The Meldan Family Tomb (Play Report)

This report may be a bit incoherent. I waited too long to write it.

We love a dungeon. Last week bue offered to run a quick one for me and our friend J. after dinner. I was excited to crawl because I don’t get to do it as often as I’d like to. 

We used FMC Basic to roll up Xavier Bert the Expert and Willem the Fighter. The referee was so kind as to provide us with a mercenary named Orcus Porcus, who brought an axe. 

Our characters had heard that there was some trouble with the living dead in the tomb of the noble family Meldan. A 500 gp reward was promised to whoever dealt with the troubles and rescued the missing guards, previously sent to deal with the affair. This was more than enough incentive for X. Bert and Willem.

We entered from the south, where we encountered the statue of a Meldan patriarch who seemed to have had a fondness for cats. Moving westward, we came across burial niches left and right. But many of the corpses were covered in red-blue coral-like growths. This rang some alarm bells. Fearing they were infectious and dangerous, we moved along after some light poking.

Faced with the choice between moving through a curtain of the alien corals or opening a heavy door, we chose the latter. A very irritated aristocrat was on the other side of it. He looked to be in the process of sticking bronze needles into a rabid, growth-covered corpse. Two silent giants decorated with bronze pins stood guard behind him. Assuming that this party would prefer to remain private, X. Bert shut the door only to be called upon by the disturbed academic. He shouted something along the lines of “Who are you? Get back here!”

 

X. Bert's map of the tomb.

 

Thus we joined the man of presumably Meldan heritage for some discourse. He ordered us to get rid of the infection that was taking over his servants and in return offered us the contents of his family tomb. Valuing our lives and seeing a chance for profitable enterprise, we agreed.

We returned to the entry as we did not like the idea of moving through the curtain. At the east end of the corridor, we were met with a door as well as a portcullis. The latter did not open, and we chose the door to the north. Before we got to open it, there was a brief encounter with a mute giant who presumably was in the service of the Meldan necromancer. The large corpse left us be and continued its patrol. 

Behind the door to the north, there was a group of almost dead guardsmen. They had been severely decimated by some creatures. The survivors did not even entertain the notion to stay and bolted as soon as we arrived. We pilfered their fallen comrades, which caused some noise. This attracted a group of growth-covered bodies. Lucky for us, the guards had left some fortifications we were able to use to our advantage. Slaying the creatures made us overly confident. It also made me forget about the tapestries on the walls the referee had pointed out several times…

We moved further north and came across stalagmite-like growths. Crossing the affected zone, we eventually came to another burial chamber where there were four giants lying on stone slabs holding big two-handed swords. They started to move, and not 5 minutes later, Wllem and Orcus were dead. X. Bert ran for his life without treasure or fame.

The session was a success because we spent two hours playing as friends and had fun.

The session was a failure because we messed up quite a bit as characters. We didn’t play as smart as we should have, forgot to look for secret doors, and decided to face the giant undead in battle. 

I thought about writing up a post about failing as a player, but that seems like too much work and unnecessarily tough on ourselves. Sometimes you are tired, and sometimes you forget how to play the play style you adore. You can’t expect to pull off a big scheme every session. Still, this served as a reminder that playing well isn’t as easy as it sometimes seems from behind the referee screen.