Time: 6/12/22-6/16/22, rest 6/17/22, active 6/18/22
PCs: Benjamin Bigboy Baum (Assassin 2), Bigtoe the Wombat (Machinist 1), Blair (Nightblade 1)
Hench: Blacknose (Teutch loaner Hench, killed by Lizardman Champion)
This Session opened with cleaning up a little downtime and gaining some needed experience through the fortuitous sale of one of the team’s magic items. It also gave Team B the opportunity to get some horses and supplies so they are a little more independent going forward. The Wombat also laid out some beer and fine wine for the residents of Teutch’s Purple Tower when they returned.
The party talked briefly about their possible hooks, settling again on the No-Longer-Flying Castle as their best fit and off they went with their new cart and horses. The dice were kind, no random encounters, and they were back for Round 2.
They entered the massive front chamber of the crashed castle and snooped around a bit, following the trail of rat guts to a feeding site for… something… that was not present before settling on the large, griffon-adorned double doors leading deeper into the complex. These were stuck despite seemingly unaffected by the crash, but our heroes(?) easily forced the doors into a giant-sized corridor so successfully that Bigtoe actually freed the door permanently. Blair was able to track some brownish black spittle of some kind leading into a broken corridor to the west and the party icky’d out of that option, deciding to try the door opposite the “roach hallway” to the east.
The world is living, and here was a good example of seeing this in action. During their previous visit, a group of berzerkers tried to break into the library-like room that they were camped in. Turns out these same berzerkers ended up coming this direction, triggering a rockfall trap and at least some of their number getting crushed beneath it. So our party stumbled upon a pile of rubble with silver coins sprinkled about instead of potentially tripping the trap themselves.
They took precautions, dug through the pile, and found a modest stash of coins, some smashed terracotta that would have been valuable, and a kite shield inlaid with a pearl lightning bolt that produced dry ice style mist when their lantern light hit it. They policed up their found money and decided to barricade the door as best they could and explore the natural looking cavern that led east.
Blair’s innate elfy senses sniffed out a secret door along this corridor, which they opened and followed a short corridor to a large chamber with a giant hole in one corner leading to a level below. I explained to the uninitiated how OSR dungeon mechanics and levels work. Everyone’s played Diablo, they got it, and then they found yet another stash of loot, some modest coins and some super heavy rolls of purple cloth. They briefly discussed trying to give the cloth to Teutch as tribute, but Blacknose informed them “I ain’t lugging that all the way out. Teutch doesn’t care anyway.” They left the 40some stone of cloth lying there.
Encumbrance is an interesting mechanic in that it changes the way players make decisions. It can be tedious at first, but once everyone’s got their heads around it, they start thinking about tactical implications, hiding places to stash loot, etc. Such was the case here as they party decided to use the rubble from the rockfall trap to hide their loot and keep exploring. Always a risk in a living dungeon.
They continued on, discovering a passage that looped around to the beginning of the dungeon and another secret door, again discovered by Blair’s passive elfness. They backtracked to carry on past the first secret door, coming on Daniel the Storm Giant’s massage room, complete with a giant sized lightning infused massage chair, crackling with energy. The Wombat’s eyes lit up with the possibility of investigating this device, but with no visible means of turning it off they decided to avoid tinkering. Lightning scary.
Our party is careful. Mostly. Usually. They listen to doors, they check for traps, and they’re almost never punished for the time these things take. The door to the north of this room was no exception. They deemed it safe and exited into a massive corridor with several doors along it, the most interesting of which was carved with Daniel’s name across it and airborne grappling griffons. Again, listen, track, check for traps, is it locked? Nothing. Unfortunately they also didn’t hear or track the lizardmen camped within Daniel’s Bedroom. The dice, they taketh away.
They opened the door to find a cluster of lizardmen led by a champion seemingly at rest, having stashed their loot in a giant sized chest and enjoying the lavish furnishings of the storm giant’s most private chamber. No one was surprised and the fight was on. It was a tough one, lizardmen are brutal with 3 attacks per round, but I spaced and forgot that for the first round or two so maybe they were lazy or sleepy or something. They also have really high morale, which makes them very difficult to subdue.
It was mostly a slugfest, with Blacknose and Bigtoe holding the front line and Benjamin and Blair firing into the back ranks of lizards. Rounds of note include Benjamin killing several with cleaves and the downing of Bigtoe and Blacknose. The party prevailed, eventually allowing the last lizardman to flee because frankly another round may have killed everyone.
Bigtoe lost a few fingers on his hand and was out for at least a day, but used a Fate Point to avoid anything worse. Blacknose, despite having all the advantages with good Con and having dropped to only 0 hps, rolled terribly on his Mortal Wounds and needed treatment within 1 turn or he would die. Blair did her best but is no healer and Bigtoe, who has Healing proficiency, was out cold. The party watched Blacknose gurgle his last gurgle and expire, his eye having been ripped out by the Lizardman Champion. Blair wrapped him in a giant curtain as respectfully as she could.
They barricaded the only door into the room with giant sized furniture and spikes and tried their best to stay silent. They determined to rest so Bigtoe could carry himself out of the place, but time in a dungeon is dangerous. Random encounters were rolled, a few different things showed up to bang on the door a little but it was pretty stoutly barricaded, and they were able to survive the night and get the Wombat mobile. They found a hefty sum of gold in Daniel’s room, including a very fine fur coat. They also decided to carry Blacknose back to the Purple Tower. This slowed them immensely on the way back, but nothing bothered them.
Eventually they retrieved their stashed goods and limped back into the main entry chamber onto a scene of carnage, orc and flannish berzerker bodies strewn about. There must be a berzerker lair nearby or something with how often they hit on the randoms. Anyway, they tiptoe through the gore and exit, finding a couple dead orcs by the party’s wagon, along with one surviving orc. The orc was not hostile and the party was not interested in risking another fight, so they let the orc pick up a battered chest full of something and walk away. There were 3 barrels of fine spirits staged nearby to load into the party’s cart that they were surely planning to steal, but the orc’s friends bled to death before they could load it up.
The party loaded Blacknose and some bonus liquor into the cart and traveled back. They were very concerned with Simba the Sphinx making a return appearance to demand more tribute, to the point of having left their most valuable magic item at the Purple Tower to avoid having to give it up to airborne banditry. But nothing attacked them and they arrived back at Teutch’s safe haven (?).
Bigtoe inquired to Teutch during their debriefing and tax payout about Blacknose’s will and next of kin, to which Teutch replied “How should I know?” with a dismissive flick of neon text while Lockleaf assured them that he would see his things delivered to Blacknose’s brother in Deinwick.
Musings:
The living ecology of a dungeon is interesting. What do the random encounters do if they aren’t brutally murdered? What about the fixed encounters? Well, turns out they loot the place. Or die trying, or kill each other, or all kinds of things. The dungeon can restock the longer it sits, with new critters that interact with the denizens in new and exciting ways. This time it was berzerkers and orcs. I set chances they would discover the stashed loot, discover each other, fight each other, discover the party, steal their cart, how long does it take, who wins in a fight, it gets a little wild but it provides an evolving environment to play around in.
The party got a good haul and nearly died for it, so I’m alright with it. I’m surprised at how forgiving the dice have been on random encounters. I know it won’t last, but it’s interesting that even when they get encounters, many times the reaction checks are great. The uncertainty of virtually everything is exciting during session play.
XP from Kills: 275
XP from Treasure: 4757
Total XP Pool: 5032
Cuts: 6 total with PCs receiving 2 each.
PC Share: 0%: 1677 5%: 1761 10%: 1845
Hench Share: 0%: 0 5%: 0 10%: 0
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