Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 24)

We played the twenty-fourth 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 3 (Maya)
• Rhonodel, NG elf cleric 1 (Jack)
• Zommernar, CN elf fighter 2 (Nael)
• Egbert, human necromancer 1 (NPC)
• Brazile, halfling hound master, his dog, Ripper, and the party's three war dogs, Huey, Dewey, and Phooey (NPC)
• Bilodeau, man-at-arms (NPC)
• Graves, man-at-arms (NPC)
• Gruda, ogre (NPC)
• Lendeborg, human porter (NPC)

Last we played, the party reentered Quasqueton to confront the ogre now guarding the entrance corridor. They were joined by Rhonodel, an elf cleric whose goddess, Minara, had sent him to Quasqueton on a divine quest.

They lured the ogre out of the kitchen and into the entrance corridor. She attempted to snatch Llombaerth at first, but paused when she saw the large party and their dogs. They attempted to negotiate with her. Her name was Yamda, and she was holding some of the party's goblin allies hostage to eat. Yamda attempted to trade the goblins for Brazile and one elf, then for one of the party's dogs. When they refused, she shut down negotiations and began to retreat. The party sent their dogs after her, and she was promptly killed.

The party proceeded to the kitchen, where they found Pigmug and Tobb, tied up and marinating in a basin. The kitchen now looked like a slaughterhouse. They freed the goblins and learned they had been taking shelter in Quasqueton's throne room when a pair of ogres had attacked them, killing some and snatching others. The remaining goblins were likely all dead. The party convinced the goblins that they had to go somewhere else. They clearly were not safe at the entrance to the dungeon.

Rhonodel attempted to secure the kitchen, only to spot another ogre rapidly approaching from around the corner. It burst into the kitchen to attack. The party loosed their dogs on the new ogre and fired projectiles at it from afar. Llombaerth attempted to use the kitchen's back door to flank the ogre, but ran into a second ogre waiting outside.

Llombaerth set the second ogre alight with flaming oil. When it charged, Bilodeau skewered it on his spetum, killing it. The remaining ogre surrendered, but not before friendly fire had killed one of the party's dogs, Louie.

The surviving ogre was Gruda. The party learned of three more ogres wandering the dungeon - Gugg, Gurgak, and Rugg. Gruda indicated in what direction each had gone. She told them that the ogres had come here in search of the people who had stolen their treasure (a bunch of items the party did not recognize). The ogres had a lair in the forest. Someone from town had come to their lair and told their leader, Okorg, that whoever had stolen their treasure would be found in the dungeon. Based on the description, the messenger sounded like an agent of Lambrecht. The ogres had kept the messenger as prisoner along with several others they had snatched from the lands surrounding Timbershore.

The party decided to keep Gruda prisoner and use her to defuse tension with the remaining ogres, should they be encountered. They considered the possibility of visiting Okorg's den to treat with him and question Lambrecht's messenger. To assure Gruda's loyalty, Llombaerth placed a guano bomb in her pocket.

We picked up there. Pigmug and Tobb scavenged some weapons from the kitchen, then went to seek shelter elsewhere in the dungeon. Gruda had indicated that one of the ogres, Rugg, had taken a left from the kitchen and proceeded down the central corridor. The party had not been that way yet, so they decided to explore in the direction.

From the kitchen, the passage went 90 feet and turned right. 80 feet past the turn was a door on the left. 30 feet past that, the passage turned left. The party inspected the door and opened it. Poking their heads inside, they found a barren room with just the shriveled husk of a small creature - a dwarf, gnome, halfling, or goblin, perhaps - curled up on the floor. Scanning the ceiling, they saw two insectoid creatures with leathery batlike wings clinging to the ceiling, irritated by the light of the party's lantern. The party closed the door.

The proceeded down the corridor. It turned left, went 10 feet, turned right, went 20 feet, and turned left again. 10 feet past the second left turn was a door. The party convinced Gruda to open the door, suspecting that Rugg would be behind it. As Gruda pulled on the door, there was a click, and the ground fell away beneath them. A trap door opened beneath Llombaerth, Rhonodel, Zommernar, and Gruda, sending them plummeting 40 feet into a pool of icy water.

Gruda took 1 damage, Llombaerth took 2, and Rhonodel and Zomminar each took 4 - half of Rhonodel's hit points! All except Gruda were weighed down by their gear, and risked drowning unless some of it was shed. Gruda easily climbed out of the pool as the party fought to survive. They shed their packs and anything else they didn't need to carry, letting these items sink to the bottom. They crawled out with nothing more than their armor and a weapon or two, soaking wet and shivering.

When they emerged, they found another ogre slumped against the wall of the cavern but beginning to stand, himself a bit damp, partially eaten gnoll corpses surrounding him. Gruda ran to him. "Quickly, Rugg! They killed Yamda and and Grulga! Smash them into goo!" Rugg did not need any encouragement. 

Gruda fled past Rugg to the cavern's exit, then turned back to shout encouragement at Rugg. Zommernar lifted her long sword, and she and Rugg charged one another. Llombaerth circled around Rugg. Rhonodel cast sanctuary on himself.

Protected by sanctuary, Rhonodel took a flask of flaming oil from Llombaerth and chased Gruda from the room. Llombaerth slashed at Rugg from behind (though not a backstab, as Rugg was aware of him) for maximum damage (8), giving Zommernar an opening to land a critical hit for a whopping 25 damage on a roll of 2d12 (+2 for specialization)! Zommernar lopped the ogre's head clean off.

The party pursued Gruda. Rhonodel flung his flask of oil at her, but it went wide, smashing against the wall of the next cavern. Llombaerth's own flask of oil flew over Gruda's head, smashing on the inside of the tunnel which Gruda had planned to use for her escape. (Because Gruda had a bomb in her pocket, the party was flinging oil at her from a considerable distance, and so had a penalty to hit.) Gruda turned and attempted to beg for her life once more, but Zommernar charged with her long sword and drove it into the ogre's belly (10 damage), slaying Gruda once and for all.

The party pilfered some gold coins from Gruda's body, then returned to the cavern with the pool of water and found that the trap door above them had closed. Egbert, their hirelings, and their dogs were above, shouting down to them through the door. The party instructed the hirelings to tie a rope around the door handle, step back around the corner, and pull. They did so, and the door swung open. The hirelings quickly drove spiked into the hinges so it would not close again. The mechanism reactivated, but seemed to fail due to the obstruction and went silent. Lendeborg kept a grip on the rope, allowing it to dangle down into the pit.

The party spent about 30 minutes fishing their gear out of the pool using a rope and grappling hook. They decided to try to find the room with the magic rock before heading back upstairs, as Rhonodel and Zommernar had not yet had the opportunity to partake of the rock's flesh. 

They decided to take a route they had not explored yet. They went out into the cavern where Gruda had been slain, then took a left into a cavern filled with bioluminescent fungus. They took a right from there, saw an empty cavern on their left, and explored a narrow, slippery, downward sloping tunnel straight ahead, which led to a dead end. They backtracked and took the tunnel opposite the empty cavern. It curved to the left, and they came upon a door on the right. Peeking inside, they found another empty cavern, shaped like an arena or fighting pit. They exited the cavern and continued down the tunnel, taking a right from the door.

The tunnel continued for a while and forked to the right and left. To the right was the pit trap into which they had lured Ghudgak's orcs when the orcs had tried to ambush them. To the left, the tunnel continued, but also turned sharply to the right. The party was not entirely sure where they were in relation to the magic stone, so they decided to backtrack to the room with the cold pool.

Rather than climb the rope, each member of the party would hold the rope while their hirelings hauled them up. While they were planning who should go up first, they heard the dogs barking up above, and heavy footsteps plodding towards their hirelings. A deep voice said "Sounds like dogs are on the menu tonight!"

The party ordered Brazile to loose the dogs on the ogre, and for Bioldeau and Graves to follow with their spetums. Llombaerth would have to climb the rope himself, but it would take two rounds to get up there. Rhonodel cast bless high enough in the air to catch everyone up above.

The ogre struck first, hitting Dewey, the alpha of the pack, for 9 damage. All three dogs tore into the ogre for a total of 17 damage while Bilodeau and Graves flailed with their spetums. The ogre's morale quickly broke, and it turned and fled, opening its back to the dogs. Phooey landed a hit for 7 damage, and Dewey scored a vengeful critical hit for 11 damage, killing the ogre. By the time Llombaerth climbed up out of the pit, the battle was over. 

The hirelings quickly hauled the remaining party members back up. Rhonodel cast cure light wounds on Dewey, who was looking rough, healing the dog for 7 HP. The party unspiked the trap door, and Zommernar used the rope to tug on the door again, hoping to reset the trap, but the mechanism seemed to be broken. There was about a foot of clearance around the pit. They navigated carefully around it to examine the door, but concluded that it was likely a false door, and left it.

With nowhere else to explore, the party returned to the entrance corridor. Backtracking down the hall, they made the left turn and moved 40 feet down the passage. At the edge of their lantern light, just beyond the door to the kitchen, they saw a skinny, 7' long mammal feasting on Yamda's corpse. 

Disturbed by the light, the creature looked up from its meal at them. They knew what a weasel looked like, and this was clearly a weasel of prodigious size! It hunched over its prize protectively, leering at them with its ferocious eyes, snarling, with blood and flesh dripping from its jaws.

We wrapped there! The party got enough XP from the ogres for Zommernar to level up - she is now a 3rd level fighter, and gained 3 HP. 

It was another good one. I liked that the party fell into the water pit that they had discovered early, and that they were separated from their hirelings, forcing them to fight Rugg alone. Zommernar really shined this session. 

The ogre at the top of the pit was a random encounter. If it weren't for the dogs, who are proving to be worth their weight in gold and then some, the party's hirelings might have been in a lot of trouble! 

The giant weasel is blocking the party's exit from the dungeon, and they don't have much time left to explore before they have to retreat to rest, so that should be interesting. We'll see how they handle it!

Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 23)

We played the twenty-third 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 3 (Maya)
• Rhonodel, NG elf cleric 1 (Jack)
• Zommernar, CN elf fighter 2 (Nael)
• 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)
• Hadric, Wilda Brambletoe, Corvin, Aelwen Riversong, and 20 oarsmen - the crew of the Mossy Turtle (NPCs)
• The party's guard dog (Spot), hunting dog (Vincenzo), and four war dogs (Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Phooey)

Last we played, the party met with their wizardly ally, Albertyna, and exchanged what information they had learned since their last meeting. Albertyna filled them in on town politics. She told them about Blanchefleur, the sinister cleric who ruled the religious stronghold in the Chapel Ward, and about the Horned Mother, the deity or demon which they worshipped. Blanchefleur was, in her way, the real power in Timbershore, but Lambrecht seemed to tolerate her. Albertyna was not sure how the Horned Mother might relate to the horned demon carving the party had found in Quasqueton.

The party also informed Albertyna that they suspected that Lambrecht was scrying on them. Albertyna told them there was little they could do to prevent this from happening, but that Lambrecht's ability to spy on them was limited in terms of success, frequency, and length of viewing by how well he knew them. If he met them personally or came into possession of an item belonging to them or a part of their body, his powers would be greatly enhanced.

The  party asked Albertyna if she could call in any favors with the town guard so that they would be somewhat protected. Albertyna said she would talk to Manolito, the captain of Llombaerth's household guard. While Manolito served Lambrecht, Albertyna had a friendly relationship with him, and believed he would be able to help. 

The party had much to think about. They returned to the Mooring Post to get some rest and to wait for prospective henchmen to respond to their advertisements. That evening, Llombaerth found a pair of eyeballs in his fish stew, staring up at him, blinking. They decided to leave town as soon as possible, scrambling to gather their henchman and hirelings and animals. They would meet on the barge and depart town for Quasqueton at first light.

They did so, sailing downriver in a hailstorm. As they were moored along the river's edge at dusk, they spotted half a dozen humans - who appeared to be followers of Blanchefleur, hunting in the forest. The hunters did not notice the party, so they elected to stay hidden. They reached Quasqueton the next day, encountering a pair of giant birds that flew low overhead as they ascended the hill.

Llombaerth snuck inside the dungeon and found the entrance corridor lined with heads on spikes. First he saw the heads of Mangug and his orcs, then the heads of the party's remaining zombie followers, then the head of Indur, their friendly gnoll. Llombaerth could smell someone cooking in the kitchen. He triggered the twin magic mouths to lure whoever it was out of the room, then hid in an alcove to see who showed up.

A nine and a half foot tall monstrous female humanoid emerged from the kitchen, inspected the area, grumbled to herself, and returned to the kitchen. Llombaerth snuck back out to report this to the rest of the party.

We picked up there. We were joined by a new player, Jack, who is playing Rhonodel, an elf cleric. This is our first new player since Maya joined in session 6! Rhonodel wandered up to the group as Llombaerth was rejoining them, inserting himself into their conversation. Introductions were made. Rhonodel's deity, Minara, had sent him a vision of Quasqueton and told him he was needed here. Simple. He joined the party.

They discussed what to do about what they presumed was an ogre in the kitchen. Llombaerth would once again sneak inside, trigger the magic mouths, and hide in the alcoves halfway down the corridor, while the rest of the party hid in the first set of alcoves, closest to the dungeon entrance. Llombaerth would attempt to talk to the ogre. Failing that, the rest of the party would emerge from hiding to back him up.

They enacted their plan. The ogre came stomping out again, but this time Llombaerth called out to her, asking if the goblins were still alive. The ogre stomped towards Llombaerth and grunted, "Goblins marinating." Llombaerth tried to tell the ogre he meant her no harm, but she kept approaching at a threatening pace. Llombaerth squeezed out of the alcove and slipped away just as the ogre was closing into melee range. He ran back to the rest of the group.

At this point, the ogre noticed the rest of the party with their mercenaries and dogs huddled together in the further alcoves. She stopped in her tracks, scratching her chin. "You no mean Yamda harm? What do you want?"

The party attempted to negotiate the release of the goblins. Yamda said she would trade two goblins for one elf and the halfling - salivating as her gaze fell upon Brazile. The party declined. Yamda counteroffered with one goblin for one of the party's dogs, which they also declined. They ordered Yamda to release the goblins, or else they would loose their dogs on her. Yamda snarled, "You no want to treat in good faith with Yamda. Go away!" She began backtracking down the corridor towards the kitchen.

Brazile let the dogs loose. They raced down the corridor. Three of the four dogs landed hits on Yamda. Two were critical hits. The first dog seized Yamda by the leg and brought her low, while the second dog leapt for her throat, ripping and tearing. Here the players learned that each of their war dogs has 2+2 HD (average 11 HP) and does 2d4 damage per hit. The dogs are an insanely worthwhile investment.

It was over quickly. The dogs fell upon the ogre, tearing her apart until Brazile called them off. The party left the body and went to inspect the kitchen. 

The kitchen had been converted into an abattoir, with piles of gore splattered across every surface. A cast-iron pot hanging from the ceiling by a chain above a cookfire was roiling with a thick, fatty, rich broth. At the far side of the room, the party spotted the goblins Pigmug and Tobb, tied up and sitting in a wash basin full of liquid, smeared in a sickly sweet sauce and crusted with seasoning. Tobb had a rotten apple shoved in his mouth.

They freed the goblins and asked them what had happened. After the party had left, Tobb had reunited the goblins. They had retreated to Drak's throne room for safety. A few days later, the goblins had been attacked in the throne room by an ogre. The goblins had fled, but Pigmug and Tobb had been captured by a second ogre in their flight, whereupon they were brought here.

Where were the rest of the goblins? Tobb pointed at the gore piles around the room. It was hard to tell, but that one might be Narka, and maybe that was Viss...or Numbnuts? If the party was able to find their heads, it would be easier to identify them.

Not liking the sound of a second ogre wandering about, Rhonodel went to close the door to the kitchen. As he did so, he spotted the second ogre rounding the corner just outside. The second ogre spotted the body of the first, then saw Rhonodel, bellowed with rage, and made for the door. Rhonodel decided not to fight with the ogre over control of the door, and retreated back into the kitchen.

The party had their dogs form a line and prepared to engage the ogre with ranged weapons. The ogre charged into the room before they could ready their weapons, and entered into melee with the dogs. Huey managed to get a glancing bite for just 3 damage, but the rest of the dogs missed.

Llombaerth decided to use the kitchen's rear exit to try to flank the ogre. He went to the opposite end of the long kitchen, threw open the door...and found another ogre on the far side! He stumbled back, swinging his short sword, but missed. The party's mercenaries, Bilodeau and Graves, moved to reinforce Llombaerth with their spetums. The ogre tried to grab Llombaerth, but the long reach of the mercenaries' polearms held it at bay.

The rest of the party loosed projectiles at the first ogre. Mirkle and Egbert each got a critical hit, but in the chaos of melee, Mirkle shot Louie in the hindquarters for 5 damage, and Egbert stuck Huey for 3 damage. Huey bit down on the ogre again, this time for 6 damage. Both the ogre and Huey seemed badly wounded.

Llombaerth slipped back behind the mercenaries' wall of spetums, then tossed a flask of flaming oil at the second ogre, scoring a direct hit for 10 damage, setting the ogre alight. Maya joined the group with her own spetum. The second ogre, wishing to get to Llombaerth, attempted to barrel through the front rank. Bilodeau and Graves, who had not yet acted, set to receive the charge. Bilodeau skewered the ogre for a massive 22 damage (11 x 2), stabbing through its midsection and spilling its steaming guts on the floor. The front rank stepped back as the flaming ogre's corpse collapsed in front of them.

The rest of the party continued firing at the first ogre. Both Rhonodel and Zommernar scored hits with their short bows, but both hit Louie instead for a total of 9 damage. Louie whimpered and died at the second arrow struck him.

Finally, the ogre surrendered, begging the party to call off their dogs. They did.

The ogre, named Gruda, would trade information for her life. She told the party that she had found two chests of treasure in a room down the hall - gold coins, jeweled items, and gems. It was more than Gruda had seen in her life. The party informed Gruda that the treasure was illusory. "Of course...Gruda knew that..."

The party asked Gruda how many ogres were in her group. Gruda said there were six of them - now four, including her. Where were the rest? Gurgak had gone that way - she pointed towards the opposite door to the kitchen, where the second ogre had been slain. Gugg had gone that way - she pointed towards the door nearer to her and to the right. Rugg had gone the same way as Gruda - out the door nearer to her and to the left - but had gone straight while Gruda had gone right.

Why were the ogres here? Okorg had sent them here to find the people who had stolen their treasure. Who was Okorg? He was the ogre chieftain. He ruled the cave in the forest. What treasure was stolen from Okorg? Several small things - his silver dagger, his looking glass, his bone cup and dice, his silver horn, his drinking tankards, his collection of belt buckles, his soft cloak...The party mentioned that something had been stolen from them as well, and they suspected some sort of gnome trickster which lived in the forest.

Why did Okorg think that his treasure was here? The lady from town had come to Okorg's court and told him so. What lady from town? Gruda described someone the party did not recognize - a young lady in blue traveler's clothes with a silver emblem. The party recalled that the banners which hung from the walls of Lambrecht's castle were blue with a silver emblem.

The party informed Gruda that Okorg had been tricked. Gruda did not accept this at first - Okorg was the smartest ogre - but eventually she was convinced that Okorg could be deceived. In that case, Okorg must be informed. The lady from town was being kept with the other prisoners until Gruda and the others returned, so there was still time to eat her. 

What other prisoners? The ogres had captured several people while raiding Timbershore's farmlands, among them a dwarf which Okorg used as a truffle hound for smelling out treasure. Okorg had not trusted Gruda's ogres with the dwarf, since he knew they wanted to eat him.

When would the other ogres - Gurgak, Gugg, and Rugg - return? Was there a safe place to meet with them to discuss this? Gruda was not sure - ogres didn't really plan ahead like that. She could try to find them, but it would take a while. Maybe if the party lent her their delicious halfling and one of their scrumptious dogs, she could find the others more quickly...

No - the party decided that Gruda would be their hostage. She would come with them and help smooth things over with the other ogres if they ran into them. If the party found any of Okorg's treasures, the ogres could keep them. If Gruda's friends were amenable, the party might enlist their aid in moving a certain large statue out of the dungeon.

To ensure Gruda's compliance, Llombaerth tricked her into carrying an "oath-keeping device" in her pocket - one of two bombs which Llombaerth had fashioned in town using the party's ample supply of bat guano from the dungeon's lower level. Gruda would remain 20 feet in front of the party, and if Gruda did not behave, Llombaerth would activate the device.

Before they left, the party informed Pigmug and Tobb that the goblins' experiment in occupying Quasqueton was over. Clearly, it had been a disaster, and they should leave while they still lived. The goblins were still unconvinced and unwilling to leave their "home", but they would at least find some new area in which to hide, where monsters were less like to find them. 

We ended the session there. This was fun! I'm excited to have some new blood in the player pool. It's funny to see the players exploiting their new war dogs, which were a great pickup. This session also made the players aware of another element of the sandbox - the ogres whose treasure has been stolen, who have been raiding the lands around Timbershore and have some sort of relationship with Lambrecht. Can the party somehow use them to tip things in their favor? We shall see!

Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 22)

We played the twenty-second 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 3 (Maya)
• Rory the Small, LN human fighter 2 (David)
• Zommernar, CN elf fighter 2 (Nael)
• 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)
• Hadric, Wilda Brambletoe, Corvin, Aelwen Riversong, and 20 oarsmen - the crew of the Mossy Turtle (NPCs)

Last we played, the party allowed a wood elf to board their barge and inspect the goods they were transporting back to Timbershore. The elf was satisfied that the party were neither brigands nor allies of the wizard Lambrecht. The elf seemed amenable to aiding the party in ridding the forest of its owlbear problem sometime in the future, and indicated where the party might locate he and his fellows at their forward scouting post deeper in the forest. 

The elf also told them that, in the past, when his people were in conflict with the Black Crag barbarians, the barbarians had worshipped a horned demon, which might be related to the ancient, possibly evil stone carving the party had found within Quasqueton. He also shared that, in addition to the brigands and agents of Lambrecht, the forest was plagued by another group of humans - zealots who wore crude furs and horned headdresses, worshipped some primordial beast or demon, and were searching for something in the forest.

The elf and his retinue (who had until then hidden amongst the trees, unnoticed by all aboard the barge) departed into the forest. The party continued on to Timbershore the next morning. Egbert spotted a pair of illusory eyes watching them from the sky. The party concluded that this was Lambrecht scrying upon them. They pretended to fish along the river until the eyes disappeared, then continued on.

They arrived in Timbershore shortly after that, but elected to continue pretending to be humble fisherfolk until night fell, whereupon they lit a signal fire to summon their smuggler friends to their location. They offloaded most of the treasure plundered from Quasqueton, paying 10% of their earnings to the Black Crag barbarian accompanying them, then disembarked in town, parting ways with the barbarian and the gnome, Wilros Wackledeckle. They impressed upon their remaining hirelings the importance of secrecy, and paid them each an additional month's salary to reinforce their point. Everyone scattered to go about their business, and the party headed to the Mooring Post to get a good night's rest.

The next morning, they set about their errands. They advertised that they were looking for another magic-user to bring on as a henchmen, reprovisioned, purchased a bunch of dogs, asked a dwarf miner about the blue ore they had found in Quasqueton (it was basically worthless), and headed to Albertyna's manse to meet with her.

We picked up there. Albertyna was pleased to see them again. They told her about the encounter with the wood elves and what they had said about the human zealots prowling the forest. 

Albertyna told them that it sounded like they were describing worshippers of the Horned Mother. The Horned Mother was the deity of Blanchefleur, a powerful cleric who ruled a religious stronghold in the Chapel Ward. The Horned Mother was either a predatory nature goddess or a demon, depending on who you asked. Her worshippers believed that all the world was prey, except for the Horned Mother and her children. Blanchefleur was the second most powerful individual in town, besides Lambrecht. There was no love lost between she and Albertyna.

The party asked about the relationship between Blanchefleur and Lambrecht. Albertyna told them that the two had an unsteady alliance. Lambrecht had allowed Blanchefleur to build her stronghold and collect tithes from the townsfolk, under the condition that Lambrecht received fitting tribute. Once the stronghold was complete, however, Blanchefleur had attracted a small army of zealous followers and soldiers, which dwarfed Lambrecht's household guard. While Lambrecht was individually more powerful, Blanchefleur's followers were more numerous, and served out of devotion, not for coin. Lambrecht was insular and rarely left his stronghold, so it was not unfair to say that it was Blanchefleur who truly controlled the town.

The party asked if there was a more secure location in which they could speak, as they feared they were being magically watched. Albertyna relocated them to her personal study, the walls of which were lined with lead to prevent such intrusions. There they told her about the eyes they had spotted watching them from the sky the day before. Albertyna said that it was rumored that Lambrecht used a magic mirror to spy on his enemies from afar.

The party asked how exactly this magic worked. If it worked as Albertyna understood it, Lambrecht had likely started looking for them based on a description provided by the man-at-arms he had captured. If it was true that Lambrecht had found them once, it would be easier for him to find them again, since he now knew what they looked like. His ability to locate them, how frequently he could attempt to do so, and for how long he could view them was determined by how well he knew them. It would be easier for him to find them if he met them personally or came into possession of an item belonging to them. And, just because he had found them, that didn't necessarily mean that they would notice.

The party asked if there was some way to prevent this viewing. A nondetection charm would achieve this, but only for a limited time, and it was not magic to which Albertyna had access. There were magic items such as certain amulets which could prevent it as well, but each of them would need to be so equipped, and such items were not easily obtained. The party asked if they could be viewed in a place such as Quasqueton. Albertyna told them there was no limit to the distance at which Lambrecht could observe them, unless Zelligar, in his paranoia, had accounted for such things in the construction of Quasqueton.

The party asked what it was that made Lambrecht the rightful ruler of Timbershore. Simply put, he was the most powerful person who had arrived there first. When Timbershore was but a humble village, it was Rogahn and Zelligar to whom the villagers looked to for protection. When the two left the region and did not return, Lambrecht arrived some time after, claiming to be Zelligar's apprentice. He erected a stronghold from which to project power, and under his guidance, the village had grown into the town it now was.

Albertyna had arrived some time later. Now, she hoped to erect a stronghold of her own, but required Lambrecht's assent. She hoped to earn it by dutiful service as Lambrecht's loyal servant.

Since Albertyna was responsible for enforcing Lambrecht's laws, the party asked if she might be able to protect them, perhaps by pulling strings with the town guard. Albertyna explained that the town guard reported to Manolito, a warrior who was himself captain of Lambrecht's household guard. Manolito served Lambrecht loyally more so by nature than by any sort of devotion to the wizard, and he and Albertyna had much in common and had good rapport. It was something she could work on.

The party considered their options. Blanchefleur and her worshippers were clearly not people to trifle with. What was the relationship between them and the Horned Mother, the Black Crag people, and the stone they found in Quasqueton? Could they be leveraged against one another or against Lambrecht? For that matter, how did Lambrecht relate to these supposed demons and their followers? What were these groups after, and how could the party use it to their advantage, if at all?

They departed from Albertyna's manse and returned to the Mooring Post, deciding to wait a few days to see if any prospective henchmen turned up. The snowy rain persisted the following day, so the party remained indoors. That evening, Llombaerth found a pair of piercing blue-grey eyes floating in his fish stew, staring up at him, blinking.

The party decided to leave town immediately and return to Quasqueton, abandoning their search for a new henchman. The split up, scurrying about town under cover of darkness to round up their hirelings and retrieve their mules and dogs. Their men-at-arms' and porters' term of employment would end in just a few days, so they paid them up front for another twenty days of service. They arranged for their hirelings to meet them at the barge first thing in the morning to depart - the last minute orders seemed to have a negative effect on the group's morale. The party themselves would sleep on the barge that night, just in case.

The night passed without incident, and the party woke to hail storms raining down on them from above. These were not ideal conditions for travel, but they had made their minds up. Once the barge crew arrived, the party set out with their hirelings, heading downriver.

The day's travel was uneventful, and they made it more than halfway downriver and deep into the forest. Around 5:30 pm, with the barge moored along the river's edge, they spotted a group of six humans in crude fur cloaks and horned headdresses stalking through the forest some fifteen feet from the barge. Somehow, the group had not spotted the barge. The party debated whether to ambush them and attempt to capture one for questioning, but opted to remain in hiding. The hunting party passed them by, as did the rest of the evening.

The weather cleared the following morning, and the barge was able to make it the rest of the way downriver and to the edge of the lake by noon. The party disembarked, bringing just Egbert, their men-at-arms, their dogs, and two hirelings - Lendeborg and the halfling Brazile, who would be their hound master. They would return for the rest once they had assessed the situation in the dungeon.

The party made their way into the forest and up the hill, following the river to Quasqueton. At around 4:30 pm, the party had just begun their ascent of the hill when two giant birds with 20' wingspans came swooping down low over the tops of the trees, screeching loudly. Loosened leaves and twigs came rustling down to the forest floor, along with several huge feathers. Fortunately, the giant birds had not intended to make a meal of them, and flew onward out of sight.

They arrived at the dungeon at nightfall. They circled around the crag to the main entrance, and Llombaerth snuck inside.

Again, the dungeon appeared differently than last they had visited. The entrance corridor was lined with spikes planted between the flagstones, with heads skewered upon them. Near the entrance were the heads of Mangug and his orcs. As Llombaerth proceeded further inside, he saw, to his dismay, the heads of the party's remaining two zombie followers. Beyond that were the heads of two gnolls. One was unknown to Llombaerth. The other was recognizably the head of Indur.

Could this be the work of the party's goblin allies? Perhaps the psychotic goblin Tobb was responsible?

Llombaerth could smell the rich aroma of a heavy broth being simmered over a fire, wafting into the corridor from the kitchen area. He decided to trigger the twin magic mouths at the end of the corridor to lure out whatever might be up ahead, then retreat to an earlier pair of alcoves to hide and see what emerged.

He did so. The magic mouths made their loud warnings, and Llombaerth retreated and hid. He heard a deep voice grumble to itself in a language he didn't understand, and felt heavy footsteps shake the floor as the creature made its way out into the corridor. A 9' tall female humanoid emerged from the kitchen and glared out from the top of the short flight of steps, but did not spot Llombaerth. It advanced to the alcove with the magic mouths, inspected the area, grumbled to itself again, and returned to the kitchen.

Llombaerth crept back out of the dungeon to reconvene with the rest of the party and share what he had seen. We ended the session there.

These social interaction-heavy sessions are always hard to recap! So much information is exchanged, and I don't take as good of notes when I'm running those encounters as when I'm running a dungeon exploration. Still, I think I captured everything.

I'm delighted to see the party graduating from simple forays back and forth to the dungeon to learning about faction politics and the complex web of NPC schemes which they're bound to get roped into eventually. Lambrecht's scrying has made the players feel an immense sense of time pressure, for better or worse. There's nothing they can really do about Lambrecht right now, and they know it, which feels a bit bad, but so long as I don't have him teleport into their camp and blow them up with a fireball, I see no harm done. Such is life when the local government is ruled by an evil wizard! 

There is a palpable feeling of tension, like things could pop off at any moment, and the party making a hasty exit from town was a fun moment. It really feels like the party's time in Quasqueton is coming to a close (the players speculated that this may be their last foray into the dungeon), so naturally the players have begun speculating as to what it is they might do next.

Ridding the forest of the owlbears seems a likely endeavor, and the players are convinced that whatever lives beneath the "Great Oak" is what stole their precious oriental emerald. There are two powerful evil NPCs in town which they'd like to be rid of, but it will probably be some time before they can accomplish that. And there's plenty more to the sandbox which they are yet to discover...

Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 21)

We played the twenty-first 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)
• Rory the Small, LN human fighter 1 (David)
• Egbert, human necromancer 1 (NPC)
• A barbarian warrior (NPC)
• Wilros Wackledeckle, gnome (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)
• Hadric, Wilda Brambletoe, Corvin, Aelwen Riversong, and 20 oarsmen - the crew of the Mossy Turtle (NPCs)

Last we played, the party cleaned up after their fight with Mangug's orcs, carrying loads of heavy treasure out of the dungeon with the help of their mules, hirelings, and - with a promise of a 10% share of the gold value of the treasure recovered - Girthil's barbarians. 

They found the remaining goblins, Narka, Numbnuts, and Viss, and freed them from the shackles Mangug's orcs had put them in. They learned that Pigmug and Rekk had been subdued or killed by Tobb somewhere near the chamber of the Stone that Speaks. Viss asked them to retrieve Grilk's ring, which Mangug had taken. Girthil had already taken the ring, claiming it was a relic belonging to one of her tribe's druids, indicated by the familiar barbarian runes etched inside the band. The party decided to let her keep it.

The party made the long, arduous descent down the hill and through the forest back to the lake, where their barge waited for them, which took nearly three days. Along the way, they encountered a small group of "river women" bathing in the waters. Girthil mentioned that fey beings still lived in these woods, and that the mere sight of them could blind a man or strike him dead. Llombaerth had already laid eyes upon them, but had resisted the magic at play.

The party at last reached the lake and loaded their goods onto the barge. They parted ways with Girthil and her barbarians, save for one warrior, who travelled with them to ensure the tribe's 10% due was collected. They also sent Indur the gnoll back to Quasqueton with their two remaining zombies to reinforce the goblins.

The rest of the party set sail on the barge, crossing the lake and sailing upriver. At the end of the second day of sailing, a lone wood elf emerged from the forest, asking if the party were brigands or agents of the wizard in town. They denied this, and agreed to let the elf come aboard to inspect their cargo.

We picked up there. As the elf climbed aboard the barge, the party gave him the heads up that they had items from Quasqueton in their hold, which had belonged to Zelligar, and which Lambrecht the wizard was seeking to obtain, but that they were not delivering these items to him, and were planning to sell them in town and definitely not paying taxes on them. To prove this, they gestured towards the Black Crag people's warrior. The Black Crag people hated Zelligar, and this one was with them, so surely they were not in league with any nefarious wizards.

As it turns out, the wood elves of this forest were ancient enemies of the Black Crag people. Before Rogahn and Zelligar had come to this land and forced out the Black Crag people, the wood elves had called the forest home, and it was the Black Crag people who had forced them out. The elf and the Black Crag warrior exchanged insults in their native tongues, but did not come to blows.

The party brought the elf into the hold to examine their goods. While many of the items might make fine decorations in a wizard's sanctum, there was no evidence that the party was smuggling the sort of items which the elves hoped to keep from Lambrecht. It all seemed above board.

The party asked if there might be items in Quasqueton which belonged to the elves. The elf answered that, while the Black Crag people had taken from the elves, and Rogahn and Zelligar from the Black Crag people, there were no outstanding items that came to mind which the elves would claim for themselves. They had retreated deeper into the forest as human encroachment had become apparent, taking their choicest artifacts and relics with them to save them from such plundering.

The party asked if, at some point, the elves might like to reclaim the forest as their own, and if they might aid the party in facilitating that. The elf said that it would depend on what was required of them, but that the forest was plagued by goblins, orcs, ogres, owlbears, and humans. The forest was tainted, and human civilization was eroding the edge of the forest every year. From the perspective of an elf, there wouldn't be much of it left by the end of their lifetime.

To that point, the party mentioned their intention to rid the forest of its owlbear problem, and asked if the elves might aid them in that. The elf replied that the owlbears were created by the humans' meddling with nature. They were a human problem to be cleaned up by humans. 

Llombaerth removed his owlbear helm, indicating his ears, and said in Elvish that he was an elf as well. The wood elf visibly scoffed at him, stating that the two of them were not the same kind of elf. Llombaerth replied that this was so, but to the humans - and the wizard Lambrecht in particular - they were all just elves. 

This resonated with the wood elf. He would not commit his people to helping the party at this time, but perhaps something could be arranged in the future. He said that his people kept a small scouting outpost in the deep forest to the east, and indicated this on their map. It was just northeast and across the river from where the party suspected the owlbear den to be, which was convenient.

Lastly, the party asked the elf if he was familiar with any magical, possibly evil stones in the region, particularly at Quasqueton. The elf did not know of anything specific, but said that there were a great many magical things in the forest - things from before even the elves' time. During the conflict with the Black Crag people, it was said that the barbarians' druids worshiped a "horned demon" which gave them power, and the elves' druids said that Rogahn and Zelligar had chosen the site of their stronghold because of ancient powers which dwelled beneath the crag.

There was one more thing. In addition to the human brigands and agents of Lambrecht, the elves had encountered another group in the forest - human pilgrims and zealots, worshipers of a horned goddess of some kind, who came from civilized lands to the forest in search of some ancient power. They wore crude headdresses of animal horns and antlers. Whatever they were looking for, the many monsters which prowled the forest had kept them from finding it.

With that, the elf departed back into the forest. As he left, the party spotted about half a dozen more elves, unnoticed until now, dropping from the nearby trees to join him. The elves had bows drawn on the party the entire time.

The party finished resting for the night, waking the next day to continue their journey. They had about three hours before they made it to Timbershore.

At around 9:30 am, Egbert noticed something strange in the sky. He pointed it out to the party - two faintly shimmering, almond-shaped distortions hovering in the air above them, following at they moved up the river. The party concluded that they were being scried upon. Egbert didn't know how long it would last. They ordered the barge to a halt and instructed the oarsmen to cast nets, as if they were simply fishing. They had to convince the captain, Hadric, but eventually the crew carried out their orders.

By the time the equipment was hauled onto the deck, the apparition had vanished. It had been only fifteen minutes. The party ordered the crew back to their positions, amidst some grumbling dissent, and they went on their way. 

The party arrived in Timbershore at around 10:30 am, but decided to stick to the far side of the river until nightfall. They would continue to pose as simple fishermen until dark, then signal for the smugglers to meet them on the far shore. Once their cargo was unloaded, they would dock in town with the day's catch, and hopefully none would be the wiser.

The day passed uneventfully, and the smugglers responded to their signal around 8 pm, floating a barge of their own across the river under cover of night, crewed by ne'er-do-well sailors led by a familiar face - Lethariel Vaen, the elf underling who was second-in-command to the smugglers' leader, Tavin Underbough.

The smugglers came aboard and surveyed the party's treasure. In total, they had some 200 g.p. in assorted old coinage, about 1,500 g.p. in gemstones, and about 2,500 g.p. in other treasures. The party opted to keep the gemstones and convert the remaining treasure into spending money. The coinage would need to be converted into the local currency, and the other items would require forged documents which stated that duties, tariffs, and sales taxes had been paid for each. Since the party was holding onto the gemstones, they would still need to pay sales tax and the special surtax on those if they ended up selling them.

The smugglers' cut was half what it would be if the party had gone through the official channels. The party got a few sacks of platinum and gold coins. 10% went to the Black Crag warrior to bring back to his tribe. The rest was divided five ways, with equal shares for Llombaerth, Mirkle, Rory, Zommernar, and Egbert. 

Mirkle and Rory both gained a level (Mirkle is 3rd level and Rory is 2nd). Llombaerth and Zommernar came close to leveling up, and Egbert is about halfway to 2nd level. I determine experience shares by totaling the number of sessions each character has participated in on the current expedition, with henchmen counting for half the highest number. Llombaerth and Mirkle participated in 7 sessions each, Rory and Zommernar in 3 sessions each, and Egbert counts for 3 sessions (half of 7, rounded down). The total is 23 sessions, so Llombaerth and Mirkle each got a 30% share of the experience points, and everyone else each got a 13.33% share.

With their contraband loot unloaded, the party finally disembarked for town, bringing in the day's catch of fish as a cover. Before parting ways, they impressed upon the crew the importance of not sharing any of what had transpired with anyone. If people were made aware of their activities, they were likely to be rounded up and questioned, and likely would not come back alive. This obviously troubled everyone a great deal, but their worries melted away when the party paid the entire crew a month's salary (some 700 g.p.) as a bonus for their silence. Wilda Brambletoe, the barges shrewd old halfling second mate, reminded the crew that "loose lips sink ships".

With that, the company scattered throughout town. The Black Crag warrior hefted his sack of coins and, seeing no reason to return to his tribe immediately as it was so late, wandered off to gamble and drink. I forgot about Wilros Wackledeckle (shame on me!), but presumably he also parted ways with the group. The party went to the Mooring Post to get a good night's sleep.

The next morning, the weather in town had turned for the worse. A snowy rain fell from the sky, covering the streets in cold water and slush. The party set about their errands.

They decided they would like to recruit another magic-user as a henchman, and spent 60 g.p. posting notices and hiring a crier. They travelled to the High Ward to shop. They bought some locks, thinking they could use them to secure certain areas of the dungeon, and bought two guard dogs, a hunting dog, and four war dogs! I asked them to think about what else they might like to buy and to get back to me with their final lists.

They returned to the River Ward to seek out a dwarf who might know something about the ore they had found in Quasqueton. After a brief inspection, he told them it was ordinary blue earth. A cartload of it was worth just a few copper pieces. It was somewhat useful in creating cheap pigments, but not usually worth mining. They paid the dwarf a gold piece for his time.

Next, they planned to seek out Albertyna to exchange information. They travelled to her manse and found her in her study, but we decided to end the session there.

Nothing too crazy happening in this one! The encounter with the wood elf was fruitful for the information exchange and the new potential allies, and it was fun for the players to learn that they're being magically observed from afar, but the rest was kind of standard bookkeeping stuff. It was good for the characters to get a big payout of XP and gold. I'm glad a few of them leveled up. It was also interesting to see once again how quickly those coffers get drained! The party still has a nice chunk of change in the bank (and in the form of gemstones), but we'll see how much is left once their shopping is concluded!

I'm looking forward to another interaction with Albertyna and to finding out what the players plan to do next.

Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 20)

We played the twentieth 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)
• Zommernar, CN elf fighter 2 (Nael)
• Egbert, human necromancer 1 (NPC)
• Girthil, barbarian leader, and 8 barbarian warriors (NPCs)
• Indur, gnoll (NPC)
• Wilros Wackledeckle, gnome (NPC)
• Zhukk, orc (NPC)
• Two friendly zombie adventurers (NPCs)
• 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)
• Hadric, Wilda Brambletoe, Corvin, Aelwen Riversong, and 20 oarsmen - the crew of the Mossy Turtle (NPCs)

Last we played, a band of barbarian warriors (the Black Crag people) demanded that the party hand over any plundered relics of their people. Due to a bit of a miscommunication, the players thought that the barbarians wanted them to surrender all their treasure. They weren't too keen on that, so they had Egbert put two of the barbarians to sleep, Llombaerth and Indur killed another two, and the barbarians' leader, Girthil, surrendered.

The party negotiated a truce. They gave Girthil the chieftain's sword they had found and promised to lead her to the chieftain's remains which they had found elsewhere in the dungeon. In return, Girthil ordered the rest of her warriors stationed outside the dungeon's secret entrance to release the party's hirelings, who they had taken captive.

The party led Girthil to the chieftain's bones and convinced her to lead some of her warriors in an offensive against Mangug's orcs upstairs. They made their plans and launched the attack. The party and their allies slew Mangug and all six of his orc underlings, though Llombaerth and Zommernar both took wounds, and two of the party's pet zombies were killed.

We picked up there. The party had agreed to let Girthil and her warriors loot the bodies of Mangug's orcs, which they did. Meanwhile, the party went down the hall to Rogahn's secret bedchamber to survey the treasure they had left there.

There, they found the a shield, a mace, and some clothing looted from the captain of the guard's chamber, two pairs of mounted dragon paws (80 lbs each), the giant-sized shield (150 lbs, requiring at least two people to carry), the door etched with esoteric religious symbols (250 lbs, requiring at least three people to carry), and a massive dragon skin (1,000 lbs, requiring at least ten people to carry). Still in the nearby trophy room was what appeared to be a taxidermized cockatrice (60 lbs) and a statue of a basilisk (2,000 lbs, which would have to somehow be lifted onto a sled or rollers to be moved).

The party checked with Girthil to ensure none of these items would be claimed by the Black Crag people. She confirmed that none of the items belonged to them. The party asked if Girthil's warriors would be willing to help them move this stuff down to the lake, where it could be loaded onto the Mossy Turtle and hauled upriver, in exchange for some 150 gold pieces.

Girthil was reticent to consign her proud warriors to manual labor for the party's material gain, and asked why the party's numerous hirelings would not suffice. Llombaerth explained that the forest was very dangerous, gesturing towards the owlbear skull helm he wore. In that case, Girthil said, it seemed her people should be entitled to some share of the treasure. They eventually agreed to give the barbarians a 10% share in exchange for their assistance.

The party suddenly remembered their goblin allies and went looking for them. They found Narka manacled at the ankles in the kitchen. The party asked her what had happened, and she explained that after the party had left the dungeon the last time, Viss had declared that a Goblins' Moot could not be held until Tobb was reunited with the group. The party had left Tobb to guard the room containing the Stone that Speaks, back in Drak's old territory.

Apparently, Numbnuts, Pigmug, Rekk, and Viss had gone to get Tobb. Tobb had not listened to reason, and had attacked. Numbnuts and Viss fled and escaped, but Pigmug and Rekk were either killed or subdued. That night, Mangug's orcs had arrived at Quasqueton. They had been interested in negotiating passage inside, but Viss understandably did not want more orcs lording over them. A fight broke out, and with the goblins outnumbered three to one, they were easily defeated.

Narka told the party that Numbnuts and Viss were in the rooms across the hall. The party found both of them and liberated them as well, but told them to stay where they were for the time being, to avoid any potential conflicts with Girthil's people. Viss asked about Grilk's ring, which Mangug had taken from Viss when the goblins were captured. The party figured that this must have been on Mangug's person, and that Girthil's people likely had it.

The party easily carried the mounted dragon paws and the giant-sized shield out of the dungeon by way of the main entrance, then circled around the crag to the secret entrance to gather their hirelings and mules. Night had fallen over the forest while the party had been inside the dungeon. They broke down their camp and returned to the main entrance.

The party decided that they might be able to use one of the mining carts downstairs to haul a lot of treasure out at once. They hitched the carts to their mules and, along with their hirelings, hauled the carts to the secret bedchamber. They were able to load the cart with the dragon skin and the miscellaneous items found in the captain's chamber (I treated this as a wagon or cart, which triples a mount's carrying capacity at the cost of halving their movement speed, allowing the two mules to haul these items out somewhat easily). They and their zombies, hirelings, and NPC followers carried out the door with religious markings as well as the stuffed cockatrice.

They hauled all of this back around the crag to the secret entrance. The party made a deal with Zhukk to release him if he promised not to return to Quasqueton. He agreed, the party agreed to give him arms and armor from Mangug's orcs so that he would not be defenseless in the wilderness, and he parted ways with them.

The party had not yet engaged in any overland movement that day, and they still had a couple of hours before they had to rest, so they began making their way down the hill, following the river. I reasoned that there was probably some overgrown, disused trail leading from Quasqueton to the lake, since Rogahn and Zelligar likely would have moved vast quantities of stone and other materials downriver to the building site, then used carts and wagons to haul it all up the hill. This was important, since carts and wagons (such as the mining cart being used to transport the heavy items) can only traverse difficult terrain if a road or trail is available.

Normally, it would take the party three hours to descend the hill. Loaded up with treasure and slowed down by their zombies, it would take twice as long. They were able to make it a third of the way down the hill before needing to make camp.

The night passed without incident, and the party woke the next morning to find a cold mist had crept into the forest. This obscured their vision and would impose additional movement cost on the day's travel. It would now take five hours and twenty minutes to finish their descent. They reached the bottom of the hill without incident.

It would normally take four hours to cross the forest and reach the lake. Their reduced movement speed and the mist meant it would take ten hours instead. They were able to make it about a quarter of the way before needing to rest for the night.

Another night passed uneventfully. When the party woke, they found the mists had cleared. The air was cold and dry. It would take another 6 hours to reach the lake.

After traveling along the river for an hour and twenty minutes, the party heard the sound of women's voices from the direction of the river, about 70 feet away, though they could not see the source. The women were speaking - or perhaps singing - in an unknown tongue. 

Llombaerth decided to sneak ahead to get a better look. He succeeded on his Move Silently check, creeping about 30 feet up to the edge of the tree line. There he saw four young graceful elfin women with sleek figures, long, thick hair, and radiant skin, dressed in lengthy, sheer robes which glowed with golden thread and rainbow hews. The breeze blowing in off the river carried a delightful, enticing scent.

Llombaerth found it hard to look away. I called for a saving throw vs spell. Adam asked if his elven resistance to charm and sleep magic would apply here, and I decided it made sense. Llombaerth managed to resist whatever magic was at work without needing to make a saving throw. His eyes burned as if he was staring at the sun itself. The women began to disrobe as they entered the river. Llombaerth quickly pulled himself away and returned to the rest of the party.

After sharing what he had seen and the danger he had felt, the party's followers had input. Egbert was curious about what sort of magic was at work. Indur was incensed that these river women had frightened Llombaerth so, and threatened to kill them and devour their smooth flesh. Girthil mentioned that certain fey beings were known to inhabit the forest and to bathe in the sacred waters which flowed through it. They were known to befriend good-looking, kindhearted men. Their kiss could make a man forget his troubles, and women who bathed in the same waters as them were said to be blessed with renewed youth and beauty. However, the mere sight of them could cause a mortal to lose their sight or be stricken dead.

The party decided not to trifle with the river women, and continued on their way. They reached the lake at about 1 pm and found the barge and its crew waiting for them. They loaded their treasure onto the barge. They decided to head back to town now, returning later for the basilisk statue. They sent Indur back to Quasqueton with their remaining zombies (Hadric did not want them on the boat), instructing Indur to protect the goblins. 

They thought to send Indur back with Grilk's ring as a sign of legitimacy, and asked Girthil if she had found it among Mangug's things. Girthil was wearing the ring around her neck. She said that it was one of her people's relics, and that it had belonged to one of their druids. She had hoped to find the druid's remains in Quasqueton, but hadn't seen them. She showed the party the ring, and they saw that it was etched with runes similar to those found on the chieftain's sword. They asked to take a rubbing of the runes so that they might identify other items belonging to the Black Crag people, to which Girthil agreed.

Girthil sent one of her warriors with the party to ensure that they received their 10% share of the treasures recovered. Girthil and the rest of her warriors parted ways with the party, wandering off into the surrounding forest.

The party, Egbert, Wilros Wackledeckle, and all their hirelings set off on the barge. Though they had traveled overland for six hours already, the barge's crew still had a full 8 hours of travel in them. It took about an hour and forty minutes to cross the lake to the river's mouth. From here, it would be all upriver. By 9 pm, they had made it about nine and a half miles upriver. The crew moored the barge along the shore for the night.

The cold and dry weather persisted the next day, and they continued sailing upriver. They reached the edge of the forest at about 1:15 pm, with Timbershore's familiar farmland stretching out to the north and west, and the forest still to the east and south. They ended the day on the river bordering town, with just three more hours of travel before they could put into port in the River Ward.

Shortly after stopping for the day, around 5:30 pm, they heard a rustling from the trees to the southeast. A lone elf emerged from the forest, and Llombaerth and Zommernar recognized him as a a wood elf. The elf was cautious, calling out to them to ask if they were brigands, agents of the wizard, or traders. 

The party identified themselves as traders of a sort, denying any affiliation with brigands or wizards. The elf asked if, in that case, he might come aboard to investigate, to see if they were who they said, and not catspaws of the wizard. The party asked how this might be proven, and the elf said that he would look for items bearing the wizard's mark, or anything plundered from the old stronghold which the wizard claimed as his own, which they might be delivering to him.

We ended the session there. This one was a doozy! In contrast to our last session, there was no combat whatsoever, but lots of logistics puzzling, social interaction, overland movement, and a couple of outdoor encounters. 

This was the party's biggest logistical endeavor yet, and the challenge of getting all that treasure out of the dungeon really manifested itself here. The overland travel math is a bit challenging for me on the fly, and I had to go back as I wrote this post and correct some of my timekeeping math, but I think it all checks out. It is a bit of a relief to finally shed some of the party's accumulated NPC hangers-on! The "river women" encounter was a bit awkward to play out. I definitely felt like a bit of a lecher as I described it, but decided to lean into it and play up the male-gaziness of it all.

Next time, we'll see how the wood elf encounter plays out. Then, hopefully, the party will make it back to town and engage in some fun shenanigans there.

Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 19)

We played the nineteenth 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)
• Zommernar, CN elf fighter 2 (Nael)
• Egbert, human necromancer 1 (NPC)
• Wilros Wackledeckle, gnome (NPC)
• Indur, gnoll (NPC)
• Zhukk, orc (NPC)
• Four friendly zombie adventurers (NPCs)
• 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 sent their zombie minions after Ghudgak's orcs, slaying two and capturing the last of them, Zhukk. They also rescued a gnome prisoner named Wilros Wackledeckle. The orcs' lair contained a stone which bestowed magical properties upon those who ate pieces of it. The party experimented with it, gaining some permanent ability score increases and a 500 g.p. gemstone, which they let Egbert keep. The stone also healed one of their zombies, turned another invisible, and caused a third's short sword to begin glowing - perhaps it had become magical?

From Zhukk, they learned of "Dead Eaters" lairing in a cave just off the orcs' lair. From Wilros, they learned of a hole in the ceiling of a nearby cavern which led to the upper level. Wilros showed them where the cave was. The party gathered itself together and decided to return to the secret entrance to regroup with their hirelings, then plan an attack against Mangug's orcs on the upper level.

As they returned to the secret entrance, they were confronted by a group of five barbarian warriors who accused the party of stealing their people's relics and demanded they surrender their stolen goods. The barbarians had already subdued the party's hirelings outside, who had apparently surrendered without a fight.

We picked up there. The players continued to talk through their options, but eventually resigned themselves to fighting. They told Egbert to read what he had written on his scroll. The barbarians drew their bows and pointed them at Egbert, threatening to fill him with arrows if he began reading. The player characters all stood in front of Egbert and told him to read.

Egbert read. Both sides prepared to loose missiles at one another, but Egbert's spell went off before anyone else could act. He cast sleep at the barbarians, but rolled low (just 2 on 2d4!), putting two of the barbarian warriors to sleep. The remaining barbarians sent their arrows flying, but all either missed or were deflected by armor. Llombaerth threw flaming oil at the enemies, scoring a critical hit on one of the warriors and splashing the remaining two. The warrior struck with the flaming oil was set alight and died screaming. Indur put an arrow through the other warrior's face for max damage, killing them instantly. 

At the top of the following round, the leader failed her morale check by 10, meaning she would surrender. She cried out towards her dead allies, threw down her weapons, and subjected herself to the party's mercy.

The party bound the leader and the two sleeping warriors. They made an offer to release the barbarians if they pledged to help the party slay Mangug's orcs and retrieve their treasure. The leader spit on the ground and said that her people would never be slaves to plundering adventurers who had killed her warriors.

The players discussed and decided to gift the leader with the barbarian chieftain's sword they had found in the museum. The leader was stunned - this was the sword of her people's greatest chieftain. Had the party possessed this all along? If they were willing to part with it now, why not earlier? She had only wanted the return of her people's relics. This bloodshed could have been avoided entirely. 

The party reminded her that the barbarians had taken their hirelings hostage, threatened them, and demanded they surrender their treasure. The party admitted that they had mistakenly assumed that the barbarians wanted all of their treasure. They mentioned that they had found the chieftain's bones, and were happy to return these.

The leader looked regretful. She glanced back towards the two dead barbarians and lamented that she had taken such an aggressive approach. She said that if the chieftain's bones were returned, her people would help the party. She introduced herself as Girthil. The party agreed to let the barbarians keep any of their relics that they found, as well as any loose coinage on the orcs once they were defeated.

The party freed Girthil and her warriors. Girthil went out onto the ledge outside the secret entrance and called to her warriors down below, telling them to free the captives. The party's mercenaries were irate at having been captured, and expected the party to slay the enemies. There was considerable tension between the barbarians and the party's hirelings. 

The party decided to leave their hirelings and four of the remaining eight regular barbarians to guard the camp. They also left Zhukk in camp, as he did not want to fight other orcs. Wilros Wackledeckle also elected to remain in camp. The party escorted Girthil to retrieve her chieftain's bones and secured those in camp as well.

The rest of the company (Llombaerth, Mirkle, Zommernar, Egbert, Indur, the four zombies, Girthil, and her four remaining warriors) headed upstairs to ambush Mangug's orcs. 

Planning the attack took a while. The players had to get on the same page about their mental map of the dungeon. The whole party would emerge from the throne room area (previously used by Drak's orcs) and turn left. Llombaerth, Indur, and two barbarians would take the first passage on the right, which they knew looped around and entered Mangug's/the goblins' territory from the rear. The rest of the party would head straight towards the intersection with the one way secret door. Zommernar and Egbert would take the zombies right to rush the orcs, while Mirkle, Girthil, and the two remaining barbarians went through the secret door to join the fray by way of the main entrance corridor.

Here's the map the players came up with:

They put their plain into action, emerging from the throne room into the hallway. Immediately, they heard orcish voices calling to them from the end of the hall, near the intersection with the secret door. The party couldn't see them yet, but the orcs could see their light source. 

The party moved closer and found two orcs guarding the intersection. The orcs were surprised to see that the party had found another way in, but assumed that they had come to treat with Mangug, as discussed earlier. The party sent their zombies forward in a charge and followed close behind them. Llombaerth, Indur, and two barbarians took the first right as planned and rushed to flank.

The orcs cried out in alarm when they saw the zombies. The zombies and orcs engaged in melee as Mirkle, Girthil, and another barbarian brought up the rear, firing projectiles and stabbing through the first rank with their spears. The party failed to score any hits in the first round, while one of the orcs stabbed the thief zombie with a spear. A third orc joined the melee, crashing into the thief zombie with its flail, which "killed" the zombie.

The following round, a barbarian stabbed one of the orcs, but managed only a minor wound. Mangug himself came to join the melee, and four orcs attacked with their flails. Two managed to hit the wizard zombie, which brought that zombie down as well. With a few zombies eliminated, Zommernar could wade into melee with his long sword.

Meanwhile, the second group had circled around into the heart of orc territory, and found two more orcs moving perpendicular to them to reinforce the ongoing melee. They had caught the orcs on their flank, and had just enough movement left to charge in, so they did. The orcs were unprepared, and could not set to receive a charge with their spears or counterattack in any way. Indur managed to kill an orc in the charge.

The following round, Zommernar tried to get the zombies to push the orcs back up the corridor to clear the way to the secret door, but the orcs held their ground. Zommernar struck and killed the wounded orc with his sword. Mirkle scored a hit with her spear, but didn't kill any orcs. 

In the other melee, Llombaerth circled around the remaining orc and struck it with his glowing short sword, killing it. The blade was light and sharp, cutting quickly and true. As the orc fell, it landed a retaliatory blow against Llombaerth with its flail, dealing 5 damage. With the last of the two orcs dead, the party continued down the hall to join the other melee, emerging at the orcs' rear.

The remaining four orcs finally saw the writing on the wall, and their morale broke. They failed the check by 3, so they made a fighting retreat. They backed towards the secret door, making attacks as they went. Llombaerth attempted to hit the whole group with flaming oil, but rolled a critical failure. The oil flew over the orcs' heads and shattered just beyond them, hitting the whole group for splash damage.

The orcs managed to land a blow on the party's burly fighter zombie for 5 damage, and another hit Zommernar for 7 damage, but then the party laid into them. Zommernar slew Mangug, and Mirkle, Indur, and four of the five barbarians landed hits on the remaining orcs. The combined damage was enough to thoroughly slay the orcs, and combat was over.

We wrapped the session there. The highlight of this session was definitely the planning phase, where the players had to use their accumulated knowledge of Quasqueton's halls to coordinate their battle strategy. It took a long time for them to get on the same page about the dungeon's layout, but it really clicked when they decided to collaborate on a map and label their hallways. It struck me as very different than the last time the party had fought orcs here, where they had been the defenders and the orcs had craftily counter flanked and ambushed their flanking party and generally foiled their carefully laid plans. It feels more and more like the players have mastered this space.

The combat definitely became unwieldy with so many moving pieces, and I struggled to reconstruct it after the fact for this report, but I think I did a reasonably fine job. At a certain point I just said to hell with initiative and declared that everyone was attacking everyone else at the same time, which was not a bad solution, but definitely eliminated some element of tactical nuance. 

I'm tempted to go through the PHB and sort the different weapons into an ordered list based on Speed Factor so that I have a sort of phased initiative to fall back on in big skirmishes like this. For example, if I went by the weapon types used in this combat, the order would be: flaming oil (Llombaerth) > short swords (Llombaerth) > long swords (Zommernar) > spears (Mirkle, barbarians, and orcs) > short bows (Mirkle and barbarians), flails (orcs), and morning stars (Indur) > long bows (Indur and orcs). That seems like it would simplify big skirmishes while still allowing for some element of strategy. Something worth testing out in the future!

Play Report (AD&D 2e): In Search of the Unknown (Session 18)

We played the eighteenth 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)
• Indur, gnoll (NPC)
• Four friendly zombie adventurers (NPCs)
• 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 time we played, the party looted some gnoll corpses and headed back to the dungeon's secret entrance to rest. Some wild dogs bothered them right around dawn, but Llombaerth threw them some food, and they went on their way. They constructed a crude shelter to protect their camp from outside threats, and Egbert determined that the scroll they had found was a 9th level sleep scroll.

The party went back into the dungeon with Egbert, Indur, Lendeborg, and Walgretor. They returned to the cave with the pool, hoping to open the trap door in the ceiling, but couldn't get it to budge. They found more bluish ore in a nearby cave, collected a sample, and considered the possibility of mining it in the future. 

They followed a long, curving tunnel and found a secret door in the wall. Inside the secret cavern were more shriekers, which the party dispatched quickly, without attracting more monsters. Scattered about the cave were thousands of copper coins. They left these for now, but filled a sack with coins and gave it to Indur, with the promise of more if he served them well.

They continued along the tunnel and found a worked stone chamber filled with mining equipment and stairs leading up. In an adjoining room, they found a sort of museum with painted frescoes depicting Rogahn and Zelligar, a framed letter from the hamlet of Timbershore thanking Rogahn and Zelligar for their aid in the war against the barbarians, a manacled barbarian chieftain's skeleton, and the chieftain's sword, which they took.

They ascended the stairs and found that they led back to the throne room on the upper level which had been used by Drak Stonespeaker. Rather than confront Mangug's orcs now, they went back downstairs to finish exploring the lower level.

Continuing down the curving tunnel from the room with the stairs, they found four zombie adventurers trapped in a thick web. They took the zombie wizard's spellbook and, determining that the zombies had no "master" and were docile and pliable, decided to free them. They ushered the zombies before them as they continued down the tunnel. Suddenly, they heard orcish voices to their left, raising a cry. They sent their zombies shambling down the tunnel after them.

We picked up there. The party sent the zombies in front of them as meat shields. The tunnel was narrow and wound to the right and then to the left. The party did not have line of sight on the orcs. They heard the orcs talking to one another, and heard another, more diminutive male voice protesting in the Common tongue as the orcs jostled him.

By the time the party caught sight of the orcs, they were just 20' away. The orcs had a gnome they had taken prisoner and shoved out in front of them as a shield. The orcs were ready with their bows, and fired arrows at the zombie vanguard as they approached. Three arrows struck the zombie in the center, who appeared to have been a burly fighter in life. The zombie hardly noticed the wounds. 

All three of the zombies became distracted by the gnome and began to fall upon him. The party ordered the zombies to attack the orcs, not the gnome, but this only seemed to confuse them. They froze in place, wasting a round. The party told the gnome to run past the zombies and join them. The gnome, looking to the orcs and then the zombies, saw an opening and darted past the slack jawed zombies and took shelter behind the party. Llombaerth gave him a dagger.

The party rallied the zombies to press the attack against the orcs. Mirkle followed them, hoping to stab through the front rank with her spetum. The rest of the party readied to fire a volley of projectiles past the zombies. The orcs drew their spears and shields and braced for the zombies' charge. 

One orc managed to hit the zombie thief, but only for minimum damage. One of Llombaerth's arrows was just narrowly deflected by an orc's shield. The gnome threw Llombaerth's dagger at on of the orcs and scored a hit, though the orc still stood. The thief zombie scored a staggering blow against the orc which had stabbed her. The burly fighter clobbered the orc in the center, bringing it to the ground. The zombies stopped what they were doing to feed on the fallen orc.

With the zombies distracted, the remaining two orcs looked to retreat. Llombaerth threw a flask of flaming oil over their heads, which shattered and exploded behind them, cutting off their retreat and inflicting splash damage. The rest of the party pressed the attack. Indur hit one of the orcs with an arrow, and Egbert managed to bring it down with a well-placed dart.

The party offered surrender to the remaining orc, and promised it good conduct. The orc glanced at its allies being devoured by zombies and opted to throw its shield and spear on the fire. The party navigated around the feeding zombies and secured the remaining orc with rope. 

They learned that the orc's name was Zhukk. They asked Zhukk if he was affiliated with Ghudgak. Zhukk nodded to the mangled orc corpse on the ground, surrounding by feasting zombies, and sadly said "Ghudgak". The party asked how many of Ghudgak's orcs were left, to which Zhukk said he was the last. Shal, Shang, and Zorel had died in the pit trap, the party had just killed Ghudgak and Zhuk (not to be confused with Zhukk), and Bhadgak had been smote by the Stone.

The Stone? Zhukk gestured to the cavern to the party's left. There, they saw a large, glowing chunk of rock towering over the cavern. Zhukk explained that the orcs ate the flesh of the Stone. It granted boons to the worthy, banes to the unworthy, and occasionally struck down true heretics, like Bhadgak. Bhadgak had eaten the flesh of the Stone, began choking, turned purple, and died. The orcs had given him over to the Dead Eaters as a peace offering.

Dead Eaters? Zhukk gestured to the tunnel to the party's right. There was a fork in the tunnel, with one branch to the left and another which went straight ahead and turned right. The Dead Eaters lived down the latter tunnel. Ghudgak had arranged with them the exchange of corpses to allow the orcs to live unmolested.

The party questioned the gnome next. They learned that his name was Wilros Wackledeckle. He and his wife, Breela Billowbadge, had come to Quasqueton in search of treasure so that they could afford to buy a home and start a family in Timbershore. They had negotiated their way past the goblins on the upper level and eventually found an old forge. They had climbed down a hole in the floor of an adjoining room to reach the lower level, at which time they were captured by Ghudgak's orcs. The orcs had forced the gnomes to consume the Stone's flesh. Wilros had survived, but Breela had been struck dead and given over to the Dead Eaters.

The party decided to try their luck with the Stone. Mirkle tried it first, breaking off a chunk of rock and inserting it into her mouth. She gained a permanent +1 to her Wisdom score. Llombaerth went next, gaining a permanent +1 to his Intelligence score. They invited Egbert to partake as well. To their surprise, the chunk of rock turned into a gemstone in Egbert's mouth. Llombaerth took advantage of his improved Intelligence score and identified the gem as a 500 g.p. topaz. They allowed Egbert to keep it, since he had risked his life for it.

Llombaerth had the idea to conceal a bit of rock inside some orc flesh, and fed a bit to each zombie. The zombies mindlessly chomped down on the rocks, shattering their teeth, but it had an effect. The zombie thief's shortsword began to glow in its scabbard. Llombaerth took it (the zombie didn't seem to mind) and examined it. It felt lighter, its edge sharper. Llombaerth held onto it.

The wizard zombie's mortification was ever so slightly reversed. She was still an undead thing, but looked like she had been dead for less time. The burly fighter's body pushed out the arrows protruding from its torso, and the party watched as its wounds knitted together. The less burly fighter disappeared entirely, though the party could still poke her and could see bits of orc gore being torn from the carcass and fed into an invisible maw.

Indur and Zhukk had an argument, which the party had to break up. The gnolls had been enemies of Ghudgak's orcs, and Indur wanted the party to kill Zhukk. The party explained that they had promised Zhukk good conduct, and could not kill him unless he crossed them. They promised Indur that if it came to that, Indur would be allowed to kill Zhukk himself. 

The party asked Zhukk where Ghudgak kept his treasure. Zhukk reluctantly indicated the tunnel to the left (the one that didn't house the Dead Eaters). At the end of 20' tunnel, the party found an assortment of electrum and platinum, plus a black pearl worth another 500 g.p.

The party asked Wilros to show them how he had gotten down here. They backtracked about 70' down the tunnel leading to Ghudgak's lair and took a right, walked 20',  then took a left. 50' down the tunnel they saw the pit trap from earlier. About halfway down the tunnel was a small cavern on the left. There they found a rope hanging from a hole in the ceiling 40' above.

The party took some time to deliberate. Should they continue exploring the lower level? There was a tunnel just outside of this one that they hadn't explored. There were also the Dead Eaters, who the party decided not to confront. Should they go back upstairs to confront Mangug's orcs? If they were going to do that, they would want to get their mercenaries from outside. They decided to exit the dungeon and reconvene with their hirelings.

Realizing that they had left the zombies back in Ghudgak's lair eating orc corpses, they went back to retrieve them. They offered Zhukk an ultimatum: they could either leave him hogtied and defenseless somewhere in the dungeon for some monster to come upon, or, they could untie him, give him a weapon, and pay him 20 g.p. to fight beside them against Mangug's orcs. Zhukk did not want to fight other orcs (Mangug's orcs were unfamiliar to him, and he had no quarrel with them), but it seemed he had no choice. He agreed. The party brought him with them, but didn't untie him just yet.

So the party took Egbert, Indur, Wilros, Zhukk, their two hirelings, and their four zombies all the way back to the cavern with the secret entrance. As they crossed the long cavern and turned towards the secret door, they were confronted by five warriors dressed in hides and wielding spears and shields.

The warriors were led by a woman, who did not identify herself. She said that they were the people of the Black Crag, who lived in this region before the evildoers Rogahn and Zelligar drove them out and stole their relics. They had learned of plunderers selling their goods in Timbershore and had come to investigate. The party's mercenaries had surrendered without a fight, and all of their hirelings outside were now prisoners.

The party explained that they were retrieving the artifacts stolen by Rogahn and Zelligar, and offered to join the people of the Black Crag in recovering their lost relics. They explained that there were orcs on the upper level which they were trying to root out. The warriors looked at the party with Indur, Zhukk, and their zombie allies, and accused them of fraternizing with monsters and practicing black magic.

The party didn't see much of a way out of this, and with the numbers of their side, decided to fight. We wrapped there.

This was a bit of a slow one. The skirmish with the orcs took some time because there were so many pieces involved, even though it lasted just a few rounds. The party had two new NPCs to question, and spent a good deal of time experimenting with the magic stone - which was fun! A good mix of combat and social interaction with a bit of exploration mixed in. It looks like the party has another fight on their hands next session, so we'll see how that goes.

The party continues to accrue NPC followers, it seems. It's unwieldy, but fun. I love when the party starts to roll through the dungeon squad deep. I'm looking forward to seeing how things shake out next time.