipede that Hrelgi fried. Ninefingers, this is most like a tomb-raiding situation.[2]”
“Beyond the stairwell. If we don’t find anything there, we check out the basement room. But…” He looked around. “From now on, we search through the litter. We probably won’t find anything, but if there are magical keys or notes, they’re hidden in a secret compartment or among the litter.”
“I can tell you if there’s magic in an area,” said Hrelgi.
“That will be useful.”
“This time, we take everything.” Felewin had filled and lit Hrelgi’s lantern, and he took it in hand, along with one of the two crossbows. He gestured to Ninefingers. “After you.”
“Not the best crew I’ve ever entered a tomb with, but not the worst, either. I expect to come out of this with all my remaining fingers.” Ninefingers picked up the shield they had found and marched forward. At the room with the ruined staircase, Ninefingers stopped.[3]
“Something’s different.” He looked around, thinking. “There was a femur there… Some of the skeletons came from here.”
“There were no skeletons here.”
“Aye. Something we did caused them to be animated.” He paused. “Is it a room thing or a keep thing? If it’s a room thing, it’s worth moving some bones, but if it’s a keep thing we can’t move them far enough.” He looked around and spotted a femur. “Felewin, do you still have any of that tapestry?”
“Sure. I said we’d take everything.”
“Give me a strip.”
Felewin tore off an arm’s length and handed it to Ninefingers, who tied it to the femur and kept carrying the bone. “We’ll drop it just outside the door. If we trigger reanimation and the ribbon shows up on a skeleton, we’ll know where it came from.”
“Is that useful?”
“Could help in a second fight, if we have one, and it doesn’t cost us time.”
They finished threading their way through the room and got into the next hallway. The door to the stairwell was still open. Ninefingers took out the spikes and hammer and handed them to Uthrilir. “Close that, please. We don’t want anything from downstairs to come upstairs.”
“Just one spike?”
“Leave a bit to grab; we might need to be able to get it open.” Uthrilir shrugged and took the tools. “I’ll be back soon. I want to scout out the hall.” He was back in a few moments. “Three sets of doors: a chapel from the pictures and iconography, and probably two bedrooms. We already saw a den or lounge.”
“Chapel, then,” said Uthrilir.
“Sure,” said Ninefingers. “I just….sometimes it’s better to clear out the areas from which they draw reinforcements.”
“Which is it this time?”
“I didn’t stay in the profession long enough to know.” He sighed. “We won’t have luck clearing out the skeletons because they can apparently animate from separated bones. Assume there’s something awful in there. Uthrilir, can you start with the Maiden’s blessing?”
“I can ask.”
“Felewin, have the crossbow ready. If the Maiden is on our side, whatever will be distant. Use the bolts Hrelgi says are magical.”
Felewin cranked the crossbow and loaded one. “Ready.”
“Hrelgi, don’t transform the floor, if there’s a monster, hurt it.”
“I can’t do anything until we see what it is.”
“I know. Uthrilir, can you protect us and use the spear? I’m rubbish with it.”
“The spear?”
“Silver tip.”
“If the Maiden does not help, yes.”
“What if there are lots of big evil monsters?” asked Hrelgi.
“There won’t be,” said Uthrilir.
“But if.”
Ninefingers shrugged. “Then we’re doomed.”
Outside the double doors, Uthrilir prayed.[4]
“Did it work?” asked Hrelgi.
“No. I was distracted,” said Uthrilir.
“Please become un-distracted,” said Felewin.
Uthrilir took a moment and then prayed again, more earnestly. When he looked up, his eyes were shining.
“The Maiden says yes.”
They went in, Uthrilir first, followed by Felewin and Ninefingers side-by-side, and lastly Hrelgi.
The room had obviously been a chapel. Dusty, cobweb covered pews ran up the left and right, to what was once an altar: a block of gray stone was covered with dusty crimson cloth embroidered with gold. The handle of an axe stuck up from the altar, and the head was embedded in the stone. To one side lurked the wight, and Felewin took a shot right away.[5] The bolt flew[6] true and sank into the wight’s chest.
“That wight’s head, that was a gnoll, once,” said Ninefingers.
The wight[7] surged over the pews and grabbed Felewin, despite his attempt to dodge out of the way, and Felewin whimpered slightly at the pain but continued reloading.
Ninefingers grabbed the dagger he had taken from the dead thief, the one that Hrelgi said was magical, and stabbed the wight[8] in what would have been a living man’s kidneys.
Uthrilir turned and stabbed with the spear. It too landed in the thing’s back.[9] The silver spear-head sank into it and pierced its heart. The thing collapsed before it could steal more of Felewin’s life.
“Is that it?” asked Hrelgi.
“Maybe,” said Uthrilir.
There was a scrabbling at the door.
“No,” said Uthrilir. “The fell magic is still active. Those skeletons have become active, and that wight will rise again, if not in minutes then tomorrow night.”
“Help me push a pew to block the doors,” Felewin said. “We can at least keep the number of opponents to a minimum.”
He, Uthrilir, and Ninefingers moved a pew to block the chapel doors. Then Felewin took one of the wooden stakes and pounded it into the wight’s heart.
“That’s not going to help,” Ninefingers said.
“Then I’m going to chop off its head. You look for more answers.”
Ninefingers started with the altar. There were sacks of treasure beside it; he moved them so he had a clear view. He folded the cloth so the sides of the altar were exposed. In the meantime, Uthrilir grabbed the haft of the axe and pulled until he strained himself.
“Felewin, when you’re done, give me a hand,” Uthrilir asked.
Felewin grunted in agreement, then tossed the wight’s head to the northern side of the chapel.
“What do you want?” he asked as he came up.
“I can’t imagine the axe in the altar is a good thing. I want to pull it out, but I need your help.”
The two of them pulled and eventually got it free. Hrelgi said, “That’s magic.”
“Not for me,” said Felewin. “I’d be afraid it was cursed. What now?”
“We bless and consecrate the altar once more,” said the dwarf.
“In a second,” said Ninefingers.[10] He did something with the side of the altar and looked at it expectantly.
Nothing happened.
He kicked it once, and a piece of flooring to the north f the altar popped open. “There we go,” Ninefingers said. He went over to the secret compartment in the floor. In it were three scrolls and a stone disk with a diameter a little more than his hand-span. The disk was carved with the image of a gold dragon.
“I’ll bet this is for the mystery room downstairs,” he said, but no one was listening to him.
“Ninefingers, I need your help,” said Uthrilir. “Please join our prayer circle.[11]”
First, Uthrilir asked for help in this consecration, and then the consecration itself. When he finished, the air in the chapel seemed fresher.
The scrabbling at the door continued.
“It didn’t work,” said Felewin.
“It might have worked,” said Hrelgi. “It just didn’t work on anything that was already animated.”
Ninefingers said, “You’re saying we don’t check on the zombies.”
“We have to get past the skeletons, first,” said Felewin.
“There might be a second exit,” said Ninefingers. “Chapels often have them to allow the clerics to come and go with things like the holy implements.”[12]
Hrelgi said, “How do we check?”
“We look at the walls.” Ninefingers said. “I’ll take the north. Uthrilir, that wall; Felewin that one. Hrelgi, you look at these scrolls. I’d like to know what they were hiding.”
Hrelgi squatted and looked at the scrolls while the others searched. Some time later, Felewin said, “I have to trim this lantern.”
Uthrilir sighed. “I don’t think there are any secret doors. Pity. One would have helped.”
“Indeed. Hrelgi, what have you learned?”
“Whatever’s in the room that the disk opens, it involves flame or ice or both. These two will protect you. This third one will heal you.”
Ninefingers asked, “But they’re one use only?” Hrelgi nodded. “And the key disk is here, so no one has gotten in.”
“Which means it probably doesn’t have a terrible monster.” Felewin sighed. “But we still have to look. Which means fighting the skeletons outside.”
“We could move the pews to create a corridor. A choke point.”
“We’ve got a choke point,” said Hrelgi. “The doors. You don’t open the door all the way. Just let in one at a time; slam the door on the next one. If you break its arm, that’s okay.”
“That’s so stupid, it’s great.”
“Thank you. I think.”
Felewin and Ninefingers were on the door; Uthrilir was the one who bashed the skeletons.[13] The first cost him a wound. Rather than bother the Maiden, he drank one of the healing potions they had found, and he was fine. Ninefingers examined the bones for a piece of tapestry, but saw none. The next skeleton[14] had the tapestry on its leg, but went down faster than the first one (aside from a bit of dizziness from the potion, but none that resulted in harm).
From the scratching at the door, they knew there were two more.[15] The next one went down in four swings that splintered the bones so the skeleton couldn’t reassemble. and then the fourth one[16] went down easily in two swings.
“That’s thirsty work,” said Uthrilir, as he took the wineskin from Hrelgi.
“We’re grateful,” said Felewin. “We have zombies to kill, two more skeletons, and whatever lives in the last locked room.”
“I’d rather we clean out the lesser evils before we try and check out the locked room,” said Uthrilir. “Zombies are not hard grant the true death, and then we don’t have them behind us.”
“And we’ll have to deal with the two skeletons we left downstairs.”
“You can do those,” Uthrilir said, and took another drink.
Ninefingers checked the kitchen and pantry; they were unoccupied by undead. There was a box on a shelf in the pantry that made Ninefingers curious, but this was not the time.
The zombies were trivial, because they could control the doorway as easily as in the chapel.[17] They let the first one out (Ninefingers on door), and Felewin fought it. The gnoll zombies were in armor, so it took longer than Felewin wanted. Finally, Felewin granted the first one the true death.
“Oh, that’s the kind of armor they’re wearing? I can turn that into lava easily.”
“No!” said Ninefingers. “Not in a building full of trash that might burn, thank you.”
“Good point,” said Felewin. “I’ll do this the slow way.”
“I can turn it to water,” Hrelgi offered. “Not as fast, but I can do it.”
“That’s fine; I’ll manage. Next,” Felewin said to Ninefingers.[18] Felewin cut off this zombie’s head with one stroke. “How many to go?”
“Two,” said Ninefingers, after Uthrilir had given a brief prayer and tossed the body aside.
“Okay.”[19] Felewin managed to behead the next one as well. “One to go.” He danced a bit to stay loose, while Uthrilir removed the corpse.
“Let’s do the last one. Hrelgi, can you move a bit more to that side so I can see better?”[20] This last zombie took two shots, because the first wasn’t clean and got stuck on a neck guard; the second took its head off.
Felewin stood there, panting. “Let’s check the room, to make sure.”
There was nothing in the room. The lounge had nothing.
Returning to the stairwell, Ninefingers used the crowbar he’d retrieved from the thief and pulled out the spike. That made the two skeletons lurch out; Uthrilir bashed the first one, and Felewin slashed at the second. Both hit; Felewin’s was dismantled but Uthrilir’s only had a shattered shoulder. The remaining skeleton attacked Uthrilir, who parried just in time;[21] Both hit the skeleton at the same time, but Uthrilir’s mace was what crushed its bones.
“That one’s not coming back,” said Hrelgi with satisfaction.
“Don’t step on the puddle on the stairs,” said Felewin to Hrelgi.
“Acid?”
“Pretty much.”
The trip back to the room with the locked door was uneventful.
Everyone formed an arc around the door, ready for action. Ninefingers slid the disk into the depression in the doorway, and there was a thrumming sound that got higher. The door shrank to one side, leaving a flange with the disk in it.
“Huh. And probably if you remove the disk, the door grows back,” said Hrelgi.
“That’s usually how it works,” said Ninefingers.
“I don’t see a monster,” said Uthrilir. Hrelgi played the lantern light over all of it. It was all dusty; there were some cobwebs but not many — still, the room didn’t look like it had been used for years. There was a gray stone statue of a dragon in one near corner. The far corner on that side held a suit of chain; beside it against the opposite wall sat a large stone chest, and then a weapons rack in the other corner.
Hrelgi said to Uthrilir, “I don’t see your relic.”
Ninefingers said, “Hmmm. This looks like it was the treasury, maybe. We saw the armory upstairs,” said Ninefingers.
“Sure. You want the weapons where guards can get them,” said Felewin.
“So these weapons are magical in some way. Maybe they protect the room? Maybe they’re just magic and worth keeping separate.”
“Hold on,” said Hrelgi, and she flipped pages in the grimoire for a moment, then cast a spell. “Lots of magic here. The weapons, the armor, and there’s something magical in the chest.”
“And the statue? Because if anything’s going to suddenly come alive and fight us, it’s a huge statue down here in a sealed room, instead of upstairs where it can be properly adored,” said Ninefingers.
“Scroll of protection against fire!” said Hrelgi.
“Makes sense. But we want to examine the place to make sure there are no monsters.”
“And take the treasure,” said Ninefingers.
“I don’t care about the treasure.”
“Other people will, and you’re tempting them by leaving the treasure.”
“I want to find the relic,” said Uthrilir. “It was entrusted to me, to destroy.”
“Maybe the relic knows that,” said Ninefingers.
“The relic doesn’t act with that kind of intent,” snapped Uthrilir.
“Well….” said Hrelgi.
Uthrilir bit out the words; this was clearly an old argument. “It. Does. Not.”
“Whatever you say, Uthie,” said Hrelgi. She mouthed to the others, “It does.”
“Ninefingers, you’re cleverest about finding hidden things. Read the scroll, be protected against fire, and check,” said Felewin.
“You keep saying I’m free now and you keep telling me to go do things that will get me killed.”
Felewin said, “I will do it, but you will get frustrated at how I miss the obvious things.”
“I hate that you know me that well,” said Ninefingers. “Hrelgi, could I have the scroll, please?”
“Fire or cold?”
“Big dragon in the corner. I’m guessing fire.”
“It’s good for minutes, not hours,” Hrelgi said.
Felewin nodded. “Pick a spot and check it out. I’m going to be out here with the crossbow. Don’t read it until I’m ready.”
“Uh….I can’t read,” said Ninefingers.
Hrelgi said, “I’ll read it out loud so you can repeat it, but you have to be holding the scroll.”
Ninefingers looked at the others. “I’ll do it.”
Monsters
Skeletons are available in the main rulebook.
Wight in the Chapel
This wight is slightly different than the wight presented earlier.
| Abilities | Fitness 5 Awareness 4 Creativity 5 Reasoning 2 Influence 3 |
|---|---|
| Skills | Brawling 4 (≤9), Stealth 5 (≤10), Composure 4 |
| Gimmicks | Hardened, Life Drain (1 inj/turn touch, healing same amount), Natural Weapons (claws: 1 |
| Weapons | Claws (1 inj) |
| Armour | Toughness (1) |
Game Mechanics
[1] Mythic Suggested Theme: Move Toward A Thread: Delay Home
[2] Did the Maiden heal Uthrilir and Ninefingers? Ninefingers is healed (margin 2, difficulty 2) and Uthrilir is healed (margin 7, difficulty 2)
[3] Ninefingers rolls Investigation to notice; it’s a complex task, but he makes it by a margin of 3. He makes second roll by 3 as well, but it’s not complex.
[4] Uthrilir rolls 10 on 9 versus difficulty 2. He does not succeed. The second time, he rolls a 4, for margin 5 versus difficulty 2. That works. Secretly the Wight rolls and makes margin 6 versus difficulty 4. At least it will work against the skeletons. However, the wight fails his stealth roll, with margin -1. Only Hrelgi doesn’t spot it.
[5] Reactions: Felewin 12, Wight 10, Ninefingers 14, Uthrilir 9, Hrelgi 7
[6] Felewin manages a margin of 6 on this attack, and they are magical crossbow bolts, so they do 3 injury, even with the wight’s toughness. The problem is that Felewin will be reloading for two turns…
[7] Wight moves and attacks Felewin: Felewin dodges (margin 4), but Wight’s attack is a Triumph (margin 8 even with difficulty 4). Felewin is down 1 injury level, and wight’s back up 1. Felewin makes his fit+composure roll by 7, so he continues reloading.
[8] The wight is busy, so defense 0, Ninefingers’ roll is margin 3, and does 2 levels of damage.
[9] Uthrilir manages margin 5, and 2 levels of damage. The wight dies for real.
[10] Ninefingers makes a subterfuge roll to find the secret compartment, and makes it, margin 0. He makes his Finesse roll to open it with a margin of 2.
[11] Ignoring the “ten people” rule, the altar is smaller than a temple, but we count it as a shrine. He’s wearing a holy symbol but this is a place of another congregation. First, he’s going to try intervention, which only as a 2 difficulty. He gets margin 4 for a 2 difficulty. He gets the maximum (6) for intervention. He gets a margin of 0 with a difficulty of 4…but with the intervention, that’s a margin of 6, and he succeeds in the consecration.
[12] Uh, Mythic: Is there a second hidden entrance? It’s CF 7, and unlikely, so “yes” is 1-55. 58 is a no.
[13] Uthrilir hits once, margin 5 vs 1, so that skeleton is down 2 levels; that skeleton manages to hit Uthrilir (0 to -1) but for 0. Next round, Uthrilir hits (4>3) and does 3, shattering skeleton.
[14] Misses the next skeleton (margin of -2<2). Skeleton also fails (margin of -2 to -2). Hits the next round, though (margin 2 > 1) for 3 damage, skeleton misses him (margin -1<3). Hits this time, margin 3>0, for 2 damage. Skeleton destroyed.
[15] Uthrilir hits, margin 4>2 for 2 levels of health. Skeleton fails, -2 < 3. Hits third time, margin 6 vs 1 for 2 more levels of health. Hits 4th time, margin 6 vs 0, 3 levels of damage.
[16] Uthrilir hits, margin 1 to -3 for 3 levels. Skeleton misses, margin -4<3. Uthrilir hits again, 0>-1, for 3 more levels.
[17] Felewin hits (margin 1 > -2), for 1 damage; the zombie misses (-2 < 3). Felewin hits (2 > 0) for 3.. The zombie misses (-3<7); Felewin hits (margin 6 > -4) and kills the first one.
[18] Felewin hits (margin 1 > -2); I forgot this is a +1 blade, so he does 5 damage and all of it gets through.
[19] Felewin (margin 8 > -1) hits. It’s a triumph, so we’re going to say that a triumph kills it.
[20] Felewin hits (margin 2>0) for three levels of damage. Zombie misses (-4 to -1). Felewin hits (margin 8>-9), another triumph.
[21] Skeleton does a 0 for defense; Felewin’s reaction is 11, to-hit is 15 (treating slashing as a called shot). Uthrilir rolls for margin 4, vs 0; Felewin does 4 levels of damage, Uthrilir does 4.
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