Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 14)

We played the fourteenth session of our Dungeon Module B1: In Search of Unknown AD&D 2e game last night. You can read past play reports here.

The roster for this session was as follows:

• Llombaerth, CG elf thief 4 (Adam)
• Mirkle, N human fighter 1 (Maya)
• Zommernar, CN elf fighter 1 (Nael)
• Bilodeau, man-at-arms (NPC)
• Graves, man-at-arms (NPC)
• Walgretor, half-elf porter (NPC)

Last we played, the party returned to Timbershore after their most recent expedition to Quasqueton. Before selling their treasure, they sought a wizard to determine if any of their loot was magical. They learned of a few potential candidates, but sought out Albertyna, a wizardess who ruled over the River Ward. They went off in search of her manse and encountered a drunken man and woman out for an evening stroll.

The man was very drunk, and stumbled and tore the woman's fine dress in his clumsiness. She cast a spell and levitated him into the air. By chance, the party had happened to run into Albertyna herself! They introduced themselves, and she invited them to find her at her manse in the morning. Once she left, the drunk man floated gently to the ground, unconscious, and the party robbed him. They found four gemstones, three of which were worth 500 g.p. They stole the man's fine clothes and stuffed him in a rubbish bin.

The following morning, the party went to Albertyna's manse. They dealt with one of her henchmen at the door, then met Thibaud, a lesser wizard in Albertyna's employ, who confirmed that none of their items were magical. When Thibaud learned that the party had been to Quasqueton, he threatened to expose them to Lambrecht, the wizard who rules over the whole town and who allegedly has a rightful claim to the dungeon and all its treasures. They eventually persuaded Thibaud that this would not be in his best interest, and sold much of their treasure to him.

Next, they met with Albertyna, who gave them a reward for killing one of the owlbears menacing the forest. They also told her of Quasqueton, and she informed them that it was her responsibility to report them to Lambrecht. The party quickly changed their story, and Albertyna played along. 

They exchanged "rumors" about Quasqueton with her, and she expressed interest in learning more. She also shared a "rumor" about a mercenary who had come to town bragging about having braved Quasqueton himself. The mercenary had been rounded up by Lambrecht's men and was currently being questioned about his associates. While the party expressed concern about any adventurers who might happen to have designs on Quasqueton, Albertyna explained that Lambrecht is slow to act, obsessed with signs and portents, and that he would be unlikely to take immediate retribution.

We picked up from there. The party had more business in town, so they went about it. First, shopping. They went to the High Ward and bought a pair of mules, splint mail for Mirkle, a bullseye lantern, a sack of caltrops, three spetums with which to arm men-at-arms, and a bunch of alchemist's fire.

Next, they went to the Chapel Ward and spent 10 g.p. to hire a crier and another 50 g.p. to post notices that they were seeking henchmen. Since it would take 2 to 8 days for prospects to begin showing up, they waited until nightfall and then went to the River Ward to meet with the smugglers at the Rusted Anchor, an old, derelict barge at the docks.

Llombaerth used the secret knock he had learned from "Two Fingers" Malrec, and the party was invited inside the barge's cabin, which had been outfitted into a cozy office. Standing by the door was a tall elf named Lethariel Vaen. Seated behind a comically large desk was a halfling named Tavin Underbough. 

The pair laughed when Llombaerth suggested that they were part of a Thieves' Guild. "Don't worry," Tavin said, "there is no Thieves' Guild in Timbershore. You won't get mixed up in any turf wars or stabbed in the back for plying your trade. We're just a pair of upstarts, making a living helping folks like you get around those tyrannical tariffs."

The party explained that they had treasure to move, and laid out all that they had recovered from Quasqueton and were yet to sell. They suggested that there was more where that came from, including large items like a dragon skin and a statue (prior to this, the players had spent some time discussing how exactly they were going to move the basilisk statue they had found). Tavin explained that they could bring their treasure to the riverbank opposite town at night, give a signal using a lantern, and they would send a barge to take possession of the treasure and store it somewhere safe.

The thieves would help the party get around duties, tariffs, and taxes, but they wouldn't do it for free. Basically, whatever fees the party would normally pay when bringing treasure to town and selling it, they would instead pay half that amount to the thieves for their services. The party agreed, sold what treasure they still had, and promised to bring more.

While there, the party also had the thieves identify the remaining gemstone they had pilfered from the drunken noble, Ludovic Pell. I appraised it on the spot and rolled 100 on d100, indicating a 5,000 g.p. (!) precious jewel. I selected one randomly from the list in the DMG and got a, uh...oriental emerald. We all laughed at the idea of a nobleman carrying an insanely valuable gemstone around with him as he went barhopping. 

This was a significant enough treasure for Mirkle and Zommernar to reach 2nd level. I'm pretty sure the party has gotten more XP and gold from robbing one guy in town than they've gotten from all their time spent in Quasqueton. Silly! I'm not bothered by it though. This is also, obviously a recognizable gemstone. Ludovic Pell will be looking for it. The party will have to be careful what they do with it!

The party returned to the Chapel Ward to sleep, and spent the next several days waiting for prospective henchmen to show up.

Prior to this session, I spent some time revisiting my deep dive on recruiting henchmen in AD&D. I gave the players a little synopsis explaining the different methods of finding henchmen and how the recruiting process worked. Here's what I gave them:

For advertising*:

• 50 g.p. to post notices in public (+10-40% effectiveness**; average 2 g.p. per %)
• 10 g.p. to hire a crier (+1-10% effectiveness; average 1.82 g.p. per %)
• 300 g.p. to hire agents to seek prospects (+20-50% effectiveness; average 8.57 g.p. per %)
• +1-4% effectiveness per 10 g.p. spent in inns and taverns (50 g.p./5-20% per inn or tavern), up to 10 different establishments***; (average 4 g.p. per %)

*For each method used beyond the first, -5% effectiveness to account for overlap (so all four methods would be -15% effectiveness total)

**Effectiveness is not the % chance of attracting ANY henchmen, but the % of the total # of henchmen in town who are attracted

***For each inn/tavern worked, -1% effectiveness to each per additional inn worked (so if you worked 10 establishments, each would have -9% effectiveness - the more establishments you work, the more money you have to spend in each)

With this information, the players decided to post notices in public and to hire a crier (60 g.p. total). It would take 2 to 8 days for prospects to show up, and the party had to stay put during that time, or else applicants would leave and not return.

On the first day, no one showed (because it takes at least two days). At 5 pm on the second day, the party met with Grilgurn Goldenbelch, a dwarf fighter who valued an honest day's work and smashing monsters in the head with his flail. Llombaerth explained that the party was looking for a magic-user and decided not to bring him on. Grilgurn had a racial antipathy towards elves and took offense, vowing to tell everyone that the one hiring them was a nasty little elf boy and a fancy lad. Llombaerth bought Grilgurn a bottle of fine spirits, which seemed to assuage him.

At 11 pm, Egbert, a human wizard with an egg-shaped head, walked in. While sipping brandy, he explained that he'd had trouble finding respectable patrons since completing his apprenticeship. He expressed interest in acquiring specimens to further his studies. Mirkle rightly concluded that he was likely a specialist necromancer. The party decided to hire him. They offered him one of their 500 g.p. gems as a signing bonus, plus Pommernar's old spellbook.

The 500 g.p. gem gave Egbert a 55% chance of accepting the offer. The spellbook brought this up to 70%, and Llombaerth's Charisma increased this again to 75%. I rolled a 36 on d100, so Egbert accepted the offer. He would wait in the Chapel Ward until the party was ready to depart. He would study Pommernar's tome in the meantime.

As an aside, when determining how many henchmen would show up, I rolled a 1 on d4 for the notices and a 6 on d10 for the crier, which totaled 16%. Since the party employed two methods, I subtracted 5%, so 11% of the henchmen in Timbershore would respond. There are 9 total henchmen in town, so there was a 99% chance that just one person would show up, which was Grilgurn.

I found this unsatisfying, and since the players were specifically looking for magic-users, I figured they probably would have advertised as such, so I decided to give them one more prospect and ensured that it was one of the magic-users I had rolled up, which was Egbert. This felt better than having them wait around for another six days while no one else showed up.

The next morning (now the party's fifth day in town), the party headed back to the River Ward. They had decided to buy a keelboat, and learned of a captain, Hadric, who was interested in selling. Along the way, they spotted Lethariel and Tavin, who were keeping a low profile and watching a town official collecting bribes from ship captains and caravan masters. The party exchanged a coy nod of recognition and watched the pair of thieves surreptitiously follow after the official as he made his rounds (this was a random encounter - funny how they keep running into NPCs they already know).

They met with him and his first mate, an old halfling woman named Wilda Brambletoe. Hadric was ready to get out of the game but wished to secure a nice nest egg for himself and his crew. The party agreed to buy the Mossy Turtle for 300 g.p. and would pay the crew 600 g.p. to stay on for one month. After that, they would dismiss the crew or keep them on, depending on their needs. The party gave Hadric one of their 500 g.p. gems plus 400 g.p. in coinage.

I had determined that the trip to Quasqueton by boat (mostly downriver) would take somewhere between 6 to 11 hours (one or two days), depending on whether the boat's sail could be used, and that the trip back (mostly upriver) would take between 8 to 20 hours (1 to 3 days). The players decided to set out immediately. While the crew readied the boat, the party hired four more porters (Ejiofer, Lendeborg, Steinbach, and a halfling named Brazile Springblossom) and picked up Egbert, then returned to the River Ward.

That was where we wrapped. This was another session of just town stuff, which is fine by me. Long campaigns have an ebb and flow nature to them where you might spend three sessions fighting for your life against some orcs and then the next three sessions hauling treasure back to town, interacting with NPCs, and handling the logistics of your next expedition. The change of pace serves to make the moments of high adventure stand out all the more. I handwaved as much as possible here, like shopping, getting porters, and moving from place to place, but enjoyed roleplaying the interactions with the thieves, the henchmen, and the river boat crew.

The group probably would have played a bit longer, but since the journey back to Quasqueton will take some time, I would prefer to do it all in one session. This will also give me a chance to determine if there will be any random encounters along the way and to prep them beforehand.