Session 13: Dark Places

No cleric? No thief? No problem.

Session report for March 21, 2024. Four players adventured for 5 days.

Characters

Bastion, human fighter 4, with six men-at-arms
Bard the Stout, human fighter 3
Mustacha, human ranger 3
Karl the Might Nervous, human magic-user 1

Brimming with confidence only magic items and a few experience levels could provide, the players decided to brave the wilderness outside of Fort Fenrir. This time they were going to follow up on a lead they picked up long ago from an evil cleric - a forgotten ruin in a mountain pass at the edge of Fenrir's territory.

I had quite a few ideas about the nature of the mountain pass and the ruins, but as for the overland travel, we do this Zero Prep style. All I needed was blank hexes, the Dungeon Masters Guide Appendices (B and C), and an easy-to-follow procedure. The AD&D Dungeon Masters Adventure Log (out of print) is an excellent resource that puts the charts and tables you need on a couple of pages.

And if you're new to hexcrawling, head on over to The Alexandrian for an excellent explanation.

The mountainous terrain made travel difficult. Rather than brave the megadungeon to pick up the original trail, the party decided to stay above ground and walk around. This cost them an extra two days of travel time but flew by in game time.

The mountain was surrounded by thick forest, home to evil clerics, bandit camps, and... other things. Just as the sun began to set, they came upon a clearing with four men.

The players hesitated for a moment. "Care to share camp?" someone said.

"This is our home. Leave us." They spoke Common with an unfamiliar accent.

The strangers stood motionless and stared at the party. The players intuited they were out of their league and left to camp in a hurry.

Maybe that wasn't an interesting encounter for the players but it illustrates the beauty of relying on the dice to generate parts of the game. Now this forest hex contains an interesting monster, for me to develop or ignore as I need, or for the players to interact with. The world is richer and more interesting for it, and the kicker is I never would have chosen this monster for it.

It also made the game tense for me because I hoped for the party's sake that I wouldn't roll an encounter for the next two nights.

On the third day, they found the mountain pass and came to a crumbling gate house and the ruins of a small keep. A large tower stood intact and they investigated it first.

They found the inside of the tower had mostly collapsed. Some of it had been cleared to make a path. As they crept in to investigate they were ambushed by orcs! They slammed into the party on three sides and pummeled one of the men-at-arms to death.

Once their shock wore off, the party saw the orcs for what they were: foul, animated corpses. They fought back and retreated to the tower door. Two more men-at-arms fell, but the zombies were no match for Bard's magical armor and Mustacha's pile of hit points.

Orcs again?
art by texahol on DeviantART

Time to correct a DM mistake. I neglected to make morale checks for the NPCs after that brutal surprise segment. So after the battle, I rolled a Loyalty check to see if the men-at-arms would continue or flee. The two surviving heavy infantry were rock solid. The newer guy, light infantry, failed and just wanted everyone to go home. Karl used charm person to get him under control.

Back inside the tower, the party found a trap door that revealed stairs going down. They left the heavy infantry to guard their mules and headed into the dark.

At they end of a winding hallway they came to the first door. Bastion forced it open and just missed being dissolved by a spray of acid! This trap set the players on edge and it's a good thing it did.

The first room contained floating gas spores which threatened to explode and kill the entire group. Smart use of missile weapons (and a good initiative result) spared the party. There was a wooden chest on the floor. Two creepy ritual masks hung on the far wall.

Bastion avoided certain death again by opening the chest with the haft of his spear: poison darts struck the ceiling and clattered to the floor. He was rewarded with a pile of silver and electrum.

Karl and Mustacha collected the ritual masks in cloth sacks, careful not to touch them. Maybe they would be worth something to a collector?

They found a gruesome display in the next room. Corpses were suspended from a wall on hooks and chains. A blood-stained fountain stood in the middle of a room. A six-armed goddess faced the wall of corpses.

Karl found an inscription on the fountain and translated it with comprehend languages It read: O DARK LADY OF DESTRUCTION, MAY THESE SACRIFICES BE FOUND WORTHY AND HERALD YOUR REIGN TO COME.

The players decided to cut their losses and get back to save session time for the possibility of encounters on the way home. They loaded the coins onto the mules, buried their dead, and headed home. They never saw those strange men from the forest again.

THE VANQUISHED
10 zombie orcs
2 gas spores
3 men-at-arms

THE SPOILS
1000 sp
750 ep
red insane mask sold for 25gp
blue evil mask sold for 25gp

THE SCORE
XP for monsters slain: 347
XP for treasure taken: 475

Bastion (fighter 4, E): 400 sp, 300 ep. 260 xp.
Bard R (fighter 3, E): 300 sp, 225 ep. 215 xp.
Mustacha (ranger 3, E): 300 sp, 225 ep. 215 xp.
Karl (magic-user 1, E): 50 gp. 137 xp.