The Tarak D&D Campaign - Chase Under The Geyser Field

Welcome to the next post in a series where I describe the adventures during a 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran a little while ago.

In the last episode, the party were present at the Battle of Wadi Al Naffatiyeh as the undead horde attacked, but were lucky enough to be held in reserve. At the crucial moment, they were sent off on the special mission they'd been briefed for.

Under The Geyser Field

Characteristics

There is a network of sandstone tunnels, caves and passages under the geyser field. It is hot, and the air stinks of sulphur and the sweet, perfumed chemical smell of naphthalene. It is very damp; shallow pools and warm streams filter through the caverns, although none of the water is drinkable – the chemicals will require a DC14 Constitution save, with failure creating a nauseated condition for 15 minutes (with the effect of being poisoned, having disadvantage on attack rolls & saving throws).

Hazards

Pockets of sulphurous, toxic air. DC10 save per minute.
Boiling streams. Walking through them does 2D4 heat (not fire) damage.
Sudden gushes of scalding water. DC12 dexterity save is required, with a failure doing 3D8 heat damage and knocking the character prone.
Collapsing walls & floors - handled narratively, with damage subject to DM discretion and how the characters react (higher damage if they just stand there gawping...).

Geography

I created a very simple map in Windows Paint, intended to illustrate not the whole complex but just a representative section of it, which is shown below;

14a The Geyser Field.jpg

Grey indicates normal passageways. Orange is areas of poisonous fumes. Light blue is water with an airspace overhead, while dark blue indicates deep water in fully submerged areas. The entrance is at top right. The objective is the chamber at the left hand edge with a stone bridge over a pool of water.

Underground Chase

As soon as our heroes entered the underground complex, it was clear by the sounds they could head close behind them that a party of undead had broken through and were in pursuit of them.

This was my cunning way of putting pressure on them and creating a chase sequence. This wouldn't be a leisurely stroll through empty tunnels, they had time pressure not only needing to blow the naphthalene before the battle was lost, they also had to stay ahead of their pursuers and not get pinned down by them.

Their first encounter was when they slowed down to negotiate the first water-filled passage. Several zombies attacked them from the rear as they hesitated and tried to think up a "smart" way to deal with the problem. They were rapidly disposed of, but it was clear more substantial opponents wouldn't be long coming.

At this point, the party spotted the first arrows left by the original scouting mission, and were able to follow them down the corridor, and then up past the underground lake. It didn't take too long for them to work out that there was a fordable path across it; they were spurred on by the sounds of their pursuers closing in behind. Undead don't have to worry about water barriers and poisonous gas !

The next arrow scratched in the wall backtracked to what I called the "central cave"; they emerged from the lake corridor and had to turn right. As they entered the central cave, they ran smack bang into another party of undead emerging from the passage full of poison gas. It was time to fight !

Battle in the Cave

Image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio

As the characters moved into the cave, they could see the arrow carved into the wall showing the direction they needed to go. But they also knew they had to do something to hold up the pursuit, it would be too hard to try to move down a passageway fighting a running battle with every step.

They quickly agreed that the best thing was to give their enemy a bloody nose in the hope it would force them to stop and re-group for a short while.

The undead consisted of a whole bunch of zombies equipped with shields and khopesh swords. But these were just the cannon fodder. They were led by three jackal-headed demons, avatars of Anubis - two in the group behind, and one in the new group they'd run into. These demons were actually re-skinned Bearded Devils from the Monster Manual. At challenge rating 3, they would be a decent opponent for the party, but not a lethal one, which would hopefully make for some memorable fights.

There were also two "named" undead leaders, who were a far more serious threat. They could just be seen by the party at the back of the press of zombies, but didn't come into play in this fight.

The initial clash was purely against zombies, and was spectacular. The heroes massacred them, piling up zombie bodies (now properly dead) with very little loss to themselves.

But they knew it was too easy and couldn't last.

As the zombies thinned out, it made room for the Avatars of Anubis to step forward.

The fight was savage and relatively brief. By the end of it, two of the three avatars were down, and the third had retreated to save itself. The party were all still upright, but the front line fighters were looking distinctly bloodied and battered.

It was time for them to move on, and they hurried away along the corridor to their objective fast enough to temporarily outpace their foes.

Image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio

Next time... Endgame