Day 61
Dounil awakens at [7:00] and feeds the horse, he assembles
his kit and rides for the river. Imeryds Run is about 3 miles away on the map.
Long enough for a single encounter getting to and fro, plus on there.
On the way he encounters 4 gnolls, out for a hunt. Neither
are surprised and the distance is 150 yards. This is long range for his
longbow. The gnolls have longbows for hunting and either broadswords or morning
stars by the 2d4 AD&D damage.
Round 1 – Going first, it takes Dounil a round to dismount
down and string the bow. The gnolls charge 270’or 90 yards to be 60 yards
distant.
Round 2 – Firing the longbow at short range, Dounil skewers a gnoll but the Fray
does nothing. The gnolls retaliate with their longbows. Hitting Dounil for 3
damage 16 HP -> 13. The gnolls pass morale.
Round 3 – A Dounil continues to skirmish. The barrage of
arrows from his Fray kills 1. The gnolls retake morale at 50% causalities and
pass. Neither hit back.
Round 4 – Despite an attack roll of 20, Dounil only hurts 1
gnoll with his Fray HD2-> 1. Neither hit back.
Round 5 – Dounil’s ineffectual skirmishing kills the wounded gnoll more with
Fray. A gnoll hits Dounil but does no damage thanks to his armour.
Round 6 – Finally, the combined barrage slays the last
gnoll. At the cost of five arrows. Bandaging and searching the gnolls finds
nothing. HP 13 -> 15. FXP 11 MUXP 10
At the river itself, it is [8:10]. 48 miles a day for the
horse, divided by 3-mile hexes is 16 hexes x 0.66 for terrain gives me 10.56 3-mile
hexes in a day. If I assume 6 hours of travel, that’s 1.76 hexes per hour. While
watering the horse, a large boat, a river ship sails by. Dounil is wary for
they might be the pirates, but he is greeted with a call to identify himself
and a name he doesn’t recognise. He replies he is a traveller and an adventurer,
and if he is spoken to in such a way, he may assume them to be pirates.
He is told they are not, but he should come no closer nor follow them. The Merchant
ship drifts by an that is the end of the matter.
He has no encounters, returning at [9:20]
He notices that the tower he approaches has ravens at the
top. The first animals he had seen. Having not encountered any rock lizards
yet.
Riding inside, he makes his way to the tower by [9:30],
unaware of the massive danger that lurks about it. According to the
description, the Giant Ravens appear as random encounters and here simply croak
warnings. But they are listed as part of the tower residents. And croak they
do, for Dounil rides up bold as day.
He is most interested in that the door is locked, barred and
chained. Peeking into the arrow slits reveals only darkness to his Darkvision.
Making him nervous.
He begins the process of dealing with the lock. Without a
lockpick he must break it. He takes a Defying Death roll to do so, losing 3 HP,
15 -> 12. He wonders if the locks were to keep something in and not out. As
this would have been here either by the inhabitant now or by the forces of good
a decade prior. So, he activates his ring of invisibility before opening.
This is lucky, for while he is not silhouetted against the
door, he is still in the path of lots of missile fire from the Brigands. The
book describes “six arrow shots, two heavy crossbow bolts, four light crossbow
bolts, and ten spears” per round.
Surprise Round – Dounil is surprised, he does nothing. As a
barrage of shots head his way.
Of the 22 attacks, I’ll not give the +2 to hit for Dounil is
not illuminated. And Dounil has Darkvsion so the lack of light is not a
hinderance. Invisibility was the deciding factor, as without that +2 to hit,
the level 0s and level 2/3s couldn’t get that result of 19 or 20 (depending on
the THACO) to hit Dounil, though about 5 attacks would have done so otherwise.
Really good rolling.
Round 1 – With automatic initiative, a light crossbow bolt
strikes Dounil for 1 damage, HP 12 -> 11.
Dounil leaps forward and his invisible sword becomes red
with blood before the enchantments breaks fully. 5 HD is the entire first rank
of footmen wiped out and one from the second.
Round 2 – AD&D implies Initiative should be redone as
the score might differ on the second round. OE Advanced does not, so the
brigands will keep going first. The brigands don’t seem to have morale scores,
so they stay and fight. Everyone drops their spears and barring the 2 Guard-Archers
moves to engage in melee, the leader stays back as he is unsure to trigger the
rockfall or not. As he’ll catch mostly his own men. Therefore, the missing 3rd
level lieutenant in the order of battle will move in place instead. At 3 people
per 10 10-footace, Dounil is surrounded on 3 sides for nine attacks with morning
stars and long swords. Two 3rd level Brigands hits him with morning
stars, as does an archer. That’s 1, 1 and 2 damage, HP 11 -> 7.
Dounil does 3 HD damage in return, targeting the sergeant as
they have just as good a chance to hit as the lieutenants. He kills both and a
footmen.
Round 3 – Mass attack, no archer hits, the crossbowmen move
up to plug the gap with their battle axes. Very fortunately they are level 0
and need a 20 to hit and don’t.
Dounil does 5 HD more damage, killing a lieutenant and two of
the three remaining footmen.
Round 4 – Brigands desperately fire with their archers, nothing.
Footman, lieutenant, crossbowmen and 3 guards, nothing.
Dounil rolls his 3rd 14 in a row (This might be
Google Dice but I have rolled a lot of d20s between these). 4 HD of damage kills
the other lieutenant and the last footmen.
Round 5 – The Brigand leader loses patience; he will release
the deadfall chain if Dounil is not dead by the end of his side’s turn. Archers
miss, crossbowmen with axes miss and guards would hit if they were level 1 fighters
and not level 0 (two 19s). The deadfall is triggered, doing 9 = 4 damage to
Dounil, HP 7 -> 3. And 1 damage = 0 to a guard, all other crossbowmen and guards
die.
Everyone is stunned and the blinding cloud fills the space.
Round 6 – This prevents the archers from shooting, and the
Brigand leader dashes to his room. Let the remainer sort it out. He can deal
with them if they get uppity about it. The descend the stairs looking to see if
anyone has survived. They cannot search the blinding cloud.
Round 7 – The cloud is still blinding but two figures are no
longer stunned. The guard does not attack but Dounil does as he is the only
ally he has.
Dounil fails to hit anything but his wild hewing from his
Fray catches the guard, slaying him for 1 HD.
Round 8 – The dust settles and the Archer see their sole
foes. They move to finish Dounil off with shortswords but roll abysmally (3 and
5). Dounil hits but only does Fray damage, killing 1.
Round 9 – The last archer tries again, fails and is killed
in return. FXP 28 MUXP 26
Dounil is in a bad way, he cannot find the leader but
otherwise has saved the day, his horse is frightened and whining outside.
Checking it, he sees enormous ravens swooping it, with a weird distortion as
they rise. Not in any fit shape to defend the horse, he pulls it inside, though
the horse dos not like the smell of bodies and blood one bit. He bandages, HP 3
-> 5. The time is [9:44].
To catch the Leader, he advances up the stairs, finding room
2 open and room 3 barred, [9:50].
A combination of Successful open door and strength rolls substitutes
for an AD&D bend bars roll, and the door is popped open, revealing a lavish
but empty room. Seeing as the villain has escaped, Dounil spends an hour making
himself comfortable by looting and dragging each corpse out for the birds,
[10:00]. Knowing he cannot stay, as the tower will be a one-way trap and
obvious carrion site for the cult.
He finds: 18ep, 23gp, 15pp, 87sp and 84cp. The armour and
weapons are pretty much wrecked and bloodstained. All he can do is to refill
the 9 arrows from his fight with the gnolls that morning. The week of food in
the Main Room will serve him well if no one notices him taking it. He can water
the horse with the barrel. The chest in North Room is padlocked and he doesn’t
have enough HP to try and defy death to open it without tools. He spends an
hour hacking at with a battleaxe to break the lock [11:20].
He finds and drinks Potion of Healing which he really should
have checked beforehand but luckily, I didn’t have to look up poison rules.
Roll of 7 is 2 HP healed, HP 5 -> 7. Also for the tally is a sack of 300 ep,
a jewelled dagger (worth 250 gp), and four bolts of silk (worth 140gp). Dounil
of course does not know the value.
In the Northeast room he finds yet more treasure. Besides
drinking the brandy, he finds the parchment list he cannot read with darkvision
as it’s not warm. He also finds the short sword with a topaz pommel (total
value 500 gp) and the suit and hooded cloak of brown velvet trimmed with fur
(200 gp)
He grabs the sheets and with the outside full of giant
ravens and felt on the arrow slits, he holds them up to one of the two lit
lamps for immediate light. He is shocked to see random squiggles instead of a
proper list.
He then shifts the papers and sees one is a map of the
tower, with an escape route and the other is a list of names, including the jeweller
in Hommlet. He curses himself for not looting the rich room first before napping
because otherwise he might have caught the leader.
He opens the chest and encounters the poison needle trap. He
fails by 2 and so he would be dead without a defying death roll. 1, 5 and 6 is
0+1+2 = 3 damage, HP 7 -> 4. His reward is 384cp, 556sp, 106ep, 277gp, and
91pp.
Total portable coins: 468cp, 643sp, 424ep, 300gp and 106pp,
he might need to make multiple trips.
Before he can leave however, he investigates the tunnel
below, using the secret map to open it. Descending into the darkness, he sees a
locked iron coffer and a potion. He’ll come back for those if he must.
Following the passage down, he explores for 9 turns till he reaches
the cave [12:10], he decides to not go down the hole in the north wall but keep
going to see where it ends. Then turn back. The cave (40 feet) + tunnel (600 +
30 + 200 + 100 + 50) = 17 turns, with an additional 2 rest turns for exiting
the well at the abandoned farm, followed by an immediate rest at the top, eyes
peeking over the edge [15:10]. Dounil finds a barn containing 6 horses [15:20].
He Checks the farmhouse and encounters the leader, if Dounil
was smart he might have slipped on the ring beforehand.
The leader is aware of a threat, but the surprise roll goes
in Dounil favour as does initiative by 1 point. Fray is 1 mage so HD 6 -> 5,
the sword misses though.
Round 1 – Fray is 1 damage HD 5 -> 4, sword misses the leader
again. The leader misses as well.
Round 2 – The Fray fizzles on the shield, but the sword
manages to strike true HD 4 -> 2. The leader is just as bad at hitting AC 0
and misses.
Round 3 – The shelf deflects
another Fray, the sword just catches behind HD 2 -> 1.
Round 4 – A Silver Spear
finally cuts through the armour and the leader’s heart.
With no need to bandage,
Dounil is intrigued by the spells bouncing off the shield (very high AC for
chainmail). He is shocked to see both the sword, shield, cloak and quiver glow.
The spell also reveals the nature of the enchantments, so he sees a +1 sword,
+2 shield and nine +1 arrows. He exchanges the longsword which had served him
so well since switching to OSE Advance and the shield from the moathouse lizard
for the equipment [15:30].
He also finds 11gp, 27pp
and gains 37 FXP and 36 MUXP, about half the XP as in AD&D but OSE Advanced
not counting XP for magical items is the trade-off for smoother gameplay.
He has an idea based on
having access to six more horses. He has a way in, a new way down and a way of
moving the treasure. He makes a decision and heads back.
It takes him until 19:50 to
get back and he takes an early rest to rest the clock. Before spending another 10
minutes heaping the treasures and food supplies in the common room and casting floating
disc. Following by another 10 minutes loading the loot onto it [20:20] 1/6.
He saddles the horse and creeps out; the giant ravens having
gorged themselves on the dead [20:30] 2/6. He takes two turns to leave the
grounds 4/6, trigging no encounters. He is 20 minutes out of the temple when
the spell ends and things fall to the ground with a crash, which fortunately
results in no encounter. Another 10 minutes loading the horse and it is roughly
[21:40] when he reaches the barn, using his mapmaking skills to orient himself.
The horses are hungry and agitated, so he feeds them and walks them around in
groups of 2, not really exercise but it’s [22:00] when he eats and crashes in
the barn.
Day 62
It is [8:00] when Dounil wakes, and he is assailed by the odour
of the rotting bandit leader and the agitation of the horses as scavengers nibble
at it. Dounil eats, reloads the loot, plus what was on the bandit leader from
the farmhouse onto the 6 horses and rides for Nulb, arriving at [9:30] (checks are
when leaving Nulb not arriving after the first).
He calls on Otis who is interested since 6 hungry horses are
worth a fair bit and he accepts (-12gp). Sammy the snooping apprentice goes out
to inform Dick that Dounil is coming into town with a load of loot. Dounil
heads instead first to Mother Screng to get some healing. He gives report and Y'dey’s
Cure Light Wounds gets him 1 HP back, HP 4 -> 5.
Thereafter he goes back to Otis’s backdoor to inquire about
selling four of the horses, as he has an idea to get some backup for the
temple. As it has proven too dangerous for one adventurer. Otis whispers to him
that Dick will be none too happy his bandit ally was killed, since Dounil came
into town with several horses that frequent the Waterside Hostel. He says if
Dounil has talked to Mother Screng about it, and Dounil says he knows about her
mission. Otis said Nulb will never be good but a disagreement over money with
Dick might draw limit interest until blood is spilt. Then Dounil will have to
escape the militia, who will be after his money more than justice. Dounil asks
if his horse and one more can be loaded and ready to go, and Otis suggests that
leaving the other 4 here as payment is more in line than flashing some coinage.
They agree and Dounil takes his two horses outside the hostel, behind the back.
Dounil strides to the Waterside Hostel, it is early morning,
so 2 locals are drinking but no one else. Dick looks expectant and wears a
cloak over his armour. He says that Dounil came into town on some familiar horses.
Dounil is blunt, the bandits Dick is friends with cheated Dounil of pay, so he
took their horses and left them in the woods chasing caravans. Since they said
Dick was the fence and the holder, Dounil’s come to collect the 200gp he is
owed. Dick calls him a fool and a liar, for he is merely an acquaintance with
them when they drank. The leader would never offer payment without having
Dounil first prove himself and all he has done is made himself a target, if not
set greater powers onto him.
Dounil draws his sword and says he wants his money, Dick
recognises the blade and realises Dounil is both dangerous and not a bandit, he
calls for aid. Summoning the two Manservants from the corner where they were
waiting, Wat the Barman and to Dounil’s surprise, both wenches; Dala and Pearl.
Surprise roll means Dounil is surprised despite starting the
fight. And lost the initiative in another roll for later.
Surprise round – Dick Rentsch might be just as armoured and magicked
as Dounil, but a roll of 9 still doesn’t hit AC -1. Wat hits and a 19 is one
off forcing Dounil to make a Sav vs Poison or Die. And 1d4+1 does 2, the
minimum but still HP 5 -> 4. Neither wenches hit with dagger or manservants
with crossbows.
Round 1 – Everyone but Wat misses, Wat gets a natural 20 so
his venom hits Dounil, who rolls another 20 and saves, merely taking 1 more damage,
HP 4 -> 3.
Dounil attacks Wat and hits, a roll of 1 becomes 6, HD
3-> 1, the fray only kills Dala.
Round 2 – No one hits Dounil, Dounil kills Pearl and Wat
with the Fray and misses Dick.
Round 3 – At this point a crowd is starting to form outside
Dick is enraged and but misses, Dounil’s back and forth
dance across the floor kills the Manservants in the flurry (Fray) and wounds
Dick HD 5 -> 1.
Round 4 – Dick suggests Dounil just take the money and go,
hoping Dounil is ultimately just a bandit after all. Dounil says it’s about
blood now and Dick says it’s a sin to lie. Neither hit but the spell Fray from
Dounil catches and kills Dick.
Dounil has not time to bandage, as he casts Detect Magic,
only to find a lot of glowing items. The crowd is armed and debating entering,
as Dounil declares Dick cheated him and wouldn’t pay. He’s only taking what is owed. He takes the purses.
and runs for the door, swinging his sword back and forth to disperse the militia.
As they fall back, leaps onto the waiting horses and rides out. That takes
three rounds and he suffers 10 attacks each round from the militia short bows.
He is hit once for 2 damage HP 3 -> 1 and he rides out back to Hommlet, angry
shouts behind him.
About halfway, he is accounted by 9 wolves.
They are surprised and Dounil rolls a higher initiative (not
that his Solo Hero ability means he needed to)
Surprise Round – Dounil’s Fray is 1 for 0 damage. But a hit
for 4 HD, killing 2 wolves and forcing a morale check, which they pass.
Round 1 – Dounil’s attacks kill 3 wolves, trigger the 50%
morale check they pass as well. No wolf hits.
Round 2 – All four wolves perish.
By the time Dounil rides to Hommlet, it is [13:00]
He has gathered 65FXP and 62MUXP and another 12cp, 32sp,
44gp, 9pp, a bloodstone worth 50 gp and 17gp of cheap jewellery.
He pay for a room and board (-4gp) and cashes in his hoard
at Nira Melubb. He gets the boxes opened by the blacksmith
His treasure as it stands:
Extra cash: 480cp, 675sp, 344gp, 424ep, 86pp, a bloodstone
worth 50 gp and 17gp of cheap jewellery
Trade goods: A jewelled dagger (worth 250 gp), and four
bolts of silk (worth 140gp. short sword with a topaz pommel (total value 500 gp)
and the suit and hooded cloak of brown velvet trimmed with fur (200 gp)
Longsword + 1 (and old longsword)
Ring of Invisibility
Shield +2
Shield +1
Plate Armour +1
Dagger +1
Staff of Striking +3 (17 charges)
Small, flat silver box (worth 125 gp) containing a jeweled
necklace (2,400 gp)
Cloak of elvenkind
Large pouch with a leather strap for shoulder slinging,
containing 50 tiny pearls (base 10 gp each)
2 x Longbows
quiver with nine arrows + 1
Potion of speed
Potion of extra healing
Potion of water breathing
Locked iron box, containing 800gp and 200ep
Potion of undead control
7 vials of holy water
Nira Melubb the moneychanger is somewhat surprised by the
advent of gems to sell and grade, but at a 20% return, he is happy to trade
with no questions asked. The bloodstone fetches 40gp, the jewellery 13gp and 6
sp and the topaz pommel another 400gp. After that Nira said he can’t change
anymore (especially the necklace or pearls) until he is resupplied. 453gp 6sp
total.
Brother Smythe is willing the crack open the lock boxes in exchange
for 10% of what’s inside, so the take is 720gp and 180ep.
The traders are agitated and give only 50% for the cloak and
bolts of cloth, 170gp.
Rufus and Burne sare worried they cannot redeem all the promissory notes at once if their lord makes them
do it.
Final cash 480cp, 681sp, 1,687gp, 604ep and 86pp is a
promissory note for 5639gp and 9sp spare
To be converted: Small, flat silver box (worth 125 gp)
containing a jewelled necklace (2,400 gp), 50 tiny pearls (base 10 gp each)
FXP 775 MUXP 740
He reaches level 3 as a MU, his HP rises to 2 out of 18 and he needs to rest, once he is healed, he’ll ride for Greyhawk, where his close companion Celest can be found. His
first level 2 spell is Levitate.
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