Dyson’s Delve - Session 15

The group has been depleted and it’s time to roll up a few new characters, in the hopes that they can survive long enough to level up rapidly from the increased treasure in deeper levels of the dungeon.

Characters

I’m continuing to use the same procedure as before. (Some affiliate links below.)

3d6 in order, but one pair may be swapped
Maximum HP at first level
Any class from Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised or Swords & Wizardry Book of Options (affiliate links) are allowed, although I’ll prefer classes that progress a little more quickly
Generally speaking, “alternate” classes usually only get selected if their higher Prime Requisite are matched
Downtime activities from Downtime in Zyan
Some monster descriptions from The Monster Overhaul

Therefore, the roster is now:

Chuckles (he) the human barbarian (level 3), equipped with leather armor +1, war hammer +2, and 2x spears
Krimkol (he) the dwarven priest (level 3), equipped with plate armor, shield, and a battle axe +1
Parouz (she), the elfblade (level 3), equipped with chain armor, long sword +1 / +3 vs. casters, and boots of levitation
Shyup (he) the human fighter (level 1), equipped with plate armor, shield, and a long sword (thanks to Chuckles’ largesse)
Maple (she) the human thief (level 2), equipped with leather armor, a short sword, and a short bow

Due to the manner of Khnar’s death, the group has not recovered his magic equipment (although I will say that it’s available if they get up there and no one else has looted it).

Downtime: Chuckles

At this point, he’s just got a habit he needs to feed, I think: a party habit! That said, while he spends 600 GP and gets an equivalent amount of XP, he also lets slip a secret about the manner of death of Khnar, which may lead to other adventurers trying to go find his remains and equipment.

That’s enough for him to reach 4th level as a Barbarian, gaining 2 HP, +1 to hit, and some other minor improvements.

Downtime: Krimkol

Our warlike dwarven priest continues his martial training, keeping in form by sparring with Parouz. Surprinsgly, he finds himself a little rusty and will have a temporary bonus of +1 AC (melee).

Prior to the delve, Krimkol prepares two cleric spells: detect evil and protection from evil. He has a scroll of continual light available and a staff of healing.

Downtime: Parouz

Parouz also takes part in martial training with Krimkol in an attempt to keep in form. Fortunately, she is in fact in top form, getting temporary bonuses of +1 to hit, +1 to damage, +1 AC (melee). She prepares sleep twice and read magic (to go with her scroll of fireball).

Retainers

The group is not hiring more crossbowmen this time. Instead, Krimkol will hire four dwarves-at-arms at 35 gp each for the week (140 gp total). Chuckles will also hire two porters for carrying lanterns and treasure (14 gp total). These are the same folks they’ve been taking for the last few delves.

Plan

The adventurers intend to go treat with the troglodytes and thus find out what they’re after. They’ll go combat only if necessary, but their intentions are not necessarily hostile. Then they’ll go down to the next level, looking for patron’s missing agent as defined in the previous session.

Delve

The retainers are as follows:

Dwarves (4): HD 1 (3, 3, 7, 8 hp); AC 15; Atk war hammer (1d4+1); Move 6; Save 15; Morale 10; Special: +1 to attack rolls (+2 total), +2 to saves and morale (included), darkvision 60’, detects attributes of stonework. Speak Dwarven and Common.
Lantern Carriers (2): HD 1d6 (2, 6 hp); Atk spear (d6); Move 12; Save 18; Morale 7. Speak Common.

Then they are organized into the following marching order:

Rank 1: Krimkol, Parouz
Rank 2: Chuckles, Shyup
Rank 3: Maple, Lantern Carrier
Rank 4: Lantern Carrier, Dwarves

The Underclock starts at 20; the Underworld Die has stepped down to a d6 (minimum).

Turn 1

As before, the group continues to enter level 7 through the side entrance. This creates less risk while they have fresh, fragile new members. That gets them through the fresco door and long hallway.

Underclock: d6! = 4 => 20-4 = 16

Turn 2

They proceed through three previously-explored rooms: the antechamber, air chapel, and water chapel. Everything is very quiet; their steps echo in the silence, and the previous humdrum of the cult is gone. But that’s a different sort of tension, because surely something else will have moved into the space. What will it be, and how dangerous?

Underclock: d6! = 6+5 = 11 => 16-11 = 5

Turn 3

Finally, they reach what I’ll generally call the “troglodyte suite.” From TMO: The creatures have the appearance of green lizards with bulbous eyes, webbed hands, and pulsing frills, dressed in rich robes and fine fabrics, lounging in a fume-induced torpor. They are unarmed but wear an assortment of jewelry.

No surprise on either side, though. The reptilians react with hesitance. (Note, their famous stench applies “in battle”, or when they’re threatened (e.g. skunks), so I’m holding off on that for now.) The adventurers inquire into who they are, why they’re here, and that they generally explain themselves. They react with hostility: the fight’s on!

Troglodytes (4): HD 2 (11, 7, 9, 8); AC 15; Atk 2 claws (1d3), Bite (1d4+1) or by weapon with shield (1d8); Move 12; Save 16; Morale 8; AL C; CL/ XP 3/60; Special: Stench, chameleon skin.

The encounter occurs at a distance of 30’ between the two groups (the max in this space).

Round 1: Parouz starts to cast sleep, and the adventurers win initiative. Chuckles gets a running start and throws a spear at the first troglodyte, which hits for 6 damage (down to 5 hp). Maple fires her short bow but misses. The other adventurers and dwarves-at-arms advance to melee, while the trogs have no missile weapons. Krimkol and Shyup attack the first two trogs, but neither of them hit. Dwarf 1 attacks first trog from behind, striking them with a war hammer for 2 damage (down to 3 hp). Dwarves 2 and 3 likewise attack the next couple of trogs from behind, but no hits result. Dwarf 4, however, attacks fourth trog face to face and hits for 2 damage (down to 6 hp). Parouz completes the casting of her spell; all the enemies are affected. End of combat.

Note, I should have had all members of the group save against the stench, so I will do so now: Chuckles saves, Krimkol fails, Parouz saves, Shyup fails, Maple fails, dwarves 1,2,4 fail, dwarf 3 saves. All lose 1 point of strength per round for 4 rounds, and that loss will persist for 1 more turn.

In the suite and on the bodies, they find a total of 4000 gp of jewelry, plus 3 gold and silver scroll tubes worth 500 gp each. Those scroll tubes contain scrolls of bless; charm person, detect magic, & mirror image; and remove fear & silence 15’ radius. Krimkol takes the first and third (bless and remove fear etc.) scrolls, while Parouz takes the charm person etc. scroll. (Note, remove fear does not appear in S&W so I will use the OSE version.)

Underclock: d6! = 3 => 5-3 = 2

Turn 4

After all this, they return to main corridor. There’s another door, so Chuckles crouches and listens carefully at it: the die indicates a success. Is there actually anything there (unlikely)? No. Shyup borrows a crowbar and opens it, falling into the room. There’s not much here beyond a circular staircase leading down. The top step is actually a trap. I decide that, since it’s part of the stone, Krimkol has a chance to notice it as a dwarf: he succeeds! The rest of the group can bypass it simply by skipping a step down.

Finding the entrance to the next level counts as a minor feat of exploration.

Underclock: d6! = 5 => 2-5 = -3 (encounter, reset to 20)

Turn 5

As they are starting to head downward, a group of undead approach from behind. Three thouls are surprised, which gives the adventuring group a chance to react first.

Thouls (4): HD 3 (14, 7, 18, 7 hp); AC 13; Atk 2 claws (d3+paralysis); Move 9; Save 14; Morale 10; AL C; CL/XP 4/120; Special: paralysis (save avoids)

Round 1: Krimkol begins to intone a prayer of turn undead. Adventurers have surprise, so no need for an initiative roll. Parouz and Chuckles move up into melee. Maple fires her short bow (with the backstab bonus due to having surprise) and hits the first one for 14 damage to kill it. Because the attack came from the rear of the group, the dwarves are already in melee, more or less. Chuckles whirls his war hammer about, hitting the second thoul for 6 damage (down to 1 hp). Parouz and Shyup then face off against the next two thouls, but neither of them do any damage. The dwarves attack next: one hits the second thou and destroys it. Another hits the third thoul for 5 damage (down to 13 hp). The last two dwarves-at-arms do not hit. Krimkol finishes his prayer and succeeds in turning all three remaining thouls, who flee back into the silence of the elemental temple.

Underclock: d6! = 1 => 20-1 = 19

Turn 6

Now the expedition can proceed down the stairs. When they reach the next level, they observe that, much like most of the rest of the constructed part of the dungeon, it consists of stone masonry over rough cut stone.

At the bottom of the stairs, in a receiving chamber, a pair of ogres demand tribute with a business-like demeanor. Obviously the group is not interested in paying, but instead they ask about their patron’s missing agent: the ogres shrug non-committally. Since the group isn’t paying, the ogres attack.

Ogres (2): HD 4+1 (16, 19); AC 14; Atk weapon (1d10+1); Move 9; Save 13; Morale 10; AL C; CL/XP 4/120; Special: none.

Encounter happens at 50’ distance.

Round 1: Our adventurers win initiative. Shyup throws a flask of flaming oil and hits the first ogre for 2 damage (down to 14) and setting them on fire. Maple fires her short bow but misses. Other adventurers move into melee, but Chuckles is unable to get a hit in on the first ogre. Krimkol attacks the second ogre with his battle axe and get in there for 4 damage (down to 15 hp). Parouz comes up to attack that first ogre from behind, dealing 3 damage (down to 13 hp). The first two dwarves-at-arms attack the first ogre from behind, hitting for 4 and 3 damage (down to 6 hp). The third and fourth dwarves go after the second ogre (also from behind); one of them hits for 4 damage (down to 11 hp). That first ogre angrily swings at Chuckles and connects for the maximum of 11 damage (down to 17 hp). Ogre 2 likewise attacks Krimkol, only hitting him for 2 damage (down to 13 hp).

Round 2: The adventurers win initiative again. (I am asking myself now why Shyup doesn’t have a proper missile weapon!) Instead, the young human fighter assaults the first ogre from behind, hitting them for 4 damage (down to 2 hp). Chuckles and Krimkol face down the ogres normally, but neither accomplish much. Parouz attempts to stab the first ogre from behind and does not hit. A dwarf swings his war hammer to hit the first ogre from behind and kill them. The rest of the dwarves are unable to hit the ogre, and the ogre (who passes the morale check) in turn has no success in attacking Krimkol.

Round 3: The remaining ogre wins initiative and attacks Krimkol, hitting the dwarven priest for 7 damage (down to 6 hp). Chuckles uses the opportunity to flank the ogre and deal his max of 7 damage (down to 4 hp). Parouz flanks from the other side, which lets her hit for 8 damage and kill the ogre.

These ogres had collected tribute of 4000 ep and 1000 gp, which the group scoops up.

Note that the Underworld die here is stepped down due to the intended decreased frequency of random encounters on this level (from the original text by Dyson Logos).

Underclock: d4! = 4+2 = 6 => 19-6 = 13

Turn 7

At the door to the next room, Chuckles listens but hears nothing. Krimkol pries open door and succeeds easily. There’s a small niche followed by a long hallway. Chuckles does not notice the trap that is actually there, but fortunately he does not trigger it, either. Parouz does notice a pressure plate (I decide that she has a chance similar to noticing secret doors as an elf), so the group knows to avoid that plate. At the end of the corridor, door on the left as the corridor then turns right. Maple listens at this next door: silence. The group notices several other door and thus decides to go down further that way.

Underclock: d4! = 4+4+2 = 10 => 13-10 = 3

Shadowing Event: everyone gets a chill, like “someone walked across their grave.”

Turn 8

I decide the newbies need to save against fear from that event, because this is very deep in the dungeon and that was very scary. If either of them become scared, then the other adventurers will need to do the same. If any of them fail, they’ll retreat. Both succeed, and that seems unfortunate: they really are in too deep!

Anyway, Maple listens at a nearby door but again hears nothing, allowing the adventurers to continue down the corridor. There’s a “heavy locked iron cage” hanging from the ceiling at a 4-way intersection. Are the creatures in it surprised? Yes; the group can see a small ogre and a troglodyte. What could be powerful enough to have locked up those two in a cage? This seems concerning. Parouz tries to parley, but the ogre and troglodyte seem scared. What are they scared of? They shake their heads and won’t say anything at all in response.

The group decides that, indeed, this is enough. They have explored a total of five rooms in this delve (for a minor feat of exploration). They head back, as this was enough to get the new party members a taste of dungeoneering.

Underclock: d4! = 1 => 3-1 = 2

Turn 9

They trudge back through three previously explored rooms, which puts them outside the door where the troglodytes were encountered. On this level, the Underclock returns to its normal size (d6).

Underclock: d6! = 2 => 2-2 = 0 (reset to 3)

Another shadowing event: they hear sniffling sounds and skittering (like claws, not insects) in the distant darkness.

Turn 10

Carefully, they can make their way through three more rooms, reaching the antechamber which leads to the main exit. The plush furnishings here absorb some of the sound of their steps, but that also means they may not hear anyone else in the dungeon.

Underclock: d6! = 5 => 3-5 = -2 (encounter, reset to 20)

Turn 11

Before they can leave, they encounter a pair of wererats. Are the wererats coming in from outside (50/50)? No, so they must be coming from the cloister and supply room. The wererats are not surprised, but they hesitate for a moment: does this mean trouble for them? Parouz explains (again) that they’re not hunting wererats and they’re going to leave them alone if they can pass through to the exit without trouble. The wererats nod and let them pass.

Underclock: d6! = 4 => 20-4 = 16

The group exits the dungeon without further incident.

Experience and rewards

For the group members at their current levels, the TXP is 13000 + 7000 + 7000 + 2000 + 1250 = 30250 XP. Thus a minor feat @ 2% will award 605 XP.

Monsters: 4 troglodytes (60 XP each); 4 thouls (120 XP each)
Treasure: 4000 gp jewelry, 3 scroll tubes (500 gp each), 4000 ep, 1000 gp
Feats of Exploration: 2 minor (entrance to level 8, five rooms)

(While editing, I realize I missed the two ogres, so I’ll add those for next time.)

Thus monster XP is 240 + 480 = 720 XP. Treasure XP is 4000 + 1500 + 2000 + 1000 gp = 8500 XP. Exploration XP is 2 * 605 = 1210 XP. The total XP then is 720 + 8500 + 1210 = 10430 XP, divided five ways for 2086 XP each.

That’s enough for Krimkol, Parouz, Shyup, and Maple to level up. Their chances of surviving another delve just increased significantly! But there are serious dangers ahead, so we’ll see if they can reach the bottom of the dungeon eventually or if they will end as so many other adventurers have.