Player:         Character:
Chris        Grian, Human Cleric
Dan          Duncan, Halfling Thief
Mark        Lorthas, Human Fighter
Mike        Ott Ahhhht, Dwarf Fighter
Steve        Human Magic User (name unknown?)

We started the night by rolling up character ability scores; 3d6, in order.  As in od&d, you can take from one ability score to build up another; for example, from STR to build INT in you are a Mage; but this is only on a 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 basis.
Chris rolled up a human cleric named Grian with the fantastic wisdom of 18.  Dan rolled up a halfling thief named Duncan.  Mark chose a human warrior named Lorthas.  Steve created a Human magic user (with the intelligence of 12!).  Mike ended up with an astoundingly mediocre (stat wise) dwarf named Ott Ahhhtt.

The party began their journey at the Stumble Inn in the village of Nibblott, just east of Blackmoor.  They had a scroll which described a catacomb beneath a ruined fortress just north of town so they set out along the north road.

About four hours out of Nibblott they saw a small ruined-looking hut along the side of the road.  A raven in a broken down tree beside the hut cawed loudly at their approach and a grumpy old woman appeared, sweeping the pavers in front of her hut with a broom.  Lorthas greeted her and she replied with a somewhat unfriendly greeting.  She told them that if they were heading off to the tunnels, she might be able to sell them magic potions that would help keep them alive at least.  When they asked how much, she replied, "How much you got?"  It soon became apparent that with less than the price of a new set of armor between them, they didn't have enough.  After they had attempted to wheedle a loaner potion out of her and she had refused, they attempted to convince her that the dwarf would be her manservant for a while instead of payment.  She looked him over and replied that she didn't like the look of the dwarf, refusing the offer.  She invited them to return with gold or magic/unusual items for sale or trade.
After leaving the old woman's hut, they continued on.  Three and a half hours later they came to the ruined castle.  After a brief search, the entry became quite apparent; there was an area scooped out of the rubble that revealed a flight of stairs going down.  The group lit torches and went down the stairs.  At the bottom of the stairs stood a statue of a tall warrior with a sword and shield.  The thief and Lorthas the fighter went on ahead to peek around the tunnel and suddenly the statue shouted out, "Who dares intrude into the tunnels of Enlandin?"  The dwarf and Lorthas kept an eye out while the others inspected the statue closely.  Suddenly the dwarf shouted out that he had seen someone peep around the corner.  The party grabbed their weapons and charged around the corner.  As they advanced, they heard footsteps and some mufflred speech, but when they rounded the corner, they saw nothing.

They began to charge down the hall, certain that enemies were lurking in the dark just ahead.  Suddenly, arrows began peppering the front ranks --- but seemed to be coming right THROUGH the wall.  Some small brown humanoids began popping out of the wall and engaging the party.  One of the kobolds was cut down immeadiately.  Duncan, realising the wall was an illusion, boldly jumped through and  found himself in complete darkness.  There was a snarl and a blade bit into his flesh, wounding him slightly.  He attempted to back out and the unseen assailant struck him again.  The remaining kobolds began pouring out of the room, the back ranks firing tiny arrows.  The party's superior weapon skills were apparent; they killed half the kobolds in a short time and the rest dissapeared down the hall and round a corner and through a door.  Within moments, a larger troupe of Kobolds came around the corner.  The mage fired off his sleep spell at the right moment and magnaged to catch the majority.  The few remainders fled with the fighter and the dwarf giving chase.  Duncan the thief, having lit a torch, investigated the room with the illusionary wall that the kobold guards had come out of.

The room that the Kobolds had retreated through was apparently a lair of some sort with two other exits and some Kobold food supplies and a locked chest.  Lorthas heard some squeaking and screaming from outside the door through which the remaining Kobolds had retreated, so he closed the door.  A key found on the body of a Kobold opened the chest and they found a mess of copper, silver and gold coins inside.  They dumped the copper and retained the silver and gold.

They deicided to explore the hallways rather than the doors they had found.  An unlocked door gave enterence to a 30x30 foot chamber.This square room had doors in every corner save one; the halfling decided that such lack of symmetry was strange; he investigated the doorless corner and found a secret door.  This gave entrance to a small chamber occupied by a man wearing a robe and a man in armor.  The room was equipped as a small laboratory with piles of bones around the room.  With a shout from the mage, four skeletons arose from the bone piles and came to the attack.

The cleric immediately countered with a turn undead action and all of the undead fled to the far end of the room.  The party immediately meleed the two humans in the room, cutting down both in record time.  The Mage type cast a quick charm spell of some kind before he was cut down by the dwarf and brained by a sling stone slung by the mage.

Before they cut him down, the fighter tried to flee to the south, where no doors were apparent.  The halfling decided to search the south wall for secret doors --- “He was fleeing south where I can see no doors -- there must be a secret door...”  The fighter investigated a collection of skulls ranging in size from pixie to ogre on a shelf; he had the rather hare brained idea of using the largest skull as a helmet.  He found a small vial inside the ogre skull.  They then looted the body of the dead fighter and the body of the mage and the magic user inspected the items on the table.  On the table the mage found 12 small vials, all marked in some sort of code, which he took.  He also found 13 books and some scrolls on the table.  Only one of the books and one of the scrolls appeared to be of possible interest.  In the dead mage’s possession they found a wand and a dagger.  The cleric took the dagger and Steve’s mage eventually ended up with the wand.

The locked door in the north wall raised the fighter’s suspicions.  After the thief failed to pick the lock, the fighter  borrowed an axe from the dwarf and began chopping at the wood.  He was about halfway through the door when the secret door the party had originally entered opened and four orcs entered, apparently drawn by the sound of the chopping.  The party got the drop on the orcs and hacked them up.  The one that fled was taken down in the hall by the halfling’s arrow.

The halfling found a secret door in the south and the party abandoned chopping down the door and entered a large room where a group of undead skeletons attacked.  The cleric turned a few and the rest were knocked to flinders in moments by the rest of the party.

Since the mage was out of spells and the party was tuckered out, they  elected to spend the night in the secret room.  They used iron spikes to wedge the doors shut and rested eight hours.  During their rest they heard someone or something trying the secret  door.

The party then explored a few ancillary hallways (incidentally discovering that they could go around the locked door through the secret door and another unlocked door...).

Here the session ended....

Go on to next session (April 4)

Things the DM screwed up which must be addressed:
a) I looked over my notes and determined that Original edition clerics CANNOT use spiked weapons (flails and morningstars).  I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask Chris’ cleric to trade in the flail for a mace.  There is also a space concern regarding the flail (3 feet on either side needed), so the flail isn’t the best choice when you are fighting shoulder to shoulder with your comrades anyway.
b) In original D&D, you can identify a scroll by unrolling it to see the title.  This does not require the read magic spell and does not discharge the spell in the scroll.  If it is a spell scroll, in order to use the scroll you have to cast read magic and read the scroll once.  By the way, the scroll that Steve found was a Remove Curse scroll.  Either the mage or the cleric can use this scroll.
c) There was also a leather bag of gold in the Mage’s room out in plain sight.  The bag contained 450 gps.  Can we just assume you found it and took it?
d) Eventually gods and religion  have the possibility of becoming conceptually important to the game.  Unfortunately, I started this in a hurry and don’t have my complete list of gods ready.  But I have suggestions appropriate to your area and origins:
1) Anyone can declare “druidic” as their religion, regardless of alignment or race.
2) Anyone can declare “agnostic” although there will possibly be some social consequences for this.  Deciding your character is an “atheist” is probably unwise since a vengeful and capricious deity might take offense at this mortal’s cheekiness and decide to “prove the existance of gods” to you in some nasty way...
3) Dwarves usually worship Oltarrin (a dwarf god of caves and miners -- lawful and neutral only), Ungli (a dwarf god of craftsmen and blacksmiths) or Clandor (Dwarf God of Battle -- any alignment).  A few worship Ute (an earth goddess) or Teyr.  Ute and Teyr are not dwarf specific deities, but both have gained dwarf converts.
4) Humans can worship most gods.  In Nibblott is a church of Saint Meinrad and a Temple of Teyr.  Saint Meinrad is the patron of the oppressed --- his symbols are a set of manacles and a water jug.  Teyr resembles Thor (hammer, chariot, etc.).  A third option is “The Endless Pantheon;” a religion from further south.
6) Chaotic humans are known to worship Grond (aka “the Beast God”) and other less savory deities.