AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Hommlet Part 15

Took a bit longer to get this out as most of it was either game accounting or round by round battles.
But the heroes finally seem to be making some progress into the temple, now they are of sufficient level to fight groups of multiple Hit Dice foes.

Still day 185

Dounil and Celest split up so they can enter Nulb separately. With Celest stabling her horse first before ordering hot water and washing with what she claimed was found silver. The new proprietor at the Waterside Hostel accepts it without question. Later Dounil enters, having come up with a clever addition to their original scheme. He wears his hood and orders a room, hot water and washing, saying he’s been clearing the road of monsters. Again, no questions but laundry and bathing costs more because of the effort to get water from the river and boil it, 170cp for Dounil and another 15cp for Celest. They must dip into the funds they left to Mother Screng (Dounil uses his Ring of Invisibility to make his way there). Celest paying 1sp and 5cp and Dounil paying 1gp, 6sp and 10cp. Looking like he’s scrounging treasure from various nefarious deeds.

The XP gained from delving was 19+145+270+0.8+50x2+15x2+20x17+25x10+125x2 = 1404.8/16=87.8 x 1.10 or 1.05 = 96 FXP 92 MUXP

Only 6000 raw XP to go and they will both level up as Fighters.

At Mother’s Screng: 156cp, 845sp, 18gp, 49ep, 27pp

Adding to the haul to be taken to Hommlet: 125gp of silver chain and gem. And 4 jars of oil to be used on any trolls.

Dounil’s cunning plan is to go into the room he paid for, use his ring to sneak into Celest’s room and sleep there so no one who remembers him will be able to ambush him in his sleep. This is ruined by Celest telling him to just barricade his door. So, for the night, he sneaks into the room formerly owned by Pearl. A roll tells me it’s not in use. He alights to the bed and doesn’t need to light the candles in the candle holder, which is totally covered in wax anyway.

Day 186 (15^th of Ready'reat)

Waking the next day, Dounil uses the ring to knock on Celest door when no one else is in the corridor and whispering under the door to let him in. She says to do it after breakfast. Dounil discovers his room is untouched; no one went in and disturbed even the bundle he left under the sheets as a decoy. Downstairs, he and Celest take breakfast, talking low and in vague terms. Dounil will take it easy for a few days and see Mother Screng for some pain-reliving herbs. Celest should go and take a trip south, the road is good for trade and meeting people. (Dounil will rest and recover with magical healing, Celest should exchange the treasure in Hommlet but the road is dangerous).

They go to Mother Screng’s at a leisurely stroll to not aggravate Dounil’s injuries, stopping at Otis so Celest can take her horse.
She asks Otis if he knows anyone trustworthy and discreet who could look after horses in the wilderness. Otis suggests Elmo, a drunk wastrel in Hommlet (Dounil nods which I good enough for Celest). He asks Dounil about stabling and feed and Dounil says he’ll find some more money soon.

With Clest riding off on a dangerous road with bulging sacks of treasure, 10gp and her share of the still-fresh rations, Dounil visits Y’dey as Mother Screng. First to beg for some healing assistance and secondly to request 10sp for Otis and 155cp for his nightly rest. She is happy to grant both as the heroes are making progress, HP 12->13 and Dounil comes away with 4ep 15sp and 5cp, leaving 151cp, 830sp, 8gp, 45ep, 27pp in the hoard. With the electrum, Otis is paid and it looks like he is receiving money more commonly used by merchants. Dounil spends the rest of his day in Pearl’s room and heals 1 HP for it, HP 13->14.

It takes Celest most of the day to ride to Hommlet, passing a merchant caravan on the way. Quite tense for her until they pass completely from view for about 30 minutes. She follows Dounil’s advice and presents herself to Rufus and Burne who are undoubtably worried about yet more promissory notes they can’t yet pay. But as I am now using the OSE Advance update that makes it even more AD&D, they offer her a special note, they will swap the magic shield +1 and any number of promissory notes for equal value in training and spells from Rufus’s spellbook, at 1000gp per spell. This is acceptable as Celest was pretty sure she could not sell the magical item anywhere else around here. They also issue her a new promissory note (as they feel they will get the money back) for the broach, as the cameo coat of arms makes them concerned. 48000gp on the note and 250xp for the shield. Which is 17 FXP and 16 MUXP.

At Nira Melubb the moneychanger, he is torn over exchanging the value and losing any excess coins he must use to do it. 80% of 245gp is 196gp and that’s easy enough for the ivory statuette, silver tube and silver chain with gem (though he will need to wash and clean the stink of them). But the gold chain with the rubies (7,000gp+3,000gp) and the ruby ring (4000gp) is way beyond his ability to exchange. He will evaluate them for free as Celest’s Reaction roll was Friendly. So that must go back to Rufus and Burn who are upset but not appalled at the ghoul stench, being adventurers.

Celest is quite happy as she leaves with a promissory note worth 14,196gp, a FXP of 975 and MUXP of 931 on top of what went before. She’ll need to collect Dounil and then they need to train. She stays overnight at the Inn of the Welcome Wench, at double the price of the Waterside Hostel (5gp 10sp) but in far better conditions. She meets up with Elmo and explains her quest, Elmo is happy to help as a paid retainer, though he asks for 100gp per day if he is not going into the dungeon, to protect the horses outside the temple grounds. Celest says that’s extortion but fair under the circumstances. The contract will start when they return to the temple.

Day 187 (16^th of Ready'reat)

Celest prepares to ride to Nulb to retrieve Dounil. Dounil meanwhile repeats the same lazy day, spending 1gp on his horse and 14sp and 15cp on his stay, leaving 141cp, 831sp, 7gp, 49ep and 27pp in the hoard, HP 14->16. Celest encounters 2 wild boars on the road, they surprise her and fortunately her reaction roll is friendly, they merely grunt and swing their tusks. She carries on with some more speed.

In Nulb she talks to Dounil and impresses on him the note and the task. Recognising this is for the best but still not ready to travel, he wonders if he could get healed in Hommlet. Celest said there was a church there if he saw it there last. She takes the remaining 4sp and gets from Mother Screng, all the gold, electrum, silver and copper pieces. Cannoness Y’dey says to stop it for now, as it’s too obvious. She spends a gold coin on her horse and 15sp and 5cp on her night and breakfast. Dounil buys dinner in the Waterside Hostel for 2sp and 5cp.

Dounil decides that since h’s spent two days with no attempts to murder him in his sleep, he’ll use the room he actually paid for before someone notices he’s in the other room. He debates relighting the candleholder as it might be seen as having been used. Inspecting the wax to see if use was even noticeable, he sees the thing is quite reflective. Chipping away that night as he awaits sleep reveals the holder is silver. He stashes that in his bag, reasoning that it belonged to the temple-spies once and no one has claimed it like the other treasures of the conspirators.

Day 188 (17^th of Ready'reat)

They ride for Hommlet, possibly to spend the winter there, NRE. By the end of the day, they have eaten their last rations, stabled the horses (-2gp) and presented themselves to Rufus and Burne for training in the martial and arcane arts the next day.

It will take Dounil 3 weeks to train to level 4 as a Fighter and 3 for Celest to become a level 2 Fighter, she’ll then train as a level 2 Magic-User first for 2 weeks. At 400gp per week per level, that’s 8 weeks of total training (5 weeks of time) at their current levels, so 400 x 3 x 3 + 400 x 1 x 3 + 400 x 1 x 2 = 5,600gp. That covers the promissory note for the shield +1 and a new note for the other treasure is re-issued at 12,596gp.

On the 11^th of Sunsebb as winter bites (milder than historic Earthly norms for the latitude, probably normal for modern Earth) Dounil finishes his training and can start healing again, Celest finish on the 25^th, day 224. She learns Charm Person, a dangerous spell but still cannot read the spellbook they have been lugging around and add it to their own.  As I bring this into alignment with AD&D via the OSE Advanced update, she should have started with 4 spells, so I need to roll 3 more times. She finally learns Read Magic as she also gain’s Floating Disc (making her just as mobile as Dounil) and Protection from Evil. Dounil gains Magic Missile (a fitting replacement for his lost AD&D Shocking Grasp) and Read Languages (1 off Read Magic of the chart).

It costs the pair 36 x 5.9 x 2 = 424gp and 80sp for their stay. They money comes from Dounil’s discovery of the candleholder. It’s a silver case (75gp) with a sapphire (1,000gp) containing wax, but when the wax was chipped off (eventually heated and dripped) it revealed 19 silvery coins that were ultimately platinum when Dounil took them down to Melubb. That came to 231gp plus the sapphire Melubb refused to transacted. That promissory note (it was worth 900gp according to Melubb who undervalued the gem so he could undervalue it again later for his lords) went to Olster Gundigoot who promptly cashed it in for a tax write-off. I realised later I was 8gp off for Celest’s maximum XP for her level but since I had already done everything, I just took 121gp and 9sp off this treasure.

1131-424.8 = 706.2 (706.2-121.9) = 584.3/16 = 40 FXP and 38 MUXP. With 706gp and 2sp for the hoard. Or it would be had not Dounil been in of healing. His pleas to the stern Canon Terjon require 10 gp per day/cast of Cure Light Wounds for the needy and a 100gp donation for the castle construction. The daily routine of bed rest and healing means it takes 4 days and 140gp to bring Dounil to his full 22 HP. He spends the next five days buying spells from Burne and scribing them in his spellbook, so he can prepare them at times he desires (subject to being a level 3 MU). A fraught process for Dounil’s Intelligence is 13 and still has a 70% chance to never be able to learn the spell once he rolls for it. Dounil learns Burning Hands (AD&D spell), Protection from Evil, Shield, Spider Climb and Ventriloquism. He still can only prepare and cast 2 level 1 spells per day though. The promissory note has been reissued as 7,596gp.

The evening of the 25^th, they pay another 10gp and 2sp for room and breakfast the next morning.

Day 225 (26^th of Sunsebb)

It is cold and the temperature swings from 22 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 to 4 degrees Celsius) over the course of the day. Fortunately, there is neither rain nor snow. They purchase 21 days of fresh rations at inflated prices. The two traders make a keen note for their report that the meddlers are returning to Nulb and the temple.

They have 131cp, 819sp, 1113gp (1013gp) and 49ep across their three saddle bags as Elmo accompanies them, having been paid his first day.

Arriving in Nulb, Elmo reunites with his brother and amid that rejoicing, the heroes learn Otis will not charge his brother for his horse and will let him stay in his home. Elmo said he’ll be rolling in the money once the pair pay him. At the Waterside Hotel, Dounil and Celest take rooms, the proprietor is mor than happy to accommodate returning and paying guests, paid with 2gp, 10sp and 10cp. The treasure hoard was given to Y’dey.

Day 226 (27^th of Sunsebb)

It’s cold and not yet snowing/raining. The party ride forth with a plan. The pair will sweep the tower again now they can advance freely around the temple grounds. This countered by the front door being locked, they should wait to go around the back again. Instead to go below to kill gnolls and ghouls until they become too tired too or a large stretch is pacified.

Leaving at [8:00] and assume they arrive by [9:00], NRE.

Elmo is left with the horses at the foot of the temple and as he leads them out, the pair begin to make haste through the side door. It takes 2 and a half turns to enter and go down the left vestibule. The rest of the third turn to reach the bottom of the stairs [9:30], NRE.

Another advance up the north corridor and shortened movement to the east of the next crossing so they don’t get spotted by the gnolls looking though the view slit. Celest has a plan, she will cast Charm Person and induce the watcher to their side. Dounil prepared Shield, Detect Magic and Levitate. They rest [10:00], NRE x3.

They put their plan into action, advancing up to the eye slit on Room 121, Celest is unseen but she is heard, the gnolls grunts and she quickly casts Charm Person with the gnoll failing the roll. While the other gnolls inside get alert, Celest hurriedly explains they are friends and the gnolls should get a share of all treasure they find to share among friends, please let them in. The gnoll obliges to the surprise and cries of the other ones.

Upon letting them in, Dounil tries to capitalise on the moment and claims he is here to install himself as master of the temple and the gnolls should join them and receive great rewards, a reaction roll of 3 means this goes down poorly an the gnolls attack, prompting the charmed gnoll to defend the heroes.

No surprise but the heroes move first. R1, 6 HD of damage kills the gnolls before they can respond. The charmed gnoll is saddened by this but is mollified by the party offering him or her (hard with gnolls) all the treasure the dead gnolls could have, as the new temple’s Chief Gnoll/Soon to be Flind, now 30ep, taking a round.

They push onto Room 122 and throw open the door; there is again confusion and a pitch for a new gnoll-dominated temple. The gnolls are indifferent and want to know what is on offer compared to a lifetime of loot and violence for the Elder Elemental Eye. They want payment up front and the party cannot provide that right now, so they attack. The heroes go first though (good initiative so far). R1, 9 HD of damage clears the room.

R2, as the party supply the gnoll with the treasure, another gnoll arrives from Room 123, party wins initiative again and kills it. Four rounds till the turn is over 20sp, 10p and 10gp.

Advancing to Room 123, the gnolls and hobgoblin are very aware of the fighting but utterly confused as to why two bandits are being escorted by a gnoll. Dounil makes another speech, it’s cautiously received but with no money forthcoming, violence begins. The inhabitants have been hearing violence and win initiative.

R1, two attack each member of the party, with the hobgoblins going after the traitorous gnoll. All gnolls miss but one hobgoblin hits the charmed gnoll, doing 1 HD of damage HD2->1. The party does 13 HD in return, killing them all. I don’t know if the dice are good or having the chance of 4 HD per hero, an extra +2 to hit and an additional 2 damage dice are turning the tide.

With two turns to go, the heroes turn to leave but the gnoll says there is a passage beyond the wall, the pair having missed it last month. 12sp, 6ep and 6gp with 27pp under the brazier coals.

Throwing the hidden door open, the party move into Room 124, where two ogres have heard all the fighting but have dismissed the fighting as per their description. They are therefore aware and when Dounil declares the gnoll time has come there is no negotiation. The heroes win Initiative only by 1 but win all the same.

R1, Spell Fray from Celest, but Dounil can bring his sword to bear on the 4 HD ogres. Only thanks to Celest’s magical sword can she hit the ogres in their bronze platemail alongside Dounil and the gnoll misses. 9 HD of damage kills both ogres. Marking another section of the temple that will stay cleared until those ogres can be replaced in 2 weeks. The turn finishes up with a through looting of the room [10:10], 1/6 NRE. The chest is useful if they wanted to equip a squad but the gnoll has a weapon, the gnoll almost loses their footing lifting the spear barrel in the eagerness to find the ogres’ stash. For they know there should be one. Lifting the slab is another round for Dounil as the 36sp and 22gp treasure is given to the gnoll. The gnoll receives the 870sp and silver bracelet (170gp + 6 x 10gp azurites).

Passing into Room 125, it takes two rounds of cautious movement 3/10, to advance to the T-junction, where they see many remains of a fight from long ago with many gnawed bones or complete skeletons and maybe some external passages. The gnoll said the middle was forbidden as a central corridor. They hear the rattling of bones and metal, as the assembled undead begin to emerge on either side, grey shapes on a grey background to all their dark vision.

The skeletons do surprise them.

Surprise (4/10) Round, the undead advance and begin to slash with various weapons, kept sharp through being positioned within their ribcages and off the floor. Celest is hit for 2 damage, HP 14 -> 12. The gnoll dies to a single successful bow out of 6 attempts.

Round 1, wining initiative, Dounil says he’ll take the gnoll skeletons, they both hit. 2 gnoll skeletons collapse and 6 human skeletons do. No skeleton gets through their magic armour.

Round 2, again wining initiative, 3 human skeletons crumple and 1 gnoll skeleton does as well, another takes 1 HD damage, HD 2 -> 1. Again, the heroes are untouched.

Round 3, The undead have the initiative, Dounil takes 1 damage, HP 22 -> 21. Finishing off the human skeleton with a casual flick of her sword Fray, Celest turns to assist Dounil, destroying the gnoll skeletons.

They roll their charmed gnoll and retreat back to the door to Room 124 and bandage; eyes and ears perked for reinforcements. HP 21 -> 22 and HP 12 -> 14, 3/6 [10:25], NRE.

They spend the next 3 turns, one rest and 5 rounds in Room 125 exploring each end (making it 3/6 [11:10]). No treasure can be picked out in their dark vision as coin-shaped metal. But they see many weapons left in the hands of the formerly risen skeletons. Dounil thinks the southern passage to the west matches his prior map and marks the NE passage. They move on to Room 126.

Again the description of the ogre being aware but uncaring of the fighting means surprise comes from him alone. And surprises he does the pair but misses with his battle axe. He calls for help.

R1, both Frays and Celest miss but the 4 HD from Dounil’s sword + magic + strength kills the ogre leader.

R2, the 3 gnolls rush to assist. They fail to surprise but get the initiative. A lucky blow does 2 HP damage to Dounil, HP 22 -> 20. 11 HD back kills them. While Dounil bandages again HP 20 -> 22., Celest searches the room and Dounil joins her the next turn, no random encounters interrupt them. They then rest [11:40, NRE]. While they avoid the food as a matter of course, the iron chest is found to be locked. They’ll take it with them later. They loot the gnolls for 9sp 3ep and 9gp, and the Ogre Chief for his copper belt (35gp) and his purse of 11sp 19ep and 38gp.

A brief look at some fan-made hierarchy tables tells us the Earth Temple is down to its directly controlled Reavers, clerics and guards. 41 people, dangerous but perhaps the brigands might start questioning what makes the temple so great if they lose another force.

Entering 127, they spend a round opening the empty wooden box in the text description 4/10. Entering 128, they do not get to surprise because there was a gnoll by the door, but the gnolls do surprise in return.

SR, no gnolls hit but the bugbear does to Dounil, HP 22 -> 21.

R1, a gnoll hits Dounil and Celest each, HP 21 -> 19 and HP 14 -> 12. In return the bugbear takes 1 HD of damage HD 3 -> 2 and 4 gnolls die.

R2, the humanoids win and pass morale, the bugbear hits Dounil again for 2 damage, HP 19 -> 17. Dounil kills the bugbear with a Fray riposte, and their blades kill the rest of the gnolls.

They both bandage, HP 17 -> 19 and HP 12 -> 14, ending the turn and spending the next one looting the room thoroughly and then having to rest [11:40], NRE x 3. While there was no fireplace for the goblinoid to stash the hoard, the flammable woodpile rattled when searched and it was found. 64cp, 61sp, 30ep, 48gp, 4pp and a necklace of 12 large gold coins (130gp). Celest suggests they should see if they can find a Bag of Holding somewhere to deal with all the coinage, which has almost tipped them both over to encumbered.

The heavy crossbow is examined but deemed to be too heavy. The peephole it fires through shows the back end of the corridor from the month prior and good thing they didn’t explore or the gnoll didn’t bother firing as they passed.

It’s the work of a moment to cross the corridor into Room 129, prompting no surprises and automatic reactions from the guards.

R1, Only the magic armour blocks the heavy crossbows. In AD&D they probably would have punched right through. The javelins bounce off. The heroes engage the lone crossbowman and the javelinists thanks to their slow encounter move. As we move back into AD&D-like territory, I decide that rather than give Fighter level number of attacks on the 0-level foes, I just give the characters another Fray die. All that’s left is the crossbowman at “g” calling out further down the passage.

R2, Celest, the crossbowman, the guards in 130 and then Dounil. Celest advances and slays the crossbowman. The guards in 130 call out for the fighters in the room beyond and advance to throw javelins. One hits her for 2 damage, HP 14 -> 12. Dounil moves up and fires off his magic Fray, killing one guard.

R3, Celest, guards, Dounil and the fighters. Celest rushes forward and begins to swing her sword, five die. The guards with their longswords fail to penetrate her shield and armour. Dounil follows and the last two die.

R4, the fighters advance from their trapezoidal barracks and throw javelins, the leader throwing his Javelin of Lighting as these foes have wrecked bloody havoc among the Earth Temple. No normal javelin hits in the first volley, the Javelin of Lightning does though, hitting Dounil and both heroes fail their saves. 20 damage would still be just 4 HP though. I’m willing to bend the rules for such a blast and say it’s 8. Dounil HP 19 -> 10 and Celest HP 14 -> 6. They both Defy Death for the first time, so the recalculated HP after the half damage from what is now a successful save is; Dounil HP 11 and Celest HP 8. The Javelin of Lightning is unfortunately destroyed.

Due to the length of the corridor, the heroes can only advance and cast their magic Fray. Celest’s bounces off the leader, but Dounil’s wounds a fighter, HD 2 -> 1.

R5, All the fighters miss, the heroes make a final charge and Celest cuts down the wounded level 2 fighter and another. Dounil deals 8 HD in damage alone and kills both the level 3 fighter and the level 4 leader. Such is the power of high Strength and a Longsword +1 for both.

Bandaging, they debate stopping here, but Dounil said he wants to put down the ghouls again HP 10 -> 12 and HP 6 -> 8. Celest thinks that’s an awful idea, but they don’t want the trail of bodies attracting carrion-feeders over the next few days. Besides they are stronger now, 1/6 [11:50] and NRE.

They spend two turns searching bodies and belongs up and down the hall, dumping the weapons in a pile by the southern door for later, NRE x 2. Besides some bone dominoes (5gp), there is 21cp, 47sp, 79ep, 78gp, 80pp, 4 bronze rings set with a jet stone (50gp x 4), 4 ornamental dagger (15gp x 4), three jars of fuel oil and various bits of had food the pair snack on as they shift material. With a heavy heart, they must dump their copper and silver on the floor for want of coin weight. Hopefully nothing retrieves it by the time they get back.

It takes another turn to advance down to the T-junction and turn east and another turn but moving at x3 speed for having explored the area to pass through the grating, sliming behind them with a clang as they have weapons drawn and Dounil casts Shield. Nothing happens for a turn and the Sheild isn’t giving anything better than his magic plate would anyway. It looks like the ghasts and ghouls are dead, with decaying harpy corpses on the floor, 4/6 [12:30] NRE x 3.

This presents an issue for the pair. They are wounded but otherwise are on a roll. They have killed over two dozen foes and probably reduced the temple forces a bit. But they will need weeks of healing, causing the forces to grow again. Since they lost most of their health to a one-use magical item ad I keep filing to roll random encounters, they think they can chance it later.

It’s a turn to lift the grate between them and advance to the junction, where they rest invisible, [12:50] NRE x 2. And six more turns and another rest, moving at explored and mapped speed (x 3) to cart all the weapons and treasure from Room 121 to 130 into room 124 with the weapons chest and move the iron chest from Room 126, 1/6 [14:10] NRE x 6.

Looking at the chest, Dounil decides the lock is not connected and uses a battleaxe to break it off (the text said it’s breakable and so I say it’s not integrated into the structure). It takes him 7 rounds to break it, long enough to finish the turn by casting Detect Magic on the whole gathered contents. There is nothing magical here, 2/6 [14:20] NRE.

Disappointed, the decide to return to Nulb before they get too mauled down here. The take the iron chest contents of 311gp and 2 big and perfect agates (100gp and 500gp).

They pass at speed to the western vestibule but are mt on the stairs finally by a random encounter on the second roll, 4 gnolls, here to shore up the numbers caused by repeated deaths. They surprise.

SR, Dounil takes a bastard sword though a gap in the armour, HP 12 -> 10

R1, the heroes win initiative and 8 HD damage kills the gnolls, they have no treasure. They bandage above in the vestibule, HP 10 -> 12, [14:45].

Though the shadows loom in the winter dimness, it’s not yet twilight, so they encounter nothing as they walk out the main gate. Elmo grazes the horses nearby, saying they should arrange a time to meet, otherwise he would have left them there when it grew beyond twilight.

They shove into his hands 200 electrum pieces and tell him to carry his pay home.

1410xp from dead monsters/16 x (1.10 or 1.05) = 96 FXP and 92 MUXP

85cp, 1066sp 204ep, 522gp and 84pp received/16 x (1.10 or 1.05) = 108 FXP and 103 MUXP, plus 45cp which is lost in rounding.

To be taken to Hommlet:

Silver bracelet (170gp + 6 x 10gp azurites), copper belt (35gp), A necklace of 12 large gold coins (130gp), 4 bronze rings set with a jet stone (50gp x 4), 4 ornamental dagger (15gp x 4), and 2 big and perfect agates (100gp and 500gp).

With saddlebags bulging and darkness falling, they encounter nothing on the road (lowest roll it could be for nothing). Otis gets his 2pp for the horses, Y’dey gets everything obvious and heals Celest, HP 8 -> 10, and the proprietor gets his 10cp, 15sp, 1ep and 1gp. An additional 1sp and 1gp buys a large combined dinner with ale, though not that great all told.

Day 227 (28^th of Sunsebb)

It’s an early night but also an early morning as the heroes are awakened by a large owl apiece hooting into their rooms amid the first rays of dawn. It stares at them quite intently and they reach for their weapons, as it could be sinister. The owls were sent by Otis, for now the heroes can hear heavy footsteps and banging outside as the newest brigands of the broken tower have come to Nulb to ambush the heroes in their sleep. Celest can pull her chainmail on, but Dounil doesn’t have time to buckle on his platemail.

AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Hommlet Part 14

Day 185 (14^th of Ready'reat)

Between then and now, some people drew somethings to my attention. One, the heroes already make fires at night, so they wouldn’t have needed to scavenge a flint and steel from a dead bandit. Two, they would need light to see details for the material they find, as Dark Vision is for heat only. And lastly the official OSE Advanced edition changes have come out that address some of my general rule fudges and bring thing closer to AD&D. Which brings the game closer to the original vision I started with. For the first and second issues, let’s just draw a line over them. The availability of torches in the ToEE cover many omissions and no rules were used when they needed flint and steel. The later though creates new advantages and disadvantages. Actual Magic Item XP rules are good, though the XP gained is less than I calculated and the XP for selling them still has no base price anyway.

The improvement in Fighter HD to D10 is most welcome as it increases both heroes’ HP by 1 and their Fray to a 10% chance of doing 4 HD in damage per round. The addition of training time is a bit of a wash. Dounil has already spent months doing nothing of interest in the desert or over the water, and both gain XP at such a low rate that training time will hopefully, barely turn up.

Regardless, they come into town with the merchant caravan at 7:30 in the morning. They eat two of their three remaining rations and the last is split among the survivors and mixed with the caravan’s food supply, which is also shared as a thank you. Dounil and Celest slipping in as guards with Dounil dressed some of the dead men’s cloths from the ghoul storage. Hoping to be less obviously the man who slew many months prior.

There is much happiness even in this sordid town for the families of the saved, especially as Celest refuses payment for the deed. 2 x 13 + 3 x 12 + 16 + 4 x 14 = 134/16 = 8.375 x 1.1 or 1.05 = 9 FXP and 8 MUXP

She arranges to meet Dounil as he gets the horses stabled, letting Otis know with a subtle twitch of his peasant hood. Otis wisely keeps his snooping apprentice away as money is exchanged in silver pieces, 20sp for a day’s feed and a brush, another 20sp when they come back that night. Dounil then passes on the Mother Screng and Hruda, who is most impressed with his tales of daring in Nyrond and back into the temple. She casts Cure Light Wounds with a roll of 4+1, so Dounil heals 2 HP, HP 12-> 14.

Meanwhile, Celest tries to get some value out of their treasure, she has 591sp after the stable fee. The treasure that isn’t coinage is all too flashy to exchange in Nulb, she’ll need to do so in Hommlet. She leaves it with Mother Screng/Y’dey after carrying it under her cloak, trying to look like she is nursing a hurt arm. She removes the Scroll of protection from Undeath as she has no desire to meet with the ghouls again. With the copper pieces she buys a room for 1, hoping to sneak Douil in with the ring of invisibility to hide his identity. Whether he sleeps on the floor or finds an abandoned room or something is not her problem. It costs her 155cp for the night, dinner and breakfast tomorrow, paid in advance. She grumbles about banditry and tries to sound like a Woodwoman bumkin. The new proprietor is not yet an agent of the temple and merely shrugs.

At the Nulb Market (Building 4), she buys another 7 days of fresh rations -50sp.

XP from treasure is 221 + 326/100 + 899/10 + 71 x 5 + 47 x 10 = 1139.16 x 1.1 or 1.05 = 78FXP and 74MUXP. After spending: 171cp, 829sp, 221gp, 71ep and 47pp. Hidden by Y’dey in a place not even the heroes are aware of.

To be carried to Hommlet and exchanged for XP there: The 6-inch tall finely carved ivory statuette worth 85gp, a brooch with a carnelian stone with a cameo coat of arms (Veluna, quartered by the Knights of the Hart) worth 800gp, silver tube worth 35gp, gold chain worth 7,000gp, set with three small rubies worth 1,000gp each a ruby ring (worth 4,000gp) and a shield + 1.

Fortified, the heroes set off once again at [8:30], debating whether to keep going west to east or clear the ghoul from where Dounil recorded them on the eastern side. It will be [9:00] when they arrive. They meet and pass another merchant caravan coming into the village, trying to make it home before winter, they aren’t even pilgrims in disguise so there is no issue.

At [9:10] they enter the temple and again dismount the horses, NRE. The fact the bandits knew they were here yesterday means the area is not safe, but unless they stable the horses in a building, there is no place safer. They enter from the right vestibule, hoping to eliminate the ghast leadership and the chance of ghouls altogether. Fa chance as they are on the random table, but they shouldn’t know that. Might as well ask why evil men keep joining after losing tens of them repeatedly.

With the cloak and the ring, they should be advantaged against foes. They proceed at x3 speed, as Dounil has the map from his fist expedition, hoping to outpace the chance of an encounter. Tough! A random roll of 03, 4 gnolls joining the forces of the Earth temple. But as the heroes are invisible and the gnolls fail to hear Celest, surprise to the heroes.

Surprise round, the Frays kills one, Dounil misses and Celest’s attack kills another.

Round 1, heroes have rolled initiative, the Fray kills a third gnoll, the last is overkilled. Disappointingly they have only weapons.

At [9:25] they reach the entrance to the Room 103, and it is 1/6 in the dungeon. They reactivate the ring and recheck the cloak. They walk in and as expected the portcullis drops down. To ease the debate about if the harpies come back under the ghasts, I assume so. The harpies sing and the next round they flap about in confusion as they see nothing. Both heroes pass which was fortunate. Defying death is the number one source of lost HP so far after mud-tigers’ electric attack.

As the harpies swoop lower, Dounil and Celest strike. The surprise round is massive overkill, from the 4 HD damage from the 10 roll for Dounil’s Fray to the 8HD done with the swords. The next round is when the ghouls come.

Round 1, six ghouls rush forth due to the screams, but as a new combat has started, surprise is rolled and neither surprise. The heroes roll higher for round 1.

Round 1, 7HD of damage from the pair kill 3 ghouls and wounds another HD2 -> 1HD. The ghouls retaliate with 1 hitting Celest for 1 damage, she takes 1 more damage to Defy Death, HP 8 -> 6.

Round 2, Celest goes first then simultaneous hits. Celest misses but her Fray kills the wounded ghoul. Dounil kills the remaining ghouls with equal amounts of Fray and hitting them with his sword. But the ghouls hit him. He loses 4 HP; 2 from the claws and 2 from Defying Death to avoid being paralysed, HP 14 -> 10.

Keeping an eye on the north door where more lie in wait, they bandage, avoiding the harpy fecal matter and parts of undead. Let’s take the whole turn to round off time 2/6 [9:35], Celest’s HP goes 6 -> 8 and Dounil’s HP goes 10 -> 12.

Kicking down the door to Room 105, the 4 ghouls can hear them but did not expect them. The heroes expected them but could not see them. A roll determines no surprises.

Round 1, Celest, Dounil and then the ghouls. Celest kills 1 and wounds another, 2HD -> 1 HD. Dounil kills the rest with 6 HD of damage.

They push onward, the ghasts will face invisible foes. Still moving at x3 speed, they burst into the ghast room. They fail to spot Celest so the surprise roll will be good, but Celest is overcome by the stench and has that bad -2 to hit penalty. Neither are surprised (the ghasts could here the noise) but Dounil goes fist followed by simultaneous combat.

Round 1, 5HD of damage from Dounil destroys one ghast and wounds the other 4HD -> 3HD. Celest does 1 HD more 3HD -> 2HD. The ghast needs an 18 or better to hit Celest and only rolls some hits the heroes would (and will) kill to possess.

Round 2, the ghast goes first and splitting its attacks, misses with all of them. Dounil destroys it with 3HD of damage. The Undead presence on level one is gone (excluding random encounters) 3/6 [9:45].

Tossing each room takes two turns as they target the bedding in lieu of any chests or nooks. Resting in Room 106 again as they refuse to spend time in a room with ghast corpses [10:15]. I have decided that all gems, art objects and magical items have not been recollected, only coinage has come back with the encounters. By [10:55] and 4/6 turns until the next rest, they have found 295cp, 173sp, 98gp, 5ep and 7 pp. They split the money and are worried any more and they will get overburdened.

They move to the portcullis and raise it over 5 minutes because there is no point in them rolling. They can’t leave and no random encounter can get in. Resting again to prepare, they are wounded but hopefully the humanoids will be easier to deal with, NRE [11:10].

They know from Dounil’s maps that it’s about 200 feet to where they last left off yesterday (it’s actually 220). They intend to conduct their west to east sweep or adjust to go east to west if they encounter anything obvious. Donning the invisible items, they make it to 20 feet beyond the four-way junction, NRE 1/6 [11:20]. 20 feet later they see another corridor to the north, it’s only 40 feet long and there is wood along the sides, indicating doors. It’s off the path and would break the stay left ethos, so they press on only to fit a south (left) corridor, they advance 10 feet along that, NRE 2/6 [11:30]. Next round they advance into the opening of Room 108. It stinks of garbage here and nothing seems interesting. Rather than touch the stuff Dounil casts Detect Magic which comes up as nothing. Celest is annoyed and tells Dounil that now they will have to wait until tomorrow to sort any objects they find if the inhabitants here to take them back.

Advancing back up the corridor at x3 speed and slowing down for the other 40 feet (2/3rds of the remaining movement into the unknown), they come to a Y-junction. They see a gnoll and the gnoll fails to see them or hear them, 3/6 thankfully NRE [11:40].

They advance up the corridor in combat rounds now; 1/10 this turn and the gnoll fails to notice them creep forward to 20/50 feet. Round 2, the gnoll hears their footsteps and they unleash the magic Fray. The gnoll dies and surprise is over.

Round 1, Celest, the gnolls and Dounil in that order. Celest advances 20 feet and let’s loose with her magical Fray, doing 1 HD damage to one of the three remaining gnolls, 2 HD -> 1 HD. The gnolls retreat to the north-west corner and equip spears. One also readies an action to drop the net trap on the foes coming up. Rooms 121 and 1d4 (2) of the guards from Room 123 will appear next round. Dounil advances 20 feet and fires off his spell Fray, but that bounces off with a roll of 1.

Round 2, Celest goes first, then Dounil and the 4 gnolls from Room 121 simultaneously, then the 2 gnolls from Room 123 and finally the gnolls already present. Celest casts her spell fray and kills the wounded gnoll. But as she enters, she is caught by the gnoll’s ready action, and the net trap falls on her. She cannot move and loses her Dex AC bonus and shield AC. Dounil rushes forward, he cannot get into range, so he uses spell Fray but rolls a 1 as his spell fizzles. The gnolls from Room 121 advance and use their throwing axes on them. Only Celest’s armour keeps her from harm. The 2 gnolls from Room 123 use their throwing spears, Celest is hit by the one aimed at her, HP 8 -> 7.

Finally, the surviving 3 gnolls cast their throwing spears at Celest, 2 hits doing 3 HP damage, HP 7 -> 4.

Round 3, initiative goes: the 121 gnolls, the heroes, the 123 gnolls and the 122 gnolls. The four gnolls from 121 attack Dounil as he’s still up and dangerous, all attacks bounce off his armour, even with gnoll strength. Celest can still cast spell Fray, she wounds one of the 3 gnolls who trapped her 2HD -> 1 HD. Dounil rolls 8 HD of Fray and sword damage. He sends the Fray towards the 122 gnolls, killing two and leaving one at 1 HD and kills two of the 121 gnolls fighting himself.

The two gnolls from 123 take their morning stars and lay into the trapped Celest, neither roll a 15 to hit as Celest desperately uses her sword blade and rim of shield to deflect. The last 122 gnoll continues the process by throwing a flask of oil at Celest, splashing the thick stuff all over her.

Round 4, Celest goes first, then the 121 and 123 gnolls, then Dounil then the surviving 122 gnoll going for the fire box. Despite the morning stars, Celest has a target for her Fray, zapping the last 122 gnoll dead. The two 121 gnolls try to overpower Dounil, a bastard sword slips under and does 1 damage to him, HP 12 -> 11. The two with morning stars keep wailing at Celest, angry at the failure to connect with a satisfying crunch, 2 damage is HP 4 -> 2. Dounil does 8 more HD, I then change dice rolling surfaces to ensure that the dice are not sliding. As they are very regular. But he slays all the rest. Celest and Dounil now are uninterrupted to cut her free and bandage. Celest’s HP 4 -> 6 and Dounil’s HP 11 -> 12 [12:00] and they need to rest for the 6^th turn, NRE [12:10].

Peeking into 121 shows nothing of interest and otherwise they toss the shelf and bodies. Finding four jars of oil (useful when there would be trolls or pursuers), a silver chain with a roughly polish orange gem (carnelian, total value they cannot appraise at 125gp), 8sp, 9gp and 38ep. There is an unanswered comment about why electrum pieces more than others?

Is Celest willing to go into the next room? She says she has too otherwise they are leaving with enemies at their backs. She’ll use her spells more. They kick down the door to Room 123 as invisible as they can. A surprise roll as neither side were sure if there were enemies or they all perished in the fighting, but no surprise.

Round 1, Celest then the monsters then Dounil. She sees 3 gnolls and two hobgoblins, so she casts Light on the eyes of one gnoll and Frays against the two hobgoblins, she only kills 1. The blinded gnoll lumbers at her as the vengeful hobgoblin aims his composite bow. The other two gnolls concentrate on Dounil with throwing axes. None hit. Dounil does 6 HD and kills the 3 gnolls.

Round 2, Celest goes first again and kills the remaining hobgoblin.

Looking about carpets and tapestries, there is a lot about the earth temple here. Celest notes they all wear brown robes, Dounil might have a set. It takes 2 turns to toss the bedding and Celest tips over the brazier onto the stone floor due to the present of goblinoids 2/6 [12:30]. There is 16sp, 10gp, 11ep and 27pp in the brazier coals as expected. The beer was ignored like all other food down here.

Loaded down with treasure, at an apparent dead end and badly hurt. The pair debate their options. They have to get out but Dounil is intrigued by the corridors they passed to get here, and they still don’t know how these room connect to where they were yesterday. Celest want to take down the tapestries in case they are valuable, but they are of foul scenes and poorly maintained by the gnolls and hobgoblins. They agree to take down and heck for moth holes then if there is nothing, they will explore some more. Another turn to pull them all down, each as disappointing as the last, 3/6 NRE [12:40].

They backtrack to the Y-Junction and keep going. They come up to a new corridor to the south. Dounil checks the map and said these rooms do not enter onto the long corridor or the junction they went to yesterday, 4/6 NRE [12:50].

As the tapestries were a bust, they go down there. One turn is enough movement to reach the end and open both doors, revealing nothing except stress and disappointment in Room 110 and Room 111 They have to rest among the musty, if normal smells of Room 110, 6/6 NRE x 2 [13:10].

Another turn takes them to almost the four-way crossing they know and pass the door Dounil thinks was where the southern gnolls with the bastard swords came from, 1/6 NRE [13:20].

The next turn is at x 3 speed and takes them up and out of the temple underground. Then it’s time to saddle the horses and get out, this might be the last time they can use the temple as a stabling ground now they have assaulted humanoids who can give and take orders. It’s [14:00] when they get back to Nulb.

AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Hommlet Part 13

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 6^th 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 13^th 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 4^th 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.

AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Hommlet Part 12

Still Day 161

Riding horses go at 45 miles a day I decided. So, they cross one and a half flat 30-mile hexes per day. On the Darlene map I would have them ride for Narwell then across the lower part of the Gnarley Forest, then turn north from Hommlet. But Anna Meyer’s more detailed map shows they should turn off prior to Narwell or make a big detour from arriving in Narwell then pass through some small woodland settlements on the High Road. To be consistent with both, they will make time across the flatlands of the Wild Coast and go north to the High Road from Narwell. They reach the bend in the Selintan where One Ford and Crossford are. But as they are not on the map, nor is there a mention of a bridge, they ford it the next morning. No random encounters, not lost on signposted roads.

Day 162

Rations 12/14, they ford the Selintan, which takes them half a day and so they can only move to the edge of the hex. As they are camping now, there is a night encounter roll as well, but neither have an encounter. Not lost now they are beyond civilisation.

Day 163

Rations 10/14, no encounters in the day or night and not lost.

Day 164

Rations 8/14, only 15 miles to Narwell now. They will stop there for the night. However, that day they unfortunately come across one of the many hazards of the Wild Coast, a lair of four trolls. But they are not lost.

Neither are surprised so the encounter starts 160 yards away.

Round 1, the trolls win initiative and charge from their ill-concealed stinking hollow, moving 120 yards forward. The pair decide to trust fate and steel and swing down from the panicking horses, drawing swords and firing spell bolts into the front. First troll HD 6->4.

Round 2, equal initiative and a meeting in the middle of claws, teeth and swords. 9 HD of damage dealt to the trolls, they deal 2 HP damage to Dounil and 5 HP to Celest. First troll HD 4->0 (for now), 2^nd troll HD 6->4, Dounil HP 18->16 and Celest HP 7->2.

Round 3, The heroes win initiative by 1, Dounil tells Celest to get back after her attack. Fray defeats the wounded troll, no swords hit. Troll 1 - 1/3 till it starts healing, troll 2 – 0/3. Trolls bite once and claw for 5 HP damage to Dounil, HP 16->11.

Round 4, heroes win initiative, both swords land and do 6 HD, disabling another troll but remaining one does 3 damage to Dounil, HP 11->8. Troll 1 - 2/3 till it starts healing, troll 2 – 1/3 and troll 3 – 0/3.

Round 5, troll wins initiative, does 2 damage to Dounil HP 8-> 6. 6 HD in return disables the last one. Now they lack oil to burn the bodies, so they are forced to grab their frightened horses and flee. Bandaging around the campfire, Dounil HP 6->8 and Celest HP 2-> 4. No XP can be awarded as the trolls were merely inconvenienced and no treasure could be taken from their lair.

It is further tragic they encounter something again at night. 12 Wolves who smell blood and are probably part dog considering how long civilisation has endured in Grayhawk. And so are unafraid of people. They surprise the party at 10 yards. There is one advantage, the reaction roll is 10 Indifferent, may negotiate. How to negotiate with a wolf?

Dump all the rations far away with a well-aimed throw and move the horses to the fire. Cast light on the fire so it glows like day. That’s enough to sacrifice to keep the wolves at bay for a sleepless and sore night.

Day 165

0/14 rations, not even iron rations. It’s a hungry and tired set of riders who stagger into Narwell. They pay 1sp to enter and another for the horses, they take a shared room with food and pay for 2gp a night another 4gp for the stabling. 62sp just to get somewhere safe, let alone recoup. Now they have 1402sp. To rest 10 days more will cost them 600sp, they won’t get another chance, but Celest is most unhappy.

Day 176

They set off again with 2 weeks of fresh rations 14/14, costing Celest another 100sp for 702sp remaining. The horse fodder has been eaten during stabling, but now they are fine to graze them. If not, they will just turn them loose. They only make it to the edge of the wooded hex with the forest slowing them. Luckily there are no encounters, nor are they lost.

Day 177

Rations 12/14, neither lost nor encounter anything in the day or night.

Day 178

They begin rising into the wood hills now, fortunately not imposing any additional penalties in OSE. Rations 10/14, neither lost nor encounter anything in the day or night.

Day 179

Rations 8/14. They are lost but fortunately are going where they thought they were going, that does means as the wander off the High Road, they encounter something during the day. 100 elves and their leaders, arrayed for patrol emerge from the woods where their clan hall lies. Dounil and Celest being half-elves, hail them in Elvish. That raises their reaction from 5 to 7, making them uncertain about wander strangers. Dounil and Celest quickly relate their tale. The elves do remember defeating the temple forces at the Battle of Emridy Meadows some 7 years ago. They redirect them back to the road.

Day 180

Rations 6/14. They repeat the same mistake and wander off the road but still in the right direction, leading to another day encounter. This time it’s a tribe of Woodmen in their long hall and palisade. While neutral in alignment and indifferent in rection once they hear the friendly Elvish greeting. They hold no love for the Temple and its humanoids, and once again direct the pair on the High Road.

Day 181

Rations 4/14. They are lost again and wander south. Dounil is sure they should be at the abandoned farmstead by now and they make camp, only to encounter something in the dark. It said to use the standard encounter table, so I will assume it being forest overrides the green hill icon. They are not surprised by the approach of 3 huge spiders at 120 yards through the undergrowth.

Round 1, the spiders move first, advancing 180 yards to attack, no hit. Dounil’s Fray kills one and his sword kills another. Celest is suffering from still being level 1. The spider just passes morale and keeps at it, not yet processing its companions’ deaths.

Round 2, The spider is hacked to bits by the pair with great vigour.

Day 182

Rations 2/14. They figure out their location and become unlost, they are still 1 hex away from their destination, so they can make it today. No encounter that day or in the night. They reach the abandoned farm and barn as night closes. They put the horses in the barn and settle down within some crumbling walls.

Day 183

Rations 0/14, Celest is told who to contact in Nulb to assure people they have returned and are going to tear into the temple. She also needs to buy another week of supplies. Dounil will scout the tunnel. It is [8:00].

Celest rides to Nulb and finds it as bad as described. She stables her horse with Otis and tells him she is friends with the blonde half-elf. Otis tells her it’s good, the temple is back up from whatever blow that was dealt, and not to breathe who her friend is here. Mother Scragg is please and let’s her know she can get healing if she does well. Celest buys 1 week of rations for 7 days, trying to keep that fact she has 50sp on her to a minimum. She says she is a woodsman looking for a lost family member who joined a bandit group a year ago.

Dounil searches out the tunnel. He cannot find the bandit leader’s body, which would be normal in an active woodland after 121 days. But not even gear. Entering the tunnel, he does not spend 20 turns moving and resting but 5 turns of movement, 1 turns of rest and 1 more turn to reach the trapdoor at [9:10], which is shut. Activating the mechanism, he finds the formerly rich bedroom in the tower stripped bare.

Here I must digress a bit from the narrative. The temple is an active site, and the rules are clear that no only are foes replenished if not killed fast enough and their leader still lives. But the numbers grow beyond the listed of appearing. But that is listed after the section where Dounil first entered the tower and left for his extended detour. And I am inclined for purposes of keeping the game manageable, that merely all encounters (bar the harpies/ghouls/ghasts) have replenished.

Dounil can hear with a heavy heart the sound of rancorous men below. The brigands have reoccupied the tower. He makes a strategic retreat, the tunnel is not safe, and neither is the cottage. At [10:30], ten minutes after returning, Celest appears and Dounil discusses the problem. Celest’s opinion: sharpen by delays, near-death and costs; is that if Dounil did them in last time, he can do them in again.

OK, follow behind and this time they’ll split the loot evenly. Accompanying Dounil, Celest makes good time, she questions why they don’t camp in this cave instead once, they clear the brigands and Dounil said he doesn’t know what lives there. Celest said they can double-check it later. At [11:40], they are peaking through the trapdoor and entering the old bedroom. Dounil will turn invisible and begin to kill, Celest will wear her Elven Cloak and shoot with the bow to take out any crossbowmen first. The door opens and another tower of slaughter begins.

The brigands fail to see through Celest and they really fail to see Dounil, who might not have surprise but cannot be seen. For convenience of the module increasing the danger of foes after the initial encounter, I will assume everyone is already armed and assembled in Room 1, the Main Room or their watchposts.

Surprise round, Dounil rolls a 1 on the attack, as his go wide charging down the stairs. He kills a guard though with his Fray. Celest’s arrow may have failed to penetrate, but these crossbowmen are level 0 and so her Fray chops down 2 of the 4.

Round 1, the brigands rally and attack, going first. A crossbowman firing point blank hits Celest without off her magic shield. Doing 2 damage, HP 7->5. No spears and bows down in the room, just maces and swords and they try to beat Dounil to death and stab what is left. 3 men on each side for 12 attacks against him, 8 footmen, 2 sergeants and 2 lieutenants.

They roll a 19 and three 18s, but it’s not enough to penetrate the magic armour and shield. The other 12 wait to see. Dounil slashes and Frays and 4 footmen die. Celest kills the remaining Crossbowmen and is ready to fire into the crowd below.

Round 2, equal initiative. Dounil will kill a lieutenant and another footman. The footmen, sergeants and lieutenants will be unable to penetrate. The four dead footmen will be filled with the 4 surviving guards, one who hits Dounil for 2 damage, HP 18->16. Celest will pick at the leader hanging back and fire Spell Fray at him too, doing 2 HD of damage, HD6->4. He directs the 4 archers to fire at Celest, who of course cannot have her +2 shield out, so she merely has an AC of 1. All miss.

Round 3, the heroes go first and Dounil kills the other lieutenant and a sergeant. Celest shoots at the archers, killing all 4. The remaining brigands pile into Dounil, the leader hoping his 6H means he can hit Dounil well, he can but he lacks the multiple attacks that make ghouls and trolls so frightful. No one hits Dounil.

Round 4, equal initiative, Dounil has a bad round, missing and rolling a 1 on his Fray, his aim is getting worse as the blood and tumult grows. A guard and footman do 1 damage apiece with short and longsword, HP 16->14. Celest misses the leader but her magical Fray does 1 HD damage, HD4->3.

Round 5, equal initiative again, Dounil kills the leader and the other sergeant. Celest kills 3 footmen.

Round 6, the brigands finally get a go, the 5 surviving brigands fail morale and move to open the door and escape into the courtyard. Dounil gives chase and kills 2, Celest fires from the arrow slits and kills 1 more.

Round 7, the brigands are faster, but Dounil and Celest can cast magic. Their Fray finish off the last 2. Not great though for the Giant Ravens know who their friends are and are coming to attack Dounil. He is not surprised for the roll means he remembered the ravens have an optical illusion.

Round 8, there are 16 giant ravens, each with 3 HD. Fortunately Celest is inside the tower, but random encounters for the daytime will be rolled as the fighting goes on. Luckily the heroes roll 1 more than the ravens for initiative. As the ravens come in to peck and claw, Dounil does 3 HD and kills one. Celest fires arrow and spell but is running out of arrows, she’ll need to take a round to scavenge some from downstairs and another to return up. She does 2 HD, Giant Raven 3->1.

A vertical square is still a square, so 3 raven attack, doing 1 damage, HP 16->15.

Round 9, Ravens go first and none hit, Dounil kills 1 and the wounded one. Celest scavenges.

Round 10, Dounil kills 2 more Ravens. Celest returns to the firing position, a whole turn has passed so I roll for a random encounter. Nothing. No ravens hit. Dounil cannot take much more, he will retreat next turn.

Round 11, Raven goes first and do 2 damage to Dounil, HP 15->13. Dounil makes a fighting retreat to the doorway, killing 1 and wounding another HD 3->2. Celest only hits it with magic, HD 2->1.

Inside, things are grim. Everyone will know they are here, they can’t assault the temple now and the brigands will easily be able to put together how they got in. They bandage, HP 13->15 and HP 5->7.

Celest says they have one option, kill the ravens and stop the noise, then ambush whoever comes out of the tunnel when they go looking for them. It’s a plan but Dounil is incredibly tired. But this is D&D not GURPS, so he’ll just have to bear the fatigue.

He opens the door again and faces the ravens cawing on the ground for their dead kin.

Round 1, Dounil charges forth and does 5 HD of damage, killing one, killing the wounded one and doing 1 HD damage to one more, HD 3->2. Celest fires from the doorway, killing the newly wounded one. Also 60 giant rats are approaching across the ground from 130 yards away.

But now 3 ravens can attack on the ground, 3 in the air and the rest from the sides. Dounil takes 1 HP damage, HP 15->14.

I then realise Celest has a maximum HP of 8 and so she should have had 1 more from Darkshelf onwards, this is corrected, she has 8 HP now.

Round 2, The giant ravens attack and do 3 HP damage, HP 14->11. The rats are almost to the carcasses. Only Celest manages to hit anything with her magical Fray, doing 1 HD to a raven, HD 3->2.

Round 3, Dounil and Celest go first, the sword killing 2 raven and the range killing another. Rats begin to swarm the carcasses for a round, forcing the 3 ravens on the ground to lift off. Dounil backs towards the door. The ravens dive bomb doing 3 damage to Dounil, HP 11->8

Round 4, The heroes kill another and wound 1, HD 3->2. Dounil shuts the door. Preventing the rats from entering.

As they bandage, they take stock. HP 8->10 and remains at 8. They need to kill the giant ravens but are prevented by the rats. The decide to go and search the brigand’s materials. Looking at the torches, Dounil thinks he can levitate up there and ignite the nests. But how would he get down?
Celest would provide covering fire for him. It’s crazy but it might work as it will last 90 minutes for him.

After an hour [12:00], the rats look like they have subsided.

Round 1, Opening the door, Dounil rises at a rate of 20 feet per round, he seems to shrink though he is nearly at the top of a 25 foot tower.

Round 2, Dounil is now level with the top and he sees the giant ravens nest in the timbers caused by the collapse of the thid story into the second. He throws the torch and the 3 remaining ravens take off the strike him out of the air. They do no damage.

Round 3, Dounil descends to 5 feet above the ground, he cannot hit nor does his Fray have any effect, Celest misses too but her spell hurts the injured one, HD 2->1.

Round 4, Celest kills the wounded one and wounds another, HD 3->1, it is finished off by Dounil’s Fray as he touches down. The remaining giant raven divebombs Celest but misses.

Round 5, Celest’s arrow and Dounil’s Fray kill the last. That took way too long for everyone.

There is a deeper problem, if the tower was reinforced, then they knew about the tunnel and the old farmhouse. It was probably only logistics that prevented brigand horses being present when the pair arrived. That means their sleeping area isn’t safe and if there was an affray such as what has happened here, they would check there and Nulb. Which is what sending Celest only was supposed to prevent. They are stuck, unless they can ambush the person who checks the farm.

Scavenging the bodies gets them: 63cp, 96sp, 24ep, 35gp, 47pp and the XP is 92 FXP and 87 MUXP.

Celest rests in preparation for that night. Dounil takes the horses some several miles away and makes a cold camp while Celest hides in a tree with a view of the well with her cloak of Elvenkind.

She sees nothing all night.

Day 184

The next morning, Celest rolls her find secret doors roll and sees footprints around the well. Someone who they couldn’t see was here, but could that person see them while hidden?

AD&D Solo Adventures - The Village of Hommlet Part 11

Still Day 123

However, from the trap in Room 57 to the puffballs erupting in Room 61, the inhabitants are aware and waiting. Two troglodytes, 1 5HD mudtiger and an evil cleric who has cast Bless on the others, giving them +1 attack, +1 damage and +1 morale. Unsurprisingly, the party is surprised by the foes but the cleric, meaning he cannot act in the surprise round.

Surprise round, the troglodytes launch their javelins and miss even with the Bless. The mudtiger surges forth and shocks. Dounil takes 3 damage, HP 14->11 and Celest takes 1 for saving, HP 5->4.

Round 1, The mudtiger fails to bite into Dounil or recharge it’s shock, the troglodytes miss him with two attacks but the battle axe catches Celest for 1 damage, HP 4->3. The evil cleric tries to split them up, casting Command “Flee!” on Dounil. Dounil knows Celest and soon himself is dead if they split, opts for Defying Death and forces a success by rolling 3d4 (first time today) for damage to himself as he strains against the magic. Coming to three lots of 1 damage and HP 11->8.

Dounil tells Celest to pick them off at range, his wild swings are blocked but he does kill one troglodyte. Celest moves back, swaps to her longbow and sends a Fray bolt towards the cleric, doing 1 HD of Damage, HD 2->1.

Round 2, equal initiative so attacks are simultaneous. The mudtiger fails to recharge or bite. The troglodyte fails to hit with either attack. Dounil kills the other troglodyte. The cleric moves into combat and tries to touch Dounil to cast Cause Fear, Dounil passes only thanks to his +1 WIS modifier. Celest shoots with arrow and magic at the cleric, the arrow hits again only thanks to her ability modifier (+3 vs the -2 from magnetisation) and the cleric dies. So, she sends her spell Fray at the mudtiger. HD 5->4.

Round 3, Again simultaneous initiative. The mudtiger does not recharge and no one hits. Spell Fray does damage to the mudtiger, HD 4->2.

Round 4, The party get the initiative and Dounil finishes the mudtiger off with a sword blow, having arced it away from his armour.

The pair bandage and take stock of the dead cleric 4/6 [16:49]. The cleric is armed and armour as his companions above were but has nothing else. How the cleric can cast without his unholy symbol (left in Room 44) is not addressed. Dounil HP 8->10 and Celest HP 3->5.

They investigate the chamber of Room 65, where the cleric came from. Finding a bedroom and splitting to search the belonging. They find another two vials of presumably nonmagical liquid. They must rest here at the end of the 60 minutes [17:09]. Dounil suggests that Celest keep her longbow out and follow a short ways behind him. It smells like the cleric spends most of his time here. Another turn takes them to a T-junction and they turn left, going east to and hopefully not the ghouls again 1/6 [17:19]. About 20 feet into their next turn, they encounter enemies in Room 63. They fail to surprise the troglodyte but it surprises them. Launching a javelin at Dounil and rolling a natural 20 for 1 damage, HP 8-> 7.

Round 1, The troglodyte goes first. The troglodyte misses both attacks. The combined Fray kills the troglodyte.

Round 2, the pregnant mudtiger emerges ponderous from her pool and attacks, but the heroes rolled a better initiative. Dounil slices up the elemental foe, the eggs released by the death throes in the pool. Dounil and Celest realise looking at the eggs and the fingerings in the north pool that this will be a continuous problem. They try tipping the herbal remedies into the pool to see if they are poison, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. They resolve to deal with that and the water weird later after they escape [17:21]

Advancing another turn to the east and they turn north to see and smell the charnel caves in Room 62, 3/6 [17:31]. They backtrack, while covering themselves with their ring and cloak. That at 3 times speed for passing through already explored territory that then turns to the west as they head south from Room 64, 4/6 17:41].

Another turn takes them to Room 66, where yet more pools lie. But this time with a cloying fog that makes it hard to see and brings them on edge. This is exactly set up to make Celest’s bow useless, but it’s warm. They realise that taloned killer frogs are emerging from the pool, not yet properly hostile but with the general sort of semi-hostility that comes from the text declaring them to be automatically hostile yet being surprised.

Surprise round, Dounil kills 5 killer frogs, and Celest 2.

Round 1, the heroes win initiative and the last frog dies. Good thing too as they have 3 attacks each and their last attack is 1d4+1 or always 1 damage. They rest again, worried that their gear will get a little rusty and their clothes soaked from the mist 5/6 [17:42].

Exploring the room is a matter of moving a little bit in two directions while progressing around the warm pool. While there are no more frogs, there is a pool of fish. That does mean they have to spend another turn in the mist, 1/6 [18:02]. Two more turns take them back along the beach and they see where they first fought the mudtigers and pulled up the boat. They have completed the dungeon. But still have no oars. They realise they left them back in Room 64 and must either loop back or go back through the tapped roundabout in Room 57 2/6 [18:32].

At 3 times speed they get back to the entrance to Room 64 in 1 turn [18:42]. They can pick up the oars in one 1/3 of a normal turn or 1 turn in an explored area. With Celest carrying them while Dounil carries the black pyramid and end up back in foggy Room 66 at the end. Celest wants a full maintenance done on their gear in Darkshelf and she won’t pay. Dounil says maintenance is fine, it’s about getting the money back to safety that is the learning part 4/6.

Another turn gets them to the boat and they must rest; they cut the rope while Celest banks the oars. Dounil pushes off and tries to hope in before yet gets into the freezing water, no dice, he has some soaked feet and very cold. So, he tries to row vigorously to Celest’s annoyance on the other oar 1/6 [19:12].

They heave and hoe for more than a mile in the freezing wet dark. Using their darkvision to navigate the turns before they reach the hidden jetty and the fading twilight. Luckily it is still the 1st of Harvester, high summer and the light has not yet faded, but is quite obscured by the bluffs and trees. It took an hour [20:10]. It takes another hour to row west to where the bluffs give way to bottomland [21:10]. From there it’s another hour to get back through the bottomland to the outline of the quarry with pair of random encounter rolls for the river and woods. Nothing in the river but they run into a pair of goblins on worgs in the forest. Scouts who are sweeping the land for any escapees or survivors, unaware everyone is dead or fled to Darkshelf yesterday. They are 110 yards away and neither are surprised.

Round 1, the goblins win initiative, and with their split move and fire special ability, they move halfway of their mounts’ speed (180 yards) to 90 yards (20 yards away) and fire their slings at close range. Pinging harmlessly off the heroes’ shields. Then the worgs finish the remaining 20 yards movement and attempt to savage them with their bite and mass. Celest takes 2 damage, HP 5->3.

Dounil and Celest aren’t going to let a pair of goblins stop them now, Dounil’s main thrust fails but his Fray kills the rider and wounds the worg, HD 3->2. Celest gets her revenge, doing 4 HD and killing both goblin and his mount with a massive set of swings.

They bandage and she gets the last health potion again in case there are more, HP 2->5.

They make it back to the keep/guardhouse and strip-off their soaked, stinking armour at [22:10]. They lay it out, heave some furniture over the door to a guest room and pass out. Hoping their keen part-eleven sense will reveal intruding foes.

Day 124

It is [8:00] and they are not dead, since there are no random encounters in the quarry. Their clothes stink, their armour padding stinks and they have a pile of treasure to haul back. They use a wheelbarrow from the quarry. Arriving at [10:00] to much fanfare and no random encounters on the path. With much ceremony, Overlord Neistor thanks them for ridding Darkshelf of it’s terrible scrouge and awards them 500 gold pieces. They then begin the tending too process.

The room at the inn is rented, they are too tired to care about sharing a room and or bed, but it might be awkward later. Breakfast is included for 5gp a night with the suite. The blacksmith will take 10% of the value to melt down the silver unholy objects, the washing of the undergarments and sand-cleaning of the magic armour is 10gp more from various services (I’m just guessing). They will oil and polish their own swords and other weapons. The XP for monsters comes to 1101XP /16 = 68.8 x 1.10/1.05 = 75/72 for each class.

Treasure XP all goes to Celest, hopefully to get her to level 2 so she can assist Dounil against 1 to 2 HD foes in the Temple.

Three holy symbols at 25gp, minus 10% comes to 67.5gp. That plus 500gp (reward) and 8910sp, 1125gp, 23pp in coins. Darkshelf will also take the blood stones (90gp), quartz crystals (230gp) and urns for 75gp in total. But they don’t have a jeweler to change over the remaining jewelry and gems. Understatedly, Neistor is worried he might not have enough cash on hand to change everything over and still have the village economy run for the next season. Especially as it will be months before people feel like working at the quarry again. That comes too 2813.5/8 = 351.68 x 1.10/1.05 = 386/369 XP.

Still to cash in 7 silver and ornamental stone rings/one with bloodstone (770gp), 3 jade figures (300gp) and Glyrthiel’s spellbook which requires magic to read (Friends, Read Magic, Shield, Sleep and Unseen Servant).

This is looking like a bit of a bust for Celest, she is still only ¼ and 1/5 of the way to level 2 after an entire module of XP. Still, they rest for a while, with Celest requiring 2 days of full rest to reach HP 7 again and Dounil to need 11 days complete rest.

So 11 x 5 = 55gp of cost + 20gp for cleaning is 75gp less than 8915sp, 2287gp, 23pp and the gems. Which is being paid out of the silver first to lessen the weight to 8165sp. At day 8, Celest is thinking about what happens to the fingerlings and the water weird, especially if they get accused of leaving a job unfinished. She wants to research how to defeat the weird, but with a lack of sages in Darkshelf, resorts to Defying Death as she racks her brains from her magical training, she did with Dounil. Having not rolled one this session, she rolls 1d4 and gets a 1, no damage. She remembers water weirds can only be permanently slain by Purify Water spell and only blunt weapons do full damage to them.

She goes to Neistor and explains to full make the quarry safe, she needs to hire the town cleric, borrow two clubs and have three lots of poison bait for the pools (she doesn’t trust the fish). Neistor agrees to give her the bait and clubs, but says the Cleric will want a donation. The 1E DMG says 100gp for the spell, which she pays.

Day 136

The pair armed with clubs to avoid the stacking 1 damage only rule for water weirds and the cleric accompanying, return to the quarry. The cleric hopes he won’t have to turn back any ghosts later but is relieved the bodies in the guardhouse were burnt. It takes an arbitrary time from [8:00 to 12:00] to get down to the pool where the water weird is, the cleric has a lantern and is concerned the goblin bodies might rise as undead. But that’s not really a thing in OSR D&D, undead tend to be human based. They tell the cleric to come in after they are done.

They both can sense each other but the water weird still surprises. It grabs at Dounil, but misses. Round 1 the weird still goes first, trying and missing again. A blow from Dounil’s club and a Fray bolt from Celest bring it low and they call the cleric in quickly. Who casts the spell. On the journey to and from the pools, they tip the posion into the water, ensuring the fingerlings die, the egg spawn will die and the fish will die for good measure.

But they hear a growling from Room 56 as they stand in the cloying mists of Room 66. It appears the rogue mudtiger who appeared in the Darkshelf backstory and on the river random encounter table is back and is having a go at the other mudtiger corpses on the beach. Dounil and Clest move to intercept. The mudtiger is nowhere to be seen until it bursts from the water, having been forewarned by the crunch of the sand and light of the cleric’s lantern, surprising.

It shocks as it’s first action, catching the pair. Dounil takes 2 damage and Celest 3, HP 18->16 and 7->4.

Round 1, the mudtiger attacks first but misses. Dounil misses from the magnetisation but Celest hit with her club. They both fire Spell Fray for a total of 4 HD of damage, killing the mudtiger. They get 8XP for all classes.

That sorted, it’s back to the village for another 3 days of rest.

Day 140

The pair finally leave Darkshelf on the 18^th of Harvest, hoping to get back to the Temple before winter sets in, mild as it is warmer than Earth in Greyhawk. They take a boat, despite their collective misgivings as they don’t want to travel overland. Better 21 days aboard than fighting griffins and goblins throughout the wilds of Nyrond and the Cairn Hills.

With promises of magical protection and steel, it costs them 1gp per day per person with hard tack thrown in for the limestone-carrying ship.

Day 143

Six small whales spotted, no threat

Day 146

A manta ray rising towards the surface, no threat

Day 147

100 Locathah +2 leaders and 8 assistants, all mounted on giant eels migrating They are uncertain, but as they are Neutral in alignment, the encounter is just passing by.

Day 153

5 giant sea horses, not a threat

Day 158

A patrol out of Hardby, Dounil and Celest are kept on the foredeck ready to cast until the ships both verify the other is not flying a false flag.

Day 160

10 sharks feeding on the detritus drifting out of Hardby. No threat. With the ship arrived at the destination, Dounil and Clest pay the 5cp each entry fee and change the remaining gems and art figures including the pyramid, which they didn’t want to sell in Darkshelf. Celest gets the XP, 1570/8x1.1/1.05 = 215FXP and 205MUXP. They debate what to do with the spellbook but decide it’s best they keep it to themselves and if they don’t spontaneous learn Read Magic next levels, they’ll find someone to share it with.

Celest banks most of her money with the city. Who is always ready to take coins from those who might not return. She and Dounil now I think about it, have 1 year to claim the money back. She receives a note for 2087gp 23pp and 6000sp.

They have 1464sp (Celest's), his and her promissory notes and Glyrthiel’s spellbook which requires magic to read (Friends, Read Magic, Shield, Sleep and Unseen Servant).

They rest for the night in separate small but private rooms. Celest says they will pay separately from now on. But Dounil says he has no money except paper. They can split when they start splitting the Temple loot. So, Celest will have to contribute for horses, food and board.

Day 161

They purchase food, horse feed and two horses and begin to ride for the Temple, using the dangerous but unobtrusive road across north of the Wild Coast and through the Gnarly Forest.

The inn was 2gp, 150gp for the horses and 14 days of oats and fodder for getting the horses there though riding horses can eat grass according to the rules. 14 days of rations and 14 days of iron rations for themselves if it takes too long to get there. Taking mostly from her silver, they spend 100gp more and she is left with 424sp.

They set off.