The Death of Diana, My Longest Running NPC

In Session 1 of the Montporte Dungeon campaigns, Diana was rescued from a nk-ha (an aberration). The adventurers managed to bring her out of her coma. The adventurers rescued other humans held prisoner in the dungeon over the next few sessions and returned them to their homes. Diana, however, stayed on with the adventurers as the cave goat driver.

Diana stayed with the adventurers until Session 37. The party had to cross a chasm and decided to leave some of their NPCs behind, along with the cave goats. Diana remained with the NPCs and did not cross the chasm with the player characters.

When the second campaign started with Session 47, she joined the new team of adventurers as a torchbearer. When the adventurers acquired their own little herd of cave goats, she managed them while still carrying a torch for the party. Diana finally met her untimely end in Session 52 as the result of a "brain blast from" some mysterious frogs.

Despite being present with two different adventuring parties over the course of 43 sessions, Diana was a woman of mystery. By Session 37, it appeared that she might be pregnant. The adventurers also noticed that her eyes were turning black, as if they had become pupils only. At the start of Session 47 (a year later), she was not pregnant and her eyes had returned to normal. Diana's short life is over, but her story may continue.

Cardinal Spider--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter

CARDINAL SPIDER
Cardinal spiders travel in small roving bands made up of 2-8 males and 2-4 females. The males are the smaller of two (about 60 pounds in weight) and are deep red in color. The males also carry the baby spiders inside their bodies, once the eggs are fertilized. The male must die in order for the 4d4 baby cardinal spiders to leave his body. The females are larger (about 120 pounds in weight) and dull gray in color, with hints of red around the head and legs. They are more aggressive than the males in hunting and in combat. Baby cardinal spiders are black in color and about 1' in diameter.

FEMALE CARDINAL SPIDER
Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: 1 Bite (1d6)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Poison
Move: 14
Challenge Level/XP: 3/60

COMBAT: Female cardinal spiders are smart and aggressive hunters, using stealth and camouflage to gain an advantage over prey. They are tough foes in combat as they seek to shield the smaller males from harm, even at the cost of their own lives.

POISON: When an opponent suffers a bite from a female cardinal spider, the opponent must make a saving throw or be paralyzed for 1d6 turns.

MALE CARDINAL SPIDER
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 1
Attacks: Bite (1d4)
Saving Throw: 17
Special: Live Baby Spiders
Move: 10
Challenge Level/XP: 2/30

COMBAT: Male cardinal spiders only attack when attacked or cornered. They will otherwise attempt to flee.

LIVE BABY SPIDERS: When the male cardinal spider dies, its exoskeleton splits and 4d4 baby cardinal spiders scramble out of the male's body the next round.

BABY CARDINAL SPIDER
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Hit Dice: 1 hit point
Attacks: Bite (1 point)
Saving Throw: 18
Special: Nonw
Move: 6
Challenge Level/XP: 0/5

COMBAT: Baby cardinal spiders swarm any warm blooded creature within 20' of them after leaving the male's body.

Montporte Dungeon Campaign 2.0 Session 6 Notes (Montporte 52)

Cast of Characters
Alaric: Human Cleric (PC-Main Character)
Allidore: Kobold (NPC)
Alicia: Human Footman (NPC Henchwoman)
Bildar: Kobold (NPC)
Carlos: Human Footman (NPC Henchman)
Diana: Human Torchbearer (NPC Henchwoman)
Enzore: Kobold (NPC)
Fishdore: Koblold (NPC)
Huthul: Orc (NPC)
Jim Bob: Ogre (NPC)
Lord Jim: Human Fighter (PC-Sidekick)
Magnus: Human Magic-User (PC-Sidekick)
Maydor: Orc (NPC)
Merv: Human Torchbearer (NPC Henchman)
Ooga: Arbold (NPC)
Septimus: Human Fighter (PC-Main Character)
Zug: Orc (NPC)

The Session
This session began where the last session left off, with the adventurers using three small boats to explore a newly discovered lake at the south end of Level 1 of the Montporte Dungeon. The adventurers had returned to the landing that was serving as their home base. They decided to journey out again, following the north shore and moving east.

They found an area that looked like a small landing. The cave wall had been smoothed and there was a small circular indention, but no amount of pushing and prodding produced any results. About then, the three giant frogs from the last session reappeared (each frog looked like it weighed 60 pounds). The frogs surfaced about 20 feet from the boats.

As the frogs stared at the adventurers, three of the adventurers--Alaric, Carlos and Diana--felt pressure welling up inside their skulls. Alaric and Carlos were able to fend off whatever was causing the pressure, but Diana was not. She slumped over in her boat, blood dripping from her eyes, nose and ears. She was dead. At the same moment, the heads of each of the three frogs exploded, spreading gore over the surface of the water. At the same time, their bodies vanished.

With the three frogs gone, the adventurers pressed on to the east. They found the eastern end of the subterranean lake. In the southeastern portion of the lake, they found a landing and brought their boats to shore. As they did so, three frogs appeared. The three giant frogs kept their distance and did not make eye contact. Instead, they began doing intricate acrobatics, both above and below the surface of the lake.

The adventurers dragged their boats onto the landing. Once ashore, the adventurers found that there were two tunnels leading away from the landing, one north and one south. As the adventurers moved away from the lake, the frogs came ashore. The frogs kept their distance and continued their tumbling antics.

The party moved north and found the northern tunnel to be a dead end. The frogs moved into the southern tunnel. The party drew their weapons, moving into the southern tunnel, which also proved to be a dead end. The party could see and feel an unsettling shift of the dimensions of the tunnel as the frogs hopped, skipped and cartwheeled towards the blank wall at the end of the tunnel. The frogs jumped into the dead end wall and disappeared. The tunnel subtly shifted back to a normal appearance.

The party moved west and explored further. They discovered the lake was continued west for quite a ways. At this point, the adventures decided to go back to their launch point and continue with their original two-fold mission of finding trading partners for the town of Montporte and searching for an ancient dwarven city rumored to be somewhere underneath the Montporte Dungeon.

The adventurers moved north on the first level away from the subterranean lake. They met up with Cassius, Montporte's former caretaker and current resident ghost. Despite his addled memory, Cassius did report that a small group of surly pig-faced men were guests at Montporte. They were accompanied by a very large clumsy guy. They had moved in the direction of the spiral staircase to the second level.

The adventurers moved in the same direction, descending the 100 feet to level 2. The party moved through several rooms into a huge room with a set of 2 metal rails running down the middle, north to south. This room was occupied by four thuragians (crab folk). The thuragians did not respond favorable and a nasty melee ensued. Thuragians are tough customers but the overwhelming number of adventurers made for a short fight.

In the very next room, the adventurers found a party of 3 orcs, accompanied by an ogre. Wary, but surprisingly not aggressive, the orcs agreed to join the adventurers on their quest for profit. It turned out that Maydor, Huthul, and Zug were deserters. They wanted gold and fresh meat, not a way to the fourth level. The adventurers knew that this was the main goal of the other orcs they had encountered (Session 47). Jim Bob, the ogre, was along for the violence and vittles.

This is where our session ended.

Scroll of the Dead
Horace NPC Footman, Session 48
Pulvarti PC Magic-User, Session 49
Alicia, NPC Footman, Session 50
Diana, NPC Torchbearer, Session 52