Trollopulous Adjusted Session 73 (Machodor #37); McScales Returns to the Pizza Slice of Doom

Mesa your humble servant.

Timekeeping

This session took place on 06/06/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade) 

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane)

Gurt the Green  (Level 3 Paladin, E ) 

Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence) 

Louie the Preto-tater (Level 1 Magic User) 

Introduction 

A depleted party of only five sets off once again for the Pizza Slice of Doom.

Session Report

Thanks to McScales the lizardman and former slave, last session the players had jammed in iron spikes to stop the maintenance lift from being able to retract back into the Sky City, and this precaution meant they were able to use it as another means of entry to the huge facility. However, once again, when they reached the room where the lift stopped, something had changed. The 30' square room was filled with dirt and growing lumps and fronds of plants, they completely surrounded the platform the party stood on and would have to be navigated in some way before they could reach any of the four exits from the room.

There was some attempt to set fire to oil and burn a path to the western door, but it was not terribly successful; one of the oil flasks failed to break. However, this was enough to draw the attention of two Giant Sundew plants, one to the north and one to the south of the lift platform.

cute, until they're in your face

The plants were quite a threat, anything within 5 feet of them was exposed to 6 attacks from their sticky fronds, successful hits cause 1hp damage per round until broken, and with a roll of 20 indicating a suffocating blow to the target that results in death in 2-4 rounds. The party put Sever on one and Sheamus on the other, with Gurt doing his best to contribute with his Spetum. 

Battle commence, and although the front line were getting struck steadily with fronds, which penalised their own return attacks, the hit point losses were looking to be sustainable; until Sever caught two in the face. This happened just as Louie came up with the idea of dumping a wine skin over Sever, and although technically the party had won initiative and this action would have been resolved just before the two fronds started suffocated the Ranger, I had declared with a flourish that enough had been poured out that Sever was spitting out wine, so I had to follow through and say that this prevented the suffocating effect.

At almost same time Sheamus was also hit in the mouth, but the fearless Irishman calmly reached for his bottle of whisky and poured it over his head, freeing himself. After his the plants soon took a dirt nap.

To help set the scene I describe the room as just like the CHAZ garden,
a lot of dirt had been shipped in from somewhere.

Once they were ready the party left by the western most door, back into a 20' wide corridor running north-south. There was a chamber nearby to the south that was empty; but impressions on the floor showed that heavy equipment that was once there had been removed, perhaps to the north. Questions were levelled at the lizardman and he answered as best as he could. By now I'd figured that McScales sounded like Jar Jar Binks, so there was a lot of "Mesa knowing mesa be big help" and such for the rest of the night.

They set off north again and the long corridor eventually lead to a chamber with 4 branching exits, one was blocked by vines, one lead into a vast open area, one widened to 40' and had large water filled metal columns running down its length, and the last was pretty normal looking and heading directly east.

Cautiously they proceeded down the wide corridor with the pillars, the party got about halfway down before were attacked from behind by an Achaierai; one of the demonic bird-headed creatures that had caused them so much trouble last week. This week they had much better tactics, Sheamus with his high AC held its attention; while the others used missile weapons to target its low AC head from far enough back not to risk getting caught in the toxic cloud the thing could emit. That part worked well, but the bird-thing was still able to release its gas and use it to escape before they could finish it off. They tracked it back to the open area they had glimpsed earlier. This was a huge cavernous chamber, with its floor 10' below the corridor where they stood. This was covered with organic matter and had a high ceiling choked with trees from the forest level. After careful probing they could see that within this area was a lair of seven of the creatures.

As much as the party wanted to go on the attack, they decided they didn't have the fire power to win and simply marked it down on the map for another time. 

They rested back in the branching chamber they had passed through earlier, and here something unusual happened. The next little while became the Comfort Rod show. First, a psionic encounter!

"You have a sudden strange feeling and an image of a weird many-tentacled creature with flappy wings. It is working on some kind of machine. You see something like a sphere of light, clearly not part of the sky city structure, it fluctuates and vanishes; but not before you see many other like creatures moving around inside. If pushed, you guess its location is to the west."

Once he had passed on this vision to the rest of the party they tried to interpret its meaning. The prospect of a full on battle against the Old Ones who ruled this dungeon was again something they decided they didn't have the firepower for, but the urge to map out some more of this level spurred them on. 

When they reached the eastern most point so far, Comfort Rod called a stop and place his ear against the wall, all he could hear was the background hum of machines, technology beyond his ken, and the strain of metal under great pressure. However, this action proved crucial as around the next corner was a wandering monster, a Chimera! I put things together and realised that Comfort Rod's successful hearing roll meant he would have heard the "clomp clomp, clack clack" sound of the creature's approach. They proceeded to ambush it and got one segment of surprise. The melee guys got hits in in this segment but Comfort Rod again did something, this time wildly successful; he cast Command and ordered the creature to flee. I was thinking this wouldn't work on a creature over 6HD, but a quick check showed that such creatures must make a saving thrown, and the Chimera failed by 1, meaning it fled away from the three melee characters and prompted three more successful hits as the thing flew off. By the time they had cornered it in the next room the beast was down to very few hit points, and a bad initiative roll saw the party finish it off without taking any damage at all from the fearsome creature.

What was more, the room the Chimera retreated to held many thousands of electrum pieces just scattered around; and something more besides, a big heavy metal-reinforced belt. While searching through the loose sea of coins they were again attacked, this time by a giant slug. Sadly for Comfort Rod his run ended here as his hammer bounced off its blubbery hide to no effect. The thing spat a gob full of its acid at Gurt and the paladin was lucky to get away with his armour intact. His weapons were another matter, all were destroyed except for his hand axe; and this he used to finish off the creature after Shaemus and Sever chopped it to pieces.

Sheamus tested the belt and found it was great for opening doors.

They went back to the lift platform via another route, exited the PSoD safely, and then went back to Castle Irish. Here they competed for the prized girdle and Sever won it.

Dungeon stats: 

Mapped area traversed: 200 feet

New corridor mapped: 510 feet

New rooms mapped: 4

Combats: 4

Total time in the dungeon: I will start recording this in future.

Treasure and XP

Treasure & Items

Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength 200xp

5250ep

Total 2825xp  & 2625gp

Monsters

2 Giant Sundew 3000

1 Chimera 1744

1 Giant Slug 3152

Total 7896 xp

 XP &   GP Assignment weighted by level

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, F)  2521XP & 876 GP

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E ) 2521XP & 876 GP

Gurt the Green  (Level 3 Paladin, E ) 2050 XP & 438 GP

Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, E ) 1893 XP & 292 GP

Louie (Level 1 Illusionist, E ) 1736 XP &146  GP

Graveyard

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

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

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 72 (Machodor #36); The Doom that came to the Pizza Slice

Sky City West Quadrant, Maintenance Level room 7

Introduction 

This session is the story of a Ranger's (temporary?) descent into madness, after one provocation too many.

Timekeeping

This session took place on 05/30/2024, and the PCs adventured for 3 days.

Player Characters Present

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of Dragonslayer) 

with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3)

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade) 

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane)

Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief of unknown origins, wearer of the Hat of Disguise) 

Treefingers (Level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor) 

Bumblebore (Level 4 Magic User with his Familiar O'Malfoy)  

Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence) 

Hawkern (Level 1 part elfin Fighter/Cleric)

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Level 1 Magic User) RIP

Downtime

Not far from Castle Irish, Connor McGregor (NPC Fighter Patron) crashed his Rocket Cycle while inspecting the Irish position at the top of the extinct volcano. An inspection by Sheamus and his henchmen Lizardman, McScales, concluded foul play; the eldritch horrors inhabiting the Pizza Slice of Doom must be to blame.

Session Report

The party was a big one, 8 PCs, including a special appearance by Treefingers the Ranger and three henchmen. Slippery Pete had gone off on his own during downtime to raise funding and awareness for the orphanage he was planning, and in his stead was new magic-user, Petrov the Prestidigitator.

Setting off once again for the Pizza Slice of Doom, they travelled with the Rocket Cycle scooting along at ground level, not trusting to go any faster or higher with the risk it might also drop out of the sky without warning. They took the Elevator up to the Irish position at the top of the Volcano and peered down into the PSoD level 1 access shaft; it was still filled with water as it had been last session, and was unpassable. No problem, with two Pegasus riders to help, they ferried the party to the area where there was a gap between the wall of the volcano and the metal floor of the sky city quadrant. This led in some six hundred feet, before passing under the city thruster cone they had used to egress last session after being trapped by water.

Everything looked the same as they had left it; even the rope still hung usefully from the top of the cone where they had tied it, so they began to climb back into the city.

Immediately upon reaching the interior of thruster tube room, long ropey tendons lashed out at them, and before the party had got properly into formation two of these latched on to Sheamus, causing him to loose half of his strength, and started pulling him towards the gaping maw of a huge stalagmite-like creature that was standing between the party and the secret door--the only other exit from the room. Others of its six arms locked onto different PCs and it was looking pretty touch and go for a while there. However, the party defeated the roper thanks to a combination of swords, spells, and Bumblebore's familiar O'Malfoy. Then they discovered that the guardian creature had apparently been deployed here via some sort of glass tube which was now broken into a million shards. This party is not squeamish about cutting up monsters for useful parts, and now this habit yielded a dividend as Bumblebore discovered 12 gems and some platinum pieces in the gullet.

At about the same time this was happening in game
my daughter sent me this picture from her work.
The spider is about 3 inches wide. I was receiving 
constant updates on it for the rest of the session.

The party chose not to explore back past the beetle lair they had reached last session, figuring that the acquisitive creatures had gathered all the treasure that could be had in that area. Instead they explored nearby corridors to the north and discovered a pit trap which claimed the hapless Sheamus; but in a stroke of good fortune the damage was minimal. In several places the floor had dropped out into debris filled areas below the passages, or, in some cases, the ceiling had fallen in and was choked with organic matter from the forest level. One of these places was filled with a strange mold that emitted a fear gas. I adjudicated that this became effective the instant the front rank entered the area; but in hindsight I think it should have applied to the whole group instead. Something for next time. 

In any case, Giuseppe failed his save and ran away in the opposite direction, which would have seen him run straight over one of the collapsed floor sections. This was a cunning combo trap that had come about through random chance, but those who were not effected by the gas were able to grab the Paladin before he fell into the depths below.

Now warned, they could have avoided the area with the mold altogether, but decided to use fire arrows (supplied by O'Malfoy) and Treefingers lit it up from a distance. Eventually they way was clear for them to continue. The room beyond connected back with a corridor they had already traversed, and, other than a harmless section of organic matter, being apparently empty, they carefully passed around the dangerous looking section and left the room. However, not before "something" had bumped into Bumblebore, and, not yet perceived by him, had relieved him of the pouch of gems he had gathered from the disgusting guts of the Roper. One great thing about discord is that you can let individuals know such things as they happen without the rest of the players finding out what their characters don't yet know. It does mean you have to be on your toes as a player though and be looking in your character channel.

This incident had come about entirely through a random encounter and my rechecking the abilities of certain creatures in the Fiend Folio before this session. Little did I know what it would soon prompt...

The misaligned and battered corridors lead west into another chamber with several exits. Through the north door was a corridor, at the end of which was wall of interconnected metal shards; like a grate with nasty looking barbs sticking out at all angles, beyond this was a dead end. However, just before the dead end, in a pile debris on the floor, could be seen the tell tale glint of gems. Bumblebore avoided any possible issues retrieving the gems by sending O'Malfoy, who was small enough to fit through the metal bars, to collect them up three at a time; one in each claw and one in its mouth (this detail became important later). However, when the magic user went to pocket the gems, he noticed the theft that had occurred a few rooms back; the gems from the Roper were gone!

When the distraught Theurgist reported this to the party, there was a great deal of dismay, and suspicions were aroused! The fact that both sets of gems happened to number the same, 12, added to this feeling (but it was just a co-incidence).

I can't be sure exactly what everyone was thinking at this point (or ever really, but this time certainly), but Giuseppe at least suspected this incident wasn't enemy action; while Sever left no doubt that he considered the new level 1 magic-user, who was yet to cast any spells so far this session, to be the culprit. It must be recalled that in session #25 Slippery Pete had used his Hat of Disguise to appear as a normal level 1 fighter, and now Sever suspected that "Petrov" - a name that suddenly seemed to be dripping with hidden import - was actually Slippery Pete in disguise. 

When Bumblebore protested that something invisible had stolen the gems, and not Petrov, this only increased suspicions; since Pete was known to possess a potion of invisibility. In any case, Sever had been suspicious that the thief was skimming off the top for a while now, and he had had enough.

Giuseppe, I think trying to forestall the anger of Sever, asked to inspect the gems they had just acquired thanks to O'Malfoy, and found nothing amiss. The question arose, how would they know if there had been some double switch-a-roo with the gems; maybe there was only ever one set of 12 gems!? Someone came up with the brilliant idea of asking what the gems tasted like, figuring that the ones from the Roper, which of course they had no time to thoroughly clean, would taste different from the others. And it was unanimously agree that while he carried them in his mouth O'Malfoy, and, via his familiar connection, Bumblebore, would have tasted these recently acquired gems and so could make this call. They tasted more of dirt than anything like the Roper, according to Bumblebore.

Well, let's just say that this left things not entirely to Sever's satisfaction. He decided he was going to do something about this internal menace to the party, and called out that "Petrov" had no proof that he was a magic-user. To this Petrov produced a spell book with four spells, which Sever promptly had Were'shbane read and determine was the genuine article. "So, you got a spell book from somewhere," the Ranger was unconvinced. 

Things simmered for a bit as Petrov pleaded his case and went through his spell list to prove he could not have been responsible. But when he read out the spell name Unseen Servant it had anything but a calming effect. Finally, Sever decided to take matters into his own hands, literally.

I forget his exact wording, but Sever's player decided to give Petrov a good shake to try and... I don't know, get him to come clean? I announced I would interpret this as a grapple, we both thought this would be a demonstrative but ultimately non-lethal action. 

However, 25% of grappling damage is real, and when you are a 2hp magic-user, that's a big problem. Petrov lost 3 hit points, and was dead. This left a bit of a pall over the party (although the opposite was going on in discord), particularly Sever's Ranger buddy Treefingers.

Now, I don't know how "pause time" "story gaming" "theatre kids" with "dice fudging" and "rule zero" would handle this situation, and I don't really care. I went back over the rules to be sure I hadn't made an error. Sever in his armour had a middling chance of catching Petrov, but once he got him he did 8 damage plus 5 for the Ranger's strength. With 25% of 13 points being 3, he had killed the innocent young magic user on his first adventure. RAW, this wasn't a good look for the Ranger and he started to feel some pain in his alignment, for Rangers can loose their class abilities permanently with an evil deed.

After a short discussion they gathered up Petrov's body and started to retreat. However, all of this activity had attracted other dungeon denizens. Two Boobries (as per session #35) confronted the party from the direction they wanted to go. Unlike last week, however, these had recently been fed and were not immediately hostile. They took one look at the glowering Sever and his grizzly cargo, and backed away down the corridor.

Having returned the way they had come without further incident, Sever resolved to fly to the white city of Minas Mandalf and seek a Raise Dead spell from one of of the clerics there in order to revive the dead adventurer. There was time available to achieve a bit more in this session if people could pull themselves together, so the party decamped to Castle Irish while Sever and Treefingers flew off on their mission of mercy. I didn't belabour this side-quest; but if we were playing a 6 hour session I certainly would have had some fun with it. 

"What happened to this poor fellow? He looks like he ran into Macho Mandalf's elbow!"

So, a day later the the Rangers (one 7000gp lighter) and Petrov returned from Minas Mandalf and the delve resumed. They retraced their steps and encountered the pair of Boobries again in the same room as before.  They seemed to look at the dried blood on the floor and back to Petrov a few times before again deciding it would be better not to mess with the party and leaving through the door to the North. Moving on they found a twisted section of corridor that lead to an "elevator trap", except, with the damage in this area, the elevator room went sideways instead of up or down, and left them in what was part of level 2 of the sky city before it crashed. The level now appeared to be a hodgepodge of the technical level and the forest level.

After some continuous exploration they found a room with what McScales identified as a maintenance lift platform that could be used to descend, probably all the way to the outside if the way wasn't obstructed. 

With a possible exit secured, the party chose to push on for a bit more and ran into an Achaierai, one of the 15' tall bird headed creatures they had previous encountered on the forest level. The legs of the creature proved very difficult to damage, but when they concentrated on its head they soon had the better of the creature.

But whoever bred the Achaierai was a real son of a gun:

The whole party took 2d6 damage from the black toxic smoke. Sadly, this meant death for Petrov, again. Sever shouldered the weight of the magic-user's lifeless body once more. Not only that, half the party were now 'moronic children' as per the spell description, although I goofed and let them know this was temporary a bit too soon.  Fortunately the other half of the party were able to shepherd the morons back to the lift platform and stop them wandering off long enough to get it working. The lift did indeed lead to another exit from the sky city and the surviving party members lived to fight another day.

Dungeon stats: 

Mapped area traversed: 320 feet

New corridor mapped: 520 feet

New rooms mapped: 5

Combats: 3

Total time in the dungeon: I will start recording this in future.

Treasure and XP

Treasure & Items

12 Gems sold for 2390gp

Total 2390 xp  & 2390gp

Monsters

1 Roper 3536xp

1 Aichaeirai 2700xp

Total  6236xp

8626 XP &  2390 GP Assignment weighted by level

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) 1234 XP & 455 GP

  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3, E)  923XP & 114 GP

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E ) 1234 XP & 455 GP

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, F)  1234 XP & 455 GP

Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, E ) 990 XP & 154 GP

Hawkern (Level 1 Fighter/Cleric, E ) 854 XP & 75 GP

Petrov (Level 1 Magic User, E ) XP & 0 GP

Bumblebore (Level 4 Magic User, E )  1082 XP & 303 GP

Treefingers (level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E) 1082  XP & 303 GP

Graveyard

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

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

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 71 (Machodor #35); Songs of the Pizza Slice of Doom

           

Timekeeping

This session took place on 23/05/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer) 

  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3) 

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane) 

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade) 

Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief, wearer of the Hat of Disguise) 

Deltacron (Level 1/2 Dwarf Fighter Thief) 

Hawkern (Level 1 Half Elf  Fighter/Cleric)

D Donny (Level 1 Monk) 

Introduction 

Fresh from a massive haul in the previous session, the party wanted more of the same. Would it work out that way?

Session Report

Once again the party made their way into the PSoD via the usual method of the access tunnel on the maintenance level. Having hardly got through the front door, they set off a trap that filled the access tunnel with water. In moments the water would have flooded the compartment they were in and probably killed them by water pressure alone forcing them into the sharp metal barriers at each of the room's exists. With moments to spare they managed enough open doors checks to shut the door and keep the water at bay. They would need to find another way out, but they weren't worried.

The party explored south and soon hit a pit trap, luckily the weakest jumped clear and avoided 2d6 damage. Beyond the trap was a door which really seemed to have the party stumped after spending round after round trying to open it. Extra random encounter rolls were made to no effect (dang) and someone suggested maybe the area beyond was also filled with water and that was prevent it from opening. But no, it was a fake door and it wasted significant time before they gave up.

To the west they found an access tube leading up to level 2. It was guarded by two Henku (egg laying Kenku, think Harpies). They were singing and I threw it to the players to suggest what a Kenku would sing. In any event most of the PCs were effected by their singing and came forward in a trance.  Sever had made his save and feigned to be effected and then chopped them down when he got in range. The Henku were really out of luck as all of the PCs they then touched made their saves versus charm and, before they could escape, they had taken too much damage to continue to fly and were soon finished off.

With the Henku out of the way the party were able to ascend one level and found the area there familiar, it was actually quite similar to the area of this level they had been too last year. Their exploration was fruitless before entering an elevator which, against their will, took them back down one level. This lead to a great deal of mapping confusion (and not just on my part), but eventually the party managed to confirm that this area connected with the other area of the maintenance level they had been to before. 

Just as they had made certain their position on the map they opened a door and ran into two giant and hungry bird creatures that decided the party would make a passable lunch.

The party was not the breakfast they were looking for.

After dealing with the Boobries and backtracking to the main door, the party kept going north and mapped yet more unexplored areas. They surprised and killed another Henku, this one was admiring itself in a floor to ceiling mirror at the end of one corridor. Their progress continued until they ran across a leathery man-like creature which tried to hide from them. It turned out to be one of the lizard man slaves used by the Hawkmen, and Sheamus, who had worked hard over the last year to learn their language while working with them on maintaining his Rocket Cycle, prevented Slippery Pete from slaughtering the poor creature.

This turned out to be a good idea as the Lizardman, soon dubbed McScales, reacted warmly to the Irishman speaking its language and immediately threw in with the party. He reported having escaped from a "flappy, tentacle-y creature" that was able to command Kenku and Hawkmen with its mind. McScales was searching for an exit to get away, and was hoping to find a means to reach one of the many thruster cones at the bottom of the sky city.

There was a secret door nearby, the lizardman had been very close to what he was seeking, and once it was open there was just one more random encounter to overcome. I rolled excitedly to see what dread guardian stood in their way: and I got Kenku hatchlings. So this was where they had been hiding from local predators. There were over 60 hatchlings and dozens of eggs with them. With three characters attacking the sub 1HD creatures six times a round, the result was a rout, the horrible creatures fled down a series of tubes that ran from the ceiling above into the floor below. The party followed and from there were able to drop down into the huge thruster cone that was pressed up against the volcano wall outside. From here they could see daylight light to the south, and from here it was possible to make their way out and then return to Castle Irish.

Dungeon stats: 

(This is a new session report feature where I summarise the delve)

Mapped area traversed: 320 feet

New corridor mapped: 400 feet

New rooms mapped: 10

Combats: 4

Total time in the dungeon: I will start recording this in future.

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 71 (Machodor #35)

Treasure & Items

Total XP 0 & 0gp

Monsters

3 Henku

2 Boobrie

63 Kenku Hatchlings

Total  3675xp

3675 XP &  0 GP Assignment weighted by level

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) 459 XP & 0 GP

  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3) 229 XP & 0 GP

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E)  459 XP & 0 GP

Deltacron (Level 1/2 Fighter Thief, S ) 459 XP & 0 GP

Hawkern (Level 1 Fighter/Cleric, E ) 459 XP & 0 GP

Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief, E ) 459 XP & 0 GP

D Donny (Level 1 Monk, E ) 459 XP & 0 GP

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E )  459 XP & 0 GP

Graveyard

Red (Human 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

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 70 (Machodor #34); Beetle Mania in the Pizza Slice of Doom

          

Not so boring after all

Timekeeping

This session took place on 16/05/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer, E) with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3)

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane, E)

Comfort Rod (Level 1 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence, E ) 

Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief of unknown origins, wearer of the Hat of Disguise, E ) 

Gurt the Green (Level 2 Paladin of Machodor, E )

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade, E ) 

Introduction 

Rumours circulated of silver beasts eating farmers' fields far to the north, and to the east a certain crazed Elf claiming the throne of Trollopulous; but, having gotten a taste for a new/old dungeon last session, the party went back for more.

Session Report

Augmented by Sheamus, much the same party as last session set off back to the Pizza Slice of Doom. There was a bit of digression to describe the exact capacity of the Rocket Cycle, since the party was now too large for them all to travel on it while Sever flew on his Pegasus. There was much nodding at the presence of sacks of fungus, somehow well preserved long after they had been absent mindedly stashed in the one of the two storage sections, and then they set off for the extinct volcano.

Last time, while gathering up the loot, they noted a bored entrance hole in the far end of the room which must have been made by the beetles the had defeated there. The prospect of a lair of the creatures was foremost in everyone's minds and the party made a b-line for it. First, however, they were cautious enough to carefully examine the entrance door. This was just as well, as Slippery Pete found a strange light-emitting device wedged between the door and the door-frame. Once removed the door opened without further issue.

Now inside, the players decided to explore a few corridors to extend their map before heading back to the area of interest hidden behind a secret door. Once inside they found the decaying corpses of the beetles they had defeated last session, their metallic carapaces had dissolved into mush, and no one was prepared to mess with that. 

The hole in the wall lead to a narrow passage, so they continued on in single file. Giuseppe took the lead and made heavy use of Detect Evil, which usually guarantees no evil will be found and today was no different. The meandering passage was cut right through the guts of the sky city maintenance level, leaving exposed sharp pieces of metal, some of which glowed with what might be dangerous energy.

They followed the passage until it terminated in a hexagonal room 30' across, in the center of which, below a low ceiling of sod and fungus and such, were a dozen of the metallic boring beetles like those they had handily defeated last session. The creatures were in a circle surrounding a big pile of coins and other items and the party pretty much stumbled right into them (I think they were surprised for 1 segment). However, I got a 98% reaction roll from the beetles! I figured that, not knowing that the party killed three of their number previously, they would simply observe them in some sort of bug eyed fascination. The MM entry says that when in large numbers the intelligence of the group approaches that of an average human, so I had to put myself in those shoes (claws?).

Giuseppe slowly pulled out some silver pieces and threw them across the room. One beetle responded and collected them one by one, then returned to the circle. By now the PCs had noted the tell tale shine of platinum pieces in the treasure pile, and their blood was up.

They retreated to the secret room and made a plan. Unknown to them, the beetles had also made a plan, although it turned out to be countered by what the party did next; which was to cover the floor of a section of the narrow tunnel with oil, and then strategically place gold pieces on the floor every few feet, in the hopes of luring the beetles into it were they could then set them alight.

When the first beetle appeared around the corner it soon found an arrow embedded in its shell. This was an attempt to draw it to them across the oil. Rather than attack, the beetle returned to its friends (with the gold coin) and they discussed the matter amongst themselves. I again rolled a 98 reaction, so they didn't regard the arrow as a threat as such, they were more confused than upset, and were more interested in gaining additional gold pieces from these strange outsiders. They sent out another beetle, and when the cycle repeated itself and it too came back with a gold piece and an arrow in its side, finally, they decided to attack.

The next thing the party saw was yet another beetle, but this one was carrying a load of mould (brown) which it proceeded to dump into the oil on the ground, soon another appeared and did the same, and before long they had covered the area leading into the room the party was in. It was time for fight or flight, and the party's strongest moved to hold the entrance, and did so; but a round later scratching and scraping noises could be heard behind the other walls; the bugs were making another way in to attack! 

they were coming out of the walls

Before long the beetles had made two new entrances into the room and the party was busy holding on to two of them with Sever and Sheamus while three beetles ran amok in the middle of their ranks. It was touch and go but the dice favoured the players; when a beetle did hit it hit hard, but they did not hit often enough to seriously threaten the higher level characters (or Slippery Pete who chose this opportunity to swig the last portion of his invisibility potion) and the lower level ones managed to stay just in the realm of positive hit points.

Slippery Pete went forward via one of the newly dug tunnels and found it lead right back to the beetle's lair, where three of them were still guarding their treasure. He explored further from there and did nothing the could not be mentioned in a session report.

Giuseppe, at the fall of a beetle, noted the absence of Pete, and pushed forward with his henchmen to investigate, but he found the brown mould in that tunnel actually radiated freezing waves of cold, which froze him and nearly killed his henchmen, and he had to retreat back into the room. If the beetles had better deployed that mould the battle could have gone their way, however, as their numbers dropped so did their combined intelligence, and in the end the party pushed on into their lair and killed the remaining three there, nearly losing Gurt the Green to a last, desperate bite from the remaining boring beetle while Slippery Pete backstabbed a beetle trying to escape with treasure. 

Prologue

This was a long battle and, following a vigorous debriefing of Slippery Pete, the party was in the mood to collect the (vast amount of) treasure and run; but, while they were doing so, they uncovered a broadsword with a large gem embedded in its hilt. Not being so foolish as to experiment with it in the dungeon, they wrapped the sheathed blade in a cloak and then retreated back all the way to Castle Irish without further encounters; but, once there, Gurt announced he was going to draw the sword and see what it did! And that was going to be a problem for the Paladin, since it was an intelligent sword of a different alignment to his.

DMG page 167

Had he escaped death at the mandibles of giant beetles only to fall in the courtyard of Castle Irish?

This sent me scurrying to calculate the ego of the sword which, with it being drawn from Unearthed Arcana for reasons I now regretted, was not that easy to do. In the end the Ego was exactly the same number as Gurt's current hit points, so he collapsed unconscious and the party carefully covered the sword again after Sever kicked it away (which notably did no harm to him). Being back in town meant that this was not life threatening for Gurt, but it did mean that he forfeited a week of downtime activity while he recovered, which in my book is getting off lightly! 

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 69 (Machodor #34)

Treasure & Items

Potion of Levitation 250xp 

Potion of Invisibility 250xp 

Potion of Longevity sold for 1000gp

Potion of Healing 200xp

Potion of Invulnerability 350xp

Potion of Water Breathing 400xp

3800pp

11 Gems: Total Value 11,780gp

Intelligent Broadsword "Dunker" sold for 15,000gp

Total XP 48,230 & 46,780gp

Monsters

12 Boring Beetles 2400xp

Total  2400xp

50,630 XP &  46,780 GP Assignment weighted by level

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) 10,469 XP & 9,356 GP

  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3) 1702 XP & 2339 GP

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E)  10,469 XP & 9,356 GP

Comfort Rod (Level 1 Cleric, E ) 2031 XP & 1559 GP

Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief, E ) 10,469 XP & 9,356 GP

Gurt the Green (Level 2 Paladin, E ) 3718 XP & 3119 GP

Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E )  10,469 XP & 9,356 GP

Graveyard

Red (Human 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

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 67 (Machodor #33); The Pizza Slice of Doom

a quadrant from the Sky City

Introduction 

In the aftermath of the Battle Braunstein in the previous session, one area captured the imagination of the players; the quadrant of the Sky City which had fallen from the top of the extinct volcano. This structure now rested on a ledge part way down the side of the volcano and, due to its shape and precarious position, had been given the nickname "The Pizza Slice of Doom". I never had plans for the party to explore this location, which they had avoided since last year. However, downtime chat indicated that the players wanted to go there, so what was it like now? From a DM's perspective this was a huge dungeon-restocking exercise, along with a change to the entire structure based on recent events. Actually drawing up such a map would be way too much prep; but, with a few simple modifications fed into Appendix A, along with a reshuffle of the encounter tables I had previously allocated to each level, both the players and the DM got to discover what was going on in this location as the session played out. I can tell you, this is more fun as a DM than if I could have spent the time to fully map it out in advance.

        

Timekeeping

This session took place on 04/25/2024, and the PCs adventured for 4 days.

Player Characters Present

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F2)

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E)

Comfort Rod (Level 1 Cleric, S ) 

Red (Level 1 Paladin, E ) RIP

Gurt the Green (Level 1 Paladin, E )

Godleve (Level 5 Cleric of Machodor, E ) 

Downtime

Another loose end from the BB was a room beneath the Fortress of Fear containing hundreds of armoured mannequins, one of which had sold for a princely sum in St. Raul. However, the Robopriest (Patron of the fortress) was quite protective of this room, and did not take well to some newer characters asking to examine it. This did not rule out access to the caves the party had previously explored which lead to Lord Inferno's lair, but for some reason it seemed to put the players off that choice and they instead explored the PSoD.

Session Report

It was a clear day and the party made their way from the Fortress of Fear to Castle Irish without any issue or encounter with Harold's (independent mercenary company [aka bandit] Patron) men. There they found that Sheamus (who's player had wanted to return to the crashed Sky City for ages) was busy with other matters; but they did learn from Connor McGregor (Irish Patron):

Connor tells you that there was a report of an intruder in the area where he keeps the energy projection equipment taken from the broken sky city quadrant [during the Battle Braunstein], "The boys are calling it the 'Pizza Slice of Doom', to be shure". There was no sign of anything missing but there were some black feathers found. He suggests that if you get the chance to go back to the PSoD and see if you can turn up anything.

Having already made the decision to do so, they rested at the castle and in the morning made their way to the base of the extinct volcano where the sky city quadrant had crashed down into the valley. There they made contact with the Irish troops posted there and explained their mission.

Without Sheamus and his rocket cycle they couldn't simply fly up there to the top, so they set about searching through the rocky debris, and here they unearthed the entrance to the internal rock-cut stairs that previously they had climbed up into the inside of the Sky City; but now, with quadrant gone and the other laying on the side of the mountain, when they reached the top the view had greatly changed, and they looked out into empty space to the west and east.

Peering over the ledge to the west, they could see that the broken off sky city quadrant landed in such a way that it lent against the volcano at a 70 degree angle. The narrow end facing them was only 20 feet or so down and this closeness allowed them so see what the damage had done to their ability to access the inside. In short the original access tunnel to level 1, the maintenance level, though damaged, was still accessible. Level 2, living areas and tech centres, was inaccessible; and level 3, the huge open forest level, had been squashed in such a way that the roof now touched the very tree tops, but there was still room for human sized creatures to enter.

The party chose to approach level 3 and climb their way down through the trees, looking for trouble and at the same time wary of the bizarre bird-creatures that they encountered on this level previously.

After a few hundred feet of pushing and pulling their way down through the trees, the floor suddenly bent upwards, probably as a result of the impact, allowing for much easier travel onwards. They soon passed a section that dropped down vertically and connected with a "level access tube" that was now effectively horizontal, and they recognised it would lead them to level 2 if they followed it. Instead of exploring that way, they stuck to the easier, almost level, travel and kept on through the trees until they found a large clearing. Within the clearing was a female Roc (the mate of the one killed last year in session #7) which was trying to get out of the relatively enclosed space, but could not do so as the ceiling was bent in at this point and it was too big to work its way out through the trees.

The party had one segment of surprise and chose to retreat to discuss their options. While they were huddling and in hushed discussion, Red chose to go forward into the clearing and lay down his weapon in a gesture of good will. The reaction roll suggested that the Roc took this as a gesture of 'dinner is served'.

Red makes a feathered friend

The creature charged and its bite was enough to send Red's HP into the, erm, red; unfortunately by just enough to kill him.

Their hand forced, the rest of the party battled the creature and they were pretty beat up by the time they had killed it. Now there were many enquiries as to the choice pieces of the creature they should collect (it was like stumbling into an episode of dungeon meshi). They began cutting and collecting until a score of Blood Ravens, attracted by the noise, began appearing in the surrounding trees. The party pulled out with what they could carry, including what was left of Red.

They forced their way back outside and then returned to the Irish camp, again via the stairs, and rested their tired legs. While there they picked up a plucky young Rogue called Cassian.

They climbed up the long stair again (their thighs were going to be killing them during downtime) and this time avoided the forest level and went down the level 1 access tunnel. (Later I discovered this was a misunderstanding and they thought they were still starting on the forest level).

Once inside they saw that it was very beat up, but still navigable, the damaged metal wall panels and such making the 70 degree incline relatively easy to descend its 240' length.

The session had been a bit of a stop-start affair, but now things really kicked into gear. The party went on an exploration and room clearing sequence that saw them map out five rooms, a few corridors, some secret doors. They ran into some Kenku Hatchlings which were barely a speed bump, before finding 3 aggressive metal-clad borer beetles in a hidden room with some good treasure. 

While gathering up the loot the beetles were guarding they noted a bored out entrance hole in the far end of the room. This, they figured, must have been made by the beetles when they entered the room. Should they explore further? No, instead they chose to ensure they had the resources of spells, hit points, and real time available to get back out again and down to the Irish camp, which they managed without incident.

Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 67 (Machodor #33)

Treasure & Items

300pp

4 Gems sold in Schloss Ragnar for 1950gp

Shield vs Missiles 400xp

Total XP 3450

Monsters

Roc 7500XP

4 Kenku Hatchlings 40 XP

25 Kenku eggs 75 XP

3 Robot Boring Beetles 645 XP

Total  XP 8260 

11,710 XP &  3450 GP Assignment weighted by level

Giuseppe (Level 6, E ) 2300 XP & 941 GP

 Tawdros (Level 2 hench, E) 835  XP & 156 GP

 Bishoy (Level 2 hench, E) 835  XP & 156 GP

Godlevel (Level 5, E) 12143 XP & 784 GP

Sever(Level 6, E ) 2300 XP & 941 GP

Comfort Rod (Level 1, E ) 1515  XP & 156 GP

Cassian* (Level 1, E ) 265  XP & 156 GP

Gurt the Green (Level 1, E ) 1515  XP & 156 GP

* wasn't there for the Roc

Graveyard

Red (Human 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

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 66 (Machodor #32); Battle Braunstein!

The Bandit Mountains

Braunstein: A Diplomacy-like game where players take on individual roles either cooperating or else working against each other’s interests under a fog of war. The referee meets with them in succession and while the referee adjudicates interactions between players as they come up, the other players are free to engage in negotiations and diplomacy in the next room. 

Battle Braunstein: An application of the Braunstein concept to a single session of an ongoing campaign, usually involving one of more battles using the rules of AD&D. Thankyou Jeffro

Introduction

In the days after the PCs jousted with the Black Knight in session #31, our special little dog, Snowball, died from cancer. Although we knew it was coming, that foreknowledge did not help with the grief of loosing a member of the family who had grown up with my daughter, was a constant companion for my wife when I was at work, and was my reading buddy and so on. Though I had a lot of support from the Bros, I did not have it in me to play or DM for some time. However, right before this, quite a few Patron actions and some PC downtime requests had been put in train and were now due to happen during this period. So, when I began to pull myself together, I had to consider how to process all these things and allow the campaign to continue on in 1:1 Time. Thanks to Jeffro's example, and BDubs' bullying of Dundermoose, I was already looking for a way to set up a Battle Braunstein, and this seemed like the ideal solution.

Players

MM p69

Of the regulars only one declined to play a patron, instead imbedding one of his PCs with another patron in the hope of getting an easy ride to Minas Mandalf.

The patrons consisted of:

Four Merchant Companies generated from the Monster Manual entry under "Men". This classic case of BROSR low DM prep was taken up by the players to produce:

• Magnus, Jerry & Reed, starting from the Valley of Fear
• East Machodor Trading Conglomerate, starting from St. Raul
• Commeatus Rusticorum, Starting from Schloss Ragnar
• Ancestor's Spirit, starting from Guarda

Helping (or hindering) the merchants were three other players:

• Oreb the Oracular (Secretly the KENKURIAN, leader of a large Kenku faction)
• Connor MrGregor (leader of the the Irish at Castle Irish)
• Sir Colias (Paladin Commander of the Machodorian Pegasus Corps 6th Company)

And, lastly, a special guess patron, Harold Wolfshead, played a faction generated from the bandit entry in the MM (p66). 

Patrons not present, but who had submitted various orders for the day were:

• Master of Winter
• Others still hidden in the fog of war

Preparation

As Fluid has mentioned, Braunstein scenarios need to be bounded in some way so as to encourage interactions between factions and to furnish meaningful outcomes. The below aspects were shaped by this necessity.

Map

If any one reading this is dedicated enough at reading my session reports (hi mum) they may have spotted a few changes in the Bandit Mountains map above. After bringing it up to date, the main difference is the encroachment of the desert from the west. This reflects the ongoing and, so far, barely explored phenomenon some PCs investigated one time and have since left alone. Acknowledging that it would be reaching the mountains by now also meant that the route from Schloss Ragnar to Minas Mandalf in that direction is now cut off to normal traffic, and this put paid to the many players who took one look at the map and wanted to go around the mountains completely to get to their destination.

Faction preparation

Starting about a week out from the session the Merchant players generated their forces and developed their individual takes and specialties. The Irish, Pegasus, and Kenku factions were told what forces were available to them and from all this, along with the Master of Winter and *others*, I produced a Faction summary sheet for each. (note to self, print each faction on its own separate sheet, or at least number the pages!)

Calendar

Printing one of these to mark off as the days passed was very useful. However, each day on the calendar didn't have enough space, I would make it bigger next time. I should also label days with appropriate holidays so I don't miss them when they crop up; St Patrick's Day actually fell at an opportune time but I didn't realise until after the session.

Rumors

To shake up any plans that might already have been negotiated by the players, in the lead up to game night I threw out a few rumours:

• The town of Eigermatt exports necklaces with healing properties; such would sell for a fortune in Saint Raul.
• The occupants of Castle Von Necro have allowed small parties to pass through their valley without attacking, but no large force has dared to cross it in many months.
• It is said that there is an isolated town, marked on the map, that no one has contacted for years and that has not been reached by any known merchant companies. 

Some of these were followed up in the session.

Rules

• Movement to be adjudicated daily. Within the Bandit Mountains:
• Wagons: 3 hexes per day
• Foot troops: 3 hexes per day (force marching possible according to the DMG)
• Mounted troops: 5-6-8 hexes per day (for heavy, medium, and light horse)
• Pegasus: 5 hexes per HOUR
• Kenku:2 hexes per HOUR

• General Battle Braunstein Scoring:
• income (selling goods, hiring out guys, etc) 
• minus a penalty for loosing troops 
• plus bonus for defeating enemies 
• plus possible one off bonuses.

• Some patrons had special conditions that were not public knowledge.
• Battles to be adjudicated in a similar fashion to that used here
• Winner(s) to get a training voucher to apply to any one of their characters.

Now, I think it needs to be said that a BB does not at all require the detailed level of constraints and rules that I applied in this instance. However, once some of the decisions were made, some driven by patron orders and others driven by the choice to include merchant factions as players, the rule applications that followed were easy to derive from the PHB, DMG, & MM; and doing so saved time and confusion on the day. 

On the other hand, it would have been possible to just have the merchants as hapless NPCs that the Master of Winter and other hazards were attacking, and to just report the results of these events to the other players without binding them to daily turns in response; but I think in this case it was worth it and made for a better game.

Session Report

Day 1 Friday March 15

It was a clear day and all players were able to make moves unopposed, except for Magnus. Coming down from the Fortress of Fear, he found himself faced by the forces of Harold Wolfshead; would there be a fight straight away? 

No, instead a negotiation started, or at least that was the idea; but, when I jumped into the separate voice chat it wasn't Magnus but Oreb the Oracular who was in there with Harold. I'm not sure quite what was going on there, but this was a meeting the KENKURIAN player could have arranged so it was not really a problem. It was a good example of the DM loosing control almost instantly in a BB! 

Next, Magnus joined the chat and Oreb the Oracular went on his way. The humans negotiated a deal rather than fight it out, a win win situation for them; but disappointing for the Pegasus 6th Company player, who had brought some forces into the area with an expectation of attacking someone. I had thought that this might be the only interaction Harold would get with other players, given that there were no more Merchants in his immediate area; but he proved that to be very wrong. Rather than just waving Magnus through, his forces accompanied him to the vicinity of Castle Irish and from there hatched plans to elevate his standing in the region.

Meanwhile:

• Commeatus Rusticorum forced marched from Schloss Ragnar and made it to Castle Irish. 
• The Ancestor's Spirit moved east from Guarda without issues. This player had the most possible choices of routes, so it was interesting to see what he chose.
• EMTC moved west from St Raul towards the mountains without issues.

Day 2 Saturday March 16th

Mel Gibson's head not visible from this side

The next day was also clear, and the Sky City launched! That one quadrant of the city had enough power to fly was something that the players already new, but they did not know when it would happen (I had decided that it would do so after two days of no rain). However, once launched, the subsequent shift in the terrain caused the quadrant on the opposite side, which had been hanging out in open space over the edge of the extinct volcano for a year, to loosen and then detach, crashing down into the valley below. This proved so enticing to players that we have subsequent had two sessions exploring the place.

• Sheamus (PC Fighter Level 6) arrived from the Sky City with information for Connor McGregor.
• The Ancestor's Spirit moved to the outskirts of the 'rumoured village' and made camp.
• Pegasus 6th company scoped out a trap at said village and warned the Ancestor's Spirit to steer clear. The stymied a well laid trap.
• EMTC moved west again, again without an issue.
• Commeatus Rusticorum rested at Castle Irish from the forced march of the previous day.
• Magnus arrived at Castle Irish.

Day #3 Sunday March 17 (Cloudy)

• Market Day at Castle Irish. There was lots of interplay and selling done here while I adjudicated other things. The main result was that the two merchants there, Magnus and Commeatus Rusticorum, joined caravans and the latter also hired most of the the available Irish troops to go with them. The combined force numbered over 1000 men. 
• In the evening Godleve (PC Cleric Level 5) arrived in a battered war wagon, one of the ones the PCs had captured in session #6 and were using in downtime to supply relief efforts at Gimmelwald. He had a horrible tale to tell. Earlier in the day some powerful force of cold enveloped the caravan, which was passing through the crossroads valley at the time, and only he managed to escape with his life.
• 
  The Ancestor's Spirit made camp in another ambush zone, below a huge snow covered peak on the opposite side of the crossroads valley. This time it cost them dearly. In the dead of night, the enemy: Ice Toads, Ice Trolls, and Yeti, surprised the merchants and their mercenaries in their camp. The entire force was routed almost immediately, providing the Yeti with a good supply of their favourite food. Only a few high level characters survived to be picked up by Pegasus riders the next morning and spread news of what happened.

Day #4 Monday March 18 (Windy)

• EMTC moved west. I think we had established that they were warned by the Pegasus riders of the danger; but I'm not certain, anyway, they decided to push through the crossroads valley and were ambushed. They had a well thought out travelling formation and held their own at the start of the battle. The player chose some good spells and tactics, and actually could have won against the Master of Winters's ground forces; but, that was what his white dragon was there for. The thing dived down towards them and let the dragon fear do its work. The final result for EMTC was a loss of two units of heavy cavalry; with most of the remnant including cattle fleeing back to the east, and with their vanguard fleeing west to later warn the combined force just a few miles away.
• When word reached them, I was thinking the combined force would hunker down and make a move in the morning, but the day had more in store. The Pegasus 6th company had gathered their full strength and moved to the reported location of the white dragon. The dragon's reaction to seeing 125 Pegasi bearing down on it was to head south; but, as it began its maneuverer, a black storm of feathers approached from behind the 6th company. Kenku! Two hundred of them. The dragon liked these odds better and was now prepared to engage. Was this going to be an aerial mass battle? No, instead of committing to serious losses, the 6th made use of their advantage in speed and tried to lead both enemies into a more favourable position. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensued until they lost sight of the enemy and landed at Wengen. They could bide their time and find them again tomorrow, or so they thought.

Day #5 Tuesday March 19 (Magic Storm)

a bizarre and freaky random weather occurrence

The storm trapped the 6th Company in Wengen and left the combined force with the choice of moving forward without air cover or staying put. However, when they chose to push on into the area they found no sign of any resistance (though they did eventually find the looted EMTC camp). The large combined group force marched all the way into Gimmelwald, and took up positions inside the walls of the town. Here they took great comfort in the knowledge that a great big beautiful wall now stood between them and the southern entrance to valley, from which direction the Master of Winter had invaded back in December.

Day #6 Wednesday March 20 (Rain)

The previous day's forced march required a rest, and the rain just emphasised the point. The session was nearing completion; but in a call back to Jeffro, there was still some icing on the cake.

Magnus was restless at the delay, and, when he went out to inspect the defences, the KENKURIAN struck via the 5HD Kenku with the Call Lightning ability he had embedded in the caravan. This fellow patiently mumbled to himself for 10 minutes and then waited for his chance. It didn't take long and Magnus, a level 0 human, was hit by a Lightning bolt for 29 Hit Points. The perpetrator was immediately given swift justice, but the KENKURIAN himself was able to figuratively twirl his moustache (lol, that has layers), turn invisible, and fly away. With this action he was practically the King maker.

Day 7-10 (Cloudy, Cloudy, Windy, Clear)

With a few days of passable weather, the combined forces travelled from Gimmelwald the rest of the way to St Raul without further incident and began to sell their wares. The Braunstein was over. I then adjudicated the scores, including the many shenanigans sent to me in chat that didn't get resolved in the session, and the clear winner was Commeatus Rusticorum aka Fluid the Druid. Congratulations! 

Conclusions

The AD&D rules, plus knowledge of the campaign you can create with them, are all you need to play a Braunstein. As is often the case, I don't think the session report does justice to how much fun we had playing. As a DM I thought it was great, and I'm pretty sure the players did too. 

What was achieved for the campaign?

One thing that can become a problem with 1:1 time as a DM is when Patron orders can't be implemented for whatever reason and then adjudication of everything else backs up from there. In this case, by having a Battle Braunstein, a bunch of pending Patron orders were adjudicated in an entertaining and fair way, taking life in the campaign beyond just the DM/Patron interaction; and those that had effect are now well known by the players.

The Master of Winter keeps on winning in his own domain, what can be done about him? By the way, I don't think it is giving anything away to point out that of all the forces he deployed in this session, most of them were not his to command when the player started running his domain, but were built up over time via shrewd play and negotiations. He had provided orders for when, where, and how long his forces would be in the field, such that it was quite easy to adjudicate this in the session.

Harold Wolfshead has staked a claim for his domain, filling a vacuum left by another Patron who has gone off the radar.

What could be improved for next time? Two things stand out; one, using co-DMs could certainly help when adjudicating a battle that takes a single DM's entire focus, however this would have to be organised so that the time taken for the DMs to get on the same page did not mean a similar amount of waiting around for the other players; and two, I implicitly treated the merchants as the main players to the detriment of the other patrons, and this was hard on the Pegasus player whose forces were capable of many more actions a day that I could easily cover.

Was the effort worth the pay off? Absolutely. Only slightly more prep than normal was required, but most of this I delegated to the players anyway, and the payoff has settled some things in the campaign that otherwise would be been non-engaging DM exposition, and no one wants that.

#ThankyouJeffro

In memory of Snowball