Session report for January 9, 2025. Four players adventured for one day.
Characters
Bastion, human fighter level 4Jude, half-orc cleric/assassin levels 2/1
Hilfred Castaigne, human illusionist level 1
Garth the Obscure, human magic-user level 1
The players wanted to dive to level 3 of the local megadungeon for a quick score, so we had a standard dungeon crawl scenario. Nothing wrong with that - and there are a couple of techniques I used to make it interesting.
First, I had determined a new status quo for the faction(s) in the dungeon. In the case of the orcs on level 3 it was drastic - some orcs had been infected by a yellow mold-like fungus.
With that information, I was able to adapt the random encounter tables. A wandering monster in certain rooms of the dungeon, or any "orc" result, would yield a group of fungal zombie orcs. These vicious creatures had the same stats as zombies, but they rolled initiative normally and exploded in a spore cloud when defeated.
The party encountered such a group of orcs just before reaching level 3. Bastion and his men formed a line and fought bravely. One mercenary died in battle and another was infected by the gas spores. So was Bastion - but neither of them died immediately.
 |
| like this but with orcs |
They went downstairs and found themselves trapped in a large octagonal room. All the exits were barred by iron portcullises that were controlled by levers outside the room. Garth whipped up an unseen servant and opened the exits without any trouble.
Deeper in the dungeon, they found more evidence of the spores: little patches of mold everywhere. They followed a corridor to a door whose frame was sagging with yellow mold. This was another adaptation: the next time the dungeon generator (Appendix A, DMG) yielded a large or special room, it would be the source of the fungal zombie orcs.
They turned around and explored as far away from the mold as they could get. After defeating a ghast (all the way from level 5!) they discovered coffers full of coins.
Jude was suspicious of the coins and thought they might be poisoned. He placed all the coins into one container and cast create water to sink them. Then he used purify food and drink to cleanse the water. Genius! [DM's note - the coins were truly poisoned!]
Treasure was hauled out and lessons were learned. Until the next week...
THE VANQUISHED7 fungal zombie orcs
3 fire beetles
1 ghast
XP for monsters slain: 540
THE SPOILS
750 gp
2250 ep
3000 sp
THE SCORE
Each survivor got coin worth 506 gold and 5 silver and 642 XP.
Bastion, fighter 4 earned an E rank for fighting and leadership.
Jude, cleric/assassin 2/1 earned an E for his inspired usage of support magic.
Hilfred, illusionist 1 earned an E for using illusions to solve an encounter.
Garth, magic-user 1 earned an E for excellent application of unseen servant.
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