Trollopulous Adjusted Session 29 (Machodor #12); Rumble in the Tunnel

        

Timekeeping

This session took place on 07/July/2023,  and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present

Godleve (Level 5 Cleric of Machodor, E)

Giuseppe (Level 5 Paladin from Rome, Brovenloft, E)

Sever (Level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E)

Sheamus (Level 4 Irish Fighter from Dublin, Brovenloft, E)

Bumblebore (Level 2 Magic User, E)

Dusty  (Level 1 Dwarf Thief, E)

Repugnus the Repentant (Level 1 Cleric, E)

Downtime & News

In the last few weeks the Osser Merchants, growing in number, had set up a staging area and trading post on the plains below Schloss Ragnar. The well-to-do merchant caravans soon attracted the attention of local thieves, who raided one and made off with untold thousands of gold coins. Later, word got out that the coins were "Paraguayan Guarani" and only worth 1/8000th of a Gold Macho (the coin of the Realm). When the merchant's mercenary troops heard this, they rioted, knowing that there could never have been enough money in the coffers to pay them what they were owed. Other companies also demanded proof that the Osser products, mostly what they called "PeeDee-Fs" earned them enough to live in a first world nation such as Machodor.

what could it mean?

Professor Dorol had been busy examining the strange fungus the party found. He concluded that the party was correct to assume it glowed due to absorbing this strange energy they were calling "Magical Fire. Dorol now calls it the "living fire". Using a phantasmal force spell, he showed them how the fungus interacts with other living particles as seen with his Eye of Minute Seeing. What effect this had on full sized creatures, he could only guess. Using the remaining fungus, he had made 4 wands that can detect the presence of the "Fire". He made a show of holding them out to the party, one in each hand.

Session Report

Though the robbery did draw some interest, the party have become laser focussed on finding the lair of the Red Dragon, Lord Inferno; so, flying on a Rocket Cycle and with Sever on his Pegasus, they retraced their path to the chamber deep in the centre of the dormant volcano to the north east of Castle Irish.

Having previously observed the Firenewts gain access to further tunnels by luring out a giant cave worm, that lived in one, using large quantities of the glowing fungus they apparently lived on; the party repeated the process exactly, careful not to touch the fungus, and found that this worked for them as well. The funnel like cavity that was revealed was far larger than the giant worm, and descended into the earth many hundreds of yards, corkscrewing around and around, and narrowing as they followed it down. A group of hungry mynocks set upon the rocket cycle, but they were soon destroyed by the wary party. Eventually, the funnel terminated below the volcano in a wide chamber running from north east to south west.

A vast volcanic cavity formed untold aeons ago, the lava tube was roughly 300 feet wide and 100 feet high. As they began to follow it they soon noted the centre of the passage held a narrow groove, about 2 feet deep, with a very small amount of lava at the bottom. 

As they advanced, this artificial seeming structure gradually widened and deepened until, after mile or so, the shaft was 100 feet wide (about a third the width of the entire passage) and nearly filled with lava to an unknown depth.

The bright lava lit the centre of the passage well; but, with the party sporting many Continual Light items, they did not concern themselves with a natural source of light. Choosing the right, or eastern, side of the passage; they continued on wearily.

they were not alone...

Hovering, Invisible, over the lava in the centre of the passage; three Firenewt Elite Magi could easily see the party approaching. They quickly agreed on a plan to defeat the intruders, and sprang to attack.

Two of the Magi cast Charm Person: one on Sever, who was at the front with his Pegasus; and one on Shaemus, who was driving the Rocket Cycle. I asked the players to simply roll a d20, as their characters had no idea what was happening. Sever passed his saving throw, and Shaemus failed.

The third Magi cast Darkness and, just like that, all the party's exposed Continual Light items were snuffed out; plunging the Rocket Cycle riders into pitch black night. The Magi called out for Sheamus to do something (land in the lava perhaps); but, as the fighter did not know their language, and, in the darkness, had no way to know what he was being asked, or even that he was being asked to do something; he chose to start descending in the Rocket Cycle, giving no indication yet that he had been charmed.

Sever, the only one not in darkness, spotted one of the Magi and moved to attack; but, unfortunately for him, the party lost initiative and the 3 creatures became Invisible again. Sever charged anyway and pulled off a miraculous hit on the invisible Firenewt, embedding his lance deeply into the creature's body. To his horror; the creature, still very much alive, held on to the lance. Even worse, the wound itself began to show signs of healing. Regeneration!

One of the other Magi cast Sleep into the darkness; catching Dusty and Bumblebore in the spell's area of effect. The magic user, who had previously sent his familiar, O'Malfoy, to help Sever; and the dwarf both began what they hoped would be a short nap.

Godleve pulled out a spare Continual Light gem he had prepared earlier, and they could see again; but, this was something of a mixed blessing, as the Firenewt who had charmed Sheamus used this opportunity to draw its clawed thumb across its throat, and then point to the other PCs on the Rocket Cycle. Now Shaemus got the message, and he felt compelled to obey; little did I know, at this point, how strong this compulsion would prove to be! He swung his deadly Drewsword at Godleve, and missed.

Oblivious to this development, Giuseppe and Repugnus shook awake Dusty and Bumblebore.

Catching on quickly, Repugnus cast Command on Shaemus; ordering him to "Surrender". Knowing this spell only lasts 1 round, Giuseppe stepped up and removed the fighter's weapons; hoping to render him incapable of doing too much damage to the party next round.

Godleve fired his Hawkman crossbow at the closest Firenewt, missing; but, the attempt did convince the creature that the cleric was a serious threat.

Sever, Convess, and the wounded Magi exchanged heavy blows; until the latter was killed and fell into the lava below. "Next!" shouted the Ranger, who then turned to engage the nearest enemy. Soon, with help from O'Malfoy, he had forced another Firenewt Magi to assume gaseous form, and flee. The last one had managed to turn invisible again; and was out there, somewhere, presumably waiting for the moment to strike.

From here things got a bit crazy

Sheamus, aware of his orders, but finding himself without any weapons; never-the-less did his best to comply. He reached for the handlebars of the Rocket Cycle, and tried to tip the whole thing sideways! 

As the only active "enemy" Sheamus' player started rolling for initiative for the other side, and won!

He flipped the Rocket Cycle onto its side, and the PCs scrambled to hold onto something; Dusty & Bumblebore failed and fell down to the surface below. Now, how high was this fall? They had started the fight 60' off the ground (having noted the 50' range of their enemies from last session), but Shaemus had declared he was trying to lower the Cycle - even though he was charmed he had probably descended some of the way at least. 

I decided that their current altitude would be a d6 * 10 feet; with a 6 meaning roll again. I got a 6, then another 6, then a 2. This meant that the two PCs who fell would take 2d6 damage, and I came up with 7 damage in total. Somehow, both of the low level characters survived their fall; but, Sheamus wasn't close to done. This was getting out of hand!

With no visible opponent, Sever used his mount to get under and right the Rocket Cycle, and then it was Sheamus' turn to think of something else; which he did. Previously, he had established that the cycle had a boost acceleration function that would send it off at double normal speed, and now he went to push it!

The other PCs' response went like this: Giuseppe attempted a grapple and failed, triggering a return grapple from Sheamus, who also failed. Repugnus then tried to grapple, he failed, the return grapple from Sheamus succeeded this time; and this is where we found out that Shaemus is a BIG Irish lad; 6' 7" and (I think) 285lbs. He K.O.'d Repugnus. With little dignity the cleric collapsed; and lets just say his chances of a future dynasty, already poor given his Charisma, were now in grave doubt. Still standing after all this, Shaemus announced that, as planned, he would activate the booster acceleration on the Rocket Cycle.

So Shaemus goes to hit the boosters, and at the same time Giuseppe goes to hit the breaks. What to do? It was time for a quick d12 table.

I rolled a 6

In an anti-climax, the Rocket Cycle began a slow shunt back the way they had come (Sheamus had turned it at some point). Like driving with the hand-break on, according to Giuseppe's player.

Giuseppe and Sheamus continued trade blows, this time using the Pummelling rules. The Paladin got the better of the exchange; but the fighter just wouldn't quit. O'Malfoy bit one of Sheamus' fingers to stop him hitting any more buttons, which worked for the moment. While this is going on, Godleve kept a lookout for the last Elite Magi; ready to shoot it with his definitely-ok-for-a-cleric-to-use Hawkman heavy crossbow. 

Eventually, convinced that the last monster had fled, Godleve skillfully dropped off the cycle to the ground and went to heal the wounded. Sever, fed up with this shit, flew up on Convess and attacked Shaemus; but missed. The  Elite Magi, who had not fled, then cast Darkness; near (but not on, so he stayed invisible) Dusty, just to make life difficult down there for him, Bumblbore, and Godleve.

Having failed on his first attack, Sever swung around for another; this time using the combined weight of Pegasus and rider to Overbear Shaemus. Yes, we had all 3 types of AD&D weaponless combat in this fight! Sheamus couldn't dodge this, and even his great size provided no benefit; he was knocked off the cycle, taking a combination of overbear & falling damage. He was also stunned for one round; but, with lots of hit points still, he was not out of the fight.

Bumblebore then cast sleep, mercifully getting Sheamus; but, also Repugnus, who was just regaining consciousness (perhaps also a blessing for him, since that knee to the groin had to be still hurting)

Finally then, with no further sign of the enemy, they trussed Sheamus like a pig and returned home the way they came. Later, Godleve would memorise Dispel Magic and free the fighter from the Charm Person spell.

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 29(Machodor #12);

Cash 

none

Monsters

6 Mynocks 378xp

1 Firenewt Elite Magi 1080xp

Items

none

Monsters Total: 1458 XP

Monetary Total: 0 XP

Item Total: 0 XP

Total XP: 1458 

Total of  1458 XP & 0 GP Weighted by Level 

Godleve (Level 5 ) 316 XP & 0 GP

Giuseppe (Level 5 ) 316 XP & 0 GP

Sever (Level 5 ) 316 XP & 0 GP

Sheamus (Level 4, absolutely deserved more! ) 253 XP & 0 GP

Bumblebore (Level 2) 126 XP & 0 GP

Regpugnus (Level 1 ) 63 XP  & 0 GP

Dusty  (Level 1)  63 XP & 0 GP