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.