The Ever Expanding Dungeon : Session 36

Having disposed of their prisoner, and come up empty handed after looting the pile of orc corpses, the party turned their attention to the door in the west wall. It had gone quiet on the other side sometime during their skirmish.

With caution to the wind the party barreled into the room. (ie. i forgot about my door procedure!)

[This room had been mapped before, so i don't need to check to see its size or shape For contents, I rolled 1d6 per Moldvay, and got a 2, Monster. I then checked on my Is the Monster Here? Table and got No ,and Roll on the Signs table: half-eaten meal/prey/victim.

I turned to Rory's Story Cubes and got a guy doing pull ups.]

Dangling from chains bolted to the ceiling, the remains of a dwarf dripped and oozed into a puddle of red-black gore that grew beneath it.

The party covered the doors, and Maglom and Ygg freed the corpse from the shackles. Ygg performed a simple prayer for the soul of the dwarf to enter into a weekend bender with the Hedonistic Lumberjack.

The door in the North wall of this room had been their objective, and after forcing open the door, they found steps going down.

Eomond, hunter and slayer of rats, looked for foot prints leading from the room down the stairs. 

[Does he find any?1d6, 1. Yes and they appear to be orc.

The question about whether or not the party would go down the steps was made based on the results of the survey of the characters' creators I conducted awhile back. Of those that responded, the split was 50/50, so my own preference to explore the level further was the swing vote.]

"Orc prints" said Eomond, pointing out a faint set of prints heading out of the room and down the stairs.

None the less, much of the party was intent on finishing their exploration of the 1st level.

Despite being in the mood for a fight to avenge the killing of the dungeon's dwarves, Maglom, the lone holdout, conceded to explore the remainder of the 1st level and attempt to complete the map - a decision made possible because Ygg, himself in no mood for fighting again, sided with Eomond and Leegand to finish exploring up here.

As a precaution, Ygg spiked the door to the steps, hoping to at least annoy the orcs a bit.

The natural next stop was the door in the north east corner of the East wall.

[I really should provide a map so you can see what I'm talking about. Oh wait, here's one.

They are in room 45. Room's 46 and 47 haven't been found at this point.

• At the door, Eomond listened :3, and heard nothing nothing. Leegand checked the door for traps: 6 nope.
• Using my Solo Traps table - I roll 67, 16, 68, which tells me that the door is unlocked,the lock is not trapped, and the door itself is not a trigger for a trap.
• The door swung open and (using version 3.0 of my low budget dungeon generator, I rolled a d12, and got 9- an empty room). 
• Version 3,0 used d10 for all dimensions which resulted in some seriously massive rooms and long corridors. I decided to take after version 4.1, but instead of card suits, I used 1d4 1= d4, 2=d6, 3=d8, 4=d10. The result would be used for the dimensions.
• I rolled a 3 and used d8 for dimensions and applied the same rules I use in version 4.1. 6 and 3 = 3x3
• 1d4-1, 2 = 1 additional exit - since the room abuts the door in the north wall of 32, well that's the door
• Treasure- I used Moldvay's dungoen stocking table to check this - 5, nope
• Few rooms are truly empty, so I turned to Rory's Story Cubes: apple, yelling stick figure, cauldron/pot]

The room was largely empty save for an old rusty cauldron and dozens of rotted apples. A curious thing to find in the dungeon for sure.

Checking their map, they could see that the door in the south wall should take them back to where they started, so Eomond pressed his ear to the door again and then Leegand checked for traps.

[At the door that led to 32, Eomond listened: 4, nope

Leegand checked for traps: 8, nope

Solo traps: 64, 93, 02 Door appears stuck not locked, the lock is not trapped, the door triggers a trap.]

Believing the door to be trap-free the party forced it open

[1-2 = front rank, 3-4 = middle, 5-6 = rear. I rolled a 2 and it sprang on front rank.
I rolled a story cube and got a flame.

flame jet trap (thanks story cubes)- 1d8 to front rank, save for half]

An unnoticed trip wire unleashed a jet of flame from the ceiling, briefly engulfing Maglom and Runolf.

[Maglom makes her save with a 14, I rolled 3 for damage, so she takes 1 point of damage. Runolf saved with a 16, I rolled 6 for damage, and he takes 3.
Wandering monster check: 3, nope]

With a general admonition for more caution, the party prepared to take the door in the north east corner.

[Eomond listened: 3, no

Leegand checked if locked and if trapped: 16 doesn't notice anything

54, door is stuck, 16 lock not trapped, 56, no trap on door]

Leegand suggested the party to open door and then probe ahead, but alas, no one had a 10' pole or even a spear.

Necessity is the mother of invention; the party forced open the door a and hurled an orc body through. It landed with a thud.

Satisfied the area wasn't trapped, the party peered through to spy a short hall ending in a dead end.

[Determined by a roll of 12 on the dungeon generator.]

[Zilliniy checked for secret doors (she can find one on a 1-3. I rolled a three, so she will find one if there.
I rolled a d6 and on a 1 there is one present. I rolled a 1. Version 3.0 of the random dungeon generator includes a 2nd roll to determine the whether or not the secret door allows passage in both directions or just one. I rolled a 3 and and it's bi-directional.]

The party assumed door formation and began their usual routine.

[Eomond listened: 3, no.

Leegand checked if the panel was trapped: 7, doesn't find any]

They find the mechanism ad try to open the door.

[It occurred to me that a secret door doesn't have a key hole that can be picked, so that's not an issue. I roll to see if opening the door triggers a trap. 02. Sure enough.

I rolled on some table or other and generated a pit trap. Again it was triggered by the 1st rank. Maglom and Runolf each fell 10’. Maglom took 1 damage, and Runolf took 3]

After fishing out Maglom and Runolf from the 10' deep pit, they noticed 3 dead orcs in the smallish room.

Wandering monster check: 2, nope

A quick examination of the bodies showed they bore several wounds each.

[Mythic, 50/50, were they wounded in battle?13. yes.]

It appeared to the group that the orcs sought sanctuary here, but died of their wounds. Looting of the dead commenced, but yielded nothing

[I used Moldvay's Treasure roll - 1-3 = treasure when a room holds a monster, but I rolled a 5.
I rolled for additional exits, 1d4 - 1 and got a 2, so 1 additional]

Ready to press onward, the party took their usual door opening positions. '

[Eomond: 5, Hears nothing]

And as usual, Eomond heard nothing. Leegand dutifully checked the door.

[Door procedure: Leegand checked for traps: 18, nope

Is door locked? 10, yes

Tries to pick lock: 3, SUCCESS!! WOOOO!!!!

Is the lock trapped? 100, nope]

Elated over Leegand's successful lock picking, the party remained cautious as they moved through the doorway.

Is the door a trigger for a trap?: 56, no door trap
I rolled on the dungeon generator and the result was 70’ and a t-intersection ]

As the party moved down they hall and approached a T-intersection, it was clear that to their right was the door to the former gnoll shrine room (31).  To their left, they found a previously unmapped entrance to the dungeon [thank you random generator]

This seemed a good time to get back to town with Runolf down to 9 HP and Maglom and Zilliniy minorly injured with 2 HP.

*****
In the end, a rather quiet session and given the danger faced in some of the recent sessions, a welcome change. No one swung a weapon and no treasure, but, everyone survived and will get some XP to boot (using my home brew XP rules).

I discovered (or remembered as the case may be) I rather like the Is the Monster Here table, and i don't know why I had stopped using it, except out of forgetfulness. 

The total playing time was about an hour, and that included gathering my materials.

A Picture, 1000 Words, Yadda Yadda

Although my postings here are a bit slow of late, I've been posting more elsewhere: G+ and especially on Instagram. 

I really like the latter, as I don't feel compelled to say more than a few words about what's pictured. 

Sometimes, i don't want to slow the game down to take a dozen pictures, and then type and edit a summary, especially when I'm learning to play (like Song of Blades and Heroes presently - and which I'm really enjoying. There's something about fantasy skirmish that brings out the kid in me. More than usual, that is.) but I still want something for posterity. 

I find it's also a great way to share painting progress. A picture or two is all it takes, and since I'm using my phone anyway, a few finger taps later and it's posted. 

Current Painting Table

Seriously, it must be the change in weather.

Here's what's currently in my painting queue:

I'm rather pleased with how the horses are coming along. I'm using this tutorial from Ken of All the Kings Men Toy Soldiers and despite being written for 54s, it works quite well on the 1/72 figures. These figures are Zvezda mounts for Russian Dragoons.

I am trying something new with this batch of Swedes (the guys in blue and yellow) - a white base coat for one (which I hate), and blacklining after the fact, rather than leaving a gap between colors (can't do that with a white base coat). After this group is finished, I will be focusing more on dragoons for both sides. And not just because i really like painting the horsies.

The Soviet riflemen may not look it, but they are primed; I use PVA. This has been my method of choice for most of this year for the big figures - so far, it seems to work. I will follow this up with a second coat of PVA once the figures are finished.

The buildings are birdhouses from Jo-ann's and Michael's that will be pressed into service for my 54mm games. The cabins, with a little work, will serve on the Eastern Front, primarily.

Another fantasy figure? (well several, if you count the rodents of unusual size)

What can I say, Song of Blades and Heroes is rather enjoyable and it's a great motivator for painting up some of my Bones minis. I have to say, they really don't take primer well at all, and still feel tacky a week later. A base coat of black acrylic seems to resolve that issue, however.

Oh, yeah. This guy., Skeletor, the Wraith Lord!!