AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Homlet Part 3

 Continuing my Solo game, which is mostly the nitty-gritty of XP and combat.

Day 11

Next morning, he rests and attends an audience with the lords. They are greatly worried about the symbol, for it is the symbol of Elder Elemental Eye, a force of terrible evil and chaos. And deeply tied to the last time the nearby Temple of Elemental Evil was active. He is urged to keep it up and they will send the robe to Verbobonc. All but 10 GP is sequestered with the lords.

As he rests the day, he is approached by Spugnoir. Who proclaims he works for a sage and is willing to assist for all the scrolls that came be found. Dounil is unsure but as he gets no XP from magical items, Spugnoir can only be a benefit. They are also approached by Zert, who says he wasn’t sure Mister Lately would ever return, but clearly, he seems to be forming a party. He wants an equal share of treasure. Dounil says no. Zert retires. 1 out of 3 HP regained. HP 4 -> 5/7.

Day 12

Healing is 2, 5-> 7/7, -4 gp. So, day after (Day 13), Dounil and Spugnoir ride out, Spugnoir borrowing a pony, [7:00].

They arrive at the moathouse by [10:00].

To Dounil rage, the stored equipment had been moved back when they sheltered their steeds in the tower. They march quickly to the entrance in the bandit’s room and descend, NRE 1/6. [10:10]

Spugnoir questions based on the previous encounter that the bugbears will see the light. Dounil replies that he will shine it around the room to try and ambush the bugbears.

Moving to Room 11 takes 3 rounds of creeping, NRE x 2 and a small Ogre is rolled for the last 4/6 [10:40].

Needless to say, the fight is loud and ruins any chance of surprise for other areas.

The Ogre surprises. Now an ogre is normally 4+1 HD, but the book says to refer below to the ogre who is 5+1 HD. Though this ogre is small with 13 HP. I will treat it as 5 HD. And yet misses.

Dounil’s spell and sword do 3 HD of damage. The ogre hits back and does 3 back, HP 7 -> 4. Spugnoir actual hits with his dagger and does 1 HD damage.

Next round, the spell lays the ogre low. [10:42].

Dounil gets 1/16 of the XP for each class as Spugnoir gets 50%. Spugnoir gets 65 XP withy the OSE Advanced 5% bonus. Dounil gets 8 FXP and 8 MUXP. There is no textual mention of treasure.

They rest for 5 minutes, counting it as a reset round while Dounil Solo bandages, NRE, HP 4-> 6 [10:50].

Moving from the corridor into Room 11, they wave their pair of bullseye lanterns everywhere. This stuns the bugbears who are not used to having a light randomly shoved in their faces as they thought there would be one.

Surprise is at -1 (2/6) for the Bugbears. The results are a 3 and 5 so they do not surprise but neither does the party. The bugbears have replenished to 6 since Dounil retreated several days ago.

Round 1, Dounil strikes. He spell fizzles and his sword hits for 10, 4 HD damage. Slaying one and wounding another. Spugnoir loses confidence and reveals himself as a MU, he casts Sleep, rolling for 13 HD on 2d8. Four of the bugbears fall asleep.

The bugbear leader roll 9 out of 9 for morale and hold. Charging forth in a desperate attempt to chop both down before they can cast again. Unable to pass Dounil, he swings at him and misses on a 6.

Next round, Dounil dispatches him with spell and sword [10:52].

The loot when divided up is no scroll for Spugnoir. But 72 gp, 450 gp in a silver necklace set with 5 chrysoprase gems. Spugnoir got 157 XP. Dounil got 20 FXP and 19 MUXP.

Exploring Room 10 and 11 provides nothing more except a distance clang as they try open doors. Dounil asks if Spugnoir has any more magic and is told he only has Detect Magic and Read Magic. Dounil replies now they will be able to find magic items twice as fast.

3/6, 4/6 Encounter with 5 zombies. They appear to be road travellers waylaid.

As zombies always strike last, the party went first. Dounil’s spell did 1 HD and sword did 2 HD, fortunately slashing rather than piercing. But as zombies cannot take more than 1 HP of damage, that drops to 1 HD, still enough to destroy one. Spugnoir does 1 HD with his dagger.

The 3 remaining zombies mob Dounil, two hit for 0 and 2 HP damage HP 6 -> 4.

Round 2, Dounil’s spell does 1 HD but his sword hacks ineffectually. It’s Spugnoir who destroy it. The 2 zombies thankfully miss.

Round 3, 5 HD damage from Dounil eliminates the rest. Rest and bandaging resets the timer. HP 4 -> 6. Spugnoir gets 52 XP, Dounil gets 6 FXP and 6 MUXP [11:20]

1/6 then moving south 2/6, 3/6, 4/6 and arriving on 5/6 with NRE [12:10]

The gnolls of Room 12 and quite forewarned by all the noise and they do not roll surprise as they meet them in the large part of area 9. The party is not surprised. Neither party member speaks Gnoll, Bugbear or Ogre so there are no negotiations.

Round 1, Only Dounil’s specialisation allows him to hit the 14 required. Really this dungeon should have THAC5. 3 HD slays 1 and wounds 1. Spugnoir does 1 more HD and kills the second.

The gnolls pass their morale and attack. Only 1 hits Dounil for 2 HP in total, HP 6 -> 4.

Round 2, Dounil does 2 HD and kills another. Spugnoir misses.

Only one gnoll succeeds in hitting back. Doing 2 more HP damage, HP 4 -> 2. This is suddenly dicey.

Round 3, Dounil kills 1 and wounds another for 1. Spugnoir finishes the gnoll off.

The gnolls still pass morale, as their penalty for losing is cancelled out by outnumbering them. Once concentrates on killing Spugnoir, as he is finishing off too many. Both party members are hit but neither suffer damage thanks to me having to use Google Dice and its horrible random seed generating all 1 on 4d4s.

Round 4, Dounil kills 1 and injures 1. Spugnoir misses.

The gnolls strike a hit against both party members. The random seed saves Dounil but Spugnoir suffer 1 HD of damage out of 2 HD.

Round 5, Dounil’s spell kills 1 more, but otherwise misses from both.

The gnolls no longer have an outnumbering advantage and roll morale again with a -1, they keep at it. They miss.

Round 6, Dounil kills 1 and wounds 1, Spugnoir finishes the last gnoll off.

They must rest afterwards and bandage, HP 2 -> 4. The 5 minutes doing that pushes the 6 minutes of combat into 2 rounds, NRE [12:30].

They search the bodies and room, totalling 65 SP, 65 CP, 11 GP and a 10 GP Gem. As both have not brought food and are badly hurt, it is agreed to return to Homlet, Dounil will pay for Spugnoir’s food and board tonight.

In the 2 turns to reach the dropped portcullis, there are no random encounters. Dounil does not detect the secret door and so they stand at the portcullis. As there is no rule for lifting gates in OSE Advanced, I roll for an Open Doors check and an Ability Check against STR, both pass and the gate is lifted. Another turn to arrive at the stairs and another 2 to leave. NRE x 3 [13:00].

Riding back, they arrive at 16:00 and are not late for once. Dounil pays -8 GP for the party and cashes in his wealth. The gems net him 414 GP, and the total treasure is 504 worth 504 GP and 6 CP. Spugnoir gets 264 XP. Dounil gets 17 FXP and 16 MUXP.

Day 14 and 15

They rest, Dounil heals, HP 4 -> 6. Next day HP 6 -> 7. Dounil pays -16 in total for the stay.

Day 16

After paying for the day and buying a day’s worth of supplies, the pair ride off again. Reaching the moat house. [10:00]

Two turns to cross the courtyard with a quiet step, 3 turns to make their way down to Room 9. A turn’s rest and 3 to search the doors, with the one on the far left being real. NRE, 3/6 [11:30]

After 30 feet they come to a rising side-passage, they decide to explore the main branch first, NRE. 4/6

Another 20 feet takes them to another passage, and they do the same, descending a flight of steps to a turn. 5/6, NRE. They rest before taking the turn, only to be pursued by 3 gnolls, fresh recruits to replace the slain warband. The party is at a penalty here for not resting.

Round 1, no one is surprised so Dounil does 2 HD and kills 1, Spugnoir’s stab misses.

The gnolls pass their morale check, but the one hit that lands on Dounil is negated by the dice.

Round 2, Dounil’s sword misses but his spell does not, wounding 1. But so does the MU.

The gnolls miss all attacks.

Round 3, despite the penalty, Dounil just manages a hit with his +4 attack bonus. His Fray spell kills the wounded one and the sword does in the remaining one (damage 11 = 4 HD).

Now they rest, Spognoir gets 30 XP, Dounil gets 4 FXP and 3 MUXP [11:50].

Starting up again, they turn the corner, their lanterns illuminating Room 13. As the walk near the edge of the pool, the giant crayfish erupts and begins to attack. No surprise is rolled.

Dounil’s silver spell bounces off its chitin. But his sword finds purchase for 11 damage, which becomes 4 HD, enough to kill the monster in a single blow.

Dounil gets 8 FXP and 8 MUXP and Spognoir gets 65 XP. They begin to search the room. Thoroughly searching it takes 4 turns and then a rest. 5 x NRE [12:40].

They find 9 GP, 30 SP and 1 7 CP and a sword near the back (southwest) pool edge. Dounil take those. In the water on the 4^th turn of searching, Spognoir is using Dounil’s shovel to avoid touching the human bones and just narrowly rolls not pitching the treasure on the ledge into the pit. Dounil claims the platinum pin set with a ruby (2,000 GP) but Spognoir is ecstatic because his trip has been worth it, finding a water-tight spell scroll. He says he will return immediately to read it and Dounil must use his NPC reaction (+2 due to CHA) to successfully convince him to keep exploring just a little while longer. He hasn’t even cast Sleep yet.

They proceed back up to the previous junction. Taking 3 turns to do so but NRE, 3/6 [13:10].

The crypt is quite large, and their lanterns sporadically illuminate the broken coffins. As they approach the middle, the ghouls emerge to confront the corpse-bringers only to find there are no corpses. No surprise is rolled.

Dounil is very afraid of 4 ghouls. His elf heritage only partially protects him against paralysis, and he isn’t interested in Defying Death to just get back up among 12 attacks per round.

He lunges forward, hoping Spognoir can cast Sleep, though Spognoir cannot against undead. Five HD of damage destroys 2 ghouls and half-cuts another. Spognoir flees.

The two ghouls unleash six attacks, though thanks to his magical shield, Dounil is not hit by any.

Round 2, his magic misses but he slays another. Only a wounded one left.

That ghoul misses.

Round 3, the silver spear spell blows the ghoul apart.

Dounil gets all the XP from this, 13 FXP and 13 MUXP.

Edging forward, he sees the piles of bones and begin gingerly digging with his shovel, keeping alert for more ghouls from the tunnel with the lantern. Between moving and digging, it takes 10 turns of work and 2 turns of rest.

Once he is interrupted by the moaning wind. The other time by two bugbears who wish to explore the layout of their new home, having been recruiting to replace expected losses.

They surprise Dounil but both miss.

Round 1, spell and sword do 5 HD, kill one and badly wounding the other, who passes the morale check, chalking it up to dumb luck.

The bugbear misses.

Round 2, though the spell misses, the sword does not and kills the bugbear. Requiring another turn to the total. 24 GP and 13 FXP, 13 MUXP. 2/6 [15:20].

Dounil finds 800 SP, 7 vials of something he won’t try out, a potion he won’t taste, and a scroll. He advances 20 feet into the tunnel then backs out and leaves, collecting 4 GP.

Returning to the horses, Dounil judges that Spognoir will just return to Homlet. It takes him 13 turns to reach the horse. Leaving the crypt, he is confronted by a single bugbear looking for his fellows.

The bugbear surprises Dounil, but misses.

Round 1, Dounil gives 5 HD damage and slays the bugbear with a rain of blows. 6 FXP, 6 MUXP and 12 GP. Requires yet another turn of rest.

 In Room 9, he is confronted with 2 bugbears and is getting mighty sick of them. Being ambushed, the clubs bounce off his alert magic shield.

Round 1, he throws a spell without much success but better than his swing.

Only by his shield again does he block a bugbear.

Round 2, the reverse for Dounil. His spell fizzles but he does 4 HD of damage, slaying one and nearly killing the other. It somehow passes morale.

It hits him, HP 7 -> 5.

Round 3, only by his skill with a sword is Dounil victorious. 24 GP and 6 FXP and 6 MUXP.

Rest again and bandage HP 5 -> 7. Yet another turn delay. While there are no more random encounters, it is [17:50] when he saddles up.

Three hours later, he is in a foul mood when he arrives [20:50]

He begs the druid if he can sleep in his grove, showing the trophies of his ghoul-slaying. The druid agrees.

Day 17

The next morning, he is cold and tired, and storms into the Inn of the Welcome Wench to see Spognoir packing, the confrontation plays to Spognoir’s greed. Dounil shows him the scroll he found and accepts that Spognoir didn’t have the spell.

The druid informs Dounil that he has a Potion of Undead Control and 7 vials of holy water; he’ll take the cleric scroll for no party member has any ability. Seeing as he has need of bodies. Dounil agrees to hire Fumok of Ferd (the Burglar) and Zert the Warrior, for an equal share. But stops Spognoir (the Seer) from simply taking the scroll until the expedition is over.

He puts all the treasure with the lords and sells the pin. 1916 GP of treasure becomes 263 FXP 251 MUXP.

It is [12:00] when they finally arrive.

AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Homlet Part 2

 The contiuning adventures of my now OSE advanced Solo Great Greyhawk Campaign.
It was just so much easier to manage than AD&D, but I know it will change the XP rates pretty badly, since in OSE, as B/X before it. XP is not gained from magical items, unlike what AD&D expects.

Day 4 Dounil wakes at [7:00], feeling changed as the jump to OSE Advanced goes into effect. Suddenly, bereft of most of his magic and 3 HP, he spends Detect Magic on identifying the shield as a +1 Shield. Looking at his now mediocre Bastard Sword (2d8 to 1d8+1). He takes the decision to sell it, use the longsword one-handed and specialize in that to make up the effective difference.

He also buys platemail (09 on 10% availability), a shovel and a bullseye lantern, with two jars of oil, (-86 GP)

He sells the bastard sword, for 7 GP

He sells the Peridot for 400 GP, 55 FXP 52 MUXP, 1626 GP stored with the keep. [7:45]

Fetching his horse, the now moderately encumbered Dounil rides to the keep in 3 hours [10:45].

Walking his horse through the moat and into the courtyard, NRE [10:55]

Moving into the hall and down the stairs, Dounil is careful to inspect everything about the stairs to ensure he doesn’t encounter another green slime above or below. He pauses for a minute while the squeaking of rats disturbs him, but it is nothing (Random Encounter). He finds a gold ring (40GP) [11:15]

Entering Dungeon Level 1, Area 21, he moves up to the locked doors and attempts to hack at them with his shovel, I judge this to be an immediate roll on the random encounter table. A distant rattling disturbs him. And Dounil tries again, judging there to be no immediate threat, this time it’s two bugbears wanting to know what the noise was and if it was the intruder who killed all the zombies yesterday [11:35]

They surprise Dounil, fortunately both miss. They both would have hit him had he kept up the Bastard Sword in AD&D.

Round 1, Dounil’s magic silver spear does 1 HD, his sword rolls just enough (a 15, not possible in AD&D) and does 2 HD, killing one Bugbear (3 HD). The Bugbear misses.

Round 2, the Fray magic and the sword kill the other bugbear. 410 XP/8 then x1.1 and 1.05, FXP 56 MUXP 53 [11:35].

Dounil must rest now and reflects that he has only done a same chip around the lock (12/50 damage). He needs keys or a proper hammer/axe. [11:45]

Cautiously opening the door to Area 23, since that’s where the bugbears came from. He does not notice the grease, but the door opens silently. Searching for four turns the room finds nothing [12:25] 4/6

Moving into Area 24, he is immediately confronted by the ogre Lubash, who comes out swinging at someone not wearing the appropriate uniform. Dounil is surprised, a downside of going from an AD&D Half-Elf to an OSE Advanced Half-Elf. The bardiche swings overhead (1).

Round 1, Fray does nothing, Sword does 4 HD of damage to Lubash. Bardiche does 3 HP of damage to Dounil, 4/7 HP.

Round 2, Fray hits for 1 HD and kills Lubash, sword misses. FXP 26 MUXP 25 [12:25]
Searching the ogre, resting and bandaging, 6 HP, resuming the search of the bedding and the chest finds 823 cp, 46 sp, and 3 gp and a small-but very fine cloak (elven cloak).
To take the treasure with him would overweigh him for not a lot of XP, so he leaves it all in the chest for his return [13:05] NRE x4.

Unbarring the oak door, reveals a hideous sight of bloody walls and three tortured prisoners in the makeshift larder. Two “mildly tortured” humans and a badly beat up gnome start begging for their lives once they see Dounil is not in cult clothes. Dounil helps them out, surprised to see the room is quite small. The bugbears couldn’t have come from there. The merchants, won over by his non-threatening to them demeanor and high CHA, say they are merchants from Dyvers and can pay in thanks for their release. The gnome just says he will be rewarded, especially when Dounil addresses him in Gnomish, giving Dounil a plain iron ring. [13:15]

Dounil tells them to stay here and asks how they came in. The merchants were bundled down the main stairs, but the gnome was caught by some gnolls (not present), he came down the stairs as well, but the gnolls went east (underground senses). Therefore, Dounil tries searching the east wall. He cannot find anything (4 needs 1-2) and moves up, resting after the second search. When searching the top-middle right/NE portion of the wall (3^rd search), the merchants give a shout as 4 gnolls open the secret door. The 5^th random encounter check rolled an encounter.

Neither party is surprised.

Round 1, Dounil is 3 squares away and can only do 20 feet. The gnolls advance and attack. 1 hits for 1 damage, 5 HP.

Round 2, spell and sword do only 2 HD of damage, killing a gnoll. The three gnolls all miss but it’s a near thing. They pass their morale test.

Round 3, Fray rolls 1, so the spell dissipates, but the sword does 2 more HD damage, killing another gnoll. They fail their morale test and flee back down the passage. Dounil gives chase but they outpace him in his armor (30’vs 20’). He stops on the stairs, cursing the weight as he can’t even string and knock an arrow before they disappear around a bend. But the staircase he passes intrigues him. FXP 10 MUXP 9 [13:55].

He moves back and rallies the merchants and gnome, it’s time to leave, moving the chest into the larder. They move back confidently to Area 21, NRE x 2. They rest and bandage again before the climb only to be disturbed by moaning, though nothing else occurs, HP is 7 [14:05].

Moving up to the horse, they are forced to walk home, taking 6 hours with rest breaks, the injured taking turns riding the horse. He pays for bed and horse (-4 GP) FXP 6 MUXP 5 [20:05]

Day 5

I made a mistake with his XP, he really should get 120 more XP for the gems. FU 16 and MUXP 15
Dounil looks at his 9 rations left and decides since they might be going bad, he better actually prepare for a serious multiday excursion into the moat house, otherwise he’ll be losing most of the day going back and forth. So, he buys a bedroll and a tent (-22 GP). He sells the ring (40 GP), but receives 50 XP, FXP 6 MUXP 6. Morning tasks done, he rides out [7:45].

Arriving at [10:45], he crosses the moat and teethers the horse by the ruined tower where the spider was killed. He also uses his shovel to slowly and disgustingly turf the corpse of the spider into the moat. NRE x 2, [11:05].

Consulting the crude map he has been making as his revised secondary skill of Map-Making. He realizes the second staircase must be under the place the bandits were, NRE [11:15]

Heading in and searching Area 7, he spends 2 turns fruitlessly searching the black stones. Rests and then is surprised by a scraping noise from above (Random Encounter) but nothing happens [11:55]. He should have paid more attention because the next search turns up nothing but allows a giant tick to jump down upon him.

Dounil was not surprised but his silver spear spell went wild. His sword misses by 1. The tick hits him but the proboscis does yet penetrate the clothes. The Spell and sword make short work of it next round, FXP 19 MUXP 18. [12:05]

He is furious now and starting to doubt he has mapped the place properly. He decides to check all of them with a Defying death roll (probably not the intended use but I was getting sick of constantly rolling).

He takes 1d4 damage on his first use this session as he tears about, HP 6/7. Constantly running over each 10-foot square, heedless of the dangers that wander in, only to dispatch them without XP. After another 30 minutes, he finds the secret passage in the exterior-facing wall, obviously never used by the bandits. But he must rest, [12:45].

It takes him two turns to move though, down and half of that second turn is realizing he is facing a blank wall again, even as the reverse is clearly a door, NRE x 2 [13:05].

He saw the gnolls go through here, so he attempted to find a catch of sorts. After 1 turn, he finds it and opens to Area 26 [13:15].

Advancing through the corridor, he takes two turns to reach the junction, NRE x 2. He turns left to try and reach the middle of the maze (as one does) and detects the secret door. [13:35]

He rests and opens the secret door, NRE to find a corridor. He travels along it to find just a winch and returns to the same spot, NRE [13:55].

It takes another 2 turns to move into the room where Area 28 (the northern) is. Random Encounter, he is unnerved by the sound of his own footsteps for a time. But when he enters the room, Random Encounter, he is confronted with two bugbears leaving Area 27. [14:15]

They have surprise and so attack, one hits. Dounil HP is 4/7.

Round 1, Dounil hits one with magic for 1 HD, but not with sword. One hits him, Hp 2/7

Round 2 Fray does 1 HD, Sword does 4 HD, both slain. FXP 51 MUXP 49

Dounil bandage but is almost interrupted by the rest of the Bugbears, wanting to see what the noise was about, HP 4/7. The Bugbears surprise [14:20]

All miss by the virtue of my cheap wooden desk and its suspicious rolling surface.

Round 1, 5 HD of damage kills one, the bugbears pass their morale. Two hit back, 3/7 HP.

Round 2, 3 HD kills another bugbear, one hits back, 1/7 HP.
Round 3, 3 HD damage, another bugbear dies and the bugbears fail morale and retreat. Dounil does not pursue but bandages again, 3/7 HP FXP 79 MUXP 75 [14:25] 4/6

Dounil faces a choice, he can change forth into almost certain death or retreat with them sneaking up behind them. Checking my options, there is a 3/6 chance they stop to pick up coins, but doesn’t say what value of coins, so Dounil dumps his 33 CP on the ground and legs it. As OSE Advance states most monsters lose interest after they lose line of sight, the single round of pause from the Bugbears is enough to move around three corners back to the junction. Dounil does not stop until he is up the stairs and out into the courtyard. That takes 6 rounds or 1 minute to achieve. [14:26].

In the tower, near his horse, Dounil rests for 3 turns, recovering his energy, NRE x 3 [15:56]
he can go back down, or wait here overnight. He sneaks downstairs to fetch the treasure chest, only a distant rattling (Random Encounter) disturbs him, as he loads the ogre’s coins into his sack and returns [16:56].
He loads up his horse, and rides back to Homlet feeling defeated [19:56].

He gets the nickname, Mister Lately, for coming back at 8PM each night and pays (-4 gp). 823 cp, 46 sp, and 3 gp. He uses his one cast of Detect Magic to identify the cloak as magical (small-sized elven cloak). FXP 2 MUXP 2, he stays for 3 days as the 1d3 HP per day of HP healing goes through the same dice conversion as damage. He pays out the money from the ogre until he runs out, HP 5/7.

He idlely chats to Elmo, who seems a little stupid, and declines to take him on based on that. Elmo dutifully relays Dounil's exploits to the Viscount.

Day 9

With only 6 cp to spare, Dounil needs to get his money back from the bugbears and find some more. He rides back, not stopping to buy anything, ditching the leftover rations as they had gone off [7:15].

Arriving at the moat house, he tethers his horse where it was supposedly safe last time and ventures below to Area 18 NRE x 2 [10:35].
Marching into Area 24, he seizes the bardiche where it lays, noting the body of the ogre has been removed and heads back to Area 18, Dounil rests and begins to hack at the doors. NRE x 5, [11:25].

After 3 blows, the sound of thumbing gives Dounil pause, but it passes, it takes another swing to hack the door down to Area 19. Dounil sees the supplies and sees a way to regain some money, he searches a 10 x 10 space and rests, NRE x 2. He searches the rest, NRE x 3, and begins to catalogue. 30 shields ( 30x10/2 = 150 gp profit )12 leather armor (12x20/2 = 120 gp), two kegs of something and barrels smelling of salt [12:15].

He moves up to Area 20 and repeats, 7 rounds, where he hears footsteps of his own shuffling and on round 6 where 2 gnolls come to see and ambush the repeated noisemaker.

Neither are surprised, in round 1 the gnolls are dispatched. FXP 11 MUXP 11 [12:26]

He searches one square and rests NRE x 2. He searches the rest, NRE x 3 [13:16].

50 spears (50x3/2 = 75 gp profit), 10 glaives, six guisarmes (16x7/2 = 56 gp), three battle axes (7 gp x 3 /2 = 10 gp), 70 black capes (each with a yellow eye of fire sewed on the center), more containers of provisions, a crate of 120 arrows (120/5/2 = 30 gp), and a crate of 200 crossbow bolts 200/30x10/2 = 33 gp.

Dounil notes how much he thinks he can fit on his horse. He’ll sell the shields, axes and armor and see if the kegs are worth anything. 3/6.

It takes 30 turns of movement and 6 turns of resting to move everything. As at 778 coin weight encumbrance already and carrying even a normal decent amount halves what remains to 30 feet of exploration movement. 12 random encounters roll on level 1 and 18 in the courtyard. There are no random encounters in the upper level. But three times is Dounil interrupted below. Once by a moaning wind and then by 2 bugbears and then by 2 Gnolls.

Neither Dounil nor the Bugbears surprise, which is fortunate. Dounil’s mighty damage bonus came in handy for turning 2 total damage into 5, slaying one. He receives 1 damage, HP 4/7. The next round a bolt of magic slays the monster.

Against the Gnolls, they surprise but miss. Next round, the Gnolls miss but magic and sword slay 1 and wound the other to 1 HD. Magic slays it next round. Total XP 17 each. x1.1 and 1.05

After all the fighting and carrying, it is now [19:19], the over encumbered horse won’t make it back before the inn closes. So he decides to sleep between the horse and the wall, hoping the horse alerts him to any random encounters. He eats some of the less dubious food from the provisions he opened, trusting that it was part of the human bandit supplies. There’s not a lot of rules for night encounters but as the upper level was cleared by Dounil, it passes uneventfully.

Day 10

In the morning, Dounil transported the remaining barrels and gear up the tower [7:00].

The barrels (indetermined), crates and polearms take another 36 turns of carrying and resting. At one point below, he is interrupted by footsteps, but it was an echo. [13:00]

He takes what he planned and one robe with the symbol. He walks his horse to Homlet. [19:00]

As Mister Lately, most thought him dead. He spends the next hour selling his spoils and futilely trying to get an audience with Rufus & Burne but is told to come back tomorrow. He stables the horse and rents a room. [20:00]

280 gp to the traders at 90% is 252 gp, 160 gp of brandy to Ostler Gundigoot of the Inn of the Welcome Wench due to repeat service. Bed and horse are -4 gp. FXP is 56, MUXP is 54.

Adapting Tales of the Demon Lord to SLA Industries 2E (Part 4)

SLA Indutries certainly doesn't expect a campaign to last only 10 scenarios and accumulate in MC being under direct threat in a major confrontation with the forces of Bitterness. So scatter other scenarios between these, but ones which have common theme would be best so the players don't lose the plot threads amid false leads.

From the original text we know the rough process of the story, a tussle between some cultists in the city of Crossings, with the goal of bringing forth the Demon Lord and the hordes of demons to destroy the world. As described on page 2:

“The Campaign Story

Most of these adventures deal with the efforts of the ancient society known as the Brotherhood of Shadows to bore a hole into the Void—the home of the Demon Lord and hordes of demons intent on destroying the world. For years, a halfling named Elder Fobb has secretly led a Brotherhood cult in Crossings, posing as a befuddled city councillor as he advances the cult’s agenda.

However, Fobb has a rival for control of the cult. A human aristocrat named Pentachus Katandramus—one of a long line of wealthy deviants who have dabbled in dark magic—discovered that the dread artifact known as the Eye of the Demon Lord lies hidden in Crossings. Stolen from a legendary vampire known as Lucretia, the Lady of Sighs and Sorrows, the eye was brought to the city centuries ago by a demonologist named Moore. Gathering a cadre of cultists to him, Katandramus has set out to find it. The results of his efforts are described in Chapter 2.

As the characters are drawn into the story, Katandramus works to consolidate his power and start a coup against Elder Fobb. He achieves this by the time the characters choose their master paths, using the eye’s power to take over the cult. Once the cult comes under his control, Katandramus sets out to complete the dreaded incantation revealed by the artifact, as described in Chapter 12.”

 

By default, the setting is changed to Mort City, maybe Crossings becomes a local government authority for a sector or level. But more likely the scope expands, a plot to bring forth a direct link to White Earth and confront Slayer with Bitterness, before Mr. Slayer is ready. Shadow of the Demon Lord is supposed to end with world-shattering peril after all.

Therefore, the campaign really becomes a set of loose capstone adventures, to be run interspersed with other SLA Industries or converted Shadow of the Demon Lord scenarios until the players are ready for the next act.

Elder Fobb needs to change to something seemingly harmless, a tall order for Mort City. A Halfling being a cultist is unusual, so an Ebonite is out. A Shaktar fts the traditional vibe, but I might suggest a Wraithern. Someone who is so old for one of his species that no one expects him to stay active, much less run a cult. Father Paulus is clearly some sort of senior bureaucrat, the sex addiction wouldn’t be too weird or controversial, so maybe it’s something like a raging drug addiction. Commander Rena is a military woman, one of the more removed aspects of the setting despite War Worlds being a constant threat. Ezekia is clearly an Ebonite. Dreen and Quick remain as is. Gundren would be a Shaktar, the same vibe as a Dwarf. Randolfus is either Naga 7, Cloak Division or Moral Right, someone who riles people up.

 

Harvester of Sorrows

Cultists find the horrible artefact they need. Set off an Organ Filch who starts kidnapping people to steal their organs. Organ Filch and Ghoul were stuck in basement of haunted house that used to belong to Demonologist.

(Hunter Sheet) A local posting relating to a failed Shiver investigation last week, a local Shaktar priest went missing and Shiver Sergeant Alyse is willing keep it open.

Organ Filch and Ghoul are Dream Entities as is the apparition in the Moore House, a shunned and abandoned two-up two down. The bad rumours about the place spawned a creature based on organ thieves and a carrien-themed monster. All blood-themed.

 

Born to Die

White BPN with a false opening

Dreen will ensure everything is private. Gears should be a feral ebonite with an ebonite drug addiction, something weird but not as weird as a Manchine, the closest to a mechanical person. The island becomes an abandoned lot and the boats, motorcycles or lorries. The bound demon obviously is a White Earth entity, probably reusing the stat block of another monster. The two gremlins tormenting the gang could be a lot of things, maybe some feral dogs or carrien, though that’s maybe a bit of an escalation.

 

The Curious Case of the Errant Swine

Pig farm is easy, while a Carnivorous pig farm might be dangerously absurd, a subsidiary which either recycles killed pigs into food for a cannibal sector settlement or just makes artificial ham is good enough. Finest hogs become prize-winning luxury ham for Uptown/Mort Central. The halfling prisoner thing is just an aside that can be played as is as a follow-up or dialled-in BPN.

The Bloody Bones are Manchines infected by Bitterness’s early attempts at a blood cult long ago and locked away by Stigmatyr in rubble-filled industrial area just beyond the Cannibal Sector wall. The Beastmen become carrien as it’s a novice adventure and the troglodytes are clearly just cannibals. The Shrine is covered in Ebon markings instead of Elvish. The whole thing is a giant shrine made by some of the first White Earth cultists, now extinct due to Stigmatyrs sending in a Manchine/hit squad after them. The Chaos Shard can be a creepy gem, or it is a out of place artefact, like a tape that plays 70s or 80s Scottish mixtapes.

 

Temple of Shadows

Red BPN

Gibbering Fever can be run as the Rage Virus or as straight up zombie virus, depends on how much you want to emphasize Bitterness isn’t bound by such concepts as life, death and physics. Randolfus either is in the know about what he faces and is prepared or didn’t know and pulled out an emergency tool given by someone who does. The living tar is a literal black pudding, being made of congealed blood. All monsters are WE/Shi’an cult monsters. If Katandramus doesn’t have access to WE teleportation magic, he should be an Ebonite.

 

The Moon Spire

Just passing through, can be cashed in for a White BPN if they radio in deaths before they solve it.

Carbunbcle is a grimy and cursed Sector. Mutations and health issues are common; Shivers and gangs avoid the place when feeling superstitious. Lots of idle chatter about water red running like blood or being blood.  The moon spire becomes a Naga 7 vault, locked away before their departure and forgotten by all except the heads, who think it’s fine where it is. When the magnetic fields are right (generally monthly), it fades into view as a white marble fountain for a plaza long demolished, with an open maintenance door at its base.

Crusher Glas is a Frother lorry driver, who ran afoul of a Rawhead cultist when delivering a package, but the cultist was being chased by Shivers so he just suffered a slash. He’s had the dreams ever since.

 

Mines of Madness

Green BPN

One of the few Mort-domestic mining operations, pulling out rare minerals for components close to the Fission Belt has gone silent. Players are tasked with fixing the problem. Barrow Wrights are semi-dead Jethians, kept in some twilight state by what seems to be Ethereal/WE power (explaining the weird undead powers). Cartul are some Root Dog ground troop variant, sealed by time. While neither are nowadays strictly D-Notice. Dire threats and NDA are issued to the players along with congratulations.

 

In the Name of Love

Blue BPN. Why did the sewers running under the Cannibal Sector Wall here start backing up? Slops needed because danger.

Verge is a small sector close to the Cannibal Sector 2 Wall. Used to make good money with small time industrial and organic recycling but has been severely desolated by occurrences blamed on over the wall creatures until the Ex-War Criminals took over. Deep in the tunnels that go into the sector through the sewerage works, is a stand of Maggrot, left from a successful mission.

There is a D-Notice no one has ever removed about the incident, some persuasive rolls and samples might be required for Threat Analysis to budge. That reveals the momic was destroyed but the Maggrot should have shrivelled with it, as it’s Flux-dependent.

The trees/roots have been absorbing Shi’ian-tainted Flux from the sewage works for years, probably from the cultists in Verge and the wider city. Church of the New God is SLA public works, brigands are a gang, Wargs and Carrien and Craven is a Ebanite.

 

Shadows in the Mist

White/Red/Cyan/Black BPN (rising steadily over the radio)

Missing children case starts evolving rapidly as a massive black storm/fog cloud starts rolling in from Cannibal Sector 1, filtering up through the sewers and smothering Bridgeheads, Lower Downtown and probably curling in the Deep Constructs. Centre appears to be a large semi-solid mass at ground level.

A Dream Entity Master has figured what is Bitterness’s plan and decided to preserve the keystone of half-made realities, she is going to wipe MC off the map. Players must drive out into the approaching epicentre. Mass is a whole island, sliding like a hovercraft, made of twisted trees and ruins. The genie is an Aethernaut who has been stuck here for quite some time, she admits she is probably not capable of going anywhere anymore, but she has tea.

 

Off the Rails

Red BPN when the players are in Cannibal Sector 1.

The Iron Titians were experimental weapons going to be tested on 9^th Legion and Darknight Forces in Cannibal Sector 1 before being turned on a warworld. Orcs are merely angry workers or Darknight agents who think Darknight might not treat them as awfully. Troglodytes are cannibals from CS1 and Crow’s Foot is either a Shi’an-controlled settlement or a Rawhead-worshiping cannibal village. The least-reliable cadre of Darknight personnel form the Orcs in the cave.

 

Prince of Darkness

If a direct hook is needed, Ross (Roo) posts a crude Hunter Sheet directly to their address, requesting help with those experienced with Orange, Red and Green missions. Otherwise, the players encounter one rainy morning a manchine missing it’s covering and being tormented by a pair of unnatural gorecrows (technically Dream Entities by really figments of Ross’s self-guilt).

Ross needs help from Operatives, and in halting speech explains that it used to be a Blood Cultist from when White Earth first tried to set up a cult, players will recognise it’s the same tainted manchine design from The Curious Case of the Errant Swine. He will explain what limited information he knows on Bitterness if it hasn’t come up yet. Barghest is another DE figment of Ross’s self guilt.

Iron Peaks is a region beyond the No Go Zone, Ross is quite smug about not every devious plan needs to happen inside the confines of MC. Everything is otherwise as is. SLA Industries will debrief the players very thoroughly as they are high SLC by now and might give them more SLC increases and bonuses for delivering The Sword of Unmaking to Stigmatyr and Naga 7. The void is a portal into a horrible cult centre of White Earth, emphasis this is bad.

 

The End is Near

Plantinum BPN – Since the players have unravelled this mystery so far, the White + Red/Jade BPNs for each disturbance are automatically upgraded and merged with a hasty in car conversation with Mr. Slayer.
He admits Intruder has been investigating false leads planted by White Earth.

Katandramus has fully twisted into an Ethereal. Lucretia is worse, a Kilneck, someone whose very existence is a D-NOTICE. Her mutated entourage of ghouls are severally twisted people, feral Wraithern, maybe some form of basal horror or even slightly mutated Jethian.

Wizard’s Peak is a major Necrothrope centre, create one if none exist. Fail and Bitterness walks into Mort to directly challenge Mr. Slayer. Regardless of who wins, the players will die in the resulting blast.