A Tweedle & Dunh Adventure
They Meet Groombal
Once they ensure that the goblins do not return, Tweedle and Dunh resume their journey to town. After an uneventful trip, they arrive. They quickly get lost in the winding streets of the thriving metropolis. At least it seemed thriving to two country bumpkins.
"Now where could Groombal be?" pondered Dunh.
"Groombal?" a passerby replies. "He lives just around the corner, third door down."
I rolled a D6 to see what happened in town. I was just free-forming it, with a 1 being something bad and 6 being good fortune. I rolled a 6.
Soon they are in Groombal's curiosity shop.
"Go away! I don't need help." the elderly, bearded sage complained.
"But my master told me to bring you this book," replied Tweedle as he pulls the golden tome from his backpack.
Groombal stops shooing them from his shop.
"What is this?" he asks, as he takes the book.
Tweedle explains how they found the book, how Doc considered it dangerous, and how he tasked them to bring the book here.
Once Tweedle finished his tale, Groombal replies "Very well. You can stay here with me. But you need to work. I'm sure I can find something appropriate for you.
Into the Sewers
A week later, Tweedle and Dunh find themselves climbing down into the town's sewers.
"This is not what I had in mind when that old bat said we'd have to work!" complained Dunh as the noxious odor of the sewer caused him to wrinkle his nose
"I know, Dunh. But he needs those spider glands for his research. And, well, that's what research assistants do."
They descend a rusting iron ladder into a room (1). It is swarming with cockroaches the size of a shield. The roaches attack. Both Tweedle and Dunh take wounds, but they fail to hit the roaches.
"Let's get out of here!" yells Tweedle. "Run into the next room!" Dunh nods and they charge through the bugs and into another room (2). Dunh nearly stumbles into a bear trap. They notice other traps in the room, some with a variety of crushed creepy crawlies in their teeth.
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| The Sewers |
Leaving the trap room, they arrive at an intersection (3) and get ambushed by two giant spiders.
Both are wounded, so they retreat to the previous room to rest and bind their wounds. Refreshed, they continue. They jump across a crevice (4). Dunh stumbles and falls, taking damage. They fight a swarm of smaller spiders (5), pass through an empty room (6) to a large room filled with the bones of past victims. Tweedle shivers in fear.
Note - he fails a Fear test so is -1 for the rest of the adventure.
Backtracking, they fight through some wandering spiders and come to a large room (8), with a nest of eggs. A giant spider attacks them, but they quickly kill it and then destroy the eggs.
Next, they pass through an empty room (9) and a webbed corridor (10). As they struggle through the webs, small spiders bite them, further sapping their strength.
In the next room (11), they come face to face with the queen spider. While Dunh charges, Tweedle casts his mirror image illusion; three more Tweedles appear. The spider flings a web at Dunh. He dodges and set upon the queen. It sinks its fangs into him. He begins to feel woozy from the poison.
At this point, Tweedle considers retreat. He can't see how they can win.
Seriously, at this point, I considers a withdrawal. But I stuck it out.
Then he has an idea. Tweedle rushes up and begins prodding the creature's eyes. It turns on him.
"Tweedle, don't!" cries a shaken Dunh. "It'll get you!"
"I know what I'm doing! Just hit it!"
Tweedle keeps dodging and prodding, provoking the spider. It strikes, but merely dispels an illusory Tweedle. Dunh attacks from behind, but his attack bounces off the spider queen's thick carapace.
"You need to hit it from underneath." calls Tweedle.
"Can you get it to rear up?"
Tweedle smashes the beasts eyes. It rears, hissing in rage. Dunh stabs it. It lashes out, dispelling another fake Tweedle. Again, Tweedle provokes it into rearing. Again, Dunh stabs. This time his blade sinks deep into the spider's soft underbelly. Green ichor flows from it. It convulses and dies.
The retrieve the spider queen's venom sac, and find a few coins. They return victorious to their new master.
GAME NOTES
Once again, I used my MicroQuest rules with a Micro Chapbook adventure.
I experimented today with monster cards. I jotted the monster info on index cards, shuffled them, and then picked the encounter for each room. At one point, I defeated a somewhat difficult foe, and thought to myself, "I won't see that again." That event turned me against the cards; there was less uncertainty about what lay ahead because I could not roll up the same monster again. I think I'll stick with tables for future adventures.
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