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 Hrelgi’s Side Quest —=— Next Chapter 10. Clearing Out the Evil
9. Getting Out[1]
The group intended to spend the night in one of the cells, but the body of the carcass scavenger was starting to ripen quickly as gasses escaped from it. They moved up to near the door, and could still hear the skeleton warriors on the other side hitting the door with their swords.
“Think they’ll get through?” asked Hrelgi.
“They’re not coordinated about it. Maybe in a fortnight,” said Felewin.
“Oh.”
They lay there in the dark with constant scratching and the occasional thud.
Felewin said, “What do you think happened here?”
“A powerful magic,” said Uthrilir. “Some kind of curse animates these skeletons and zombies.”
“Do you suppose there’s something we could do to clear the keep?”
“Maybe. There’s probably a creature of great evil hiding somewhere in the building. Kill it and consecrate the area, and maybe that might do it.”
“Like with the wight in the mound?”
Uthrilir said, “The wight, plus a bit.”
“I bet the evil is in that room with the door,” said Ninefingers.
“They all have doors, silly,” Hrelgi said.
“There’s a magically closed door that needs a special object to open,” explained Ninefingers. “You skipped that part of the keep. Hey, you can make portals now.”
“Only to places I’ve been,” she said.
“Huh. Do you get to go to new places when you learn more?”
“Never, so far as I know.” She shrugged in the dark. “Maybe.”
“Huh. That must be why we never used a wizard to get into tombs. And there’s no profit in bringing them just in case. Go in once, get it done.”
“If I were an evil curse,” said Hrelgi, “I’d be in the chapel. There’s a chapel here, right?”
“Should be,” said Uthrilir.
“We could look for that.”
“I think it’s in the dragon room,” said Ninefingers. “The one to the east. No skeletons reanimated until we got downstairs.”
“We can look tomorrow,” said Felewin.
“How would we get past the skeletons?” Hrelgi asked.
“We don’t,” said Ninefingers. “We go up through the hole and come up on the skeletons from behind.”
“Or we look at the chapel first. It’s got to be on ground level,” said Felewin.
“No, Hrelgii’s right. We should deal with them, so they don’t come up behind us. They must be able to move around the keep. Ah. Iron spikes,” said Ninefingers. “We go up the hole and nail shut the door to the stairs, trapping them in the basement.”
“That’s a plan,” said Felewin.
The noise continued outside the door.
“Or we destroy them now,” said Hrelgi. “I can’t sleep!”
“Turn the skeletons into lava, let them burn up, and off we go,” said Felewin.
“I’ll bet if I do that, they keep attacking as lava. This is magic that’s reanimating them. When they stop being lava, they’ll return to being skeletons.”
Felewin got up and started gathering things. “So we sleep upstairs. Hrelgi, put me upstairs and I’ll tie off the rope, so you three can climb up.”
“You really want to?” Ninefingers asked.
“I can’t sleep through that either. So let’s do it,” said Felewin
There was another thok as a sword bit into the door.
“Are the skeletons stupid, like zombies, or do they have minds?” Hrelgi asked.
Ninefingers said, “Knew a fellow who claimed that skeletons had laid a trap for his tomb-raiding party.”
Another thok.
“They’ve been getting more frequent,” said Uthrilir.
“I’ll pack up,” said Ninefingers.
“Me too,” said Hrelgi. She looked up motus spells and moved the bookmark for easier reference.[2]
They were used to packing up fast, but two of them could not see in the dark, and Felewin’s improvised torches were long bunt out, though they had the three that had been held by the dead fighter. Fortunately Felewin had most of his gear stowed quickly, and he helped Hrelgi pack up.
While Uthrilir finished up, Hrelgi laid on the floor between Felewin’s legs and tried to aim where he would go. Felewin, for his part, stood with the rope tied around his waist with a bowline, and a burning torch. Ninefingers was ready at the door, which looked like it was splintering. Uthrilir was still packing, with assurances that he would ask for the Maiden’s protection once he was ready.
The door split open. “Now,” said Felewin.
Hrelgi had positioned herself so that “away from her” pointed up and at an angle, so that Felewin would (she hoped) not fall back in the hole.[3] She read the words, and Felewin went flying up. He was close to the edge of the hole but managed to twist his body out of the way, and finally he landed on the floor away from the hole.
Down below, the skeletons were through.
Ninefingers[4] managed to break one of the skeleton’s arm bones with a powerful blow. Too bad there were another two waiting to attack.[5] They were unable to connect because of the angles, but Ninefingers danced back, his blade knocking the sword of one of the skeletons to the floor. Ninefingers kicked it behind him.[6]
Upstairs, Felewin was looking for something to tie off the rope. The tables weren’t sturdy, the fireplace had no purchase—
He had enough rope. He’d use the door. The doorways were arches, so the doors had been fashioned to match. Even though the rope was too thick to pass under the door he could fasten it to the round top of the door, then pass it through a table’s legs so the table also pulled the rope down and it didn’t slip off the door.
He ran to the door.[7]
There were two doors into the dining room; he went to the first he could reach.
Uthrilir grabbed his holy symbol and held it aloft. He prayed to the Maiden, but she did not respond.
Hrelgi scrambled to her feet while Ninefingers back up. He had realized that he was alone against these skeletons, and for a moment, he must be cautious.[8] The first skeleton missed, but just barely; the second by a lot; the other two also missed.[9]
Felewin shouted, “Not yet!”
Hrelgi had an idea and started flipping pages to make sure she had the words right.
Uthrilir used his mace on one of the skeletons, and broke an arm off[10]—the shield arm, so this didn’t make the skeleton less threatening.
Felewin had freed the bowline from his waist and thrown the rope over the door.[11] Then he wrapped the rope around himself so that he could pull people up. He understood that there might be a delay, because they might be fighting skeletons at the time. Near the other end of the rope was another bowline, tied as a sling.
He yelled, “Ready!”
In the dungeon,[12] Uthrilir took off the skeleton’s sword arm, and the skeleton collapsed into bones. Ninefingers’[13] dodges moved him behind Uthrilir, so Hrelgi[14] targeted the skeleton nearest to the dwarf, to protect him.
The skeleton suddenly had no arms; its sword and shield clattered to the floor.
“Waiting!” yelled Felewin.
“Busy!” called back Ninefingers.[15] He[16] hit one skeleton and Uthrilir hit the other.
“We’ve got to be fast before the arms come back on that one!” said Uthrilir.
Hrelgi ran the length of the rope through her hands, looking for the other bowline. She said the spell again, because she had just said the words. The arms on Uthrilir’s current opponent went away[17] but she felt the hollow pang of overheat: she had tried too much and squandered her magic. The arms would come back soon, now that she was not maintaining them.
“Almost there,” she shouted up though her eyes were watering from the pain.[18] “Uthrilir, I lost the magic!”
Uthrilir swore.
Upstairs, Felewin thought, Well, that can’t be good. Something at the edge of his vision scuttled, and he worried.
Hrelgi got the sling in place. “Ready!” The rope went tight and she started pulling up.
The skeletons moved too fast, and both Ninefingers[19] and Uthrilir[20] missed.
Bones were reappearing on the one skeleton.[21] Ninefingers[22] stabbed his foe but his sword slipped between bones again. Need to train on swinging a stick, he thought.[23]
Uthrilir’s mace[24] smashed apart his opponent.
The light of the lantern was no longer irritating them.[25] but the remaining skeletons were too agile or too much empty air. The skeletons[26] did not manage to hit but neither did Uthrilir and Ninefingers.
“Try the lady again; I don’t want to leave you alone,” gasped Ninefingers.
“It’s Maiden,” corrected Uthrilir automatically. “I’ll try.[27] You need to handle both of them.”
“Sure,” said Ninefingers. He wasn’t going to attack; he was going to block and parry.[28] He heard the words of Uthrilir praying, and[29] one sword hit him in the side, though his armor got most of it. I need a shield, too, if I’m going to fight like a stupid knight.
Uthrilir finished, and the skeletons turned and ran back into the other room.
“I guess…I guess the Maiden has forgiven you.”
“I hope,” said Uthrilir. “I’ll look at that wound once we get upstairs. Go.”
Ninefingers fastened the sling and was hauled up. He had to make his own way over the lip of flooring because Hrelgi was busy with a spell; on the other end of the room, a rock suddenly glowed red-hot, and the centipede on it stopped moving. Ninefingers rolled onto the floor, shimmied out of the sling, and threw it down, then rolled over to more solid footing. “Free!” he shouted.
“Good to see you,” said Felewin. “You’re hurt!”
“A bit. Uthrilir will look at it soon.”
“You need a shield,” said Felewin.
Ninefingers said, “I was just thinking that,” as he pulled himself to a standing position.
“Is Uthrilir alone?”
“He has the protection of Her grace,” said Ninefingers.
Felewin said, “But he got it after you were wounded.”
“And he was wounded,” added Ninefingers.
“My uncle used to say gods are capricious,” Felewin said.
“You don’t have to like them to worship them,” said Ninefingers.
“True that.” A tug on the rope let Felewin know that Uthrilir was ready.
Once Uthrilir was pulled up, he dropped the aegis of the Maiden, and three remaining skeletons gathered in the hole. Felewin looked around and grabbed a table to throw on them; Ninefingers stopped him.
“They can’t get up, and if you throw it down, they have a table to stand on.”
“I suppose. We’ll go back to the entryway and sleep.”
As they were getting ready to sleep again, Uthrilir felt around his neck. “My relic is gone.”
“So?” asked Hrelgi. “Good riddance. You’ve been trying to get rid of that thing for longer than I’ve known you.”
“I didn’t remove it. It was on securely.”
“Intervention?” asked Ninefingers.
“From the Powers Below, I think.”
“We’re not going to get any sleep, are we?” asked Felewin.
Monsters
Skeleton warriors are in the main rulebook.
Game Mechanics
[1] Mythic suggested theme: Close A Thread: Disrupt A Burden
[2] Do the skeletons get through before they leave? I’m going to ask Mythic, and the likelihood is “Unlikely” but CF7, so 55 or less is a yes. I rolled a . Okay.
[3] Hrelgi rolls 13 on the Athletics roll to put Felewin where she wants, so she doesn’t quit. She rolls 14 on the Fabrica Motus spell, so that works. She rolls 12 on the Reasoning+Composure roll at difficulty 12. So Felewin goes up, and has to make his own Athletics roll to be safe. (He rolls 20, so he makes it easily.)
[4] Ninefingers, by the way, rolls 19 to hit a skeleton, who was using its sword as a wood axe, so gets no parry or block, but is difficulty 4 to hit anyway (Skeletal Frame). He does two damage (2 inj for the sword, +1 for being buff, one blocked by Toughness).
[5] The first skeleton rolls 7+3+6,or 16 to hit against a difficulty of 22 (Ninefingers rolls a 12) and has a calamity: it loses its sword. The second skeleton can’t be parried, but rolls a 4+3++6, or 13, and misses.
[6] Ninefingers makes Athletics roll to try and kick it out of the way; difficulty is +2 because this is the second action, but Felewin rolls 10+4+4, which beats the higher difficulty.
[7] Reactions: Ninefingers 9 Skeletons 3+3+3=9 Uthrilir 11 Hrelgi 10
[8] Ninefingers dodges, and gets 16, so that’s the difficulty to hit him.
[9] The skeletons rolled 3+9, 5+9, 5+9, and 3+9. So all missed.
[10] Uthrilir’s mace isn’t affected by “Skeletal frame” — Uthrilir rolls 19 versus the parry of 15, and hits for two damage (one stopped by Toughness)
[11] Felewin rolls an 18 on survival, so he remembers how to tie a bowline.
[12] Reactions: Hrelgi 12, Ninefingers 9 Uthrilir 10 Skeletons 12
[13] Ninefingers dodges again (gets a Triumph) so he’s difficulty 6 to hit, and all four skeletons fail.
[14] Hrelgi reads the spell successfully (margin 4) and Reason+Comp with margin 7. Uthrilir 8
[15] Reactions: Felewin is waiting. Hrelgi 9 Uthrilir 8 Ninefingers 12 Skeletons 10 (Intentions: Uthrilir is going to bash a skeleton with arms — say Skeleton 2. Ninefingers is going to attack Skeleton 1. Hrelgi is going to tie the bowline around her.)
[16] Ninefingers hits (margin 1 vs difficulty 4) for 2 damage; Uthrilir hits for 2 injury.
[17] Hrelgi manages the spell easily enough (margin 3) but fails the composure (margin -1). 1 FAT for her and she doesn’t cast a spell next turn.
[18] Reactions: Felewin’s waiting, Hrelgi’s going to get the bowline on, so it’s just Ninefingers 10, Uthrilir 10 Skeletons
[19] The skeletons are difficulty 4 to hit, plus the additional 4 for Ninefingers. Ninefingers rolls a 2, so he succeeds anyway, but I’m not going to use it as a triumph. He does 1 damage.
[20] Uthrilir misses (difficulty 4 but he gets margin 0). Both Ninefingers and Uthrilir make their parries by 4, so they’re harder to hit. The skeleton with arms misses.
[21] Reactions: Skeletons 11 Uthrilir 9 Ninefingers 9
[22] Ninefingers Margin 1 defend marg 4)
[23] Skeleton 1 fails to hit Ninefingers. Skeleton 2 hits Uthrilir with a Triumph (a 12) but he’s at -3, so call it a normal hit. 1 damage. Skeleton 4 is growing his arms back, so no action.
[24] Uthrilir Margin 5 (defend margin 4)
[25] Reactions: Ninefingers 14 (defense 2) Uthrilir 13 (defense2) Skeletons 11 (defense 3, 7)
[26] Skeletons (defend margin 0)
[27] Reactions: Skeletons 10 Uthrilir 10 Ninefingers 12
[28] Ninefingers has margin 2 for his parries.
[29] Skeleton 2 manages a hit (rolls a 3) even though he’s at -3 from injuries
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