AD&D1e Session 3: No More Monoparty!

 April 27 2024

Hogs in the Woods

Present:

Unnamed Elf Thief Level 1

Unnamed Half Elf Magic User / Thief Level 1

The MonoParty is Dead!!!

I got to hang with two of the DadBros that I usually (Once every 4 months or so) play Pause-Time 5e D&D with.  The guy who DMs for us (Leroy Stonebraker) wasn't available, and nobody had anything else prepped so I said, well I have a 1e game going and I already have a setting and we don't need to prep anything other than making your characters.

So that was the first 2 hours, characters just scratched on a sheet of paper.  You don't get a character sheet until you survive the first session.

Elf Thief rolled 2 hp, opted for the cheaper Padded armor over Leathers and bought a Ranseur (think a pole with a Raphael Ninja Turtle Sai knife on the end).  His backup skill is Animal Husbandry (it's not what is sounds like).

Half-Elf MU-T got 5hp, also opted for the padded armor and a scimitar.  For spells he rolled Shocking Grasp, Dancing Lights and Message. He's a Farmer.

Half-Elf had to go help his son, while I gave Elf the rundown on the setting.  You guys are from this town, Folton on the Hill.  

Rumors:

There were some Brigands that were camped outside of the palisade, but now they are gone and the Folton Cemetery Gravedigger's house has burned down.

The scuttlebutt with the teamsters (animal husbandman overheard) is that there was a shipment of silver ingots that never arrived.  It was supposed to come down the road that passes near the Icky Forrest.

It's weirdly cold for the season, there have been animal stillbirths, and one sheep was born with two-faces.  Some people complain of the pattern of frost on their windows looking like a long-haired bearded face looking down as if reading.

Gerrold the RopeMaker swore he saw his dead wife dancing at the edge of the Icky Forrest.

The party decided to travel the road northwards to try to figure out what became of the shipment of silver.  But they recognized that two thieves may not be the most formidable force for open travel, and they began to plan on hiring henchmen.  HOWEVER, they were all but penniless having spent their money on clothes and food and such.

Well, what are a couple of thieves to do to raise mercenary money but a tad bit o' the ole thieving?!  They went to the Tavern and got to hatching a scheme!  I rolled 3d12 to see how alive the place was and got 26 patrons!  The joint was JUMPIN'!  Elf Thief asked the barkeep for three cups and a folding table.

"Ye can buy three drinks, and the cups come with, fer a time!  As fer tables, they do not fold, but the room's full of 'em!" came the reply.

Three cups of the cheapest beverage on the chart were ordered (small beer) and Elf Thief got to drinkin'.  Meanwhile, Half-Elf MU-Thief wanted to case the crowd for a likely mark. So what is a #NoPrep DM to do?  I turn to the City/Town Encounters Matrix in Appendix C (DMG p191).  I ask them what time of day they are doing this and they say evening, and they roll a 46:  Harlot.

Oh SNAP!!!  I get to roll on the infamous Harlot Table! [DMG p192] They roll a 4.  Slovenly Trull.

So, Elf Thief sits down opposite her and starts talking, and I can tell they want to roleplay it out (5e players, what are you going to do?) so in my most slovenly yet lilting soft feminine voice I ask him if he's looking for a good time (ugh, how do theater kids enjoy this so much, something's wrong with them!).  He makes a big show of putting a button under one of the inverted cups and sets the other two next to them.  He tells her that she can put 5 copper pieces on guessing which cup has the button and he'll pay her a silver.  Then does a slow job of moving the cups around.  I had 3d6, two white and one red.  I said, I'll roll them and if the red comes up highest, she has successfully spotted which cup has the button.  So, I rolled, and all three dice came up 5's.

She's confused and she's going to guess.  1-4 she's wrong, 5-6 she's right and she rolled a 6.  So, she won a silver piece and was delighted!  Elf Thief asks her if she wants to take her silver piece or let it ride for 2 sp and she's down!  But this time she's into it and he's going faster so her attention is totally fixed on the game.

That's when Half-Elf MU-Thief attempts to pickpocket her.  He's got some pretty dope bonuses, and I give him 5% more because she's so distracted so he's got a 50% chance of picking her pockets.  He rolls a d100 and has to get 50 or less.  He rolls an 83.  And that's a problem!  If a pickpocket fails by 21% over target, not only does it fail, but the mark notices! (PHB p28)

She immediately grabs her hefty pouch (the business business must have been good today) and gets ready to scream.  Half-Elf MU-Thief, thinking rather quickly, says, "Oh, I'm sorry I just bumped into you!"  I made him roll on the ever-useful reaction chart (DMG p63), and he got a 48 - Neutral - Uninterested - Uncertain.  So she narrowed her eyes at him and told him to keep walking, and didn't take her eyes off him until he walked away.  At which point Elf Thief reached across the table and nabbed her pouch by rolling a 4!

She turned back to him and I rolled the 3d6.  A white one was high die, and so she lost her silver piece (actually it was 5 coppers that she let ride).  And then she said, "I want to play again!" and reached for her pouch.  Which was gone.  Because he'd just stolen it.

Now she screamed and she tore off through the crowd to get Half-Elf MU-Thief because she was sure he'd gotten it.  Elf Thief calls out to her, but it's too late!  The Knight's Watch have entered the tavern and they shut down all the fun!!!  Booo!!!

While that's happening Elf Thief reaches under the table and tosses her pouch under her chair.  In no time there are two guards on him, one on her and one on Half-Elf MU-T.  They start getting the story from her and it's not looking good, HE MU-T sees the pouch under the table and says, "Is that your pouch?"

"Oh." she says.

HE MU-T rolls crazy high on the reaction table, and the guards stinkin' LOVE this guy.  The Slovenly Trull picks up her pouch and the guards escort our heroes out of the Tavern.

HE MU-T says to the guards, "I'm new in town. Is there a better tavern to go to?"  And the other player and I crack up!

Dude, you are FROM here!  I'm picturing his best friend the guard, "New in town?  After we played together at recess every day for three straight grades?  You stood up and said those really nice things at my Great Grandmother's funeral?  Our wives are in a scroll club?"

HE MU-T's player gets surly:  "I wasn't here when you told him that and you didn't let me make a backstory!"  lolzlololzlol!!!

Anyway, the guards being so enthusiatically pro-player gave them just the opportunity they needed and they mentioned going after that missing shipment of Silver Ingots.  The watch spares 5 men at arms and they are off to the races!  Oh boy!!!  A party is finally going to make it to the dungeon!!!

First encounter check in the scrubland:  3, no encounter

Second hex entered, forest:  1, ENCOUNTER!

So I roll on the Temperate and Sub-Tropical Conditions Uninhabited/Wilderness Areas Table [DMG p184] and go to the Forest column.  And roll a 38. . . a 38.  Lycanthrope!

"NO!" I say and stare in horror.  Remember, I put WereRats in the first session stealing the bodies, because that's what was happening.  I didn't look closely at their stats in the MM and realize that A). Lycanthropes are immune to nonsilvered or nonmagical weapons, and B). They are way too tough for level 1 characters!  So that was me being a n00b and putting the wrong thing in.  THIS was a natural roll in overland travel.  I went to the Lycantrhope subtable [DMG p186] and rolled a 43, WereBoar! [MM p63] Rolled 2d4 for number appearning and got 7!!!  These things are 5 +2 Hit Die creatures!  They are bags of hit points and strike for 2d6 damage!  So here's the thing.  I made a ruling.  I ruled that the silver/magic weapon thing only holds when they are in their animal or boar man form, but when they present as totally human they are still vulnerable (though taking damage may make them alter).  Maybe that wasn't fair of me, maybe that didn't live up to RAW, but come on!

No surprise on either side.  Encounter distance is 5 yards.

So I really sell the menace of these guys as they saunter out of the woods.  They look like ugly rough berserkers.  Elf Thief, decides that he's going to invite them to come along and help.  The reaction roll is hostile.  So he decides he's going to walk through them, knocking their shoulders out of the way like some BrOSR Chad on his way to the gym.

Which doesn't go well and it's on.  Initiative by side and you have to declare before the roll, baby!  The 5 men at arms are going to set spears for a charge.  It's broad daylight and everyone can see him and Elf Thief declares he's going to hide so he can backstab.  HE MU-T decides to run into the woods and try to hide behind a tree, in broad daylight, with 7 people watching.  I blame 5e backstab mechanics.  For their parts, the WereBoars are easy.  They gonna charge!!!

Well, cool!  Charging means we don't need initiative yet, right?  The spears are longest so they go first.  Only one hits, and does double damage.  6 points!  Take that fell beastman!  Oh you have 22 hp?  nevermind.  Then it's the WereBoars turn and they immediately kill 3 men at arms.  Let's go again!

4 WereBoars in mele will keep fighting, while 3 go into the woods to search for HE MU-T.  Two Men at Arms will keep fighting, and so will Elf Thief with his 2 hp!  HE MU-T declares he is going to cast Dancing Lights, and merge them to look like a flame elemental.

Good guys win initiative and can't hit water with a pool noodle standing in a boat!  The WereBoars kind of stare at the Dancing Lights Elemental thing, but they are clearly not scared of it.  The ones in combat butcher everyone immediately. The injured one turns into a Boar and heals. Elf Thief got hit for 8 points damage.

Next round HE MU-T just hikes up his robes and runs for it!  I roll a d6 and it's a 1, the WereBoars pursue!  Now here we get to a weird thing.  They each have the same 12" of movement.  And HE-MU-T started with 5 yards on them.  So we keep rolling initiative and if they win, I rule that they close, and if he wins, I rule that he pulls away.  If he ever wins initiative twice I check to see if they keep pursuing.  So it goes like this for a while!  Elf Thief's player went home.  And HE MU-T is just runinng like Indiana Jones from the Hovitos as hard as he can.  Finally, over a mile away from the protective cover of the forest, out in Rohan-like Scrubland, the WereBoars rolled a 5 and stopped pursuing.

5 dead men at arms, 1 dead PC, and the other one just had to run for his life for over a mile.  No treasure, no XP and the player still can't bring himself to name his character.  I'm tempted to just call him Helmut for Half Elf Magic User Thief.  I don't know if either of these bros really dug 1e.

But here's the thing.  I told the other players that disaster struck!  And word has come from a lone and tattered Thief, running all the way to Folton on the Hill, that 5 men at arms are dead and a thief killed by men who could change into Boars.  And my regular players were like, "where is this Thief, we want to talk to him."  One even said, "That's a good idea, bringing the thief in to remind us there's more going on in the world than these Brigands."  I think they thought he was an NPC and I had made up the whole encounter.  I replied, "I haven't invited him to the discord yet."

There is more going on.  There's a lot going on, and I don't feel like I had to plan or create much of any of it.  The game is starting to spin up and self generate and it's amazing!  Now all I have to do is figure out why all this Lycanthropy is showing up in this region?  Does it have anything to do with the dread book and the face in the frost???

AD&D 1e Session 2: Who's afraid of the Big Bad Brigands?

Roll Call: Caltrix "CX" PecklePickle (Gnome Illusionist), Menetheren Agualor (Dwarven Cleric), Oiax Lockdin (Elf Assassin), and Neit Trieye (Monk) were present.

The party started off worried about Oiax's wound.  A squarish bite had been taken out of his left ear.  They were going to make Oiax eat PecklePickle's Belladonna, but Oiax chose not to.  If the thing that bit him was some form of WereBeast, the only reason they took a sample of his ear was to track him down, should he fail to obtain that for which they were sending him. 

[DM note: the rules for Lycanthropy are in the DMG p22, as well as the Monster Manual Lycanthropes entry.  If you lose half of your hp to lycanthropic bites, there is 100% chance of the disease being passed on.  You have 25% chance to prevent the change by eating Belladonna - a poison, don't do this in real life!- and saving against a 1% chance of dying.  But you must consume the poison within an hour of being bitten, and it will put you on your back for a few days even if it works. There are other remedies listed in those good books.]

Oiax doesn't turn into a WereRat at this time.  The WereRat disease doesn't get him.  I'm explaining because you look nervous.  Oiax is an Elf and only humans can get lycanthropy.

Menetheren and Neit then shared the information about the Mad Knight's diary that they found during downtime in the Temple of Aslan's Scriptorium. Oiax got everyone up to speed on his kidnapping.

And they also talked about what Cigam had revealed about the identity of the face in the frost (not the Mad Knight, not Brother Glastonbery, but an old schoolmate of Cigam's named Mordrecht!)

The party spent about half an hour kibbitzing about the Present Knight, and whether he has fallen to the weird magics of the page ripped from the dark and mysterious book.  They aren't sure if they can trust the Knight or his son.  They weren't sure which course of action to take:  go steal the page, get the Knight's son to steal it, go kill the brigands, or give the 1,000 gp to them?

They decided on going for the Brigands.  The party wanted to kill these Brigands and bring the Knight's Son's money pouch straight to the Brigand headquarters, blame the loss of the patrol on a drunken housefire and pay off the Brigands directly.  Then come back, collect the 600 gp from the Knight's son and use the invitation to try to gank the page from the evil book.  What could possibly go wrong with this plan????

Neit, the Monk wanted to rescue the Gravedigger if he could.  Oiax, the Assassin wanted to burn down the Gravedigger's house around them.  Oiax had to buy new weapons as his were still in the WereRat burrow.  Neit also bought a flask of oil.

They somehow made it down to the Gravedigger's house unnoticed. (I rolled surprise and the party won.  Not sure if that's the right way to handle it, but the party was being stealthy on approach.)  The Brigands must have been drinking and singing the whole time the party was coming down the switchback road from Folton on the Hill.  This would turn out to be absolutely disastrous for them.

Menetheren the Cleric and PecklePickle the Illusionist hid behind tombstones in the graveyard.  Pecklepickle cast Phantasmal Forces (the most OP spell), creating a fieldstone wall, snug up against the North wall of the Gravedigger's house, which sealed the exit from the first level as well as the windows on the second from that side.  Only the tiny dormer cupola thing on the top had a window that was unblocked.  Then Oiax and Neit went to the hole in the tunnel that lead to the basement.  They had some negotiations, but it was decided that Niet would guard the opening of the tunnel, while Oiax would go through the tunnel into the house. This would prove disastrous for the Gravedigger.

Oiax faced down his inner trauma from this very tunnel, and got to crawling.  When he got to the hole in the basement, it had been widened and the bookcase was pushed out of the way.  Oiax wanted to light the bookcase on fire, but it was too far away.  He didn't want to enter the basement and kept trying to light the bookcase from the tunnel, but again, it was too far away.  Menetheren's character helpfully suggested:  "You could listen!"  We all laughed, thinking he was snapping on Oiax's player for not getting it about the distance, but M's player really meant that Oiax's character should listen for sounds in the house.

He declared he was listening, and I got to roll on the Unexplained Sounds and Weird Noises table in the Dungeon Dressing appendix I [DMG p217] and it came up 48, humming.  "You hear somebody humming."  He silently exited the tunnel and peered around the scooched-out-of-the-way bookcase and saw the Gravedigger, tied to a chair, slightly inebriated from the Brigands pouring bourbon in his mouth, humming to himself.  

Oiax thought about it for a minute, remembering that Niet wanted to rescue the Gravedigger.

Then he assassinated the Gravedigger and looted him for 3 g.p.

Following that, Oiax poured oil on the bookcase, but not before rescuing a scroll, and lit the place on fire, booking it back out into the tunnel.

The fire started in earnest and the Brigands panicked and ran to the front door.  They threw it wide and found the entryway sealed with a stone wall.  I rolled save against magic for their disbelief, but they would have needed a 19 or 20, and none of the four on the main floor made their save.  I rolled up their HP (1-6), a quick glance at the Flaming Oil rules let me surmise that fire that hasn't been directly thrown on someone or splashed them will do 1 hp of damage PER SEGMENT!  Brutal.  Well two of the jokers only had 1 hp so they were gone, and the rest burned up when they couldn't get out.  There were 6 on the second floor, and again, two had only 1 hp and succumbed to the smoke and fire immediately.  The other four smashed the windows and jumped out the second story.  One of them died instantly from the 1d6 falling damage.  The other three were hurt at varying levels of badness.  In the third story the Sergeant opened the window and jumped out, Feather Falling to the ground harmlessly.  He is a Lvl 3 MU based on the GI Joe Dreadnok "Torch."  He rallied his guys and came around the burning house just as Oiax was getting out of the tunnel.

Here was the lay of it:  Menetheren was standing in the open in the courtyard, while Pecklepickle hid behind a tombstone.  Oiax was hidden behind the house to the South and Neit was beside him.

The bad guys ran, well hobbled really, around the house and Menetheren immediately healed the 6 hp guy who had blown out his knees in the jump back to max and told them a Robed Magic User with a Giant Wolf had attacked the house and he was there to save them.  Neit and his giant charisma bonus came around the house to help convince them and they rolled high on reaction.  For the THIRD TIME in this campaign, the roll came up Uncertain, but 55% likely to be positive.  And then 36 so they were inclined to believe the heroes.

Then Oiax tried to assassinate the leader by shooting him in the back with an arrow.  The Assassination didn't work, but he did knock 2 hp off him and another 4 with his second arrow (I ruled that he could only make an assassination attempt on the first shot, the rules being unclear on in-combat assassinations with a weapon that can fire multiple times in a round).  

The fight was on.  We play Initiative by Round, which means, that first the party announces their intentions, then the DM announces the badguy's intentions and then you roll for initiative and everyone is locked into doing what they said they would.

The party told me what they wanted to do and then I told them what the Brigands wanted to do.  PecklePickle, Oiax and Menetheren wanted to delete Torch.  Neit wanted to kneecap the guy who Menetheren had just healed with his staff. 

For their part, the Brigands did not have any weapons in their hands.  Torch put his thumbs together and fanned out his fingers toward PecklePickle and Menetheren.  One of the Brigands wanted to pummel Neit.  The other wanted to grapple Menetheren, and the final one wanted to run around the house to see where the arrows had come from.

It was time to roll for initiative.  The party rolled a 3.  The Brigands rolled a 3.  Oh crap, simultaneous initiative!  

[DM note:  Why does it always seem we have to do the hardest thing first in this campaign?  I'm still learning these rules, and I got a Monk and a stinking Psionic in my first party and now, the first combat I've ever run the initiative is TIED, with pummeling AND grappling!!!]

So we went to weapon speed, and I hope I got this right.  Everyone started on segment 3.  The Burning hands spell would go off in segment 5.  First PecklePickle got his dart attack then Oiax got his arrow (+1 to hit, being an elf).  Then the Burning Hands would go off.  Then the pummel, then the grapple, then Neit's staff, then PecklePickles' second dart, then Oiax's second arrow, then Menetheren's mace, and finally PecklePickle's third dart.  I think that's right?

Pman missed with his first dart as did Oiax with his first arrow.  The Burning Hands did 3 points damage to Menetheren and CX PecklePickle.  The pummeler missed with his attack, but the grappler got a bear-hug on Menetheren for 3 more hp!  Neit whiffed his staff strike, but PecklePickle's second dart landed home and brought the Magic User to zero points. Oiax's second arrow was already declared so he shot the downed man, and hit for max damage (6!) killing him deader than a hammer.  This caused a morale check which the remaining Bandits failed.  They turned their backs to run for the horses and were shot, maced and staffed down like it warn't no thing!  Oiax sadly informed the players that the Gravedigger had been dead when he arrived.

From the bodies 17 g.p. were looted in treasure.  Those inside the house had more, but it was all incinerated in the housefire!  Bwahahahaaaa!  Torch had a ring of spell-storing with three gems on it.  Two gems were still loaded with Burning Hands.  Torch's spell book contained Read Magic, Burning Hands, Feather Fall and Write.  Oiax's scroll was a spell scroll with one level 1 clerical spell on it. They wound up with 11 horses with saddle and tack.  They have decided to sell the horses in town.

XP for the Brigands:  416 xp

Brigand Gold Pieces:  17

Horse, Saddle and Tack:  1,793 gp 198 sp

Horse, Saddle and Tack XP:  1,802 xp

Total Brigand and gold XP:  433 (in AD&D 1e you get 1 xp for each gold piece in value that is brought back to society)

        Extra for Oiax only:  18 for assassinating the GraveDigger, 3 for the g.p.

        Extra for PecklePickle, who ended up with the ring of spell storing: 2,500 x.p.

Oiax's Scroll of Level 1 Clerical Spell (Cure Light Wounds):  100 x.p. to a cleric or 500 gp on the open market, and he did elect to sell it instead of giving it to Menetheren.

The party agreed to give Torch's Spell Book to Cigam.

Total XP:  2235

Total Wealth:  1810 gp, 198 sp

Also, it is the DM's job in 1e to grade how well each player played their class.  The ratings are as follows:  E - Excellent, S-Superior, F-Fair, P-Poor.  The average of the rank you receive during sessions impacts how long and expensive it is for you to train to the next level.

So here's the breakdown:

Caltrix CX PecklePickle (E): 3,058 XP (ring of spell storing: 2,500 XP!), 452 gp, 59 sp

Menetheren Arauglor (E): 559 XP, 452 gp, 60 sp

Niet Trieye (E): 559 XP, 452 gp, 60 sp

Oiax Lockdin (E): 1059 XP (sold the scroll), 452 gp, 59 sp

Downtime week 2 Part 2: Under the earth with the WereRats!

 Not sure how to do this.  Do you like it better when I narrate or just post the receipts from the discord?  That sounds lazy but may be more instructive.  We'll see.  I went open kimono on the last one.  I think I'll sum up here.  Understand that all of this is taking place in Oiax's private discord text channel.

Oiax spent his downtime using his rolled backup skill as a teamster and heard a rumor that the jeweler in town was expecting a shipment of silver ingots from the road to the Northwest, but it never showed up.

After nightfall Oiax decided to sneak out of town (remember the Palisade is closed fast against the Brigands) so he had to scale it and make his way down to spy on the Brigands.  When he got there he found that the Brigands had abandonded their camp and moved into the old shabby three story house that the Gravedigger kept on the edge of the Folton Cemetary.

Peering through the windows he saw the Gravedigger tied to a chair.  The Brigands were having fun feeding him with a spoon and making sure he drank as much Rum as they were.  I rolled percentile dice for him to move silently and hide in shadows.  He failed both and I sent him the following message:

dunder_moose — 04/17/2024 9:25 PM

Okay well I have some bad news.

You should stop talking in Tavern Chat because it's not clear whether you made it back last night.

So now we are playing by post back and forth as he gets spotted.  You know what?  I am just going to paste in the Discord dialog again.  Because it was good, and Oiax's player was HOOKED, and I don't want to try to rewrite some of the most dramatic descriptions and dialog.  This crap is happening in DOWNTIME people!!!!  Get your game on 1:1 Timekeeping's level!!!

[Start Discord Copying]

dunder_moose — 04/17/2024 9:27 PM

So as you were peering through the glass at the goings on inside, you heard a faint noise behind you.  Just a slight exhalation of breath.  What do you do?

Oiax Lockdin — 04/17/2024 9:28 PM

Slowly turn and look lol what else is there to do

dunder_moose — 04/17/2024 9:29 PM

Four men in leather armor are fanned out behind you.  Two of them have Daggers, and two have light crossbows.

The closest one whispers, "Give us one reason we should let you live, Brigand!"

Oiax Lockdin — 04/17/2024 9:37 PM

I have knowledge of a villager who is the leader of the uprising. They are upset that the knight hasn’t taken action against your forces. I was trying to help but considering your disposition towards that grave digger I was scared to simply knock.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/17/2024 9:48 PM

I was hoping you’d wish me to kill the villager to prove my worth to join your clan. That or coin, because being a teamster doesn’t provide the lifestyle I desire.

dunder_moose — 04/17/2024 9:52 PM

We are no Brigands fool!  Our friend was shut out when the Palisade was locked and now these Brigands have him!  And you’ve been working with them?  Choose your next words very carefully.

In his rage his nose twitches most disturbingly

Oiax Lockdin — 04/17/2024 9:58 PM

Oh thank the gods. Was that believable. Actually, I was casing the place for my plans tomorrow night. I was thinking of burning them out until I noticed the gravedigger was still alive. My friends can vouch for me. Except Niet, I don’t think he likes me much. But the rest do.

dunder_moose — 04/17/2024 10:02 PM

You’d better throw your weapons down and come with us.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/17/2024 10:06 PM

Sure, but we are on the same team. So could you hold on to my weapons until I’ve proven myself? I’d rather not donate them to the dead

dunder_moose — 04/17/2024 10:16 PM

They bind your hands and drag you to a tunnel, then down under the earth.  The leader has dropped to all fours.

[End Discord Paste for Now]

Alright at this point I need to interrupt and tell you what else I was doing.  I take yet another awesome page out of the #BrOSR playbook. Why trust myself to run the WereRat faction when I can reach out to a bro.  So I tagged in my buddy Sarrin61 from Trollopulous and asked if he had any idea why the WereRats were stealing bodies out of the cemetery.  And boy did he ever!!!

The next few minutes were a riot for me as I went back and forth between a captured player (who only rolled up 1 hit point mind you!) and a Rat Patron who was in it for himself and gleefully adding lore, and me, just playing jazz with all the pieces to fit them into my setting!

Long story short the commander of the rat people rides on the back of a Rat Ogre, and speaks through an ear trumpet snaking around under it's shoulder.  From the front it just looks and sounds like a very intelligent Rat Ogre.  AND he wanted it to bargain with Oiax, to capture something from the Folton Knight, and took a piece of his ear to hunt him down with if he doesn't deliver the item to the dungeon by the end of the month!  (man I am really trying to get them to the dungeon!)

We continue:

[Resume Discord Paste with Oiax]

dunder_moose — 04/18/2024 6:01 PM

A bag is placed over your head, and you are made to crawl through a dirt tunnel that you have been in before.

Though you cannot see it you come out in the nexus room.  You have been here before, but it's different this time.  There is a chair, and they guide you to it.  A stench fills your nostrils and the ground shakes.  The bag is pulled from your head and as your eyes try to adjust to the dark, you hear the breathing of an enormous creature in front of you.

It looks like a Rat and an Ogre had a baby.

Beyond all reason you hear it begin to speak.

dunder_moose — 04/18/2024 6:08 PM

"I'm very hungry.  Are you a meal, or could you be more?"

You can see the stitching of what are clearly different types of flesh, holding it together like some kind of Frankenstein's monster. The smell of its breath like that of an open grave.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/18/2024 6:12 PM

I’m told I taste fowl. But I do have a skill set that could be useful to you. It just depends if you need anyone dead.

dunder_moose — 04/18/2024 6:12 PM

An assassin?

Very interesting.

There is something in that clutch of human dwellings that festers on top of the hill that we want.  Something protected.

IT'S NOT THEIRS!!!

He pounds the ground and four pairs of hands catch you as the chair topples backwards.

(Crap!  I gotta go grill some burgers.  Just when this was getting good!)

Oiax Lockdin — 04/18/2024 6:21 PM

(OOC) lol aww man it was  getting good.

dunder_moose — 04/20/2024 5:07 PM

The Knight is in possession of a page of a certain book.  The one who torments us wants that page.

This forward observation post is no longer safe for us, thanks to your friends.  Can you bring the page to us in the ruined tomb in the forest to the North?  Can you be more than a meal?

Oiax Lockdin — 04/20/2024 5:16 PM

Friends, I don’t have any friends. But I can get this page if that’s what you desire. I saw something in the nightstand room that had unrecognizable writing in it. Why one one page?

Only*

dunder_moose — 04/20/2024 5:18 PM

Trust me, all you care about is getting it back.  But we are going to need a token to ensure your compliance.

{you hear a rustle of fabric behind you then a sharp pain in the top of your left ear.  A large chunk has been bitten out of it!!!}

{you hear the wet sound of it being spat into a jar.}

Now we can find you.  Wherever you run.  Whenever you flee.  If we don't have that page in thirty days, you were never going to be more than a meal.

The filthy canvas is pulled back over your head, making your ear burn as it scrapes over the fresh wound.  As they retreat down the tunnel before you, you hear one of them mutter, "He does.  He does taste fowl..."

It looks like you are own for getting your hands and feet untied to escape.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/20/2024 5:26 PM

F#$%ing ouch lol. Ok well I mean I’m going to try to escape for sure

dunder_moose — 04/20/2024 5:27 PM

Right on.  I need to go have dinner and then I'll figure out how long it takes you.  It's not chains or anything, just thin chords.

You might also need to save against disease.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/20/2024 5:29 PM

Ok, well you’re the dm man. I wouldn’t even know I had a disease unless I started feeling the effects

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:15 PM

It took you two hours to get your hands and feet loose and get the sack off your head.  You feel your way around a familiar room.  Circular, with a pounded earth floor.  there are 4, 3' diameter tunnels eating into the West wall (and one collapsed one if memory serves).  There is one 8' diameter tunnel in the East wall.  Aside from the chair, there is nothing else in this room.  It is dark and cold.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/21/2024 9:17 PM

Well, I’ve beer there before, so I can find my way out to my home correct?

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:18 PM

You know the far left tunnel in the West wall will eventually lead to Digger Ced's basement.  The others lead to empty coffins.  You are not sure where the big tunnell leads.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/21/2024 9:19 PM

Well I’m not venturing of on my lonesome in this state I head back to my home.

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:21 PM

Your best bet is to follow the tunnel to the basement.  You recall having dug down into that one and it will let you get to the surface.

It's terrifying and claustrophobic.  Your nerves are already shot from encountering that giant whatever it was.

You are crawling on your belly up an incline in the dark, with little cascades of dirt on your head and back as you go.

But at least this time you aren't breathing through that hoodwink

Oiax Lockdin — 04/21/2024 9:24 PM

Yeah, I’m traumatized as all get out lol.

I’m headed to my house if possible

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:26 PM

The tunnel evens out and your breath catches as you see a tiny sliver of moonlight impossibly far ahead.  Keep pushing, keep crawling.  One elbow in front of the other.  Your ear is burning and  you can feel it throb with each heartbeat.

Nostrils filled with the smell of earth, teeth gritting on the  iron rich grave dirt.

You want to rest, but you can't sit up, can't stretch your arms out.  A thought occurs to you.  These were one-use tunnels.  How long can they hold up?

You remember stamping down mole tunnels with your heel in your yard back home.  Back home at the end of the tunnel and the top of the hill.  So easy, just a heel down, and a little weight and the raised earth just crumped down filling the void.

How easy would it be for this tunnel, with all the weight of six feet of earth above you to just crump down while you are still only a quarter of the way to that thin ray of moonlight impossibly far away.  Just one little crump and you'd be stuck...

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:33 PM

You hear your ragged breath come quicker, feel a slight vocalization with each exertion

Oiax Lockdin — 04/21/2024 9:36 PM

I’m getting out to hell with those masks monstrosities, I’m going to live!

(OOC) Damn man stupid autocorrect put masks in that sentence

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:37 PM

There's a cold fire in your stomach. Something alien and aloof as the stars

Something as primal as the first elves walking the molten earth in the moments after creation

You may die.

But not today.

Some horrible creature may yet end you.

But not these Rat things!

Oiax Lockdin — 04/21/2024 9:38 PM

F#$kin f#$k my f#$kers I got me one of them that there disease

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:40 PM

You surf the wave of alien pride and aloof rage that only the Elves know.  You are better than them.  It does not end here at the hands of some short-lived vermin.  You have centuries!

One elbow in front of the other.  Teeth gritted.  Surfing a wave of defiance you crawl.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/21/2024 9:42 PM

OOC, bro I do not care how this ends. You’re a great DM. I’m like a child again lol. Anyway, back to gameplay.

I’m going to live my ass off

lol

dunder_moose — 04/21/2024 9:42 PM

They picked the wrong elf.

You are not sure how long the time was.

The rage has died down.  The fear has died down.  All that is left is exhaustion.

But the hole is above you.  And you stand.  And you rise.

[End Oiax Discord Paste]

In the meantime, Neit the Lawful Good Monk was disturbed that Oiax had not returned and was worried that he may be up to no good.  He went to Oiax's house, followed boot tracks in the dirt and even found some scratches along the palisade where Oiax had climbed over.  While he was pondering the climb and making ready, he heard someone climbing back over.  Oiax gained the top, but collapsed on the way down and Neit caught him, covered in dirt and crusted blood down one side of his head.

The next day, while Oiax was recovering, Menetheren (Dwarf Cleric) had been asking around at the Temple of Aslan and had learned about the Knight's behavior.  The only rumor he got about the Knight's behavior is that the previous Knight started acting that way just before he went mad.  The previous Knight was a devout man and spent much time in the Temple of Aslan.  But there was one priest he met with toward the end.  That priest is no longer at the Temple, Brother Glastonbery.

Menetheren asked the Abbot about Brother Glastonbery and learned that BG fell out of favor with the previous Knight, and left of his own accord, rather than bring enmity down on the whole Temple.  His effects were bundled up and stored in the Scriptorium.

Neit joined Menetheren at the Scriptorium and told him about memories that were interfering with his meditaion, of old children's stories of men who could turn into beasts, and with their bites make others as they are.  He is worried about Oiax that he may have been bitten and so could be vulnerable to such an affliction, but he had a memory that Belladonna could help.

Looking through the scritporium they found a bundle of belongings marked "Br. Glastonbery"

In it were a pair of leather gloves, a simple braided leather belt, and various letters received from the Abbot and the Mad Knight.  There is a diary, but it is not in Glastonbery's tight clean handwriting.  The writing matches the large, fevered script of the previous Knight.

Here is the diary of the Knight's predecessor.  They don't know how Glastonbery came to posess it, nor why he left it behind when he fled:

‘October 15: Found an interesting-looking book in the scriptorium today. I asked the abbot if he would let me study it here, and he said yes. It appears to be in a strange language, and it may deal with magic.’

‘November 28: I must find time to study that new book; I fear my lack of training in languages will hinder me.’

‘January 21: I have been trying to unlock the cipher of this strange book. Having exhausted my supply of cryptographic manuals, I am sending to Bradenton for more. The writing looks as though it could be translated. That is, it is suggestive of some meaning.’

‘February 3: The new books are no help. I am going to give up trying to interpret this piece of nonsense. It has taken up far too much of my time. After all, it may be in a language I do not know. But then, why does it seem so meaningful?’

‘February 17: I will give this damnable book one last try. To the devils with all manuals! I should be able to solve it with my native wits.’

‘February 18: I stayed here all night, and toward morning, when the letters were twisting and squirming before my eyes, I found that the first two lines made sense. Laudate Leoninum! All that is required, it seems, is concentration. It seems to be the beginning of an incantation of some sort. This has been a bitter winter. Wolves were howling last night in a grove of trees to the North. I could see their eyes as I stood in my window.’

‘February 20: I have asked Brother Glastonbery to excuse me from prayers for a few days, so that I might finish something that will, I am sure, be for the greater glory of Aslan. He consented but reluctantly, and made a needlessly unpleasant remark about my haggard appearance. He has not wrestled with Powers and Principalities.’

‘March 13: It has taken incredible concentration, but I have finished the first incantation. I assume it to be complete, since the next line is indented and begins with an ornamental capital. Tonight, I will try the spell and see what it brings.’

‘March 14: At first, I was horribly disappointed. I chanted the words, but nothing happened. However, I soon came to see that one has to want something specific to happen. I decided that the best thing would be to close my eyes and see what image formed. I saw many things, but one picture kept recurring, the snowy field outside my window, and in the middle of it, one gray wolf. (No doubt this was the result of what I mentioned in my note of February 18.) I chanted the words again and went to my window. It was ten o’clock at night, a three-quarter-full moon was in the sky, and in the snow, I saw a wolf staring up at me. In that instant, I realized that I had made him, and that I could keep him there only by intense concentration. The moment my brain began to grow tired, the wolf began to shimmer and fade into the snow. When I ran outside, I saw that the creature had left tracks. I have done what Tiresias, Simon Magus, Arbaces, and all the sibyls could not do.’

‘March 15: The wolf will not obey my commands, though I can hold him here for upwards of an hour. I must read more. Brother Glastonbery will not allow me to have my meals brought here. I spoke to him sharply, and he accused me of experimenting with black magic. I said that he spoke without knowledge, and quoted the Narnian Chronicles to him. He stared at me in wonder and, I think, in fear. I expected him to ask me to kneel and beg forgiveness, but he hurried away.’

‘March 17: More success with the control of the wolf. I have translated three whole paragraphs now. The intense study is affecting my nerves. I constantly think that someone is plucking at my sleeve. When I turn around, there is no one there. And last night I dreamed that something dead lay alongside me in my bed. I woke up in terror and thought I heard something strike the floor. When I went to the window, I saw the wolf. He had come unbidden; I do not know why.’

‘March 20: Quarreled with Brother Glastonbery again today. It seems very strange that he is opposed to what I am doing. Now that we speak of witchcraft, I wonder who his master is?’

‘March 28: I cannot get beyond the third paragraph. Could it be that the rest of the book is untranslatable? I lack will power. Told Brother Glastonbery that I would not obey his evil command. He has fled the abbey in disgrace.’

‘April 7: It seems that the next paragraph is not an incantation at all, but a set of directives. Prerequisites for further action. I cannot believe that such demands need to be met, so I will simply continue to the next spell.’

‘April 23: The words have fought me fiercely, but I am ready now. I think the “instructions” were interpolated by a madman.’

[Note: The next entry,the last one, has no date. The original page from the diary was torn out, crumpled, and thrown into the fire. Someone rescued it and stuck it back into the book, but the date was burned away.]  

‘I have smashed my bottles and retorts, and I have given the book to an old fisherman—a foreigner, but a good man—who promised me that he would drop it into the deepest part of the sea. How can I tell what has happened? I spoke the words I had learned, and suddenly the whole room began to waver and drift like smoke. I felt as if I could put my hand through the table and the walls. I saw everything as through murky water. The floor pitched like a deck, but with difficulty I got to the window. The wolf was out there on the grass, closer than ever before, but beside him was a man in a monk’s robe. The cowl was thrown back, but I could not see his features through the shimmering air. Then his face grew impossibly large and came near, and I saw that it was mine—my face as it might be after a year in the grave. A voice, a dry insect voice, harsh and cracked, whispered, “Give me the book.” I clutched the book to my chest and fell down to the floor, which was now like smoking, bubbling water. I could see through to the ground and there was no roof above me, and I was sinking with that awful rotted face hovering over me. I tried to destroy the book, but I only was able to rip out a single page before I fainted, and when I awoke, the solid stone floor of my study was under me again. The book was there in my arms. What I did with it I have written above, and I swear to Aslan that what I have written is true. The abbot has forgiven me, but word of my actions has reached the Baronet, and I’m worried he will be sending an army to take me back to the capital in chains. I will take up my studies again when I feel able to.’

[DM Note: the well-read and astute among you will recognize this as the diary from the Appendix N book, The Face In the Frost by Bellairs.  I simply edited certain parts of the text to fit what has been developing in this setting already and keep the mystery going.  Shamelessly lifting from Appendix N is also a #WinningSecret of the #BrOSR!]

So here you have it!!!  Have you got BrOSR Bingo yet?  We have 1:1 Downtime Actions, we have Patron Play, we have Appendix N!  Do you see how it all comes together so easily and seamlessly?

Thank You Jeffro!  You have turned this bored, frustrated, harried, no-time DM around and now I'm not only playing, but RUNNING the most electrifying D&D ever.

So now you are all caught up!  I can hit you with Session 2 wherein the players decide to deal with those durned Brigands!  AND Session 3, that had two totally new players in the same campaign!  Stay tuned!

Downtime Week 2 part 1: An invitation to dinner!

Well things really took off in downtime this week!  Is this the kind of thing I can expect using 1:1 time?

Okay so let me catch you up.

Sunday, April 14, 2024

The PC's receive an invitation addressed:  "To the Conscientious band who warned us of strange doings in the Graveyard" inviting them to dinner with the Knight's Son at 4:00 PM.

The plan is that the Knight's Son is in Dutch with his Dad for a hasty response.  He cannot himself go parlay with the Brigands, nor send guards without risking open hostilities.  He is asking the party to go parlay and offer the Brigands 1,000 GP to forgive the slight.

[DM Note:  Here was my plan:  If they accept and survive the reaction role, they will be told that more needs to be done in addition to the money for there to be amends.  They need to accompany the Brigands to find out what went wrong with a robbery to the NW and help locate a Patrol that has not returned. (This should, finally lead them to the Dungeon for our next session).  Spoiler alert, this is not at all what happened.  See Upcoming Session 2]

Everyone but Neit the Monk, accepted the invite.

Menetheren posted this:  "I'll accept. But, I go in very trepidatiously. Not knowing much about the son, I am concerned about his agenda.

What do we know of the nature of the Knight being I disposed? It seems rather a coincidence that this time he's indisposed with so many things happening at once. Do we know the nature of this disposition?

[DM Note:  My first inclination was to tell him, oh he was just using the bathroom.  But then I bit my tongue!  IF your players are interested in a mystery you LEAN INTO IT!!!  YES!  What IS going on with that Knight afterall?  These are the kinds of pivot you can make when the story is not all planned out ahead of you.  This is one of the true powers of #LowPrep #NoPrep.  You are free to follow player interest wherever it goes.]

I responded thusly:  "Word on the street is that the Knight has been disappearing into his study for hours at a time.  It has been noted that in long meetings adjudicating the affairs of the hamlet, his eyes wander to the hallway that leads to that room."

I am going against my instincts here.  I would write a summary up all punchy and witty, but because I want you all to know how 1:1 Downtime stuff works for us, I'm just going to copy and paste the interaction straight out of Discord. As DM, I just set up a separate Text Channel called #dinner-with-the-knight and made it private, but invited everyone who accepted the invitation.  Here is how it played out:

[Begin Discord Paste]

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 5:53 PM

Dinner started with a tour of the Manse.  It was all very interesting to your eyes.  The Knight was in his study, apparently not to be disturbed, so the Son hurried you past that hallway.  Menetheren noticed the air was a little colder in this hallway.  Finally you made it to the banquet room and began the feast.

After a couple pints of ale, the Knight's Son (what should we name this guy?) displayed a change in demeanor.  Whereas his previous bearing had been dignified and stoic, as the alcohol worked his shoulders hunched and his eyes started to dart.

After a while he got to the heart of the matter.  He had acted rashly when he saw the Brigands.  He never understood why his Father tolerates them in the first place.

He locked the Palisade against the patrol and sent a messenger to the Baronet Du Ropp.  He feels that the second thing was worse than the first in his Father's eyes.

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:00 PM

He is waiting until the messenger returns, but when it does, he has a job for you.

He cannot approach the Brigands or send one of the guards for fear it would be taken as aggression.  You have proved that you are courageous, and you care for the wellbeing of Folton on the Hill.

He needs your help to undo the damage he caused and reinstate the fragile equilibrium that his Father had maintained between the Baronet and these Brigands.

Leroy stonebraker — 04/14/2024 6:03 PM

Leroy would totally offer his help in any way that he can.

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:03 PM

If he gets the green light, he would like to send your group to parlay with the Brigands.

Upon the return of the messenger, he wants you to bring a generous tribute of 1000 GP to the Brigands and smooth things over.

If you are successful in turning away their wrath, he will reward the party with 600 GP.

If you are unsuccessful, he suggests you could still earn a reward down the road in helping to defend against the Brigand's might.

Leroy stonebraker — 04/14/2024 6:06 PM

Is he the one giving us the 1,000 gold pieces?

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:06 PM

It would come from the Knight, depending on what news the messenger returns with.  The messenger is expected back tomorrow.

Leroy stonebraker — 04/14/2024 6:07 PM

Cool

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:07 PM

"Can I count on you to help me undo this rash mistake?  To re-win the esteem of my Father, the Knight?"

Leroy stonebraker — 04/14/2024 6:07 PM

Because Leroy does not have that kind of gold

Leroy is it I'm sure Cigam will too but XXXXX is at youth group

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:08 PM

No worries.

Cx PecklePickle — 04/14/2024 6:10 PM

Cx to the Son, with dreams of chaos glimmering in his eyes : “with all due respect, Ser, what made you change your course of action? Personally I was excited someone finally had a backbone around here.”

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:12 PM

"Alas good Prestidigitator, I am not yet the Knight.  I have designs on this region, and it rankles having to wait on the overconcern of the aged, but for all that, I am still a loyal Son."

"It would help, however, if we knew the full strength of the Brigands, and the exact location of their hideaway.  Such an excursion would have to go over the wall by night however, as the Palisade shall remain shut fast until this dreadful business is concluded."

"Now if someone asked you to do that, it certainly wouldn't be me.  I only mention that it might be helpful if someone did."

Leroy stonebraker — 04/14/2024 6:20 PM

Oh sir I totally thought that this was a scouting mission to see how strong everything is to see how best we can remove the briggins problem

Was that two persumptuous of this lowly dwarf

I know you can't fool out and say things like that and I took Liberty at reading between the lines my apologies sir if I read the wrong language

Common is not my first language

Oiax Lockdin — 04/14/2024 6:36 PM

Considering the entire town doesn’t possess the capability of taking on these thugs and you’ve already angered them, I believe we’d need more than 600gp. They are already upset and could decide to be hostile immediately. I think we should get 500gp up front then 500gp after the mission is accomplished.

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:45 PM

What's your Charisma bonus again @Oiax Lockdin ? 

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:53 PM

How come I picture him cleaning a nail with a dagger while he asks this?

Menetheren Agaulor — 04/14/2024 6:54 PM

I will also agree that we should deliver your 1,000gp to the camp. I need to see the layout, number of forces, weak points, surrounding area, etc. There's, unfortunately, only one way this comes to an end.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/14/2024 6:54 PM

I’ve got a 15 charisma. I don’t have my character sheet on hand though.

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:54 PM

np

You have +15% reaction adjustment

Oiax Lockdin — 04/14/2024 6:55 PM

Totally doing this lol

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 6:57 PM

You were met with uncertainty at first, but after mulling it for a bit, the Knight's Son just shrugs.

"Prove yourself faithful in this little bit, and you will earn more.  Prove yourselves unfaithful and even what you have will be taken away."  He slides a pouch of 100 GP across the table.  "600 more for success."

(For the record, your reaction check  rolled 56, uncertain but 55% inclined toward favorable.  The follow up was a 16)

Very similar to the Gravedigger.  Who would have thought the Murdering Kife-Eared Son of a Gun would be the party face?

Oiax Lockdin — 04/14/2024 7:03 PM

lol right.

Leroy stonebraker — 04/14/2024 7:05 PM

Way to go that was well done

dunder_moose — 04/14/2024 7:06 PM

It's all about simpin' for those reaction rolls.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/14/2024 7:19 PM

Thank you

I shall distribute the 100 gold equally if no one protest after our dinner.

Menetheren Agaulor — 04/14/2024 7:21 PM

Did I notice the cold in the hallway to be unnatural? Did it seem normal for this time of year if fires weren't lit in rooms?

dunder_moose — 04/15/2024 12:53 PM

At just about the end of the dinner, the Knight himself swept into the room, and glared about the table.

“These are my friends.” Responds the Son eagerly. “They are going to help me smooth things over with the Brigands.”

“Welcome.” The Knight says courteously.  “I need a word with my son, I trust you can find your way out.”

As you take your leave the servants shut the doors to the banquet hall.

Menetheren Agaulor — 04/15/2024 2:15 PM

Did the Knight look anxious at all, or upset in any way? As we walk out, if we are seeing ourselves out, I would like to take a quick detour down that hallway that felt cold to me. I know I don't have much time, but I need more information.

Leroy stonebraker — 04/15/2024 5:25 PM

Leroy would like to cover for his Dwarven brother by grabbing a dessert to go and filling up his water skin with that Royal wine and accidentally makes a mess of it while his brother finds his way to where he's wanting to go.

Oiax Lockdin — 04/15/2024 5:26 PM

I’m for sure sneaking into that hallway now

Leroy stonebraker — 04/15/2024 5:27 PM

I will totally ham it up and look like a fool saying oh I'm sorry my Lord I had too much to drink Royal wine is too strong for my Dwarven fortitude

Stopping my face with desserts and whatever else I can find to eat

Pausing slightly to wink at my party to do what they're doing

Cx PecklePickle — 04/15/2024 5:29 PM

I would like to attempt to pocket any pickles from the dinner table if there are any. 

Oiax Lockdin — 04/15/2024 5:40 PM

Lmao bro don’t you have enough of your own pickles at home.

Leroy stonebraker — 04/15/2024 6:10 PM

Cigam wanted to know if the night's face matches the face of the night in his nightmares he's been having

dunder_moose — 04/15/2024 10:41 PM

Okay sheesh

Here’s what happened.  Pickles acquired.  Cigam sees a painting in the hallway that deeply unsettles him

Menetheren and Oiax make it down the hallway to the study, but thanks to Leroy’s buffoonery, they only get a moment to peek into the study before servants are summoned to clean the mess and usher you all out.

[End Discord Paste]

So, that was what happened on the Private Knight's Dinner Channel.  But because I'm committed to pulling back the curtain a bit for you on how this works I will admit that I was also passing information to each person as they noticed stuff in their private character channels so they could choose whether to share with the group or not.

For example:  Cigam has been having nightmares where he sees a Knight screaming, when the Knight's visor raises, he has unreadable runes scrawled all over his face.  When he was in the hallway he saw the same Knight from his dream on a painting.  It was the previous Knight who had been removed from power due to going mad.

This is a weird dynamic for a group used to playing 5e.  In my experience, 5e parties tend to be like the crew of the Starship Enterprise, where everyone is there for each episode and they work together and never against each other unless there is some weird power influencing them.  In 1e there are little tests that show up where a player has to decide to benefit the group or themself, and you can feel the lingering threat of PVP.  I know I just lost some of you with that.  Would you believe me if I said this makes the game more interesting?

Also, some players will make better use of their downtime.  For example while some were just meditating or earning some coin, Menetheren used his downtime to earn money at the Temple of Aslan serving as a cleric, but he was also using confessional and other means to gather intelligence on the area.  He learned that the Brigands call themselves the Dreadnaughties and they inhabit a castle in the everglades to the southwest.  Their leader is a mysterious man named Fartan who is never seen in the daylight hours (They are totally the Dreadnoks from G. I. Joe).

Here is a sample downtime message that I sent to Oiax's player:

    Downtime Update!

    Oiax worked loading carts as a teamster this week and had work on 4 of the days earning 20 sp

    Oiax was unsuccessful in locating poison this week, or contacting anyone who knew the Brigands.          But from working with the teamsters he did find out that the town Jeweler was expecting a shipment     of silver bars from the road to the Northwest, but it never showed up.

But Back to the Knight's Dinner!  In this case I only sent messages to Menetheren and Oiax telling them what they saw, since they were the only two investigating the Knight's study:  

    You did not get time to search the study.  Just enough for a peek

    What you saw on the Knight’s desk was a scrap of paper, perhaps torn from a book.  The writing was     unreadable, like no writing you’d ever seen.

    To the right of it was an open diary with an inkwell and quill.

I really am enjoying this approach.  It allows me to dribble out clues to what is really going on one by one to individual players.  And they get the joy of discovery when they talk to each other and start putting the pieces together.  Major Host A Murder vibes.

There is more that happened this week in downtime!  Stay tuned for part 2, where Oiax goes it alone and stuff gets REALLY crazy!!!

AD&D 1e Downtime, Week 1

 Hear ye, Hear ye!!!

I collected all the players downtime activities this week on Discord, having given each player a private channel.  Some wanted to research leads on rumors, some wanted to collect spell components, most just wanted to work.  I figured out how much they earned using the Hirelings Rules from the DMG.  The Cleric was a tough one because cleric isn't listed as either a standard hireling or an expert.  I went to the Cleric Rules in the PHB and figured out how much revenue a name level cleric would gather from his congregation per month (9 sp per resident for 9th level and above).  I backed it off a little for a lower level cleric and multiplied by the population of my Hamlet (which I rolled up randomly following Appendix B when I created the region.)  So I knew how much the temple was raking in a month, and then I took ten percent of that as a love gift that the congregation of Aslan's temple would pay Menetheren for ministering to them this week.

Then I went through and determined how successful they were in their other endeavors.  I communicated each of these in those private channels, letting the players know they could share the info or not with the other players in the Tavern channel.

On the General Channel I shared the big event that happened this week.  There is a group of Brigands somewhere to the Southeast (Menetheren knows where) who sent a patrol to collect their protection money like every other month.  However this month I rolled a Reaction Check (DMG p63) and it came up low.  21 - Hostile, Immediate Action!!!  So I figured the Knight was actually using the bathroom or something when the brigands were spotted.  His son saw them coming and ordered the Palisade closed off.  The Brigands were denied entrance!!!  They sent a messenger back to their base while the remaining Serjeant and 10 riders have camped threateningly at the bottom of Folton Hill.

It will be difficult for the PCs to get in or out now.

And they have reasons to want to get out.  (Most have been shared privately and not yet disseminated)

When the month is up they will each need to pay 100 gp per level for upkeep and taxes and whatnot, and the money just ain't that good in town.  There's a reason they became adventurers in the first place.

I gotta say, even for a face to face group, Discord is really handy for running all this stuff.  I am using Blogger for these session reports, and I have just recently started using Obsidian for campaign notes.

That is all for now.

AD&D 1e Session 1!

Previous ACKS campaign on indefinite hiatus.  My fellow church dadbros just don't play often enough to keep 1:1 time going.  

In the meantime, I started playing with the #BrOSR in Trollopulous online.  I started a YouTube Channel. (Subscribe for D&D goodness!) I craved the madness of DMming a 1:1 time, AD&D1e campaign face to face.  And thus, this campaign is born.  I'm not ready.  I'm still learning 1e.  But it was time to invite people and nail down a start date.  I invited people from church and work to come to my house Saturday, April 5, ready or not.  Nothing is started when you are ready.  You pick up your shield and your sword and you ready up on the way...

 Many were invited, 10 accepted.  2 canceled, and 2 ghosted.

DM Prep:  

I read a book from Appendix N:  The Face in the Frost.  I also listened to "The Graveyard Rats" by Henry Kuttner on the way down to Spring Break.  One had a creepy story where rat creatures were stealing bodies out of their coffins.

I created a region map with 1-mile hexes, created and populated through the Appendix B of the DMG.  I should make a video on this stuff.  I found the likeliest starting hex, a Hamlet of 269 people called Folton on the Hill. That name was generated from the Sandbox Generator by Atelier Clandestine.  I should make a video on that too.  I should make an affiliate account on DriveThru and link to that in the show notes of my video.  One day this hobby will pay me back daggonit!

I prepped level one of a starter dungeon in the Icky Woods one hex to the North  

I prepped some rumors: 

• Gerrold the Ropemaker swears he saw his wife (who died last week) dancing at the edge of the Icky Woods to the North.
• There are a group of Brigands who are coming some time this week to exact Tribute from the Knight who rules Folton on the Hill.
• The temperature has been unseasonably cold for this time of year and people are hearing noises in the night.  Animals are stillborn or worse, one sheep was born with two faces.  The windows display bearded faces looking down as if reading when they frost over.
• The current Knight has only ruled for the last year as his predecessor went mad and had to be relieved of command.

The Session:

The session began at 9:00 AM on Saturday, April 6 and went until 2:00 PM.

Char-Gen:

Steven, Aaron, Tim, Tyler, Ethan and Dan were present and rolled up their characters:

We used Method III:  Roll 3d6 six times and take the best roll.  Straight through STR to CHA in order.

I warned them that Monks were rare.  Tyler immediately announced his rolls qualified for a Monk.  This was a taste of things to come.  

As Ethan was rolling for spells I told him:  "You start with read magic and must roll for each category.  Offensive, Defensive and Utility.  This is not like 5e, you don't get to choose."

He rolled a 10.

"Okay for this category you DO get to choose."

He opted for Magic Missile.

Steven had high INT and Dex and announced he was playing a Gnome Illusionist!  These are also rare but my first 1e character was a Gnome Thief/Illusionist so I was glad I would at least know how one of the PCs would work.  He rolled up Audible Glamour AND Phantasmal Forces!!!  As a player I know the glee of seeing Phantasmal Forces show up.  As a DM I now know the dread of seeing a player roll that.

It gets worse.

We are at the final stage.  I tell them, "Okay so some of you have the INT, WIS or CHA to possibly be Psionic.  I'm hoping nobody is because I haven't even LOOKED AT those rules.  Don't get your hopes up.  With your scores you would need to roll a perfect 100."

Ethan was the first to roll and rolled a perfect 100.

a perfect...100...

There's a certain feeling that's studied in the practice of Positive Psychology.  It's been dubbed "Fiero."  It's the feeling you get when you overcome a difficult challenge, or score the winning goal in a game, or beat the Raid Boss in a video game.  The physical gesture that accompanies it is almost universal.  The hands squeeze into fists and are thrust straight up into the air as high as they will go.

Ethan displayed Fiero.

As a DM I realized how I could see one of my players feel a strong emotion, while I myself felt its equally powerful opposite.  So, we spent more time trying to figure out the Psionic rules...

Thankfully, nobody else rolled as Psionic.  So, at about noon, here is your roster:

• Citrix "CX" PecklePickle lvl 1 Gnome Illusionist.  He rolled Phantasmal Forces AND Audible Glamour as starting spells, because of course he did. He purchased a pigeon and a songbird.  I think he wants to train the pigeon.
• Oiax (pronounced Oh-ex) lvl 1 Elf Assassin.  He rolled 1 on his starting HP.
• Men'theren Agaulor (of the Stonebreaker clan) lvl 1 Dwarf Cleric
• Niet Treye lvl 1 Human Monk
• Cigam lvl 1 Elf Magic User, Psionic because of course he rolled a 100.
• Leroy Stonebreaker lvl 1 Dwarf Fighter

The Gameplay:

Once characters had been created and supplies purchased, the party was interested in speaking with Gerrold the Ropemaker about his wife.  They arrived at his house, noting the long yard with ropemaking equipment.

 They remembered Gerrold as one of those high-strung people who yells a lot when trying to accomplish something as if he can only relax when it's done, but he's subdued today.  He invites them in, the house is a mess, but there's plenty of food from the well-wishers who are looking out for him in his time of bereavement.  Over dinner he tells them that nobody will believe him, but he knows it wasn't some other woman he saw dancing on the edge of the forest because she was wearing the same thing she was buried in.

The PCs ask if he's visited the cemetery and he affirms he has, but that her grave looks undisturbed.  They set out to check it out, but he tells them he doesn't feel like he could go with.  Leaving the palisade, they make their way down the hill and arrive at the Folton Cemetery at the bottom of the hill, where the ground levels out.  They go to her plot and sure enough, the mounded earth looks fresh, but undisturbed.

Oiax the Elf Assassin promptly suggests digging her up to see if she's still there.  He may also have valuables on his mind, but if so, gives no mention of this notion.

Neit the Monk asserts that that would be unlawful and is a highly inappropriate suggestion.  Oiax then agrees and suggests the party split up to investigate further, whereupon Neit tells Oiax that now that he has indicated a willingness to exhume her, he cannot be trusted to leave alone.  Cigam decides to run back up the hill for a shovel and Men'theren stamps the earth trusting to his Dwarvish terran sensibilities.  To the untrained ear he appears to be just another angry dwarf stomping around in the grass, but his educated ear hears the slight change in tambor of his footfall to indicate a tunnel about six feet beneath the surface running northward from her grave.

Cigam returns, out of breath, with a shovel and they decide to dig over the tunnel 30 feet North instead of straight into her grave.  The tunnel is six feet down, but only 3 ft in diameter.  A rope is tied to CX's waist and he walks the tunnel Southward, almost upright, only having to stoop with his bullseye lantern.  The tunnel walls look scratched and chewed, but when he gets to the coffin, the side facing him has been broken into as if with tools.  The pine box smells of death, but it is empty save for a pair of shoes.  The lantern light picks up a long slim gleam in the box and CX freezes.  The player knows that Gnomes can speak to burrowing animals, so he attempts to communicate.  "Squeaky, sqeuaka-sqeakums" he says, quite reasonably.  Even though I have used this ability, I have never heard it verbalized.  This, of course, is how it has always sounded, and will do forevermore.

There is no response in the dark.  He retrieves the item, and it feels like a whisker the length of his forearm.  He retrieves one of the shoes and makes his way back North to the opening. 

As they lift CX out, the party spots Digger Ced walking toward them, shovel on his shoulder.  He would like to know what they are doing, and informs them that if there's any digging to be done in this yard it'll be done by him, and he ain't looking for no apprentices!  Men'theren tells him he has a big problem, that a body has been removed from its coffin and there are tunnels under his property.  There may be more missing.  Ced gets nervous and offers them money not to tell anyone.

Neit finds this suspiciously like a bribe and asks why he should do such a thing.  Ced announces that people paid him to bury their kin, and if they ain't buried folk'll want their money back and he done spent most of it.

Oiax explains he understands completely and talks Ced up to 10 GP for silence.  Everyone is happy about this except Neit who does not take a cut in the proceeds.  Oiax shakes on the deal, but CX just gives Ced a little, light tickle on the ribs.  (DM Insert here.  I had no idea what this was or how to respond, but Men'theren's player asked me, "haven't you heard of  the Pecklepickle Tickle?)  Apparently, Gnomes in his family seal the deal that way. (weird)

Men'threm tells Ced that they won't tell anyone, but he needs to tell the Knight because something weird is going on, and they give him the shoe.  Digger Ced's eyes dart left and right, and he licks his teeth, but eventually agrees to go tell the Knight.  He admits he has been hearing gnawing noises in the night while he sleeps.  

Men'threm does his stompy thing again while Digger Ced goes up the hill to tell the Knight and finds that the other graves do indeed have tunnels, and there's one that leads to Ced's house.  They dig down into it and find that the tunnel has breached the fieldstone foundation wall of Ced's basement, but it narrows to only a foot and a half and there is a cabinet or bookcase or something in the way, so if anything got in it was small, or perhaps it only just broke through.

The whole party went into the tunnel North of the grave and worked their way through the tunnel until it tilted downward.  After a few more feet it emptied out into an underground hub with 6 feet of clearance and openings from multiple tunnels.  For encounters I rolled a 1, so they came across 10 very large rats.  The rats got one segment of surprise.  The front row of three charged the PC's and one bit Men'thren for 5 hp.  In the second row four rats stood up, they were holding short swords.  Men'theren (wisely) shouted, "We need to go!"

(DM insert here.  Players, do NOT read this part!  This was a rookie goof on my part.  I knew I wanted these creatures, [you have probably already guessed what they are] but I hadn't read their stat block fully.  They can only be harmed by magical weapons.  Compounding this issue, I had rolled for numbers based on the Monster Manual entry (4d6!) instead of a dungeon encounter.  Suffice it to say, after spending 3 hours on getting everyone's character created, I had set them up for a very quick TPK!  On the Dungeon table, these things shouldn't show up until Level 3, and only one of them at that.)

"Squeak squeakums squeakity squeak" said CX, nonchalantly.  I rolled a reaction with his bonus, and it came up Uncertain with 55% chance toward favorable.  That came up 23, so the rats sat up and sniffed the air at them.  Men'theren cast Cure on himself for 1 hit point.  Everyone piled back into the tunnel and Leroy hit the top with his axe so it caved in behind them.

The Gnome read the description.  He knew that he could Speak with Burrowing Creatures.  And he totally saved everyone's bacon.  Gnomes are OP y'all!

The party decided to reconvene at town and discuss what had happened.

Surprisingly, No deaths!

XP:  10 XP for the Gold Extorted from Digger Ced.

Treasure: 10 GP

Everyone gets 2 xp and 2 gp except Neit who gets nothing but the satisfaction of knowing he is walking the lawful good path.