by Michael Eckenfels, 20 August 2023
Champions of Krynn AAR: Part 18, The Ubiquitous D&D Tomb Adventure
We’ve cleared a few locales here, near the center of the continent. Yet, I still think we should return to Gargath at some point, if possible. However, there’s too much to do at the moment – namely, finding the Tomb that we were instructed to find, somewhere around here.
We found it. But, we need to level up some of our characters, first, so I head back over to the Central Outpost, and first check in with the Commandant’s Office.
Another day, another mission. Some courier hasn’t checked in and therefore is considered missing. Most likely that courier is sitting on some monster’s rotisserie spit somewhere nearby.
So, we’re actually at “Outpost 2,” and just recently dealt (more or less) with Gargath and Jelek (or Jeleck, whatever). We can see Neraka is off to the southwest, as is Outpost 3, and Sanction is further to the south and a bit to the west.
I’m going to avoid Sanction for now as it sounds as if it’s a major conflict. I think Sir Karl mentioned armies gathering to assault that city, which means, lots of major encounters no doubt.
After checking in, we go to the Hall for training.
Instead of leveling up Sir Fsup, I advance him in the Knighthood, up to Knight of the Sword. What does that mean? Strangely, the manuals in the game say little about this. However, looking it up online, I can find the following information:
Knights come in three Solamnic Orders: Crown, Sword, and Rose. To unlock the Cleric spells, the Knight (all Knights begin the game as Crown Knights) must advance at least to the Sword Order. Sword and Rose Knights are mostly identical, except for the XP advancement table (Rose Knights need more), and a level cap: in Dark Queen of Krynn, Rose Knights can potentially reach the final level cap of 40, while Sword (and Crown) Knights have a cap of level 18. This may seem a long way off, but keep in mind that you do begin as a Crown Knight, and that because of how the experience tables are made, it is very advised to take each Knightly Order upgrade as soon as you can…
It’s apparently about two things: one, access to Cleric spells, and two, level caps in later adventures.
So Sir Fsup is now a Knight of the Sword. Other party members level up, too:
With that all done, we head off to the Tomb that lies to the northwest of Outpost 2. Entering, we find a rather oppressive lair that’s dank and dark. I doubt tombs will ever become light and airy, though, so this seems appropriate.
We find that we’re in the middle of the map area of the Tomb, and the exit is right smack there in the middle of a large room. The party also finds that there are four hallways leading off from this central, large room, each heading in one of the cardinal directions. We decide to strike north, first, wandering around a winding hallway until we come to a door. Entering therein, we are greeted rather politely:
‘Test of Honor?’ Uh-oh.
‘What will we sacrifice?’
Apparently, we can choose from cash, items, and life. Of the three, life would be easiest to replenish, though I don’t know if this means we’re all going to die, or one of us is, or maybe it only affects our Knight, Sir Fsup.
I definitely am not going with ‘all three’ – that seems excessive, though it might be a more Knightly virtue to choose. Still, I’ll go with Life, and see what happens…
Whatever it is, it does indeed only impact Sir Fsup.
Ouch.
I immediately have the Clerics dive into their Cure Light Wound collection and heal up Sir Fsup.
After about a dozen of these spells (which are notorious for only healing 1 hit point more often than any other larger amount), Sir Fsup is finally fully healed. We presso n.
Oh, great. We’re being tailed down here, too. Or just random ghosts are creepily poking their apparition selves into the corner of our eyes, and then disappearing, no doubt snickering with glee at the stress they’re causing.
We enter another room, and are greeted once again.
Two swords to choose from…check. How do we know which one to –
Ah, I see. Here’s two swords, but you can only take the right hand one.
Is this some kind of sneaky trick?
Whether it is or not, the party chooses the right hand sword.
WHOA!
A Long Sword +5? NICE!
We have chosen…wisely.
After the apparition disappears, we wander more deeply into this area, no doubt looking for the ‘source’ of this Test of Honor.
And that right there, folks, is a horror movie waiting to happen.
We enter another room, and are greeted by a short film of sorts.
Sounds brutal. Poor guy.
Oh, brother.
Easy come, easy go, I suppose. We reluctantly hand over the +5 Long Sword.
Yep. Once you remember WHY you’re in here, and what your ‘test’ is called, you know you can only choose the honorable thing to do…in this case, hand over a powerful sword to help someone who is defenseless, protect themselves.
Though we do not know the circumstances here – could be the guy broke into someone’s house and ran off when confronted with the owner’s dogs, who knows – usually, honor and right/wrong are black and white choices in these Gold Box games.
We’ve passed this Test. I suppose that means there’s several more to pass before we can ‘clear’ this Tomb. So, we go exploring, looking for the next Test.
And we find it down one of the other cardinal point hallways. The Test of Fear.
Oh…lovely.
We go past this greeting for the Test and deeper into the Tomb. Eventually, we pass through yet another door, and…
So…the Knight has to…fall…in…to a burnin’ ring of fahhhhhre…
Ahem, sorry.
Well, Sir Fsup doesn’t have much choice. He steps through.
And is damaged for half his hit point total.
And we’re still dealing with some kind of shadow tracking us.
We continue inwards to this Test of Fear, entering another door, and…
Man, Johnny Cash would LOVE this place.
I of course cannot have our Knight back down, so he steps through, girding his plate mailed loins…
WOW. Down to 1 HP. That REALLY hurt.
We continue down the twisting corridors. I don’t even bother to heal Sir Fsup at this point. It’s going to be how it will be, and besides, I have a feeling a lot of these Tests are based on faith, so…I will have faith this will not kill our Knight.
The area is getting decidedly less and less friendly the further in we go. Then again, this would not be called the ‘Test of Fun’ if it was.
Death is better, eh? Sure it is. Sounds like you voices are DEAD already yourselves, so what do YOU know?
Another damnable Ring of Fire. And another request to step through.
Fine. Sir Fsup, step on through to the other side.
And that was unexpected. But then again, it DOES fall in line with faith expectations. Sir Fsup is now fully healed and we have successfully completed the Test of Fear.
We backtrack to the main central chamber, and choose to go south this time.
We find that some Dracos apparently tried to come this way, and were stopped by something that caused them to die of fright. Or die with frightful countenances.
We enter a room and are confronted with another ghostly apparition.
This time, apparently, it’s the actual resting place of Sir Dargaard.
Yet, apparently, we are not worthy yet to pass within. The apparition lists out THREE Tests…we’ve already completed Honor and Fear, so apparently that leaves…Battle. Oh, joy!
We turn around and head back. We’re not going to tempt fate the way those dead Dracos did at the entrance.
We get back to the main central area, and prepare to head in the last direction – West.
We’ll see where this goes in the next part.
End of Part 18
CHAMPIONS OF KRYNN AAR
PART ONE ~ PART TWO ~ PART THREE ~ PART FOUR ~ PART FIVE ~ PART SIX ~ PART SEVEN ~ PART EIGHT ~ PART NINE ~ PART TEN
PART ELEVEN ~ PART TWELVE ~ PART THIRTEEN ~ PART FOURTEEN ~ PART FIFTEEN ~ PART SIXTEEN ~ PART SEVENTEEN ~ PART EIGHTEEN ~ PART NINETEEN ~ PART TWENTY
PART 21 ~ PART 22 ~ PART 23 ~ PART 24 ~ PART 25 ~ PART 26 ~ PART 27 ~ PART 28 ~ PART 29 ~ PART 30
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There once was a game called Krynn,
With warriors, mages, and dragons within,
In Champions of might,
They battled all night,
For glory, for honor, to win.
The heroes were brave and true,
Fighting foes, both old and new,
With spells and with swords,
They faced their rewards,
To vanquish the dark and break through.
From the streets of Solace they roamed,
To the lairs where dragons called home,
With quests to fulfill,
And battles to thrill,
Champions of Krynn, on they’d roam.
