Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 15)

We played the fifteenth 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 2 (Maya)
• Egbert, human necromancer 1 (NPC)
• Bilodeau, man-at-arms (NPC)
• Graves, man-at-arms (NPC)
• Brazile, halfling porter, and his dog, Ripper (NPC)
• Ejiofer, human porter (NPC)
• Lendeborg, human porter (NPC)
• Steinbach, human porter (NPC)
• Walgretor, half-elf porter (NPC)

Last we played, the party had business in Timbershore. They shopped, buying more equipment and a pair of mules. They put out a call for henchmen in the Chapel Ward, then went to the River Ward to meet with the smugglers Tavin Underbough and Lethariel Vaen. They made arrangements with the smugglers to bring their ill-gotten gains from Quasqueton back to Timbershore through the town's proverbial back door. They also learned that the gem they had pilfered from the blackout drunk nobleman Ludovic Pell was in fact a 5,000 g.p. oriental emerald.

The party returned to the Chapel Ward to await the arrival of prospective henchmen. They waited around for two days and met Grilgurn Goldenbelch, a dwarf fighter. The party was looking for a wizard, so they rejected Grilgurn's application. He became incensed, but they managed to placate him with alcohol. After, they met Egbert, a human necromancer. The party offered him a 500 g.p. signing bonus plus Pommernar's spellbook, and he accepted.

They returned to the River Ward the following morning and purchased a small river barge, the Mossy Turtle, from a captain named Hadric. They paid Hadric 900 g.p. for both the boat and a month's employment of the crew. The party hired four additional porters to carry treasure and decided to set sail immediately.

We picked up from there. It was 12 pm, so the party had about 7 hours of travel downriver before it became dark. There was no wind, but the weather was otherwise fair. The boat would have to rely on its oars and the river's current to carry it through the forest.

I had spent the time between sessions determining whether there would be any random encounters on the voyage. The first day passed uneventfully. The boat's crew was made up of 20 0th level fighting oarsmen, the gruff captain, Hadric, the mean old halfling woman, Wilda Brambletoe, and her three wiry brown half-feral river mutts, and the second mates Corvin and Aelwen Riversong. Corvin is a middle aged human who doesn't like adventurers, and Aelwen is a young half-elf girl who loves adventurers.

As darkness fell, the barge moored along the edge of the forest, with the crew working in shifts to keep watch. The night passed without incident. The weather remained the same the next day, so the barge continued on. They traveled a bit farther downriver before coming up the lake deep in the forest. The barge crossed the lake and moored at the mouth of the river which flowed downhill from Quasqueton. The party disembarked with their men-at-arms, porters, Brazile's dog, and their mules, while the barge's crew stayed behind to guard the vessel. They set off into the forest towards Quasqueton. It was 9 am.

I was a bit disappointed that the journey downriver had not yielded any encounters with giant beavers, waterfowlbears, or hobgoblins sniping at them from the tree line, but it's okay. The journey back upriver will take longer, and the barge will presumably be laden with treasure, so there's still time.

The party followed the river through the forest along its north bank for about two hours, then noticed something peculiar. They had stumbled into a glade of ancient oak trees and silver birches, with a fine green moss and small yellow wildflowers carpeting the ground. The birds were singing jovially and the smell of honey and damp leaves filled the air. They noticed trinkets hanging from tree limbs - spoons, bits of ribbon, lengths of fine chain, mismatched pairs of boots, and the like. The moss, flowers, and trinkets were concentrated around one especially large oak.

Recognizing this as unusual, the party assumed that the tree might be sacred in some way, and offered up some trinkets of their own. Mirkle called out to the tree to see if it was sentient. An elfin face appeared as if carved into the tree's bark. It introduced itself as the Great Oak, thanked them for their trinkets, and asked if they had anything of real value to offer it.

Mirkle gave the tree three gold coins, which seemed to please it, but surely these brave woodland adventurers had more. The party asked what the Great Oak needed gold for, to which it responded "Acorns, which I, uh...eat! Of course." The Great Oak explained that it was master of the wood and all its creatures, and that these woodland animals great and small frequently made pilgrimage here to pay homage.

The party was confused. The woodland animals were the Great Oak's subjects, yet it paid them for acorns, which it ate? "Why yes, uh...the woodland creatures pay me homage in the form of ordinary acorns, but occasionally they bring me the choicest acorns, for which I of course, uh, compensate them...with gold!"

The party let that one go. They asked if the owlbears of the forest where also subjects of the Great Oak, to which is responded with disgust. Those creatures were nasty and formed of evil sorcery, not natural beings. They did, however, possess great treasure, which would please the Oak greatly if delivered to it. The party asked if the Oak knew where the owlbears lived, and the Great Oak told them that they made their lair in the deep forest to the north, where the three rivers met.

The party mentioned that they had encountered the owlbears themselves, and had even slain one. Llombaerth indicated his owlbear skull helm, which of course the Great Oak had recognized immediately, and certainly wasn't noticing now for the first time. The Great Oak asserted that it was well aware of the party's activities in the forest, since its leal subjects had been monitoring them closely. Nonetheless it inquired as to how they had come across these owlbears. Surely they had been on an adventure to some dungeon and were returning laden with treasure, which if it had come from the forest would rightfully belong to the Oak. The party played coy.

The interaction had seemingly run its course, so Llombaerth decided to make a final offering to the Oak. He produced one of his pickled fish and attempted to insert it into the Oak's mouth. The Oak said, "No no, the Great Oak does not desire to partake in your stinking fish!" Llombaerth persisted, and as the fish entered the Oak's mouth, he discovered that the face on the tree was an insubstantial illusion. 

At the same time, Mirkle noticed something else amiss - the voice seemed to be projected from elsewhere, like a bad ventriloquist throwing their voice. She inconspicuously indicated as much to Llombaerth, and began scanning the branches of the tree. Meanwhile, Llombaerth looked around the base of the tree. Mirkle did not notice anything unusual, but Llombaerth spotted a 4' wide burrow hidden among a tangle of roots and moss which led beneath the tree.

Llombaerth produced a flask of alchemist's fire and called into the burrow that the jig was up, and ordered whoever was inside to come out at once. The party heard a high-pitched whistle and a diminutive male voice calling on "Salt, Pepper, and Paprika" to "go get 'em!" Llombaerth heard the sound of multiple sets of padded feet and the baying of hounds coming towards them from within the burrow. Llombaerth didn't hesitate. He lit the alchemist's fire and threw it inside the burrow. 

The dogs within came screeching to a halt, yelping in fear of the flames. The small voice inside began coughing and declared that the party was no fun. He was just trying to introduce some whimsy into their lives and now they were trying to set his home on fire. The party responded that he was trying to trick them and extort them for gold. They heard whoever was inside the burrow retreating deeper within.

Llombaerth waited for the flames to die out and then crawled inside, squeezing to fit through the tunnel. The air was warm and dry, with smells of pipeweed and cinnamon beneath the acrid smoke which now filled the space. Tiny lantern mushrooms provided dim illumination within, and small stones pressed into the earthen walls had been carved with smiling faces. 

Where the fire had been, tiny bells littered the ground, and more hung from the ceiling above. Llombaerth would be unable to crawl through without ringing the bells or carefully cutting them down. 25' feet down the tunnel, he saw that it opened into a cozy-looking hearth chamber. He didn't feel comfortable trying to sneak inside without knowing what awaited him, so he crawled back out.

The party decided to leave the area, but not before finding a stone big enough to seal the burrow. The whole interaction had taken about an hour. It was noon, and the party resumed following the river to Quasqueton. They spent two hours passing through the lowland forest and another three hours making the hike to the dungeon. They arrived at about 5 pm.

They now approached the dungeon from its eastern side. The crag loomed above them, some 80' tall, the cliff scattered with rough handholds, tree limbs, and narrow ledges. Rather than make the climb, they circled around to the familiar western face. Making their way up the perilous path to the entrance, they spotted stone cairns scattered along the trail - ten in all.

The party had Egbert cast detect undead in case a nasty surprise waited for them beneath the cairns. He said the magic words, made the gestures, and scattered a handful of stinking dirt in front of him. Focusing on the cairns, he finally concluded that there was no danger of ghosts or ghoulies here. 

The party excavated one of the cairns and found a rotting orc corpse, decapitated. Its head showed signs of having been bludgeoned with a blunt weapon and skewered on a spear or sharp stick. Slices of flesh had been carved from its meaty thighs. The party concluded that this was one of the orcs killed by the goblins, but interring the orcs in this manner was not goblin-like at all. Had the orcs from the lower level come up and launched an attack?

The rest of the party stayed behind while Llombaerth attempted to sneak inside down the long hallway lined with alcoves. As he approached the second pair of alcoves and attempted to hide inside, he stumbled. He spotted an orc sentry posted at the barricade atop the landing at the end of the corridor, and the orc spotted him as well. It called out to him, claiming that it meant no harm, and told one of its fellows to fetch Mangug.

A short time later, two more orcs emerged, with one taking position at the center of the barricade, flanked by the others. The center orc introduced itself as Mangug. Llombaerth identified himself as a Stonespeaker. This did not surprise Mangug, who said that the goblins had warned him that the Stonespeakers would return to slay them. 

Mangug understood from the goblins that the Stonespeakers had aided them in slaying Drak's orcs. Mangug's orcs had no relation to Drak's, but orc custom dictated that Mangug exact some sort of blood price from those who had killed fellow orcs and stolen their treasure. He assured Llombaerth that the goblins were alive and were paying off their debt by way of service, and that he was happy to make some sort of arrangement with the party. They would simply need to bring Mangug whatever treasure they had secreted away, and they would mutually agree upon some commensurate compensation for the party's crimes.

Llombaerth tried to lure the orcs outside to negotiate with the rest of the party, but Mangug was wary to forego his advantageous position and treat with them under the harsh light of the sun. Mangug assured Llombaerth that the party would be under the protection of guest right while they treated within the dungeon, but Llombaerth preferred to confer with the rest of the party outside. Mangug accepted this. He and his orcs now controlled the entrance to the dungeon, so the party would have to treat with him one way or another if they sought access.

The party reconvened outside and decided it was time to find a new way into the dungeon. They circled back around to the rear of the crag and began searching for secret entrances, but found none. Llombaerth offered to climb the cliffside and search along the narrow ledges scattered about its face. 

About 40' up, he found an old, dead wizard lying on a ledge. He searched the body and found a wooden scroll tube with some sort of magic writing on it. He could not open it. He lowered and secured a rope for Egbert to climb up. Egbert could open the tube, but it would require a read magic spell, which he did not have prepared. Based on the dead wizard's out of fashion hat, Egbert concluded that he had been dead for a number of years.

Llombaerth searched the cliff face on the ledge and found a cleverly concealed lever. Pulling on it, a secret door opened. It led into a large, rough-hewn cavern. Mirkle climbed up to join them. The men-at-arms, the porters, the dog, and the mules remained at the base of the cliff. By this time it was 7 pm, and the darkness was settling over the forest.

The party followed the cave as it wound to the right, then proceeded straight to the end, where it tapered into a tunnel sealed by a door. They heard nothing on the other side, so they proceeded within. There, they found a statue of a wizard, its arms outstretched, pointing to a rocky outcropping immediately to their left. Beyond the outcropping, a short tunnel on the left led to a T intersection. Llombaerth examined the outcropping while Mirkle inspected the statue, but neither found anything unusual. Based on the statue's very outdated hat, Egbert concluded that it was decades old - likely from Zelligar's time.

The party proceeded to the T intersection, with Egbert in the rear. Egbert cried out in alarm that Llombaerth and Mirkle were standing atop a covered 12' wide and 10' deep pit. Fortunately, the trap had not opened beneath them. There was a chance it would open as Egbert crossed it, and he could not clear the distance by jumping it, so they used rope to tie themselves together, just in case. 

They decided to take the tunnel to their left. As they went that way, they heard the sound of many pairs of roughshod boots plodding down the corridor behind them, heading in their direction. We ended the session there.

This was another fun one. Lots of social interaction and exploring. Approaching the dungeon by a different route led to the party discovering one of my keyed wilderness locations and learning the location of another (the owlbear lair). The status quo of the dungeon has changed drastically while the party's been away, which has forced them to get creative and led them to discover the secret entrance into the dungeon (in the module as written, this door cannot be opened from outside, but that stinks, so I changed it). 

While the party has ballooned in size with henchmen, men-at-arms, and porters, they had to leave many of these behind to guard the mules, who cannot easily access the secret entrance. The group that's actually inside the dungeon is quite small as a result, and now some unknown force is coming to meet them. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next time!