Session 26: Graverobbing!

Session report for January 23, 2025. Four players adventured for three days.

Characters

Fomo Bagful, halfling thief level 3
Hilfred the Yellow, human illusionist level 2
Bendbardo, human fighter level 1
Dumplin', human illusionist level 1

Last session, the brave fighter Bastion was buried in his magical plate mail +1. His player came back as Fomo Bagful and joined by other evil-aligned characters and declared they were going to steal it back. A heist session!

'allo mate

The players divided the legwork amongst themselves and got to it.

Fomo sought out his trainer, a well-dressed scoundrel by the name of Gerad. He represented the interests of the Thieves' Guild in Fort Fenrir. He negotiated a ferry ride and set up a buyer on Fomo's behalf - for a hefty fee, of course.

New characters Bendbardo and Dumplin' headed to the cemetery to get the layout of the place and find Bastion's grave. They found it near the church. A keeper was on duty. Dumplin' sauntered up and probed him with vague questions about the yard and what magic or curses might be buried there. I think he was avoiding directly asking about Bastion but he was also fishing for other potential scores in the graveyard, so the result was very suspicious.

After the conversation, Dumplin' cast a phantasmal force spell to make it look like zombies rose from a nearby grave. They shambled toward the grave digger, who panicked and ran to fetch a cleric. Dumplin' beat feet with the layout of the cemetery.

The next day, Bendbardo scouted the cemetery to locate Bastion's grave. He discovered that the town guard had tripled its patrols at the cemetery due to the suspicious characters asking about loot. The party decided to delay the heist a couple of days.

Fomo plotted a way to distract the guards. He sneaked around town and hid flammable packages of oil at a few key homes. Would anyone notice?

Finally, the night of the heist came. Fomo retraced his steps around town and engaged in arson. Hilfred set up as lookout at the edge of the cemetery.

There was a commotion uptown, and the graveyard patrols left. Fomo's ruse worked! Bendbardo and Dumplin' took the grave digger's tools and got to work. Meanwhile, Fomo sneaked his way to the rendezvous point by the river. He dodged many city guard patrols who were on full alert, and even a plague of city rats!

Several tense hours elapsed. At one point a group of laborers wandered by the cemetery and the illusionists used their spells to disguise the digsite: Dumplin' created a wall of fog to conceal the open grave, and Hilfred ginned up a ghast with phantasmal force. Later on, a couple of acolytes came out of the church to investigate. Hilfred drew their attention away by making a ruckus with iron chains on the other side of the graveyard.

Bendbardo heaved the magical armor out of the grave just as dawn broke over the city. They party ran down to the docks and got on the ferry minutes before the nervous captain was about to leave.

When they got to Hartford safely, they met with their contact and unloaded the red-hot goods. But what happened in Fenrir? Did the whole place burn down or what? We'll find out another day...

THE SPOILS
plate mail +1, sold for 4000 gp

THE SCORE
Each character got 1000 gp and 1000 XP.

GRADES
Everyone earned an E. Great job!

Session 25: Greed Wins Again!

Session report for January 16, 2025. Five players adventured for one day.

Characters

Bastion, human fighter level 4, with men-at-arms
Jude, half-orc cleric/assassin level 2/1
Garth the Obscure, human magic-user level 1
Johnny Sausage, human thief level 1
Karl the Might Nervous, human magic-user level 1

After the players' moderate success in the previous week, they returned to the megadungeon to plunder an area they hadn't seen in a year.

The delve was executed well at first. They went down to level 2 and explored orc territory. They found a one-way door and spy holes that the orcs might have used to spy on intruders. They avoided certain doom by falling block by using ropes to open a trapped door; behind was a shrine to an orcish fertility goddess.

In another room - where a group of troglodytes were slaughtered long ago - the party discovered a secret passage. It led to a narrow natural cavern deep in the darkness. The hirelings refused to proceed - and the party took the hint and returned.

Later they encountered a long hallway obscured by mist. There was some disagreement on whether to investigate or not but the greedy half of the party led by Jonny Sausage won out. They tied a rope to the thief, who crept along the wall and moved into the corridor.

It was a good plan. I took Johnny to a private text channel and told him he found a door concealed by the mist. He shoved the door open and entered a large room with a throne, four chests, and no guards. While he told me what he wanted to do I went back to the rest of the players.

Outside the hall, the rope jerked forward and then went slack. The players got nervous and followed the rope to the door. The end of the rope had been cut. They burst into the room and found Johnny Sausage lying dead beside a treasure chest. His face was frozen in agony.

poor defenseless thief

The party investigated the scene. Jude stepped outside the room into the mist, alone so he could spot intruders with his infravision.

Wandering monster: gelatinous cube. Perfect timing. Jude was surprised, but the monster failed to devour him with its free attack. Jude pinwheeled back into the room and the party squared up with their back to the wall. The cube won initiative and took one more shot at Jude before it was put down by Bastion's wall of spears.

Among the bits and coins in the cube was an iron key that looked like it just might fight the locks on those treasure chests. Bastion took the key and tried to open one of the chests without any precautions. I could not believe my ears! Surely they figured out what had happened to Johnny! I called for a poison saving throw and granted him a large bonus to account for his metal armor, but the die came up a 1. Bastion fell to the ground and died convulsing in agony just like the thief.

We took a minute to lament the loss of Bastion and Johnny. Bastion in particular was the highest level character in the campaign so far and had made a lot of friends and connections at the Fort. And despite how it might seem in these reports, I am always rooting for the players and hate seeing a character die.

Garth cast unseen servant and unlocked all the chests safely - salt in the wound. They were full of gold and silver coins! Jude used a combination of create water and purify food and drink to wash any poison off the treasure before they packed it up and headed home.

When they returned to Fort Fenrir with Bastion's body, they were informed that he had a will on file. He was to be given a hero's funeral paid for with his gold. He was also to be buried with his magical plate mail +1. Jude considered turning in counterfeit plate mail so he could keep the magical armor, but at the last second decided that Bastion was so well-known the risk of detection was too high. Who says you can't take it with you?

THE GRAVEYARD
Johnny Sausage, level 1 thief, killed by contact poison.
Bastion, level 4 fighter, killed by contact poison.

THE VANQUISHED
1 gelatinous cube
XP for monsters defeated: 250

THE SPOILS
2310 gp
1500 ep
3089 sp

THE SCORE
Each surviving character got 770 gp, 500 ep, 1029 sp and 1193 XP.

GRADES:
Garth the Obscure earned an E for nearly perfect use of Unseen Servant.
Karl the Might Nervous earned an E for solving problems with his intelligence.
Jude earned an E for scouting and use of purify drink to cleanse poison. [Note to self: Jude should have been downgraded for not stealing Bastion's magical armor]

Session 24: Cordyceps

Session report for January 9, 2025. Four players adventured for one day.

Characters

Bastion, human fighter level 4
Jude, 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 VANQUISHED
7 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.

Session 23: It's OGRE For You!

The cost was too great.

Session report for January 2, 2025. Five players adventured for two days.

Characters

Bastion, human fighter level 4 (with around 20 mercenaries)
Bard the Stout, human fighter level 3
Hilfred Castaigne, human illusionist level 1
Jude, half-orc cleric/assassin level 1
Karl the Might Nervous, human magic-user level 1

Prologue

During the months we were away from Fenrir, I reached out to the players to get feedback on how the game was going. The biggest concern was the amount of treasure incoming, which is understandable because the treasure tables in Appendix A are stingy. And the players always want to level faster, besides. I decided from now on to insert treasures in addition to whatever gets rolled in the appendix. These extra treasures will be found in harder-to-reach places or guarded by fierce creatures.

In addition, I wanted to give the characters at levels 3 and 4 a little more challenge with commensurate rewards. My solution: an ogre lair at the edge of civilization. It contained a sizeable treasure hoard (Type A) as well as a direct route to level 4 of the local megadungeon.

Bard the Stout heard a rumor about Ogres patrolling the forested hills west of Fort Fenrir. Everyone thought this was a good hook so they stocked up on mercenaries and provisions and headed out into the wilderness.

Day 1

The party spent the whole day lost in the forests west of Fort Fenrir. When they emerged from the trees, they discovered they had veered north. They would have to camp for the night and try again the next day.

A wisp of smoke caught their attention. They encountered a small campsite of a family out on a hunting trip. A rough-looking man and woman attended a fire while two young children played. A freshly killed quadruped hung from a tree.

They greeted the family and asked about ogre patrols. The man spoke of his family hunting these hills for generations and said not even an ogre would be foolish enough to patrol these hills. The party wanted to know if they were from Fenrir or nearby. The man did not know Fenrir, nor did he recognize the Fenrir battle flag flown by Bastion and his men, and he grew impatient at their questions. He was not interested in chatting or hospitality, and this raised the suspicions of the party.

When the man did not flinch at Bastion's attempt at intimidation, everyone decided it was best for the two parties to part on civil terms. The party noted that there were no hunting bows or spears in the camp and whispered that they might be werewolves.

They departed from the hunting camp, made their own, and rested for the night.

Day 2

The party headed into the forest to the southwest. After noon, they were surprised by a group of paladins who were escorting a group of pilgrims. They saw Fenrir's battle flag and mistook them for a patrol so they hailed the party and asked for directions. Bastion explained they were hunting the ogre party seen in these woods. As luck would have it, the pilgrims spotted evidence of creatures patrolling the woods. The parties shared information and went on their way.

A couple of hours later, they found the trail. It led west, toward the mountain. They found the entrance to an old mine in the foothills - and ogres guarded the entrance!

The ogres spotted the party as they left the cover of the trees. Bastion and Bard immediately ordered a charge attack. The ogres barely had enough time to shout for help before they were impaled on a dozen spears.

Ogres came streaming to the entrance. The party delivered deadly blows and avoided any casualties for a couple of rounds. Hilfred locked an ogre down by himself with an illusory spiked chain. The ogre leaders called for a retreat and they hunkered down inside the mine. The party pressed on.

A long shaft led to a large room where the ogres waited to turn pesky humans into a meat grinder. The players paused to take stock of the situation and figure an alternate way in. Someone spotted a hidden side passage that would fit a human, boarded up long ago.

They had a plan. Bard and Bastion led the mercenaries back into the tunnel to cover Jude while the assassin got into the side passage. Bard challenge the ogre chief to single combat. The chief demurred and sent one of his leaders with a few ogres out to beat them to a pulp.

As the battle raged a few feet in front of him, Jude got to w
ork on the side passage. It took a few minutes to break in. He found a short tunnel with a dead end and began searching for secret doors at the end of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Bard and Bastion bravely held the front line. The fighter's armors held up well and they managed to kill a few ogres, but at least one mercenary died.

Jude was about to give up when Karl joined him in the tunnel and encouraged him to keep looking. (Rules note: searching for secret doors, unlike picking a lock, is repeatable!)

The ogre leader joined the battle. They fight as 7 HD monsters, and the fighters' heavy armors did not help any more. Bard took a big hit, then Bastion, then Bard again, who fell to the massive blows. Bastion finished off the ogre leader before it could kill any more.

Jude found a secret passage into the ogre's lair, but it was too late. The ogres were dead. So was Bard.

The chief and his entourage had retreated deeper into the mine during the battle, but they left some of their treasure behind.

THE VANQUISHED
9 ogres
1 ogre leader
Total XP for monsters defeated: 2050

THE SPOILS
3,000 gold pieces
Total XP for treasure taken: 3000

THE SCORE
Each surviving player gets 750 gold and 1263 experience points.

Bastion, fighter level 4 earned an E rank for aggressive fighting in battle.
Hilfred Castaigne, illusionist earned an E rank for using his illusions to overcome challenges.
Jude, cleric/assassin level 1/1 earned an E rank for spell support and using his thief skills to bypass the battle.
Karl, magic-user level 1, earned an E rank for trying to use spells to overcome challenges.

THE GRAVEYARD
Bard the Stout, fighter level 3, smashed by an ogre leader while raiding its lair.

Session 22: Beetle Mania!

Low-prep vermin-smashing fun!

Session report for Thursday, December 12, 2024. Four players made two dungeon delves over the course of three days.

Characters

Bard, human fighter level 3
Fomo, halfling thief level 2
Jude, half-orc cleric/assassin level 1
"Stacks" human assassin level 1

We are back in Fort Fenrir after a three-month break! Because the status quo is the enemy of a living world, I determined a few things had happened to the area:

• Fenrir has completed a small keep and wall.
• Patrols have pacified a 9-mile radius around the fort (a 7-hex flower), making habitation possible. This includes the path to the Pig Pen megadungeon and the spider lairs the assassins ignored for a full year.
• Outside of the patrolled area: the Severed Head Clan orcs, Ruined (AKA Spooky) Keep, the ancient city, and the [redacted] deep in the heart of the forest.
• The Dripping Fang orcs have disappeared since retreating into the Pig Pen.

This was part of my plan to introduce more treasure to the game. Read the previous session reports and you might notice that Appendix A is stingy (unless you like copper). I decided that an orc lair's worth of treasure - parts of it, at least - would be available to the party if they were brave enough to get after it.

The party wanted back into the megadungeon to find out what happened to the orcs. It's a safe plan to stick to levels 1-3 because they are low level (Mustacha - ranger 3 is retired, and Bastion - fighter 4 was swapped out for Fomo to mitigate alignment conflict). They're also broke and have no mercenaries to fill out their numbers.

Travel to the dungeon is "free" now thanks to regular patrols. Fomo dives in, scouting and mapping like we never took a break, headed to the staircase to level 2.

The party ambushed a few giant rats feasting on gnome corpses. One of the unfortunate gnomes held a magical short sword and high-quality studded leather (if a bit chewed up). Eager for a magical boost, Jude claimed the sword and Fomo donned the disgusting armor.

Down the stairs they found the entrance to level 2 was swarming with fire beetles. They doubled back and found an alternate path down, thanks to the detailed maps they keep.

They ambushed a couple more fire beetles on the way to the infamous Orctagon. But then they threw a curve ball and went down a hallway that hadn't been explored in more than a year! It was time for me to stretch those book control muscles with Appendix A.

The hallway split in two directions. They followed one branch to a doorway and came upon a group of 8 fire beetles! The random monster tables are telling the story for me!

Bard charged in and made the beetles furious. Stacks fired his bow from the doorway and Jude cast curse. All the beetles except one piled on the fighter and his armor held true. The last beetle went for the doorway to harass Jude and Stacks. On the second round of combat it climbed up and eviscerated Stacks! Jude killed the beetle as Fomo took Stacks' place, then they helped Bard finish off the rest.

The coffers were protected by a pit trap which Fomo detected. The party lifted the coffers up and over and were rewarded with many electrum pieces.

We were half way through the session. Stacks' player had a new character ready to go so everyone headed back to town to bank the haul and go again in a couple of days.

Delve 2: Saturday, December 14.

Hilfred Castaigne, human illusionist, joined the team.

The party returned to the new hallway and explored the other branch. Fomo escaped death by a spear trap - saved by his new studded leather +1 and good Constitution! Beyond the spears, a trap door led deeper into the dungeon. They weren't interested in finding out how deep.

They followed the hallway back around to familiar territory: a huge chamber with rows of columns leading to some kind of throne room or chapel. Deep within the chamber they heard the chittering and squeaking of giant rats. They crept forward and shone a bullseye lanter around until they spotted the vermin. There were over thirty of them!

The party never considered retreat. Hilfred locked down half the rats with a phantasmal force spell that took the form of entangling thorns: the rats who failed the save were stuck and would die of piercing thorns and choking vines over the next three rounds. Bard fried a few rats with a flask of burning oil and he took the front line, again using his superior armor and hit points to protect his comrades. Jude used curse to great effect. Fomo slunk around in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The fight went according to plan. After three rounds, only a few rats remained and scurried off into the darkness. The party was rewarded with a great treasure of electrum.

Other refuse amongst the dead rats implied that the treasure had been stolen from the orcs. What happened to them?

THE VANQUISHED
10 fire beetles
34 giant rats
XP for monsters slain: 478

THE SPOILS
5500 ep
200 pp
2 gems worth 45gp, 60gp
fire beetle glands sold for 345 gp
short sword +1 [Jude]
studded leather +1 [Fomo]
XP for treasure taken: 5100

THE SCORE
Bard, fighter: 1308 XP. Rank E for outstanding bravery.
Fomo, thief: 1308 XP. Rank E for outstanding cowardice and application of thief skills.
Jude, cleric/assassin: 1308 XP. Rank E for spell support and taking the opportunity to assassinate.
Hilfred, illusionist 1: 526 XP. Rank E for solving an encounter with his spell.

THE GRAVEYARD
"Stacks" Lorenzo, human assassin level 1 - eviscerated by a fire beetle in Fenrir Session 22

Session 21: Spooky Keep!

DMs, always write up session notes within 24 hours!

Session report for Thursday, August 22, 2024. Four players adventured for one week.

Characters

Bard, human fighter level 3
Mustacha, human ranger level 3
Brother Flint, human monk level 1
Jude, half-orc cleric/assassin level 1

Mustacha was obsessed with the ruined keep that he found way back in session 1. And the party was getting tired of the local megadungeon, the Pig Pen, besides. They hired a few men at arms and headed west towards the mountain.

The ranger forgot that the path to the ruined keep was to the southwest beyond the Pig Pen so the party spent a day wandering the forests outside Fort Fenrir. Lucky for them they had no encounters and arrived at the ruined keep near the end of the fourth day.

The courtyard ruins - based loosely on Castellan's Keep on the borderlands - showed no signs of activity. The party entered one of the standing towers and located a trap door into the dungeon.

At the first door, Brother Flint found a spraying acid trap. This was lucky: his find and remove traps skill is in the neighborhood of 15%. Rather than trust his ability to disarm the trap, he conceived of a method to push the door open from a distance and avoid the damage. This worked and the party began searching the dungeon below.

The dungeon appeared to be the home of a cult obsessed with death and destruction. The second room had gory hooks and chains covering one wall and a bloody altar in the middle. On a table stood a large candelabra shaped like a goddess of destruction. Each of her six hands held a votive candle.

A group of zombified orcs harassed the party as they rested in the next room. Bard and Mustacha dispatched them before they could inflict any damage.

While searching the following room, the party was ambushed by a group of skeletons - dwarf skeletons! The party was split up around the room but Bard managed to draw the ire of most of them. One hired spear was brought down. The cumulative horror was too much for the other hirelings, who fled in a panic.

Jude employed his ability to control undead to keep four or so skeletons out of the fight. As a champion of Good, Mustacha smashed them as soon as the combat had ended - denying the party free help.

Brother Flint sprinted after the fleeing hirelings. His superior movement speed (15") wasn't enough to save them, though. He found the first one in the exit doorway, half melted from the acid spray. The other one made it halfway down the hallway when a large spider pounced from hiding and killed him with its venom. Flint squashed the large spider with an overbear-foot stomp combo and waited for the rest of the party to catch up.

The party emerged from the dungeon into the tower. Above, they saw massive webs crossing the interior - and the spiders who lived there were creeping out to them.

They fled the tower in terror and returned to town.

THE VANQUISHED
4 or so zombies
a baker's dozen of skeletons
3 men-at-arms
1 large spider

THE SPOILS
lol

THE SCORE
Some small amount of monster kill XP

Session 20: Restock This

Persistence and gratuitous searching pay off.

Session report for Thursday, August 1, 2024. Four players had adventures for one day.

Characters

Deadleaf, elf assassin level 3
Fomo, halfling thief level 1
Garth, magic-user level 1
Troy, ranger level 1

After last week's wilderness adventures, most of the usual suspects were locked in time jail. Deadleaf and Fomo were joined by Garth the magician (Fluid/Bard) and Troy the ranger (Bob/Stacks). Because they were short handed and low level, they decided to hire a few men-at-arms and plunder the local megadungeon known as The Pig Pen.

Deadleaf and Fomo took up scouting positions 90 feet ahead of the party. From time to time, or when they encountered a door, they would regroup with the party to update their maps. Exploring this way can take a little bit longer than normal, but they can often surprise monsters and scout out enemy positions instead of blundering into them.

The party found evidence of orc activity such as footprints, broken weapons, and old candy wrappers - but no orcs. The scouts surprised a nest of giant rats in the first room. Deadleaf pelted them with arrows and Fomo ran back to get the others. After clearing the rats, they found some loose electrum pieces amongst the refuse.

They scouted much of the first level of the dungeon and found much of it empty. They cleared a path to the rear exit of the dungeon (found in the first session!). In another dead-end room they found the corpse of a halfling bloated with rot grubs. No sign of any other halflings.

The mapper (Brig/Bastion) would have been pleased with the quality of his map, but he was too busy complaining about finding no treasure. Session time was running down and they decided to take a chance in level 2. They descended a spiral staircase.

They exited the stairs and entered a large room full of empty cots and orcish graffiti. No guards were on duty today. Down the hall they ran into a spear trap that failed to pierce Deadleaf's armor. I believe that is the second time they ran into that one - no wonder the orcs keep resetting it!

The party came to a large room with a dining table, and four unexplored exits. This was it; if they didn't get paid in the next room or two, they'd have to go home empty handed.

One door led to a storage room. The players swept the room for hidden objects, poking and prodding with spear butts. They found nothing and made a lot of noise in the process.

When they opened the next door, they were surprised by a small pack of 5 large gnolls. They leapt on the front line, and to take advantage of their surprise, tried to overbear the puny humans before sticking them with their swords. Deadleaf and Troy had a high dexterity, though, and avoided the surprise attack! The mercenary at the door was not so lucky. He was bowled over and knocked unconscious before he knew what hit him.

The players won initiative and fought back. Deadleaf fired arrows at the gnolls as he fell back and killed a gnoll. Troy and the mercenaries stepped up to fight. Garth did not have any suitable spells for the occasion so he lobbed flasks of oil amongst the enemy. And Fomo crept in through the doorway hoping to score a backstab. The gnolls fought back but the party stood strong.

On the next round the players made good on their attacks. A well-placed torch ignited some of the oil and gave a gnoll the hot foot. Fomo took his shot - although he was spotted, he got in a solid hit. Troy laid into another gnoll taking advantage of his extra damage against giant-like creatures.

The gnolls had lost one of their pack and most of their hit points (they were all floating at 1 or 2) so they retreat out the back door. Party gave chase - all except Fomo, that is.

Down the hall and around a corner, the gnolls avoided some kind of floor trap by leaping. The party followed suit and pursued down the hall.

This was new territory to everyone, including me. What did the gnolls run into? Appendix A delivered again. Waiting in the upcoming chamber was an NPC party led by a Lawful Neutral Cleric. Wait - we've met these guys before!

The party ran into the room and watched the other party slaughter the wounded gnolls. After a few tense moments, the characters parleyed (reaction: Neutral/Positive). They exchanged information about the local area and updated each other's maps and parted ways.

seek, and ye shall find (treasure)!

When the party returned, they found Fomo in the room where they fought the gnolls with two things: a barely conscious man at arms, and sacks coins. While they chased gnolls, he searched the room and found loose stones with a treasure stash behind!

THE VANQUISHED
12 giant rats: 96 xp
2 rot grubs: 0 xp
5 gnolls: 190 xp
Total: 286 XP

THE SPOILS
1530 electrum
18 gold
11 silver

THE SCORE
Deadleaf (level 3 assassin, E): 463 XP & 765 ep, 9 gp, 2 sp
Fomo (level 1 thief, E): 202 XP & 255 ep, 3 gp, 3 sp
Garth (level 1 magic-user, E): 202 XP & 255 ep, 3 gp, 3 sp
Troy (level 1 ranger, E): 202 XP & 255 ep, 3 gp, 3 sp