Shadowmaze

The rain started in the night and it was still going in the morning, the kind that doesn't mean to stop. Bancroft heard it on the shutters before he was properly awake. He lay there a while and listened to it and thought, without any heat…

The last twenty minutes of the dig went like the first three hours had gone, which was to say it went slow and steady and without anyone dying. Bancroft worked the trench with Irulan. Anister kept the watch above. Clarice was not with them…

Bancroft came up the moor road late, a half-hour after the others, because the cobbler in Helix had needed an extra hour to put the new sole on the left boot and Bancroft was not going to dig in a wet boot if he could help it. By the time…

They went back in the morning because no one could think of anything else to do.

The first thing Riyou did was throw fire.

Bancroft got to Helix three days behind the others. The disease from the Huecuva had taken longer to shake than the priests of St. Ygg had promised, and by the time he walked through the gates he was light on coin, heavy on fatigue, and…

Four new faces at the entrance to the barrow. Bancroft sized them up the way his father had sized up hired hands at harvest -- which ones would last the day, which ones would wander off, which ones would break something expensive. The…

We headed out to the skull door barrow (D10). As soon as I opened the door, a stack of skeleton heads tumbled loudly down the stairs. Somebody's homemade alarm. I saw torch light at the bottom of the stairs, and let the others know. Nobody…

The necromancer fled north through the barrow, and the cleric followed.

Bancroft and I chased the necromancer up the hallway to the north. Then Bancroft's light spell died and I heard the necromancer cast a spell to the south, then it hit me. I yelled at Bancroft that this was his damned mission from god I was…

Nine of them at the skull door. Four who had been here before, five who hadn't. The five were men from the Gray Company -- Gallo, Larwyn, Tolm, Tarsil, and Kholix the torchbearer -- and they stood at the entrance with the expression of…

We went through the no longer secret door, which is now disabled, by levering it open with a crowbar. We checked the statue room to the south, now blessedly rat free. Bancroft insisted in climbing down the pit for some reason, and found a…

The sword was right there. You could see it glowing from across the room -- white, steady, the kind of light that says valuable in a language anyone can read. All we had to do was cross a room full of animated stone lizardmen, climb a…

The next day, I got together with a new group from the Grey Company after getting myself checked out by a St. Ygg priest for piece of mind. An elf mage, Serie, and four newbies: Pippin (halfling), Thrain (dwarf), Caleb (human), and Vrak…

Bancroft was lying on the stone floor.

Seacrock and I rounded the corner, charging after Riyou's kidnappers. Seacrock was unable to put the necromancer or the mongrel to sleep. The mongrel ran off carrying Riyou, who started to struggle. As the mongrel ran out of sight, I saw…

On the way out the barrow, we were confronted by another adventuring group of 9 people with slings, insinuating we were wounded and had treasure to steal. Bancroft gave them the demanded 5 gold and urged us to listen to wisdom. Seacrock…

Four people walked into the Brazen Strumpet the night before. A human, a dwarf, a half-orc, and a halfling -- new to town, down on their luck, the kind of people who end up in Helix when the road runs out somewhere else. They arrived…

Cade and I had been standing outside the barrow for a while. Which, strictly speaking, put us on the right side of things -- fresh air, no immediate monsters, exit readily accessible. Our employers were on the other side of a sealed stone…

Roderick gave me a dagger to pop the door open before the acid burned the mechanism out. I yelled at Vorn and Cade to help open the door the rest of the way, after I got it open 6 inches by ratcheting the gears with the dagger. They whined…

I drew the 8 of swords this morning: all tangled up, unable to see clearly. Now I have to figure out what we're tangled up in that we're not seeing clearly. Riyou wandered off again, so we inspected the hirelings presenting themselves.…

The morning was cold and gray in Helix. Bancroft woke early, already thinking about the barrows.

One scorpion tried to hit a statue, but just scraped it. Bancroft ran to the slab and threw the other bowl of gems on top of the first scorpion. The statue next to me hit me. The other statue went for Bancroft, not the scorpion with the…

Aura and I discussed our brilliant plan to shoot the book with an arrow with a rope attached, and pull the rope with gloves on, so we weren't actually touching the book or anything attached to the book. Pulling the book on the rope worked,…

The first blow that day came with the ordinary violence of the barrowmaze--bloody, sudden, and oddly intimate. Bancroft planted his feet, cursing his missing shield, and brought his sword down across a shambling zombie's shoulder. The…

The morning sun cast long shadows across Helix as Bancroft made his way through the town's winding streets, his mind turning over an intriguing conversation from the previous evening. He had encountered a small goblin wizard--scarred and…

The morning after their devastating encounter with the mimics found the survivors nursing both wounds and wounded pride. Druidly's absence hung over them like a shroud, but the barrowmaze waited for no one's grief. Bancroft had managed to…

The morning found their company diminished but determined. Druidly, the half-orc wizard whose arcane studies had served them well, shouldered his pack with the quiet confidence of one who had mastered the mysteries of sleep and flame. "The…

Bancroft staggered through Helix's gates like a man touched by plague, his once-proud bearing reduced to a shambling gait. Yellow mold clung to his skin in sickly patches, and his head bore fresh dents from their harrowing escape. Most…

The shadowmaze had claimed its victims, and now it hungered for more.

Bancroft and his friends searched the area once the strangers had left. One of the nearby rooms had a table with three polished skulls sitting on top -- very strange decor. Druidly thought they might be magical, so the party kept them. A…

Bancroft stood atop the barrow and looked down upon the tilled earth with satisfaction. Weeks of effort to uncover a fresh barrow had finally paid off: the door had been uncovered, revealing a chamber with four sarcophagi and many giant…

Bancroft stood atop the barrow and watched his friends dig. Someone had borrowed his shovel and there were not enough to go around, so he kept watch. It was almost like watching crops grow -- slow and steady. Occasionally a frog, scorpion,…

Wyz the smart goblin and a dozen of his closest friends lined up for the barrowmaze, enduring the cold rain. In point of fact, only two of them were very close, the rest were near strangers. But he'd been watching them; choosing them…

Wyz the goblin waited by the side of the road, wringing his hands. His friends had left for the barrowmaze that morning as many aspiring adventurers did. That was hours ago. Now the slow trudge of discouraged feet returning to town rang…

Our group went out to the barrowmaze. Two of my friends, Sidney and Khezzean, stayed to dig; Xanrion the haberdasher and I went to take a closer look at a tomb where others had found a pair of nice vases. That tomb contained a wicker frame…

Bancroft and Darmek queued for the barrowmaze with about eight in their group. The day began poorly: they were ambushed by six giant frogs before reaching the barrows. The party ran; three frogs pursued, then only one. They managed to kill…

The trip to the barrowmaze began on a solemn note: the party had lost friends in one of the barrows and needed to retrieve valuables from their bodies. The bodies themselves were not where the friends had fallen; something had dragged them…