Monday, June 24, 2013

The Ever Expanding Dungeon: Session 20


After several hours, Dleggit and Perceval awoke and the party prepared to re-enter the dungeon.

Intent on making their way to the area west of the kobold territory, they again descended down into the original entrance, with the hope of make some in-roads into the as of yet unexplored area.

[MYTHIC: Has anything moved into room 1 since we left? Very Unlikely. 24. yes. great.

d30 companion: 19,29 : the first roll is which column of the table to use, the second determines the encounter
2 warriors (F2: HD2, ac 2, 1d8)  ]

Two figures, one short and squat, the other tall and rail thin, wearing etched plate approached the party from the door opposite the steps.

Perceval and Dleggit hailed them cautiously. They looked "official."

[reaction:  7 neutral
They don't appear overtly hostile but nor are they friendly.]

The short one sternly spoke, "Let us pass and you may continue on your way."

No one in the party really wanted trouble but Sister Linkat is bound by her duty to protect the town, as is Perceval as a native son, to inquire as to their purpose and direction.

[reaction to this: 11 hostile]

The tall one deftly drew their sword, while the first grasped the hilt of his. Again the short one spoke, "Do not harry us. let us pass or the sting of our blades shall be the last thing you ever feel." This time there was even more of an edge to his voice.

Dleggit turned to Perceval, "Kind of melodramatic aren't they?"

[Is Sister Linkat insistent? 50/50 37 Yes
Is perceval? 50/50? 24 Yes
Does anyone else even care? Unlikely. 11 yes
Dleggit and Manchiever seem prepared to push the issue as well]

From the back of the group, Sister Linkat spoke up, "We mean you no harm, we're just curious as to who you are and how you came to be here. And where you are going. After all, perhaps we can help you." Her offers of assistance had panned out well in the past.

[MYTHIC: Do they parlay? Very unlikely. No]

"Be that as it may, let us pass!", shouted the short one in a booming voice.

[MYTHIC: Does this attract any wandering anything? 50/50. 80 no.]

Waldu, unable to restrain himself, shushed the warrior, "Quiet ya dang fool. Every creepy crawling thing in this whole damn place can hear ya. You tryin' to git us all kilt!"

[apparently, Waldu hangs out in the Old West when he's not delving with the party.]

The party, as much as the two warriors, was genuinely surprised by the outburst - Waldu had never spoken out like this.

[MYTHIC: is the warrior offended? near sure thing.55 yes. At this point, I should have rolled for a random event as I rolled doubles and as the Chaos factor is 5, in as much as it is anything in this adventure, the digit i.e. 5, is equal to the Chaos factor. ]

"Tell your servant to hold his tongue, or i shall cut it out literally!"

Sister Linkat, as his employer and defender of the village inhabitants, could not stand this aggression, "He is not our servant, but a free man in our employ and I ask you to refrain from threatening our employee."

[I decided at this point that i needed to move this along and rolled a story cube. A bridge over water. Ha!]

Something about her reply tickled the short one, and he burst out laughing, "Very well then", said in a quieter voice, "I beseech you to let us pass. We represent the [ Rolled twice on my "go to" Fantasy Name Generator, from Erik Jensen of Wampus Country] Forsaken Factory and are on our way to meet with the [rolled 2x again] Raven Duke on important diplomatic issues"

He emphasized the last point rather strongly.

[Does the party let them pass?
Perceval - 50/50 37 Yes
Linkat - 50/50, 53, no
Neither manchiver nor dleggitt have a horse in this race and they are true 50/50

Roll to test if Linkat over rules Perceval (bonus is +7 on the roll due to charisma difference) 68 + 7, no way.]

"And by what route are you going?" asked a persistent Sister Linkat.

[Roll reaction: 2]

Obviously trying to make their way past with as little delay as possible they explained their route will take them south along the river until it splits and then head west until they reach the [Once again roll on the Fantasy Name Table] Moon-Blessed Mesa.

[Is Linkat satisfied enough to let them pass ?
The rest of the party is getting antsy. I'll say yes.]

Satisfied, Sister Linkat gave the ok and the two warriors passed. Not without some grumbling

[Wandering monster: 2, no]

Perceval volunteered to test room 3 for sleep gas and cautiously entered

[I suddenly decided to play with the Chaos Factor from Mythic. Since last scene went the party's way, I set it to Chaos 4.
Mythic: Is the sleep gas still in the air? Very unlikely. 73. No.]

Perceval took a few breaths, and satisfied all was safe, waved the rest of the party into the room where they prepared to go up the steps.

At the junction leading to the kobold's territory, head west until they came to a door.

Listening at the door was fruitless and so they prepared to force their way in.

Perceval failed to force it open but the door gave way easily to Dleggit. The Dwarf a quiet "Ha!" in Perceval's direction in friendly competition.

[Room dimensions, 1x5, using my rolls that's 1/2 each round up so 1 x 3.

Room content - 35, monster

d30 companion:
27, 25]

As the party enters, the light from the torch carried by Waldu, sets 2 shriekers to wailing!

"Silence them!" yells dleggit

Dleggit and Perceval and Sister Linkat race in to smash them up. It does not go nearly as easily as they had hoped. [shriekers have THREE HD. Color me surprised.] After several rounds of painfully embarassing combat against stationary fungus, the shriekers stopped of their own accord, although the party hacked them up for good measure.

[During the combat twice the shriekers succeeded in summoning something that would arrive in the near future]

The party moved fully into the room - and by that I mean: Waldu and the mule took the center. Perceval and Manchiver examined the door in the north wall while Dleggit took the west. Sister Linkat stood guard to the east the door.

Listening again proved fruitless. The door to the north gave easily and was clearly not locked or stuck. Dleggit found the western door wasn't locked but did  not give very easily.

Suddenly Dleggit felt the door pushing back on him.

With a resounding crashed it flew open and smacked against the wall, its hinges groaning with the strain. A pack of giant rats rushed in, like water from behind a damn, a great furry brown tidal wave flooded the room.

[Monsters arrive: 16,22 giant rats = 13 giant rats

Which entrance?
North 1-2
East 3-4
West 5-6

6, West]

Roll of 2, party is surprised, the rats pour in unphased by the presence of the party or the mule

Is the mule spooked? Very likely, 28, yes.]

As the floor went from stone to a moving mass of squeaking fur, the mule began to fight against its reins and Waldu, who was holding them.

[Is Dleggit knocked down? Likely. no. Second group of monsters arriving]

As if the rats were not enough, to his consternation, Dleggit saw the unmistakable shambling silhouettes of a mass of 8 zombies rounding the corner!

***********
I had to keep the session short so I would have time to write it up afterwards.

The cliff-hanger just seemed like a good place to stop. Just like with social games.

11 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Erik! I look forward to eventually mapping out the land around the dungeon. All of the place names come from your table and are evocative to say the least.

      -John

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  2. Not exactly the best situation they've been in, is it?

    Hopefully you will be able to post more soon.


    -- Jeff

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    1. I think it's going to depend on whether or not Sister Linkat gets tied up fighting giant rats, or if she can focus on trying to turn the zombies. At 4th level, she can turn them pretty easily.

      The next session will be much sooner than this last break. We're in the busiest season of the year at my work - it starts to calm down next week and by mid july it's back to normal.

      -John

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  3. Whoo boy, in for a fight! I think leaving off right before initiative is rolled could be good for a solo game. I always had a rough time getting back into a game, figuring out what state my party was left in last time I played... Leaving the story here, right before some action, there's very little "setup" to get right back into the game.

    I liked the back and forth with the two fighters, brought in a slew of potential new players and locations as well.

    Again, I liked the set up / format, showing the dice rolls.

    Nice :)

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    1. Yeah, I usually spend a good 20 minutes or more getting back into the game, figuring out where I left off, etc. This is the first time I've done this for a solo game that I can recall and it definitely has me itching to play again.

      At the very least, it has me thinking about my options - if the rats are running from the zombies and have no interest in the pcs, things probably won't be too bad. Sister Linkat is 4th level after all. If the rats get involved though and she can't turn them, it's going to be a tough one. Not to mention that rats can deliver disease with their bites. I'm also concerned that the rats will make footing unsure, and increase the likelihood that a character could trip and end up on the ground in front of a zombie.

      The back and forth did indeed add a new thread (started tracking threads for Mythic this session) and locations - i'm curious about the two fighters and who they are and represent. I'm not even sure if their story was true or not.

      -John

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  4. Great report, and nice to see a return to the dungeon.

    My own "quest" has taken a backseat to a couple of board/card games - the Dungeons & Dragons "Wrath of Ashardalon" and related games, and the LOTR "living" card game. Turns out the former uses a lot of mechanisms similar to those I had been working out on my own, and is more fun than I had expected. The LOTR card game is frustrating, but one i really want to like, being a long time LOTR fan. (the frustration comes from trying to play the game using the pre-built parties/decks - seems like some are extremely difficult to win with. But I'm trying to get the rules down and play around enough to try experimenting with custom decks and see if it gets better.)

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    1. Thanks, Fitz-Badger! It was good to have a chance to get back in and play.

      I'm not familiar with what a "living" card game is. But, Wrath of Ashardalon has always looked fun to me, and the minis do look awesome.

      I went in on Adventure Maximus! on kickstarter which I intend to exploit as a solo game, despite no reference to solitaire suitability.

      -John

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  5. Great stuff, as always. Thanks for posting your "method" and giving insight into the how-to. It helps those of us (ie, me) who's imagination has atrophied over the years. I still haven't figured out how you came up with dwarves painting a mural, way back in "Into the Dungeon Again! Part 2" but I love it anyhow! It' just so out-there!

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    1. Hi Kelroy Was Here,

      That mural is still one of my favorite things about the dungeon!

      I found a table on the web somewhere for what an npc/monster is doing when you encounter one. One of the entries is "art." As for the fact that it shows an observatory or some such sending or receiving signals from the stars, that was thanks to a Rory's Story Cube.

      It's actually a cool little table which I use a lot, but I don't have any way of attributing it - it's printed out and pasted into my makeshift ultra-low budget Labyrinth Lord GM "screen". I'll try to dig it up and post a link to it next time. It's definitely helpful for setting up an encounter.

      -John

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  6. "living card game" is the game company Fantasy Flight's term for card games where there are regular releases of new packs. The game "grows". The packs for the LOTR game adds new scenarios, additional characters, enemies, etc. Fantasy Flight has some other "living card games", for Game of Thrones and Cthulhu mythos (and others, I think).
    These are different from collectible card games in that every set or pack has the same cards. In other words, if you buy the basic game/set you will get the same cards as everyone else who buys it. If you buy pack x you will get the same cards as everyone else who buys that pack.

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