We had a lighter than usual roster for this session due to Bdubs' appearance on ACKS to Grind and time jail for some PCs. Rollo took the lead on a delve into the Fist, with Thorgal, Aevarr, and Aleks in support. They had a scheme to do... something?.. to the Loki statue on level 2 that they had found previously. Alright cool.
It didn't take long to get back into the dungeon. They found a weird ritual site in one of the rooms with some dead halflings. Aevarr saw to their proper rest on a pyre of broken furniture. They took notes about the strange sigils along the ritual circle and carried on.
Their attempt to bypass the chute trap to level 2 failed, thwarted by the supernatural slipperiness of the sliding stair. They found themselves trapped again, but didn't appear particularly worried and I didn't care at all.
They found Loki's idol again in his widdershins swirling mist but chose not to molest it. Chatter was that it was their only safe way out should something go awry. I giggled to myself at the party relying on Loki for salvation.
A giant oxen carcass housed a bunch of giant rats. The warriors held the line until morale broke and the remaining critters scurried away. There was some treasure in the carcass used as a nest which they shared out and kept moving.
There was an illusory feast that the mercs tore into before Rollo scolded them. When it was revealed to be magic they freaked out and fled the room. Aleks drank from the only actual physical horn in the place and regained some health. I didn't care for the phrase, "I'll do it, I'm only level 1" as though he was sacrificial. While technically true (the elites don't want you to know 1st level PCs are free), no character sees themselves that way.
A sekrit compartment held a suit of chainmail fashioned from the same dark iron as the fixtures on this level of the dungeon. I think Rollo ended up with it. He's so edgy. The next exploration connected this delve with their last in the room with the spaghetti slime monster corpse that ate a hole in the floor. With an exit secured they felt more comfortable just poking about.
Platinum script in an unknown language covered the floor in thick inlays in the next chamber. Rollo pried at it and despite taking electrical damage, retrieved a whole coil of the valuable metal with no thought as to why it was there or what it was powering. By weight it seemed significant, so the rest of the party started prying until they ran out of hps.
It took a long time and the original intent behind the trap was time + random encounter + hps cost. Oh man I rolled a massive lizard with 6 HD, it was gonna ambush them outside the room. Oh man someone's going alone to stash some silver in the sekrit compartment nearby due to weight. Unfortunately, the stupid lizard couldn't roll a hit, the fight was anticlimactic, and the party exfilled with a big ole fat ruby.
They were in the dungeon so long they had to camp outside. Travel back was interrupted by random halflings. Why? Hell idk, but seems like they'd be looking for their missing family that got sacrificed in the dungeon. The group was uber suspicious and Rollo wanted to turn them away, but Aleks convinced them otherwise and they escorted the little people back to Bloodfall.
Jarl Fost was... standoffishly understanding of the halflings' plight. But they weren't Norse or human so he suggested that the party investigate the Cthaylor cultist activity and otherwise the halflings should return home. Aevarr burnt the halflings' scrap of cultist script as heresy and the party asked Malvith the Speckled if he knew anything about their notes. He didn't, that's some cult shit, but he could cast a spell the next day for gold. I forget why but the group declined and we ended there. I think Rollo was suspicious of Malzith too.
We've taken to having the party split treasure and assign gp xp. This is suggested in the PHB and while it can be cumbersome, leads to more engagement between party members. Its working ok right now mostly because they're in and out quick, with time to spare at the end of the session. IME, it's very difficult to have those discussions by chat after the session because some players simply don't engage like that.
4/8-4/9, active 4/10
- Aleks the Fighter: Excellent, held the line
- Rollo the Fighter: Excellent, caller, held the line, led his men
- Thorgal the Ranger: Excellent, mapper, held the line, scouted
- Aevarr the Cleric: Excellent, engaged with cult stuff, much spells, rites for halflings
No comments:
Post a Comment