Horror in the Cloud Mines: Sessions 15 & 16

So, for those of your who are newcomers to my blog, I’ve been running a Labyrinth Lord campaign that's slowed down significantly over the last 1-2 years when one of the couples playing in the game had a baby, then my wife (player) and I (DM) had a baby too. At this point, everyone in the campaign has a baby or toddler. Now that we are all getting our little kiddies on predictable sleep schedules we’re getting the campaign moving again!

If you want to read through the old session reports more thoroughly you can CLICK HERE. But, in a nut-shell, the party is now exploring an inverse aerial cloud mine “dungeon” composed of enclosed floating platforms attached to the ground far below by great chains. There’s a system of gondolas joining the swaying, creaking platforms together. It should also be mentioned that this cloud mine is located in a small valley completely engulfed in a pink mist writhing with wailing corpse ghosts that invoke great supernatural terror. Many of the platforms have large glass distilleries in them that seem to be extracting a gooey, red substance from the mist.

Current Mysteries:

Who is the child Cinnabar Witch depicted in shrines placed around the mine platforms?

Why are translucent ape-beasts roaming the mine?

Why are the mineworkers, small blue eyeless people, all dead?

What is the substance being distilled from the haunted vapor?

Session 15: Shortish session with a drop-in guest player. The group headed back into the cloud mines after, in the previous adventure, a cloud beast followed them back to Penelion, slaying a young girl. The party made it up to a third distillery level that had some sort of temple in it. On the floor was the body of a slain priest in red robes. The party was fell upon by temple-guardian wood golems, to which they responded cleverly with oil and fire. The group hastily retreated back to a gondola to let the golems burn. End of session. One party casualty: the only dwarf, who left behind his pet tunnel dog. Now we have a dog NPC in the group!

Session 16: My mother- and sister-in-law dropped in, taking over the roles of two staff-wielding monk priestesses of the Penelion Sisterhood. The party traveled back to clean up after the charred wood golems. They explored the temple, finding a silver mask effigy of the Cinnabar Witch encrusted with diamonds and bearing carnelian eyes. The mask appeared to be a device with which one could speak directly with the witch. The MU and thief both had short whispered conversations with the witch, learning that she was sending a group of reinforcements to assess the situation in the mine. The thief grabbed the mask, and the party headed back out of the mines, setting up camp just outside the valley in order to await the arrival of the witch’s people. Oh yeah, before their bedtime the party had to dispatch some giant wandering lizards that stumbled off Moldvay’s wandering monster table into their camp.

They were fun sessions, if on the shortish side (~2 hours). It was cool playing with my mother-in-law who’s in her 60s and didn’t even really know what D&D was. She always associated D&D with cults, satan-worship, drugs, and parent-killing. She might still might make this association, but at least she knows it can all be good fun - she got excited when she rolled a hot 20 and zonked out a cloud beast with her great staff!