OD&D Session 2: Exit, Pursued by a Boar

    This week the players engaged in some proper exploration. Leaving the orc-infested ruins alone for the time being, they took a contract from one of the patrons aboard the colonial expedition, Siegfried von Gemmelmordt. Siegfried is an 11-level magic-user, the highest level character, and a man who clearly looks much older than he should.

What dozens of uses of haste will do to a man

    The wizard has his own reasons for coming on this expedition. He doesn't care much about the prospective resource extraction opportunities that a restored colony would provide, he rather is interested in paying the glut of opportunistic mercenaries present on the expedition to assist him in gaining access to a particular ruined temple he has learned of. About 2-5 days upriver into the jungle he believes there to be the Library of Shuga-Koth, and he would like some chumps of lesser status to scout the place out for him. All too eager for the potential loot, the party hired some men-at-arms and set out for the dungeon. 

On the crew for this excursion:

    1. Ivan, a brand new fighter from a friend who missed last weeks session

    2. Akavir, an elf played by the same guy who played Clovis last week

    3. Dobby, an elf played by another new player

    4. Seamus, the farm-boy fighter from last week, healed up and ready for more

    5. Yon the elf, also returning from last week. 

    Both Yon and Seamus have hired men-at-arms (2 archers and 3 heavy foot each) for this expedition, though Yon paid extra for elvish soldiers, and paid them double in an attempt to improve their loyalty rating. We'll see how this pans out for them. 

    The trip to the dungeon was broadly uneventful, no random encounters beset them as they paddled up the river, and at the end of the third day they arrived at the temple. It was carved from the face of a cliff overlooking the river like Petra, and the party felt unsure about sleeping near it, so they made camp on the opposite side of the river. During first watch that night, 13 ghouls came up as a random encounter. Encounter distances in the wilderness are quite far, with the ghouls being 200 yards away from camp, coming up on them along the riverbank. The party bravely decided to scramble into their boats and go over to the other side of the river. The ghouls looked at the party, looked at the river, looked at the temple, and slipped back into the jungle.

"Ok ya you guys have fun in there"

    Far from being frightened by the way the ghouls seemed afraid of the temple, the party decided to camp out in its looming shadow with the hope that it would scare off any other nasty foes. In the morning, they approached the dungeon. Entering into the main chamber, there were 5 doors to contend with. True to form (My players have a system), they went straight for the closest door to the left of them. Inside were 12 kobolds, 4 of whom scrambled away, for purposes unknown. The remaining 8 fought bravely, and even killed a pair of  men-at-arms, but were ultimately slain. I wanted the kobolds to feel right for the Lost World jungle we were exploring, but still retain the "Dog-faced minions" feel. I described them as squat, emaciated humanoids. The Dog-faced element I described as "Imagine a human face stretched out to fit over a large, elongated dog skull". This is a visual I have used before and it never fails to make players squirm a little bit. 

    The party entered the chamber, seeing that it was an enormous grand hall (50 feet wide!) that turned twice and sloped downwards, sending it under the rest of this dungeon floor. A pair of elevated catwalks/balconies ran along either side, and the party slipped along these to then rain arrows down on the remaining kobolds, who were furiously trying to drive spikes into an enormous set of double-doors. They looted the poor wretches, finding some gems, and removed the spikes so the doors would open. The doors revealed a long descending stairwell of polished black marble, and after careful consideration, the party elected NOT to go to what was presumably the second level of the dungeon. 

    Returning to the main antechamber, and learning that the second door to the left led to the same massive grand hall, they moved to the doors on the right, leaving the door straight across from the entrance alone for now. The first right-hand door led to a long corridor with the floor covered in purple smoke. The players were not interested, they went to the second right-hand door, and followed a corridor to a room with two hobgoblins passed out drunk. The hobs were described as much taller, more muscular version of the dog-skull kobolds, though where the kobolds had something like a long hound skull, these creatures were like a human face draped over the skull of a pug or a bulldog. They tied the hobs up, thinking that bringing back live specimens to their wizard employer might lead to a bonus of some kind. 

    However, they also decided to interrogate them for intel about the dungeon. The first was uncooperative and screamed for help, but no help came. The party killed him to show the other one that they meant business. The survivor told them that treasure lay at the end of the purple-smoke hallway, but the players didn't believe him. The went for the final unchecked corridor, the door directly opposite the entrance in the antechamber. This led them to a room where some hobgoblins were training giant rats with a bite sleeve. The players did not have surprise, however, and the hobs were ready with several rats lunging and pulling on their leashes to be let loose against the party. The combat was short, and merciless. They killed the remaining rats in cages, and searched the room. Fun fact: a plurality of elves in the party means secret doors are almost always going to be found! 

    Three secret doors in this room (The ways of Appendix A can be treacherous), one leading to a store-room where the hobgoblins had their lair treasure, 2000 copper and 6000 silver), one leading to a winding rough-hewn tunnel, and one leading to an ominous narrow passage. Only 15 feet deep, a meagre 4 feet wide, the halls walls, ceiling and floor were blacker than black, the torchlight did not even reflect off the surfaces. At the end of the hall, mounted on the back wall, a huge, beautiful mirror with an ornate golden frame. Seamus approached, and found all the blemishes and scarring on his face completely absent. He looked better than he ever had! He tried to remove it from the wall, but it wouldn't budge. Making contact with it caused a saving throw, which he failed, and now he is DEFINITELY NOT CURSED and his impulsive desire to return to this mirror as often as possible and look at himself is COMPLETELY NORMAL. 

    Following the rough-hewn tunnel, they came across many branching paths, but in the end only followed one, through ANOTHER secret door into a room with a pair of shriekers, quickly dispatched. The Shriekers attracted a wandering encounter, a thin, extremely tall, gaunt pale man who slipped behind the party, being only seen by the rear guard, but not engaging. He smiled at them and vanished deeper into the tunnels. When interrogated about this, the captive hobgoblin spoke in abject terror about the "deathless man". The party decided it was time to go back to the ship and cash out this expedition.

    On the way home, which was much faster going with the current of the river, the party was attacked by a wereboar, who (based on his reaction rolls) simply wanted to scare them off, not massacre them. He killed a hireling archer, damaged one of the PCs, and ran off back into the woods. He seems territorial, I expect we will see him again in the future. 

    Returning home, the party got paid for their intel and made plans to go back at the soonest possible convenience. Seamus is fairly badly hurt, but the allure of that mirror has him considering going on the next expedition to the temple anyway, even if he isn't fully healed by that time. We shall see what goes down next time! There is a Battle Braunstein in the pipeline for (tentatively) May 11, more details to follow. It was Dobby the Elf's player's first time playing DnD of any edition ever this week, and he seemed to have a good time.