RPG

Palantir Quest (1994): look at those ballz (review part IV)

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Lord of the Rings, middle-earth, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG

We’re now covering chapters seven, eight and nine of the adventure. With the first two doing all the wrong things in a rpg book and with the latter being actually interesting.

Part I

Part II

Part III

The adventurers have found the locate spell in the Royal Library of Annuminas and upon reading it, they get a strange vision whereas one player get to make a bunch of rolls, of course, and then learn three things:

  • There’s in fact two palantiri to be found!
  • They’re in a cave near a rocky shore.
  • Somewhere in the Bay of Forochel in the North.

The Plot Must Go On

Now they must get back to Tharbad as instructed. Commander Cilis requisition a boat, a crew and twenty fighting men to go with them. Before they can leave though, their boat will be the target of sabotage. The player characters can try to pursue the arsonists but as written they’re just impossible to catch. However, a Medium perception roll reveals a document detailing the plan for sabotage and written on a concert program coming from the Juggler’s Hall. Hilariously, if the PCs failed to get this clue they’ll automatically find: « Three, round, wooden balls uncomsumed by the fire also serve as a clue (they are juggling balls) […] ». Just to be sure that the players make the connection (or more likely, shrug it off).

And that was the whole of chapter 7, showing the players that they do indeed have opponents, the kind that bring their juggling balls everywhere they go, whatever they do.

« The Evenstar leaves Tharbad with sailors still repairing the fire damage resulting from the efforts of the saboteurs. »

After 12 days and a check on the seasickness table, the boat is now on the open sea north of Forlindon and gets caught in a tempest. The Evenstar manages to take shelter on a natural bay of the Isle of Himring. Why don’t the PCs go explore a bit while the crew make the necessary repairs?

On top of the steep cliffs lie the remnants of the fortress of Himring, which has an impressive backstory (taken from the silmarillion) as it was built in the First Age by the Noldo Elf Maedhros, the eldest son of Fëanor (and almost a demi-god really), as part of the defences against Morgoth. The structure, originally 900′ feet tall, is almost erased aboveground and what the PCs get to explore is that:

So, hmm yeah, a bit underwhelming isn’t it?

This is chapter 8.2.1 and it’s rightly titled « Digression on the Isle of Himring ». This « digression » it must be said is haunted by the 60th level (!) ghost of Uldor the Accursed, a First Age man who sided with Morgoth and is paying in his afterlife for his bad life choices. This Uber-ghost does have a stat block provided and, unsurprisingly, he’s a beast with 145 hit points, a +205 scimitar attack , +55 defensive bonus and can only be harmed by Elven made weapons, hugely outclassing the adventurers. Except that he’s been nerfed, his sword attack does no damage but inflicts a 1-5 temporary constitution loss (don’t forget that it’s Rolemaster, a character has most likely 60+ constitution) on the target. They still have to harm him with an Elven weapon though but serendipitously, this 7’8 »’ elven dude Maedhros has left his 12′ practice 2-hands sword there to be picked up millennia later. A very unwieldy weapon to be sure, even for a super strong character, so what we’ll be getting I think, is the most inefficient duel of all time. Just picture this ghostly warrior howling in frustration with his sword going through his adversary without apparent effect and his opponent just having a hard time swinging his final fantasy weapon around…

That resolved, there’s many other very strong magic weapons and other precious items to be found in fact, if the adventurers get part the locked doors on each side and get their hands on them.

Hmm, a totally uncharacteristic amount of treasure, including magic items, in one haul. Something fishy going on?

Leaving the Isle of Himring behind, there’s a few more days of travel before arriving at the Ice Bay of Forochel. The read-aloud says that the bay is a full 100 miles long and the plan is simply to follow the shoreline until there’s something worth investigating.

Which happens a few hours later, the PC who read the locate spell and received its vision recognizes the headland. It’s the spot!

They enter a cave:

The adventurers found the palantiri! Hurray!

And then they get screwed BIG TIME.

Because you see the bad guys are already there, hidden. Remember the guy with the disturbing laughter from the Juggler’s Hall? His name is Vacros and he’s here with 60 men, his damaged ship now sunk and the plan is to capture the PCs’ ship and leave with the palantiri…

« The GM is warned that Vacros’ success is crucial to the plot of the campaign: the ruffian should obtain both Stones and leave the PCs stranded in the Ice Bay. This does not mean that a fair fight won’t ensue, merely that Vacros must win. »

So a rigged but fair fight. Huh huh.

There’s nothing the PCs can do.Their boat is gone. Their equipment is gone and bye bye the cool stuff you just found like an hour ago.

Okay this is like all the worst sins a GM can do combined into that last scene but at least the coming chapter is interesting.

It’s about surviving.

And making allies of distrustful locals. Fighting dangerous beasts. Exploring lairs. Making a deal with a dragon.

All very nice.

And a somewhat restored agency to the players. Of course, the chapter is only nine pages long, it could have benefitted from being a bit more meaty.

Which way will you go?

Next, we’ll witness a wild goose chase going all over the place because clearly 3000 miles is not enough for an epic adventure. And then I might have some suggestions on how I would do things with the more interesting concepts of Palantir Quest.

Palantir Quest (1994) – dungeon à la sauce Rolemaster (review part III)

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Lord of the Rings, middle-earth, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG

I’ll be dividing my review of Palantir Quest in something like 7-8 parts I’m thinking. Yeah I’ll be quite thorough with this one, I’m not exactly sure why I feel the need to do so to be honest. On the one hand I don’t think there’s ANY real review of this product that exists at the moment. On the other hand I would be really surprised if someone was waiting for it at all. So that’s one of these things, just for the heck of it…

Part 1

Part II

We’ll now be examining the content of chapter five and six of the book. The player characters are leaving behind the kingdom of Rohan and should reach the reconstructing city of Tharbad into the Eriador region after a journey of about seven days.

There’s one fixed event on the road whereas the PCs have the opportunity to save a wounded Eriadorian guy and defeat some hostile nameless Dunlendings. In similar fashion to the earlier chapter, the rescued NPC will ask if he can be escorted to the next point on our map, in this case the town of Larach Duhnan. There, the PCs will have to take the soul-rending decision of which of two inns will they sleep in for the night. As there’s nothing to do (and no npc roster), I suppose the Game Master will encourage the PCs to leave asap and get to Tharbad not that far away.

Maybe it’s time to address somewhat of a big flaw of the book: there’s no side–quests hooks anywhere to be found to go along each chapter’s background history, truly excellent maps with keyed locations, nice buildings layouts and a « People of Note » section. Of course a GM worth its salt can add his own but it’s still a glaring omission.

Then, the player characters reach Tharbad and, as they were told to do so by the Royal Seer back in Minas Tirith, meet Commander Cilis in the restored Royal House. The latter expresses his doubts that there’s any books left in the library, he has seen it a few years ago and it is « no more than a moss-covered ruin ». They also meet Chief-Engineer Hearon who brings them on a tour of Tharbad and we get: « this is a good opportunity for the GM to adlib some meetings with the multi-cultural work force enjoying a well-earned drink in the cool evening air. » Nothing else from these two NPCs, not even a if you happen to find a… or a be on the lookout for… You know, something signaling opportunities, danger, anything!

I’ll note that Tharbad, with a bit of work, would make a very interesting homebase for adventurers as it should have a central role to a resurging kingdom of Arnor (northern Eriador) with its strategic location and afflux of newcomers.

So after after this talk with two NPCs and a rest at the Royal House, the adventurers will leave Tharbad behind and go further north.

Fortunately things will get more eventful in this next chapter.

It takes about 10 days from Tharbad to reach Annuminas, with a stop in-between at the town of Bree. But before reaching Bree: « The air is oppressive. You notice standing stones and strange monoliths littering the downs to the west. Strange, unnatural hillocks deform these western ridges. As you contemplate the scenery, a small figure runs across the hills waving its arms frantically and shouting in a high-pithced voice. »

The player characters have the opportunity to save the hobbit’s friend who was foolish enough to enter a barrow (as in Barrow-downs) – as a great pastiche from The Fellowship of the Ring (the book, it’s absent from the movie). The barrow, Lord Ravenor’s tomb, is a small eight-keys dungeon. There’s two wights within in one corner of the dungeon performing their morbid ceremony on the poor unconscious hobbit. There’s some treasure to be gained too: a few pieces of jewelry, gold coins, a nice magic ring (not powerful but useful) and some magic arrows.

Serviceable and, like I said, a nice pastiche.

After that, the PCs arrive in Bree. It is assumed that they relax a bit at the Prancing Pony, of course, I mean why not, and then continue on their way.

Top-notch art, as Middle Earth/ I.C.E. products were known for.

And now in Annuminas.

The city is completely in ruins, has been for centuries. The map (below) provides us with 10 keys but except for one (the Royal Library), they’re only for ambiance (i.e. « King’s Star Tower. A half-ring of stone remains from the royal observatory. It provides a sheltered camp site. »). There’s no encounters table provided either, though I suppose one could use the Old Arthedain‘s table of the Roadside and Wilderness Encounters found with the others at the end of the book.

Annuminas is not completly empty as there’s a family of seven trolls (3 males, 2 females, 2 youngsters) having a camp, guess where? Right at the PCs’ objective: the Royal Library! But I’m not really complaining, players must have challenges to overcome after all. The trolls would be quite dangerous to fight without a solid plan, probably impossible to beat in a fair fight in fact. Which is fine by me.

The trolls dealt with in some way or the other, the adventurers are free to explore the Royal Library. There’s not much aboveground anymore, a building with half of its walls ruined, but stairwells lead underground. An undergound library? That’s a terrible, terrible idea for books conservation! But, er, yes, maybe there’s some magic involved, let’s not delve on that too much.

« The most valued records and documents were removed from their ordered resting places to occupy the largely vacant shelves of the buried lowest floor of the library. Hasty but deadly traps were contrived and armed to protect the wealth so carelessly assembled. Then the last, brave, hopeless men turned to fight and fall to the hordes of the Witch-King. »

The Royal Library is a single Level dungeon with 29 keys, the only « real » dungeon of the adventure, such as it is.

(Side note: Not surprising, dungeon-crawling isn’t a primary feature of the I.C.E./MERP books. There is certainly some to be found of course and you know, there’s this little thing called the Moria fortress in the series. I guess you could also include Dol Guldur, Mount Gundabad and Angmar. Well, it’s more like stealth missions than dungeon-crawling as a real assault on either of those places would be suicidal even with high-level PCs.)

So, the closest thing to a dungeon in a MERP book let’s say. Let’s take a brief look at it.

Now the first thing that strikes me is that it doesn’t look like an underground complex at all. Yeah I know we must be lenient with dungeon architecture but this isn’t what I mean. The room at the center that you reach with either stairs is the Central Dome. Now, height isn’t mentionned anywhere for any locations so maybe there’s enough space for a dome. But way more revealing are rooms 5 and 7, East Garden and West Garden (which are in fact North and South on the plan, oops): « broken glass allows the filtered rays of the sun », « Prolific greenery has overflowed », « A reflecting pool filled with rainwater, sketchily mirrors the green splendor surrounding it. » This seems obvious to me, this is a refurbished dungeon (not the first time I see this), for an aboveground structure and the authors didn’t changed everything (or much?) from its original purpose.

With that out of the way, lets get back to the entrance.

The two stairs are both on the verge of collapsing and won’t support the weight of more than three men at a time. The way the Rolemaster system works, it’s odd but this is considered a trap and you have to detect it (Very Hard -20 and Extremely hard -30 for the other staircase) and somehow you can disarm it (?) (Sheer Folly -50 in both cases). One of the two staircase has also a (+10) fireball trap set off by the mere presence of intruders. That’s weird design. Shouldn’t the PCs just see that the staircases are damaged and take precautions if they wish so? Even more problematic is that there’s no way to know about the fireball trap – any dungeon designer worth his salt will give some realistic hints – a visible rune, some traces of burning or an incinerated badger maybe? Something to induce players agency you know.

So, a roll for this, roll for that unfortunate tendency I’d say.

But the PCs are now inside (and a bit crisped if they chose the wrong stairs). They already have the Royal Library’s master key from the start of the adventure, convenient as almost all the doors are at least « Extremely Hard -30 » to lockpick or will set off a spell if forced open. They have to find a specific book within the library with 20 out of 29 rooms having books in them. The objective is like sixty feet away from the entrance but the PCs will have to search randomly room by room, or maybe they have the right Seer spell available and will find the right room and the book in like 5 minutes, that’s a possibility. If not, what they have to contend with is mostly a handful of animated statues and hostile spells at almost every door. There’s also a 10% chance per hour of a ghost of one of the deceased librarian to appear and simply attack the PCs.

The books they’ll be finding everywhere are mostly abstracted (this section has lore on beasts, this one on astrology and so on) except for a few canonical ones (i.e. the silmarillion). No value is given to any books and nothing else can be found in the vicinity. Well, this isn’t a gold for xp game but still, unfun.

I’d say overall, the dungeon has good texture (rooms descriptions are nice if impractical), but it’s severely lacking in interactivty.

To be blunt, I don’t think this dungeon is worth it as is nor is the work of adapting it to one’s campaign unfortunately.

Adventure-wise, we have reached the next milestone, the PCs have obtained the spell to locate the palantir and will be sent to retrieve it.

Coming up, after a digression or two, we’ll see the adventurers become arctic explorers!

Part IV

Palantir Quest (1994) – players are actors (review part II)

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Lord of the Rings, middle-earth, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG

Just to be clear, I’ve never ran this adventure (nor played in it).This is a 3 decades late, external look at it we might say.

Part I

At page 14, after having informed the Game Master of relevant background information, the adventure begins with… extremely long read-alouds.

Well-written mind you, interesting for a true Tolkien aficionado perhaps, but boy if my mind would drift away as a player if I was read all this by someone!

But notice, between two grey boxes, a first challenge for the player characters! On how to deal with a « ten-foot portion » of muddy road. Yeah, well, small beginnings and all that…

Railroading into Middle-Earth’s 4th Age

(Side note: There’s a big hint on how the adventure will present itself on chapter 1.0 Guidelines: « Fantasy role playing (FRP) is akin to a living novel where the players are the main characters. Everyone combines to create a story which is never short of adventure. They help forge a new land and strange new tales in which the characters are forever immortalized. » (bold emphasis is mine)

After their mission briefing by the Royal Seer, the Player Characters (PCs) are ready to leave Minas Tirith.

The utlimate goal is to retrieve the lost palantir but in order to do that they first have to reach the Royal Library in ruined Annuminas in the north, to find a tome of spells that will help pinpoint its location. First stop is in Rohan in a place called The Juggler’s Hall.

It takes 10 days of travel to get there and somewhere in the middle we get this fixed event: upon arriving at the Inn of Greys the PCs see that it’s being attacked by bandits and the adventure just assumes that the PCs will intervene (and to be fair, why wouldn’t they?). Upon defeating the bandits the PCs meet Turibor the minstrel who’ll ask if he can accompany them on their journey north. This guy is a key NPC, I mean key as in unlocking another scene kind of thing. He’s the one who will bring the PCs to the Juggler’s Hall and if you had players that were expecting to go to Edoras and meet rohirrim riders they’d better forget about it, aside from taking new horses nothing happens in Edoras. No, instead you get the Thespian Intrigue in the Juggler’s Hall, involving the PCs in a theatre play (about the kin-strife that happened in Gondor, again. not really a nice fit for Rohan). The leader of the Wandering Conscience Company will offer 10 silver pieces and a choice of nice clothes to each character, for participating (acting) and help guard against sabotage from a rival company.

I’ll add that the Juggler’s Hall is oddly, really in the middle of nowhere, but it’s also a base for smuggling operations so there’s that. Talking of smuggling, there’s a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter as it’s mandatory that the PCs witness two NPCs shaking hands in « business-like fashion ». One of these NPC « may draw attention to himself by way of his disturbing laugh ». BUT: « However the PCs should be given no grounds to become suspicious of him ». Well, good luck with that Game Master! Hey players, here’s this fixed scene involving two shady NPCs, one has this disturbing way of laughing, y’know like a cartoon villain would laugh just sayin’, but don’t be suspicious! No no no, no reason at all!

And then the Thespian Intrigue.

The play itself is nicely conceived I’ll say, with a nice plot as mentionned taken from the kin-strife period (a Cromwell-like usurper gets hold of power in Gondor) and plenty of stuff happening (including a real knife stab (instead of a fake one) that the PC victim should try its best to go along with so that the play isn’t disrupted!). Of course the whole thing is nonsensical and out of place (irrelevant to the mission) but I’m pretty sure it could be great fun for the players. The Game Master though, in true Rolemaster fashion, has the cumbersome job to evaluate which + and – to use in the provided chart and get the results for the « Audience Appreciation Level » (AAL): « Having totalled the appropriate modifiers, the actor should roll on the appropriate column. The result is the number to which the GM must roll equal or less than in order for the AAL to increase by 5. If the GM rolls over the number, the AAl decreases by 5. At any time, an AAL of 0 means that the audience boos the company off the stage and leaves, while an AAL of 100 means that the audience immediately rushes the stage in a frenzy of hero worship and adulation. If the play end naturally, then the AAL should be added to an open-ended roll on the Hard column of the maneuver table, and the result is the number which the GM needs to roll under in order for the critics to like the play. »

Phew. I wonder why Rolemaster isn’t a popular system anymore!

Anyway, the PCs can get a substantial bonus reward (or not) depending on how well the play went and also experience points based on what happened so far or « as we recommend, he or she may just award points in a subjective fashion corresponding to how well the players are able to cope with the stress of being onstage ». How well the players cope with the stress of being onstage. Wow, that’s a weird thing to say. I thought the players were like, around a table with pens & papers & dice, not onstage.

This concludes this chapter, a weird one for sure. Next the PCs will leave to continue their journey to Tharbad, en route to the ruined city of Annuminas where they will get to explore a dungeon! Yay!

Part III

Palantir Quest (1994) – tunnel vision (review part I)

David Skelector Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Lord of the Rings, middle-earth, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG

I’ve been rummaging through my collection of (twenty-something) I.C.E. middle-earth books lately. I could get good money for them – last time I checked Palantir Quest in particular was on sale for 175 usd on ebay despite being in terrible condition (mine isn’t much better!). But y’know, I’m quite sentimental about these, they are the first rpgs books I’ve bought, some thirty years ago, at age fourteen-fifteen with my hard-earned money as a field hand at the time.

So, no selling.

Paid for in sweat and sore knees.

Palantir Quest is in fact an unusual one among this collection as being one of the rare Adventures book along with Kin-Strife, as well as several much slimmer adventures compilations. All the others in the line are sourcebooks, as far as I know. Incredibly detailed and well-researched sourcebooks I must add in case you haven’t heard of them, something that doesn’t exist anymore in rpgs I think, that required an entire team of dedicated people to do. Something to be nostalgic about no doubt. Keep that in mind if you please, because I’ll be a bit harsh with this one: I.C.E’s sourcebooks were absolutely great.

But back to our current subject.

From the book’s back cover: « Strange portents in the great Seeing-stone of Minas Tirith give promise that one of the lost palantiri of the North has returned to the lands of Men. Can the adventurers find this legendary treasure and bring it to King Elessar? Rogues of the wilds, blizzards out of the Forodwaith, and the greed in Men’s hearts all conspire against them. »

Adventuring into Middle-Earth’s 4th Age

The premise is quite interesting, unlike most of what has been published by I.C.E. this adventure takes place some years AFTER the events of the Lord of the Rings. Sauron has been permanently defeated, what remains of his forces has been scattered away and Aragorn, as the ruler of both Gondor and Arnor is now known as King Elessar. This is the begininng of a new era, the 4th Age of Middle-Earth, and what better news to go with this time of triumphant joy than the resurfacing of a long-lost palantir that could help unite both halves, North and South, of this new victorious kingdom?

Elon: « Imagine holding this super heavy bowling ball in your hands, straining your mind in a superhuman effort, and talk to ONE other person in the world … »

Yes, thank you Elon, very impressive.

But you need two palantiri to do that.

Aragorn/King Elessar has the one from Orthanc of course and the one that Sauron had has been destroyed (or is lost, buried under the ruins of Barad-Dur presumably) and Minas Tirith’s palantir (this book says) has been unfortunately imprinted by Denethor’s last moments of agony (a rather unpleasant sight to behold), this is why finding this other palantir would be incredibly useful.

Enter the PCs.

(Side note: Suggested starting level is 4, the PCs are presumed to have some prior accomplishments. There’s also a provided list of pre-made characters as well as suggested eventual replacement, one for each chapter.)

They’ve been convoked to Minas Tirith by NPC Tarquillan, the venerable Royal Seer, to do the king’s bidding and find the lost palantir of the North. Or not exactly that way – they’re told that a spell from a tome called « A Treatise on Subtle Magika » has been discovered to exist and (much faith has been put into that it seems) it could be used to locate the palantir that has only been glimpsed at. (a written spell? a bit peculiar to me thematically speaking but okay, let’s get on with it). The most likely location of the tome is in the Royal Library of the ruined city of Annuminas.

Unbeknownst to the PCs and their employer, Taladhan, a powerful evil magician no one has ever heard of (he apparently hasn’t got the memo that evil has been defeated) who’s scheming from his hideout in faraway Greenwood, knows everything about the plan to recover the palantir because the Royal Seer’s assistant in fact spies for him. Very astute of him to have put a spy there I must say, just in case there would specifically be news from a resurfacing palantir. But anyway.

Thus begins one of the most Tangential Fetch Quest in the history of RPGs. Probably.

Palantir Quest – Contents:

  • 1.0 Guidelines
  • 2.0 Introduction
  • 3.0 Minas Tirith
  • 4.0 The Juggler’s Hall
  • 5.0 Tharbad
  • 6.0 The Royal Library of Old Arnor
  • 7.0 The Docks of Tharbad
  • 8.0 The Ice Bay of Forochel
  • 9.0 Return to Civilization
  • 10.0 Return to the Riddlemark
  • 11.0 Search in the Wold
  • 12.0 The Fourth Tier
  • 13.0 Lake-Town
  • 14.0 Into the Forest
  • 15.0 Return to the King
  • 16.0 Master Tables
  • 17.0 MERP/Rolemaster Tables
  • 18.0 LOR Tables

Part II

My son’s dungeon, Dungeon of Kargen part II

David Skelector aventures d'Edmond, Dungeons and Dragons, Homebrew, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, Roleplaying Game, RPG

I gladly accept that the most interesting thing I can put on this blog is being made by my son, so here’s another chunk of what is transpiring within Edmond’s own megadungeon:

Part 1 here.

  • The adventurers (solo played by Isaac as usual) explore a bit more the City of the Imps, fight some Living Armors. They get inside a sumptuous room and fight Greater Imps and kill the King of the Imps who was getting annoyed of all the killing & stealing & stuff made all over his domain. The new king of the imps is more reasonable, this is what regime change is all about, and accept a truce with the adventurers.
  • They go back in the Maze, find several libraries (the Minotaur is an avid reader?), they find a secret door and fight the Minotaur again. This time they manage to kill him, except that they he’s not really dead and changes into an upgraded version, again they kill him and again he gets back but the third time’s a charm – the Minotaur is finally vanquished! The adventurers liberate some prisoners, recruit some of them and loot the place.
  • They explore more of the Mixtature. They flee after a round or two when they encounter an (non-trademarked) Evil Eye and find out that they’re obviously overmatched. In another section they find a golden sarcophagi, opening it they find a set of stairs going down and down…
  • Level 2 has Trolls and Slimy Skeletons as wandering monsters, mostly.
  • They are in the Crystal Grottoes, natural caves with large areas that are flooded. They dive into an underwater passage and get into a cave with several chests filled with gold, and with the walls adorned with valuable crystals. They take everything they can and get into another area with a locked chest that they couldn’t open but they do find a crystal armor. After that they get in front of a large door, locked but there’s instructions nearby explaining how to craft the key (!), which they manage to do, and thus gain access to a new area.
  • While exploring they stumble into a lever that opens up a trapdoor, leading into secret passage and eventually, into a large room that has a desert environment (sand and cactus included) and get into a fight against poisonous snakes. Several characters get poisoned during the fight but fortunately they soon find an antidote when they search a corpse in the room. There’s also an arch, six pillars and six bowls which are there to receive offerings. Through trial and error they discover that placing 6 identical tokens, repeated for the six bowls, opens a magic portal inside the arch.
  • They walk through the portal and get into a new area but they also find out that the portal is one way into Level 3!
  • They arrive at an intersection with four passages, they get into one and find a room with a bassin & fountain with coins into it. Throwing a coin gives healing.
  • Just as good as they get into a big fight against 10 trolls, including a chieftain, but the adventurers are victorious.
  • Another intersection, signs indicate: Firengulph, Agony, Suffer in Suffering. Nothing quite tempting in all that and they finally choose the Suffer in Suffering direction.
  • Apparently this section is full of traps and indeed, there’s really a lot of suffering involved… Notwithstanding all the pain, the adventurers make progess and after more exploration they find another portal room, with a similar arch but this one with only two bowls. One is engraved with a dragon and the other with a knight. They don’t find the solution at the moment so they continue to explore.
  • There’s more flooded areas in this section. They evade a fight against a Crystal Octopus.
  • And then they find a Potion Shop (the enterprising owners have put ads all over the dungeon I’m told, often giving tips (not always accurate) on monsters as a marketing ploy!)!
  • After that, inside another room, they find some scrolls that offer some explanations on the magic portal. One has to offer something associated with good in one bowl and evil into the other. With that knowledge they go back to the portal and open it.
  • This get them back into Level 2, into a new area, but they soon find their way to known territory and get back to town. A few more characters are hired to replace some that are dismissed for their lack of competence (adventuring is a fiercely competitive world!). One newly-hired, Roger, is a skilled craftsman, that will come into play very soon.
  • They go back into Level 2. They find an area that is essentially a dormitory (for whom?). Later on they find a guy who’s doing an ad for the aforementionned Potion Shop and he recruits the adventurers for the ad, earning them one healing potion.
  • They flee from a big fight with many Living Armors and a Colossal Living Armor. Not much later they find a weapon that does great work against these foes.
  • Exploring a new area they fall into a pit trap. Directly into lava. They’re all dead…
  • Unless… No! It was only water with the appearance of lava! There’s an extensive underwater system accessible from this pit trap.
  • The adventurers get back in town and come back to this place with enough materials to craft… a submarine!
a 200 hit points submarine upgraded with a ballista
  • There’s a whole new world down there in the water and they even find an impressive Submerged Castle and surrounding village.

TBC…

Gunderholfen – Repelled by the orcs, again (session 20)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

Short session with one big fight taking a big chunk of it. Very dangerous situation that they got themselves into and the PCs had to flee again.

1h30

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: finish the orcs

What the other adventuring guilds are doing at the moment:

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

Gunderholfen – Level 4A – Great Altar Cave

  • The Battle Brothers have just killed the 10 orc archers that were guarding the entrance of the Great Altar Cave but now they hear many more orcs coming from around the corner to the north west. Two orcs with heavy crossbows come first, one shooting at Forka but the crossbow bolt bounces off his armor, and the other misses Torch. Two other crossbowmen run across the nearby rope-bridge in order to have a good shooting angle.
  • Aracyne makes a risky leap to the eastern cliff and manages to climb up to get atop the promontory. He quickly takes his bow and kill one crossbowman with two arrows (twin shot). The other plunges to his death after Grimoire attacks him with a Mental Strike (telekinetic push).
  • But more orcs move to attack the outnumbered adventurers, five brandishing falchions and five with spears attacking from behind, all wearing chainmail. Forka attacked one with his two-hands hammer, killing him with a massive blow but then the spearmen jab him several times and wound him badly. Jedri jumps into action with sword and light flail and kill an orc with two well-aimed blows.
  • Fearing for his life, Forka shove the falchion-wielding orc in front of him, sending him crashing into the back rank, and he gets out of his near-encirclement. Torch takes care to guard Forka’s flank and stab an orc with his spear, hurting him lightly. Jedri manages to dodge several attacks coming his way.
  • Aracyne does an headshot (crit) to an orc spearman, killing him instantly. A crossbowman aims at the goblin mage and hits him, inflicting a severe wound (1 hp remaining!), the other aims at Aracyne but the elf manages to dodge the incoming bolt. Forka kills another falchion-wielder. Grimoire avenges himself with another Mental Strike, pushing the two crossbowmen off the promontory to their deaths.
  • The adventurers have now the upper hand as they manage to kill several other orcs but they can hear yet more orcs coming from the same direction and only Aracyne is unscathed among them. Torch is okayish but Grimoire and Forka are both severely wounded, Jedri only lightly but is exhausted (no more willpower pts, can’t fuel his heroic abilities anymore). Grimoire does a Levitate on Torch to bring him on his side of the cave, at the entrance beyond the cliff. Forka and Jedri jump over there. A bigger group of orcs is now in sight with its bardiche-armed chieftain in the middle. Several orcs throw spears at the retreating adventurers but none hit their targets.
  • The Battle Brothers run to the west to go directly at their outpost. The orcs have no way to follow quickly and press their advantage.
  • En route, Jedri is attacked by a Giant Cave Lizard coming from the south but he slays it efficiently with his two weapons.
  • They reach their outpost and barricade themselves so they can rest safely. Not long after, they can hear some orcs looking for them close by, probably checking. the stairs to Level 3. The orcs still doesn’t seem to know that the PCs have taken over the Ogres’ den (and aren’t eager to inspect the place as they had been enemies).
  • Five hours later they hear a knock on the door, its Bayard’s guild, the Protectors! Aracyne asks if the allied guild would be so kind as to offer healing and Bayard answers that it wouldn’t be free: how about 80 gp, the amount that Aracyne once asked to the at the moment hard-pressed Protectors? No deal. But still, the allies are glad to see each other.

Closing Comments:

  • The PCs had decimated the orc archers with ease the previous session but now it was a very, very close fight, with character death looming just a step away. Aracyne and Grimoire were very efficient with arrows and telekinetic pushes respectively but the three melee fighters were in a perilous situation. Good armor and good evade ability have its limits when against 3:1 numerical superiority with a back rank able to reach.
  • The orcs have once again repelled the adventurers but it’s clearly a pyrrhic victory for them, having lost 21 warriors between the two sessions and 6 more if we count the first assault. They still have a decent fighting force but they’ve been weakened for sure, probably enough to warrant a change on how they defend their territory.

Gunderholfen – Bad Neighbors (session 19)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

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 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 changed 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 a 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.

Gunderholfen – City of the Dead Dwarves (session 18)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

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.

Gunderholfen – Hot & Steamy (session 17)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

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.