Session 23 - Mogwai's and Potato Hobbits

Session Number 23 - Mogwai's and Potato Hobbits

Forward: "It is what it is" - drunk tradie at a caravan park

Timekeeping: Session started on the 19/03/2022 and ended on 30/03/2022. PCs have downtime from 31/03/2022. They are all at Stoutholm in the hills south of Underland.

Characters: Sixtus Sunwalker (P3), Milton North (F3), Maethedir (F2/MU2), Finesstro the Nimble (MU1), Kovani (M1), Betanochin Wormington (Henchmen F1), Articulatus Superfluous (Henchmen MU1), Jake Mace (Henchmen M1)

Downtime Adjudication: A day or so ago I sent a blood moon calendar in the group chat and informed all the Globulites (PC Clerics who worship Globulah) that they would be getting Poor ratings if they didn't perform human sacrifices on these dates. They only have to make 2 this year. One player informed me he set an alarm on his phone. So we still had some PCs who hadn't had their hiatus downtime adjudicated. One character, Greg Chapel (Human Cleric 2) said he couldn't believe there was no Fitzpatrick Bateman cult member of the Globulites. I informed him there now was, and if he spent all his hiatus downtime uninterrupted (about 4 months) then he would be a level 1 Cleric of Globulah. Win-win all around.

Milton North was working off his debt for training costs to the Duke of Ardenward, earning 300gp a month as lieutenant. He got 4 months of work, so covered 1200/1500 of his debt.

Kovani the monk was rumour-mongering:

• Apparently there is a strange archaeological dig-site in some badlands in the south, between Underland and Thropsford, where the workers are resigning due to nightmares
• Villagers in the south/south-west of Underland are being harried by tall red monsters in oriental armour
• There is a mystical desert to the west of Brill which is home to insect men
• A dragon lives on Thunder Peak
  

I also trialed something different - palming off the DMG p35 Henchmen hiring to the PCs. Let me tell you, if you aren't using the DMG p36-37 alignment and racial modifiers for reactions, you're missing out. Bale Tyrannus, Chaotic Evil Half-Orc, realised that out of all 75 prospective henchmen he reached, due to his race and alignment (and minimal upfront offer) about 55 of his 75 prospects departed immediately after a short conversation with him. Nagora has written that the 1e rules imply a "sixth sense" for alignment, and using the aforementioned modifiers concretes that notion.

The awesomely procedural nature of almost everything in the DMG, from henchmen hiring to wilderness exploration, means you can give players freedom to do things themselves. This makes the game world a collaboration, takes the load off the DMs shoulders, and increases everyone's investment and care! We see it being done with great success in the Trollopulous campaign as Macho Mandalf carves out his own domain. A lot more can be said here, but I digress...

Session Report:  

19/03/2022
The Good PCs were in play. Everyone discussed their copious amounts of rumours and information from the downtime, and basically unanimously agreed to go for the low-hanging fruit of an alleged wizard's tower in the hills south of Underland. We will see that this was not as easy as they may have thought. They head to Castle Ardenward, which takes about 2 days, camping on the road during the night. They had one encounter during the day with a merchant wagon, who inform them to be careful as the road is dangerous these days.

20/03/2022
There were no encounters on the rest of their trip to the Castle, and while they are there they learn from the Baron that the wizard's tower was a childhood fable he heard, and that a young lad did go there once many years ago. Apparently he lives in the village of Arford about a day's walk towards Underland. They spend the night in peace

21/03/2022
The 'heroes' make haste as they arrive at the backwater hamlet of Arford in the late afternoon. They spend the night at the makeshift tavern, tolerating the drunken stupor of a peasant who complains about giant ants taking away their sheep. He then asks that Sixtus Sunwalker bless the crop, the village, and his wife's fertility. Finesstro the Nimble tries to inform the peasant he may be able to help with the last issue, but eventually Good prevails and he leaves the issue...

22/03/2022
The party learned that the man who went to the tower was called Egidius and he lived on the 'second last house on the left of Shanty Lane, the only lane in Arford'. What followed was a depressing interaction with a deranged man who lost his mind in the dark places of the world. The party insists they will conquer the place and end his nightmares. He eventually informs them that it is due south of Underland, over the bridge, through the plains, and among rugged and scrubby hills. There is a moment between him and Maethedir, as he says he was saved from the 'gibbering monstrosities' by folk such as he. With this information, the party decides to return their cart to Castle Ardenward and ride for glory!

23/02/2022
Quicker travel without the cart sees the party making it about 2/3 of the way to Underland before resting for the night - it passes without event.

24/02/2022
They make it to Underland and cross the bridge, now heading south. There is an interaction with a bridge-guard who was collecting tolls, but after some prying questions about the taxation and the mention of a paladin in their party, the guard lets them pass for free. They travel the remainder of the day south through the plains of rural Underland. They rest on a trail. No encounters

25/02/2022
They continue south and make it to the hills. They are winning in terms of avoiding encounters, and by nightfall they find a water source and set up camp.

weird wizard tower door

26/03/2022
The moment they entered the hills, and were no longer following a trail, wilderness travel rules for getting lost were in play. Somehow, however, they came atop a high bluff, and a few miles to the south-west, in a valley, they could see the makings of a black structure... So they rode to it. It is a couple of hours past noon when they hitch the horses to some cruel shrubbery, before analysing the structure further. It is about 30' in diameter, and emerges 5' from the earth as a tower would - though it is truncated and totally flat on top, except for an iris-valve door in the middle. The structure is made of a very dark grey/black stone. Sixtus touches the center of the metallic iris-valve and it spirals open, revealing a stairway into darkness. Hurriedly the party forms a marching order, lights a lantern, and descends into the black hole...

strange

They reach the bottom, which is the entrance to a triangular room, and I call a roll for surprise. Nobody is surprised, so I state that they can see shadows at end of their lantern-light and hear some grunting. Actions are declared, and initiative rolled, when out of the darkness these pale, stocky, white-eyed creatures with sharp teeth and long matted hair charge towards them! There are 5 of them, 2 with hand-axes and 3 with long-swords. A grueling melee ensues, with Sixtus and Milton in the front smiting the creatures, while the Monk Kovani and Fighter/Magic-user Maethedir are defending the flanks with polearms. Blows are exchanged - the creatures are sturdy, and eventually Kovani is cut down below 0hp! Thus she dies! A character who had not seen many adventures, but had been in the campaign since the very first session.

so cute

The creatures are eventually slaughtered, fighting to the bitter end as they pass their morale checks. Sixtus heals Milton using his Lay on Hands, and the party investigates the room some more. It's a triangle with the point towards them. There's a corridor ahead, from which a chiming sound emanates, while to the left and right tunnels continue into blackness. They go ahead. After about 30-40' the chiming grows immensely, and dissipates another 30' beyond as they come to an octagonal room. There are some leaves and debris strewn about, but not much. They head back to the chiming noise and scan the walls - eventually feeling a loose flagstone. They pry it off - there's a Mogwai inside swinging a makeshift bell. The creature tries to flee, when Jake Mace scoops it up and nurses it to sleep. Finesstro takes the bell, and the party goes back to the octagonal room and rings it. They hear another faint ringing beyond the eastern wall. Searching reveals a small 2' tunnel at the base. Finesstro looks in it and sees the reflection from eyes back at him. He calls out to it and swings the bell. The eyes disappear.

The party backtracks to the main hall. They go take the right tunnel, which comes to a weird diagonal crossroads. To the right is a 20' wide tunnel that is cut off abruptly by a huge ravine which stretches beyond lantern light. Black stairs down are carved into the side of it. There is a short path to a door back the way came, only 45 degrees to the left. Similarly 45 degrees ahead and to the left is another corridor. Finally, the path they came in on continues straight. Everyone agrees that they want nothing to do with the stairs, and opts to suss out the door. Milton bashes it down when it's stuck, and a few loud bangs go off as he does. There are these huge industrial ovens/baking apparatus within which had presumably fired off. Finesstro the Nimble keeps trying to bell, but has no reply here. They search every oven and find a sack of 250 gold pieces hidden in one. 

go to sleep

Next they head to the other diagonal path, ahead and to the left. They come to a double door on their side. Sixtus and Milton both try it, and it is stuck, so they elect to bash it down. Milton knocks down his side, and is surprised for 2 segments as this haunting creature with no eyelids, pale face, and a slack, cut jaw leers and lunges at him. It deals 5 damage and Milton is paralysed! Sixtus tries to pull Milton back, and I rule that he succeeds but the creature gets a parting blow as per the fleeing from melee rules. It bites onto Milton and deals another 6 damage! Things are not looking good out of the gates, but as soon as Milton is ferried out of the way and the creature tries to pursue, it shrieks and flees in horror at the holy aura of Sixtus Sunwalker. The players were thinking about fleeing after the horrifying opening, now the tables have totally turned. Sixtus will not allow this creature to live. He enters the room - there is another one, and both are mocking the Paladin, but keeping 10' away at all times. Sixtus charges while the creatures are against the wall. I rule that they can attack since he broke the protective barrier by forcing it upon them. Betanochin Wormington, Finesstro the Nimble, and Maethedir follow in behind. Blows are traded, and Betanochin falls paralysed as well! Sixtus makes his save and Maethedir, who didn't need to make any saves when he was hit, disengages to try and cast sleep - but to no effect! Meanwhile, Finesstro is throwing daggers from the back, and eventually even the might Sixtus succumbs to the paralysing claws. But there is only one left! In desperation, Finesstro overbears the specimen, rolling over 100% outcome, and shoulder-barges the unholy monstrosity into the wall, cracking its sternum and smashing it's brains. 

The party recuperates. Sixtus and Beta recover, but Milton is still paralysed. They search the room, finding a hidden lever on the right wall. They evacuate, tying a rope around it, and pulling it. They hear some mechanism going off, and the whole wall slides away, revealing 10 copper pots about 3' high. They search them and find 100 platinum and 1000 copper, electing to take only the platinum. Finesstro rings the bell, waking the sleeping Mogwai which charges him. He kicks it, and the poor creatures vomits. Everybody is disgusted by this treatment. Finesstro lifts it into his robe and gives it some water. The thing starts going off it's nut. A weird cocoon begins to grow around its body. The wizard lobs it into the copper pot room and the pull the lever, hopefully sealing that horror away for good.

It was getting late, and the party had plans to recuperate in the wilderness before entering the dungeon again. So they leave, without event, aside from a swarm of bats flying through. Milton comes to, and the party ascends the stairs to a fine evening, as the sun is setting behind the hills. They rest. The next few days (27/03/2022 - 30/03/2022) are spent foraging, gathering water from the stream back the way they came, and having Sixtus use Lay on Hands to try to restore the party. They have no encounters! Until 28/03/2022, when Maethedir stumbles upon a quaint settlement of small, potato-looking men - they are Stoutlings! This changes the parties despondence about food and water, as a good reaction roll and like alignments secures the party relative safety. They rest here, and notice there are some ancient stone lanterns with glowing ores in them, which the Stoutlings say 'came before them'. It was also revealed that, such as all the Hobbit races of Holgard, they partake some form of mind-altering substance. In this case, it is a fantasy version of the blue asbestos - crocidolite. Nobody is game to try any, except Finesstro who has a very bizarre and stimulating trip. The morning after he tried to peek at the other MUs spell-book and was caught. He ultimately redeemed himself with an apology, and appealed to his 'drug-addled-state', though I am curious what precautions the other PCs will make now.

Treasure & XP: All PCs got 187XP, all henchmen got 94XP.

Player Performance Ratings: Everyone got an Excellent, though Finesstro toed the line a bit on his alignment, but ultimately his actions were in accordance with his Magic-User side and he tried to correct the situation anyway. I'm thinking of toying with the player rating/training costs so it doesn't cripple PCs to have a 'Standard' rating as the, well, standard. This would mean that Superior and Excellent is given to PCs who demonstrate good play beyond just what is expected. So far I've been too sympathetic to give anything but Excellent except in some edge cases which, at worst, warranted a Superior rating. This makes the rating system somewhat meaningless.