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