Assassins in Ankar - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 23

The party is attacked while they sleep by the Black Saints. 

We are playing Old School Essentials, which is another way of saying Basic D&D circa 1981.

The Party:

• Arrn, level 4 magic user 
• Wumpus, level 4 dwarf
• Waverly, level 4 ranger
• Andrew Price, level 4 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 5 cleric
• Boots Stavish, level 1 half-elf
• Litera Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling NPC hireling
• Alard Lacey, a charmed NPC man-at-arms
• Shan Luneer, an NPC scribe in the employ of Gordon Binghampton.

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

DM Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. 

The session began with an ambush!

Multiple well-armed and heavily armored veterans and acolytes descended upon the party while they slept in comfortable beds in a traveler's hostel. However, they made sure to wake them first, shouting, "This is the revenge of the Black Saints!"

Each of the characters were in different rooms and were forced to deal with their attackers on their own. 

Arrn cast a sleep spell, putting his attackers out of commission immediately. His charmed bodyguard went to work dispatching the incapacitated foes.

Andrew Price said a prayer of Hold Person, paralyzing one of his three opponents.

Gordon Binghampton likewise said a prayer of Hold Person, paralyzing one of his three opponents. As it happened, he paralyzed the most dangerous of the group.

Wumpus was on the latrine when he was ambushed. He fought off his attackers wearing no pants!

Waverly jumped out of bed, throwing the blanket over one attacker while stabbing the other with a dagger. She quickly grabbed her magic flaming sword to continue the fight.

Litera was not attacked, but hearing the commotion she rushed out into the hall to lend a hand with her bow.

Soon all the attackers were killed, save one prisoner. The proprietor of the hostel appeared and apologized profusely. The rooms were locked and only a servant girl had the key. Indeed, the hostel should have been secure. The only way attackers could have gained entry is if a worker at the hostel, someone with the master key, let them in. That person was a servant girl who had gone missing.

They turned to interview their bound prisoner. As it happened, the prisoner revealed that it was a doppelganger. It explained that it was a mercenary hired by the Black Saints to infiltrate key locations around Jo'Ril, looking for potential test subjects that could easily disappear. The doppelganger said it was the servant girl and that it recognized the party. The Black Saints had issued orders to all its agents to assassinate the party on sight for their disruption of the Black Saint's operation at the Shrine of the Feared Order. The doppelganger informed its contact in Ankar and the contact sent the assassins. The doppelganger then let the assassins in using its key.

DM Note- there was also some great roleplaying where the doppelganger taunted them, turning into each of them, allowing me to mimic the players and their characters, as well as issuing veiled threats against the characters using what it could read from their surface thoughts.

Waverly told the others that the Black Saints were capturing and exsanguinating elves, using their blood for awful experiments. They also captured human test subjects. Their goal is to create a potion that transforms the drinker into superhuman immortal warriors known as Varongir. The Black Saints is led by Alviva Nadalberga, former associate of Aleria the Alchemist. The Black Saints was currently looking for the Aclebalda family amulet. The amulet was magical, it read minds and stored memories. It contained the memory of a ritual used to summon a demon known as Amanar, who was necessary for creating Varongir. 

Waverly said that Caloanna Aclebalda's son had taken the amulet to hide it within the Caverns of the Grey Goblin. Alviva discovered this and was looking for the amulet.

The doppelganger laughed.

"You have most of it right but you are SO wrong on several key points. First, Amanar is not a demon, it's a celestial being of Law - a demiurge. It creates life. Second, that was weeks ago. Alviva has likely already discovered the amulet by now! Look, I have no love for these zealots. I can help you. Set me free and I will tell you where you can find Alviva and the rest of her cronies!"

Waverly said, "How can we trust you?"

The doppelganger replied, "What do you suggest?"

Waverly said, "Tell us who your contact is. If that checks out, we'll do what you said."

"Deal. My contact is Dolerama of Valasia. She runs the courier office here in town. She handles all the communication and correspondence for the Black Saints."

Waverly paused, "That name sounds familiar. Wait! I saw her yesterday! I gave her a package to send to our house in Kömür! She knows where we live now!"

The party went to confront Dolerama. Dolerama attempted to flee but was easily caught due to her limp. As she was dragged back to her courier office, she called out for help, declaring she was being robbed and asked witnesses to call the city guard!

DM Note - the city guard, as was previously foreshadowed in last week's session, was draconian. Thieves were impaled on stakes outside of town.

The party had short time to interrogate Dolerama. They asked her where she kept the courier packets. She confidently informed them they were protected by a heavy combination vault!

Arrn said, "That vault there?" and cast a Knock spell. The vault popped open. 

Dolerama sank.

Within were dozens of courier packets addressed to all parts of Jo'Ril. Several had small claw marks scratched into a corner. These were the sign of the Black Saints. Waverly took them. Arrn took the rest and cast a spell of Invisibility, "I'm taking these for later. Handle the city guard, I'll be around."

The city guard arrived before Waverly could examine the packets. Pylae, the captain of the guard, landed astride a magnificent hippogriff. 

Captain Pylae demanded an explanation. Waverly truthfully told her side of events - describing the nighttime attack by the Black Saints and making the claim that Dolerama was their agent. He offered the courier packets as evidence in his defense and told the captain of the guard that they had a doppelganger in custody back at the traveler's hostel. Both the doppelganger and the proprietor of the hostel could corroborate their story. 

Captain Pylae manacled Waverly's wrist to his own and ordered Wumpus, Litera, and Shan Luneer, Gordon Binghampton's scribe, to be likewise manacled. Gordon Binghamtpon and Andrew Price were not manacled in deference to their positions as priests of the Celestial Hieararchy. 

They returned to the traveler's hostel. The proprietor corroborated the account of the attack. When they went to interrogate the doppelganger, they found the servant girl bound to the bed. The servant girl was afraid, claiming that the party had attacked and tied her up. The hostel proprietor admitted he had seen no doppelganger and verified the identity of the servant girl.

Waverly said, "Wait! I can prove this is a doppelganger! Hold the girl's nose and mouth so that she can't breathe, wait until she falls unconscious, she'll revert!"

DM Note- this was based on a flawed memory on the player's part of how doppelgangers worked. 

Captain Pylae did not like this plan but was convinced. He asphyxiated the girl into unconsciousness. She did not revert.

The captain of the guard was livid, "You fiend! You will be punished!"

Waverly, desperate now, drew her dagger with her free hand and stabbed the girl in the throat!

Captain Pylae and another guard struggled against Waverly, unsuccessfully trying to restrain her. Waverly stabbed the girl two more times, red human blood pouring out.

The girl died and reverted back to its doppelganger form. The red blood turned black and ichorous. 

Captain Pylae blanched. 

With her story verified, it was determined that Waverly had killed the men in the hostel in self-defense and that the murder of the doppelganger was justified given the circumstances. Waverly and the others were released while Dolerama was arrested. Waverly and the others were instructed to leave town and not come back. 

Waverly told the others that knowledge of where they lived was heading to Kömür as they spoke. Courier riders could reach Kömür by the end of the day. Their home and anything stored within it was in jeopardy. Their plan was to use the recently discovered teleport gate to get back to Kömür before the couriers could.

The party left Ankar and traveled to the magical teleport gate in Hex 30. They built a bonfire in the circle and tossed in a parchment with the sigil of the destination, Hex 77. They jumped into the fire.

To be continued.

DM Notes-

And that's where we left it for now, on a cliffhanger. 

I had a discussion with the players, asking their opinion of Old School Essentials and B/X. This was both an experiment and an indulgence for me as DM. I had been wanting to run B/X and OSE for a long time as well as use HEXROLL to generate a random hexcrawl setting.

They players admitted that B/X and OSE was fun but not their favorite. They wanted to return to D&D 5E. 

However, they REALLY enjoyed the HEXROLL setting and hexcrawl and wanted to continue the characters and stories they started. 

So we're taking a break from this campaign for a few weeks so I can run a playtest of an adventure I'm writing for Stars Without Number - an anthology of space western stories called "Six Weeks on Zephyrus-2". 

After that, we'll return to Jo'Ril, but using D&D 5E and playing in Roll20. 

I also need to determine the contents of the correspondence that Arrn stole.

Ankar, Crossroads in the Desert - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 22

The party completes the Lair of the Corrupted Blades and heads to the nearby city of Ankar.

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 4 dwarf
• Waverly, level 4 ranger
• Andrew Price, level 4 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 5 cleric
• Boots Stavish, level 1 half-elf
• Litera Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling NPC hireling
• Alard Lacey, a charmed NPC man-at-arms

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

DM Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. 

The party continue exploring the caverns of the Lair of the Corrupted Blades, a band of kobolds that have been harassing local travelers. 

1. 1 Stirge. A lone stirge perched on the wall in the cavern ahead. The party unleashed ranged attacks on it, killing it instantly.

2. A Trapped Bag. A lone bag sitting unattended in an empty room in a cavern inhabited by kobolds. The leather bag was treated with protective oils. Wumpus opened the bag but discovered the oil was a highly corrosive ointment. He failed his saving throw vs. Petrification and took 1d4 damage. The bag was filled with rocks.

3. A Trapped Barrel. A lone barrel sitting unattended in an empty room in a cavern inhabited by kobolds. Wumpus opened the barrel but discovered it was covered in the same highly corrosive ointment. The ointment failed to work and he was undamaged. The barrel was filled with rocks.

4. Trapped Jars and 3 Rust Monsters. Three sealed clay jars sitting unattended in an empty room in a cavern inhabited by kobolds. The party chose to ignore them. However, their presence attracted three hungry rust monsters from the adjoining chamber. 

Waverly blocked the choke point connected the chambers, preventing the rust monsters from advancing. She tossed her magic sword behind her. Her chain mail armor was destroyed. Unable to push past, the rust monsters consumed her iron spikes and hand axes. Waverly smashed the rust monsters with a burning torch while the others threw lit flasks of oil at the rust monsters. The flasks shattered on the rust monsters and splashed onto Waverly but she held her ground to save the others.

Two of the rust monsters eventually failed their morale checks and retreated into dug out pits in the adjoining chamber - pits the kobolds dug to prevent the rust monsters from interrupting their excavation. The third withdrew into the center of the chamber so Waverly and Arrn advanced to the next choke point while the others continued their barrage. The third rust monsters was eventually defeated. 

Waverly and Arrn advanced into the room to toss lit flasks of oil into the pits, driving the rust monsters out of hiding. Waverly and Arrn quickly withdrew to the choke point and the rust monsters were quickly dispatched.

5. Trapped Jars. Three jars sitting unattended in an empty room in a cavern inhabited by kobolds. Wumpus opened one, releasing the pressurized poison gas contained therein. He made his saving throw and survived. Another jar felt heavy and was filled with 60 gp. He took the gold, as well as the unopened jar in case they need a poison gas grenade later. They decided to take the jars from the previous room for the same purpose.

6. 10 Stirges. As they advanced down a passage, they spotted a cavern filled with stirges. They halted to discuss their options. Suddenly, the stirges flew out the chamber, catching them by surprise. Two stirges latched onto Gordon Binghampton and one latched onto Litera. Arrn put all the stirges to sleep with a sleep spell and they were quickly destroyed.

The party recovered 4 gems worth 660 gp total embedded in the rock wall.

The party busted down the rock wall the kobolds had built to keep the stirges away and exited the dungeon through the nearby entrance. 

They emerged to discover they had been underground for two and a half hours, it was mid-afternoon. They left the hills and traveled to the nearby city of Ankar, population 6552.

Ankar

Ankar was built atop a flat-topped butte and surrounded by several massive stone pillars, each a standing a thousand feet tall. The city was ancient, its walls in disrepair. The presence of pine trees and cypruses spoke of the presence of a source of water atop the butte.

They spent the afternoon in Ankar, visiting various shops and interacting with local NPCs. 

1. Altrude of Edria, proprietor of Altrude's Sparkly Things
2. Azwin of Yezud, proprietor of Azwin's Bookstore
3. Gundin of Arkonna, headmaster of the local school
4. Ramiro of Bahari, physician and alchemist, proprietor of Ramiro's Clinic
5. Percipia Hildetrude, proprietor of the local animal pound where one might obtain unwanted exotic animals. 

Arrn purchased two war dogs named "Cheese" and "Dean".

Wumpus hired an alchemist to travel with the party as well as an entourage of peasants, a new wagon, and horses. 

Gordon Binghampton hired a scribe to record his adventures.

Waverly talked Altrude into moving to Kömür where she could be closer to her lost love, the thief known as Gunso of Sibuyan. There were no other jewelers in Kömür so she would have no competition. 

So, the evening ended with much role-playing, shopping, planning what to do and where to go next, and book-keeping. 

The party decided to spend the night in a hostel in Ankar. That night, they were awakened by intruders, declaring, "This is the revenge of the Black Saints!"

As recorded by Gordon's scribe:

Today, Esquire Binghampton hired me, Shan Luneer-trained sage and scribe-for-hire, to follow him on his journeys and record his tails. Per the more than fair coin that Esquire Binghampton has paid me, he has asked me to note his fair features and generous nature. Today, we stayed at the Inn of Golden Swords, where we ate piping hot goosemeat stew with carrots and leeks, and a mashed potatoe with butter and tart berry jam. His fine compartriots wearied Esquire Binghampton with their endless haggling for sundry goods.

Eventually, it was decided that Esquire Binghampton and his party would travel to the Hairy-Finger Orcs in the Dragonskull Dunes.

In the night, I was rudely awakened by ruffians shouting, "this is in revenge for the Black Saints!", whomsoever they may be.

To be continued!

The Lair of the Corrupted Blades - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 21

The party wisely abandons the Tomb of the Lost Lich in favor of hunting down kobolds that have been raiding merchants in between  Kömür and Ankar.

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 4 cleric
• Boots Stavish, level 1 half-elf
• Litera Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling NPC hireling
• Alard Lacey, a charmed NPC man-at-arms

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

DM Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. 

After resting overnight at the Wight and Crying Queen Inn, the party reunited with Boots Stavish to explore the lands around the inn.

Day 1

Hex 02: an ancient ruined tower, the remains of an old wagon long covered in vegetation. 

DM Note - Random Encounter: 5 Bandits. The bandits are surprised, the party is not.

Close to noon, they spot a small trail of campfire smoke over the grassy ridge. They advance carefully and spot five bandits around a small camp, relaxing and cataloging their stolen booty - mostly mundane supplies and sundries. The party overlooks the bandits on a steep bluff. The party attacks and the bandits are soon dispatched. One attempts to flee but is felled by Gordon's sling stone.

The bandits carried a box filled with three items jewelry. One worth 300 gp, one worth 800 gp, and one worth 1100 gp. There is no way to identify the original owner of the jewelry so the party takes it. They return to the inn with the supplies and sundries, which they donate to the innkeeper.

Day 2

Hex 01: five humans skewered on pikes, a pit grave dug nearby waiting to receive its grisly occupants. A sign declares, "Beware, the fate of those who steal from Ankar." 

Hex 30: Hilly grasslands with scattered boulders and rocky outcroppings. On one hill is a circle of standing stones with one large stone slab. They investigate. A pit in the center of the circle recently contained a bonfire. A rune is drawn on the large slab. They've seen this before, in hex 76 outside  Kömür. Arrn remembers their purpose - they are gateway circles, used for teleporting. A magic user may build a bonfire inside the circle, draw the rune of the destination portal on a piece of parchment, then throw themselves into the fire. They will be teleported to the destination circle. Having one rune is useless. Now they have two and may teleport between hex 30 and 76.

Waverly spots kobold tracks leading to the northeast (Waverly rolled a 1 on her hunting skill).

Hex 31: The land is covered in warm mist and fog. Geysers of hot mineral water erupt at random. The region is covered in small iridescent mineral lakes. A ruined fortress crumbled atop a large hill. The kobold tracks lead to the fortress. The party finds an excavated tunnel dug under the wall at the base of the fortress.

The Lair of the Corrupted Blades

1. 4 Kobolds. The entrance is decorated with dozens of rusty blades, worn and etched with acidic geyser water. The party sees a waist-high wall of stacked stones. Kobold archers loose arrows from cover. Wumpus, Gordon, Boots, and Andrew Price all rush forward to storm the wall. Arrn barely has a moment to warn them when everyone, save Gordon, falls into a concealed pit. Arrn buries his face in his palm, "Have you all never fought kobolds before?" The kobolds are quickly dispatched. 

2. 4 chests, all trapped. Wumpus opens each of the four chests. Each chest is trapped to emit a strong acidic ooze if touched. Three of the traps fail to activate, Wumpus makes his save vs. petrification to avoid the fourth. Inside the trap they find: 420gp.

3. 10  Kobolds. The kobolds are excavating the walls with picks. A cavern is walled up to the east. The kobolds spot the party, drop their picks, and draw daggers. Three kobolds are killed while the other seven flee to the south. The party pursue the fleeing kobolds, killing three.

4. 10 Kobolds, 5 Kobold Bodyguards, 1 Kobold Chieftain. The four kobolds join five more digging in this large chamber. The party splits into a north flank and a south flank and a pitched battle is joined. A few moments later, five more kobolds join them from the west. A moment after that, a kobold chieftain protected by five kobold bodyguards join the southern flank. Arrn ends the battle with a sleep spell. 

5. 4 Kobolds. As Alard Lacey moves into the north passage to dispatch the sleeping kobold, he gains the attention of four kobold guards and battle is joined. Waverly, Boots, Andrew Price, and Wumpus join Alard and quickly kill all four kobolds.

With the battle over, they have time to search the bodies and loot the chambers they passed.

They find 50 gp and mundane sundries.

A crate in a side chamber was opened without triggering the trapped ceiling to collapse. The crate was empty.

6. Trapped Chest. Wumpus, with Gordon standing nearby, opened the chest, triggering a trap and releasing a cloud of poisonous gas. They fall to the floor and suffer spasming seizures for 50 minutes.

7. 3 Kobolds. While Wumpus and Gordon were out of commission, guarded by Andrew Price and Litera, the rest of the party investigate a suspicious bag sitting in the middle of the room. While doing so, they notice three more kobolds manning a makeshift barricade constructed from stacked crates. They kobolds are quickly dispatched.

8. Trapped Satchel. Alard opens the satchel but fails to trigger its trap. He removes:

• 230 gp
• 1 gem worth 100 gp in total
• a Potion
• a Ring

9. Green Slime, 1 Stirge,  and  4 Kobolds. Waverly scouts ahead. The chamber to the west emits a horrible stench. The walls are covered in gelatinous green putrescence. 

While standing guard in the western corridor, she spots a small bat-winged creature land on the wall of the southern passage. 

DM Note-  Random encounter. Waverly is not surprised but the stirge is.

Waverly quietly retreats, not wanting to disturb the stirge.

She reunites with the party who are resting and exploring the large chamber. Gordon and Wumpus are revived from their seizures. They hear three kobolds approaching from the west. 

DM Note- Another random encounter.

The kobolds charge but are soon routed. The party chases the fleeing kobold  down the southern passage to the west. 

10. Barrel. There's a barrel in this chamber. Nobody wants to touch it.

To be continued!

Commentary: Kobolds may go down quick but when there's a lot of them some of them are going to roll lucky and do some damage! This dungeon, as generated by HEXROLL originally had only 10 kobolds in it. I beefed it up by making it a kobold lair, rolling randomly to determine how many kobolds were in the lair, and adding some traps and barricades. The running combat that triggered the big fight in the main chamber put a lot of strain on Foundry.

Three Specters - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 20

The party once again returns to the Tomb of the Lost Lich, where they barely escape the deadly touch of three specters!

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 4 cleric, out this week
• Boots Stavish, level 1 half-elf
• Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling NPC hireling
• Aerert, a charmed NPC man-at-arms
• Alard Lacey, a charmed NPC man-at-arms

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

DM Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. 

After resting overnight at the Wight and Crying Queen Inn, the party reunited with Gordon Binghampton and returned to the Tomb of the Lost Lich, this time without Boots.

1. Random Spitting Cobra killed Aerert.

2. 3 Specters. The door was cold and stuck. Forcing it open revealed a chill room. The partyh's breath was visible. Two ruby hearts were placed on iron bars atop an altar. Three warriors had commited ritual suicide before the altar. Wumpus took the hearts and triggered three specters to arise from the bodies. The doors magically slammed shut. Wumpus forced open the east door. The party fled from the deadly specters. Gordon Binghampton lost a shield to one of the specters. The party escaped, closing the door behind them. The specters did not pursue.

3. Dead Goblin. Room full of cages large enough to transport humanoids. A dead goblin lie on the floor. Looting the body revealed stolen expensive jewelry.

4. Random Pit Viper. Room with a large bear rug. The body of a dead human lie on the rug. Andrew Price searched the body, revealing a hidden pit viper! The pit viper struck, somehow ruining Price's shield. The party retreated from the body, leaving the pit viper alone.

Wumpus scouted the next room to the east and spotted some coffins and a ceiling covered in bats. He quietly returned, whisphered what he had found, told the others to remain silent, and that they would be leaving to the south.

5. A Stuck Door that no one could open and a fruitless investigation of the dead end hoping to find a secret door.

6. Encountered Waverly (who's player had just shown up).

7. An Old Laboratory, used for the exsanguination of victims. On the floor was the body of an orc. Looting the body revealed 210 gp, two gems worth 110 gp, and a useable pole.

8. An Old Library with a barrel on the north wall. Wumpus opened the barrel, breaking a gas-filled bladder that spread poion in a 10-foot radius. Wumpus coughed but survived. (Wumpus saved vs poison). The barrel contained 200 gp.

9. 18 Rats. A small shrine with 18 rats feasting on the corpse of a goblin. The rats were quickly killed. The goblin had two small gems worht 36gp sewn into its eye sockets. 

10. A Known Room. A locked door revealed this room, covered in rose petals. They had been here before. They exited to the east.

11. Mushrooms. A room covered in green and purple bioluminescent mushrooms. A dragon skull sat in a large basin surrounded by cloves of garlic. A large bag lay in the corner. Wumpus carefully avoided the mushrooms and retrieved the bag with his 10-foot-pole. The bag contained custom-fit armor bearing the seal of House Solomon. The party took the dragon skull and the garlic. No mushrooms were eaten.

12. Strange Vines grew over an arch. The vines contained hanging fruit resembling dark red jellied eggs. Each fruit contained the dark form of a tiny humanoid creature. Bits of flesh and bowls of blood were left as offerings around the plant. The dead body of an orc lay sprawled at its base. One of the eggs fell to the floor, bursting. The tiny monstrous creature rolled over and crawled towards the flesh and began to feed. 

Waverly said, "NOPE! Burn it with oil! ALL the oil! I'm using all my remaining flasks of oil!" The others followed suit, burning the vine as the eggs popped with tiny hideous screams.

The body had 10 gp, a dagger, and a key.

13. An Old Torture Chamber, the floor covered in blue and red bioluminescent mushrooms. Searching a shelf revealed a key.

14. 25 Rats. A Library, the books rotten and useless. A crate on the west wall contained 220 gp. A concealed door in the southwest revealed a secret room filled with rats. The rats were quickly killed. A goat skull hung on the wall. Hidden within the skull was a key.

15. Prisoner. A locked door opened by one of their keys. A room containing a prisoner - Gebehrt Wanthilde, nephew of Milia Wanthilde from Arkon. Andrew Rice pushed a crate on the north wall with his 10-foot pole, activating a trap causing heavy stones in the ceiling to fall. The crate contained 40 gp.

16. 9 Kobolds. A room filled with kobolds carving graffiti onto the walls. The kobolds were as surprised by the party as they were by the kobolds. The kobolds scurried into defensive positions, waiting to see what the party would do. Wumpus attempted unsuccessfully to communicate with them, eventually resorting to pointing and waving his hands. They got the message and evacuated the room via the door to the east. Wumpus saw them approach a set of wooden stairs down the corridor. They avoided the stairs and instead climbed the sheer wall to escape. 

The room was otherwise filled with small cages, large enough for children, goblins, or halflings. 

17. 5 Goblins. While searching the room, a concealed door opened in the southwest corner. Goblin faced peeked out to see if the coast was clear. Upon seeing the party they quickly closed the door. 

The party formed around the door. Wumpus quickly determiend how the door opened, revealing five goblins which were quickly dispatched - but not before causing some serious wounds to the party.

The goblins carried 5 gp. A pile of bones in the corner of the secret room contained a key. 

18. Secret Door. While carefully examining the utilitarian wooden stairs, Wumpus found the words "Darkened Heart" painted on the ceiling. Litera noticed a symbolic heart carved into the wall nearby. 

19. 36 Rats. While touching the heart, they said "Darkened Heart", revealing a concealed chamber. The chamber was filled with rats, which Arrn put to sleep with a spell. Inside were 4 gems worth 180 gp. 

DM Note- when using sleep vs. 1 hp rats, I had Arrn's player roll the number of HD = 9, Then roll 9d8 to determine how many 1 HP rats he put to sleep.

20. 3 Spitting Cobras. Wumpus and Waverly returned to searching the stairs. Wumpus became impatient and climbed the stairs, triggering the attack of three hidden cobras! Wumpus was bitten once but survived the poison (Wumpus saved vs. poison).

Arrn put the snakes to sleep with a spell and the party left the dungeon. 

They returned to the Wight and Crying Queen Inn to rest and recover. 

DM Note- Andrew Price and Godron Binghampton leveled. 

 

Return to the Tomb of the Lost Lich - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 19

The party returns to the Tomb of the Lost Lich. Is this too much dungeon for them?

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 4 cleric, out this week
• Fitzhugh Skitter, level 2 thief 
• Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling NPC hireling

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. 

After resting overnight at the Wight and Crying Queen Inn, the party reunited with Arrn and returned to the Tomb of the Lost Lich, this time without Gordon.

1. Two Troglodytes. The party, certain of the presence of a secret door in this corridor, returned to try again. This time, they found it after thirty minutes of searching. They entered and spotted the troglodytes using their mimicry ability to set up an ambush (neither side was surprised, thanks to the Waverly's ranger abilities). The troglodytes were quickly killed and looted, producing 16 gems worth 815 gp in total and 20 jewelry items worth 4,550 gp in total. It was later determined that the troglodytes were guards placed in a magical form of suspended animation.

2. Seven Pit Vipers. A room with lit by a single candle lit in a sconce. The center of the room was covered in a large pile of debris, loose bricks, large rocks, etc. A human man was chained to the wall in the southwest corner. Wumpus went to his aid, then called Fitz over to open the manacles. Fitz inspected the manacles, they were held by a cotter pin. She removed it and glared at Wumpus. As she trudged back to the southeast corner of the room, she stepped over the debris pile. A venomous pit viper, hidden within the loose stones and bricks, struck her. She staggered before falling to the ground, dead. (Failed Save vs. Poison).

Wumpus quickly killed the viper while Waverly doused the entire pile in oil before setting it ablaze. The pile burned. Six more vipers emerged from their hiding spots, fleeing the flames.

DM Note- By my original design, had they just avoided the pile of debris, they wouldn't trigger any vipers at all. However, setting the pile on fire did one round of burning damage to the vipers but forced them out of the pile. They're animals so I rolled reactions for each viper to see if they'd just flee or attack. 

Two slithered towards Wumpus and Waverly, biting but missing. Arrn cast a sleep spell and all the vipers fell into torpor. They were quickly dispatched as the flames died down. The party quickly dispatched the remaining vipers. The room produced no treasure.

3. Five Robber Flies. A secret door in the northwest corner kept opening, then closing, then opening, then closing. It was soon discovered that one of Arrn's invisible guards had been pressing on the floor plate in the previous room, opening and closing the secret door.

DM Note- the real reason was I said, "Oh wait, you stepped on the plate, the door is open!" and opened it in the VTT, then immediately remembered, "Wait, that was yesterday, the door is re-closed. No, it should be open." and I literally kept opening and closing it in the VTT. Wumpus' player said "Which is it?!" and I came up with the story about the guard stepping on the plate over and over again. 

Inside the secret room were five yellow-and-black insects, each the size of a large rat! Were they hornets? Bees? It was difficult to say. They leaped onto Wumpus and Waverly and began biting with their mouth parts. 

DM Note- one of the bees bit Wumpus HARD twice! Once for 8 damage and once for 7 damage!

The lack of stingers told Waverly these were robber flies, insects that resemble killer bees. The insects were soon dispatched.

A lever was located in the secret room. Waverly pulled the lever but it was blocked. Suddenly, a spitting cobra slithered out from under the lever! 

DM Note- I had rolled the cobra as a wandering monster, and this was a perfect place to fit it in!

The cobra was quickly killed before it could do any harm.

Waverly pulled the lever with no immediate effect.

The human captive turned out to be a half-elf from the city Arkon. He introduced himself as Boots.

DM Note- we used the captive as a way to introduce Fitz's new replacement character.

4. 76 Bats. Wumpus forced opened the door to this room to find dozens of bats flying hanging from the ceiling. The opening of the door sent them into a swarm, filling the room with a cyclonic cloud of flying bats! Arrn cast a sleep spell and all the bats fell to the floor. The room produced no treasure.

DM Note- I wasn't quite sure how 7HD of monsters equated to 76 bats each with 1hp. In retrospect, I should have had Arrn's player roll 7d8 and that many bats would fall asleep. Whatever, they're just bats.

A secret door to the north was open, revealing a hidden niche filled with bat food. 

The door to the west was locked but a key the party had earlier found fit and the door opened.

5. Four Killer Bees.  An altar contained four large yellow-and-black flying bee-like insects. These attacked immediately, stinging Wumpus multiple times (Successful Saves vs. Poison). That these had stingers and died after using them told Waverly they were giant killer bees. The bees were soon eliminated. The room produced no treasure.

The party thought about continuing north but, out of holy miracles and arcane spells, and low on hit points, they decided to retrieve Fitzhugh's body, retreat to the entrance, and return to to the Wight and Crying Queen Inn. There Wumpus buried Fitz with a dwarven funeral dirge.

Back at the Inn

DM Note - We had about thirty minutes left to play so we did some interaction with some NPCs at the inn. I used donjon's random inn generator to create some more guests. 

Wumpus met a male dwarven storyteller and his male travelling companion. The storyteller had been cursed by a necromancer in the city of Tybor int he neighboring land of Urazar. The travelling companion was a drunkard trying to scam people out of free drinks. Wumpus also met a female dwarf travelling to Kömür to earn money for her hold - her clan's mine had dried up and they need some more money to survive a few more months while they dig deeper, hoping to find a lost vein of gold. Arrn offered her money but she angrily snapped, "A dwarf never accepts charity!" 

DM Note - That's where we left. What will happen next week? Will they return to the obviously deadly Tomb of the Lost Lich for some more punishment? Will they seek a gentler dungeon? Will they travel to Ankar? Who knows? 

The Tomb of the Lost Lich - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 18

 

The party ventures into the Tomb of the Lost Lich, meet their match, and decide to withdraw.

We are playing Old School Essentials, which is another way of saying Basic D&D circa 1981.

The Party:

• Arrn, level 3 magic user - out this week
• Wumpus, level 4 dwarf
• Waverly, level 3 ranger - showed up two hours late
• Andrew Price, level 4 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 4 cleric
• Fitzhugh Skitter, level 1 thief 
• Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling NPC hireling

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. 

The party, minus Arrn (whose player is on vacation) descend into the tunnel beneath the privy of the ruined Castle Solomon. Within, it is rumored, dwells the vampire of Baron Solomon himself!

1. Some gnolls can be seen in the next room, arguing over treasure. They advanced to the corridor and wait for the gnolls to notice them.
2. Three gnolls arguing over some treasure, spot the party and charge to fight. They engage at the entrance to the room. All three are quickly dispatched. They return to search room 1. 
• The gnolls had 8 gems worth 630 gp in total.
• Two cages containing long dead skeletons flank the stairs at the entrance.
• Skeleton of an orc near the entrance impaled against the wall by a sword, 20gp in a bag. 
• A key hanging on a hook on the wall earns much suspicion but no trap is found. 
• Some cracked tiles on the floor are removed to reveal another key. 
• A phrase is painted on the ceiling in the ancient runes of the Priests of Law: "Magical Bones". 
3. The room is barred from the inside. Waverly forces it open. Three crypts and a pile of gold. Wumpus enters. Glowing green and blue mists emanate from the crypts, coalescing into wraiths! The clerics attempt to turn undead but fail. The party withdraws to the door and begin hurling flasks of holy water - remarkably effective against the wraiths. Wumpus and Andrew each lose a level! The party withdraws to room 2 but are pursued by the lone remaining wraith. It is eventually defeated by holy water. The party takes a much needed ten-minute rest.
• Treasure pile contains 5,250 gp.
4. The party encounters a lone bee the size of a large rat. It watches them. They watch it. They move near it - maybe its a druid? They try to talk to it. The bee attacks them but is quickly dispatched. Waverly the ranger determines it is a type of wasp called a Robber Fly - they look just like giant killer bees and hunt them as prey. The party is warned - there may be killer bees about.
5. While traversing this corridor, Waverly could smell a foul odor, like a skunk, emanating through the wall. Wumpus could hear the guttural hissing reptilian speech of troglodytes behind the wall. Despite an organized search of both walls, no secret door could be found.
6. Five gnolls are sitting in a room cleaning their weapons. They hear the party approaching. A battle ensues. One gnoll panics and flees through the east door. Waverly chases the gnoll down and kills it. The other gnolls are soon dispatched save one who surrenders. It is allowed to flee without its weapon. 
• The walls are encrusted with hundreds of humanoid skulls.
• A wooden plaque is fixed to one wall, on it are painted the words "Magical Spirit" in the ancient runes of the priests of Law.
7. Curious to where the other gnoll was fleeing, they find a locked door. The key from the hook works! Within they find a desiccated orc lying on wood planks on the floor in the center of the room. The floor is covered in dried rose petals. Wumpus uses a ten foot pole to push the orc body off the planks. Picking up the planks reveal a deep pit covered in spikes. Wumpus and Waverly moves the planks aside to reveal the pit and inspect the orc's body.
• 20gp
• a warm cloak
• a sling
• another key
  
• The walls and floor and ceiling are covered in dried orc blood, the spray pattern indicate an explosion of blood from a point in mid-air ten feet above the ground. There are two "shadows" where no blood spray touched the floor. Are there TWO vampires?
• The doors to the north and the east are locked or barred and cannot be opened.

8. After a short ten minute rest, the party returns to the corridor to try to search for the secret door they KNOW is there! They give up after spending nearly an hour searching. 
9. The party spends some more time searching for a secret door in this dead end.
10. Another floor covered in rose petals. Waverly inspects a pile of sacks in the corner, poking it with her sword - one of the sacks explodes with poison gas. Waverly makes her saving throw and covers her mouth, coughing. She is safe. The bag contains 20gp. A wooden sign on the west wall contains the word "Magical ___" with a blank space. Gordon remembers the phrase "Magical Bones" painted on the wall at the entrance and "Magical Spirit" in room 6. Gordon touches the sign and begins pairing "Magical" with various body parts - "Blood, Muscle, Sinew", etc. He eventually tries "Magical Bones" and the wall turns, revealing a hidden alcove. Within the alcove he found:
• a long leather bag containing a custom-made sword. On the bag is embossed the name "Luda Framtrude of Arkon".
• The sword was curved like a claw and decorated with pointy bits reminiscent of teeth.

The party, wary of another encounter like the wraiths, or heaven-forbid a vampire, decides to exit the dungeon. It is mid-afternoon. They return to their temporary base of operations, the Wight and Crying Queen inn, three hours away. They arrive just after sundown. 

Where will they go next week? I have no idea! It's a HEX CRAWL!

A Storm is Coming - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 17

The party survives a magical hurricane in Kömür, then set off to explore the Ironhammer fields. Pretty much two combat encounters and lots of fun exploration and roleplay.

We are playing Old School Essentials, which is another way of saying Basic D&D circa 1981.

The Party:

• Arrn, level 4 magic user
• Wumpus, level 4 dwarf
• Waverly, level 3 ranger - showed up two hours late
• Andrew Price, level 4 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 4 cleric
• Fitzhugh Skitter, level 1 thief - still out this week

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. The orcs in my setting were created by the serpentines to wage war against the elven kingdoms in the ancient times. They are a created lifeform that knows only war and violence.

We started in Kömür during an unprecedented cyclone. The party and their retainers huddled in the house of Arrn when suddenly every door burst open and every window was smashed, their shutters thrown wide.

Through every aperture appeared wispy creatures - bat-wings made of smoke and mist with no bodies! They flew into every room, smashing things and making a mess. 

Note - these were 1HD Fundamentals from the Creature Catalog. Originally they are immune to normal weapons but I got rid of that for this fight. Every room was engulfed in strong wind which made missile weapons useless. The entire encounter was meant to make a storm menacing and give players something to do. 

Arrn and Andrew ran downstairs to aid the three guardsmen retainers and one cook against three fundamentals.

Gordon and Wumpus stayed on the second floor to fight the five fundamentals there.

Gordon cast Protection from Evil and found that the minor air elementals avoided him. However, if he attacked, the prayer would wear off. So he stayed on hand in case anyone needed healing.

Arrn, Andrew, and the retainers made pretty quick work of the fundamentals downstairs so they returned to help Wumpus.

Wumpus took a few hits but was holding his own. With the help of his friends, he was able to dispatch the remaining fundamentals, including the two in the attic.

The next day, Arrn found a note on the front door of his house.

Their original plan was to search the long finger-like extension known as the Wizards of Alvania desert. With this new information, they decided to postpone that search.

Many houses were struck by Storm Fundamentals, many people died and there was much property damage. The party spent the remaining week helping to rebuild the neighborhood from the storm damage and preparing for a journey.

They left Kömür following the east bank of the river north. 

Hex 74 - The river flowed down a waterfall from a deep lake of black water. Three hippogriffs foraged for food. One flew near them, investigating. Arrn dumped a bag of rations onto the ground and the party hurried on.

Hex 28 - The land became increasingly dark and gloomy. The ruins of an ancient castle sat atop a nearby hill. The terraced hillside spoke of once fertile farmland, now withered and dead. The bones and skulls of long dead human warriors splintered under their boots and horse hooves. This was a place of death - the location of the Tomb of the Lost Lich and home to Baron Solomon, the Vampire. 

They hastened their journey, pressing on to reach their destination.

Hex 27 - A black lake nestled between two bleak hills, dead fish gathered on its shore. A sign read "The Wight and Crying Queen Inn", pointing to a large structure on the shore of the lake. 

Inside they found a friendly travelers inn, warm and inviting. The party was exhausted. They would spend the next day resting.

They spent the next day relaxing in the dining hall, getting to know their fellow travellers. 

Note- I got to roleplay a lot of NPCs. it was a lot of fun.

• Meinward Magnificus, a level 2 Elf. 
• Minger Roenwallon, a level 2 Thief. 
• Svator Nadalbert, a level 1 Magic-user. 
• Ratrude of Narus, a level 1 Fighter. 
• Facetus of Zamara, a level 4 Magic-user. 
• Littera Hildetrude, a level 1 Halfling. 
• Hildewin of Goldenclover, a level 3 Magic-user. 

Wumpus took a liking to Littera Hildetrude, a halfling with plate armor. No one would allow her into their adventuring party. Wumpus also liked Ratrude of Narus, who was so stupid she thought everyone was making fun of her whenever they said her name. 

Later that afternoon the large barn-like doors were thrown open.

In came a man, part-pig, fat and disgusting, leading a group of mercenaries. The pig-man stopped when he saw Waverly.

"You! (SNORT) You did this to me! Do you remember me? It's Drudo Cadhoiarn! You delivered the black lotus - the black lotus that did THIS to me!" he pointed at his porcine appearance. "100 gold pieces to the man who captures her alive! I want to have some fun with her!"

Note - Drudo had like ten men or so. I rolled reaction for each of his men, some were neutral and stayed out of the fight, many took him up on his offer and ran towards Waverly. One rolled a 12 and turned on Drudo! 

What followed was a barroom brawl. Arrn charmed one of the mercenaries and ordered him to stand by his side. Ratrude and Littera got involved. The brawl was harmless, for the most part, until one of the berserkers took it too far and Wumpus was forced to defend himself using his axe, then Littera shot a mercenary with her bow. 

Waverly leaped over tables and made a bee-line to Drudo. She drew her flaming sword and skewered the pig-man through the neck and head.

Note - she rolled a 20 and did great damage!

Drudo fell down dead. The remaining mercenaries surrendered. They didn't like Drudo much anyway.

Without a leader, the mercenaries turned to Ratrude. They were impressed with her fighting prowess. She gladly stepped in and took over, naming the group the Iron Dragons.

Wumpus hired Littera.

The three dead bodies were dragged away and buried, their feet cut off to prevent them becoming zombies.

The next day, the party, now accompanied by Littera, left their wagon and horses at the inn and returned to the crumbling castle. 

They searched the grounds, hoping to find the entrance to the Crypt of the Lost Lich. After an hour of searching, Wumpus found an old castle privvy, the hole in the floor led to a set of stairs that descended into the earth.

They found the entrance.

To be continued...

Elven Star Poppies - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 16

The party travels back to Kömür, do a little shopping in Arkon, and discover some trouble in Sigatona along the way.

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 4 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 4 cleric
• Fitzhugh Skitter, level 1 thief - out this week
• Lefsy of Hawkston, NPC, archaeologist and dealer in rare and exotic antiquities

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. The orcs in my setting were created by the serpentines to wage war against the elven kingdoms in the ancient times. They are a created lifeform that knows only war and violence.

So this week was pretty much all travel and roleplay. 

We picked up where we left off last week, in a hexagonal dungeon chamber filled with red and purple poppies. How do these flowers grow? How are they still alive after thousands of years in an elven tomb?

This was a great moment of cooperative improv. I described how blind albino bees could be seen pollinating the flowers and disappearing into tiny holes in the walls like mason bees. They could see the ceiling was studded with tiny cystals. When Waverly sheathed her flaming sword to put the lights out, the tiny crystals glowed faintly, creating the appearance of a night sky full of stars. 

Wumpus' player called them "Star poppies" and I loved it - so that's what they were. They took a few samples, wrapped up in sacks and inside hats to protect them from the sunlight. 

When they exited the dungeon, it was late afternoon. The tower where the expedition stayed was an hour away. It was too late to bring back Lefsy and her workers, so they sent Waverly and Fitzhugh back to the tower to report on their progress. The party camped outside the entrance to prevent others from entering the tomb. That night, a herd of 20 wild goats entered the valley of the tomb entrance to drink from the puddle of water sheltered in a hollow under a cliff. 

The next day they brought Lefsy and her workers to loot the dungeon fully - removing statues and furniture and decorations. Arrn cast "Detect magic" and did a thorough walkthrough of the dungeon. The flowers were generated mild enchantment magic. So, too, did the dessicated body of the elven king sitting on his throne. Indeed, the elven king was ALIVE BUT SLEEPING!

This gave Arrn quite a start. He withdrew and ordered the others to seal the throne room shut with spikes, instructing Lefsy and the workers not to disturb that room.

Note - the players actually debated whether to wake him or not. The argument being that maybe the elves would welcome their reawakened king. But then they realized they were in the process of looting his resting place and decided it was best to maybe not risk it.

Having filled the caravan with loot plundered from the lost elven kingdom of Elderia, the expedition returned to Arkon, 18 miles away, pushing themselves in order to complete the journey in one day.

The party spent two days in Arkon  while Lefsy arranged a boat to return to Kömür. They spent the first day resting after the arduous journey the day before. 

They spent the second day exploring the city.

Wumpus traveled upriver to do some fishing, encountering a lone structure on the river belonging to a fisherman. The fisherman threatened Wumpus with a crossbow at first, but Wumpus offered to share his wine so the fisherman relented and allowed Wumpus to join him.

Wumpus' player wondered "What's that structure way up there?" I replied, "What do you think it is?" and he said "An old man's fishing shack. I want to check it out!" so I said, "You bet!"

Meanwhile, Arrn, Waverly, Gordon, and Andrew explored the Market District. 

I rolled a random encounter in the Cities sourcebook from Midkemia Press.

They encountered a religious pilgrim, a follower of the Lightbringer, trying to carry a lit candle from the graveyard outside the city to the Temple of Law in the temple district. A group of street kids were pelting the pilgrim with stones and trash, taunting them with epithets. Andrew Price and Gordon Binghampton, both priests of Law, intervened and helped the pilgrim accomplish their task.

At the temple, Gordon tried to acquire healing potions but learned that this was not a service that the temple of Law provided. He should seek an alchemist or apothecary. 

Arrn and Waverly continued their shopping. They stopped at an herbalist, Winmar's Weeds, to inquire about the plants. They learned they were Elven Star Poppies. They shrivel and die when exposed to sunlight. The albino cave bees harvest the pollen and make honey which, in turn, is used to brew a magic potion that allows its imbiber to sleep for thousands of years. As an herbalist, he had little use for them but purchased them for 17 harvested plants for 10gp each. 

They also learned that Lefsy knew someone named Petesia of Darkhold, a woman who claimed to be a student of Aleria the Alchemist. Arrn actually knew Petesia. They had shared a romantic relationship while attending the School of the Arcana!

They went to Germar's Curiosities, a purveyor of exotic wares, only to discover Lefsy speaking with the owner. Germar specialized in items recovered from the Javelin Beaches outside of Sigatona.

That evening, after sundown, they found Milia's Dark Market in an alley. Here thieves could fence their wares. Most items were overpriced. 

Note - this was a mistake for HEXROLL. Normally, individual items are listed because they're bargains. In this case, holy water and holy symbols were listed for 27 gp, 2gp more than their price in the equipment list. 

However, Waverly overheard the proprietess, Milia Wanthilde, complain about the loss of her nephew.

The players groaned and rolled their eyes - ANOTHER lost nephew? 

I improvised a detailed backstory on the spot based on the prompts: Nephew is missing since last week. (Secret: Held captive in the Tomb of the Lost Lich). Recovery reward is a decorated sword.

Waverly asked Milia what happened. A week ago, a strange man, pale and gaunt, wearing regal attire that was out of fashion centuries ago, entered her night market with a retinue of cloaked attendants. The man took an interest in her nephew Fertheorst. She hasn't seen her nephew since that night. She's certain that the gaunt man was the legendary vampire Baron Solomon! Stories tell how Baron Solomon travels from city to city looking for new recruits for his dark army of the damned! She's so worried! She'd be willing to offer a reward - this fabulous sword that she totally acquired legitimately and was in no way stolen! 

The next day they boarded a ship laden with plunder to sail to Sigatona. The wind was good and they made excellent time.

In Sigatona, they visited the Glowing Torch Inn. They had been there before and had inquired about the Black Saints. They were recognized by one of the servers, Dadmar of Sevenhand, who was a collaborator with the Black Saints. After seeing Dadmar give them a suspicious side-eye and disappear into the kitchen, they decided to leave the establishment.

Outside they heard a herald reading a proclamation - the Archon of Sigatona had ordered the execution of a prominent member of the Merchant Guild for conspiracy to commit treason! The hanging would transpire tomorrow at noon. Their ship would be leaving at dawn tomorrow so they would miss it.

Note - this was a consequence of Gordon's interference with the status quo back in Chapter 8. 

Meanwhile, Andrew Price sought out Nelsonanon Bagbradley to purchase more tonics of vitality. He also asked if he had healing potions. Nelsonanon sold Andrew what he guarantied was a legitmate healing potion. Though I told Andrew Price to record it on his sheet as Healing Potion(?).

They slept on the deck of the boat that night. However, the deck watch had too much to drink and passed out drunk during the night, allowing two masked assailants to sneak on board and attempt to kidnap Gordon as he slept. This woke up the party who quickly intervened, killing one kidnapper while the other fled, jumping into the water. Waverly handed Wumpus a throwing axe which Wumpus hurled into the head of the escaping kidnapper. 

The next morning, the wind picked up even stronger! (11- near gale! double sailing movement!)

They sped along the Thousand Shrines Reef. 

I rolled a random encounter - Sea Serpent (Lesser)!! Not only that, the PCs are surprised!  

I set up a whole battle scene in Foundry with the ship, the sea serpent, etc. 

They're sailing along at a good clip, the water choppy with whitecaps from the strong wind. They're making excellent time!

A reptilian head atop long serpentine neck rises out of the water, biting one of sailors on deck, killing him instantly, snatching him off the deck.

I ask the players to roll initiative for battle. The players win initiative.

Arrn: "Oh, that sucks for that guy! I hope he wasn't important!"

Me: "What do ya'll do?"

Arrn: What's the movement rate of a sea monster? We're making great speed! I say we sail on!"

I look up sailing speed of a sailing ship (small). 150'/round, doubled to 300'/round for near gale wind.

I look up the swim speed of a sea serpent. 50'/round.

Me (slightly defeated): "Okay then, you leave a churning red froth in your wake as the sea serpent devours its meal. I guess it can't keep up with you."

Wumpus: "So who was that guy?"

Me (rolling randomly): "He was the ship's cook."

Wumpus: "DAMMIT!"

Oddly, I have defined the prevailing winds for this region (from the northwest to the southeast), and the direction they were traveling (northwest) was into the prevailing winds, so a near gale that would help them would be anomalous. I turned this into a story prompt - a storm is coming! A very low pressure system to the northwest is causing the wind to reverse, indicating a big storm with lots of rain and high winds is approaching from the northwest for several days.

After they, they returned to Kömür, leveled up, and planned the next phase of their adventure. 

To be continued!

The Wand of Dreams - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 15

The party explores an ancient elven tomb that has become a lair for bloodthirsty orcs. 

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 4 cleric
• Gordon Binghampton, level 4 cleric
• Fitzhugh Skitter, level 1 thief - out this week
• Lefsy of Hawkston, NPC, archaeologist and dealer in rare and exotic antiquities

Here's a quick summary of their hex-crawl exploration of the land of Jo'Ril as generated by HEXROLL.

Note - Be aware, we are playing full-on tomb plunderers. We are aware of and deplore the real-world issues of colonialism, cultural theft, etc. We are role-playing characters and situations with different cultural mores and norms than our own. This is not an endorsement on our part for such behavior in the real world. The orcs in my setting were created by the serpentines to wage war against the elven kingdoms in the ancient times. They are a created lifeform that knows only war and violence.

O. We pick up where we left off, in the "throne room" of the king of the ancient elven city of Thul'Gorah, attacked by three shadow monsters.

Note- I increased the Hit Die of the Shadow Monsters to 4HD and increased their damage to 1d6 with -1 Strength drain. This made the shadow monsters much more difficulty - resistant to the cleric's turning ability and able to take a few hits from holy water.

Arrn the wizard grabbed the wand off the lap of the dead king and waved it around. I told the player it was a Wand of Illusion, allowing him to cast Phantasmal Force spell. He could create an illusion of whatever he could think of, as long as it fit within 20' x 20' and did not leave that 20' x 20' area. He created a large fountain splashing holy water all over the room. This kicked off a night of trying to figure out what Phantasmal Force could and couldn't create or do and how it worked.

Note: I randomly rolled the Wand of Illusions treasure and thought it was a perfect fit for a dungeon with mirrors and shadows. 

P. They eventually defeated the shadows only to have Grothak Bloodhand, leader of the Bloodfang orcs, order his mightiest orcs to charge and claim the wand! 

The party won initiative so Arrn cast Sleep, putting all but the toughest orcs out of commission, while Gordon Binghampton cast Hold Person on Grothak, paralyzing him. They quickly dispatched the helpless orcs. 

Waverly decapitated Grothak and carried his head.

They searched the chambers, certain of a secret door behind the curtains along the back wall. Note- of coruse there was one - its why I put the curtains there - but they had to find it! 

Q. Gordon, in the hall of statues, was attacked by three orcs (wandering monsters) who were quickly defeated. The final orc, surrounded, failed his morale check and threw down his weapons in surrender. He offered to serve as a guide to the others, so they tied him up and carried him along.

Additional searching found 2500 gp in a chest and the secret door that led to a hidden passage.

R.  The party found two giant spiders. The giant spiders caused a lot of anxiety when they scored hits on both Wumpus and Waverly, but luckily they both made their saves vs. poison. Gordon's player dismissed the concern, "what's the big deal, they just do extra damage right?" and they other players reminded him, "This is B/X, it's save vs. poison or DIE!" 

They found an orc, barely alive, wrapped in a cocoon. They freed him but he lashed out in fear. The  orc was quickly dispatched.

There was much discussion about going north into the unknown or south and looping around through a known passage. They decided south but Wumpus went north anyway, establishing a short cut to the stairs to level 1.

The party, out of spells and healing, wanted to leave the dungeon to rest. I pointed out that carrying the head of Grothak was a valid tactic for forcing morale checks right off the bat, but would only work today. If they retreated from the dungeon, a new leader would be chosen and Grothak's head would mean nothing. So they reluctantly chose to push on, hoping Gorthak's severed head would do the heavy lifting.

S. They climbed the stairs to level 1 and the captive orc showed them a secret door leading to hidden passages. Since no one could speak orcish and the prisoner could not use his hands to gesticulate, I communicated the orc's intentions through facial expressions which proved a challenge for the party. 

T. The prisoner led them to the treasure room where they encountered an orc hunter and four other orcs. Waverly held up Grothak's head and instantly caused several of the orcs to flee in fear. The few that stayed behind were quickly defeated. This lead to a frantic chase as they followed the orcs through the dungeon. 

U. They fled into the great hall. The handful of orcs preparing food joined them in their flight. 

V. Some retreated to the trophy room and formed up behind the one surviving guardian warthog. Others fled north to the subterranean garden to join the shaman. 

The party followed the orcs into the trophy room and encountered the orcs and warthog. Arrn created an illusion of a gelatinous cube but we quickly learned he could only create a monster he had seen before, and that it couldn't leave its 20'x20' area. I let this one stand and the orcs were quickly defeated.

The party regrouped in the great hall and followed the passage to the northeast.

W. They opened the door and found sleeping quarters with a shaman and 12 orcs waiting for them! The orc shaman cast "Hold Person" on Waverly, freezing her in place!

Note- I had the shaman from the garden room take the back way through the secret passage to the sleeping chamber and wake the orcs there.

The party, out of spells, low on hit points, and without Waverly, was ready to retreat - but Arrn had an idea.

He created an illusion of the basilisk he encountered in the Tomb of the Serpent King. The basilisk appeared and used its gaze against all the orcs. 

Note - Arrn's player was in for a bit of a shock. He was not aware that the basilisk from Tomb of the Serpent King was a "nerfed" basilisk for first level characters. Its gaze power took two failed saves to turn its victims to stone! 

There was a lot of debate and looking things up trying to figure out how the illusory basilisk was supposed to work. 

• Did it get an attack roll on its targets as if it were a real monster  or do the targets just get a save vs. spells in lieu of an attack - taking illusory damage on a failed save? 
• Did the orcs get to save vs. spell once or each round?
• Did the gaze attack prompt save vs. petrification or save vs. spell for the illusion?

I made some spot judgements at the time that, upon later consideration, I might rule differently.

The next time I do it, the targets of an illusory monster's "attack" get a save vs. spell, taking illusory damage or effect on a failed save. 

Two brave orcs made their saves AND their morale checks, raced forward and "killed" the illusory basilisk, forcing Arrn to expend a fourth charge from the wand to create another.

Soon, all the orcs were either "turned to stone" by the basilisk, or killed by Wumpus, Gordon, and Andrew.

Upon killing the orcs, frozen by the illusory basilisk, the party searched the chamber, finding a potion of healing. 

They continued searching the dungeon, finding the underground garden of red and black flowers. 

And that's where we'll pick up next week, giving me some time to work out the deal with these mysterious dungeon flowers that don't need sunlight. 

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.