Session report for January 4 and 11, 2024. Eight characters adventured for 26 days.
Characters
Bastion, human fighter level 2 (plus 4 men-at-arms)Deadleaf, elf assassin level 2
Mustacha, human ranger level 2
Bard R, human fighter level 1
Dominik Mysterio, human thief level 1 (plus 3 men-at-arms, "thugs with clubs")
Nils, human fighter level 1
Five Finger Viscount, halfling thief* level 1 (Jan 4 only)
Bard Warpig, human fighter level 1 (Jan 11 only)
* 5FV acted as a Gunslinger thanks to Gelatinous Rube's Cowboy Hat of Difference
January 4
This report covers two sessions played a week apart. Suffice it to say that the events of January 4 weren't terribly interesting except that they led to a huge January 11 session.
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| chunks of what? |
"scratching/scrabbling" which became rats in the wall, which led to the discovery of a secret treasure room. For the pots I used "General Description of Container Contents" to describe what concealed the treasure inside. In both cases the results added interest and helped the dungeon come alive. I'll be using them more often from now on.
Seven adventurers headed out from Fort Fenrir in search of treasure. They entered the nearby megadungeon and went straight to level 2, narrowly missing out on all the new monsters and treasures I added during the last restock pass. Whew!
The party followed a network of passages to a large chamber that was formerly a barracks. The sounds of rats in the halls, scurrying in and out of the walls, kept the party on alert. An orc patrol got curious and the party wiped them out for it. Bastion and Nils broke down a locked door while Deadleaf and Mustacha dispatched wandering monsters from the shadows.
Five Finger Viscount investigated the rats and found a hidden room on the other side of a hallway. The party searched around and found a secret door in another hallway that opened to the space beyond. It was a storage room with 8 tall clay pots, artfully decorated with carvings and paint. Inside the pots, under spoiled refuse and various disgusting things, were thousands of gold coins. A leather cloak hung on a rack, untouched by time or rats.
The party took the coins back. Dominik claimed the cloak as his and there were no objections. On a lark they also lugged a clay pot back to town to sell. I determined there was a merchant there who was looking for ancient artwork to flip and paid them handsomely for it.
It was too late to wrap up properly so I told everyone I would calculate XP during downtime. The players had an opportunity to identify and/or sell the cloak for additional XP.
January 11 (Game Calendar: Jan 6 - Jan 31)
A week went by and the players had not taken action on the treasure. Rather than assign them XP for the previous session, I declared that we would take care of it at the top of the session. They were game for it once I strongly hinted that the cloak was valuable.
The players headed down the river to Hartford where they could possibly find a buyer and/or a magic-user to help them figure out the cloak. After some experimentation, Dominik dived into the harbor to discover that he was wearing a cloak of the manta ray!
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| a two-toned leather cloak, dark in the back and light in the front |
Now that they knew what kind of item they had, it was time to find a buyer. I did not prepare a map for the city; instead, I asked the players where they might go and who they might talk to to find a buyer. There were lots of great ideas and I assigned a probability to each of them.
Bard R and Nils hung around the docks to speak to sea captains and other marine business owners to find someone who would value the ability to swim and breathe underwater - pearl divers, for example. Deadleaf met with merchant contacts he made in previous adventures (during downtime). Bastion and his men inquired about the possibilty of magic-users in town. I determined there was a "Nerd District" where they might find such a buyer.
Dominik wore the cloak to the thief's guild and asked around for fences or buyers. He also told them where he'd be staying so they could meet up with him later. I am not making this up.
This was a great opportunity to use the city encounter table from the DMG. Bastion and his soldiers encountered some "bandits" in the Nerd District. Clearly these were going to be Doucheland bullies with popped collars. Their reaction to the PC was neutral so there was no trouble, but they didn't steer him to a useful buyer (that check also failed).
The other parties did not have encounters. Deadleaf and Bard/Nils both set up potential buyers to view a demonstration of the cloak the next day. They scheduled the demonstration for the same time so the buyers would bid against each other - very clever!
The thieves were watching. Late at night a burglar attempted to climb into Dominik's window to steal the cloak. His move silently check failed by so much he woke the sleeping thief. As it turns out Dominik is built like a wrestler and he used his size to suplex the hapless burglar unconscious! Dominik branded his forehead with the letter 'D' and sent him back to his master.
The thief's guild did not bother the party after that.
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| honestly not sure how to read "d12, d6" |
I used a percentile dice to determine what kind of offers they would get for the cloak of the manta ray (DMG value: 12500 gp). The old sea captain won the cloak for 1800 platinum (worth 9000 gold).
Finally I could assign XP for treasure taken in the last delve.
THE SPOILS
2100 gp
136 ep
clay pot sold for 750 gp
salvaged arms and armor sold for 467 gp
Cloak of the Manta Ray sold for 1800 pp
THE VANQUISHED
18 orcs - 263 xp
1 huge spider (deadleaf only) - 175 xp (lol)
1 ghoul (Mustacha + Dom) - 75 xp
THE SCORE
The party distributed treasure shares by level.
Bastion (Level 2 Fighter, E) 360pp, 674 gp, 28 ep. 2488 xp.
Mustacha (Level 2 Ranger, E) 360pp, 674 gp, 28 ep. 2525 xp.
Deadleaf (Level 2 Assassin, E) 360pp, 674 gp, 28 ep. 2569 xp.
Bard R (Level 1 Fighter, E) 180pp, 377 gp, 13 ep. 1090 xp.
Dominik (Level 1 Thief, E) 180pp, 377 gp, 13 ep. 1127 xp.
Nils (Level 1 Fighter, E) 180pp, 377 gp, 13 ep. 1090 xp.
Five Finger Viscount (Level 1 Fighter*, S) 180pp, 377 gp, 13 ep. 1090 xp.
* hat of difference
Most of the party had enough cash to level up so the next week was accounted for, but the session was only half over. What did we do?
Kept playing, of course!
The party, joined by Bard Warpig, headed back to get the remainder of the clay pots. At 750g a pop it would be an easy score!
It was almost an easy score. Not a single wandering monster encounter, even as half the party were carefully hauling six clay pots to the surface. But when they escaped the dungeon they realized they had neglected to bring a transport for the pots! It took a whole extra day to get back to Fort Fenrir. Lucky for them the only thing they encountered on the way back was a giant skunk, and he just wanted their breakfast.
Back at Fort Fenrir they met up with the same merchant who bought the first pot. He didn't have the cash for the rest of the pots but offered to broker a deal if he could find a buyer. The team headed back to Hartford!
Now at this point I had to correct a mistake, because 750gp is way too much for an old clay pot. So I used a similar percentile roll to determine how much the merchant could get for the rest of the pots. He offered to buy the remainder of the pots for 1500. Of course the party were very unhappy about that! After some tough negotiations he agreed to 2500 gp which wiped out his profits and any good will between him and the party.
THE SPOILS: DELVE 2 (January 25)2500 gp
Bastion (Level 3 Fighter, E) 498 gp, 498 xp
Mustacha (Level 3 Ranger, E) 498 gp, 498 xp
Deadleaf (Level 3 Assassin, E) 498 gp, 498 xp
Bard R (Level 2 Fighter, E) 332 gp, 332 xp
Dominik (Level 2 Thief, E) 332 gp, 332 xp
Nils (Level 1 Fighter, E) 171 gp, 171 xp
Bard Warpig (Level 1 Fighter, E) 171 gp, 171 xp
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