Last night, we played the 8th session of our ongoing AD&D 2e campaign. The combined player report for sessions 6 and 7 is here.
To recap, after a near-deadly ambush by a band of kobolds, the party had to decide whether to press on back towards town or spend time trying to locate their hireling, Terris, who had lost morale and run off in the midst of the fight. They chose to wait around for a bit, but Terris never returned, and so they left him to his fate.
The party returned to town and returned the stonemasons they'd managed to rescue, earning some gold and the favor of the guild. Karven Stone, the thief, recruited another thief, Sheyla, as a henchman, and Yinvalur Sparkguard, the elf, became a henchman of Bernhardt Dalton, the cleric. The player of Rozidien Stoneskull, the paladin, switched out that character in favor of Ash, an elf fighter. There was some shopping and consternation over magic item prices, and the party then spent a week of downtime in town collecting rumors.
The party already knew about two quests - one nearby, to rid an old tomb of a restless spirit, and another farther afield, to kill some pegasi and steal their babies for an evil wizard, which they did not want to do. They learned of four more quests - ogres terrorizing a nearby town, a forest beast eating foresters, a bug infestation, and barbarians raiding lumber mills. They decided to deal with the nearby haunting first, then see about those barbarians.
After meeting with a priest, the party made their way to tomb. They encountered a ragged band of hungry wolves, which they chased off, as well as a band of orcs which had just been chased away from the tomb by mad barbarians occupying the site.
The party reached the tomb, avoiding the barbarians guarding the one entrance, and navigated a trapped room. Their shenanigans alerted the barbarians, who surrounded them. The party convinced the barbarians that they were not here to raid their ancestors' tombs, and Bernhardt cooked them a delicious meal which warmed their hearts and sobered their minds. The barbarians directed the party towards a secret chamber deeper within the tomb, where they found the remains which they hoped to bring back to the priest in town.
The party carefully removed the remains and moved to exit the tomb, only for shadowy figures to begin to coalesce from the eerie mist floating above the floor. A telepathic voice accused the party of stealing secrets, and said that they would die. It seemed that they would inevitably be attacked.
Aggressive Negotiations and Unlikely Outcomes
When I had originally prepped the Whispering Tomb, my reaction roll for this apparition (a generic 3 HD incorporeal undead) had been 1. In accordance with the rules I use for social interaction, that meant that the spirit would be hostile, but that the player characters would have one single chance to try to convince it not to attack, if they wanted to. Bernhardt decided to try to convince the spirit that they were not here to hurt it or steal its secrets.
I made a subsequent reaction roll (at -4 because the spirit was already hostile, and -2 because of Bernhardt's low Charisma, so -6 total) and rolled a 6 (6+6-6)! Since the reaction was not negative (5 or lower), the spirit hesitated, and Bernhardt successfully bought them some time. I rolled 2d6-4 to see how much time exactly, and got a result of 2. The party had two more attempts to convince the spirit they meant no harm.
At this point, the spirit materialized, and it looked identical to the body the party had found in the other room. There were ghostly shackles holding its arms up, as if it were still chained to the ceiling, and it wore the strange alien helmet which was still affixed to the skeleton's head.
Bernhardt told the apparition that the party was here to help a priest put a spirit to rest, and asked the apparition its name. The apparition dimly recalled its name being Vicorin, but said there must be some mistake - there was no restless spirit here, only Vicorin and his friends. The party noticed a trio of faceless, less substantial projections materialize around them - two immediately on either side of Haymond Baler, which was a bit funny.
Haymond quickly regained his composure and spoke up - which was good, because he has the best Charisma in the party. He told Vicorin's spirit that they meant no harm and would be on their way. I made another reaction roll, this time with a +2 (-4 because the spirit was still hostile, and +6 due to Haymond's Charisma). I rolled a 13 (5+6+2)!
Vicorin's spirit recognized Haymond as a simple farm boy, rather than some scheming wizard bent on stealing his secrets. Haymond had purchased bronze plate mail in town, so he gave the appearance of an aspiring knight. Surely, he could mean no harm. Vicorin's spirit relented, but said the party must leave at once. They did not need to be told twice. The faceless projections around them clawed feebly at them as they exited, but did not pursue them.
This was all a shock to me. I had fully expected to start this session with a combat encounter, especially once Bernhardt chose to be the one attempting to negotiate with the angry spirit. Once again, the dice delivered a result I never anticipated, and one which was far more interesting and satisfying than what I would have come up with on my own. I continue to feel validated in using a robust and flexible social interaction mechanic.
The party exited the tomb and rejoined the barbarians outside. The barbarians saw that the party was true to their word. Bernhardt estimated that it would take a couple of days for the spirit to be at peace (a day and a half's travel back to town), at which point the barbarians could safely reenter the tomb if they wished. Niclaus, their leader, thanked the party, and the party learned that they called themselves the Withered Wood Tribe. They parted ways amicably and the party returned to town.
Town Business (Again)
The party returned the recovered remains to the priest, Reinald. Bernhardt offered to assist in the rites which the priest would perform, which lasted from sundown to sunup and involved holy oils, incense, and much flagellation. It turned out that Reinald was a very intense man.
Reinald had no use for the strange helmet which the party had found on the corpse, and didn't know what its purpose was, so he returned it to them. The party had no way to determine its function either, besides trying it on and seeing what would happen, which none of them seemed keen to do. They asked around town and learned of a wizard by the name of Nettie who could identify it. When they headed to their tower, they found that a single casting of the identify spell would cost 1,000 gold pieces. Cue griping about how expensive everything is.
The 2e DMG actually does provide prices for spellcasting services (Table 69, page 154), and this is one of them. The DMG explicitly states that characters "must be prepared to pay (and pay dearly) for [spellcasting] services...the NPC knows [they have] the player characters over a barrel and will bargain accordingly...The costs...can be raised (but seldom lowered) for a variety of reasons. In general, the costs of purchasing a spell are such that it is far better for someone in the party to learn the spell. In general, the mercenary use of NPC spellcasters should be discouraged whenever possible. The player characters are supposed to face challenges on their own!"
I appreciate this approach to the issue, even if my players do not. As I stated in my previous play report, I am sympathetic to players when they say that they have lots of gold and not much to spend it on (even if I can think of plenty of things to spend it on), and so I do think that they should be able to purchase spellcasting services, magic items, and the like. However, in my experience players simultaneously complain that there is both nothing to spend their gold on and also that everything is too expensive. So, which is it?
5e takes a similar approach to 2e, in that purchasing magic items and spellcasting services is discouraged, but guidelines are still occasionally provided. However, the prices I've found for 5e are quite low (for example, an identify spell in 5e might cost as little as 20 gp). This means that beyond a certain level, acquiring these services is entirely trivial. At 1,000 gp per item, the choice of whether or not to outsource magic item identification to an NPC becomes much weightier.
Besides, if 1,000 gp is too rich for their blood, the players always have the option of identifying things the old fashioned way - by simply using them, or bullying their henchmen and hirelings into using them. I'm interested to see if the players ever use that option, or if they're much too fearful of the possible drawbacks to try it.
The Long Road
Next, the party embarked on their long journey south. It would be three and half days of travel from Spiritbrook to Mythshire, a day from Mythshire to Southreach, and another day from Southreach to Houndrun. The first leg of their journey (a total of ten random encounter checks) passed without incident, and they safely reached Mythshire. The tower of Lord Montaigu, the town's tyrannical wizard overlord, loomed in the center of town.
As the party passed through the town's square, they encountered a crowd of onlookers gathered around a party of adventurers. The adventurers in turn were gathered around a cart which contained the bloody remains of a pegasus, and a crate holding four pegasus eggs. A female fighter stood on the cart, holding aloft a disembodied pegasus head, proclaiming the party to be the Pit Fighters of Self-Restraint - the greatest adventurers in the land!
It was clear at this point that the players had no interest in the pegasus-butchering quest - I hadn't really expected them to pursue it to begin with, but enjoy throwing in an "evil" quest now and then to see what they might do - so I decided that as they passed through Mythshire, they'd encounter a rival group of evil adventurers who had taken the hook in their stead. I felt it was the most interesting thing I could do with a hook that otherwise would go unused.
The townspeople were variably amazed by the adventurers and disgusted by their brutality, fearing what the dreadful Lord Montaigu might do with a handful of pegasus eggs. The player characters were somewhat incensed by this grisly display, but decided against starting a fight in town. Maybe their inaction will have repercussions down the line, or maybe it won't. Either way, I plan for them to run into the Pit fighters of Self-Restraint again in the future. If I do my job right, they'll learn to despise them.
The party opted not to stay the night in Mythshire, and instead pushed on towards Southreach (three random encounter checks). Immediately outside the gates, they encountered a small group of merchants with a retinue of armed guards (this was the first random encounter of the session, despite quite a bit of traveling to this point). I decided to roll dice to determine which luxury resource from Civilization V the merchants were carrying, and got pearls, so I decided they were from a far away coastal or island nation and had crabs, ivory, and pearls.
The guards were led by a 6th-level fighter, and since they were from a seafaring civilization I arbitrarily decided that it would be funny if the leader had a trident of fish command for Haymond Baler to fawn over. The two engaged in a humorous dialogue while waiting in a queue to enter the city.
The fighter, Germando (randomly determined using Fantasy Name Generators, and humorously similar to Haymond's own name) regaled Haymond with stories of underwater battles with shark men and giant octopi, and encouraged Haymond to seek out magical means to plumb the undersea depths and find a fine magical trident of his own some day.
The party stayed in Southreach for the evening and splurged on crab stew, courtesy of the merchants they had met. While wandering the streets, Ash was nearly embroiled in a random encounter with some rowdy workers, but was able to avoid an altercation. Haymond bought an ox, a cart, a guard dog, and a hunting dog.
I had become aware at this point that my settlements need some work. They are usually something of an afterthought for me - a place for the party to sleep, gather rumors, recruit NPCs, shop, acquire services, and the like. Aside from the local ruler and nearby quest hooks, they don't have much character. I've decided to try to devote more time to fleshing them out with more details.
I don't particularly care what the local inns are called or what the blacksmith's name is, but it would be nice to know a factoid or two about local history, landmarks, important NPCs, and potential quests to be had in the settlement itself. I'm not entirely sure how I intend to flesh all that out and make it gameable (how many adventure sights should be in a village? a town? a city?), but it's something I'm definitely thinking about.
Red in Tooth and Claw
The next day, the party moved onto Houndrun (one random encounter check), and arrived without incident. They sought out the foreman of the local logging company, whose name I cannot recall and did not write down - I was anticipating more random encounters and did not expect the players to get this far during this session. Hopefully, one of the players took notes!
The foreman told the party that a local tribe, who call themselves the Wolfkin, had come under new leadership, and were aggressively attacking logging camps on the fringes of Houndrun's domain. The party would be rewarded so long as the foreman was satisfied that their operations could continue safely, whether that be by wiping out the raiders, killing their leader, negotiating a peace, or the like.
Haymond asked the foreman if he had anything which belonged to the tribe, so that his new hunting dog could get a scent. The foreman had a wolf pelt which the tribe's warriors wore as headdresses. With the scent, the party set out the next day towards the forest. It would take them about half a day (5 hours) to reach the last logging camp that was raided, and they hoped to find the Wolkin camp deeper in the forest beyond that.
At the edge of the forest, the party encountered a mounted patrol from Houndrun. The patrol had just scouted out the nearby logging camp which had been sacked, and were returning with Houndrun's dead. They warned the party that the camp was a brutal sight, and wished them the best of luck on in their endeavors. The patrol was not about to go running off into the deep woods to find the Wolfkin themselves.
The party reached the sacked logging camp, which had been put to the torch. There were slain barbarians scattered about. At this point, they continued on in the direction Haymond's hunting dog pulled them. The party had six more random encounter checks, which amounted to nothing. This is likely the most fortunate they've been with random encounters so far! If my math is correct, they had something like 23 random encounter checks this session, and only ended up with two encounters - one with merchants and one with a patrol.
Running Up That Hill
At about midday the following day, the thick forest cleared somewhat, and the party camp upon a hill surrounded by a wooden palisade. I rolled to determine the distance, and they were in luck - the tree line was only about ten feet from the hill, allowing the party to get very close without being detected. I Googled "barbarian camp battle map" and picked this one from Neutral Party (they are my go-to for simple wilderness maps when I need them, whereas Dyson Logos is my choice for dungeon crawl scenarios and the occasionally subterranean monster lair):
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