Still Day 184
After discussion with others, I decided to implement XP for
Magic Items, after the characters barely made any experience progress after A0
but AD&D handing out magical items quite freely. Dolmenwood said XP is
one-fifth the GP value. Checking the Ring of Invisibility in Dolmenwood and in
AD&D, they have the same sell price and XP. But I’ll double-check as I go
to make sure this isn’t a coincidence.
So Dounil gets XP for: +1 sword (400), +2 shield (1000), +1
plate (1000), 8 x +1 arrows (120x8/5 = 192) and ring of invisibility (1500)
562 FXP and 537 MUXP
Celest has: +1 sword (400), +1 shield (500), +2 chainmail
(1500), cloak of elvenkind (1200)
495 FXP and 472 MUXP
I’m not the counting spent arrow, potions or the magical
dagger because they drank them all or gave away prior to the decision. That
added effectively another A0’s worth of XP (minus what they skipped over giving
to the prisoners).
The pair debate what to do, especially now the foes know to
watch this tunnel and Dounil still needs a day to heal. Or they could visit
Mother Screng/Canoness Y’dey for the last HP needed by Dounil and return. They
decide to risk it and sneak into Nulb when it’s dark, so Dounil’s Ring of
Invisibility works more efficiently at hiding him.
At [8:30] they have finished feeding and exercising the
horses and themselves, with 3 days of rations left. They don’t renter the
tunnel but ride for the temple itself, hoping to repeat Dounil’s initial foray
style. Going overland imposes 1 encounter roll which is No Encounter, lucky for
a 7 out of 12 chances of one. Skirting the wall, they arrive at the door at
[10:30]. There are no random encounters. I realise the I should have made the
antipathy roll for the main door, not just the interior slope. But as Dounil
failed that roll, it is immaterial. I’ll just ay Dounil hewed one of the side
doors open retroactively. Though that begs the question of how the monsters get
in when the main doors are still barred and remained barred. They can’t all fit
through the secret tunnel that is hidden inside a well.
Letting the horses loose in the vestibule and central altar.
Celest asks how they can be sure the monsters won’t come up and eat them?
Dounil replies that the entire room was sealed, no one knew his horse was here
and the dungeon stone is too thick. It was before he left a trail up and down
the staircase but it’s not clear how to stable them elsewhere.
As Dounil entered
from the right staircase last time, they head for the left. Celest said this
place was as disturbing as she had heard. Dounil said he found a bunch of robes
here to disguise himself, but after dragging them across the desert and general
storage for a month, he wasn’t sure what state they would be to wear or what
they were for. They descend to Room 109a with Dounil in the front to act as the
front line and Celest supporting him from the back or alongside depending on
the danger of the foes. One turn to creep to the bottom of the staircase,
Dounil with his ring active and Celest with her cloak. Dounil remembers much
blood being spilt transversing the other staircase. The next hour is quite
boring, with no random encounters as they reach the four-way junction and go
south to confirm if the layout mirrors the other side, going each at the
T-intersection. They go to Room 112; see it’s ransacked and turn around to go
to Room 113 and repeat the process. They must rest about 10 feet from the
T-junction at [11:45].
They follow the corridor east, as Dounil wants to confirm
his map and mark off the shape. It takes 2 turns to reach Room 109 and the stop
to look at the immense cold bronze doors with their Darkvision, as the entrance
to Room 201. Approaching and return is another turn and the doors don’t glow
but it’s clearly too big to move on their own. They go back to the four-way
junction and head north, the remaining way, stopping to est about 20 feet from
the next junction with no random encounters [12:45].
Advancing again to the junction, they go left to clear the
outer edge. As they creep as silently as two armoured people can manage, they
come to a door in the left side, it’s well used but locked. They want the area
cleared first so they advance to further door to the east [12:55].
Activating the ring and hastening the cloak, they push the
door open and confront a room of 6 ghouls. The ghouls are aware of those who do
not try and be quiet I would assume but they can see nobody with a roll for the
cloak being unsuccessful. Equal chance of surprise and initiative.
The teams roll and the ghouls are surprised. The heroes must
act fast as they are facing 12 attacks per round and they are no immune to
paralysis. Sword and spell Fray destroy 1 and wounds another HD2 -> 1. Their
swords do 6 HD more, destroying 3 more, leaving 1 wounded and 1 fine.
Round 1, the heroes win initiative by 1. The ghouls don’t
have a chance to run for help in room 116 before being destroyed. While good,
their hiding magic won’t charge this turn. They press on, but which door?
They question is answered as 5 ghouls burst through the door
from Room 116, the 6th having gone to Room 117 to get the ghasts.
New rolling. Dounil and Celest are surprised (very bad). Only one claw attack
strikes Dounil but that’s enough for a saving throw, he also loses 1 HP, HP 17
-> 16. He fails the roll but Defies Death to pass, rolling 2 HP loss on 3
dice, HP 16 -> 14.
Round 1, ghouls go again first, Dounil is clawed again but
he saves, HP 14 -> 13. They do 11 HD of damage in retaliation due to the
magic swords pushing their attack bonuses by 1. That fortunately destroys the
ghouls.
Round 2, new fight as the ghasts and remaining ghoul come
through the door. The ghasts pause at the sight of 11 ghouls dismembered on the
floor. But there are only two foes. No surprise and the undead have initiative.
The ghast flee but are forced back by the leading ghasts in Room 118 as there
are only two foes. Leaving the remaining ghoul to slow down the heroes. It
attacks, misses and is destroyed.
Round 2, four ghasts, one at +1 to hit and damage advance,
thinking to smash the heroes down. Due to the stench Celest takes a -2 to hit.
But the heroes win initiative this round. Swords and spell Fray do 6 HD even
with Celest just hitting, one ghast is destroyed and another goes 4HD ->
2HD.
Dounil is hit and must Defy Death, taking a total of 3 HP
from the whole ordeal from random ones rolled during the process, HP 13 ->
10. Celest is clawed and must Defy Death for the first time to not being
paralysed, HP 8 -> 6.
Round 3, Dounil is clawed again for 1 HP, HP 10 -> 9, but
passes the saving throw. Heros do 8 HD in retaliation, destroying 2 of the
ghasts, including the leader and leaving only the wounded one.
Round 4, the heroes go first and though Celest misses with
her sword and Dounil rolls a fizzle with his spell Fray, the ghast is very
overkilled.
After bandaging, Celest HP 6 -> 8 and Dounil HP 9 ->
11 take stock, the time is with rounding [13:05].
Disinterring the ghouls and ghasts from the treasure is a
tedious task. Room 115 has a hideous bas relief of a head surrounded by
prancing forces of evil, 6 cloth bedding that stinks in a way indescribable to
those not familiar with ghouls and a box. Inside: an old cloak described as
having no value, 263 cp, and a “6 inch tall finely carved ivory statuette”
(85gp). The larger ghast has a gold chain with rubies (7,000 + 3 x 1,000gp) the
other leader ghast is tossed carefully and I rolled a 6 to cover for the fact
the idea of having 6 to 8 characters individually searching a ghast’s left hand
specifically to see if a ring wasn’t just a bony growth or extra knuckle was
stupid. They find the 4,000gp ruby ring. This takes 1 turn, 1/6 [13:15].
Going into Room 116, they see lots of cloth bedding, a
barrel and a sack. On the second turn of searching out of three. They hear the
slurping noise and see a flowing grey form, like the floor has come alive slip
behind them, having sensed living flesh over the ghoul carcasses.
Neither the heroes nor the Grey Ooze are surprised, Heroes
gain the first round. Round 1, the grey ooze dies.
The next turn as they reach the last section of the ghouls’
room, eight brigands and a F2 leader arrive to check the trail of ghoul bodies.
The brigands are surprised and that is their doom. The heroes do 6 HD in the
surprise round, killing the leader and half the brigands. And then the heroes
win initiative for round 1 and despite horrible rolls, the heroes do 5 HD of
damage to 4 HD of brigands.
The heroes finally search the last 2 x 10-foot squares
leaving them with, at 4/6 [13:45]:
92sp and 47ep in a hole under a barrel, 54gp from the brigands
and a sack with 13 sets of clothes.
Another turn of searching Room 117 clears the bedding of
treasure, evidently the resting undead don’t leave non-edibles there. The
stench is so foul and the need to rest so great the heroes willingly move into
the corridor outside of Room 114 rather than spend more time among the quiet
dead, using their hidden abilities to try and keep safe.
Pity 2 ghouls coming back from their patrol interrupt them.
No one is surprised but the heroes not only go second, but they have -1 to
attacks due to no rest. Luckily the ghouls miss but only the Fray retaliates to
destroy one and do 1 HD to the other, 2HD -> 1 HD. Round 2, only the
negative AC saves Celest from a hit, they destroy the ghoul in return. The
ghouls had 9gp on them. They have to rest again but are no interrupted [14:15].
Back to Room 117, they only need two turns, one for the 2 x
10-foot squares containing bedding and one to realise the ironbound chest is
padlocked 2/6 [14:35]. Another turn search Room 118 as it’s a small trophy
room, nothing but a dirty shield on the wall. Mindful of the candelabra
enchanted with light and the magic swords, the pair debate how to find magic
items. They resolve to drag all loose weapons and items into a pile and Dounil
will cast Detect Magic at once. Another turn to heave the chest and shield back
to Room 115 3/6 [14:45]. Moving along the outer door they come to Room 119.
Entering and resting in Room 119, a banquet hall destroyed by a skirmish and
the detritus left, including dead warriors. Mindful of treasure, they spend a
turn searching, finding a shortsword and a battleaxe but nothing else useful
1/6 [15:25]. Moving on, it takes another couple of turns of creeping to move
beyond the hall and take an eastern turn into a disused kitchen. Besides the
large oven, skeletons and mysterious doors, there is nothing but detritus 3/6
[15:45]. No random encounters throughout.
Then the giant snake strikes but roll above 50%, meaning it
fails to surprise and the heroes have the initiative with another good roll.
The snake dies. The pair take 3 turns and a turn of rest to search what turns
out to be a ruined kitchen with a few skeletons inside it 2/6 [16:55]. This
extra added turn is because they were interrupted mid-rest by 7 brigands and a
F2 leader trying to figure out the event of the last two days.
Neither are surprised. For round 1, Celest goes first then
the brigands then Dounil. Celest kills 5 HD, leaving 4 brigands. Those brigands
pass morale but miss all attacks despite rolling a 19, as Celest’s negative AC
provides the edge. Though Dounil misses, his Fray kills 2 more.
Round 2, same order. Celest kills the remainder. Now they
complete their rest and have 39gp more. Dounil remarks his education was
greatly funded by fighting random gnoll and bugbear patrols beneath the
moathouse.
Most notably, one skeleton is an ogre who has a short sword
as its “dagger” and dried pout leather sack (I would assume to be openable)
containing 84gp. The side storage rooms are looked at and ignored.
Peeking from Room 120 down the corridor shows they are at
the terminus. With another door ahead 60 feet and to their left (eastward).
Advancing to it and opening it as silently as they can, they see another
passage heading north-east and NRE, 3/6 [17:05]. Celest asks if this is on his
maps and Dounil says no and they shouldn’t go down it until they have cleared
everything “behind” them (the connected western rooms).
Advancing another 10 feet and 10 again takes them to an open
corridor slanting north-west and a locked door. Dounil’s secondary skill being
a mapmaker, he tells Celest that these seem to connect to the rooms they
cleared. Another 30 feet has an open eastern passage. Again, the bypass it for
later. And 10 feet later they encounter an ogre looking for somewhere quiet to
deal with indigestion before they can end their turn 4/6 [17:15].
The heroes are surprised, though luckily the ogre fails to
hit Dounil.
Round 1, Celest goes before a simultaneous round. Only her
magic Fray can hit and does hit, so the ogre goes 4HD -> 3HD. Dounil does 2HD,
so 3HD -> 1HD. The ogre rolls a 1, which is just a miss in these rules.
Round 2, Celest, the ogre and Dounil is the order. Only
Celest’s magical Fray hits but it kills. The ogre has no treasure.
Another turn of movement brings them back to the four-way
junction that led to the undead, having explored all but 3 one branch, they
turn right to go west to Room 114, the locked room and stop outside for their
rest turn, becoming aware of faint noises inside, NRE 6/6 [17:35].
Unable to open the door with a lockpick or magic, they bust
it down by carefully applying their never-dulling magic blades and the
battle-axe they found for general violence. No one can be alerted and checking
the description of two attacks per person for a total of 4d8, it takes 3 rounds
to hack the door down. Which does make it an extra 3 minutes, but since things
generally aren’t measured in minutes outside of combat, I’ll just say 5 minutes
and round the time to [17:40] for ease of writing.
A horrible sight and smell assault them. Naked and chained
(the men) human (by default) prisoners are trapped here, two women among them.
They beg for help, saying ghouls captured them and they have taken away others
to a no-doubt gruesome fate. The heroes realise the clothe sin the ghoul’s lair
were taken from these people and as Dounil hacks away at the chains, Celest
goes to fetch them. I’m going to rule this takes the rest of the current turn
and the turn after, NRE x 2, 2/6 [18:00]. The women are family to a Nulb merchant
(though the text does not say if it is one of the two other merchants held captive).
The sailor was brought here by Dick Rentsch for making a pass a Dala. But
Dounil killed Dala and Dick months ago before I read this section. We can say
it was the pirate tavern or leave it ambiguous. Dounil and Celest were not
feeling quite like they could tackle another area, but no they have an excuse
to escort these folk back to Nulb, where they all hail from. The fact the
region is generally Neutral Evil only applies to a Paladin, if this was even
thought of at the time of writing. This is also a great excuse for the heroes
(Celest) to make some goodwill in a village where they are not trusted. As they
dress, the heroes tell them they have one last task to do. They take the random
weapons and shield and throw them on the pile, then Dounil casts Detect Magic.
The Shield is revealed to be a +1 Shield, which neither have
need of (but is valuable). OSE said that magical items for sale are double the cost
of creation. Some quick back of the envelope math tells me the general cost of
making a new magical weapon is x 20 the base cost. So, a Shield +1 is 100 x 40
= 4,000gp. Lucrative if they can find a buyer to earn them that 250 XP. The chest
also has a magical scroll inside, a Protection from Undeath, but nothing else.
The heroes spend another tow turns bashing that chest open while the freed
prisoners cower inside the door, ruining the battleaxe and one of the short
swords they found, luckily NRE x 2, 4/6 [18:20]. Inside is a silver scroll tube
they know contains the magic scroll, 611sp and a brooch with a carnelian stone
with a cameo coat of arms. General knowledge tells them part of it is for
Veluna but neither took heraldry for their secondary skill and don’t know they what
it has been quartered with. Getting weighed down, even with the treasure distributed
between two. They give a man at arms the last short sword and tell them to
follow between them, and they will get them back to Nulb.
The people are injured and it is dark, but no one is moving
at the slower exploratory speed, so I’ll judge them going at still 60 feet a
turn. I assume that though Dounil and Celest are half-elves and so do not need
external lights, the rescued people do. Luckily, they killed some brigands, who
do need light and so I rule they can find a flint and steel on them as a matter
of course. Lighting one of the many unburned torches from the corridor
description.
They rest once more to refresh the turn rate [18:30] and it
takes 3 more turns to escort everyone up to the ruins of the temple on the
surface 3/6 [19:00].
On the stairs themselves, they encounter 9 brigands and a F2
leader, who like he last two groups, have explored the death and destruction
wrecked by the heroes on the Broken Tower brigands and the chaos downstairs,
found the horses and are sweep the area. None of the three groups have killed
the horses because horses are valuable and useful for humans. Monsters would
though. Only Dounil can engage with melee, the prisoners block Celest. The brigands
are surprised though.
Surprise round, it turns out a roll of 9 is enough to hit
the AC7 brigands. Two 8s from sword and spell kill the leader and 2 more,
leaving 7 left. Celest pushes up the stairs, using her spell Fray to kill
another.
Round 1, Celest goes first then the brigands then Dounil,
who is quite tired from the day’s exertions and wounds. Celest’s spell Fray
kills another; she’ll get to the frontlines next round. No brigands hit Dounil,
who returns with 4 HD of damage, killing all but 2 brigands.
Round 2, brigands go last, so Celest’s sword Fray kills one
and Dounil overkills the rest. They redistribute the swords to the survivors of
the cell and pocket the 42gp.
On the surface, they see faint moonlight as it is 7pm on the
13th of Ready'reat, the last season of autumn. It appears my detour
to A0 probably was a bit extreme considering how long my original character spent
walking about in the desert and on boats.
They extinguish the torch and tell the survivors they will
escort them by moonlight, though there is much fear among them. No encounter
getting them out of the temple grounds. It is an hour on foot, but I’ll say two
for the weakened state of the survivors.
Two random encounters which for time I am writing this, I will
turn into one encounter. 15 brigands lead by a 4th level leader and
a merchant caravan (rolled not evil pilgrims). The caravan failed to make it to
Nulb before sundown and the brigands are having a go at them. It’s up to the
heroes to save the evening.
100 yards distance between them. The brigands are surprised.
The pair will use their surprise round to ride forth on horseback to 20 yards
distance and dismount, as the horses are not battle-trained.
Round 1, The heroes go first, they charge forth into combat
with swords, 4 brigands die from sword Fray. Celest doesn’t hit any though with
her main attack and Dounil only does 2 HD to the leader, 4HD -> 2HD. Fortunately
the rolls for the brigands were all awful and only Celest was in danger if the
attack roll had been 20, but it was 19 instead.
Round 2, Dounil fights 6 brigands and the leader, Celest
fights 5. Heroes go first. Dounil kills the leader and 2 more brigands. Clest
kills 2 more as well. The 7 surviving brigands fail morale and flee.
Round 3, though they are far slower with their equipment
alone, the heroes cast spell Fray after them. Killing 2 more. I realise I never
accounted for the caravan guards and roll 2d6 to see if the guards did HD
damage, they did slay the remainder with crossbows and so the heroes don’t get
XP for the remaining 5 0-level brigands.
The party ask if they can spend the night with the caravan,
as they have too many people to safely escort back in the dead of night. The
caravan agrees and says it would be good for them too, as the heroes were
mighty and noble. The bodies were dumped some distance for the wolves and there
is not any description of treasure, so none. This is a great chance to tally XP
and finish the session.
XP from monsters alone: 34 level 0 brigands, 1 level 4 Fighter,
3 level 2 Fighters, 1 ogre, 1 giant snake, 1 grey ooze, 12 ghouls and 4 ghasts.
IN OSE XP that is 5 x 34 + 75 + 3 x 20 + 125 + 200 + 4 x 175 = 1330/16 = 83 x
1.1 or 1.05 = 91 FXP or 87 MUXP.
