[More Yule Day combat and the finding of much loot!]
[This game uses Adventures in the Green, a RPG based on the original rules for the world’s most popular roleplaying game. These rules are under development with Draft C available here. Game sessions happen an average of once a month. This session happened May 15, 2021.]
Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):
Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – gender neutral goblin Family Priest (5th level Cleric)
Porkins – male human Conjuror (5th level Magic-User)
Tiny – male minotaur Swashbuckler (5th level Fighter)
Tor Wind – male human Swashbuckler (5th level Fighter)
Mannin Darkshield – male dwarf Robber (3rd level Thief)
Kunigunde Gruber – NPC female goblin Footpad/Petitioner (2nd level Thief/1st level Cleric)
Hirelings:
Larn the Linkboy – male human hireling linkboy
Isidoros of Delphis – male Tolk hireling translator [specifically, German to Mü]
Deniska – female human hireling bodyguard [for Larn]
Ivan – male human hireling bodyguard [for Larn]
Bernagi – male human hireling bodyguard [for Isidoros]
Hardkira – male human hireling bodyguard [for Isidoros]
Sunday, December 25, 523rd year of the Empire
2:00 PM
Biggz arrived at the mill site the adventurers were hired to “make safe”, observing smoke rising from both behind and from the front doorway of the ruined building on the far left. Biggz was irate as they specifically told Tor and the rest NOT to explore the ruins until Biggz got there. Tor explained that they had not, in fact, gone into the ruins but were walking around them when they were attacked by phase spiders and burned some of the webbing to keep the spiders away. This set Mannin off [he was still upset about the lost value in phase spider webbing] and made Biggz angrier as there might have been living villagers trapped in the webbing who were now burned to death. Tor had not thought of that and was somewhat chastened when Biggz yelled at him about it.
Biggz ordered the hirelings to remain at the impromptu camp and guard the supplies while the adventurers did a perimeter search of the ruins. The building on the far left was designated Building 1. As the area behind the building was now known to be thick with phase spider webs, they walked along the front of the building to the right side. On the side of the building was an open doorway facing a small courtyard area between it and the next building [Building 2].
Tiny looked into the doorway and found two gnole guards standing a bit back in the shadowed hallway. The gnoles did not speak Mü nor did Tiny speak any of the languages the gnoles spoke. Porkins stepped up and was able to speak to them in German. The gnole guard asked if the adventurers were there to return the stolen emeralds. When Porkins asked, “what emeralds?” the gnole guard clarified with, “the ones the villagers stole from us.” Suddenly Porkins had an idea where the emerald given to Biggz by Ulf had come from.
Eventually the conversation ground to a halt once it became clear to the gnoles that the adventurers were not there as negotiators nor to return stolen goods. The lead guard whistled and many more gnoles stepped out of doorways along both sides of the hallway. The fight started with three gnoles shooting crossbows at Porkins, hitting him twice. [I should have had Porkins transform into his wererat form here but didn’t think about it until after the combat was over – missed opportunity here to have the rest of the party discover Porkins was a wererat and have him go to town in melee against the gnoles.] The fight was hard fought, but with Tiny blocking the only doorway out of the building, the adventurers kept the gnoles bottled up and killed them all but a single prisoner. While coup d ’gracing the last of the gnoles [targets of a Sleep spell from Porkins], Tor discovered that his magic sword, Ologbane, also worked against gnoles [being gnome/troll hybrids].
After the fight, Porkins questioned the lone gnole prisoner who was very tight-lipped. Mannin checked the bodies [once asked to by Tor], finding on average four emeralds of varying qualities on each gnole. The rooms the gnoles had come out of were barracks with two sets of bunks in each room. There was also a set of stairs leading down below ground, but they were choked with rubble and other debris. The adventurers estimated it would take several hours to dig the stairs out, so they decided to wait until they were done searching the rest of the above ground ruins. They also realized that none of these rooms connected to the left half of Building 1.
The prisoner was walked over to the camp so the hireling guards could keep an eye on him. Once done with that, the adventures continued their perimeter search of the ruins. They verified that the back half of Building 1 was filled with phase spider webs. They then reversed course and walked around Building 2. Building 2 was smaller than building 1 and only a single story tall. It did not run all the way back to the cliffs. On its left side was a closed door and a paved path that led to a door on Building 3. Biggz cast Detect Traps on the door to Building 2 and detected none.
Tiny attempted to force the door open but failed [it was barred from the inside]. Porkins cast Knock and loudly blew the door open. There were gnole guards waiting on the other side [warned by Tiny’s attempt at forcing the door]. The gnole guards were supplemented by four more gnoles in better gear, but with Tiny and Tor blocking the only exit, they did not last long.
The entry area had a hallway from it to the only other room in this building, which was a trophy room. On display were three swords, a rack of potions, several pieces of fine jewelry [most with emeralds], and several bags of coins of both gold and copper. Porkins used Detect Magic to verify all three swords were magical, as were the potions and one piece of jewelry, a ring. The magic swords were carefully bundled up for later investigation and everything of value was swept into various loot bags for later counting and evaluation.
Finished looting the room, the slightly giddy adventurers followed the overgrown path to Building 3. Tor had Ologbane check for traps and none were detected. [Why doesn't he do this more often? Because his player can be a bit of a Bluto when playing and forgets the non-combat things his gear does.] Tiny forced the door open. This building was in worse shape than the other two. The interior walls had collapsed and they could see daylight filling the far end of the building. The daylight perfectly outlined the two owlbears nesting in this building!
With an outraged screech, the owlbears launched themselves at the adventurers. Biggz cast Bless on the troop before the actual fighting started [a requirement of the spell]. Tor stepped up next to Tiny to face the enraged owlbears. Tiny’s shield was shattered by one of the clawed attacks made at him. Tiny struck back with his axe while Tor and the second owlbear nicked each other.
Kunigunde and Biggz both hit the second owlbear with sling bullets. Porkins hit the first owlbear with three magic missiles while Tiny and Tor both concentrated their attacks on that owlbear. The owlbears hit both Tiny and Tor but for minimal damage.
Porkins cast Magic Missile again, targeting the first owlbear and killed it! The rest of the adventurers concentrated their attacks on the second owlbear to varying success, injuring it. It finally clawed Tiny solidly, but another round of attacks killed it with Tiny striking the killing blow. The adventurers quickly searched the owlbear nest, finding a single necklace of stout gold chain.
Somewhat injured and tired from the long day [especially those that had been up before dawn], the group decided the were done exploring for the day. They returned to where their supplies and the prisoner were being guarded and picked everything up. Biggz did not want to try camping adjacent to the ruins like the villagers had, but also could not take Porkins back into the village. As a compromise the adventurers scouted and found a suitable campsite protected from the chilly winds.
After camp was set up, Porkins explained to everyone [excluding the gnole prisoner] that he had lycanthrope and would change again that night when the moon rose. Biggz explained that they and Tor had supplies to bind Porkins for the night. Biggz understood if not everyone wanted to stay at the camp for the night and they would escort anyone wishing to stay in Stralbruck instead, but asked that anyone doing so not tell others about the situation. Once the silver cords and steel chain were displayed, most agreed to stay at the camp, but Isidoros [for the Yule festivities more than anything else], Bernagi, and Hardkira [mostly to keep an eye on the Tolk interpreter] opted to go back to the village.
Biggz and Kunigunde escorted the three plus the back to the village and the Brass Dog. The village had a winter fair still going on, much to Isidoros’ delight. Once the three were dropped off, Biggz took Kunigunde and the prisoner to Helmar Schleiden’s home to report in. Biggz discovered that the lord knew nothing of the issue with the emeralds and chose to not enlighten him. Lord Helmar instructed Biggz to drop off the prisoner at the village jail for later trial. After the meeting with the local lord, Biggz dropped the gnole prisoner off at the jail and then left the village. On the way back to the camp, Kunigunde had many questions for Biggz about Porkins’ condition.
End of Session
Behind the Green
[I compressed the fights with the gnoles to keep this report shorter. Overall, I was underwhelmed by the performance of the gnoles in combat, especially compared to their reputation from the Lord Dunsany short story. I’m thinking of increasing their hit points to two dice and possibly adding in some regeneration to reflect their troll heritage. I’m saving the hyena-men version of Gnolls for use as Cynocephali (dog-headed people) elsewhere.]
[Originally, my rules had all monsters (and PCs) only getting one attack, but I’m beginning to see why they were given multiple attacks as the original rules developed. Monsters do not get Strength bonuses to hit or for damage, so the PCs quickly outstrip the monsters in damage potential. I’m sticking with everything doing 1d6 damage.]
[As a result of the large amount of treasure, not including the magic items, everyone leveled. Several people lost some experience points here as the amount they received would have pushed them up two levels. Per the original rules, those who would have leveled twice are stopped at one point shy of the next level and any extra experience is lost. This included Kunigunde, even with the half experience she recieves as an NPC.]
Biggz’z Troop, CAC
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