Solo Session 15; Byzantine Solutions, Byzantine Endings.

Session 15; Begun on the 29th of October continuing to 31st of October 2023.

The semi-successful raiders of the Grave of Fell Heroes now once more need money.  

Civilius the Weak.

Arcanist 1st Level.

Gaias The Sleeper.

Arcanist 1st Level.

Bill The Silent.

Scout 1st Level. 

(+2 hunting dogs and 1 mule.)

They are conveniently approached by the currently more successful Green Mountain Party, who wish to pay for the cremation of the bodies fallen just outside Blue Beard’s Hoard and they receive all salvage rights to any treasure still there discovered.  They agree to do this for 100 gold, which is paid.  They then purchase a second mule (20 of their gp) and try to hire henchmen.

They find a certain Magnificent Jack, currently out of work and hire him for the standard 12 gp a month.  

‘X’ Terrance Lygurcasy. (Failed priest) 3 hp.

8 Strength -1

9 Intelligence 0

15 Wisdom +2

6 Dexterity -1

10 Constitution 0

9 Cha 0

Magnificent Jack. (Thief) 1 hp

12 Strength. 0

9 Intelligence. 0

8 Wisdom. -1 

16 Dex. +2

11 Con. 0

14 Chr. +1

With the group thus together, the saddlebags are loaded with 2 gallons of oil.  This is insufficient to do a full cremation, but it will be sufficient use the boat inside the hoard for a burning.  Thus determined they set out.  Due to Bill’s silent leadership, they are not immediately lost.  Better yet, they quickly cross through the forest and into the mountains.  They spend the night there quietly and in the morning go to the misshaped pyramid.   The bodies are in a worse condition than originally described, but they have been outside for a while. They want to get this done quickly and the party ties the mules at a bit of a distance before entering the pyramid.  Their lanterns reveal a sight indeed; three blue bearded captains dancing across the ship, pulling lines and waving arms, calling orders as though coming into port.  

Magnificent Jack has a mad cap scheme and calls out as though a dock worker, suggesting that once the ship is docked, they could bring some cargo aboard.  The blue bearded imitation captains give him the stink eye, as they continue docking across the ship and finally in an eery repeating triplicate voice say, “We might be convinced, but let’s see the color of your coin first!  Silver will not be enough for this ship to move.”

They hold up 24 gold coins and Magnificent Jack regales them on the advantages of their cargo (this scores a 9+).  The ship then ‘docks’ the coins are exchanged and the bodies of the fallen are brought onto the ship.  When one of the blue bearded imitations suggests that the smell will make passengers harder to find, common oil is poured over the bodies on deck.  Finally, the load of military oil is place among the bodies and the ‘cargo is loaded.’  

Another doppelgänger, as always disguised as a blue beard, comes in from the countryside, though scars across his clothes and weapons somewhat ruin the description.  He refuses to board and says that perhaps he must go and buy that farm he had always intended to have or become an adventurer on a distant island.  The other doppelgängers seem amused by this and go about moving ropes and sails.  

Civilius the Weak then gives the signal.  The other mage begins to cast his spell, while the henchmen display weapons and the Bill the silent draws his bow to full. 

Civilius lights and throws a flask of military oil from his belt. It bursts too soon to be a direct hit, but it does still splash in the correct direction to set the three Doppelgängers on fire, or at least one of them is immediately set on fire.  The other oil is also set on fire and a gallon is 8 pints worth of military oil.  So we have 16 pints of military oil right amongst the doppelgängers. 

(The rules, as I see it, do not exactly cover this.  Military oil poured on the ground is covered, but what happens when a container is closed?  I believe it is not incorrect to treat this as a potential explosion.  I present this as a ’non-magical fireball.’  That is, I have used the rules for fireball to simulate such an explosion, treating this explosion as though done by a 5th level mage.  This seems roughly consistent with the amount of fuel and the rules.) 

There is a massive blast of fire as the doppelgängers and the ship are hit with a wave of heat.  All three of doppelgängers make their saves and take a ‘mere’ 10 damage.  

Jack runs towards the one off the boat and coincidentally outside the improvised fireball boat, slashes with his knife, but misses.  The two dogs, brave and loyal, rush over as well with savage growls.  One does some damage (1).   Gaias casts Protection from evil and then focuses on keeping it up as the blazing doppelgängers’ spring from the ship and come for the kill.  They race forward and try to attack their primary attacker and his hated fire.  Two land powerful bites, and the fire thrower drops to the ground with negative 16 hit points.  With a silent snarl of rage, Bill uses his saber and long knife, but fails to get through their unnatural hides, be they ever so well cooked.  (I forgot to use Terrance to initiative order so he was added to the last of the line) Terrance manages to strike with his mace and break the burned head of one of the doppelgängers. 

In the next round, Bill the Silent goes first, and misses again. Gaias drops protection from evil (it was not the greatest for this situation) and casts sleep.  One of the targets falls.  Bill the Silent also gets dropped, because Gaias doesn’t do things well.  One of the doppelgänger’s makes an attack at Gaias, but misses (somehow!) while the thief attacked his target, doing another 3 damage.  Terrance strike at another target, using both hands on his mace, like he should have from the beginning, but he misses. The last doppelgänger attacks at the thief, brings him down -6 hit points.  The dogs try to protect the fallen Jack, one of which gets a good grip on inhuman skin and gives it a savage yank.  (3 damage.)

The third round begins with Gaias making a swing and a miss.  Terrance does the same, only worse (natural 1).  Their opposing force, the well cooked doppelgänger drops Terrance to negative 2 hp.  The dogs shift targets as they notice that Bill the Silent is down and they rush forward to rescue him, but they cannot get a new bite in.  The last doppelgänger, comes over, but he misses all targets in his rage.

The same doppelgänger tries again, and rips a dog to shreds this time.  A dog tries to counter, but misses.  Gaias misses.  The other attacks, obliterating another dog.

Somehow both miss Gaias and give a chance for another attack, letting him score a full throttle blow with his staff.  He drops one of the doppelgängers and shouts a war cry.  

The doppelgänger does not run and instead kills the last of the party leaving the mage with -7 hit points.  The ship burns in the background as the other sleeping doppelgänger awakens from unnatural slumber.  They feed and pass into the wild at nightfall.  The mules remain, sadly tied to their trees. 

Reflections.

This fight almost ended very differently.  How so?  I was sick (likely with malaria) and tired at the time of first play through and got into the checking for injuries phase after finishing the two last doppelgängers with lucky hits, before noticing that the guy who had gotten the lucky hits had been down for two or three turns at the time of his good hitting.  This resulted in those rounds having to be replayed and the current results. 

Another thing that could have played out differently was the original plan.  Civilius the Weak was going to shoot the stored oil with an elementalism fire flavored magic missile, theorizing that such a tool would work for this, however, magic missile per ACKs rules cannot target inanimate objects and the thrown flask of military oil seemed a better choice.  

Otherwise this fight seems rather standard.  Had the troops been better formed (fighter/explorers in the front, spell casters in the back) Civilius could have maybe lived long enough actually cast his magic missile.   

In other news, theater of the mind if a way better gaming style, when the mind is not insanely clouded.  Lesson learned. 

Solo Session 14; Limping with Loot.

 Session; Beginning from the 26th of October to the 3rd of November of 2023.

The gimmick used this time was an attempt to group together a bunch of explorers, plus supports and actually make them good at killing type patrols.  I also used the 5 generations method and discarded 15 of the rolled up options, per ACKs rules to collect a force with positive (generally) stats and it is quite a force. 

Jorham Hill.

Scout 1st Level. 1 Hp.

Jonathan Bower.

Scout 1st Level. 4 Hp.

Bradford of Rice Manor.

Catechist 1st Level. 1 HP.

Charles of Bramshire.

Scout 1st Level. 5 Hp. 

Tilly the Kid Mage.

Arcanist 1st Level. 2 Hp. 

I assure you that the low hp is not indicative of the rest of their scores.   The cleric has a +3 wisdom bonus, while the mage has +2 to intelligence and the leader has a +3 to charisma.  You might wonder why he did not become a bard.  The answer is simple.  I very much dislike bards, and frankly, given Corosicalta’s burgeoning reputation, a bard leader seems less likely.  

The party, having heard that the last group, the very successful group that went up to Blue Beard’s Hoard have not returned.  So the party has a deep need for money though (despite their good stats, there is not even 400 gp between them for starting capital) and the Hoard is the best target.  

They set out in the morning and as you would expect from a posse of woodsman, they slip through the forest fairly quickly.  They cross into the mountains uneventfully and spend the night some distance from the hoard, in a secluded glen.  They wish to be fresh for a fight, and not do a duel in the dark.  

In the morning they move towards the building.  They see somewhat outside the building a wagon with dead bodies of men and mules around it, horribly torn and shredded and this greatly offends these hardy folk.  They, at the direction of Bradford swear oaths of holy vengeance, against the fell monsters that caused this.  They very cautiously come forward, seeing the bodies of the men and the mules.  They pass into the building and behold the ship and see nothing.  Are the doppelgänger’s now freed and wandering the island as decent and respectable mortals?  Or are they lurking in the bowels of the ship.  The party carefully searches the five corners, and when nearing one corner, a blade appears from the wall to heavily hit their leader for -7 damage.  He is fortunate that after re-reading the rules on proficiencies I have a whole bunch of people with healing in this party.  And there is a mage who has +2 intelligence for the full healing proficiency package.  Still we are down a man, though he is luckily alive!  Even if he will require some unnatural tampering to get back to full mobility.  No treasures are found and the party prepares to enter the ship.  As they enter, a poisoned dart is launched, but it misses and buries itself in the ship, leaking a mysterious liquid.  An arrow flies out of the darkness and nearly hits Bower, but his armor and turn save him from such damages.  The ship is otherwise empty, as though recently cleared of goods. 

The party leaves the ship and are confronted by a single figure, with a blue beard and sword.  He appears indifferent to the party.  They pass out of the unshapely pyramid.  Once they are outside of the building, Bradford asks his companions what they think of a shape-shifter or undead, living out a life of an evil man hundreds of years after his death.  Nobody likes it much.  Jorham Hill leaning on his staff says he’ll watch for a rear attack and the party forms a line.  The Doppelgänger reveals it's true nature as the archers draw their bows and Tilly the Kid starts chanting.  The Creature charges forward and makes a very heavy attack on Charles of Bramshire, who falls.  Bradford quickly kneels and begins healing.Tilly the Kid then blasts the Doppelgänger and tears its head off with a magic missile.  Tilly the Kid then walks over and searches the body, while Jonathan Bower begins searching the bodies of those killed by the doppelgänger. 

Charles Bramshire’s leg is badly destroyed (effectively the same injury as the leader.)  Tilly the Kid, once again flexes his superior healing skills (within one turn) and bring Charles up to 2 Hp and saves his life. The following treasures are discovered on the doppelgänger;

3 000 Gold coins. 

3 tiger eyes, 25 each, (75)

A chunk of jade (100)

A jacinth (1000)

A carnelian (75)

From the other party they found of value they found a crushed potion (so not collected), but they do find two 'brilliants.'

Flawless facet cut diamond.  Facet cut imperial topaz, which equal 8000+4000 gp. 

From the wagon they get 3 000 silver and leave everything else.  

They then race for home, (by which I mean hobble, essentially forced hobbling) and to my immense surprise, they get in, with what is probably and will be the best haul ever to be brought in on Corosicalta.  

It totals to 16,650 gp for xp purposes.  We also get monster xp as 16785, which works out to 3357 xp per base share.  This was divided 5 ways, as we are good team that don’t let our people bleed to death due to blade traps and all that.  Sadly, Jorham and Charles take standard shares, as they are average in their strength (despite being better in their dexterity), while the absurdly wise and intelligent cleric and mage enjoy their 10% bonuses.  Jonothan Bower has a +5% bonus. 

Jorham Hill.

Outrider 2nd Level. 1357 xp.

Charles of Bramshire.

Outrider 2nd Level. 1357 xp.

Jonathan Bower.

Outrider 2nd Level. 1524 xp.

Bradford of Rice Manor.

Acoylte 2nd Level.  2192 xp.

Tilly the Kid Mage.

Seer 2nd Level. 1192 xp.

If I have understood the rules correctly, Tilly the Kid is taking up learning at the local magical society, and for the next week, he is learning the spells, to Read Languages.   Bradford takes cure light wounds, to increase his survivability and that of his fellows.  Over the next two weeks the party waits for their allies to recover and will be available for action. 

Reflections.

For the monster I determined that any monsters encountered at the dungeon would be doppelgängers, but that I would re-roll how many of them would be rerolled, as I doubted all them would still want to play the blue bearded pirate after being effectively freed. 

Lots of money.  Healing, high quality troopers and decent initiative really improved things.  I am thinking they will try to do some bigger changes with their funds, like maybe organize a trading ship’s visit, or something like that, but I am not sure. 

Further, I am thinking that I want to have three groups alive and in action (given 1 to 1 timing this is not too much work) and the next session will probably be the Green Mountain Company hiring the three survivors of session 13 to go out with a wagon, collect the remains of the ill-fated previous party and have them cremated as is fitting in this setting.

Solo Session 13; If you are happy and you know it, Clap!

 Session 13; Started on the October 26th to October 28th, 2023.

William of Silvans.

Cleric 1st Level. -

Civilius the Weak.

Mage 1st Level.

Polemius the Stout.

Fighter 1st Level.

Semplarius the Ugly.

Thief 1st Level. 

Gaias The Sleeper.

Mage 1st Level.

Bill The Silent.

Explorer 1st Level. 

(+2 hunting dogs and 1 mule.)

The party outfitted and equipped set out, to the Grave of Fell Heroes. Somehow, despite the presence of an explorer and the dungeon being almost in sight of the gates of the town, the party gets lost.  Probably Bill stayed silent, out of fear of correcting his social betters.  To the confusion of the rest of the group they head back to Punishment.  Sometime of confusion later, they decide to go out again.  They successfully reach the entrance of the dungeon.  Semplarius is sent forward to check for traps.  None are discovered. The entrance room is empty, even the ashes of Rico and his pyre are gone.  Who is sweeping in here?  The door is checked by the thief and it is found to be locked.  He is instructed to check for traps, but after ten minutes further study, he does not find any and to the annoyance of the others he decides to try and open it with his kit.  After an attempt, he gives up on his key and tries to force it open. Despite straining until his face turns a florid red, he is unable to open the door.  In frustration he begins to go for his axe, but the stout Polemius steps up and tries to open it.  The door makes noises, but it resists.  The party disgusted, the axe is used.  The cavern is filled with the noise of the door being reduced to kindling.  

2000 Silver pieces lay scattered along the floor.  William, looks on in concern and asks the thief to give it a check.  He does and determines to go forward.  This proves to be a mistake as a massive rock rolls out of a side passage and towards the door way.   It hits the  fighter, cleric and thief, who had entered the hallway and they are all crushed down.  The cleric’s legs are crushed before he dies, unable to heal himself.  The same fate happens to the fighter, while the failure of the trap finder is crushed in the spine and immediately dies. 

Sometimes you Indiana Jones the rock traps, and sometimes you do not.

The remaining party collects the silver, the axe, mutters some words for the fallen and then go deeper into the Grave. (I rolled a morale roll, and they very tentatively decided to keep going) As they slowly progress through the hallway they find two doorways. The first is a metal coated door and simply looks too strong for any axe work.  So they smash down the other one, making no attempt to open it regularly.  They explore the much larger room, but find nothing other than an immensely strong metal coated door coated in wizardly glyphs.  Civilius recognizes the glyphs saying, ’stay out light born!’ And more relevantly, ‘clap once to open.’

A brief clapping, and the metallic door swings open.  The room may have once been a study, but the organic matter has long been reduced to dust, earth and mold.  The room is very cautiously explored. Three more doors are found, and they decide to approach directly.  It is also iron, but the same glyphs mark it.  It swings open and they find five strange trinkets among the ruins of the room.  These are quickly stored and the room is explored.  It is irregularly shaped, suggesting construction by a deranged builder. 

As they are studying the far walls, they hear the dogs begin to emit a low growl.  The casters do not have time to react before there many high pitch claps and a group of kobolds enter the room and let out a host of chittering noises.  The Bill the Silent preps his sword, but the kobolds simply leave the room and run away, with hoots of excitement and derision.  The door closes, cutting off their line of sight and the party stands nervously.  Perhaps the kobolds had already found and taken the bodies of their comrades.  There were 11 of them, which Bill cautions is too numerous a force to hunt, so they wait a while, letting their oil burn for a while.  

Having decided they have given the kobolds enough of a head start, after ten nervous minutes they clap once and retrace their steps.  There is no sign of the kobolds and they study the other doors.  One is open, so they carefully go in.  As they walk through the largish room, the dogs begin to growl and they hear the scurrying of little feet.  4 giant ferrets pop up out of the mirk, their eyes reflecting red as they stare forward, Bill the silent takes a step forward and using his knowledge and friendship with all animals, attempts to convince them to return to their burrows and ignore them.  They remain where they are and as the party cannot see any loose treasure, they leave the room.  The mages are not confident of defeating that many targets, especially as they are vicious animals.

Returning to the last unopened door, Bill takes a stance and heaves the door opens with a boom.  The three morlocks standing just in front of the door jump back in surprise, but the party will take this as combat.  Gaias, casts sleep and all three collapse into a pile.  Bill flicks out his long knife and makes short work of the three targets.  They are quickly searched and other than two spears, the party finds 18 silver pieces.  The party then begins to leave, successfully retracing their steps and clapping for the doors. 

On reaching the outside it is very nearly night, but the party decides it is best to force march to Punishment. They spot a troop of Centaur, but they disappeared into the night without speaking or threatening the party.  What they could be doing in this part of the island is, most unusual. 

But the survivors reach Punishment!  They spend the night rejoicing in their survival at a tavern, sleeping/dragging around for the entire next day.  

201 from the coins. 

One bone trinket,  600

A bronze trinket with the words ’slide off like water’ stamped on the plaque and tears on the reverse. 69 gp.

Shell necklace. 90 gp

Other shell necklace. 97 gp 

6 prisms of glass (230 gp value total)

1287 xp from treasure. 

40 xp from the morlocks killed.  

So a total of 1328 xp. 

442 is the average share. 

22

Bill and Gaias each getting 464 while Civilius gets 442.  

While in the tavern Gaias bragged extensively about the ability to open the iron doors by clapping, while the others tried to keep the information to themselves.  Gaias however, wanting to parade his college time, was undeterred and bragged extensively.  All parties that visit the town before the 5th of November will hear about this and also suffer a -1 relation towards Gaias. 

Reflections.

This was really fun.  The rock trap was devastating, but otherwise things went really well.  Future parties will probably try to go for at least two healers, as the thief might have been able to survive had there been healing… but sadly such was not the case.  

Solo Session 12; A New and a Well-Hydrated Party.

Session 12; Beginning (and ending) on the 25th of October. 

Chaucer of Joggerberry.

Cleric 1st Level.

Ugly Lucky.

Thief 1st Level.

Slick Sam.

Thief 1st Level.

Fighting Pete Norx.

Fighter 1st Level. 

‘Tough’ Pine Norx.

Fighter 1st Level.

Jeb Smith.

Explorer 1st Level. 

The party sets out from the town of Punishment for the north with a rather simple goal.  Chaucer of Joggerberry, intent on realizing the vision of his long dead mentor intends to civilize the worst of all islands, Corosicalta. He brings with brings the two Norx brothers and two substance abusers helped into a more righteous lifestyle by his teachings. Chaucer gives a speech as to the vision and the righteous Jeb Smith, long time wanderer, joins them as expertise on the topic of traveling the local countryside, devoting a mule to the service.  

They are going to begin cleansing the Grave of Fell Heroes, the most likely origin to the numerous and diverse evil monsters that keep the island in its current barren state, while Silvans yearn for new lands to which to immigrate.  The party, thanks to their skillful local guide make quickly for the grave, when they are confronted by a five-headed hydra. There is an attempt to escape it, but the hydra is determined and Chaucer calls on his party to fight bravely. It races over the hills and the party takes up a defensive stance.  Assuming it comes at them most aggressively, it will take a few rounds to get into close combat.  However, this advantages offset by the hydra being of the regenerating sort.  They begin shooting at it at long range, with one of the thieves scoring a lucky hit.  The hydra, screeching through all five heads, keeps coming.  Most of their other shots miss or bounce off the gleaming scales and the party stands ready for conflict.  The Hydra rushes forward in its rage and the fighters try desperately to block it.  But their weapons are turned on the scales. Ugly Lucky, misses by an even greater margin.  Chaucers strength is too inferior to the task and his mace bounces without crushing scales.  The Hydra attacks, dropping the cleric and the two thieves into negative numbers.  The explorer is so startled as to miss.  

Next round the two fights and the explorer began by trying to flee again. This is unsuccessful and the hydra chases them.  The explorer tries to drop one of its heads, and succeeds in doing this, but that is all he can do, before the hydra gets into biting range. Surprisingly, these bites are less successful and Pete suffers only 2 damage.  In despair of escaping they make the rebuttal, attacking with spears.  This does a further 7 damage, dropping another head.

Unfortunately, another two heads sprout and the third round of combat happens.  The explorer goes first, but his sword work is insufficient to the task, while the fighters destroy another head.  All but one of the party fall and perish on the spot.  'Tough' Pine Norx, to stupid to run (he had the misfortune of 4s on intelligence and wisdom), stands defiant against the hydra, vaguely aware that it is stronger than when they started fighting it. He is torn apart where he stands.  

Reflections.

Once again the danger of going anywhere out of town on Corosicalta is proven in the blood of adventurers.  Hydras are pretty cool, though admittedly my heart somewhat sank at seeing that it of was the regenerating variety.  An interesting question though; suppose one was to destroy the head of a hydra and then have a cleric lay hands on it.  Could they heal the stump in such a way that the heads did not regrow?  I was unable to test this and am very much in multiple minds on the subject.  What say the veterans of ACKs?

This was pretty fun, though admittedly their intention of hitting the Grace of Fell Heroes was because that should have been safer than patrolling, especially with an explorer.  Such was not to be. 

Also side note, ACKs II is currently doing a kickstarter... so look that up if you are interested.

Solo Session 11; Update and the Clearance Group.

 Session 11; started from October 23rd to 25th of October 2023.

A new party and another likely group to die here. By random selection I got two party members for this group and here they are.  

‘Reformed’ Joe Butler 2 Hp.  (Thief, 1st Level) Alertness, Mapping. 

Gentlemen Dandy of Al-Emon 1 Hp. (Mage, 1st Level) Beast Friendship, Contemplation, Navigation. 

The plan with this pair is simple; map territory, take few risks and gain experience without ‘useless hangers on.’ 

Thus the pair set out and begin exploring the plains immediately to the south of Punishment. There are (by random roll) 5 dynamic lairs that must be clear/taken/pacified for immigrants to begin flooding in and trying to settle this potentially high value real estate.  All encounters from this group plan to take place with a 50% chance of finding a lair.  

(A Gab 'It's Free Real Estate Meme')

By the power of being a self taught Mage of the 1st Level, Al-Emon rolls a Nat 20 on getting lost.  This bodes well.  The party begins their patrolling.  They begin methodically mapping every foot of territory while Joe writes it out.  In the morning they go through the parts nearest the town confirming that nothing is actually camping on the outskirts of Punishment to the south. And in the evening they continue.  To some annoyance they spend the night on iron rations and begin the work on the next day as well. (With a +4 they almost fail navigation, but the Dandy is too good for such tricks of nature).  This hubris is punished.  120 yards from their position is an ice salamander. However, it fails its surprise roll and the pair sneak away from the cool lizard. 

They search another area, but find nothing and spend another night.  In the morning they run across 3 basilisks.  Neither side is surprised and the basilisks begin moving to attack. 

(Some few hours later.)

I lost the will to play out this fight and mark the characters down as dead, somewhat dispirited.  This is obviously not exemplary behavior, especially for the dedicated soloist, but it does tie in to the already planned update. 

Update.

Corosicalta, due to early errors on my part, is immensely dangerous for 1st level PCs, far more so than the game intends.  This is due to errors entirely of my own inflicting and makes the place the equivalent to a deep Chaos incursion into a very tight and comparatively low value location. I am not intending to abandon the area.  The Legate’s absurd goals will still be reached for.  

However, I will not be inflicting this on other players.  Having experienced a bad version of it myself and my own recording finds it unconscionable to continue to put other people (the players) into this situation.  

Future non-solo sessions will be conducted in a more correctly scaled and balanced ACKs realm, furtherer south (alternate North Africa) and with a more studied approach to progression.  

Further Reflections.

This was in a number of the ways the worst session I have had, though it is entirely my own fault.  Such are the joys of Solo gamers; rejoicing in the joint role of player, judge and executioner.  

I recently read a book that shook me up quite a bit due to the repeated errors from the Allied Army officers and doctrine in the Second World War.  One of the shocking elements was how little Allied staff did adequate self criticism for casualties.  This change of tack is somewhat a response to reading that. 

This is not to say that the '1st level characters are free' mindset is immoral or without use.  It has (generally) been really fun.  But someone aiming for #elitegaming cannot stop there.

Solo Session 10; A Pyre, Three Mules, A Favor to the Legate, Disregard and Other ventures.

Solo Session; Started from the 20th-21st to the 29th of October 2023.

Team III

The team spent the 20th back in town listening to rumors and adjusting to the immigrants from the east of the empire.  They have heard most about the Legate’s missing daughter and as noble and Lawful Warriors, they spend the rest of the day preparing to enter the Grave of Fell Heroes. 

1st level fighter Rico of Areos.
1st level mage Lorenzo the Luminous (my first character to get a +2 bonus on intelligence.) (Sleep+Detect Magic)
1st level mage Synope the Spiteful. (Sleep)
1st level mage Lexius No-Name. (Sleep+Charm Person.)
1st level cleric Bede (a weirdly healthy fellow of 8hp)
(As I used the premade templates badly, this party has 4 people with the Loremastery proficiency.  Which is funny, basically a lost college class.)

On the morning of the 21st they went to the Pseudo-Keep, but even with Rico trying to talk to the guards sensibly, they were refused entry.  The Legate is not seeing anyone.  The mages are deeply offended about this and consider threatening the guards with a unwilling race or species change, but the worthy Bede refuses such improprieties and speaks of how good men will still do good deeds for the unworthy.  The mages are not entirely convinced, but Bede further adds the proverbial truth that the Legate will be deeply ashamed if they return with his niece, even if he would not aid them.  Synope the most Spiteful of the mages is impressed by this and they set out buying up important equipment. This mostly consisted of a mule, necessaries in case the niece was found in poor condition and holy water.  It is worth noting that Holy Water is currently in very short supply on Cosoricalta as it requires a prelate (7th level priest) to produce it and the highest level priest on the island is a vicar (5th level).  As such the vicar is very hesitant to sell any of his store, but is finally convinced to do so by paying almost double the two pints usual value.  

They leave the city and go towards the blasted badlands and beach and immediately have an encounter. 

Mage, Fighter, Thief, Blade Dancer, Bard.  (They are level 6, neutral alignment and indifferent to our presence.)

Rico waves and tries to find out what fellow adventurers are doing here? They respond somewhat sharply that it is none of our concern. According to a random direction roll they are moving back to the City of Punishment, and it seems likely they have just been plumbing the depths of yonder dungeon.  The group extravert is somewhat depressed at the lack of discussion, the teams pass each other. 

The first level of the dungeon, by random determination is built out as follows.  Thematically, it is meant to be the mass burial site of a chaotic army defeated sometime before the currant Silvans empire rose to the level of prominence it currently enjoys. 

Marching order is Rico, the three mages and then Bede as rearguard. 

As they began to enter the cave, a portcullis is dropped on them by some means of foul trapping.  It lands on Rico and brings him down to -9 health. (Poor et tu Rico.). Lorenzo the Luminous immediately steps forward to practice the healing arts that he learned while at college.

According to the mortal wounds table there is -5 for the health being so far into the negative, but +2 for being treated by a character with a level in healing proficiency, and +2 for doing it immediately.  This results in a D20-1 results in a 10.  Sadly, Rico bleeds out as there is no way for him to be healed up to 1 hp in the next turn.  There is no way out, but through and Bede frees the axe from the portcullis and breaks it down over the next three turns. (Note, while a cleric may not fight with an axe, breaking a door down should be within the purvey of a holy man.).  The mages look into the room and see treasures unguarded.  The cleric blesses his friend’s body while the three mages quickly loot the room.  Or rather try to...

Loot discovered. 

Trinkets. 2 A glass seal posing and a porcelain hand making a gesture. 

Ornamentals. 3 Agate (25), Citrine (50), 

3 Pouches of Saffron.

Copper. 16 000 copper pieces. 

2 Rugs.

4 Barrels of preserved fish. 

4 tenths of a cord of hardwood log.

10 units of common metals.

6 bricks of salt.

10 gallons of lamp oil.  

This leads to a few decisions.  The party dares not leave this treasure unattended, but they would also not see their party member reanimated or defiled.  (After some cursory studies on the internet it seems that there is enough fuel among the copper ranked treasures to properly cremate the body). Given the superfluity of knowledge one of these lore masters surely knows this. The mages don’t like it, but they concede that the low value objects are not suited to the sale and they would not see their former companion’s life less corpse be reanimated.  

(For those interested in the cremation process, according to readings on the internet it takes 500 kilos or roughly 1300 pounds of wood to cremate a body.  We have roughly 1180 pounds of hardwood.  It takes roughly 20 gallons of liquid fuel to cremate a body, and we have 10 gallons of oil.).  One of the rugs is wrapped around the body as well.

This is organized into a pyre, while Lorzeno examines the door.  To avoid any unwanted visitors from the interior, 4 iron spikes are wedged into the door, which is especially sturdy. Then the pyre is lite and the men tend to it.  Three hours pass before something hungry bumps against the interior door, but they are unable to breakthrough and iron spikes hold.  The remaining five hours pass without incident (perhaps the door is near airtight and the smell of the burning is unable to get into the rest of the territory?  Who can say.). The men exit the dungeon and sleep some distance into the countryside, with careful watches.  

When they return in the morning, nothing seems to be changed at they remove the iron spikes from the door with their crowbar. No one can force the door open and they decide to return to the city with what they can carry.  Alas, if the legate’s niece is still held.  The 4 load themselves up with loot and proceed out. 

Loot Actually Taken. 

A glass seal posing as though with a ball on the nose (130), and a porcelain hand making a gesture (600). 

Agate (25), Citrine (50), 

3 Pouches of Saffron. (45)

16 000 copper pieces (160 GP). (16 stone)

10 units of common metals 10 Gp. (5 stone)

1 Rug 5 GP (8)

1055 GP value. 

Recovered Gear. (I am pretty sure that this does not count towards gold total as it came out with them.)

The ill-fated great axe.

Chainmail and sword.  

And they retire for Punishment.  

Towards evening they reach the town and cash out.  This gives them a total of 1055 treasure xp. Which is a 263 base share. Rico’s sword and armor are passed on to his next of kin and the party spends the night in the tavern rather dispirited. In the morning they decide it is time to start hiring henchmen to accompany them, as they have suffered too much attrition to continue as they have been.  Two regular persons are found and after some haggling, hired for a total of 30 gold.  Lexius did the hiring process.  They were found to be skilled in the subtler arts of dungeoneering or at least have tendencies that way.  (Both of them only have 1 hp… so ya.)

Money is spent freely to get them both leather armor, thieves kits, short bows, 20 arrows each, rations of the iron flavor and short swords (this works out to 115 GP).  Below are two friendly fellers. 

‘Tan’ Suggs. (Thief) 1 hp.

7 Strength. -1

10 Intelligence. 0

10 Wisdom. 0

17 Dex. +2

10 Con. 0

5 Chr. -2 

Magnificent Jack. (Thief) 1 hp

12 Strength. 0

9 Intelligence. 0

8 Wisdom. -1 

16 Dex. +2

11 Con. 0

14 Chr. +1

‘Tan’ Suggs, younger brother of the missing Suggs is known as thus for the numerous and intense administering instances of corporal punishment on his person by the school teacher for his rowdy behavior.  Magnificent Jack had a falling out with his former master, a watch maker and he has decided to aid the team.

Also, to the pleasure of the Lawful aligned characters, it is discovered that the niece of the legate had in fact been rescued by the adventuring party that they had met on their way out.  Rumor has it that they owed the Legate a favor for previous services and took a ship out from Reward and are already going back.  

This presents the group with a quandary.  Go back to the Grave of Fell Heroes or go to the valley? They argue about this in the tavern for sometime, Bede wanting to go finish the job in the Valley of Slaughter and Synope wanting to go a bit deeper into the graves.  (I rolled persuasion and Bede got 11, while Synope the Spiteful got 3 -1).  Everyone was thus convinced that they had a duty to finish their first job once and for all. 

Meanwhile Lorzeno has purchased more healing roots and powders to 100 gp value.  

Thus on the 24th of October they set out to go towards the Valley of Slaughter. Despite having gone that way before, they are quickly lost and begin angling towards the barren lands, where the Grave of Fell Heroes resides, before leaving the forest though, they spot a pride of 11 griffons overhead!  This is a cause of concern and Bede fervently prays that the taste/smell of mules is different enough from horses that they will be ignored.  They are 240 yards away and the group is flying along. The griffons begin turning towards them and the men look over the mule with some sadness, before tying it to a tree and running off.  The griffons begin to pursue. However, the mule scent lures them off course and the group successfully hides in the deeper woods as their mule is eaten.  It isn’t pretty to listen to, but they simply cannot fight flying lions!  

The party has now lost its lanterns, spare clothing, military oil and a host of other sundries.  Fortunately, the men are carrying their rations and the priest has his holy water, so progress can be made still.  They are somewhat flustered to come out into the badlands, but it seems par for the course and they realign towards the Valley of Slaughter.  As they cross over and come to a minor valley they see a village of Ogres. 

There are 55 Male Ogres, +43 Female Ogres, +29 young ogres  +10 sub-chieftains and a chieftain.

The ogres are indifferent to the appearance of the party and their goals change.  The location of this village is extremely important to be confirmed with the legate.  This is probably more hit dice than his entire force and other adventurers must be warned for their own health and safety. 

The party runs off in a random direction, not risking the good will of inhumane creatures and sleep somewhere in the badlands.  In the morning they really are unsure where they are and they make for the sea line.  Towards midmorning there is another meeting.  They run across 5 flame salamanders.  

The ecology of this island is proving downright inhospitable to human life and the mages curse the legate with feeling, while the salamanders began to come after them.  Their evasion is unsuccessful and in desperation Jack the Magnificent asks of there is something they can do for the party instead of fighting. The intelligent fire lizards admit that for a thousand gold, freely given, they will leave the party alone.  Though it pains the party, the currency is counted out and they are allowed to leave the grinning, greedy heaters.  

Moving southwards they see familiar signs telling them they are nearing the Grave of Fell Heroes and once they have thoroughly confirmed the area is not in danger, they sleep under the stars.  In the morning, much worse off for the troubles they go for the town, they meet a Lamia.  They are utterly horrified and surprised by this development and it is standing on the ruins of a fallen lighthouse. She is indifferent to the party running off as fast as they can and rather than exert herself she merely smirks and dips back into her ruin.  

The party arrives in the tavern and the five neutrals stay there to spread the news, while the worthy Bede buys paper, ink and writes out a formal record of the things that they have seen, warning all other adventurers of the danger of the village of ogres, gluttonous griffons, covetous salamanders and the danger of lamias.  This is presented to the legate’s guards who tell him to go away without looking at it.  Bede is more than a little upset by this and he goes and repeats his writings at some further expense before placing his warnings before the vicar with pleas to spread the word. The vicar is rather indifferent to the report saying that it is rather like someone saying, ‘here there be dragons.  Obviously, there are dangers in the interior.”  

The party rests throughout the rest of the 26th, buying a new mule, new supplies and Bede pays a scribe to make ten copies of his letter so that the adventurers of the town will know about the dangers to the north.  The party, somewhat despairingly, goes for the valley a third time.  However, despite expectations, they successfully reach the hills and spend the night. Due to a heavy fog they get lost the next morning (I am willing for them to spend 500 gold not to get lost again!) sending them back into the forests.  When the fog lifts they successfully navigate back to the Valley of Slaughter passing the sad reminder of the petrified remains of Syro the Seventh.  Wiping tears from their eyes they arrive at the entrance. The formerly friendly fire beetles are all dead, piled into a pile and obviously harvested of their valuable innards.  The party passes them and enters. Find nothing all the bodies of those fought and killed here dragged away.  As they enter the section walled off for blood sacrifices they see a new group striges.  8 of the vampiric creatures lazily hum around, trying to slurp off dried blood. They are entirely surprised by the parties arrival. 

Synope the Spiteful signals to the others that he will cast sleep.  Lexius and Lorzeno prepare their clubs and the thieves draw their bows to half draw.  5 of the things collapse and the thieves loose their arrows, both miss. 

Two of the Stirges rush forward and attack the thieves.  The one after Tan misses, but the one going for Jack gets him and rolls for that first slurp. He goes down with -4.  Synope tries to hit it with his staff over the shoulder of the thief and with his staff crushes it.  Lorenzo tries to repeat this, but misses.  The third staff wielding goes for it as well, with the creature ranged against Suggs. He also badly misses.  Bede, worthy and valorous makes a crushing swing with his and blasts the creature open.  The third wakeful creature rushes towards Suggs, thanks to his armor and quick reactions, he avoids the attack and then drops his bow for his sword, which misses.

Synope spitefully went for it and missed.  Lorenzo knelt to try and to help fallen Jack, while Lexius missed with his own wide staff swing. The cleric with a chant of doom vs. mosquito creatures slammed with his mace, but he failed to connect and over balanced.  Tan missed his own strike and the creature his as it went back at the thief. But leather armor was too thick and it failed.  

(Due to rolls this should have Lorenzo roll at a minus 2 to the heal.  At 15/4 and the use of two healing rolls (one for proficiency in healing and one for golden rod there is a chance).)

Syonpe, ever first (kind of weird given his low stats) makes another staff strike. And with a natural 20 he splattered the thing across the field.  The Tan went and killed the sleepers, while Lorenzo continued to look at Jack, deeply surprised to have actually saved someone.  His knee (where he was forcibly drained by the fake mosquito) is damaged and he will be slower and unable to force march, but he is alive!  Some golden rod and woundwort well spent! 

The others find that the striges, from means unknown had gathered something of a treasure together. It consisted of the following… 6 sets of engraved teeth,  (30) (120) (60) (80) (70) (80)Crystal, Agate (50+25). For a total of 495.  Are Striges really tooth fairies???

Bede pleased at their successes goes to the smashed altar and sprinkles it with the vial of holy water.  The air seems to lose much of the oppressive aura that had hummed about it and Bede is very pleased.  It will take work to make this a positive area and it he has a mind to ask to be given the right to establish chapel here, when he has proved himself, but for now he is pleased with work well done.  

The party, Jack resting on the mule, continue.  

Tan is not the best at the thieves side of things, but he comes up to the locked door at 3 and gives it a try. He fiddles for a while and finally cracks the door open.   The room is empty as the approach it.  There is a small entry, barley wide enough for a person to enter, but the mages are eager and Tan gives it a check.  He  doesn’t see anything in the area, but the cliffs of the valley and odd carvings.  They go back and re-explore room 5, but nothing seems to suggest that anything is there.  A more thorough search might reveal something, but it is a lot of area and Jack needs bedrest soon.  So back to Punishment.  Or at least to camp.  They spend the night in their usual camping place before mist leads them astray again, this time north into the forest. They do not wander long in it, but eventually turn around and go back into the hills, as going through the badlands with their llamas and ‘greedymanders’ seems unreasonable. Towards evening and over half way to the town they make contact in the hills… with the same 11 griffons… 

The party sadly ties their mule to the nearest tree, pulls Jack into an awkward carry and begins trying to sneak away.  As they leave they hear the griffons shredding the poor mule.  The wizards vow dark vengeance against the griffons… once they can actually do something to them, before returning to the city. 

(For the record I rolled the same numbers twice… poor mules)

Treasure XP works out to 82 per person, while they each get 17 per their contributions to killing more striges.  This is therefore 99 per person (plus fractions, but we do not round up.).  (Also, I forgot that henchmen usually do not get full shares, but we will say this is Bede being generous.)

XP in total for each of the characters is as follows…

1st level mage Lorenzo the Luminous  479+289+108= 876
1st level mage Synope the Spiteful.  436+263+99=798
1st level mage Lexius No-Name.  457+276+103=836
1st level cleric Bede  457+276+103=836

0th level henchmen ‘Tan’ Suggs. 1 hp. +99

0th level henchmen Magnificent Jack. 1 hp +99

On the morale rolls, formerly completely loyal jack, became completely hostile and left us.  Perhaps he doesn’t like his new limp?  Or something.  It is unfortunate.  ‘Tan’ Suggs stays on grudgingly acknowledging he knows of nowhere better for him to go. I should have actually rolled morale after they returned from their unintentional first outing.  So that is another mistake.

Reflections.

According to my initial reading of the wounds table Jack would have died.  Interestingly, this would have been a superior outcome for us, as all who remained would have gotten a bigger chunk of xp!  So that is sad.  Oh well. 

Those Griffons are persistent trouble.  I look forward to leveling up enough to be able to hunt them or something.  Not sure how, but once (if) the mages become more powerful, that will be interesting.  Bede is looking pretty good for getting to second level.  The right play might be to hire a ship or something like that, go to the mainland and hire some more determined henchmen.  We still have close to a thousand gold+ and can’t really buy very much here in the poor little town of Punishment.