Temple of the Cyclopes - Sellswords and Spellslingers

 I realise I have been somewhat lax writing up some of my Sellswords games of late. I have been running a campaign for three of my regular gaming buddies, so I remembered to take some pictures of the latest game.

The intrepid adventurers have journeyed through the giant-spider infested Haunted Forest, avoided becoming a snack for the Spider Queen, and fought off the attentions of an increasing number of one-eyed giants.

Now they have reached their goal, the ruined Temple of the Cyclopes, lost for centuries deep in the forest. Rumours abound of the riches and magical treasures that still can be found within, by those brave/lucky enough to survive the journey.

The Temple of the Cyclopes, the PCs entry point at at the two doorways behind the gold-domed structure at the top of the picture.

The Temple viewed from the player's side.

Ambush! Henry's forester is ensnared in the web of a small spider that surprised him from a dark recess in the ruins. These minor foes would prove to be a particular nuisance to the PCs and would actually inflict more HP damage on the party that their larger brethren or the Cyclopes themselves. Their habit of spitting a sticky web at their victims as the charge out of hiding was most effective.

No sooner was one of the little critters despatched, than another appeared.

Trap! Mark's archer didn't notice the web strands until he was caught in it's sticky embrace!

Mark's axeman holds the doorway against a larger spider.

While Henry's party find themselves stalked by another giant arachnid.

Yet another ambush by a little spider.

As Colin's party engage a cyclops, they didn't notice the cyclops champion rushing towards them.

Another view of the desperate melee with a one-eyed giant.

Now Henry's wizard is in trouble!

Having finished off one Cycl;ops, Colin's archer and hero must now fight another. This melee would see the archer taken out of the fight (he had already had to be healed from multiple small spider bites.

As Mark's badly wounded axeman tries to escape, the is surprised by another cyclops turning up.

Henry's forester takes cover from a rock-throwing cyclops!

It was quite a bloodbath! Three of the party died, but they managed to retrieve all their bodies before they withdrew, and all of them recovered with medical attention. The Cyclopes proved a particular challenge for the party. I had made them fire-resistant (ignore first point of DAM from fire-based attacks) because of the players over reliance on fireballs. They had napalmed their way through various previous scenarios. Henry's wizard had Frostblast, which would have been particularly effective against the cyclopes, except that he rolled a 1 for casting early on in the game and lost all his magic!

In the end the party all survived and escaped with a chest of 150SP, a magic bow, magic ring amd magic bracelets. Now they just have to work out what the magical items actually do!!!