Rescuing Edera — A Solo Adventure
by Mark Dowson from Threshold Magazine issue 34For this adventure you need to create a first edition Dungeons &Dragons character of 3rd level (or higher for a Magic-User or Thief).
Give yourself an automatic 16 in one ability score out of Strength, Dexterity or Constitution.
You are welcome to run this game using later editions of the rules but will have to supply the monster stats and use your own judgement on what level of character you create.
If not very familiar with the first edition rules, it might help to know a 13+ is needed to hit an opponent with Armour Class 6, on a d20 plus your Strength modifier roll. Each point an Armour Class is lower than this increases this by one and each point it is higher decreases it by one. Monsters also need one less to hit for each extra hit dice they have above one.
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1 A close friend of yours, the cleric, Edera, has been captured by orcs in the Black Peak Mountains. Fortunately, orcs were wounded in the battle where she was overwhelmed and there is a trail of blood for you to follow right back to the entrance of their subterranean lair.
Reaching what appears to be the mouth of a cave, you enter with your weapon at the ready. The passageway slopes downwards and you find yourself descending several steps. At the bottom, the passageway turns left. You see further along the passageway ahead of you, there is a passageway to your right and beyond it this passageway ends in a door with another door in the wall to the left of it.
To go along the passage to your right, read 39. To go through the door facing you at the end of the passage ahead of you, read 16. To go through the door in the left side of the end of the passage ahead of you, read 69.
2 You find yourself in a passage stretching ahead with a door near you to your right and further along a passage to your left. To go through the door to your right, read 69. To go along the passage to your left, read 39. To go straight ahead along the passageway, ignoring the door and the left corridor, read 10. To return through the door behind you, read 16.
3 You find yourself in a passage stretching to your right with a door near you to your left and further right along the passage, a passage going straight ahead. To go through the door to your left, read 16. To go along the passage to your right and straight ahead, read 39. To go right, past the passageway straight ahead, read 10. To return through the door behind you, read 69.
4 You come out onto a passage stretching to your left and right. To go left, read 10. To go through the door at the end of the passage to your right, read 16. To go through the door at the end of the left wall of that passage, read 69. To return the way you have come, read 48.
5 You find yourself in a passage stretching ahead, which has a passageway to your left. To follow the passage straight ahead, read 31. To go along the one to your left and through the door at the end of it, read 74. To return through the door behind you, read 44.
6 Around the corner you see the passageway ends in a door and has a passageway in the wall to your right, also ending in a door.
To go through the door facing you at the end of the passage straight ahead, read 44. To go through the door at the end of the passage to your right, read 74. To return around the corner behind you, read 31.
7 You find yourself in a passage stretching ahead, which comes out onto a passageway stretching to your left and right. To the left the passageway turns left. To go that way, read 31. To the right it ends in a door. To go through the door, read 44. To return through the door behind you, read 74.
8 You find yourself in a room with a door further left along the wall behind you. To go through that door, read 3. To return through the door behind you, read 28.
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9 You find yourself in a room with a door further right along the wall behind you. To go through that door, read 28. To return through the door behind you, read 3.
10 Ahead of you the passageway turns right, and you suspect the steps going up, leading to the way out, are around the corner, and find that they are. A short while later you hear footsteps behind you and turn to see two orcs running up the steps towards you with drawn scimitars.
Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1, Damage d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 4 each.
If you defeat them, read 21. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
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11 The passage ahead of you ends in a door before turning left. If you wish to open the door, read 41. To go left, read 49. To return the way you have come, read 20.
12 You find yourself in a passage stretching ahead, before turning left. To follow the passage around, read 22. To return the way you have come, read 72.
13 You find yourself in a passage stretching ahead, before turning right. To follow the passage around, read 72. To return through the door behind you, read 37.
14 Further along the passage you come across a door in the wall to your left before the passage turns right. If you wish to open the door, read 41. To follow the passage right, read 33. To return the way you have come, read 49.
15 Through the door you see a passage stretching ahead and a passage to your right. To go straight ahead, read 20. To go right, read 49. To return through the door behind you, read 75.
16 You enter a room where you see two grey-skinned goblins, who draw jagged short swords on seeing you and move to attack.
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Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1-1, Damage d6, Save As: Normal Human, Hit Points 3 and 4.
If you defeat them, read 23. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
17 Roll a d6 and add your Charisma modifier. On a 3 or less, read 60. On a 4 or more, read 47.
18 Through the door you see a passage stretching to your right, before turning right. There is also a door near you in the wall to your left. To follow the passage around, read 11. To go through the door to your left, read 29. To return through the door behind you, read 40.
19 Through the door you see a passage stretching ahead of you, before turning right. There is also a door near you in the wall to your right with something scratched on it in Orcish. If you can understand Orcish and wish to read what is written or can cast the spell read languages and wish to use it here, read 65. To follow the passage around, read 11. To go through the door to your right, read 40. To return through the door behind you, read 29.
20 The passage ends in a door with another door in the wall to your left with something scratched on it in Orcish. If you can understand Orcish and wish to read what is written or can cast the spell read languages and wish to use it here, read 65. To go through the door facing you, read 29. To go through the door to your left, read 40. To return the way you have come, read 11.
21 The last orc falls to the ground. To turn around and continue the direction you were going before the orcs caught up with you, read 30. To go along the passage to your right, read 39. To go through the door facing you at the end of the passage ahead of you, read 16. To go through the door on the left side at the end of the passage ahead of you, read 69.
22 The passage ends in a door with something scratched in it in Orcish. If you can understand Orcish and wish to read what is written or can cast the spell read languages and wish to use it here, read 57. To just go through the door, read 37. To return the way you have come, read 72.
23 The last goblin falls to the floor. You find yourself in a room with rust-coloured streaks in the walls. There is a door to your left and a trapdoor in the stone floor. To go through the left door, read 8. To open the trap door, read 46. To cast detect magic, if you can, read 64. To return the way you have come, read 2.
24 Magically you rise off the floor and through the trapdoor above you. A moment later you are in the room above, which has rust-coloured streaks in the walls. There is a door facing you and a door to your left. To go through the door facing you, read 8. To go through the door to your left, read 2. To jump back down through the trapdoor, read 62. To jump into the cobwebs, using them to cushion your fall, read 68.
25 You find yourself back in the room where Edera was held prisoner with the bodies of the two orcs still laid on the floor.
“Did you take a hit to your head earlier on?” Edera asks. “Surely your sense of direction is normally better than this to take us back here.” Read 53.
26 Through the door you see two large orcs, and past them Edera chained to the wall. Her fair face is streaked with blood and dirt, much of the former probably not being her own. Her long hair is in a similar state, and she has been stripped of her armour.
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“I’m so glad to see you!” she calls out to you. “You orcs are so going to get it now!”
“Nah,” growls one of the orcs. “Your friend we’ll gut or have join you for worse.” With that the two orcs go for you, but the narrowness of the doorway means they can only fight you one at a time.
Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1, Damage d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 3 and 6.
If you defeat them, read 38. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
27 If you have not yet rescued Edera, read 26. If you have rescued her, read 25.
28 You find yourself in a room with rust-coloured streaks in the walls. There is a door to your right and a trapdoor in the stone floor. To go through the door, read 2. To open the trapdoor, read 46. To cast detect magic, if you can, read 64. To return the way you have come, read 8.
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29 Through the door you enter a chamber where a goblin dressed in kobold skins charges you with a spear.
Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1-1, Damage d6, Save As: Normal Human, Hit Points 3.
If you defeat the goblin, read 43. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
30 Around the corner you find yourself going up several steps and at the top of them see ahead the glimmer of daylight from a cave entrance. A few moments later you are back out on the mountainside with the sun starting to set in the west to your right. If Edera is with you, read 78. If she is not, read 67.
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31 The passageway turns right after some distance, ending in a door. To go through the door, read 73. To return around the corner behind you, read 6.
32 You step into a passage stretching ahead before turning right. To go around the corner, read 6. To return through the door behind you, read 73.
33 As you head down the passageway, a scimitar-wielding brutish grey-green-skinned orc charges at you.
Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1, Damage d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 5.
If you defeat him, read 20. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
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34 Feeling the magical energies of your spell fill you, you gently float down through the trapdoor, past the cobwebs to the floor of the chamber below you. Read 35.
35 If you have not already killed a giant spider in this adventure, read 36. If you have, read 55.
36 From its hiding place among its webs emerges a six-foot-long spider, clearly determined to make a meal of you.
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Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 3, Damage 2d6 + save vs poison or death, Save As: Fighter 2, Hit Points 13.
If you defeat it, read 54. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
37 You enter a cobweb-filled room. If you have not already killed a giant spider in this adventure, read 36. If you have, read 55.
38 The last orc falls to your final attack.
“Yay, I knew you would make short work of these brutes,” Edera calls out. “Now get me down from here so that we can escape this place and I can get some payback on any more orcs and goblins we encounter on the way out.”
A few moments later you have Edera freed, and she is retrieving her chainmail armour and mace, which the orcs had dumped in one corner.
If you are not at full hit points, read 45. If you are at full hit points, read 52.
39 Down the passage you find yourself descending sets of steps. Suddenly you see something three-foot-long and furry dashing up them, which you recognise as a giant ferret. To attack the giant ferret, read 61. To ignore it, read 17.
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40 On opening the door, you are greeted by the fetid stench of rotting flesh. In the centre of the room beyond, you see a decomposing body. Groaning, it stands up and lurches towards you. You can now see it is chained to the centre of the room, but the chain is long enough for it to reach you. There is a door in the right side of the room, but you cannot reach it while the zombie is in your way.
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Armour Class 8, Hit Dice 2, Damage 1d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 9.
If you retreat through the door behind you, read 18. If you have the Cleric special ability, Turn Undead, and want to use it and are successful in doing so or Edera is with you, read 66. If you defeat the zombie, read 58. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
41 You find the door is locked. If you have the Open Locks skill and succeed at your roll for it or can cast the spell kKnock and wish to do so or you have already successfully done one of these on a locked door in this adventure, read 75. To go along the passage to your left, read 49. To go along the passage directly behind you, read 33.
42 You find yourself in a room with a door in the wall facing you, another in the left wall and a door further right along the wall behind you. To go through the door facing you, read 27. To go through the door in the left wall, read 5. To go through the door behind you to your right, read 19. To return through the door directly behind you, read 51.
43 The goblin falls to your last hit. You find yourself in a room with a door in the wall facing you, another in the left wall and a door further left along the wall behind you. To go through the door facing you, read 27. To go through the door in the left wall, read 5. To go through the door behind you to your left, read 51. To return through the door directly behind you, read 19.
44 You find yourself in a room with one door to your left and two doors in the wall to your right. To go through the left door, read 27. To go through the first door to the right, read 51. To go through the second door to the right, read 19. To return through the door behind you, read 5.
45 “Oh, you’ve been hurt,” exclaims Edera, noticing your wounds. “I’ll soon fix that.” She lays a hand on you and mutters a prayer, and you feel your wounds heal. Recover 1d6+1 lost hit points. Read 52.
46 You open the trapdoor and see a cobweb-filled chamber below. A couple of humanoid skeletons are suspended in the webbing. To jump down into the chamber below where there are no webs, read 62. To jump into the cobwebs, using them to cushion your fall, read 68. To use the levitate spell, if you can cast it, read 34.
To leave the room you are in by the door directly behind you, read 2. To leave by the door to your left, read 8.
47 The ferret vanishes up the stairs behind you. Read 48.
48 Further along the passage you see a passage to your right. Some distance straight ahead the passage ends in a door. To go right, read 14. To go through the door facing you at the end of the passage straight ahead, read 63. To return the way you have come, read 4.
49 Further along you come out onto a passage stretching to your left and right. To go left, read 4. To go right, where the passage ends in a door, read 63. To return the way you have come, read 14.
50 Through the door you find yourself in a passage stretching ahead of you. Some distance along there is a passage to your left. To go along it, read 14. To go straight on, read 4. To return the way you have come, read 71.
51 On opening the door, you are greeted by the fetid stench of rotting flesh. In the centre of the room beyond, you see a decomposing body. Groaning, it stands up and lurches towards you. You can now see it is chained to the centre of the room, but the chain is long enough for it to reach you. There is a door in the left side of the room, but the zombie is in your way.
Armour Class 8, Hit Dice 2, Damage 1d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 9.
If you retreat through the door behind you, read 42. If you have the Cleric special ability, Turn Undead, and want to use it and are successful in doing so or Edera is with you, read 70. If you defeat the zombie, read 59. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
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52 Edera will join you in fighting any future enemies. If you are against more than one foe, you only need to fight half of them rounded up. If you are against a single foe, half its hit points, rounding up to the nearest full number. Read 53.
53 You and Edera leave the room where she had been imprisoned, returning through the door behind you. There are two doors in the wall facing you and one in the wall to your right. To go through the left door facing you, read 19. To go through the door to the right of it, read 51. To go through the door to your right, read 5.
54 The spider collapses to the floor with its eight legs twitching. On searching the chamber, you find a +1 magic sword, which can also cast cure light wounds once a day (restoring 1d6+1 hit points) and a ring of protection, which improves your Armour Class by one. Read 55.
55 Above you there is a trapdoor in the ceiling, which can only be reached by something like a levitation spell. If you have this and wish to use it, read 24. To leave by the single door in one wall of the chamber, read 13.
56 You manage to eventually free yourself from the webbing and drop the short distance the rest of the way to the chamber floor. Read 55.
57 The Orcish word scratched into the door says “spider”. To go through the door, read 37. To return the way you have come, read 72.
58 On your final hit the zombie collapses to the floor. To go through the door to your right, read 42. To return through the door behind you, read 18.
59 On your final hit, the zombie collapses to the floor. To go through the door to your left, read 18. To return through the door behind you, read 42.
60 The ferret clearly does not like either the look or the smell of you and attacks. Read 61.
61 The giant ferret fights with great ferocity, however when you first inflict damage on it, if it is still alive afterwards, roll 2d6. If the result is greater than its Morale, it flees. If not, it continues fighting you. Also make a morale test to see if it flees if you reduce it to only a hit point on a later turn.
Armour Class 5, Hit Dice 1+1, Damage d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 6, Morale 8.
If you defeat the ferret or it flees, read 48. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
62 Enthusiastically, you jump through the trapdoor, landing hard on the floor below. You suffer 1d6 damage unless you have some means of avoiding this. If you are still alive, read 35.
63 Through the door you find yourself facing two grey-skinned goblins, glaring at you hatefully with jagged short swords held at the ready.
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Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1-1, Damage d6, Save As: Normal Human, Hit Points 3 and 4.
If you defeat them, read 71. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
64 You detect two magical items in the chamber below the trapdoor unless you have already claimed them earlier.
To open the trapdoor, read 46. To leave the room you are in by the door directly behind you, read 2. To leave by the door to your left, read 8.
65 The Orcish words scratched into the door says, “stinky fun”. To go along the passage to your left and straight ahead, read 11. To go through the door facing you, read 40. To go through the door to your right, read 29.
66 The symbol of an Immortal held forth causes the zombie to retreat to the end of the chamber furthest away from you.
To go through the door to your right, read 42. To return through the door behind you, read 18.
67 While you have escaped the orcs’ lair, you have failed to rescue Edera, leaving her certainly to an unpleasant fate.
The End
68 The cobwebs cushion your fall, as intended, but you find yourself ensnared in them. If you have not killed a giant spider earlier in this adventure, read 76. If you did, read 56.
69 Stepping through the door you find yourself facing a brutish grey-green-skinned orc charging towards you with a scimitar.
Armour Class 6, Hit Dice 1, Damage d8, Save As: Fighter 1, Hit Points 5.
If you defeat him, read 9. If you are reduced to zero hit points, read 77.
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70 The symbol of the Immortal held forth causes the zombie to retreat to the end of the chamber furthest away from you.
To go through the door to your left, read 18. To return through the door behind you, read 42.
71 You find yourself in a room with a door to your left and another to your right. To go through the left door, read 12. To go through the right door, read 32. To return the way you have come, read 50.
72 Around the corner you see the passage ends in a door. On going through the door, you find yourself in a room with a door facing you and another to your right. To go through the door facing you, read 32. To go through the door to your right, read 50. To return the way you have come, read 12.
73 You find yourself in a room with a door facing you and another to your left. To go through the door facing you, read 12. To go through the left door, read 50. To return the way you have come, read 32.
74 You find yourself in a room with a door to your left. To go through it, read 15. To return through the door behind you, read 7.
75 On getting the door open, you find yourself in a room with a door to your right. To go through it, read 7. To return through the door behind you, read 15.
76 While you are helpless in the webbing, from its hiding place among its webs emerges a giant six-foot-long black spider. You are powerless to stop it from sinking its fangs into you and feasting on your bodily fluids, draining you dry.
The End
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77 The final hit from your enemy is fatal and you fall to the ground and die.
The End
78 “I’m so glad to be out of that foul orcish lair,” sighs Edera, as the two of you head down the mountainside in the direction of the town of Threshold. “I feared I would never see daylight again.” She turns and gives you a big hug and a light kiss on your cheek.
The End