Solo Play Session 2; New Fighting Men.

Session. (Conducted on the 14th of October 2023)

Rolled up 2 Fighters;  They tried to lure two ranged combatants into their service, but despite the offering fair terms, these were not honored. So the Fighters, set out.

Fighter #1; Stan ‘the Man’ of Pons.

100 gold pieces. =13 remaining gp. 

Two-Handed Sword 15 GP.

Plate Armor 60 GP.

Large sack; 8 sp.

3 packages of iron rations 18 gp.

2 water skins 12 sp.

Fighter #2 Johnny Irish.

130 gold pieces. 

Spear 3 GP.

Shield 10 GP.

Chain Mail 40 GP.

Longbow 7 GP. 

Quiver 40 arrows 2 GP.

5 Silver arrows 25 GP.

Backpack. 2 GP.

Lantern 10 GP.

6 units of oil.  

Tinder Box. 

Spikes. 1 GP.

Rope 50 feet. 1 GP.

Hammer 2 GP. 

As lawful warriors of light and haters of evil they scoff at the thought of merely serving for wealth and have set out to the Valley of Slaughter to see if they can punish the cultists there known to dwell.  They may be few, but they trust in the forces of Good and their trusty iron to see that this cultic site is to be cleared.  Given their armor and their determination to walk, this will take awhile, and they can only move (assuming accurate math) 12 miles a day.  This, barring errors, allows for arriving around morning on the third day of travel.  This thus and properly decided, these two Lawful warriors enter the forests.  

They are promptly lost and angle dramatically southwards without realizing it.  While getting lost they run into an NPC party.

There are 6 in the party. 

Mage.

Dwarves Vault-guard.

Explorer.

Fighter.

Fighter 

Assassin. 

(If I understand the rules for this they are all like level 2.)

Given our lore of Silvanus Imperials dramatically disliking demihumans we will give this a party negative reaction roll when we get that far. Further a roll of 6 marks this as a Chaotic band of evil anti-Imperials.  It is unimaginable that we will have a friendly meet and greet here in the woods.  (In effect I am cancelling the +2 charisma bonus from Johnny Irish.)

We are 16 yards away from each other.  Neither side is surprised when they come up on each other.  Presumably the clashing singing from the fighters informed each side of the other’s alignment and

position.  With a roll of 7 (uncertain) the forces of Chaos do not dare risk themselves on the cold iron of righteous men and before either side can rethink it, both war parties melt back into the undergrowth and go back to singing about how they respectively hate Goodness or love Goodness they do not engage. 

The two lawful fighters continue passing through forest and unknowingly keep heading south. They then spot a Rust Monster out and an about. They make it out among the poplars (which if they knew their forests they would know is the wrong sort of tree for where they are going) and neither party is surprised by this.  The creature’s beedy little eyes have made them out and it seems to be seeking violence, even over the 27 yards of open countryside.  The two warriors decide to try to flee and avoid what could only be costly combat. Especially, when they see the other two coming from among the poplars.  Evasion is attempted. The rust monster family seem annoyed by the metal covered men, but ultimately they don’t pursue them.

The warriors end up camping in the forest with an alternating watch.  I could not find a dice roll for if they would have a chance of being attacked in the night so I ended up giving them a pass.  They still don’t know that they are lost. With a check, they finally realize this (16 vs. 11 up) presumably seeing the mountains and realizing that view is wrong.  Thus they begin backtracking in the correct direction and with much better luck pass through yesterday’s forest without meeting anyone.  They pass into the hills without trouble, enjoying the increased line of sight, but not the decreased shade.  That evening they camp early and sleep, preparing to hunt evil cultists tomorrow. 

As they wake up and break camp the spot the valley’s opening, marked as it is by statues of horned beings leering at creation and life with hatred.  They are surprised to see shadows above them and when they look up, the lawful warriors are pleased to see Pegasi.  The Pegasi seem to acknowledge the Lawful warriors, but they do not come near.  The warriors are still cheered by this beautiful sight and take it as a sign to press on to the Valley and do LAWFUL deeds.  

They entered the valley coming out of a slightly deeper depression into the true floor of the valley. Standing there are the ugly faces of 9 nesting Fire Beetles. However, the singing of the Irish warrior is melodic and even if they are not lured into following him like the pied piper, the party is able to pass through the area up to the entryway to the next room (Reaction of 7+2)

I have randomly detained that this dungeon/cultic valley will have six rooms.  Then I rolled at random which rooms should be the biggest and placed them accordingly. I stocked the rooms as they were entered, to avoid chickening out. I rolled randomly on whether there would be doorways or not and rule on a 3 or under the doors were left uninstalled or gone for other reasons.  

The squiggly hallway is empty of everything.  Maybe it once had curtains, but given that these maze like walls glaring beneath the sun in the baking hot valley, that is unlikely.  

The fighters come to the first doorway and find it missing.  The Stan the Man follows Johnny Irish and they pile through. (Unique is rolled) Behind the missing door way wait in dark silence five great rectangular pits.  The smell of death lingers from them still, though no living soul is within sight. Between them is an altar stained with the blood of the innocent.  This will not sit right with the tow Lawful fighters and they prepare to take some time to work it over.  Vast bone piles of tangled and unburied bodies remain in the open air and infuriate the righteous warriors.  They will try to right what the can.

Unable to bless the altars they do determine that they can make this a less evil sight and to lower the risk of an outbreak of the undead the oil from the lantern is taken and three flasks of this is spread over the bones.  These are then set on fire with a fire starter.  This does 16 damage worth burn damage to the bones and the fighters then look at the altar with their hammer and malicious intent.

Unsurprisingly, the smoke of their actions has lured a monster to investigate. More accurately 9 feathered mosquitoes known as Striges have shown up.  Given the location, the smoke, the fact this is an open valley, and the time of day, neither side is surprised.  With a roll of 7+2 from Irish the Striges seem disinterested and move towards one the pits to begin slurping the blood the fallen.  

This does not sit right with the two warriors and they unsheathe their weapons for combat. The Striges shriek defiance and fly over, 4 attacking Stan the Man, while the other 5 go for Johnny Irish.   Two successfully latch on to Stan the Man, while one latches onto Johnny Irish. Stan the Man goes down at 0 hp, while Johnny Irish loses 1 blood. He then makes his attack with his spear.  He misses.   

With the next round, he tries again, missing again.  Stan the Man is exsanguinated by means of multiple things and the remaining things attack Johnny Irish… who remains on his feet with only 1 hit point.  But only for a moment. 

He perishes in the horrid place, unable to strike again, as the other creatures rush him. 

Overall Feel, Lore and the Like. 

Still figuring out how to work things out.  Poor guys didn’t make it and two is clearly two few for the likes of this environment.   Next time we will have 6 characters, just to give us closer to a fighting chance.   Very sad that my two good boys died to mosquitos, but very relatable.  I got mosquitos bad last night and the night before that.   

We have also learned that spears make for horrible fly swatters and that low hit point fighters are very sad. 

Still it was epic good fun and the steps to #elitelevel play is washed in the blood of the 1st level characters.  I am told that the elites don’t want you to know this, but 1st level characters are free and you can keep rolling them up until they start winning.  Maybe groups bigger than 2 adventurers might work a little better though.