Delved on 5/7/22 and 5/8/22, rested 5/9/22, may take actions on 5/10/22.
PCs: Max Bear (barbarian), John Redcorn III (cleric), Gwendolyn (bard)
Hench: Blacknose (Teutch)
Dead PCs: Max Bear, face chewed off by Giant Ants
Our bold adventurers suited up to attack the abandoned mine filled with kobolds for a second week, this time bolstered by the addition of Blacknose, a plate wearing hench of Teutch the Alchemist (Patron Mage) who arrived in town in a mercenary band under Lockleaf's command, another henchman of Teutch's. Lockleaf REALLY wants them to go to Teutchland, displaying a magical sword that they could earn and offering all manner of hooks and promised resources. The adventurers are intrigued, but also feel obligated to rescue Hal's family from the mine. Lockleaf loans them Blacknose's services to get this done so they can get moving.
Armed with a Potion of Treasure Finding supplied by Lord Issac (Patron Paladin), the party backtracked to the mine and entered. They could feel the in and out airflow reminiscent of breathing from deeper in the cavern and smell faint smoke residue from the fire that they set the week prior. They investigated the site of the fire/battle and found that the mine shaft had collapsed. They also found some giant rats eating a dead kobold crushed in the cave-in. The rats didn't care about them, so the adventurers moved on.
At the next crossroads they found Hal himself chained up and staked to the ground a bit inside the dungeon. Hal informs the party that they're being watched and that the kobolds want to make a deal: 40gp and 1 month's guaranteed safety per human that they free. In true adventurer fashion, the party scoffed at that and Max Bear pulled the stake loose. They armed Hal and he directed them deeper into the mine to find his family, the watchers no where to be seen.
Further they trekked, coming to the next crossroads just as a trap door opened and Blacknose fell into a briarbush covered in poison.
The waiting kobold ambush sprung to action, but Max Bear the Barbarian was not surprised and engaged. Blows were exchanged, cleaves were applied, and the squad of kobolds were destroyed. But Max had taken many blows and was on his last Hit Point.
Hal led them down the shaft to a cluster of doors, one of which he swore contained his family. John Redcorn went immediately to work on the door, banging away with his warhammer at the locking mechanism and the hinge side of the door, trying to loosen it up so they could barge in. This alerted the awaiting kobolds through the door at the end of the hall, but the party was carefully watching for that. Battle ensued with a squad of kobolds and their kobold witch doctor, who shot a magic missile at Blacknose and hit him right in his black nose with the ratfaced dart, infuriating him. The party cut into the kobolds and cut many down, eventually causing the principals to flee.
They freed Hal's family, finding that the youngest Bors had already been eaten but the others were alive and well. They investigated the room at the end of the hall and found it to be a miner's supply depot with old tools and racks and things. They also found a pool of giant centipede guts and gore, gross, but no sign of kobolds. There was a door on one wall that was locked and trapped, John Redcorn finding out the hard way, but Cleric wisdom and save vs. poison is solid so all he got was a sore finger instead of certain death. Unable to get into the room and heavily wounded, the party decided to extract with Hal's family and come back later.
Lord Issac and his retainers applied healing for the party as is their nature, the party rested, and in the morning tried to convince Lockleaf to stay longer. Blacknose was super pissed about getting ratbitten on his black nose and was integral to the discussion. Lockleaf agreed and round 2 was on.
The party went straight back to the locked and trapped door, eventually busting it open.
Inside was something yet unseen at the Oberholt table: Treasure. Small chests and bags and satchels and urns and barrels and all the random shit that accounts for treasure in ACKS. But no doors, and no kobolds. Certain there was a secret door to be found, the party spent hours scouring the room and eventually found a latch for it. They were only interrupted once by a flight of stirges, but they propped the door back and spiked it closed so the stirges couldn't really do anything.
Beyond the secret door they found the kobold den, nearly 100 female and young and the last of the kobold warriors. Also 3 giant boars, 2 of which were incapacitated by giant centipede poison. They surprised the kobolds who were apparently in deep discussion about what to do next and immediately murdered the witch doctor because magic missiles are terrifying. They won the next round of initiative and killed the shaman who was handling the boar. John Redcorn leveraged his Beast Friendship and per L&E rules needed a 9 or better to immediately become the massive creature's handler. He rolled it, cheers were cheered, and a certain TPK was avoided because the boars are insanely powerful.
While Gwendolyn counted the treasure found in this room as well, Redcorn set the boar loose on the noncombatants, gore flying everywhere. Max waded in with glee and in short order the nest was exterminated. Redcorn failed his next two rolls on the sick boars, but cared for them anyway as best he could and made sure they had plenty of food. The next while was spent considering how to escape with the most value of the loot. They had to kill the stirges.
Filled to capacity, the party waddled out and almost escaped, but finally hit a random encounter, 5 giant ants (shit) with bad reaction (double shit). They tried to back off the ants, but another reaction, another bad result, and the ants attacked, killing the boar and ripping Max's face off. The rest of the party shed their loot and fled.
Blacknose in plate was left behind, but his high ac and a fighting withdrawal drew only one ant behind him while the others went to work dissecting the boar. He was able to eventually kill it and escape. The party waited outside for a few hours then snuck back in to see if they could grab their things and Max's body. The ants were gone, so they grabbed what they could and left, then did it again, and got back to town. They paid Issac the agreed tax, asked for funeral rites again, and licked their wounds.
Edit: The potion of treasure finding was used, and more treasure was sensed deeper in the dungeon.
XP from Kills: 333
XP from Treasure: 1030
Total XP Pool: 1363
Cuts: 6 total with PCs receiving 2 each.
PC cut: 0%: 454 5%: 477 10%: 500
Hench Cut: 0%: 227 5%: 239 10%: 250
Musings:
This session ran on Reaction checks, starting with how the kobolds reacted to the fire from last week all the way to the ants' deadly reaction checks to attack the party at their weakest. Reaction check for Blacknose to go back a second time, Lockleaf to stay longer, the boar to join the party. Losing Max was a bummer for the whole table as he was the strongest of the party. Considering how amazeballs tough the ants were, I offered to investigate whether I failed to properly apply the random encounter checks and give some concession to Max's Player for the next PC he rolls. Looking at it now, the ants are within the range of a random encounter, but only just. It's essentially a critical fail to get a creature of that level in a 1st level dungeon. So it goes, as much of a bummer as it is.
The jagged edge that the game runs on, particularly at low level, is fraught with highs and lows. Losing a character is super demoralizing, but hitting that skill check to tame a 5 HD boar, getting the party's first real treasure, rescuing the farmer's family, all these things led to an exciting session. I look forward to next week.
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