Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 3)

We played the third session of  our In Search of the Unknown AD&D 2e game last night. My session 2 report is here.

We were missing Matt (Barthalo-gnome), so our roster was as follows:

• Llombaerth, CG elf thief 1 (Adam)
• Millisant, LE human mage 1 (Aidan)
• Pommernar, CE elf mage 1 (Nael)
• Rory the Small, LN human fighter 1 (David)

Last time, the characters learned that some ruffians had stolen a sentimental ring from Grilk, the leader of Quasqueton's goblins. Wanting to get in Grilk's good graces in exchange for hospitality and information, the party agreed to track the ruffians down. Since the whole party at the time had infravision, they left their torchbearer, Bronson, with the goblins. 

They headed north, passing Narka, a goblin listening carefully at a wall. Narka warned the party that there were rats in the walls. If they found any, they should bring them back for the stewpot. The party set out into the dark. They left a few corridors unexplored as they headed towards a light source and the sound of humans arguing.

They found the ruffians trying to free their leader, who was trapped behind a portcullis. Llombaerth tried to sneak up on them, but was spotted. The party convinced the ruffians they were here to help, explained their plan, and got the ruffians to enact it. While they were occupied, the party snuffed out their torch and struck in the darkness, killing two of the ruffians, bringing the third within an inch of his life, and forcing the leader to surrender. The ruffians surrendered their valuables, including Grilk's ring, and the party slew them anyway.

We began session 3 with the party returning to Grilk, their dungeon map allowing them to backtrack quickly. Grilk could see by their bloodstained clothes that they had killed something. Pommernar tossed Grilk his ring, and Grilk was delighted. He asked the party to indulge him by describing how exactly they killed the ruffians. Pommernar explained how the party fell upon them, but left out the subterfuge and the false mercy they offered to the remaining ruffians. Grilk seemed disappointed.

The party debated for some time as to what exactly they should ask of Grilk in return - hospitality or information. If information is what they wanted, what was most important? They decided to ask if the goblins could fill in their map with whatever information they knew.

Grilk summoned Narka, who went to work on the map. She drew in where the orcs laired to the southeast, and indicated a spiraling room to the southwest. She also drew in rats in the western wall of the northward corridor (where the party had gone to track down the ruffians), and indicated that a different northward corridor was where some goblins scouts had headed, but hadn't returned. Near that corridor, she also drew in a room which Grilk said the goblins had "secured" but were not currently occupying.

Throughout this process, Grilk and Narka went back and forth in goblin. Narka seemed to be looking to Grilk to determine whether she should fill in certain details, and Grilk seemed be instructing her not to. Information is Grilk's most valuable currency. For now, he was being tight-lipped.

The party had several options to explore. For the goblins, they could go confront the orcs or track down the missing scouts. They asked if bringing back some rats would be considered a favor, to which Grilk said no. After some protest from Narka, he conceded that he would trade a favor for dead rats. The party also had the option to explore the spiraling room to the southwest or some of the side passages branching off of the corridor which led to the ruffians.

They chose to pursue the latter course of action. With some humans back in the party, they went to retrieve their torchbearer, Bronson, who was in the goblin kitchen scraping mold off of old food. Bronson still seemed rattled by the magic mouths the party had encountered upon entering Quasqueton, and said he wouldn't mind staying with the goblins for a bit. The party decided he was better off staying safe with the goblins so that he could help them carry treasure back to town later, so they let him stay. Pommernar would carry the lantern.

As they headed north, they decided to investigate the wall in which Narka had indicated the rats lived. They noticed several empty grain hulls spilled across the floor in front of a section of wall which did not match the others. The walls sounded unusually thin, and the party could hear something inside moving and squeaking.

After taking a beat to search, Llombaerth found a switch which opened a secret door. On the other side, the party found a triangular room with stacks of barrels and casks against the wall, with five rats as big as small dogs feasting on a barrel of spilled grain. The rats turned their attention to the party, raising their hackles, baring their teeth, and hissing. Llombaerth backed away.

As the rats looked poised to strike, Llombaerth poured some oil onto the floor in front of the doorway. Pommernar readied his lantern for Rory to light a torch. Rory fumbled retrieving the torch from his pack, allowing two of the rats to strike. Llombaerth was back at the front of the group, so the rats leapt at him. Llombaerth is unarmored, with just 6 hit points.

The first rat hit AC 3 for 2 damage. The second rat hit AC 2 for 2 damage. Rory finally produced a torch, lit it, and threw it onto the oil slick in which the two rats were standing. One managed to leap out of the way, but the other went up in flames, twisting and shrieking. Millisant fired off a trio of darts, one of which planted itself in the back of the fleeing rat's neck, killing it. The remaining two darts bounced harmlessly off the walls of the room beyond.

I made a morale check for the remaining rats, who failed. They turned and squeezed their way into nooks and crannies within the stack of casks and barrels, disappearing.

Narka came running around the corner at the sound of screaming rats. Millisant nudged the burning rat corpse out of the fire, and Narka stomped on it until the flames were extinguished. The party waited for the oil to burn off, then went inside the room. Narka dragged out the other rat behind them.

Inside, the party found 60 barrels and casks labeled with one of 20 different one- or two-letter codes. They decided to spend 40 minutes cracking open one of each and cataloguing the contents. This is yet another of B1's rooms with a big list of things. They found barley, flour, salt pork, pickles, raisins, brined fish, dried apples, whole peas, ale, honey, wine, water, soft soap, salt, lard, "seasoning", sunflower seeds, hard candy, and dried mushrooms.

According to the module, the contents "are by no means 'fresh'", "although usable or edible still, they nonetheless have an off-taste which suggests staleness." As the players discussed, I started looking at the 2e equipment table to figure out how much some of this stuff was worth:

Since three types of spice are listed, I decided to roll a d6 to determine how rare the "seasoning" they found was: 1-3 would be uncommon, 4-5 rare, and 6 exotic. I rolled a 6! I decided that each barrel had about 70 pounds of contents. At 15 gp per pound, this barrel was worth 1,050 gp! This prompted a discussion as to whether or not the party should immediately return to town, but they decided to keep exploring.

Pommernar melted two candles to reseal the barrel of spice and the barrel of hard candy (which I decided were those delicious lavender candies) and rolled two barrels of barley out into the hall for the goblins to take. The party searched for a second switch to reseal the room behind them, and Llombaerth once again came through with the clutch roll, securing the party's prize.

Since Llombaerth was injured and unarmored, and the ruffians the party had killed wore studded leather, the party returned to the murder scene to pilfer some. Then, they explored a side passage heading eastward.

They entered into the labyrinth of corridors which takes up most of the northeast quadrant of Quasqueton layout. The party left a door to the left unexplored. The corridor went 130 feet and turned left. It went another 20 feet and turned left again. Then, another 30 feet and a right turn. Then, 20 feet and a T intersection, and 10 feet further, another T intersection. They took the first left to a pair of dead ends. They backtracked and took the first right. The corridor went 40 feet and turned right. 10 feet ahead, a left turn led 30 feet to a dead end. 40 feet beyond that, the corridor turned right again. That corridor went 60 feet and continued on and turned left. The players marveled at the stunning craftsmanship of the stronghold dungeons.

They took the left, ignored another left 10 feet ahead, and took a right 20 feet beyond that. 20 feet down that corridor, they found a thick, heavy wooden door with a fancy R carved on it. 

It was stuck. Rory tried to force it, but failed. I checked for wandering monsters, but got nothing. I told David he could try as many times as he liked, but each attempt would prompt a wandering monster check. He tried once more, and this time the door gave way.

Inside, they found what looked like a gym. Woven mats were piled on the floor to form a wrestling ring-sized cushion. Iron bars leaned in the corner, and weapons and shields hung on the wall. A rope dangled from the ceiling. Lying on the floor opposite the door was a crumpled humanoid shape which looked like a little old person.

Rory entered to investigate. Millsant followed inside. Pommernar held the door to keep it from swinging shut. Llombaerth lingered behind him. Rory poked the thing on the floor with his halberd. It was dry and fragile like old paper, crumbling beneath the softest touch.

I called for surprise rolls. Rory and Millisant passed, but Pommernar and Llombaerth failed. Rory and Millisant looked up just in time to see a large tick hanging from the ceiling just above Rory, ready to drop. Millisant threw three darts, scoring a critical hit for 4 damage and hitting AC 1 for 3 damage. His third attack hit AC 5, which was a miss, the dart bouncing harmless off the insect's carapace.

Rory prepared to slice the bug as it fell, but was slow to ready his weapon. It landed on him, sinking its proboscis into his flesh (it hit AC 5 - Rory's AC exactly - for 2 damage). It latched on, sucking Rory's blood. Rory switched to his dagger to stab at it, but rolled a critical failure.

As Rory thrashed about which the bug latched on, I notified the players that any ranged weapon attacks would have a 50/50 chance of hitting either the tick or Rory. With Pommernar holding the door, he was unable to help. Llombaerth and Millisant drew their weapons and charged in.

Millisant struck first with her quarterstaff, whiffing entirely as Rory's thrashing made it difficult to land a blow. Rory stabbed with his dagger, but this time his weapon glanced off the creature's carapace. Llombaerth attacked with his long sword, landing the party's second critical hit of the encounter for 7 damage, slicing the tick clean off of Rory's chest and killing it.

That, by the way, was a 4 HD giant tick. They have an average hit point total of 18, but by the grace of Rogahn, I rolled just 12 hit points for this one. If it had stayed latched on, it would have done an automatic 1d6 damage per round, likely killing Rory in three rounds. Its low hit point total, combined with the party's two crits, means they got very lucky!

And I'm happy for them. This is one of the more dangerous monsters in my version of Quasqueton, and I was pretty concerned that Rory was about to go down. I'm glad that he'll live to fight another day.

But between the rats and the tick, Quasqueton is beginning to wear the party down. They don't have a cleric or any healing potions, and natural healing in AD&D is slow. They are playing a dangerous game now.

With their triumph over the tick, we ended the session. We seem to be having quite a bit of fun with this so far, and I'm excited to see where it goes next.