This was a short weeknight session playing out some downtime of the good
characters - buying a wagon of equipment, warhorses with barding, etc.
as well as hiring henchmen!
Characters: Sixtus Sunwalker,
Milton North, Maethedir, Betanochin Wormington (H), and the newly
introduced Mobius Malbane, a half-elf F/C/MU and unknown son of Merlon,
who was following rumours of his fathers exploits in the region when he
stumbled upon the party in Sunland (formerly Steemham).
Downtime Day 111 (15/07/21) - Day 124 (28/07/21)
Maethedir leveled up his Fighter class to 2 in Sunland, putting money
into a sort of 'Peasant Punch Up' to help improve his skills, with
special input and a few techniques taught by Bart.
Sixtus and Milton went to Underland to take their money out of the
extortionate Moorhawk Exchange (this was 5670GP) and, after leaving out
Betanochin's share of 800GP (leaving them with 4870GP), they bought a
bunch of equipment. I should really go over the list of with a fine
toothed comb. But now they have a wagon, pulled by two leather barded
draft horses, 2 chain barded warhorses, enough light horses so everyone
is mounted (except Sixtus who rides the wagon, but including the
henchmen they hired) as well as a bunch of other gear. Anyway this all
happens peacefully, they go back to Sunland, wait for Maethedir's
training, then head to Thropsford to hire henchmen. All the players want
clerics in the party.
Sixtus' Interviews [Day 122 (26/07/2021) - Day 128 (1/08/2021)]
I was prepared for this, and had gone through the DMG procedure for
henchmen. Sixtus elected to use a hiring agent, post notices, and hire a
crier - this player has been wanting henchmen since the start and was
not skimping out to risk missing out. He did specify clerics/paladins
but happy with anyone that's cool. I don't know what this means, but his
player elected to conduct interviews at the Temple of Tiw! That
definitely reduced the list.
So Sixtus' first prospect is Chadius Supercoolius the Gallant, another
golden Paladin of Tiw, who was a squire when Sixtus left the temple.
He's 1" shorter than Sixtus. Sixtus assures the rash but well-meaning
youth that "Glory can be arranged" and that "they have saved the planet
twice, so you can expect more of that" Chadius is keen. He parts of good
terms.
A ragged old druid comes in, he's hairy and dirty, smoking a pipe. Super
peaceful. His name is Otis of the Leaf. Sixtus doesn't want any cosmic
fence sitters and politely tells him take a hike.
Despite his great efforts and expenses, Sixtus waited for about 6 days,
and only one other contender approached him. His name is Subucule, a
devout of Gilfig. Sixtus sees merits in the Gilfigite Texts, and
believes this holy man could be a great addition to the party.
Maethedir's Interviews [Day 122 (26/07/2021) - Day 127 (31/07/2021)]
Maethedir posted notices, hired a crier, and frequented inns and
taverns. His interviews were being held in the Stone in the Pond tavern.
He was specifically after magic users but also interested in healing
and fighting types. So Lodermulch the Agnostic walks in with a
dominating and aggressive presence. There is some back and forth, and
almost an altercation. He claims he kills with class and is a skilled
warrior. Maethedir puts him down as a maybe.
A day or so later, walking timidly to the table, is a lanky and pimpled
youth with a bulbous nose, greasy black hair, and face locked in a
permanent sneer. His robes are pus-yellow. He speaks in a very annoying
high pitched voice with exaggerated inflections, and says his name is
Articulatus Superfluous, who was once a student to Ioucunu the Laughing
Magician, who cursed him as a joke. He basically has tourettes.
Maethedir feels bad for him, and when the young magic-user says he would
have no problem traveling in the company of a paladin, Maethedir
strongly considers him.
The final prospect, which holds much sway in Maethedir's mind, is a
short, slim, and pale white man with jet black eyes and hair. Not only
is his appearance unusual, but his name, Ulan Dhor, is very bizarre -
Maethedir mistakes it for some form of elvish he doesn't understand. The
chivalrous character politely replies that it's a name from the 5th
Aeon, and his parents had exotic tastes. This interview was very
promising - Ulan assured his skill with the bow, the spear, and the
sword, and that he would be honoured to work alongside a noble paladin.
Milton's Interviews [Day 122 (26/07/2021) - Day 126 (30/08/2021)]
Milton posted notices, hired a crier, and frequented inns and taverns.
He held his interviews in the same place as Maethedir - and he had heaps
of prospects. First off the bat was a bald and simple-dressed man with a
large jug on his back. His name is Orfel, a Devout of Issek of the Jug.
After discussing the tenets of his religion, which were that
perseverance can overcome any hardship, and that the disciples live in
self-induced poverty so that they may aid others, Milton put him down
immediately as a prospect. He said he would find him at his stall on the
Street of the Gods in Thropsford.
In contrast to this man, was a black robed male human with an
insect-like visage. Bugs crawled all over him. He's another cleric,
named Iowig, and he worships Nnuuurrrr'c'c', the Lord of the Insects.
The conversation isn't hostile, but Milton is immensely disturbed and
the interview ends.
This golden skinned, golden haired, blue eyed and absolutely ripped man
with a Murican accent walks in. He's wearing a tight white wife-beater
and tracksuit pants. His name is Jake Mace. Milton asks if he's a cleric
or worships. Jake says he prays at the Temple of Iron. Asks Milton if
he wants to do some forms in the garden. The whole exchange with this
guy is weird. Milton doesn't know what to do, when the man says he also
has some level 1 thief skills. The tone changes when they realise he's a
monk. Now they aren't losing this chad whatsoever! Jake Mace says he'll
be waiting for Milton outside the city walls, lifting boulders or
something.
A beautiful young brunette with the scent of pine needles and flowers, a
garland on her hair, and green/brown robes leaving little to the
imagination walks in. She's a total babe and very appealing to young
Milton. Her name is Linaria Sun Drop. Milton quickly overlooks a few
comments involving multiple men and free love, and though he realises
her druidic calling does not align with a certain party members
requirements, asks if they can have dinner after. Milton watches her
walk out, the sway of her hips alluring. This is the last pleasant
interview.
Peter Caine Dog Training comes in. Milton has no idea what this guy is
on about, randomly going on about being molested by a Yowie, losing his
dogs, reckons his bastard hybrid child is somewhere in the woods,
probably attracted to the Yowie Portal in the Logremarb. Wants to go
rescue him - even though he 'doesn't wanna pay no squatch support!' he
still cares. The man claims he can track things, and is great with
animals. Says he can be found at the Dog House in the Slag Zone. Milton
pretends to write down 'maybe' but crosses him off the list.
The final one to enter is a masked figure with red eyes. He is wearing
black clothes and speaks in a rough and guttural voice. Says his name is
Uglúk and that he is looking for work. He can heal, but is better at
harming. Also says he can kill things without them knowing. Mobius'
player wishes his evil character was here so he could hire him on the
spot. Milton says there is a paladin in the party. Uglúk immediately
turns and leaves.
Session 11 (29/07/2021)
Downtime overlapped into session time with the interviews. The
interviews were all done by Day 128 (1/08/21) and the players decided
who they wanted to hire:
Sixtus: Chadius Supercoolius and Subucule (100GP upfront cost each, 200GP total)
Maethedir: Articulatus Superfluous and Ulan Dhor (125GP upfront each, 250GP total)
Milton: Orfel and Jake Mace (200GP and 100GP each respectively - Orfel
actually decided to refuse the job, asking for more coin so he could
'help alleviate the poor' so Milton threw in some extra coin and he
accepted. 300GP total)
This excludes all equipment which I will provide a list for and deduct from the players.
Also Day 128, being the first of the month, means that monthly upkeep
costs came out. I allowed the players half cost due to being in Sunland
most of the time, which they have free accommodation and food at. Since
they are level 2 it still costs them 100GP anyway!
Day 129 (2/08/2021)
The party, with their henchmen, elect to return to Sunland, pick up
Betanochin and their wagon, then go to the banquet at Castle Ardenward
that they were invited to ages ago. On the ride back, Mobius and
Maethedir conspire to read Merlon's old magic book together. Due to
'Read Magic' having a 2 minute duration, I rule that this means they can
only use it once per spell in the spellbook, so it will take them days
to decipher each spell within. The two magic-users also start discussing
what magic they have and plan to trade spells. The journey takes about 4
days, and they arrive at Sunland on Day 132, in the late afternoon...
I'm not sure which spells they were able to learn and write down, but
the players are keeping track of the spells they fail their to-know
rolls on.
Day 133 (6/08/2021)
The day starts with some silly conversations in the village. Chadius and
Jake Mace know each other from the Temple of Iron. Chadius picks on
Betanochin a bit. Sixtus steps in. It's all in good fun though. Also
found out Articulatus Superfluous has a wife who is in an 'open
relationship' and has more patrons on Harlot Lane than the Shank in the
Sage. He isn't one of them.
The party takes the wagon to Castle Ardenward, about a half-day ride
from Sunland. The two magic-users players cunningly work around my
ruling that Read Magic is once per spell in a spell-book, and they each
read different pages, informing each other of the spell on that
particular page. I considered having it one cast per book, but it makes a
lot more sense to me that when you uncover another magic-users spell
book you literally have to 'study' it. Not just cast one spell on it and
be able to read the whole thing. However, spell scrolls only require
Read Magic cast once though they might have more spells. This is a
tentative ruling for now. I'll just tell the players what's in the books
if I come to a different conclusion, since it was all done during
leisurely travel time and doesn't change much in this case.
On the road to the Castle they run into a patrol of 20 footmen and a few
mounted riders. It's a patrol from the Castle. The Captain, Antir, upon
finding out they were the fabled crusaders of Steemham, informs them
they are long overdue to the Baron's banquet, but that is not really an
issue. They are escorted the rest of the way, and ushered into the keep
politely. Their wagons and horses are tended. They are told not to bring
weapons in, which irks the players. Then the Baron himself comes out to
personally greet them - he is a humbly dressed but regal man who allows
them to wear their weapons and armour (Sixtus was going to wear his
full suit of plate to the banquet for some reason). Anyway this is all
just pleasantries. The players have a bath scene which I shouldn't have
lingered on. Jake Mace and Chadius are just absolute beasts who disrobe
without skipping a beat. Sixtus enters the rose scented water in his
plate armour. The Baron left out fresh, perfectly fitting clothes for
them, except Betanochin, whose own shirt was of such exquisite design
and tailoring that he could not supply better.
They dig into this great, but still humble, feast. They get the
impression the Baron is not a man of excessive luxury and decadence. Now
it's business talk - first, they discuss the Steemham situation. The
Baron is unsure why they did not come to him first - but ultimately
trusts they are good people (2 paladins in the party!) and people of
initiative. Warns them other Lords won't be so accommodating of things
done out of order. The players meet the new Lord of Sunland - a scarred,
bald man of stoic disposition and polite tongue. His name is Lord
Bryne. Sixtus detects no evil, and after hearing his plans for Sunland,
agree he is a good fit. His first plan is the destruction of the
unsightly wall which does nothing but deter travelers and restrict
expansion. Then transitioning from swine rearing to cattle, and
expanding the farmlands to the east.
Satisfied, the players allow Lord Bryne to leave, and the Baron talks
about what he really wanted them here for. He is concerned about the
orcs harrying the dwarves of Khûn Kaldur, who are holed up in their
fortress, with all their outposts overrun by orcs. The Baron has sent
his own men there to aid them, but it is not enough. There are two orc
clans involved: The Blistering Rime and Death Moon. He speculates a
great force or individual is regulating the orcs, because normally the
clans do not mix and conflict is almost guaranteed without a firm hand
ruling them. His intelligence suggests the orcs have been mining
passages beside the Narazar Pass, which the dwarves use to travel into
the mountains, and that their outposts were positioned along, so that
can travel swiftly and freely through the mountains. His men are
watching one such passage that is quite close to the keep. Baron
Ardenward believes these passages are the key, and likely lead back to
the lairs of these orc clans, and possibly their leader.
With this conversation at a close, the players elect to rest. Tomorrow will be day of strategising...
Day 134 (7/08/21)
We ended the session at the start of this day, which happens to be a
Saturday! Nothing to note, except Merlon has used his Read Magic for the
day and learned Magic Missile from the evil magic-users spell book the
other characters recovered a while ago.
Character Role & Alignment Performance Ratings
This was purely a RP session, but everyone did excellently as far as they could perform their roles.
Treasure
Nothing!
Experience Points
Nothing! We found out Maethedir is actually maxed on XP for Magic-User level 2 as well. He is currently a F2/MU1.
Comments
The evil characters are out of downtime and in a dangerous place. Having
just massacred 30 lumberjacks and with most of their own people dead,
the survivors agree on cannibalism in order to preserve their rations
until we next play them. Because they asked, I rule that the clerical
spell 'Purify Food & Water' will work on man-flesh. I did some
calculations (why can't we just have normal adventures like the other
D&D players?) and arrived at a figure - one average body will yield
40 days of food (subject to spoilage). It takes two casts of Purify Food
& Water to un-spoil an average body.
Here are the calculations for those who care...
Purify Food and Drink is 1 cubic foot. Google said the average person is 62kg and we can approximate that as 62000 cubic cm since we are close in density to water (1 gram water per 1 cubic cm) which means the average person occupies 62000 cubic cm or 2.2 cubic feet.
Purify Food & Water will thus unspoil about half a person.
Standard rations are hydrated and have 200gp encumbrance. So 20 pounds. This means an AD&D 1e character has roughly 3lbs of food a day while on rations. Iron rations is less due to lower water content. Bodies have water content.
So 62kg is about 136 pounds. Bones make up about 15%, which is about 20 pounds. This leaves 116lbs of other. Rounding this down to 108 lbs, which divides into 3lbs nicely (assuming the excess is just disgusting, or fluids, or dog meat etc.) I deduce one average man will furnish 108/3 = 40 days of food. It requires two casts of Purify Food and Water to unspoil such a body. It will start spoiling immediately again, which takes about 2 days in the summer heat.
Bale is digging pit fall traps around the place.
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