Return of the Fungus Goblins - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 12

The party decides to leave the Shrine of the Feared Order. We are playing Old School Essentials, which is another way of saying Basic D&D circa 1981.

The Party:

• Arrn, level 3 magic user
• Wumpus, level 3 dwarf
• Waverly, level 3 ranger
• Andrew Price, level 3 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 3 cleric
• Calvin Baily, level 2 thief
• Villana of Qona, level 3 elf (NPC)
• Aicfrida of Qona, level 3 elf (NPC)
• Sherli Plectrude of Komur, rescued prisoner (NPC)

Here's a quick summary of their exploration of the dungeon followed by some comments about the dungeon so far and about random dungeons generated by HEXROLL.

Godron Binghampton discovers a secret door. It suddenly opens revealing three arcane cultists!

A. A secret altar with three mediums. Arrn casts a Sleep spell, ending the encounter before anyone even gets to attack. 

B. The door is locked, Calvin Baily can't open it. Moving on. 

C. A triangular bronze door covered in magic sigils, no keyhole. Nobody trusts it. Moving on.

D. A human prisoner held in a cage. A chest in the corner. A rope lever in the other corner. Despite bloody drag marks on the floor indicating heavy use, everyone suspects a trap. They free Wenburh, wife of Edmar of Thenara, a resident of Sigatona. Calvin opens the chest but fails to check for traps, spraying acid in her face for 2 points of damage. Inside is 340GP and a potion of invulnerability. They pull the rope and somewhere a door opens.

E. A human prisoner held in a cage. An altar along the west wall. The dessicated corpse of an elf on the floor. Piles of disgusting and rotting food. Mismatched floor tiles in the northeast corner. The prisoner is Holes, the nephew of Rothard of Farglen, resident of Sigatona. They drag the body of the elf onto the floor tile and somewhere a door opens.

Arrn gives Calvin Baily his "gory knife" - a ritual knife he took from the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. He has cast invisibility upon it. He tells her to keep it on her to use as a secret weapon should she ever be caught.

F. Arrn checks out the east door and spies a cult medium approaching (wandering monster). They rush out but the medium flees. They quickly catch up and dispatch her with missile attacks.

G. A key hanging from a hook on the wall. Odd. They take the key but nobody questions it.

H. They recognize this place. They stop mapping and head towards the exit. 

That night, they camp within the ruins of an old building. The night sky is a brilliant display of glowing magical aurorae - remnants of the magical war that created the Wizards of Alvania Desert.

Calvin Bailey is awakened by her fungus goblin followers. They encourage her to follow them out of the camp. She tries to gather her companions but the fungus goblins shake their heads and point at her alone. She follows them into the night.

Wumpus is on guard duty and sees her being led away by 15-16 fungus goblins. He wakes up Arrn and asks him to wake the others. Wumpus follows discreetly behind.

The goblins lead Calvin several hundred feet from the camp to a circle of mushrooms which ave magically appeared in the desert. A large bed of lichens sits at the center. They call for her to lie in the center upon the bed of lichens and she complies, curious. 

The lead goblin raises his hands together in mid-air, as if holding an imaginary knife. Wait! The invisible "gory knife"! Calvin leaps to her feat and punches the goblin. He stabs her with the invisible knife. She falls onto the bed of lichens, dead. The bed of lichens begins to absorb her blood.

Wumpus rushes in, hurling lit flasks of oil at the humanoid fungi (How did they light the flasks of oil without burning torches, I wonder? I didn't think of that at the time.) Arrn follows suit with his own flask of oil.

The rest of the party catches up and charges into the chaotic throng of fungus goblins, scattering them and causing them to flee. They are quickly dispatched.

The next day they load Calvin Bailey's body onto the wagon and return to Kömür, 12 miles away.

On the way back, they are ambushed by 14 kobolds. Arrn puts them all to sleep and they are quickly dispatched.

They arrive at Kömür and spend some time interacting with local NPCs and selling loot. They return Sherli Plectrude to her husband Drudo, owner of an Occult shop. He rewards them with a map to a hidden dungeon - the Tomb of the Lost Lich. 

While touring the Market District, the party witnesses a raid on the basement of a shop. Several people are hauled out and arrested. The party does not intervene or investigate.

The party also learns of a twice yearly expedition to the Gem of Elderia Wastes in search of exotic artifacts. She is willing to pay them each 1200 gp to protect her. They agree to join her and they begin making plans to set sail to the City of Arkon, where they also hope to run into the leader of the Black Saints - Alviva Nadalberga - who is in Arkon searching for an amulet belonging to Caloanna Aclebalda.

The party recruits a new thief - Fitzhugh Skitter. 

Next week - we set sail for Arkon! 

Vengeance of the Black Saint - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 11

The party continues exploring the Shrine of the Feared Order. We are playing Old School Essentials, which is another way of saying Basic D&D circa 1981.

The Party:

• Arrn, level 3 magic user
• Wumpus, level 3 dwarf
• Waverly, level 3 ranger
• Andrew Price, level 3 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 3 cleric
• Calvin Baily, level 2 thief
• Villana of Qona, level 3 elf (NPC)
• Aicfrida of Qona, level 3 elf (NPC)
• Sherli Plectrude of Komur, rescued prisoner (NPC)

Here's what they knew:

• The Black Saints faction are kidnapping humanoids.
• They are draining the elves of their blood for use in rituals.
• They are using humans as test subjects in their alchemical experiments. 
• Their goal is to create super-soldiers using alchemy and magic.
• They are led by Alviva Nadalberga, former associate of the mysterious and reclusive Aleria the Alchemist. They apparently parted ways after a disagreement.

Here's a quick summary of their exploration of the dungeon followed by some comments about the dungeon so far and about random dungeons generated by HEXROLL.

After taking a short ten-minute rest, the party sallies forth.

A. A library with an altar. An exsanguinated elf is spread, arms stretched, onto the floor. Villana says the elf's name is Volkin of Brewfish. While searching for secret doors, a secret door is opened and a foe wearing black plate armor stabs Aicfrida with a flaming magic sword! Aicfrida is dead. The party swarms the 4 HD foe and eventually defeat him. They the loot the flaming sword plus some gold pieces. They find a wheel crank in the secret room. They turn it but has no idea what it does.

B. An ordinary door. Wumpus tries to open it but makes his save vs. Spells and observes his gauntlet beginning to magically rust. He pulls away, then tries tying a rope around the handle. In doing so he fails his second save and accidentally brushes against the door, his armor rusts, -2 AC.

C. The back side of a secret door opens to reveal a room with three large cages, each containing a warp beast (displacer beast). There is a backpack on the floor. Confident in their safety, the party enters the room. But the warp beasts are, in truth, five feet from their actual location and are outside of the cages! I rolled for Reaction and got a 7 - Neutral. The warp beasts begin to slowly stalk the PCs. They make no move to attack and slowly back away. Waverly picks up the backpack as she retreats. The secret door is closed! As they near it, it speaks with a magic voice, cryptically, "Dagger!" They are trapped! Luckily, Arrn is outside in the hall. I roll again for reaction and get a 10 - Indifferent! He opens the door and allows them to leave, closing it again before the warp beasts can escape the room. The backpack is filled with gold coins and gems.

D. Four acolytes painting arcane symbols on the wall. They are quickly dispatched.

E. A concealed door is open, revealing the hallway beyond. The party continues. This door was opened last week by turning a mysterious crank wheel.

F. The party rushes into some kind of laboratory where five acolytes are dissecting an elf. After defeating the acolytes, Villana says she knows the elf, her name is Elsaria Theodelinde. 

G. The party finds a room with three crocodiles kept under a closed grate in the floor. The grate was closed by turning the crank in the secret room in area A.

H. The party passes a water fountain. They come across a metal door, barred from the other side. Unable to open it, Wumpus knocks. A voice calls back, requesting identity. Wumpus says they're here to deliver a new elf. I roll reaction and get a 7 - Neutral. The voice is suspicious and says "You sound like a dwarf! They are imperfect! Go away!" The party retreats to the water fountain and takes a ten minute break.

I. The party goes the long way around and comes upon another door into the room mentioned above. They see two mediums - women wearing silk black bikini tops, diaphanous loin cloths, and gold-colored masks. They dancing around the body of a human, beaten to death. The party rushes in. Villana kills one with her bow, Arrn casts sleep and the remaining medium falls unconscious. 

They interrogate her and learn the following:

1. the leader, Alviva Nadalberga, is currently in the city of Arkon, searching for an amulet needed for a ritual.
2. they need the amulet to summon Amanar, the demi-urge spirit.
3. their goal is to turn themselves into perfect beings known as Varongir.

Andrew Price has no wish to execute this prisoner, so Arrn and Villana volunteer to take the prisoner back to an earlier room containing a cage, where they can keep her locked up. The party carries on.

J. The party pauses to wait for Arrn and Villana. The pair soon catch up a minute or two later - not nearly enough time to have taken the prisoner all the way across the dungeon.

K. They party finds a door barred from this side, keeping whatever was in the room within. They remove the bar and see a giant toad on a pile of bones. A metal grate in the floor appears to lead to a sewer, it is bent outwards, indicating forced entry. They hesitate in the hallway to see what the toad does. It comes closer and shoots a long sticky tongue out at Wumpus. They quickly rush in and kill the toad. 

L. They open a door and encounter seven acolytes performing a ritual. Arrn casts sleep again, rendering all seven unconscious, and the acolytes are soon dispatched. Searching the room afterwards finds a secret door in the south wall with no clear way to open it.

TO BE CONTINUED!

Game rule issues this session:

1. If a magic user declares spell casting at the beginning of the round, but the target is killed in missile phase, can the magic user abort their spell or is the magic user's spell cast or lost? Different editions handle this differently, but I couldn't find a specific rule in OSE or Basic D&D.

2. Combat movement. We are so used to 4e and 5e tactical combat, dancing around opponents, that we didn't realize that in Basic D&D/OSE, once you are in melee, you can ONLY withdraw/flee from an opponent. There are no tactical five-foot-steps or repositioning. We have decided to start playing this way Rules-as-Written to see how it feels. 

The Shrine of the Feared Order - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 10

We started this week en media res in the Shrine of the Feared Order. We are playing Old School Essentials, which is another way of saying Basic D&D circa 1981.

The party:

• Arrn, level 3 magic user
• Wumpus, level 3 dwarf
• Waverly, level 3 ranger
• Andrew Price, level 3 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 3 cleric
• Calvin Baily, level 2 thief
• Villana of Qona, level 3 elf (NPC)
• Aicfrida of Qona, level 3 elf (NPC)

The party found the entrance to the Shrine of the Feared Order, headquarters of the Black Saints faction.

Here's what they knew:

• The Black Saints faction are kidnapping humanoids.
• They are draining the elves of their blood for use in rituals.
• They are using humans as test subjects in their alchemical experiments. 
• Their goal is to create super-soldiers using alchemy and magic.
• They are led by Alviva Nadalberga, former associate of the mysterious and reclusive Aleria the Alchemist. They apparently parted ways after a disagreement.

Here's a quick summary of their exploration of the dungeon followed by some comments about the dungeon so far and about random dungeons generated by HEXROLL.

After descending the stairs, the find the body of a dead human chained to a wall. They hear chanting around the corner to the left and rush to face it.

A. 1 Medium, they won initiative, quickly defeated.

B. 3 Acolytes, well armored foes with an AC 17. Defeated two, third failed morale and fled. PCs did not give chase. The body of the medium carried a key with a distinctive symbol on it. One of the acolytes likewise carried a key with a different distinctive symbol on it. The door to the west was locked, the keyhole bore a distinctive sigil. None of the keys opened the door and the thief was unable to pick the lock.

C. A search for secret doors yielded a hidden room. A crate in the corner was treated with great paranoia. It had a 2-in-6 chance of containing treasure. It was empty. A lot of paranoia and caution over an empty box. The words "TERRIFYING GOBLIN" are written on the ceiling.

D. Pulled rope lever, again after much paranoid caution (well deserved). Lever had no immediately noticable effect.

E. A wandering monster was indicated. d2, 1= Acolyte, 2=Medium. A single acolyte descends the stairs but is swifty defeated.

F. A suspicious chest in the center of the room. Poking it with a 10-foot pole set off the poison gas trap. There's a 2-in-6 chance of containing treasure. It was empty. Turning a crank lever in the corner again had no obvious effect.

G. Following the trail of fresh blood on the floor, they track down the escaped acolyte from "B" and quickly kill him with archery.

They were becoming tired so they retreated to room "B" for a short rest and light new torches.

H. The door is stuck but the dwarf gives it a good heave and forces it open. They find a well-stocked torture chamber with work benches covered in alchemical equipment, a large metal chair like a throne arranged for observation of the torture. They find another key bearing a distinctive symbol hanging on a peg on the wall. A nearby wall plaque reads "BLESSED TRAITOR"

The dwarf is fascinated  by a floor tile in the southeast corner with different coloration from the rest. They push the heavy chair onto the flag stones, it depresses but with no obvious effect. They are beginning to suspect these levers and switches open doors elsewhere in the dungeon. Another crate with another 2-in-6 chance of treasure. This time they fine 340 g.p.! 

They find a secret door concealed behind a tapesty. A plaque on the door bears the word "TRAITOR". The word is off-center on the right of the plaque, leaving a large space to the left. After an INTERMINABLE amount of time trying to figure this out, the dwarf asks the ranger, "How do you say 'BLESSED TRAITOR' in Chaotic?" The door opened, revealing some kind of hidden panic room. 

I. 4 Mediums are painting eldritch writing on the walls. The mediums win initiative and successfully cast charm on two of the characters. The un-charmed characters rush in and quickly defeat the mediums who successfully cast their spells, ending the charms. The spells are broken and on round 2, the rest of the party quickly defeat the remaining two mediums. 

J. They find a secret door and an acolyte hiding within. He is quickly defeated. A key bearing a distinctive symbol is hanging on a peg on the wall. 

The party took a short rest.

K. 3 mediums performing some kind of ritual. The PCs win initiative and rush in, killing two mediums and interrupting the Magic Missile spell of the third. The medium is quickly defeated. 

By this time, the dwarf and the thief are figuring out how to fight with synergy. The dwarf is intentionally setting up backstab opportunities for the thief which really enhances the fun for both players.

The party took the lanterns that belonged to the mediums.

L. They find a locked door bearing a distinctive symbol - one that matches none of their keys. The thief rolls 01 and finally succeeds in picking a lock!  Wthin they find a normal crocodile, a human woman (commoner) in a large cage, and a large wicker basket.

This was hilarious as it got a bewildered, "Wait, WHAT?" from the players. Plus, the crocodile token was labeled "Normal Crocodile" which just made them laugh harder.

They quickly defeat the crocodile and free the woman. They use a ten-foot pole to push over the wicker basket but its empty. 

This elicited a minor complaint from the Ranger's player - "Why are all these boxes and containers empty? What's the point? Why are they in the dungeon?" 

To which I replied, "Not every box has treasure or something useful inside. Sometimes a crate is just set dressing. You have no way of knowing which is a trapped treasure and which is just a crate. Not EVERYTHING in the dungeon should generate paranoia. While a certain amount of paranoia in a dungeon is healthy and will help you survive, at a certain point, excessive paranoia will slow you down and waste your resources. Plus, if every box was trapped, it wouldn't be a surprise." 

He said, "Good point."

The party took a short rest.

The door to the west was barred from the other side, so they doubled back the way they came.

M. At the end of the hall was a water fountain. Was it magical? Poisoned? No. It was just a water fountain. They players thought it was neat, "Hey, even cultists need drinking water, right?"

N. The door was stuck shut but a good heave from the dwarf forced it open. The dwarf's player was becoming proud of his ability to force open stuck doors.

Inside was a burning ceremonial brazier, a nearby bundle of firewood for the brazier, a dead human commoner chained to a wall, and a pile of gear nearby. The human had been subjected to some kind of alchemical mutation, then tortured and left to die as a way to test the efficacy of whatever had been done to him. 

The pile of gear contained 20 gp, a short bow, a sword, and a leather hat. It was at this point I introduced the players to the "trade equipment" feature of OSR Items module in Foundry. We spent the next 20 minutes re-arranging equipment before we called it a night. 

Thoughts on HEXROLL's random dungeons

This dungeon was generated by HEXROLL and its pretty random. At least its got a theme - cultists, torture chambers, laboratories, libraries, etc. Its filled with acolytes and medium, plus a handful of monsters. It also ties the cult to the Black Saints faction created for the setting.

But here's the thing. They layout of the dungeon, being random, does not bear up to logical scrutiny. One cannot make inferences based on the placement of a room. The doors into each room are described in immaculate detail: West side - rectangular wooden door (Barricaded). South side - arched marble door (Stuck). Etc. But whether a door is wooden or marble, arched or round, stuck or barricaded or locked or open, is all completely random! 

I did my best to make some changes and apply some logic when I created the dungeon for Foundry. Instead of keys being hidden on the bodies of random dead people in a hallway, I placed them in the inventories of cultists or hanging on pegs on walls. I made small changes to both fit the story that we're creating and so things make some small amount of logical sense.

I warned the players that the dungeon won't make much logical sense, but because of my changes it will make SOME sense.

One of the players asked me, "How much sense will it make?"

I said, "25-50 percent."

When the players are done with this dungeon, I'll post the entire dungeon as generated by HEXROLl for comparison.