Edmond had this idea of acquiring some sort of ballista on wheels and I had to explain the impracticality of it inside a dungeon environment sadly. Could have said yes and he wouldn’t have get past the chasm and rope bridge of Level 1 and crushed his dreams that way…

Short session: 2 hours.

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)

This session’s main goal: kill the orcs’ first line of defense

What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:

• Green Imps: training in Longfelt
• The Protectors: exploring Longfelt’s underworks
• Black Axes: adventuring, try to find a tower in Ganfal swamp
• The Musers: left Longfelt but kept quiet on their objective

Longfelt

• The Battle Brothers stay the night at the Hare & Hound Inn. They buy some field rations. Jedri pays to repair his morningstar. Torch would like to buy an oversized crossbow but finds it too expensive. Forca pays some rounds in taverns and listens to rumors: « The Wizard Balfour’s tower is rumoured to hold great treasure. » And: « A group of bandits is operating out of Prickly’s End Forest. They have so far been able to evade the Baron’s forces. Their leader, Uthbarth the Pike, is wanted, dead or alive. »

Ganfal Swamp

• On their way to Gunderholfen they encounter a group of four hostile Ogres and have to fight them. Forca got hit by a powerful blow and barely stands on his feet but Grimoire heals him back to health after the fight. They find suspicious meat, foul-smelling tobacco, smoking pipes and a few coins but not much else.
• Closer to the dungeon they spot some broken statues of hobgoblins in awkward poses. The elf hunter can see oversized chicken feet tracks all around. The « statues » are the work of a Basilisk it seems, but fortunately it’s nowhere in sight.

Gunderholfen

• They make a stop at Fryniwyd’s new shop. They chat a little and buy a vial of paralytic poison extracted very recently from a local cave scorpion.
• They go down via their usual shortcuts, have reached Level 3 and only have a few rooms to go to the stairs leading to Level 4 but… they can see that the series of doors leading south are all open! That means… Yes, there it is, you can see it, can you? The floating sword! The Gelatinous Cube is upon us! Torch the goblin reacts quickly and burns it with his torch and it seems that fire work amazingly well against it. The Cube counters on Torch, firing a big ball of corrosive slime but most of it didn’t touch the goblin (minimum damage). Forka is reluctant to get close to it, Aracyne let go of two arrows, doing very good damage. Grimoire channels maximum mana into a spell to send 3 Fireballs at once into the Gelatinous Cube and slays the big slime monster! The freed sword clanks on the ground. Jedri takes it, remove the scabard and everyone can see a dim purple light emanating from the blade. There’s writing on it, its name is Perseverance.
• This done, they go directly to their Level 4 outpost. It hasn’t been disturbed in their absence apparently. They add another barrel of dry meat to their emergency food stash.
• Thence, they go south and east to reach the great cave inhabited by the orcs. Exactly as the previous time there’s 10 orc archers, 5 sentries on each side of the cave entrance, on higher grounds than the invaders. The orcs act first and fire a volley, no questions asked, inflicting a few wounds on the adventurers but nothing too bad. Grimoire casts Levitate on Forka who lands on the western promontory and immediately kill an archer with a massive hammer blow. Aracyne kill two orcs with arrows. Torch wounds another with a thrown spear, finished by a thrown dagger from Jedri. Now five against six, the adventurers continue the onslaught as Jedri joins Forka with another Levitate, and kills an orc with his new magic sword. Aracyne kills another orc but then his bow almost breaks in two and is damaged. Grimoire the goblin mage is the target of a deadly arrow but he is saved by his fellow goblin companion who takes the hit instead on his armored self, with lesser consequences. The adventurers have the upper hand and finish off the orc archers who chose to fight to their bitter but swift end, their calls for reinforcement not yet answered.
• The PCs are now all together on the western promontory and they can hear a lot of commotion from further north and west. The orcs are far from defeated.
• TBC…

Closing comments:

• The past few years I’ve slowly learned to embrace random tables as a Dungeon Master, having « learned » my trade (if we can say that) in the 90s when it wasn’t a popular thing to do at all. Random encounters are simple enough to use or design, and a staple of dungeon-delving and understandably a main component of OSR gaming. But I’m still trying to improve my homebrewed random tables, specifically for the other adventuring parties’ actions. I could easily decide by myself what they’re up to but that’s not the point. Impartiality is the point. Emergent story is even more the point I should say. Anyway, a work in progress it definitely is.
• For the Gelatinous Cube I’ve used the statblock of the Giant Amoeba from the DB Bestiary, simply added a camouflage ability. It’s a pretty powerful monster in fact with 64 hp and ferocity 2, but takes double damage from fire, which fortunately the players exploited almost immediately.
• Isaac had the idea of hiring mining folks to dig a tunnel to reach the orcs from a less unfavorable direction, but he changer his mind after I said it would take at least 10 days of digging, maybe a month, with something like 6 gp per day to pay the crew in salary and food. So it had to be frontal assault instead. Their characters are better equipped and stronger than last time but the orcs are a lot more numerous than the players suspect.

Our family just did a no-screens weekend as a kind of mental detox. No computer, no tv, no cellphone, no nothing. And it went so well that the kids would do it again every other weekend!

And guess what doesn’t need any screen? You got it.

3 hours session

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)

This session’s main goal: exploring more than half of the « dwarven city »

What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:

• Green Imps: adventuring but not in Gunderholfen
• The Protectors: resting/recuperating in Longfelt, Bodil is concussed, Bodil and Efram have infected wounds
• Black Axes: adventuring in Gunderholfen, Level 2 and 3
• The Musers: leisure in Longfelt

Level 4A outpost

• The Battle Brother did not leave the dungeon last time but rather, they’d rested in their Level 4A’s outpost and did so without any disturbance. Rejuvenated they went back directly to the cavern of the flaming bats, the two surviving ones were in no mood to fight.

Level 4B

• From there a passage leads to a cave with an obelisk in the middle with writings in dwarvish. Nobody can read it but Forka knows (myth & lore check) that this must the entrance to Nharzed, the City of the Masons, a place renowned for its craftsmanship before the War of the Long-Lived.
• A slight breeze is coming from the south, bringing an awful stench of death to the adventurers’ nostrils.

• There’s a set of large steps leading up and a high crenated wall a bit further with a broad entrance from which mist furtively enters.
• The PCs start to climb the steps but then a stocky humanoid gets out of the shadows, a dwarf but with dead flesh crawling with maggots: a Plague Zombie. Its stench is overhwelming and its presence is frightful to behold. Forka cannot will himself to attack it. Aracyne shoots two arrows, hitting the undead square in the chest but with no great effect. Grimoire pushes it with a Mental Strike, sending it tumbling violently backward almost thirty feet. But the undead gets up, and it is fast, and dashes toward the nearest adventurers and get into melee against Forka and Jedri, who both manage not to flee. A Fireball from Grimoire finally seems to do some real damage to the monster. Forka has a hard time with the awful stench that is even worst for his acute sense of smell and he gets wounded by a claw attack. One more Fireball from the goblin mage and then Jedri gets wounded but counters with a mighty hit (crit) to the dead dwarf’s head with his morningstar, splitting its skull open, slaying it to everyone’s relief.
• Grimoire casts Treat Wound on Forka and Jedri and after that the party enters the City proper:

« Crumbling buildings from a forgotten age and cracked, worned streets stretch away through dim, gloomy mists.The cavern walls soar upwards out of sight, the space ahead vast and foreboding. Fallen walls, piles of rubble and shattered stone line the streets, the air heavy with the stench of fear. »

• The PCs are exploring the nearest buildings and attract the attention of a group of ten skeletons. Forka, Jedri and Torch gets into melee, trying not to be surrounded, and get to work. They slay the skeletons without too much troubles, Jedri needs healing from Grimoire again but Forka and Torch only have a few scratches.

• They continue exploring, see another group of undead east through crumbled walls and decide instead to go west and south. They enter an empty building and go to the next but are welcomed again by undead, this time eight Living Dead. At one point in the fight, Forka was forced on the ground and threatened by several hungry Living Dead but his companions helped him back up and the undead were defeated. They find a golden locket and silver lyre among the rubble inside the building.
• They go east and get near some kind of temple but Forka can tell that the smell of death is even more awful in this place and they decide to go elsewhere.
• Thence they go directly to a kind of central plaza with large standing stones that they can see further south and east. When they arrive there though all hell break loose as a pack of skeletal animals, 6 ghouls and 6 civic officer-garbed undead get out of several nearby buildings, mostly from the south, and all converge on the PCs. The latter choose to make a tactical retreat and run back to the building they’ve just cleared in order to benefit from the protection of mostly intact walls. Aracyne quickly perch himself up on top of a wall as the building is roofless, and start to rain arrows at the ghouls, wounding two severely, making those flee. Forca and Jedri block the entrance and fight the skeletal animals, with Torch using his spear to attack from behind. Aracyne shoot another ghoul, hurting it badly, and now the ghouls collectively have enough of the whole getting shot at thing (failed morale check) and all flee. The three fighters finish off the swarm of skeletal animals and get into melee against the « civic officers » undead but those don’t prove to be that fearsome and the adventurers have the upper hand ultimately. The fight finished, Grimoire heal the wounded.
• The PCs decide to clear the northern area of the undead they saw earlier and soon get into a fight against ten more skeletons. Aracyne put his bow aside as it’s not that useful against skeletons, and get to work with his short sword alongside his companions. Grimoire, who was staying back, spots three ghouls (some of the group they saw earlier) that were trying to sneak up on them. He incinerates a ghoul with a big fireball and burns another with a smaller one. The two remaining ghouls flee again. Meanwhile the fight against the skeletons is under control, the adventurers got a few painfuls stabs here and there but they managed to win again.
• Grimoire uses his last reserve of mana to heal the wounds. All of the adventurers are quite exhausted by the successive fights by now (depleted willpower points) and Aracyne, the guild leader, call it a day. The Battle Brother leave Nharzed behind, and go up, by their usual method of shortcuts, all the way to Level 1 where they make a short stop to talk the newly-installed gnome merchant Frinywid – who tells them that he saw another party of adventurers a bit earlier, the Black Axes. He wasn’t sure if they were going to rob him or worse at the time as they look like a bad batch he says, but they didn’t. They’re probably somewhere in Level 2 by now.
• The Battle Brothers leave Gunderholfen, the trip through the Ganfal Swamp is fortunately uneventful and they reach Longfelt before the end of the day.

Closing comments:

• Nothing happening while they rested at their Level 4 outpost between sessions. Rolled at random of course. There’s a countdown going on though (random too, but chances are increasingly higher the more time goes on), as the orcs will understand sooner or later that the ogres aren’t there anymore and they’ll want to look into their former den. The orcs, or maybe someone or something else will.
• Several big fights in this session, there’s no xp for combat so I’m not sure that it really served the purpose of the players (apart from having fun) not to try evade them. They can certainly be systematic about it and clear one area after another but this will take a lot of time.
• Level 4B, Nharzed, is a cool place, spooky and all. There is several special locations in the area but the players didn’t explore any of them this time, instead they explored one building after another full of rubbles. I think a random table of stuff to find in abandonned buildings or things happening or whatnot, would be great to make the area even more interesting. I may do just that for the next time they go there, we’ll see.
• Crossing the Ganfal swamp in their depleted state was a bit risky, another big fight like last time could have doomed them.

Hey, what do you mean my title made you expect something else? HOT. STEAMY. I mean, basic vocabulary…

Short session, 2,5 hours.

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)

This session’s main goal: find the « dwarven city »

What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:

• Green Imps: adventuring but not in Gunderholfen
• The Protectors: resting/recuperating in Longfelt, Bodil is concussed, Bodil and Efram have infected wounds
• Black Axes: leaving for Gunderholfen soon
• The Musers: leisure in Longfelt

Longfelt

• The BB buy a lot of food rations, put them into a small barrel, with the idea of leaving it inside their newly-acquired Level 4 outpost.
• While taking their breakfast at the Hare & Hound Inn they are visited by a gnome merchant (and magic-user) named Frinywyd who has an offer for them. He wants to open shop into the liberated Level 1 of Gunderholfen and asks for the BB if they would escort his caravan to get there and they gladly accept.

Ganfal Swamp

• The crossing is slower than usual, leading the caravan on the treacherous road half-eaten by the swamp. Halfway through, one side of the cart slides into muddy waters and it takes great effort from the group to get it back on firm land. (Forca get disheartened in the process)
• Fortunately they reach their destination without further hindrances.

Gunderholfen

• The BB advise the gnome merchant to occupy the room of the late goblin chief in Level 1B and he does so. They also take a look at his wares and Aracyne buys an amulet of spell focus. They see that the gnome sells bottled elementals that can help in fights but the asked price is a bit too steep.
• They then go down to Level 2, have to defend themselves from several hungry Stirges and then take the secret ladder to Level 3. From there they cross the dead kiigoths’ territory and go down (very cautiously) the slippery stairs to Level 4.
• They find their outpost undisturbed, door still staked, and they leave their rations inside. They write a quick message on the door: « The Battle Brothers are here » with a cray and leave to explore.
• They first go nearby, just south of their outpost, and entered a warm area with low visibility due to steam. They hear a high-pitched laughter and a loud PLOP and see, barely, a small winged creature flying above them – a steam mephit. Aracyne has time to shoot an arrow at it and manages to hit it despite the obscuring vapor. Forca is convinced that the nearby stalagmite is a creature and hits it with his hammer, breaking a chunk of it but with no further result.

• The wounded mephit avenges himself by creating a rain of scalding water on everyone below. Torch protects himself with his shield but the other adventurers are wounded (fortunately I rolled very low on damage). Another mephit sends a jet of hot water at Jedri, who fails to evade and is wounded. But then the PCs act. Aracyne finishes the wounded mephit with another well-place arrow. Grimoire casts a fireball at the other, hurting it ligthly. He then casts Levitate on Forca who smash the mephit with an hammer blow and kills it. With no further threat, Grimoire casts Treat Wound on Jedri and then PCs search for treasure and it takes some time but they finally find some ancient dwarven coins (10 gp each) that were stashed on top of a stalagmite.
• Thence they go back at the intersection and go south and soon get in another fight despite their attempt at stealth, this time against a juvenile ankheg. An arrow from Aracyne is deflected by the insectoid’s carapace and the creature try to hit Jedri with one leg but he evades. The ratman then counters with two powerful hits from his light flail and morningstar, wounding the ankheg. Next, Forca delivers a massive blow of his hammer, so powerful that it detaches the monster’s head from its body, killing it instantly. The close by lair lair of the ankheg is littered with bones but nothing else.
• The PCs continue on the path that they’ve been told leads to the the dwarven city, going east and south generally, and after that west, inside a long and warm natural passage that debouche in a large, even warmer cavern. The air is dense with mist.
• Forka the dogman, even with his helmet on, hears some kind of high-frequency sounds emanating from somewhere above and, through the mist, the PCs can see several glowing spots. They soon see what’s the meaning of all this when creatures plunge towards them: Flaming Bats!

• 5 Flaming Bats (with some other « warming up » above) get near the PCs. Two of them belch clouds of black smoke, partially obscuring the adventurers’ vision. Another try to rake Aracyne but he dodges. Same with Jedri. Another let go of a jet of fire on Forka but his armor protects him. The adventurers make quick work of all but one bat, but 3 more are coming to the fight! One makes a fiery dive towards Jedri but he dodges. One comically latches on Forka without managing to hurt him in the least and the knight body slams the bat on the ground (brawling attack), crushing it under him. Meanwhile, Aracyne concentrates his shots on the bats flying too high and kill several. Jedri kills a bat but then he inadvertently throws his flail several yards away and also bends his morningstar (two mishaps in a row)! Grimoire casts Levitate on Forka and the latter smashes another bat midair. A bat bites Forka and this time, pierces the armor. Another one painfully burns Jedri with a fire jet. But before long there’s only two Flaming Bats remaining, still on the ceiling, that seem more interested in perpetuating the species than to fight.
• Victorious in this big fight, the adventurers have a look at the passage to the south, a bit further peek at the gate of the dwarven city and call it a day, having numerous wounds and depleted willpower for almost every PCs (and some conditions) and return to their Level 4 base to rest.

Closing Comments:

• Escorting the caravan meant increased chance of random encounters but none occured, only a DB ‘s journey mishap.
• I did not really convert the steam mephit for DB but it worked fine nonetheless, with the first mephit summoning another and then trying to keep away from the PCs and attack at range.
• Forka’s heavy armor is very handy in fights, no doubt about that, but that makes sneaking for the group virtually impossible (they could still split and scout ahead). I like how it balances overall.
• The fight with Flaming Bats was finished within 6 rounds, a pretty big fight and really fun I’d say. I made it easier because I ruled that 1d6-1 bats joined the fight each round, so not the whole14 bats of the room all at once. But it was challenging and the PCs had to spend a lot of ressources to win so I think it was good.

I’ll try to have something like a weekly session, at least bi-monthly, of this campaign with my kids for the coming months until summer, we’ll see if I manage to do it.

Short session, 2 hours.

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)

Gunderholfen

• We start in Level 4, with the Battle Brothers and Protectors in the ogres’ den. Having slaughtered most of the adult males and ordered the survivors away, the adventurers clean up the place, using the open pit to good effect, to make it, well, less of an ogres’ den.
• After that, they block the door and camp there for the night. Forka, in his turn to keep watch, hear footsteps nearby and whispering voices. There’s the smell of orcs. But they seem to turn back the way they came.
• Next day they begin together their ascent towards sunlight. They tie themselves together with rope for the slippery stairs to Level 3. Reaching Level 3, they do a small detour to see Grom the ogre and ask him some questions. They give him a 50 gp gem and learn from him of the quickest way to reach the « dwarven city » (going south of the ogre den in Level 4, then south-east and then west in a long, noticably warmer passage into a large carvern and then south to reach their destination).
• They encounter a patrol of ant workers in Level 2 busy transporting dead giant rats and neither side is interested in fighting.
• They reach Level 1C, into what was the hobgoblin area and got to a portcullis that was always closed to them in the past. They opened it and, a bit further, got to a deep vertical, artificial shaft with chains dangling but no easy way down.
• They backtracked and then reached Level 1B and got out by the « goblins » door.

Ganfal Swamp

• Aracyne leads the group competently through Ganfal Swamp and they make good progress despite the harassing environment but then, several hours in, they see a dozen or more humanoids in ragged clothes emerging from behind an outcrop: ghouls!

• The adventurers fire a salvo of spells and arrows on the howling undead and four of them are slain and another immobilized by a spell of ensnaring roots. But the ghouls are now in melee. Bodil gets hurt by a claw attack and then tackled to the ground and is in great danger. Efram the Mage gets vomited on by a ghoul and then flees not long after, demoralized by the terrifying howling. Aracyne is dishearthened but stands his ground.
• Two more ghouls are on the approach. Bodil the elf is badly hurt and unconscious. The Hunter Adalbert also flees after another howling near him. Two ghouls are avidly pursuing Efram and Adalbert. Bayard smashes a ghoul’s face in with his magic mace and it’s killed. Jedri drops his flail inadvertently but has a dagger to continue fighting two-weapons style. Grimoire the goblin Mage casts 3 small fireballs and efficiently finish 3 already wounded ghouls. Forka team up with spear-wielding Torch to slay another. The mage Delevan cast Levitate on the ghoul on top of Bodil and throws it away, hurting it in the process, then he goes to help his fleeing companions.

• Twelve ghouls have been slaughtered, two surviving start to run away, one is stuck in place by Ensnaring roots and is finished by a big hammer blow delivered by Forka. The adventurers have won, with one casualty among them: Bodil is concussed and has infected wounds. Adalbert and Efram also have infected wounds. Fortunately they soon get out of the swamp, into the farmlands, talk to some peasants on the road and reach the city of Longfelt.
• The two adventuring guilds make a vow of friendship, decide to leave each other signs (cray writings) in the dungeon if they go separately and then say farewell to each other.

Closing Comments:

• Grom has gotten back his leadership of the ogres thanks to them, there’s that, but he thinks of the adventurers as dangerous and untrustworty and won’t be a true ally. Giving information in exchange for money to the PCs so they go explore a dangerous area is the most he’s ready to do in my mind.
• The Level 1 mining shaft isn’t there in the book (it replaces an exit to open air), I added it for some unscrutable reason…
• Rolled an encounter in the swamp and was tempted to just pick an appropriate monster in the Dragonbane Bestiary but instead I’ve rolled on the d20 table and got 20, ghouls.
• Ghouls in dragonbane don’t have any paralysis abilities as the D&D ones but, as monsters, have a d6 table to roll on to determine what they do, and also, as monsters, they always hit (it’s up to the target to try to defend if they wish). I rolled for each ghoul separately and it went smoothly enough.

First session of Dragonbane/Gunderholfen since september of last year. Shame on me.

Last session the Battle Brothers had persuaded Bayard and his Protectors to make a temporary alliance and fight together against the denizens of Level 4.

Short session, 2 hours.

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)

Level 4

• The two adventuring guilds, ten strong, descend the long slippery stairs down to Level 4, taking their time to decrease the risk of falling. They also devise a plan to fight the ogres which they already know reside very near the entrance of Level 4.
• Upon arrival they go east and get to the door leading to the ogres’ den. First trying a quiet approach, they try to open the open door silently but it’s blocked from the other side. Letting go of subtlety, Bayard and Forka, the two strongest characters push the door open, displacing a large rock and a wooden beam, the latter falling to the floor with a loud bam. The PCs hear ogres nearby shouting to each other and get ready for a fight.
• Getting back quickly to the first room, the adventurers get in formation, with 4 of them frontline and mages and archers (and Torch) behind. The first two ogres in are not very efficient (one good hit to heavily-armored Forka) and are assaulted by weapons and magic and are killed just like that. The following ogre is a bit more successful as he rushes in and rams into Bodil the Elf, tossing him aside on the ground while another ogre misses Jedri the Ratman with a big swing of his club. Aracyne hurts the ramming ogre with two arrows to the chest, wounding him badly and Jedri manages to finish him with a deadly two-weapons combo. Efram, one of the Protectors’ mage uses magic to make one ogre fall asleep and now there’s only one left from the five that were coming at them. The last one still has the will to fight though and wounds Bayard with a big hit but get overhwhelm quickly after.
• They hear a door slam somewhere close but no other ogres are coming for the moment so the mages have time to do healing magic and everyone is healthy anew.
• There’s three corridors, with the one in front being were the 5 ogres got out. There’s nothing interesting northeast, they go south and walk close to the wall to get past a (non-hidden) pit trap.
• They see a room full of refuse, inspect a storeroom (nothing but food & water) and then get in front of double doors, there’s a faint odor of woodfire smoke (along with strong body odours and other unpleasantness).
• The adventurers bash the doors open and see a big room, something like a cooking area, two teenager ogres were ready for them and immediately kick the burning logs, spraying embers directly on Forka and Bayard. Neither of them were quick enough to evade and lose a round removing the painful embers. The two young ogres don’t stand a chance though and after one is killed the other surrenders and pleads for his life. Bodil would have killed him but Aracyne his in a merciful mood and spare hime in exhange of information. They thus learn of some of the closest areas in this part of the dungeon, not much, the young ogre says that their ex-leader, Gorm (from Level 3), knows a lot more more.
• The adventurers then proceeded to round up the surviving ogres in the other rooms (in this self-contained area) consisting of: 2 adult male ogres, 5 adult females, the teenager and 2 other youngsters. Aracyne tells them to leave Level 4 and get to Gorm in Level 3 if he would take them. They agree to leave on the condition that they could take their stored food and water with them and the adventurers accept.

Closing Comments:

• Not much exploration this session but a big step accomplished in removing the ogres, as their presence near the entrance of the Level was always going to be a problem each time they passed.
• 10 adventurers together are certainly a force to be reckoned with. I’m thinking that they must attract more attention than a smaller group obviously and, at the very least, I will adjust encounter rolls to reflect so in the future. Otherwise, in a non gold-for-xp system there’s just no much disadvantage in being that numerous.

Battered from their last expedition, the Battle Brothers are back in town to recuperate and do some training afterward – before going back to the dungeon. They bring their new member, another goblin named Grimoire, a friend of Torch that can do magic.

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
• Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)

Longfelt

Rumor

-There’s a monstrous rat disguised as a person going by night in the thieves’ quarter – hey (pointing at Jedri) wait a minute, y-y you’re a rat!

• Hearing of this « disguised monstrous rat » they immediately think of their friend Tlali and they go see her at her house. There’s a nice reunion, she explains that she started the process to get back her human form but there’s powerful magic involved (Sethid’s, the Master of the Dungeon) and it will take a while.
• They do some training and are living at the Hare & the Hound inn for the moment.
• They buy some supplies, Forka buys a great helm and then, after 9 days in town, are ready to go dungeon-delving once more.

Gunderholfen

• Travel through the Ganfal swamp is uneventful.
• They enter the dungeon and when they approach Level 1C they start to see a trail of dead hobgoblins – all missing their ears. The corpses are fresh – recently killed for sure.
• Forka pick up the scent of non-hobgoblins and tries to track where it goes – more dead hobgoblins on the other side of the (cut) rope bridge that leads to the exit of Level 1. They spend some time reparing the bridge and continue their tracking down in Level 2 and then it goes south and west in an area the PCs already explored (and had a bad time against both zombies and giant ants).
• They’re near the giant ants’ nest, the insects are clearly agitated. The PCs quickly cross the area and further south, they hear some voices coming from the room with the aforementionned zombies.
• The Battles Brothers decide to go back the room with broken crates and wait there for the other guild to come their way (there’s no other path). They soon hear the sounds of a battle between adventurers and giant ants though.
• It seems like the other guild is retreating in order, with a rearguard fighting in the narrow tunnel. The Battle Brothers see an elf, with short sword and buckler in hand, emerging from the tunnel. The latter is surprised and maybe a bit alarmed but then he asks for their help against the giant ants – they’re coming in great numbers.

• Aracyne hesitates an instant on what his best for his guild (even contemplating murder!) but then he decides to help the other adventurers IF they accept to give his guild some money… The two elves quickly negociate and settle for 80gp to be given after this fight. The other members of the rival guild come into the room one by one, two mages, a hunter and the last being Bayard the Bold, their leader, brandishing a glowing mace and his plate armor covered in insect juices – an impressive sight! His companion informs him that the Battle Brothers will help the Protectors and already the first giant ants enter the room.
• The ensuing battle is intense, with the fighters type holding the line, at least at first, against both normal worker giant ants and bigger, meaner soldier giant ants. Another wave of monsters arrives though and some get past the frontline and one mage of the Protectors get nearly bitten in half by a soldier ant. The other mage hurries to keep him alive with healing magic. Forka makes good work of his two-hand hammer, delivering massive blows left and right. Aracyne and his hunter counterpart shoot arrow after arrow on the incoming ants. Grimoire, their new goblin mage, proves to be a good addition and incinerates ants with fireballs. Two dozens dead ants are littering the floor and the two guilds seize the opportunity to move away from there, going east and south, with the Battle Brothers knowing their way around, and soon getting behind a door where the ants horde won’t reach them.
• Now in safety, the Elf from the Protectors (their treasurer named Bodil) counts 80 gold coins and gives them to Aracyne with Bayard frowning at the sight but not saying anything. The two guild leaders then exchange a few compliments, talk about their recent delves and then Aracyne has this idea, he offers to the Protectors to do a joint expedition into Level 4. Bayard, not one to decline a challenge less his reputation for bravery takes a hit, doesn’t think much and accepts.

Closing comments:

• I had decided when I started this campaign that I would put some emphasis on adventuring guilds interactions. I have written some random tables, erased them, re-written some more, to help me get a sense of what NPCs guilds would likely achieve as competing explorers (the PCs still having a decent headstart, of course it’s still about them). I’m not quite satisfied with this tool yet but it did indeed lead to this, I think, interesting session.
• Now, dealing with so many NPCs, adventurers with all their abilities to boot, is certainly cumbersome for me as a the DM. In fact, I’m pretty certain it’s the reason why in most campaigns rival adventurers don’t seem to accomplish anything ever and are reduced to discreet appearances here and there.
• Isaac’s first instinct was to ambush the Protectors while they were fighting the giant ants. A sound plan strategically speaking. Also quite ruthless. I let him choose his course of action but I’m happy in the end he chose to help (with a price attached) instead of killing.

There’s officialy 5 parties of adventurers (including the PCs) in our campaign that have been given permits to explore Gunderholfen. Being the first one in place gave the PCs a huge headstart, particularly with their alliance with the hobgoblins. But now comes a dilemna, do they help their allies against other adventurers and be complicit on such a dubious course of actions or do they let them fare for themselves onward to their incoming annihilation?

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs):

• Aracyne, Elf Hunter, Guild Leader, (Isaac)
• Jedri, Ratman Thief (Isaac)
• Forka, Dogman Knight (Edmond)
• Torch, Goblin Torchbearer (Edmond)
• Ghardeet, hired Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman (me)

Longfelt – Gunderholfen Level 3

• Leaving Longfelt and all went well with getting across the Ganfal Swamp.
• In Gunderholfen, they talk to Nerulf who informs them that the Hobgoblins are taking heavy casualties againts adventurers, most recently against a party with 3 magic-users. This party has installed itself in Level 1A for the past few days and is still there. With current rate of losses, Nerulf will remove patrols outside of 1C except the nearest exit in 1B.
• Unmoved by the hobgoblins plight, the PCs hire Gardheet, the hobgoblin mage (30gp and 10% cut) and go to Level 3, taking the shortcuts they know.
• Down the ladder in Level 3 they go west where they hear sounds of grunting and growling and open a set of double-doors and come face-to-face against 7 kiigoths.

• They kill a few quickly but as much as 15 others rush from the 2 adjacent rooms!
• The PCs take a few steps back to get into the corridor behind them in order not to get immediately surrounded.
• A long and violent brawl ensues. Kiigoths often keep fighting even when mortally wounded and get more ferocious while doing so. Jedri gets wounded by a club attack but Ghardeet casts stoneskin on him at maximum power and the protected thief is able to stay in the fight and, with one knife in each hand, stab foes left and right. Forka’s chainmail deflects most attacks from the crude weapons but is still getting bruised after getting hit by numerous blows. Aracyne shoots arrows from behind and Torch even manage to burn a couple of kiigoths here and there. With several of his own now dead the bigger, meaner kiigoth leader gets into melee against Forka and has one good hit with his deadly-looking, not-crude-at-all battle-axe but is smashed to pulp by the knight’s 2-h hammer in return. The death of their leader isn’t changing the savage kiigoth’s will to fight unfortunately and the adventurers eventually have to kill them to the last, not without being severely hurt themselves in the process.
• The fight over, the PCs go to Jedri’s place nearby and Ghardeet heal all their wounds. They then get back to to the big pile of dead kiigoths, but there’s not much else other than the very nice battle-axe (nobody is very proficient with axes though).
• They then go at the big room south and find big non-locked chests that contain coins, a nice chainmail (taken and wore by Forka) and a big, sturdy dwarven shield (given to the less and less expendable Torch, who’s overjoyed by the gift).
• Going to the west now, they find a lot of broken, useless stuff and also an intact clay jug of wine. A bit further they also find an okay helmet (to Jedri).
• They get into a very long and narrow passage going south, there’s also a side-passage going west with a brirge going over fast water. There’s a really bad smell coming from that way though and they decide to go further south instead.
• They open a door into a room with a statue of a dwarven warrior. They spot a depression on his extended hande but can’t do much with anything and right then, an ooze drops from the ceiling on Forka’s head! Torch burns the ooze a few times with his torch and saves his boss from asphixy. Forka looks at the ceiling fearfully for a while.,
• Nearby, they see a Sun Face carved into a wall and messing with it, manage to obtain a ruby from its opened mouth. It’s exactly the rigth size for the depression on the statue’s hand and they put it in place. An aura of virile dwarven energy surrounds them and they all feel a bit more competent. Except the elf, virile dwarven energy isn’t for elves obviously.
• Next room, looking for it, they spot an ooze suspended on the ceiling and they send Torch with his shield up to bait it to drop down, which it does but it somehow slides on the shiels and target Torch’s head and it’s the turn of Forka in coming to the help of his sidekick.
• The PCs now have found their way to the Level 2 stairs coming from the other way around and connecting their map in the process. They decide to go to the lair of ogres in the central corridor but the door is stuck and that’s enough to dissuade them for the moment.
• They get back into the long passage west and Jedri, who’s walking a few steps ahead, sees an ogre coming the other way. He’s dragging a kiigoth corpse along.
• Aracyne tries to cast Augment Weapon on his bow but only gets a nosebleed for his effort. He shoots nonetheless and hurts the ogre. The latter try to bum-rush the elf archer but Forka valiantly gets in front (guardian) and takes the hit instead. He gets slammed hard against the wall but still manages to take a big swing of his hammer at his foe. Jedri then plunges his dagger in the ogre’s chest and gets the kill.
• Leaving the dead ogre behind but picking up the dead kiigoth, the party goes back to the ogre lair and boldly shouts at the inhabitants that they want to make a deal. Or more of a fait-accompli, since they killed the kiigoths, the enemies of the ogres, they ask that they show them the way to Level 4. The ogres (there seem to be 3 of them) are surprisingly amiable (excellent persuade and reaction roll) to this non-deal and Glorm, their leader escort them to the stairs to Level 4. He also tells the adventurers that there’s an ogre colony in Level 4 (not in good terms with himself) and also an orc colony.

Closing Comments:

• The players chose to explore and let the hobgoblins fight alone, that’s probably the thing to do. I’ve built an okayish random table to see how goes the protracted fight between the hobgoblins and adventurers and let the dice decide, mostly.
• Big fight against the kiigoths, close one too. Forgot one major thing on my side though, the squares on the map are 10′ wide, so that was a 20′ wide corridor not a 10′ one like I had in mind. Fighting there wouldn’t do much to prevent encirclement in fact. Bad DM, bad!
• The ogres of Level 3 were amiable at that moment but will find their dead kin before long. With an arrow protruding from his chest, even an ogre will make the link…
• They found the entrance to Level 4! The last of the Upper Levels and more complex than what they’ve seen so far, no doubt about that.

Second session at our cabin. The boys nearly got themselves killed the previous session in Level 2 so the logical thing to do is to go deeper, of course!

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs):

• Aracyne (Isaac), Elf Hunter, Guild Leader
• Forka (Edmond), Dogman Knight
• Ghardeet (me) Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman
• Expendable & Nameless Goblin (me)

Having fled from Living Deads and Giant Ants, their wounds magically healed by Ghardeet their hobgoblin honorary mage, the PCs are ready to explore some more. They start by opening the door in the large boulders room and it’s not long before they find a set of stairs that goes down and down…

Level 3

• With Expendable Nameless Goblin now officially the group’s torchbearer (he tries hard to be useful and is obsequious to Forka, his savior), the PCs exit the stairway into a dwarf-made room with layered stone and bricks and 3 sets of double-doors.
• Listening to each doors, the PCs finally opt to open the northern ones and enter into a very long hallway that goes well beyond their torchlight.
• Aracyne listens to the first door at their right and hear some metallic scrapings and they decide to let it be.
• They go the next and see that it’s staked to make it unopenable.
• Still further on the hallway, in an open area at their right, they see a sun-face carved on the wall. They interact with it, manage to make it open its mouth but it doesn’t seem to do much else.
• Everything is quiet at the next door and they open it to reveal a small room with a pedestal in the middle, with drawings of dwarves holding something up. Ghardeet casts sense magic and says there’s some dwarven-affiliated magic at work here but isn’t able to do anything with it.
• Next room, after opening the door, Forka’ sense of smell is assaulted by overwhelming body odors, rot, excrements and other unpleasantness. A trophy of sort is in the middle of the room, with non-human (pointy teeth, giant bat? feline?) skulls on display and with a crude drawing of large matchstick men smashing smaller figures with their clubs.
• Listening to the door they can hear several loud snorings coming from nearby.
• The PCs get out of this smelly den of brutes and continue north, still in the long hallway.
• Now in a large doorless room, full of large mushrooms, something is moving amongst them but hidden from view. They send in E & N Goblin (thus proving that his expendable status still applies), he wearily moves into the mushrooms and soon let out a surprised yap and flees back to the adventurers, pursued by a Giant Beetle. The beast is obviously heavily-armored so Aracyne aims at a weak spot with one of his newly-acquired magic arrow and inflicts a severe wound. A massive blow from Forka’s 2H hammer is enough to slay the dangerous monster before it could do much (slow iniative). A good search of the floor beneath the mushrooms revealed an impressive hoard of coins as well as dozens of semi-precious and precious stones. Treasure, at last! They also collect several rations worth of edible mushrooms.
• Thence, the PCs get out of the mushrooms room, continue their way north and, after a 45 degree angle turn, get in front of a large cistern, water dripping in it from the ceiling – and more importantly, before 4 surprised, hairy humanoids that were busy filling many waterskins (more than for their own use for sure).

• The adventurers quickly fell 2 Kiigoths before they even reacted. Those, despite being mortally wounded, still had the will to fight but one more blow each and they stopped moving. The 2 surviving creatures proved no match for the PCs who won the fight without a scratch.
• The PCs refilled their own waterskins and then checked the great double-doors across the cistern but couldn’t open them, even with their combined strength – they were blocked from the other side most likely.
• They then got back to the stairway room and went east from there, past another set of double-doors.
• They got into a large rectangular room with a basin within filled with murky, smelly water full of algae.
• They open a door and get into a long hallway with many doors and openings. Aracyne listens to the first door at their right but is immediately assaulted by some kind of psychic attack and is disheartened.
• Not opening this door, they go further in the hallway and turn right, into a side corridor and then left, which gets them back in the main hallway. (it wasn’t obvious beforehand, proceeding forward with torchlight hides much) They see a small, sooth-covered room in front of them but also, oddly enough, there’s a floating sword (in its sheath), very near them at their left.
• Forka try to seize the sword but screams in pain as he forcibly pulls back his forearm, acid goo dripping from it. The sword (and its near-invisible Gelatinous Cube holder) then lunges forward but Forka and his companions retreat hastily.
• Seeing that they run faster than the « sword », the PCs calmed down a little and lured the monster in the side-corridor just enough so they could then have time to get to the unexplored area.
• They opened a door (didn’t have time to listen) into a narrow corridor and came face to face with two armed rat-persons (rat-headed humanoids, clothed, not too unkempt). Both facing them, obviously ready, one in front with a wicked dagger, one behind with a spear. As the PCs didn’t attack outright, the rat-person with the dagger started talking, said that he was named Jedri and his companion was Tlali and enquired who they (the PCs) were. Aracyne told them they were adventurers, that they came in peace and reassured them enough so that the two rat-persons invited them to their dinner in the adjacent room. There, a cauldron of broth was put above a small fire and the PCs added mushrooms and fish and thus enhanced it considerably, making everybody one step happier.

Closing Comments:

• Level 2 is now mapped something like 85% but several rooms were barely entered because they seemed to hold danger in them.
• Related to this, before finding the Mushrooms room hoard, Isaac complained of the lack of treasure (they found nothing significant since the meagre kobolds’ treasure) but, well, it’s a push-your-luck game. There IS treasure, but it often comes with danger.
• If Level 1 was mainly humanoids and Level 2 mostly populated with critters (with a few surprises here and there), Level 3 is more mixed, having two groups of humanoids within (among other things). Still pretty vanilla stuff, but it gets weirder the deeper you go in Gunderholfen, oh, yes it does.
• The encounter with the Gelatinous Cube was fun, a beginner’s mistake by 10 yo Edmond for sure, but we have to do them in order to learn… I was lenient, giving them time to react (rolling ini) instead of being surprised, next time though…
• Jedri and Tlali in the book are supposed to be evil wererats that will try to murder PCs with a devious plan but I’ve changed them into cursed adventurers and potential allies in my game. They know some useful stuff about the dungeon too (not shared yet) and at least one could become an hireling if the players wish so.