Tuesday 20 August 2024

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 82 (Machodor #43); From Saint Raul to the Dungeon

    

The Machodorian City of Saint Raul


Timekeeping


This session took place on 15/08/2024, and the PCs adventured for 5 days.

Player Characters Present


Sever (Level 7 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength)
Giuseppe (Level 7 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles)
Gurt the Green (Level 3 Paladin, wielder of the Longsword+3
Luke (Level 1 Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric)
Hawken (Level 1 Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric)

Introduction


For the first time in a long while the bulk of the players began the session outside of the Bandit Mountains and in Machodor proper; in the city of Saint Raul the Cyclopean, patron of the misborn. Founded in the aftermath of the nuclear attack on Minas Mandalf on the eve of Brovenloft 2022; the city of 12000 souls, lead by High Paladin Sir Lansabit, is largely populated by former Trollopulous residents who survived that attack in possession various mutations (via Gamma World 1e) and converted to lawful good and the true faith as a condition of citizenship. Since its founding the population has increased rapidly and now other mutants from the wastes to the south, as well as normal humans from the west, are present in roughly equal proportions. It was really fun for me to see this area come to life in a session; as downtime actions here and there have really fleshed it out since the party first passed through on the way to their first foray into the mountains in Machodor session #1.

Downtime


With only 2 days game time between sessions, and both of those days with bad weather, little downtime activity was possible for the players. Most of them rested in the "Ajax Inn" where they met a new adventurer, Luke, while Giuseppe managed to have his dead henchman raised from the dead by the High Priest of Saint Raul, Heliophon. This worthy had also indicated his amenability to casting Speak With Dead on the body the party had recovered in the dungeon last session. Such a thing could easily have been done in downtime as well, but it turned out to be a fun thing to do in session.

Session Report

As the party made their way to the Cathedral at the center of town, the booming voice of a town crier could be heard, his mutation giving his voice the power to carry like a bull horn: "Extray Extray, hear all about it: Saint Raul happenings! Inn of ill repute, the 'Denuded Clam', burnt down over night; the 'Society of Reformed Trollops' believed responsible!" 

After some knowing looks, sadly, the players ignored this fantastic and totally original hook and proceeded on their way. 

Passing a long line of mutants lined up to receive healing from lower level clerics, they were greeted by Heliophon's men and shown to his chapel. Because he is level 12, Speak With Dead would last 1 turn (10 minutes) and allow for 4 questions. I explained that I would start a timer when the spell was cast (1:1 time for reals). After a bit of discussion, Heliophon cast the spell, the dead man sat up, and Gurt lead the questioning: 


  • "What is your name?" Gurt asked, followed by, "Do I wait for him to answer before asking my next question?" "Yes," I answered, not believing my luck, "You have two 2 questions left." Ha! What a hoot, anyway, I'm not actually that mean; the dead man's name was Verden. Gurt followed up with;
  • "Where are you from": Aboria (a place unknown the party);
  • "What were you doing in the PSoD": I was aiding my liege, Prince Barin the Ranger;
  • "How did you die?": I got separated, lost, and then eventually killed by spiders.

Sever's ears perked up with this information, it happened that the Pegasus Scout Regiment had tasked him with a mission to locate a certain high level ranger, but the details provided were few. I was pretty happy with these results as the players in the subsequent discussion were able to discern quite a bit from the answers. 

There was one more thing the High Priest could do for them, he could read the writing on the magic plate mail the dead man was wearing. "Armati sumus, sed quid ante profuerunt arma ulla contra....armatura?" "We have arms, but what use are they without armour?" This was a common decoration of machodorian armour, and the players guessed that Verden must have picked it up somewhere since arriving in this world.

Gurt then paid to have Verden buried and the party resolved to return to Castle Irish and then on to the Pizza Slice of Doom. Giuseppe arranged to leave his henchman Bishoy to look after Tawdros (his other henchman) during the latter's recovery period from being dead, and the rest set off while it was still pretty early. As the day turned to night Sever spied up ahead what looked like a merchant company making camp. It flew a flag he did not recognise, so he decided not to approach them, but to make camp elsewhere. The night passed uneventfully and in the morning to merchants broke camp and moved off in the direction of Saint Raul. A couple more days travel later the party reached Castle Irish and after resting the night were ready for the Dungeon. I really love this aspect of AD&D play, the players have the agency to target what they want to do, but a few days of wilderness travel means virtually anything can happen on the way.

The Irish camp at the entrance to the Pizza Slice of Doom reported no unusual occurrences, so the party retraced their steps from last session into the maintenance level. They easily made it as far as the broken elevator room without any trouble, but then saw two large reptilian creatures slowly stalking towards them:

Combat #1: 2 Subterranean Lizards (MM)

Rounds 3: Party won, Monsters won, Tied Initiative

Result: Party victory

Highlights: The lizards rolled very well, but not so well that anyone was swallowed whole. These guys were so big that I consider having them try to over bear, but in the end decided to go with conventional bite attacks which certainly took a toll. Injuries were mitigated by party healing after the battle.



Once they reached the next level they went west and then north. Here they spent time clearing the vines at the north end of the passage, managing to do so without attracting the attention of wandering monsters. Clearing away the vines revealed a huge submerged area (A) that was filled with the water from the river they had mapped last session (north west). Experiments with a rope and grappling hook showed the opaque water to be 20 feet deep, accumulations of organic and non-organic debris had collected into little islands, some of which were able to float around freely. Fearing that exploring further in this direction would be a death trap, the party gave up on this area and instead went north west to explore the room (B), and here they found the remains of a camp fire and a secret door. In the corridor beyond the door the ceiling was damaged, with organic matter and rocky protrusions visible where they had pierced it in various places.

Undeterred by this, the party marched down the corridor and into the killing zone of a large family of Piercers. According to Appendix C, level 1 monsters like these on lower levels have their numbers augmented by a like number of the same sort of creatures for each level of the dungeon beneath that of the assigned level of the monster type encountered. So in this case six times the normal number were present. The monsters surprised the party and coordinated themselves so that each PC faced two or even three of them: 

Hawken pictured

Combat #2: 11 Piercers (MM)

Rounds 3: Surprise 1 segment, Monsters Initiative, Party Initiative

Result:  draw

Highlights: The monsters inflicted their damage and, thanks to their numbers, even with their 1" movement rate were able to get back up into the ceiling before the PCs could kill more than a few of them. Hawken was hit by a 3HD piercer and reduced to -3 hit points. Luckily for him, his hearty constitution of 17 prevent this from being a death blow, but he was not in a state for more combat. 

Faced with the prospect of another volley of living stalactites, the part chose to withdraw by advancing down the corridor and finding that it joined with another section of the dungeon they had been to previously.

They got their breath back and readied to leave, but, deciding to explore a bit, first mapped out the corridors leading to the toxic waste room (C) and then opening both doors on the west side. Finding no easy way of reaching the exit to the room to the south (all the access ramps to the central platform had been destroyed or were missing) the party decided to retreat back to Castle Irish, which they managed without incident.

Delve 2. After a night of rest and a slight change in personnel, the party returned with what I was sure to be a plan to get past my cunning 'no ramps' puzzle; but I was wrong, instead they explored, and re-explored, other areas of the map. Apart from some repeated encounters with large numbers of Fire beetles (the chances for which were pretty damn low), this part of the session yielded little of direct benefit for the time invested and danger risked; but, by the end, their map was certainly more accurate and complete than ever before. And that will help in future delves.



Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 70 Miles

Mapped Dungeon area traversed:  1400/360 ft

New Dungeon corridor mapped: 180/80 ft

New rooms mapped: 2/2

Combats: 2

Combat rounds: 6

Total time in the Dungeon (approx): 11/17 Turns


Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 82 (Machodor #43)

Treasure & Items

None

Monsters
2 Subterranean Lizards 702 XP
3 4HD Piercers 255 XP

Total  957 XP


957 XP &  0 GP Assignment (no longer weighted by level)

Sever (Level 7, E ) 191 XP &  0 GP
Giuseppe (Level 7, E)  191  XP &  0 GP 
Luke (Level 1/1, E) 191 XP & 0 GP
Gurt the Green (Level 3, E) 191 XP & 0 GP
Hawken (Level 1/1, E) 191 XP & 0 GP

Graveyard


Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter Level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter Level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39


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Trollopulous Adjusted Session 82 (Machodor #43); From Saint Raul to the Dungeon

     The Machodorian City of Saint Raul Timekeeping This session took place on 15/08/2024, and the PCs adventured for 5 days. Player Charact...