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. 

Dedata Desideria - The Land of Jo'Ril, Chapter 9

My Old School Essential hex-crawl using randomly generated setting created by HEXROLL continues.

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

The party reunites with Arn the magic user, now a master of invisibility, and leave the city of Sigatona (hex 43) with three new companions:

• The female elves: Aicfrida and Vilana of Qona - on their way north to Komur to purchase horses.
• The female dwarf: Dedata Desideria - recruiter for the cult known as the Black Saints, known for abducting humanoids, mostly elves, for nefarious alchemical experiments.

The party heads northwest along the Devil's Eye Meadows. They see a cave bear in the distance and wisely let it go in peace. Note - random encounter, hundreds of yards away, neutral reaction roll.

That night, as they camped (hex 78), the fungus goblins emerged from the Earth, mysteriously, and tended to the needs of their queen, Calvin Baily the thief. The fungus goblins are quickly becoming a favorite of the players. Meanwhile Dedata did her best to sell the cult to Waverly the ranger.

Soon after the party went to sleep, Wumpus the dwarf and one of the men-at-arms, while walking a patrol around the camp, were ambushed by two ogres. Wumpus and the man-at-arms held the line against the ogres while they called for help. The party came awake and formed two defensive lines and a rear line of archers but the precautions were unneccessary as the ogres were each put to sleep, in turn, by Arn and dispatched by one of his man-at-arms.

The next day was uneventful and they spent the night at the Crying Wight Inn (hex 72). There Arrn cast a charm spell on Dedata the cult recruiter. Dedata, now Arrn's best friend, shared all of the cult's secrets that she knew - the cult was using elf blood as an ingredient to create a potion to create the perfect warrior - the pinnacle of humanity. They were also kidnapping humanoids and using them as test subjects in their experiments.

The next day they continued their travel to Kömür. They stopped to investigate a stone circle - site of a recent bonfire (hex 76). Footprints around the bonfire matched those of the fungus goblins. Why were they dancing around a bonfire? How did they get here? Waverly the Ranger also discovered tendrils of a massive underground mycelium - no doubt how they're able to appear from the earth at night and disappear at dawn and travel across Jo'Ril. But the bonfire remains a mystery.

They arrived at Kömür (hex 75). I gave each player a moment to have their own scene and do their own thing.

Arrn secretly took his "friend" Dedata with him on an excursion to the Tomb of the Serpent Kings where he introduced her to the lich Xiximanter. She did not return.

Waverly delivered the mysterious box to Drudo Cadhoiarn, per the instructions of the herbalist Flaminio of Koru in Sigatona. Drudo was an asshole and tried to take the box without acknowledging the receipt, meaning Waverly would not be paid. When Waverly took the box, Drudo threatened Waverly with force. The two fought and Waverly drew first blood. Drudo acquiesced and finally provided Waverly with the small keyfob like wooden token. Waverly gave Drudo his box - containing the hallucinogen dried lotus root, Stygian, the best - and took the token which, when combined with the token given her by Flaminio, could be taken to Flaminio's agents in Kömür and exchanged for payment.

Meanwhile Calvin Baily was teaching her fungus goblins how to pick pockets in a crowd when she noticed several of them admiring the waning crescent moon with awe.

The next morning, Andrew Price, Cleric, witnessed a wealthy merchant beating a house-servant behind a house. Andrew Price intervened, the merchant took offense and attacked the cleric with a shovel. Andrew Price quickly put the beat down on the homeowner. Note - this was a random encounter from the Cities sourcebook.

The party had no plans for staying in Kömür. They loaded up the wagon and prepared their entourage for another journey. They were heading to the northeast to search for the secret lair of the Black Saints, a place called the Shrine of the Feared Order (located somewhere in hex 26). They were joined by the elves Aicfrida and Vilana who wished to rescue their kidnapped elven kin. Note - Waverly's player bought the elves some new equipment, including bows.


As they crossed the hilly grasslands of the Devil's Eye Meadows, they were ambushed by a group of fourteen kobolds. The party, with help of their elven friends, soon killed eight of the kobolds and sent the others fleeing. Calvin eliminated two with her bow as they fled over the hill.

They crossed into the northwest corner of the Wizards of Alvania desert in the afternoon. There they saw a massive dome made of what appeared to be smooth marble. There were no entrances and its purpose was a mystery. The dome was surrounded by the ruins of a city, abandoned hundreds of years ago during the Mage Wars that created the desert.

Fearing being observed by the cult, the party sought shelter in an abandoned inn. There they found stairs leading underground, the lack of dust a clear indication of recent and repeated use - this was an entrance into a dungeon!

Leaving their wagon, horses, and camel, along the rest of their entourage, in the abandoned inn, they descended.

They heard a woman chanting and dancing nearby. They rushed around the corner and found an oracle or seer wearing black costume performing an ecstatic dance. Fearing dark magic, Wumpus and Waverly kill the dancer - only for a secret door to open behind them, revealing several masked cultists clad in black who rushed out of their hiding place to attack!

To be continued!

Nelsonanon Bagbradley, purveyor of fine potions, tinctures, and tonics

 

What follows is the full interaction, conducted via email, between myself and the player of Andrew Price, cleric, regarding the purchase and consumption of vitality tonic.

The next day, as you explore the metropolis of Sigatona, you hear someone trying to get your attention.

"Holy father, I say, honored clergyman! Might I have your attention!"

It's a man in a fine long coat and a fancy hat with long brightly colored plumage. He sports fashionable facial hair and a shiny gold earring. 

"My esteemed follower of the holy Gods of Law, my name is Nelsonanon Bagbradley, an explorer and merchant at your service, a purveyor of fine potions, tinctures, and tonics."

"I could not help but notice that you suffered a certain, shall we say, paucity of vigor in your otherwise admirable and sublime personnage. Why, I fear for your health, good sir! These are trying times, what with plagues and poxes and all manner of ailments running rampant through the streets, carried to our fine shores by mongrels and vagabonds from foreign lands."

"Sir, as a humble servant of the Great Hierarchy I entreat you to take precautions to protect yourself. We need your good works, this city NEEDS your counsel and guidance, your wisdom and teachings! I beg of you, righteous father, to consider your own health as you navigate these troublesome streets filled with bursting pustules and dangerous miasma!"

"Allow me to offer you a small service as a patron of the most divine Hierarchy." He reaches into his voluminous coat and produces a small phial, "Allow me, an unworthy supplicant, to provide to you this small gift so that you might stave off the unclean airs that befoul this wanton hive of sin and provide your grace and succor to those MOST in need."

He puts the phial in your hand, clasping your hand with both of his and curling your fingers over the phial. 

"Most consecrated curate of Order, this free gift to you, a trifle that I offer as oblation, is a Tonic of Vitality. This one small tonic will bulwark you against the evils of this land. It is a formula derived from that created by the great alchemist Aleria herself! For it is from her that I learned this formula. It is my great honor that I might create this concoction so that I might share it with you, so that you might continue your virtuous crusade."

"Go well, reverend. And remember my  name, Nelsonanon Bagbradley, when you say your prayers. Should you ever need my services, simply ask for me at the local herbalist or seek me out at the city market whereupon I conduct my trade. I shall be honored by your grace. Good day, sir!"

With a flourish he continues on his way, leaving you with the small potion, ornately labeled "Vitality".

You look around, you notice two or three empty bottles on the ground and spot a washer-woman finishing off the small vial. She looked tired, exhausted, frail. Upon finishing the small phial, she looks pleasantly surprised, she smiles, she seems refreshed, she looks energized, full of vim as she continues on with her day.

Andrew Price, Cleric: I will approach the washer woman and ask her about the vial, its contents and effects. Also what she knows about Nelsonanon.

She's never seen him before. He gave her this free concoction. She is chronically exhausted but it perked her right up. She feels great!

A nearby fisherman says "You got that from Nelsonanon? Oh, they're a fine tonic all right. You feel better, hale even, but only for a day. He gives you the first one for free, but every tonic after that costs you, and they're not cheap either - 10 gold pieces per tonic!"

Another man, a well-to-do merchant shopping for fish, says, "Worth every penny if you ask me. I mean, if you can afford it. I purchase them all the time, not for everyday use, mind you, but when I know I'll need a little extra energy to get me through the day. He sells them down at the market. I heard he was a student of the great Apothecary Aleria herself!"

The fishmonger sneers, "Pshaw! Who can afford it!"

The wealthy merchant merely chuckles at the fishmonger, smiles, and gives you a wink as if to say "Oh, some of us can."

Andrew Price consulted with the other members of the party - should he try the tonic? They advised against it. He ultimately drank it. I asked the player to roll 3d6 - that was their new temporary CON for the day. A potion will only last for seven days before spoiling. Andrew later tracked down the charlatan and purchased seven tonics for later use. 

Sigatona - The Land of Jo'Ril hexcrawl for Old School Essentials, Chapter 8

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

The PCs have reached the metropolis of Sigatona to level up and spend money. After a day of rest, head out to explore the city.

1. The city is divided into districts. It takes 10 minutes to travel from district to district. Asking around for district highlights will get you a list of shops in that district. You can spend an hour to find that shop. Shops generated in HEXROLL each have a proprietor. Many shops have a list of specific items that can be purchased at a discount. Many shop proprietors have QUESTS! After a while, the players started to get overwhelmed with quest options. I told them "you don't have to take the quest, there's just a reward here if you find their missing sword or kidnapped nephew in a dungeon."
2. Every hour spent in the city, I would roll 1d6 for a random encounter. On a 1, (or 1-2 depending on time of day and circumstances), I would roll up a random encounter from my old Cities sourcebook by Midkemia Press from 1980.
3. The cleric with a CON of 5 was approached by a charlatan selling tonics of vitality. He gave the cleric a free sample. The cleric tried it and re-rolled 3d6 for his CON for one day (he got 12). If he wanted more, he'd have to pay 10gp per vial. He also learned of a powerful alchemist who lived in a secret tower in the desert who made a permanent version.
4. The other cleric - who worships the literal "god of divine right of rulership, arbiter of succession, and patron of nobility" - made a huge donation (4000gp) to the temple in the hopes of strengthening the power of the politically weak archon (mayor) over the more powerful Merchant Guild (who are really in charge). This audacious display got the attention of the merchant guild who paid the party a visit to convey a message of "don't do that again, or else". Introduced a neat political villain. Fun!
5. Did some great role-playing back at the inn when one of the PCs was randomly asking about a cult they were investigating. As it happened, HEXROLL said the busboy at the inn was allied with the cult and one of the patrons of the inn was a member of the cult. So the busboy put the PC in contact with the cult member who then tried to recruit them! The PCs are going along with it for now hoping to get more information about this cult - what they're doing? where's their headquarters? who's their leader? Introduced a future villain - the leader of the cult who is also a former companion to the alchemist they are looking for.
6. No fighting tonight, just a lot of role-playing, exploring, and NPC interactions. Next week, they head north to a) deliver a box, b) search for evil cult hideout, c) search for hidden alchemist tower.

The gist is this - procedurally generated random results are coming together quite nicely with input and actions from the players to create an interesting, layers, and interconnected world via prompts, connections, and straight-up serendipity and happenstance.

I'm super impressed!

The Tower of the Arcane - the Land of Jo'Ril Hexcrawl for Old School Essentials, Chapter 7

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

The party is headed to the Tower Arcane in the Wizards of Alvania Desert (hex 22) to sell some petrified snake men to the wizard Bernhaus of Barin, a collector of rare statuary. 

They see a deep ravine ahead and a rickety rope bridge. They say "Nope" and change direction, avoiding the troll encounter I had prepared. They camp out at an oasis and encounter two curious giant geckos. I rolled a neutral reaction for the geckos. They gain the gecko's trust by feeding them and otherwise leaving them alone.

They arrive at the wizards tower, the caretaker said, "You're here early. Go ahead and step into the magic circle, everything is prepared for you." They thought "Huh, weird" but comply and teleported into the subterranean dungeon. Apparently they were mistaken for an applicant for an apprentice and now must go through the wizard test usually meant for a group of young apprentice applicants. With no other options than to complete the test, they randomly choose the correct path to lead directly to the exit with the least amount of monsters or traps. All they fought were some skeletons and some giant rats and some illusory guards.  

Dungeon defeated by avoiding most of the dungeon! 

They sold their statues and requested to skip my planned wizard intrigue adventure (which I haven't written yet), leave the wizard school, and power-walk to the nearest town (Sigatona, hex 43) to trade in their loot, allowing them to level up. (One of the players will be absent next week so he wanted to get back to town and level up ASAP). I said sure. 

Level 3!

The Orc Ambush - The Land of Jo'Ril hex-crawl for Old School Essentials, Chapter 6

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

Having finished Tomb of the Serpent Kings, we started started my hexcrawl across the Land of Jo'Ril. We're playing on Foundry. I created a random hexcrawl location using HEXROLL. 

I used the nolabels map for the Foundry map. I created a single token to represent the party. 

At first I gave the token a visibility of one hex (6 miles), but honestly that was TOO limiting. It didn't engender the kind of awe and wonder in the world that would encourage exploration. So I just made the entire map visible. 

However, when running last night, the players wanted to take notes of what they found in each hex, and it was difficult to indicate the hexes on the map. So today I just decided to give them the full label map with all the hex numbers and region names. 

The region names will help sell the world. They're very evocative. It doesn't give away any secrets. Its info the characters would know. 

I also felt like "what if they head off the map?" so I used Hexroll to create additional maps and just plugged them around "Jo'Ril". 

So far, it's going great! They left the city of KÖMÜR and are headed to the Tower of the Arcane. Traveling through hex 73-72-71-70-69-05. 

Hex 73 = hilly grassland steppe, ancient standing stones, no encounter.

Hex 72 = the Crying Wight Inn, they stayed the night, talked with some patrons, got some rumors and info about the surrounding hexes, had a pleasant evening.

They learned from a sullen elf in the Crying Wight Inn that a cult called the Black Saints were taking human captives into an abandoned dungeon called the Shrine of the Feared Order as their base, located somewhere 12 miles to the north-northwest (hex 26). The players took great interest in this info for later use.

Hex 71 = great big rifts in the ground from a recent earthquake (the same earthquake the exposed the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, so I'm tying elements together), eerie sounds can be heard in its depths. Up ahead they saw a pillar of smoke - the aftermath of a battle. The ranger scouted ahead and saw 14 orcs pillaging a caravan of five wagons. The party charged, the magic-user put 7 to sleep and charmed an 8th while the other party members (cleric, thief, dwarf, ranger) dispatched the rest. 

I use the "shield was splintered" house rule and the cleric had to sacrifice a shield to turn a killing blow into a miss. 

That's where we ended, next week, they'll loot the orcs (164 copper pieces, finally they can retire!) and continue to the Tower of the Arcane. I have something special planned so I can't wait!

The thief player is not happy with her character. Her stats are very mediocre.

So while they were in the Crying Wight Inn, the Ranger's player said, "any of those halflings look like they could become a good level 1 adventurer?" hinting that the thief player may want to replace her character. I looked and said, "why Yes! there IS one! She's got pretty good stats!" DEX 18, CON 16, CHA 16, (mumble mumble)"

"What was that?" asked the thief player.

"Uh, I said (mumbling) INT 3, WIS 4."

"Hard pass!" said the thief player.

The other players and I tried to convince her that INT and WIS were dump stats for a halfling, but she, as a player, is a very intelligent person and is proud of her intelligence. She did NOT want to play a stupid character. It is antithetical to her personality. And we can't blame her.