Adventures in the Green

Friday, August 20, 2021

Biggz Troop – Session 22 – Part 1

[December 26 – Moonday afternoon wrapping up the gnoles and then…wererats!]

[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 is Part 1 of the session that happened July 3, 2021.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):

Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – gender neutral goblin Family Priest (6th level Cleric)

Porkins – male human Conjuror (6th level Magic-User)

Tiny – male minotaur Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Tor Wind – male human Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Mannin Darkshield – male dwarf Robber (4th level Thief)

Kunigunde Gruber – NPC female goblin Footpad/Petitioner (3rd level Thief/2nd 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]

Moonday, December 26, 523rd year of the Empire

1:00 PM

The adventurers took a rest in the very spacious and well stocked gnole larder they had just discovered. Tiny propped the paralyzed Mannin in a corner to keep him safe. During the rest the group discussed their options and decided to split the group for a period. The hired bodyguards would stay here in the defendable larder with Mannin, Isidoros, and Mannin’s gnole “friend” [the gnole Mannin's sword charmed the previous session] while the rest explored this building further until such time as Mannin recovered from the paralysis or they ran out of building to explore.

As the adventures moved out of the larder, they encountered a group of gnoles heading toward them and both groups were surprised to see the other! Biggz immediately cast Bless on her Troop while the gnoles moved into a defensible position. The adventurers moved to attack the gnoles, including Porkins stepping out of the larder to get a better view of the gnoles. A brief exchange of ranged attacks favored the adventurers as Kunigunde hit one of the gnoles twice while the two gnole crossbowmen missed entirely. Despite having the initiative, the gnoles also failed to land blows in the melee started with Tiny and Tor shattering gnole shields [I use the Shields Shall Be Splintered rules by J. Brian Murphy for both players and monsters].

Porkins cast Sleep on the gnoles, affecting all but one of his targets. That gnole and one Porkins could not see, realizing the danger they were in, started stamping their feet and yelling to awaken their sleeping comrades. Biggz and Kunigunde both slung stones at the awake gnoles – Biggz heavily wounding her target while Kunigunde killed hers. Tiny and Tor stepped forward to attack the still awake and living gnole. The gnole hit Tiny first [for 5 damage], but Tiny killed the gnole with Demonthumper. Tor hacked at a sleeping gnole and killed it.

Biggz, standing next to a sleeping gnole, started a coup de grace on the gnole. Porkins and Deniska advanced to do the same. A lone awakened gnole stood up to defend his sleeping comrades and hopefully awaken them as well. Kunigunde failed to sling this gnole. Tor called “dibs” on the gnole and stepped to attack it. Tiny moved to back up Tor. Tor attacked the gnole and missed completely. Porkins, adjacent to the gnole, stabbed the gnole with his dagger. The gnole, noticing Porkins lack of armor swung at the perceived easy target but lost his grip on his sword and dropped it. Tiny, respecting Tor’s calling of dibs, killed a sleeping gnole instead. Biggz finished the coup de grace, killing the sleeping gnole it stood over.

Kunigunde attempted to sling the still standing gnole but missed, hitting Biggz instead, much to Kunigunde’s mortification. The still living gnole yelled and kicked at the dwindling number of sleeping gnoles to try and wake them [while picking up his dropped sword], successfully waking one of the sleeping gnoles. Deniska set Tempesta Oscura for a coup de grace on the last remaining sleeping gnole. The standing gnole hit Porkins this time while the one still on the ground missed swinging at Tor. Porkins stabbed the standing gnole to death and Tor killed the one on the ground. Deniska finished her coup de grace, killing the last of the gnoles.

Several of the adventurers started looting the bodies [they have learn that gnoles carry emeralds to the exclusion of all other treasure] and collecting their shields and weapons. Tiny explored the hall the gnoles came from, locating an interior door to the east and an exterior door and stairs up to the next floor to the west. The group decided to check the interior door first. It was locked and in good repair, suggesting things of value were beyond it. Tor asked Ologbane if the door was trapped and the sword radiated an emotion of safety. Porkins retrieved the castellan’s ring of keys from the still paralyzed Mannin and unlocked the door. Tiny went to open it and discovered it was also barred on the other side. He exerted his massive strength and slammed the door off its hinges.

Beyond was a hallway with a doorway to a room immediately on the right and a door further down. Tiny stepped into the hallway to get a better look at the far door and was hit by two surprise crossbow bolts fired through the open doorway. The sounds of crossbows being reloaded quickly followed.

In the room beyond the doorway were three gnoles behind an overturned table barricade. All three fired their crossbows at Tiny, but only one found a weak point in his armor [two missed and one made a critical hit]. As the adventurers moved in, the gnoles switched to melee weapons. Kunigunde was able to hit one with her sling and killed the gnole. Tor stepped around the barricade and traded ineffectual blows with the gnole that side. Tiny shattered the shield of the gnole on the other side with Demonthumper while Biggz “thumped” Tiny on the back with her staff of healing, closing the minotaur’s wounds.

Biggz next attempted to sling at one of the gnoles and missed entirely. The second gnole readied a replacement shield, but Kunigunde got a hit in with her sling before the shield was in place. The gnoles swung at Tor and Tiny ineffectually while Tiny and Tor shattered both gnole shields.

Biggz lobbed another shot in with her sling, but accidentally hit Tiny instead [a to hit roll of 1]. Kunigunde killed the wounded gnole Tiny was fighting with a stone from her sling, allowing Tiny to step forward and flank the gnole Tor was fighting. That gnole readied another shield to little avail: Tor shattered the shield, allowing the flanking Tiny to cut down the gnole, dead.

Kunigunde and Biggz started healing the injured Tiny and Porkins [from last fight], while the others looted the bodies. This side room had a door on its east wall that appeared to go to the same room as the door in the hallway. Tor applied Ologbane to both, determining both were trapped. The door in the hallway had planks nailed across it while the one in the room was merely locked. Porkins passed the castellan’s keys to Tor for him to open the door. Tor did so, which also disabled the traps.

Behind this door was a room of shelves with a number of small boxes on the shelves. Going through the boxes, the adventurers found 3000cc, 6000gc, 6 pieces of jewelry, a wand, a map to a hidden wand of Fire Ball and a magic shield, and a potion. Porkins sipped at the potion and identified it as a potion of control dragon! He put the map in one of his scroll cases. The rest of the loot was taken back to the larder for later retrieval. They discovered Mannin was just starting to move again and took a rest, allowing the dwarf to limber up.

Having cleared out this floor, the adventurers went up the stairs that Tiny had located earlier. The stairs went up to a room with an external door and a balcony overlooking the lower entry area. With no other path forward, they opened the exterior door. Beyond was the breezeway across to the building that might hold more phase spiders. There was a break in the breezeway about halfway across with a small gap on left side, down to the ground.

Suspecting the integrity of the breezeway, the adventurers decided to move across one at a time. Tiny went first and safely crossed. Biggz followed and a small chunk fell to the ground. The rest of the group followed, one by one, with a block falling only when Deniska crossed. The gap in the breezeway now spanned halfway across the width of the breezeway.

The room on the other side had signs of dried blood on the floor but was otherwise empty. A side room was also empty, but deeper into the building the next room had a hole in the floor to the ground level with many cracks around the hole. There were two open doorways in this room, one in the middle of the long right wall and the other at the far end. Both seemed to lead to other rooms.

The adventurers did not trust the floor at all, but wanted to see if going forward here was necessary. Porkins took off his boots of levitation and handed them over to Tor, who put them on. A rope was tied to Tor before he activated the boots and levitated just above the floor level. Tiny then gave Tor a big push, sending Tor floating across the length of the room and into the next room. Tiny then picked up the trailing rope and waited.

Just past the far doorway, Tor found another empty chamber with similar cracks in the floor, suggesting the floor here was also unstable. An open doorway across this room opened to a smaller room that had webbing on the walls and floor. Tor yelled back to the rest of the group what he could see. While yelling back answers to questions yelled at him, Tor heard some rustling and observed a phase spider the size of a horse pass through the walls from somewhere beyond.

Tor started shouting out the word “retrieve!” multiple times, but Tiny didn’t know what a “retrieve" was and if it was dangerous [6 Intelligence and 6 Wisdom, right there]. The huge spider bit Tor and injected venom into him, but Tor was able to shrug the effects off [made his save]. He swung his sword and lopped off most of a leg [critical hit].

Porkins, seeing the huge phase spider, cast Magic Missile, sending three missiles unerringly into the spider before it could phase out again. The spider phased out as soon as it could while Tiny, working out that a “retrieve” was dangerous, reeled Tor back in on the rope. The phase spider, bloodied, decided this meal was not worth it and retreated through the walls, back the way it had come.

Not concerned despite his unhealed injuries [Tor was at half hit points due to accumulated battle damage], Tor was ready to investigate the next room and asked Tiny to push him through the open doorway. Tiny next pushed Tor at the open doorway on the right wall, sending Tor skimming into the next room and out of sight of the party…and into the waiting claws of four wererats. They immediately attacked Tor, two successfully slashing him with their short swords.

In a panic, Tor started yelling out to be retrieved, but in German, which Tiny did not understand. Tiny, not able to understand what Tor wanted, just listened harder to Tor's grunting words. Tor meanwhile swung his sword at the wererats, hitting one. Three of the four wererats attacked Tor back, one damaging him, while the fourth gnawed at the rope tied to him.

Tor yanked at the rope, trying to get it away from the wererat and to get Tiny to pull him back. Tiny mis-interpreted the yank to mean Tor needed more slack and feed out more rope. The three wererats attacking Tor all missed and one dropped his sword to the floor where it clattered noisily. The fourth wererat finished gnawing through the rope, letting the two ends drop while it bared its teeth at Tor. Tor failed to stab the leering wererat.

Realizing the danger he was in, Tor did the only thing he could – he levitated up to the ceiling so the wererats could not flank him. Tiny and Biggz both recognized the sound of a sword hitting the floor. Tiny immediately pulled back the now slack rope, finding only a gnawed end and not Tor at the end. Biggz alerted the rest of the adventurers that something was up. Tor got a hit in on the lead wererat while they all failed to hit him, one of them dropping its just retrieved sword again.

Tiny advanced to go help Tor and fell through the unstable floor. Porkins attempted the same and fell through as well. Both landed hard on the rubble-strewn floor below. Luckily Porkins did not drop the flask of oil nor the lit torch he was holding when he hit. Biggz tied the rope end to its belt and pulled out spikes. Mannin pulled out a hammer. Tor and the wererats exchanged blows, whittling each other down.

Biggz and Mannin started hammering spikes in the walls to tie off to and slowly advanced towards the fight in the next room. Down on the first floor, Porkins drank a potion of healing while he and Tiny tried to orient themselves. Tor finally got a solid hit in on the lead wererat and killed it. Unfortunately, two of the other wererats did the same to him, killing him and deactivating the boots of levitation. Tor’s last words were, “Wait until you see my cow…”

Biggz and Mannin continued their slow [but safe] progress to the fight, ending just outside the doorway. Kunigunde, unable to follow, moved to provide cover fire if anything came out of the next room to attack Biggz and Mannin. Tiny and Porkins, on the ground floor, ran through some doorways, hoping to find the gnole barracks and a way out of the building. What they found instead were two more rooms and a dead end. The last room contained several manacled villagers, either asleep or unconscious. Back above, Biggz distinctly heard the sounds of several carnivorous things feasting on meat.

Biggz cast Bless on herself and Mannin before stepping through the doorway and into a minor nightmare – three wererats bloodily feasting on Tor’s body. [Note, Biggz should not have been able to cast and move in the same round OD&D does not allow that, but I missed it at the table.] Mannin readied Whisperminder and followed Biggz. Below, Tiny and Porkins reversed course and moved as fast as they safely could, desperately looking for a door to the outside or stairs up. They found both in the last room they could reach. Above, Mannin attacked the nearest, unaware, wererat with a sneak attack to great effect.

Biggz used its magical sling to shoot at the wounded wererat, killing it with a successful hit. Kunigunde advanced to the room following the ropes and regretted it immediately. She turned and ran to get Deniska. Tiny and Porkins raced up the stairs and to the next room, the lair of the huge phase spider! Mannin hit the next wererat while it and its remaining partner both missed him, the partner dropping its sword for the third time. Tiny swung his sword at the huge phase spider, but it was out of phase.

Biggz slung another bullet at the wounded wererat, killing it. The huge phase spider wanted nothing of combat and fled the building entirely, allowing Tiny and Porkins to press on. Tiny reached the far end of the room with the hole in the floor and jumped across it to land in the doorway where the wererat fight was happening. Porkins, following, stopped at the unstable floor. Deniska, hearing Kunigunde calling for her, advanced to the ropes. Tiny swung Demonthumper, killing the last wererat in one blow. The wererat’s last words were, “Oh! That’s what he meant…”

End of Session

Behind the Green

[Sorry this was late - I concentrated on completing the Draft C edit of the rules to get them done. See the link at the top of this blog entry for download links of Draft C.]

[So I have Tiny roll a d20 against his Intelligence or Wisdom when dealing with things not within his immediate ken. With a 6 in both, it is easy for Tiny to get confused, which happened twice here. His player is fine with this as it sometimes takes the character in unusual directions and, as the player is the first to state, Tiny is not the sharpest tack in the box.]

[Tor’s player was disappointed that his character died here, but understood what he was doing was not the safest thing and he was already low on hit points as he was trying to conserve the groups healing magic. Also, at no point did anyone discuss a code of rope yanks in case he got into danger. Luckily the group has a good supply of coin and can pay for a casting of Restore Life and Limb. All Tor has to do is make the Resurrection Survival Roll at 90%. What could go wrong?]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC

…

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Biggz Troop – Session 21 – Part 2

[December 26 – Moonday Morning against the Gnoles.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):

Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – gender neutral goblin Family Priest (6th level Cleric)

Porkins – male human Conjuror (6th level Magic-User)

Tiny – male minotaur Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Tor Wind – male human Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Mannin Darkshield – male dwarf Robber (4th level Thief)

Kunigunde Gruber – NPC female goblin Footpad/Petitioner (3rd level Thief/2nd 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]

Moonday, December 26, 523rd year of the Empire

Morning

After Biggz’ morning meditation on the Many King [the deity Biggz follows], Biggz cast Remove Curse on Porkins, driving out the lycanthropic curse he suffered from. Due to the nature of the curse, he also lost memory of whatever he and the other wererats had been speaking of the previous night [see Part 1].

Mannin decided that he needed a magic weapon. With only one of the three magic swords unclaimed, he picked up Whisperminder to see if they had compatible alignments. He took no damage from the sword [both are Chaotic] and so claimed it as his own. The rest of the group agreed.

Tor was still heavily wounded from the previous day’s fighting. Biggz and Kunigunde used their Staves of Healing on him to heal up some of the damage. Kunigunde cast her first ever healing spell on Tor [Cure Light Wounds] and Biggz cast an additional Cure Light Wounds to finish healing Tor.

After a quick breakfast, Biggz set off to Stralbruck to retrieve Isidoros and his bodyguards, Bernagi, and Hardkira. The rest of the group packed up the campsite and headed over to the ruins to wait for Biggz’ return.

10:00 AM

Biggz arrived at Stralbruck. Biggz collected the slightly hung-over trio of hirelings, stopping briefly to let Father Solomon know that Porkins was cured of his lycanthrope.

11:00 AM

Biggz, Isidoros, Bernagi, and Hardkira arrived at the ruins, meeting up with the rest of the adventurers. After a quick planning discussion, the group circled around behind the eastern buildings. In a corner between two of the buildings they found a pile of bones showing evidence of having been gnawed on but not what did the gnawing.

Having completed checking behind the buildings, the group went to enter the first building on the right, which had a pair of double doors as its entrance. Tiny walked up and forced open the locked doors in one move, surprising the group of ten gnoles in the entry chamber. Four of the gnoles had swords out and were standing near the door, the other six split into two groups of three, each group behind an overturned table for cover. They were slack-jawed at the sudden appearance of the minotaur, smashing down the sturdy and locked doors.

Biggz cast Bless on the adventurers and Porkins cast Sleep on the gnoles he could see [all four with swords and one of the crossbowmen], cutting the gnole ranks in half. Tor and Tiny advanced into the chamber to get to the still standing gnoles. Mannin advanced into the room to attack one of the still awake gnoles with his magic sword, but Whisperminder cast Charm Person on the gnole and suddenly Mannin had a new best friend. Tiny killed one of the still standing gnoles, followed up by Tor killing another one.

Biggz, Kunigunde, and Porkins advanced into the chamber and started killing the sleeping gnoles. Tiny lost a shield to one of the remaining gnole combatants, but he and Tor killed one and heavily injured the last hostile gnole, who surrendered [he was down to 1 hp]. He was quickly tied up.

This chamber had two doors on the back wall. Mannin asked his new friend what was behind the doors. His new friend said behind the door to the left was the minor treasury and behind the door to the right were two hostages from Stralbruck. The gnoles were holding them for ransom, the return of the emeralds they had stolen from the gnoles. The adventurers felt the hostages were safe enough in their cell for now until the group could eliminate the other gnoles at least, but what they really wanted to know about was the minor treasury and the implied greater or major treasury and who had the keys. The new friend said the castellan had all the keys and he slept in the adjacent building. The major treasury was to the north and the adventurers were fairly certain they had looted it already.

Tor used Ologbane to see if the doors were trapped. The one to the minor treasury was. Mannin attempted to disarm the trap, but failed and a Wizard Lock spell came into effect on the door. Tiny applied his massive strength to the magically sealed door and was just able to force it open. [Tiny has a 19 Strength, which gives him a small chance to open magically sealed doors and he made the roll.] In the room were some shelves with 12 bags of coins, 7 of copper coins and 5 of gold coins, and a small box with three pieces of jewelry. Biggz put the jewelry on while checking the box for secret compartments. Biggz found no secret compartments and the jewelry turned out to not be trapped nor cursed.

When Mannin entered the room to look around, Whisperminder indicated that there was a secret door in the left wall. He opened the secret door and it led to a hallway in the next building with a doorway on the near right wall. Mannin’s new friend whispered that the gnoles didn’t know about that secret door but that the door in the corridor led to the castellan’s office.

Tor quietly advanced and had Ologbane check the door for traps. It had one in the doorknob. Mannin silently stepped forward and disabled the poison needle trap in the doorknob. He then unlocked the door itself and stepped back, gesturing for Tiny to take the lead.

Tiny opened the door to the small office and sleeping quarters for the castellan, who was asleep in a cot. Tiny quickly stepped over to the castellan and grabbed the gnole’s lower face to keep him from calling for guards. The castellan struggled for a bit, but Tiny was just too strong. Tiny picked up the castellan and took him back to the minor treasury to be tied up.

Once the castellan was tied up, he was moved to the entry chamber and put under the guard of Hardkira and Bernagi. In the meantime, Mannin spotted the castellan’s keys on a wall peg and took them. At this point the castellan’s guards started knocking on another door to the office, asking if he was OK. Tiny returned and opened this door where two burly and armored gnoles were standing.

One of the guards turned and ran, calling for help. The other fired a crossbow with a poisoned bolt into Tiny, but Tiny resisted the poison. Tiny smashed the guard a heavy blow, but the guard took it and kept fighting. These guards were of sterner stuff then the others.

The adventurers surged forward to fight the guard. Biggz hit the guard with a sling bullet. Porkins pulled a torch off Larn’s backpack and lit it off the torch Larn was carrying. Larn then advanced to provide light for Tor in the next room. The gnole guard there failed to hit Tiny, but Tiny tagged him. In the next round of fighting the guard nicked Tiny who killed the guard in return.

At this time, the guard who ran for help returned with four more guards. Porkins, still in the hallway, saw them approach and cast Web on them, catching them all. He called out asking for their surrender. Their reply was crude and so Porkins flung his lit torch into the webs, burning up the webs and all the guards.

The rest of the party advanced through the guard room. Beyond the room it connected back with the main hallway, where Porkins met up with them, the last of the webs and guards burning away. The burned area was another short hallway, possibly into another building. There were three additional guards there who were not caught nor burned in the web and they now attacked, murder in their eyes.

One of these guards shot Mannin’s new friend, but did not kill him. Tiny attacked one of the guards and hit, but did not kill the guard. Tor hit and killed a different guard. Mannin attacked but missed as did the guards.

Biggz attempted to hit one with a sling bullet but missed. Kunigunde hit the one Tiny sliced and killed it. Mannin’s friend shot the last guard, wounding it, but allowing Tiny to kill it easily.

There was a very solid looking door in the west wall and a doorway to the north. When asked, Ologbane confirmed the door was trapped, again in the doorknob. Mannin attempted to disarm the trap but was stuck by the needle and paralyzed. Tiny carefully moved the paralyzed Mannin away from the door and then broke the door down. The room beyond was a very well-stocked larder with food enough for a month or two.

End of Session

Behind the Green

[Everyone officially leveled after the nights rest, hence the use of new spells at the beginning of this session. A couple will level again after another night of rest. This is due to the limit of only gaining one level at a time. The large amount of experience gained in Session 20 took them to the limit of one point under gaining a second level, per the rules. This will happen to Kunigunde again at least one more time.]

[After getting stuck by the poison needle, Mannin’s player remembered that he had the key to this door in his pocket and could have safely disarmed the trap by simply unlocking the door. He will remember to do this in later sessions.]

[The castellan and his bodyguards had more hit dice than the other gnoles. It made them last longer, but I’m not certain of their success. I’ll need to toy around with this some more.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC

…

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Biggz Troop – Session 21 – Part 1

[Examining the loot at the end of Yule Day, then a busy night of visitations.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):

Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – gender neutral goblin Family Priest (6th level Cleric)

Porkins – male human Conjuror (6th level Magic-User)

Tiny – male minotaur Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Tor Wind – male human Swashbuckler (6th level Fighter)

Mannin Darkshield – male dwarf Robber (4th level Thief)

Kunigunde Gruber – NPC female goblin Footpad/Petitioner (3rd level Thief/2nd 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

Before Sunset

Porkins took sips of the various potions the adventurers took from the last batch of gnoles they defeated. [So in OD&D, Magic-Users were assumed to be able to identify potions by taste and a small sip was all that was necessary. This continues in Adventures in the Green.] Porkins identified them as:

Diminution
Clairvoyance
Invulnerability
Healing
Polymorph Self

Porkins next investigated the magic swords. He carefully used his cloak to avoid touching the swords directly while examining them. One of the swords had its name inscribed on the hilt crosspiece: Whisperminder. The second sword had a picto-glyph at the base of the blade. The glyph was a demon head being hit by a sword, making this sword Demonthumper, a holy blade of some renown Porkins once read about. The third sword had no obvious marks on it but detected as magic, leaving Porkins at a loss to identify it.

Porkins next touched the blades to get an idea of what their alignments might be. He knew by reputation that Demonthumper would be a Lawful blade, so he did not need to touch it. When he touched Whisperminder, he took damage, meaning the sword was either Lawful or Chaotic. When he touched the third sword, he was again damaged but then the sword started talking in Italian! Of the group there, only Deniska the hireling guard spoke Italian. After listening to the sword go on for a bit, she told Porkins its name was Tempesta Oscura. Porkins made note of the sword’s name and put it into the loot sack.

Porkins told Tiny he should be able to pick up Demonthumper and use it. Tiny picked it up and felt the sword’s emotions rapidly play out, settling upon sullen acceptance of its new user.

The Potion of Invulnerability was assigned to Tor by party agreement.

At this point Porkins divested himself of his gear and allowed Tiny and Tor to use the silver cord and three-foot chain and horseshoes [bent closed like manacles by Tiny] to tie him up. Tor scattered a handful of silver coins down Porkins’ shirt, which started itching immediately. Biggz and Kunigunde returned from their trip to town at this point. Biggz checked the restraints to verify they were good.

When the moon rose, Porkins transformed into a wererat and started struggling to get free.

First Watch

Tor and Kunigunde were on first watch [although most of the party was still awake], keeping an eye out for danger and to keep Porkins escaping as a wererat. Despite the full moon, they missed the arrival of a pack of gargoyles on wing. Two of the gargoyles attacked Tor and two attacked Kunigunde. The two attacking Tor failed to land a telling blow on him, but one of the gargoyles on Kunigunde hit her under the armpit with its claws and drew major amounts of blood [it rolled a critical hit for maximum damage].

Kunigunde immediately used her Staff of Healing upon herself, repairing most of the damage. She then disengaged from the gargoyles attacking her while calling out for the rest of the adventurers. Tor readied his shield and bellowed a challenge at the gargoyles. They obliged Tor by flying in to surround him. Tor hit one of the gargoyles with Ologbane that bit deep, but it allowed all four of the gargoyles to claw at him to terrible effect [all four hit and I rolled near maximum damage for the four attacks].

At this point the other adventurers had their weapons ready and joined the fray. Biggz missed with their sling while Mannin stepped back for a better angle with his sling, but missed as well. Tor pulled out his Potion of Invulnerability and drank it [+2 to AC and Saving Throws]. Tiny, Ivan, and Deniska moved to attack the gargoyles while Biggz stepped closer to the fight so she could heal Tor. Tor and Tiny both hit with their magic swords, injuring the gargoyles. Ivan hit with his longsword, but it bounced off the stony hide of the gargoyle while Deniska missed entirely. Three of the gargoyles attacked Tor, one missed, one shattered his shield, and one hit. The last gargoyle attacked Tiny and hit with its sharp claws.

Mannin and Kunigunde both landed sling bullets on the gargoyles, but they bounced off the stony hides to no effect. Biggz cast a healing spell on Tor, reinvigorating him. Tor pulled out his last Potion of Healing and drank it to minimal effect [he only got back 2 hit points]. Only two of the gargoyles attacked Tor this round, but the Potion of Invulnerability kept their claws at bay. The gargoyle fighting Tiny missed the minotaur, barely. The last gargoyle turned and attacked Biggz, nicking Biggz' ear [minimal damage rolled]. Tor and Tiny both hit a separate gargoyle, wounding but not killing them.

Biggz used their magic sling to whip a shot into the heavily damaged gargoyle Tor had been fighting and killed it. Deniska disengaged from the fight, running to the loot sack. She tossed aside her sword and rummaging through the loot sack, looking for something. Tor dropped the splinters of his shield and readied his second shield from his back. On their attacks, Tor missed and Tiny dropped his sword [result of a fumble]. Luckily for them, the gargoyles attacking them also missed. Biggz was not so lucky and was clawed by the gargoyle attacking them.

Biggz was unable to strike the gargoyle attacking them. At the loot sack, Deniska pulled out Tempesta Oscura and spoke to it in Italian. Tiny retrieved Demonthumper from the ground and then struck with it. Tor hit the same gargoyle. That gargoyle returned the favor to Tor while the second gargoyle missed and the third fell into the fire after his wings got entangled from the close in flying [he fumbled and as he could not drop his claws, he fell instead].

Biggz slung a bullet at the gargoyle in the fire and hit. Two of the remaining gargoyles decided that the adventurers were very dangerous and it was time to leave. They disengaged and flew away into the night sky. The gargoyle in the fire did not share their opinion and continued fighting. That gargoyle was hit by Tiny, but no other blows were landed by either side.

Biggz hit the gargoyle again, quickly followed by Tiny and Tor. Deniska made the killing blow with Tempesta Oscura. Deniska claimed the sword as hers and no one disagreed.

After the fight, it was discovered that Porkins the wererat had worked one of his arms free from his bindings. Tiny stepped over and knocked Porkins unconscious. The bindings were re-applied and the camp settled back down for the night.

Third Watch

Tiny and Deniska were on watch in the early hours of the morning before sunrise and noticed Porkins the wererat having a whispered conversation with someone in the woods. Tiny went to investigate and found two other wererats hiding in some bushes near the camp. He drew Demonthumper and pointed the glowing sword at the two wererats. They took the hint and left.

End of Session

Behind the Green

[I’m breaking this set of session notes back into two parts. There is a natural break point here and a lot of combat to come, which would make this a huge wall of text if I combined them. I could condense down the fights, but some significant things happen during them that I want to highlight, such as Deniska going for one of the magic swords when the gargoyles prove to be immune to non-magic weapons.]

[Tor's use of the Potion of Invulnerability probably kept him alive during the fight with the gargoyles. He would miss having it later.]

[I should point out that Demonthumper will not stay with Tiny for long. While Tiny's high Strength more than compensates for his low Intelligence to keep the sword from dominating him entirely, the sword's Egoism is high enough that it will eventually abandon him for a preferred wielder. Tiny's player is aware of this and agrees Tiny is the wrong person to have a Holy Avenger.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC

…

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Biggz Troop – Session 20

[More Yule Day combat and the finding of much loot!]

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

…

Thursday, July 1, 2021

Biggz Troop – Session 19 – Part 2

[Later that night, things get hairy and the next day dawns cold. Plus, spiders!]

[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 the second half of the session that happened April 24, 2021.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):

Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female 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]

Yggsday, December 24, 523rd year of the Empire

Evening

Tiny was awoken by the sounds of fighting and screams from outside The Brass Dog. Always interested in a fight, he picked up his [magical] axe and went downstairs. In the common room, Tiny discovered that the staff of the inn had closed the shutters and barred the door. He convinced them to unbar the door so he could go outside [an easy task when one is a minotaur and carrying a huge axe].

Outside Tiny found the villagers wielding weapons [some very improvised] and chasing some creature through the streets. When he asked what was going on, the villagers paused. Tiny did not speak German nor did the villagers speak Mü and they were clearly wondering if they were going to have to fight this minotaur in addition to the other thing. Tiny made gestures with his hands and his axe and the villagers realized he was with them in tracking down the monster they were hunting. This greatly encouraged them. Maybe they wouldn’t have to be the ones to die or get injured after all!

Tiny and the villagers chased the monster around the buildings inside the village walls. Whatever it was, it was quick and Tiny never got a good look at it. It eventually ran up some stairs to the wall and leapt over it to the cold ground outside. It then fled the village area just as Tiny got to the top of the wall. Tiny contemplated just hopping over the wall himself and continuing the chase, but in a rare flash of insight he realized none of the humans would be able to follow him, so he stopped. The villagers took this as a sign that the minotaur had scared off the monster and now considered the minotaur one of them.

Near the end of the chase, Biggz awoke to the noise [the roaring minotaur helped here]. Biggz immediately checked Porkins’ room and found it empty with the window open. Biggz realized that Porkins had changed again and feared the results of a conflict with the villagers. Biggz closed the window and straighten the room a little before heading downstairs. It was time to go outside and see if they could avoid having their magic-user murdered by an angry mob of villagers.

Once outside, Biggz learned the chase was over and the monster had escaped. This greatly relieved Biggz, who then inquired if anyone had been injured. Several villagers had been and Biggz started healing them and treating their wounds with wolfsbane and holy water. The local priest noticed this and discretely asking if the use of the herbs was necessary for these wounds. Biggz replied, “Yes.” The priest then took Biggz to other injured villagers he had treated so she could apply her herbs and holy water. To avoid a panic, the priest explained this extra treatment as something to avoid the wounds going bad. He eventually introduces himself as Father Solomon, the village’s priest.

Once the wounded are treated and Tiny sent back to the inn, Father Solomon and Biggz have a quiet talk about why Biggz knew treatment for lycanthrope was necessary. Biggz confessed that the “monster” was one of her friends and that she had only learned the previous day that he had lycanthrope. Biggz felt that they would be able to remove the curse soon, but possibly not for a week [Biggz was close to leveling and gaining access to Remove Curse]. Until then, Biggz wanted to keep things bottled up. Father Solomon saw this as a dangerous to the village as there was still one more night of the full moon. He agreed to assist Biggz but needed to spend some time on other responsibilities [the next day being Yule and a major holiday]. Further, he required that Biggz keep her friend out of the village the next night to keep the villagers safe. Biggz accepted this and the two agreed to meet in the morning the next day to discuss further options.

Sunday, December 25, 523rd year of the Empire

Dawn

Biggz woke up Tor and Mannin by pounding on the door to their room until one of them opened it. Rather rudely, Biggz talked only to Tor and in Gobbly [the language of goblins, which Mannin does not speak]. Biggz explained to Tor that there was a monster attack on the village that Tor and Mannin slept through, but the monster was actually Porkins, who had lycanthropy. Biggz needed Tor to take Tiny and go out into the countryside to find Porkins, who should be human again but mostly without clothes, in the winter. Tor accepts the mission and went to find Tiny. Biggz switched back to German and told Mannin that the group would be heading out after Noon and would he please pack up everyone’s gear and keep an eye on things here at the Brass Dog. Mannin knew that Biggz was hiding something and was a bit sore about it, but he was there to meet a syndicate obligation so he agreed.

Tor found Tiny down in the common room eating breakfast. Tor attempted to explain the situation to Tiny, but Tiny just didn’t get it. Tiny eventually worked out that the two were going looking for the monster from last night and he was good with that. Tor stopped trying to explain while he was ahead and had breakfast.

Outside the Village

Porkins awoke, sore and cold, in a copse of trees, barefoot. His clothing was blood-soaked and there were parts of some animal around him with clear signs they had been gnawed on. He stepped outside the copse and discovered he was in farmland with a farmhouse nearby. It was very cold. Porkins tore the bloodied sleeves off his tunic and then staggered to the farmhouse.

Once there he banged on the door and called for help. The farmer and his family took Porkins in and asked what had happened to him. Porkins claimed to be part of a group on their way to Stralbruck who were attacked by bandits. Porkins claimed he was the only one to escape and he had been wandering without shoes and proper clothing for hours. The farmer and his family bought the story and helped get Porkins cleaned up and gave him some spare clothes so he could get to Stralbruck.

10:00 AM

Biggz met with Father Solomon in the clergy house adjacent to the village’s church. The two talked over their options, but it was a frustrating conversation for them both. Father Solomon eventually offered the use of two long silver cords to bind Porkins when he changed again. That would keep him from harming any villagers or farmers and will give the two of them another month to secure a permanent solution [although they differed on what that solution might be]. Father Solomon asked Biggz to came back by the church after the Noon services and he would have the supplies ready. Biggz agreed to this and returned to the Brass Dog to wait.

Roughly at the same time Tiny and Tor stumbled across Porkins in his new coat and shoes, walking the road to Stralbruck. Porkins was nervous about going back into the village and he convinced Tiny and Tor to follow a new plan. Porkins and Tiny will circle the town and head to the mill site the group is supposed to investigate and wait there. Tor will go into town and get the rest of their belongings and the rest of the group and meet Tiny and Porkins at the mill site in a couple hours. Tor agreed to this. Porkins spent the trip to the mill site trying to explain to Tiny that he, Porkins, was the monster last night.

10:30 AM

Tor arrived at the Brass Dog, having detoured to a smith to purchase three feet of steel chain [all that was available] and four horseshoes. At the tavern he found Biggz in the common room eating a late breakfast. Tor explained to Biggz that he and Tiny had found Porkins and what the new plan was. Biggs rolled their eyes and explained they needed to wait to meet the priest again for some additional supplies to bind Porkins, but the rest of the group should go to the mill site and wait there for Biggz.

Tor went upstairs and collected a grumpy Mannin, the hirelings, and all the group’s supplies. The group set off to the mill site just before 11:00 AM.

Noon

Mannin, Tor, Larn, Isidoros, Deniskva, Ivan, Bernagi, and Hardkira arrived at the mill site and met up with Tiny and Porkins. The mill site was at a bend in a low set of cliffs with a stream flowing across and in front of the ruins. The area had been partially cleared of trees and brush, exposing the ruins. The ruins [only recently learned about] were several stone buildings, some two stories tall. They were ornately decorated with stone statuary as part of the decorations and two of the buildings were connected by a walkway above the ground floor. The camp site the workers had used was obvious and quite abandoned.

The adventurers stashed their gear and supplies [NOT at the abandoned campsite] and decided to investigate the outside of the ruined buildings. They crossed the stream at a point where the workers had thrown in some large stone blocks to step across. They went left to circle around behind the first building on that side.

The area behind the building where it was close to the cliff-side was clotted with spider webs, starting just past a collapsed corner of the building. While the adventurers were peering into the building and trying to avoid stepping on the webs, four giant spiders appeared and advanced on them.

During the first minute of combat, the adventurers attempted to shoot the spiders. Most missed, but Tor “hit” one and saw the arrow go straight through the spider to no effect. Mannin ordered Larn to light a torch while dropping his bow to ready a melee weapon [I don’t remember if he uses an axe or a sword]. Tiny was bit by one of the spiders but the others failed to do the same. The adventures struck several blows against the now corporeal spiders.

Tor switched to his sword but observed the spiders phase out during their moves. None of the adventurers’ melee attacks actually landed, wafting through the spiders. Then the spiders came in to bite, becoming solid again but failing to connect.

Before the spiders could phase out again, Kunigunde was able to hit one of the spiders with her sling. The spiders moved to attack multiple targets and Larn got his torch lit. The spiders had initiative and attacked. Two of them bit Tiny, one bit Kunigunde, and one bit Mannin. All felt the spider venom start stiffening their muscles, but only Mannin fully succumbed to the paralysis [the rest made their save vs. Poison]. Tiny and Tor each hit a spider.

Before the spiders phased back out [which happens as a half-move action], Porkins finally decided to use a spell, casting Magic Missile and peppering one of the spiders with three missiles. The spiders phased out and the one Tiny had hit twice fled the area. Tor readied his shield. One of the remaining spiders bit at Tiny but shattered his shield instead of landing the blow [Tiny’s player wanted to avoid Tiny becoming paralyzed], the others missed. In return, Tiny killed one of the spiders.

Using the window of vulnerability between the spiders' bites and being able to phase back out, Porkins cast another Magic Missile at the same spider and killed it. The last spider phased out and moved to attack Tiny. Tiny and Tor attacked first, but the spider was still out of phase and they failed to injure it. The spider failed to bite Tiny, rebuffed by his armor [and low armor class].

The last spider took hits from Tiny and Tor and decided that it had had enough. When it next phased out it fled the combat. Tor took the lit torch from Larn and set fire to the webbing inside the building while Kunigunde used her staff of healing on Tiny. The webbing inside the building caught fire and started giving off smoke, which the adventurers used to cover their retreat back to their camp site.

1:00 PM

Mannin’s paralysis wore off and he berated Tor for burning the webbing as phase spider silk is magic and commands a good price.

End of Part 2

End of Session

Behind the Green

[This was my first time using Phase Spiders with my rules and I found the description of their powers in OD&D…lacking and possibly broken. I described this back in my April posting on Rule Descriptions - Phase Spiders and the Combat Sequence, which you can read there. I also explain the Combat Sequence I’m using there.]

[I didn’t remember it at the time, but I am now amused that Mannin was the one who ordered the torch be lit before they knew the spiders were phase spiders and then ended up complaining when the torch was actually used.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC

Session 01, Part 1

…

Session 19, Part 1

Session 20

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Biggz'z Troop – Session 19 – Part 1

[After three weeks of downtime, the Troop gets a job offer and travel to Stralbruck. Porkins has a confession to Biggz.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC (Chartered Adventuring Company):

Biggz Bigguns of the Big’uns Clan – female 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]

Downtime between November 20 to December 11, 523rd year of the Empire

During this downtime, the adventurers pursued individual projects, summarized as follows:

Porkins learned Rope Trick and added it to his spellbook. He also underwent his second transformation into a wererat during the full moon on November 24 and realized he had lycanthrope.
Tor went to Grossestadt to pick up the magical plate armor he commissioned. He paid the remainder of the agreed cost [half up front, half on completion]. He then returned to Smolberg.
Biggz also went to Grossestadt to file the necessary paperwork for the adventuring group to make them a Chartered Adventuring Company. This provides some protections for their activities and title to their loot [assuming there is no prior claim] in exchange for paying a yearly renewal fee to the Empire. Without these protections adventurers can be charged for murder for killing the wrong kind of people in a dungeon or have their hard-earned loot confiscated by a local noble on whose fief a dungeon might be located. Biggz also posted new notices that they were looking to hire another cleric and placed an order with Hugh for another enchanted sling [for Kunigunde].
Tiny and Kunigunde lived like rockstars in Smolberg, partying until late in the night, sleeping in, and generally living large.
Mannin lived quietly, doing his best to not draw a great deal of attention to himself, especially from law enforcement.
[The entire group paid their upkeep for November (I forgot to ask for it previously) and for December.]

Sunday, December 11, 523rd year of the Empire

Biggz, sitting in the Little Ox tavern and working on some paperwork, was approached by a human in fancy clothing. After verifying that Biggz was Biggz, he introduced himself as Ulf Thorhallson. He explained he was a representative of the village council of Stralbruck. Not recognizing the name of the village, Biggz asked where Stralbruck was and Ulf explained it was part of County Mandersheid-Scleiden-Virreburg, a small principality to the north. The village had recently secured the right to build a mill on a nearby stream and sent workers to clear the site before the winter snows came. Shortly after the work started, workers started disappearing, six so far. The village council wants that stopped and decided to hire the group that cleared the goblins from the Smolberg Watchtower. [This is something the PCs are currently known for doing.]

Biggz was interested in the job and asked what it paid. Ulf explained the job paid 1000 gc for making the site of the mill safe from whatever was taking the villagers. If Biggz was willing to sign a contract for the job, Ulf was also authorized to pay out an emerald as a deposit over and above the coins. Biggz asked about the status of any loot taken from whatever was making the villagers disappear. Ulf agreed that anything secured in the process of stopping the disappearances would belong to the adventurers. Finding the deal fair but curious about the emerald being offered, Biggz asked to see it. Ulf looked around to verify they were not being watched and then pulled a small velvet bag from his belt pouch. From it he produced a cut emerald about the size of an acorn and displayed it to Biggz. Biggz was impressed and asked when they needed to be in Stralbruck. Allowing for travel, Ulf agreed that the adventurers needed to be in Stralbruck to start work no later than the 29th of December. Biggz agreed to the terms of the contract. The two of them then completed and signed two copies of the contract, Ulf taking one copy and Biggz the other. Ulf handed the emerald over to Biggz and departed.

With the contract and emerald in hand, Biggz rounded up the members of Biggz’z Troop and explained the job. The group discussed what supplies they needed to take with them for the trip. They decided to purchase 10 new shields for the fighters to use [I use Shields Will Be Shattered, so the fighters burn through a lot of shields]. Not certain what accommodations there would be, Porkins bought a tent and the company bought a second one. They thought it would be wise to hire some additional bodyguards for Larn and Isidoros and they should pay Larn, Isidoros, Deniska, and Ivan for a full month as they would be out of town for at least that long.

Biggz went over to the Guild of Condotierre, Linkboys, Roustabouts, and Stevedores to make the arrangements. She learned that Hardkira and Bernagi were currently available [the group worked with them in the past] and hired them as the additional bodyguards. She also made use of the Guild's money-changing services to use the emerald for payment and received coin as change, which were used to pay for the other supplies the group wanted.

Porkins went over to Isen’s Book and Paper and purchased a copy of Créatures de la Lune from Isen. Isen raised an eyebrow at the book purchase and Porkins claimed it was for a job the adventurers had been hired for. The book was in French and written in three parts. Part 1 was a general history of lycanthropes, Part 2 discussed the different types of were-creatures and their habitats, and Part 3 discussed defenses against them and their curse. [Reading through it during the trip to Stalbruck, Porkins would learn that the author, Grégoire de Fronsac, had the most experience with werewolves and very much advocated the eradication of all lycanthropes.]

Finally, Biggz tracked down Aaron Kalteswasser, the river merchant, and asked if he and his boat were available for hire to take the group to Wittlingen (the nearest river town to Stralbruck). Aaron said he would be ready in the next morning for a reasonable fee. Biggz paid the fee and told Aaron to expect 12 passengers in the morning.

Moonday, December 12, 523rd year of the Empire

In the morning all of Biggz’z Troop and their hirelings arrived at the town docks and boarded Aaron’s river boat. The trip would take 10 days, first heading down the Jeetzel River to the Wasser River and then up the Wasser. Unsurprisingly, the boat of heavily armed adventurers was not bothered during the trip.

Cromsday, December 22, 523rd year of the Empire

The river boat full of adventurers arrived at Wittlingen and docked mid-morning. Biggz thanked Aaron and the group started walking. Stralbruck was the better part of three days to the east. Luckily, there were inns along the way as the route from Wittlingen to Stralbruck was reasonably well traveled.

Freysday, December 23, 523rd year of the Empire

Realizing that this would be the first night of the full moon, Porkins was forced to confide in Biggz that he had lycanthrope and would likely change into a wererat when the moon rose. Biggz was shocked that Porkins was only now mentioning this. They discussed their limited options at this point and Biggz agrees to tie Porkins up and lock him in one of the rooms at the inn – it was the best they could work out as the sun was already setting.

Yggsday, December 24, 523rd year of the Empire

Dawn

Porkins woke up, partially dressed, in a small outbuilding near the inn. He snuck back to the inn and was able to re-enter his room through the window without anyone noticing. The room was a mess from the thrashing around he apparently did to get free and his rope was fairly shredded. He finished cleaning just as Biggz arrived and unlocked the door. They were both concerned that he would change twice more this lunar cycle.

Mid-afternoon

The group of adventurers arrived at Stralbruck. Stralbruck was a large village with a wall around it and a noticeable church. At the gate Biggz explained who they were and showed the contract. The gate guards directed the group to The Brass Dog, the best [only] inn, and explained where the local lord lived in town.

While most of the group spent the remaining afternoon securing rooms at The Brass Dog [rooms had been set aside by the local lord for their use], Biggz and Porkins went on separate missions. Porkins went to the local church to determine if anyone had access to Remove Curse “in case whatever was making the villagers disappear could invoke curses.” The priest in charge told Porkins the village was small and did not have anyone capable of removing curses, but it would only take a week or so to get someone here. Porkins thanked the priest for the information and made a small donation to the church.

Meanwhile, Biggz reported in with the local lord of Stralbruck, Helmar Schleiden. Helmar was somewhat nervous when discussing the job. He eventually admitted that the number of missing villagers was now 14. He gave directions to the location of the ruins where the land was being cleared for the mill. This made Biggz raise their eyebrows as Ulf had not mentioned any ruins. Biggz decided to not ask about the ruins – it would be easier to claim any loot in them later than ask for permission now. Biggz left the lord’s home to update the other adventurers.

Shortly Before Sunset

While finishing an early dinner, Biggz and the rest were accosted by a human in wealthy merchant’s clothing. He introduced himself as Grimbold von Virreburg, a prominent member of the village. He sought verification that the adventurers had accepted the contract and would have things “settled in a timely fashion.” Biggz asked why Grimbold had not asked the lord and Grimbold stated he “didn’t want to bother his lordship with merchant fears.” Grimbold told Biggz he was concerned that the disappearances would stop commerce in the area as the Yule celebrations were already subdued. He reiterated that he was glad the adventurers who cleared the Smolberg Watchtower were on the job and said his farewells.

Oleg the bartender, who was delivering a round of drinks as Grimbold was leaving, offered the opinion that he heard a rumor that it was ghosts taking away people.

End of Part 1

Behind the Green

[So, there is a huge time gap between session notes. That’s because I stopped writing up my session notes for this campaign back in 2019. I did so for a couple of reasons, mostly to do with feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the personal projects I was handling at the time. Since then I brought the major writing project I was working on to a stopping point. It was not complete, but it was a project that consumed a lot of my personal time used someone else’s IP. I started to feel burnout on it and realized if I finished, I couldn’t do anything with it but give it away free. Recognition is great, but it doesn’t pay bills and I was feeling very financially precarious at the time. I set a date to get the files into good enough shape that I felt they could be made public without terminal embarrassment and then posted a link to them on my primary blog, Bugbears for Breakfast (look for the sidebar links to The Game).]

[Once that was wrapped up and handed over, I concentrated on writing my clone of OD&D – Adventures in the Green, the rules I’m using to run this campaign. I’m nearly done with Draft C of the rules and have posted PDFs of Book I and Book II. Book III was targeting to complete Draft C by the end of June, but it now looks like a July thing as it has a lot of Referee advice and needs some serious thinking for the re-write.]

[In the meantime, I feel I have more personal bandwidth right now and so I’m resuming typing up the session notes for the playtest campaign. Rather than go back over a year ago and try and catch up, I’m starting with the current action. I will gradually go back and fill in the gap, but don’t expect it soon. I don’t want to burn out on any of this, so I’m taking it one piece at a time.]

[I also recently learned that I’d been spelling Biggz’ name wrong (I was using only one “g”). This happened when the character was asked the name of the adventuring party while filing the paperwork to become a Chartered Adventuring Company. I’ve corrected that error going forward. Sorry, Biggz.]

Biggz’z Troop, CAC

Session 01, Part 1

…

Session 19, Part 2

Monday, June 14, 2021

The Imperial Calendar and Tracking Time

So my campaign is set in an analog of the Holy Roman Empire, roughly around 1400. This made German the "Common Tongue" and allows a mix of small to medium sized principalities competing with each other for prestige, influence, and land.

As a result, I wanted a recognizable calendar but not the same calendar used in the real world. Doing some online research, I looked at the Roman calendar, particularly that of the Republic, which puts Ianuarius [January] and Februarius [February] at the end of the calendar year. This version of the calendar inserts an Intercalary Month into the middle of Februarius so that there are three weeks of Februarius, the intercalary month of Mercedonius (27 days), and then the last week of Februarius every other year. There is also an extra day thrown in at the end of Feruarius every fourth year.

[Incidentally, this made years average out to 368.75 days over a 4 year span. There was a 24 year cycle where one of the longer years was left out to bring things back into better alignment, but still the calendar crept forward compared to the seasons. On top of which, the pontifex of Rome determined when the intercalary months actually happened and, as they were politicians, would add or withhold the intercalary months to their own benefit. This is why Julius Caesar [yes, THAT Julius Caesar] reformed the calendar, creating the Julian calendar, during his short stint as ruler of Rome. The Julian calendar did not rely on human intervention to stay in synch with the seasons and actual dates could be fixed to the start of each season. It was more complicated than this - I recommend reading the Wikipedia article on the Julian Calendar if you are interested.]

I've decided to use some of the Julian reforms, so the months will have the same number of days that the modern calendar does, but I'm keeping the old names and order of months, starting the year at the Spring Equinox on 1 Martius. This is to replicate that some races live longer and can more easily pass information along without losing as much along the way. Plus, the gods actually speak to their clerics, so keeping a religious calendar in a certain order has more gravitas than in the real world.

Therefore, the months are as follows:

Martius	(31 days)
Aprilis	(30 days)
Maius	(31 days)
Iunius	(30 days)
Quintilis	(31 days)
Sextilis	(31 days)
September	(30 days)
October	(31 days)
November	(30 days)
December	(31 days)
Ianuarius	(31 days)
Februarius	(28/29 days)

And to keep things all together, the days of the week are:

Sunday
Moonday
Hernesday
Magusday
Cromsday
Freysday
Yggsday

[These I developed for the Barrowmaze campaign I've run one season of so far. The players became familiar with the day names there so I ported them over for this campaign.]

Now I told you all of that so I could talk about this: tracking time in a campaign is important. Porkins is high enough in level to know more spells than he has now, but learning them takes time, on the order of a week per spell level per spell. He also wants to research a couple of spells which take just as long. He also does not want to miss out on experience or treasure. So to meet these demands, he either has to convince the party to not go out adventuring for a couple weeks [or more] or suck it up and miss out on some adventures. Luckily for him, another option is about to happen.

The other reason to keep track of time is weather. It isn't summer all year long [unless it is in your campaign], and so the seasons should happen. I suddenly realized that it is December in-game and winter should be very noticeable. So I've started emphasizing how cold it is outside, especially at night. The players know that sometime soon the winter storms will happen and pretty much all travel will stop for a couple months. I should have done this nearly a month ago in-game, but I wasn't paying attention so it is happening now.

With two months of forced down-time, Porkins should be able to update his spell selection and do research on a couple subjects he has put on his To Do list. Biggz is looking at taking over the Watchtower as a residence and place of business for the group. This will require codifying their maps of the various levels, planning on where they want to block off sections underground so their areas are secure. That will require the hiring of an engineer and several weeks of planning and discussion with the engineer. Plus they need to negotiate a grant or title from the current owner, a down-on-his-luck noble who owns a lot of the land around Smolberg, but also has a lot of debt that he inherited with it.

That's it for now - more later. The session notes for the campaign will resume tomorrow (6/15/21) but I'm jumping to the beginning of the current story line at Session 19. I'll fill in the gap between sessions 2 and 19 as time permits, but it will be infrequent as I want to move forward.

Later!