Traps in the Tombs
by Sean

T'Klendathu
Notes from Diane: Picture, if you will, five party members cautiously entering a tomb on their way to a gateway to the Necropolis, the plane of the dead. The opening of the gateway has triggered a wild manna flow, and you can practically see the magical energy flowing all around. The objective is to close this gateway again. Three of the party have been this way before, and along the way they found and successfully avoided a pit trap with nasty spikes at the bottom. This time, as Moreau crosses the pit, aided on either side by Mariam and Llwyd, he misses his DEX roll (at a +3) and falls. Mariam misses her DEX roll to catch him, and Llwyd, being partially blind at this point, never has a chance to miss his. Moreau lands on two spikes, one of which goes through his chest, and takes many points of damage. He then misses two HEALTH rolls, and is rendered not survived. After being hauled up, Ash misses his roll trying to cast a minor healing on him, but it's a moot point by now anyway. Llwyd and Mariam rush out of the tomb to dig up a mandrake they saw growing there, and Ash and Alain drag Moreau's body further into the tomb, to the gateway between this plane and the Necropolis. Alain prays over Moreau's body, Mariam sets a mandrake on his pierced chest, and there is a wild manna spike that shrivels the root, breaks Alain's holy symbol, and knocks almost everyone unconscious as it drains 10 points of fatigue from each of them. Moreau is resurrected, and the party drags back out of the tomb with its collective tail between its legs, no closer to its goal.

This poem by Ash, translated from the Elvish original, commemorates these events.

Feeling peaceful, falling hard,
Squishy like a tub of lard,
Rolled too high when DEX was low,
Full of holes is poor Moreau.

"I do not like white bones that walk,
I do not like white bones that talk,
Please hurry up." said elf named Ash,
Scratching at a nasty rash.

Clitter-clatter went the stones,
Splitter-splatter went the bones.
Thudder-wudder went the knight,
His sollerets a bit too tight.

Outside with dirt on her pants,
looking for some magic plants.
Mandrake calling, "There I am!"
(Hey, what else rhymes with Mariam?)

Meanwhile in the bushes thick,
Llwyd found him a pointy stick.
"Now we won't fall in that hole,
now we won't fail our DEX roll."

Ooh, look, a necropolis!
Maybe we can manage this!
Everybody gather closely,
Watch out for those nasty ghosteys.

I will make a prayer or two,
You all know just what to do.
Put the relic on his forehead,
Then slump over really torpid.

It worked! He's bleeding!
He's coughing! He's sneezing!
Gross, there's spiders on the ceiling.
Pass the liniment of healing...