The final(?) play report, as advertised.
FLESH GOLEM
My one and only use as a DM (or player) with a flesh golem occurred about two weeks ago. My group was returning from a successful foray into the G1 Steading, having slain Chief Nosnra (asleep in his bed) and rapidly got the heck out of Dodge.
On the way to their next destination, they stopped back at a Watchtower on the periphery of the Kingdom, having been granted stewardship of it by the new King, whom their had helped secure the throne. They had visited this structure about half a dozen times in our campaign as they went to-and-fro on their various adventures, with the first time being around probably around 2014 (good old Lareth, from T1 was hiding there, licking his wounds).
One of their henchmen, who they traveled with off-and-on (most off) over the years was charged with maintaining their holding while they were away. This fella, being a careful sort, went poking into the parts of the dungeon that the PCs had previously ignored and discovered a locked room---a martial equipment storage and distribution annex in which I had placed a patiently waiting flesh golem, oh so many years ago.
The saw the figure through the bars of an adjoining room and tried to communicate, but nothing roused him. It was programmed to attack anyone entering the inner-most room (not terribly clever design on my part). So, feeling cocky after a successful mission, my PCs thought
"What the heck?" and picked the lock and entered (single-file).
Predictably, the golem rose and attacked the lead PC, jamming up the doorway so it only had to melee the single opponent.
The lead PC, who is (temporarily) carrying a set of relics---Hammer of Thunderbolts, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Girdle of Giant Strength---throws the hammer and does a good bit of damage to the golem, knocking it down to 16 or so hp in exchange for a minor beating. I was worried the fun would be over before it really got started.
However, things got interesting when---because the rest of the party could not rush in and beat the monster to a pulp---the MU decided to cast a lightning bolt at it through the bars of the next room. One could argue that you can't cast lighting through bars...but I was so thrilled that she was about to make such a classic mistake, I eagerly allowed it.
As you all know,
the lightning recharged the flesh golem back to full hp! Also, some other spells, and non-magical missiles bounced off of it to no effect.
Well, that was enough to scare even a high-level party and they tried to beat a hasty retreat---forcing the strong iron-bound door closed, and locking it magically.
That's when FLESH GOLEM SPECIAL ABILITIES PART II kicked in, right on cue. I knew right from the MM that it would smash through the door in 5-8 melee rounds. Perfect.
They retreated and set up a trap. A ways back in the dungeon, they knew there was a trap door in the stairs which could be manipulated to drop the golem into a pit of spikes. They retreated to the top of the stairs...waited for the golem in enter the room below...tossed a fireball in on him for good measure (I did my best
Frankenstein. Hate. Fire! schtick, but it only slowed him by 50%, per the MM).
I let them drop him on the poison spikes, but I ruled falling 20-ft and spikes were "normal weapons" so neither damaged it. It then ran out a side passage and leap down from the cliffs into a swiftly moving river, never to be seen again(?). It was a perfect "Frankenstein Escapes for the Sequel" ending to a series of events I couldn't have scripted better if I'd tried.
I was so happy to not only be using a creature I had placed there as a noob DM almost a decade ago, but to have hit all the high points in the MM regarding its unique nature. What stood out for me was:
- immunity to normal weapons is somewhat scary, but having most spells have no effect is far better as a terror weapon (I enjoyed describing how the spells fizzled)
- the lightning recharge is a once-only gotcha---but it was SO sweet
So I guess I want to heap some posthumous praise of EGG and crew for their thoughtful creation of monsters that can threaten a nearly name-level party. I saw something similar with the giants throwing boulders in G1. There is plenty of beautiful game-balance baked into vanilla AD&D.
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On a final note, my son (and chief risk-taker in party) has just moved out to the West Coast to work in Silicon Valley, so I am not sure if there will be anymore family D&D nights after this. There was a bittersweet feeling to that past session, ending over a decade of continuous campaign play. It seemed fitting that they played it in the Eastern Watchtower which was one of the first "complete" adventure sites I formally wrote up, making clean maps, etc. and I have "reloaded" it on several occasions for return trips over the years. That golem has been sitting there waiting all this time and the encounter delivered on all counts---that being one that is interesting/different (not a slug-fest) and also jabbing a sliver of fear into the hearts of the players.
That a henchman, who was one of the few to survive (give or a take a
raise dead or two) from when they were novice players, was also involved felt particularly
apropos since he had originally acted as my in-game voice to mentor them on how to play D&D.
It's been a great ride.