Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 5

I had been posting updates regarding my family's Swords & Wizardry Light (SWL) game and campaign on Google Plus and Facebook, forgetting to blog about them here. Argh.

Here's the origination story of the game, thanks to our 3 year-old. 

I shared our third and fourth sessions to Facebook via Instagram.

We have since played five times to date. The 14 year-old played in the first 3 sessions, then skipped the 4th one due to playing Destiny on the Xbox with his friends (Vomport, his fighter, was resting to heal wounds suffered during his last adventure). My wife joined the campaign in his stead, creating a dwarven thief, Anastasiya Stormstone. During their excursion, Stormstone (don't call her Anastasiya!) and my son's wizard, Carvell, captured a pair of ne'er-do-wells in the dungeons of Castle Audubon (set in The World of Greyhawk; its specific location as yet to be determined) and brought them to town. The fifth session occurred the following Saturday and -- for the first time, all three players danced into the dungeon together....

Swords & Wizardry Light Session # 5: Saturday Night Gaming Fever - Disco Zombies, 5/6/2017

With the two ruffians apprehended and turned over to the Audubon town authorities (to be fleshed out later), Carvell and Stormstone kicked Vomport out of bed and led him back to the dungeons of Castle Audubon. The trio headed straight for the remaining pair of zombies from two sessions ago.

Stormstone investigated the room as Carvell shuttered his lantern. He and Vomport waited in the darkness of the corridor nearby while Stormstone used her darkvision to peek at the zombies. One of them was lying motionless on the ground, two arrows sticking out of its body and a mark of some sort on its torso where the magic missile had hit. The other two zombies were milling about, walking in a circular pattern. One of them still had an arrow sticking from its body. Stormstone stumbled over a spent arrow as she went to leave the area. The zombies widened the perimeter of their walk but did not exit their area in pursuit.

The dwarf relayed her findings to the men and they readied to attack. She crept in the darkness past the patrol circle and readied her dagger for a backstab (not knowing undead are immune to such attacks). She yelled, "Now!" when she delivered her blow so that the men could unshutter the lantern and prepare attacks of their own. Her target soon lie motionless on the floor and the men brought down the last zombie soon after with sword and thrown dagger.

Figuring that the zombies were guarding someone or something, due to their circuit in the room, the trio found a trap door under an inch or so of dirt in a corner. After each tried to open the door, Stormstone and Vomport pulled its handle together and raised it as Carvell shone his lantern on them. He refrained from shining it down the hole, though, at Stormstone's insistence -- and shuttered it when told to do so.

Stormstone looked down the hole which descended some 20' to a smooth stone floor much like the one of the first dungeon level. Hearing no noise -- and seeing no tracks in the dirt near the door on their level, they shut the trap door. The dwarf cut her 50' rope in half and attached one end of it to the handle of the trap door. Carvell drove an iron spike into the wall just south of the trap door. The other end of the rope was tied to that. Then, Stormstone removed some of her dwarven beard hair and made makeshift dangling noisemakers by tying some of her beard jewelry (no real value, as they are colored glass) to the length of rope between the trap door and the spike in the wall. They figure now they will know if someone arises from below.

Spying an unexplored area on the southwestern part of their map, the three adventurers head there. Stormstone uses her darkvision and sneakiness to scout ahead. Carvell and Vomport remain outside the large chamber they find, in darkness as before. Stormstone confirms that the glowing lights they saw from down the corridor was from two fire beetles. The trio moves inside, lights up, and vanquishes the insects quickly. After removing the glands from their prey, they look around the room and find some copper pieces in a deteriorated sack and a pair of phials: one containing clear light blue liquid and the other with clear greenish liquid.

Here, the game is stopped for the night, as our boys were up past their bedtime. We look forward to playing more Swords & Wizardry Light soon!

If you would like to check out Swords & Wizardry Light for yourself, you can follow the very first link of this blog, above. Tenkar's Tavern, the blog of the game's creator (Erik Tenkar), is the destination for the original files. They can also be found at his publisher's site, Frog God Games. Finally, should you so desire, tell people of your experience of SWL and/or join in the discussion of its Facebook page, The Swords & Wizardry Legion, and tell Mike B. that I sent you. SWL is being shipped in packet form to whomever would like one in order to spread its fun to gamers everywhere, thanks to Erik and the fine folks at Frog God Games.