Dyson’s Delve - Session 19

The campaign is definitely in its last stages; we’ve cleared 8 of the 11 levels of Dyson’s Delve. So I have a to-do list for this session to keep making progress (not necessarily in this order):

• Investigate that “rich vigilante” patron
• Find a buyer for the medusa statue
• Level up the fighter and thief
• Delve dungeon level 9

Preparation

Some of these will get handled in downtime as I’ll match the opportunities and appropriate party members.

Downtime: Chuckles the Barbarian

For somebody who doesn’t want non-portable wealth, he sure has accumulated a lot of gold. At this point, he has 3612 gp, plus another 1k in jewelry he wears. To be fair, most of that came in this last delve.

Otherwise, he’s a 4th-level Barbarian who needs just over 2k XP to reach 5th level. He has 28 hit points, carries a war hammer +2, and wears leather armor +1.

He’s going to spend some money on gathering intelligence on their previous patron, hiring Gwynn the thief (an NPC who previously helped them on a delve). He’s also going to provide additional funds to grease palms and generally make sure Gwynn has the resources to find things out. But that’s going to take time, so even though he’ll subtract the money now (and I’ll do the roll), the actual information will come next time, and it will indeed be solid intel on this character.

Downtime: Krimkol the Dwarven Priest

This is a 4th-level Dwarven Priest who needs a bit more than 4k XP to reach 5th level. He has 21 hit points, carries both a staff of healing and a battle axe +1, and wears plate armor. He has gathered a total of 10690 gp so far and is considering what to do with it.

Krimkol has been trying to engage in spiritual exercises, communing with the unnamed gods of the dwarves in an attempt to secure their blessing and guidance to make better use of his staff of healing. He’s progressed through the first of three steps already: and this time, he again finds himself at a spiritual impass. It’s as if the gods want him to focus on meting out punishment rather than healing. Why did they permit him some progress before, then?

He will prepare the same spells as before: detect evil, protection from evil, and bless. He also has scrolls of continual light, bless, remove fear, and silence (15’ radius).

Downtime: Parouz the Elfblade

She is a 4th-level Elfblade (a simplified combination of Fighter and Magic-User) who accumulated a large amount of XP debt when a wight drained her vitality in the previous session. Because of that, she actually needs something like 17k XP to reach 5th level. Meanwhile, she has 14 hit points, carries a long sword +1/+3 against spellcasters, and wears chain mail and boots of levitation. She also has scrolls of fireball and detect magic and 11147 gp.

She will go out looking for a buyer for the medusa “statue” (actually monster who played herself). That feels like gathering intelligence, as Chuckles did, and again she’ll work through Gwynn to help her with connections to the sorts of people who can sell anything, no questions asked. She gets some shaky intel that gives her an answer, but also some ambiguity or misinformation.

I decide that means a noble, but that Gwynn is pocketing part of the profit himself. Using the D30 Sandbox Companion again:

• Ancestry and Gender: Male dwarf
• Rank: Archduke (second cousin of a king)
• Ethos: Humanitarian (dwarfitarian?)
• Motivation: Glory

Gwynn is likely working through someone in the household, which is how he’s getting a cut. Parouz uses him as a go-between to arrange the sale, and while I was going to have her get 5k gp for it, I think that ends up being 4k gp after Gwynn’s cut. Still, that’s a good 800 gp (and XP) for each of the adventurers, which will go on the end of this session.

In preparation for the delve, she reviews her spellbook (last updated in session 16) and memorizes phantasmal force, read magic, and sleep twice.

Downtime: Shyup the Human Fighter

As noted, it’s time for Shyup to level up. When this process is done, he will be a 4th-level Fighter with 26 hit points. He needs something on the order of 7k XP to reach 5th level and has 5127 gp. He wears plate armor but also wields a shield +1 and a spear +1 in addition to a regular long sword and light crossbow if needed.

He isn’t out taking care of other business; instead, he remains firmly focused on succeeding on the next delve. To that end, he continues his martial practice, and he’s in good form: he gets a +1 bonus to hit and AC (against melee) until the next downtime. This means his AC is now 20 in melee (19 against missiles), plus an ability to parry blows and dodge attacks (also against melee) that gains him an additional 4 AC in those situations.

Downtime: Maple the Human Thief

She also needs to level up, having reached 5th level as a Thief. Reaching 6th level will require just shy of another 10k XP. At this point, she now has 13 hit points and 3425 gp. She doesn’t have any magic weapons, wearing regular leather armor while wielding a short sword and short bow.

Honestly, she doesn’t have much to do during the downtime. Her business partner, Maseera, would like her to invest further in his fashion house. Did it turn a profit this time (50/50)? Yes, actually, so I think she’ll get a return of 10% on her investment, or 50 gp. She’ll take this and her other treasure and go out on a bender, spending 250 gp to get 250 XP (and a hangover).

Planning

They’ve cleared levels 7 (where their side entrance is) and 8, and they’ve found two different ways to reach level 9. One of those ways had more lifelike statues (likely, petrified intruders or residents), and the other had a giant white worm.

Parouz has an idea to deal with the worm using phantasmal force to create a giant metal “floor” above the dirt; if the worm believes it, then perhaps it will be trapped. (There’s a chance it figures it out when the others walk across, but it’s worth a try.)

Alternatively, they could try to go back to that statuary and search for more treasure, as well as whatever priesthood their former patron is trying to destroy. If it turns out to be something they agree with, maybe there will be a bounty in it for them. But the worm seems more manageable than unknown creatures or possibly a medusa petrifying folks.

As usual, Krimkol hires the dwarves-at-arms because he has a strong connection to the community. (In future campaigns, I think I want to add more gameplay around this.) That costs 35 gp each, at six dwarves, for a total of 210 gp. They also get a half-share of treasure each, and he doesn’t ask them to take greater risks than he does, risking their loyalty. (Quite the opposite, he generally is in the front rank.)

Wandering Monsters

I also want to update the wandering monster tables for the levels they have cleared but still need to traverse.

Level 7 contains a temple with multiple elemental-themed chapels as well as side rooms appropriate to a priesthood or monastery. A community of wererats has taken up residence in part of the temple, but they’ve also previously dealt with several slithering trackers and thouls. I think the thouls are still there, but I want to replace the slithering trackers with something else of roughly similar threat level. I’ll put a vargoyle on there, which is a significant threat from Swords & Wizardry: Fiends & Foes.

Level 8 originally was mostly populated by ogres, with some owlbears and troglodytes. Those have been largely run out of there. The encounter table for that level has some other monsters in it as well, and on review, I think that’s fine. I’ll leave it as is.

Delve

One thing I’ve forgotten to do recently (among others) is to adjust the Underclock when on levels with reduced encounter check frequency. For example, level 7 has “1 in 6, check every 10 minutes”, but level 8 only checks every 20 minutes. To simulate that, I’ll start the Underclock at 20 (as per usual) but decrease the Underworld die size by 1 step on levels 8 and 9 (which also has the “every 20 minutes” frequency). So while the die size will start at a d6 on level 7, unless they end resting there, it will decrease to a d4 for levels 8 and 9. This is easier than just adding onto the clock on those levels, then decreasing when they get back to level 7. (I haven’t looked at level 10, so I’ll deal with that whenever they get there.)

Having replaced the dwarf who died last time, the follower stats are:

• Dwarves (6): HD 1 (3, 7, 8, 5, 8, 4 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.
• Porters (2): HD 1d6 (2, 6 hp); Atk dagger (d4); Move 12; Save 18; Morale 7. Speak Common.

I’ll make two Underclock rolls on level 7, then two more on level 8, then pick up properly on level 9. Before heading in, though, Parouz will cast read magic in case she needs to use one of her scrolls. Since bless only lasts 6 turns, Krimkol will wait to cast it until they get down to the worm’s lair.

Level 7

• Roll 1: d6! = 1 => 20-1 = 19
• Roll 2: d6! = 1 => 19-1 = 18

Level 8

• Roll 1: d6! = 6+2 = 8 => 18-8 = 10
• Roll 2: d6! = 5 => 10-5 = 5

Turn 1

Cartography by Dyson Logos (c) 2019

As they head down from the old owlbear lair to the worm cavern, they stop for Krimkol to pray for a blessing on them all. This time, 10 of them are affected, so that will be all five “lead adventurers” and five dwarves (all of them except the first one, who should hang back to guard the porters). That gives them a +1 to attack rolls and morale.

The plan is still for Parouz to cast phantasmal force to create a metal floor above the dirt. Krimkol and Shyup will try to cross the cavern, but the worm will then get a save to disbelieve. If it succeeds, all hell will break loose. But if it fails the save, they can transit down to the next level. The spell lasts “until concentration ends”, but the game doesn’t define that. I’m going to say it lasts until the caster engages in an attack, takes damage, or casts another spell. Other circumstances will be judged if they arise. This matters because, eventually, they’d like to come back up to the surface.

• Underclock: d4! = 4+3 = 7 => 5-7 = -2 (encounter, reset to 20)

Turn 2

Before they descend the stairs to level 9, though, they hear a squelching sound in the cavern behind them. They notice an ochre jelly, but it doesn’t seem to be heading their way. In fact, it doesn’t seem to have noticed them at all. Rather than fight it, they’ll continue with their plan.

Parouz casts her spell, and the metal floor appears. Krimkol and Shyup tentatively make their way across as cautiously as possible. This is less to avoid notice (because that’s hard to do in plate armor) and more to keep their feet under them in a fighting stance if needed. The worm’s stats (translated from the Labyrinth Lord block in the adventure text) are:

• Caecilia: HD 6 (24 hp); AC 13; Atk bite (1d8+swallow); Move 6; Save 13; Morale 9; AL N; CL/XP 7/600; Special: Swallow whole (to-hit roll is 4 over required number or natural 20)

(I reused the swallow mechanics from the purple worm and sea monsters in S&W Complete.)

So here’s the big moment: doe the worm believe the illusion? It rolls an 8, so it believes the metal floor is real for now.

• Underclock: d4! = 4+1 = 5 => 20-5 = 15

Turn 3

The rest of the group transits the cavern - but they find a secret door on the south side that leads out of here, on the same level. (This is a minor feat of exploration.) Rather than go down to level 10, they’ll go through there and see what they find.

• Underclock: d4! = 4+3 = 7 => 15-7 = 8

Turn 4

They are in a wererat warren with three wererats. A heavy curtain separates this room from whatever lies beyond it. They’ll get a bonus to their reaction roll, given the party’s relationship with wererats, but for reasons that will become apparent in a bit, a slightly smaller one of +2. Regardless, they have a friendly reaction; these must be the explorers they’ve heard about!

Unfortunately, this group, the Poeress family, doesn’t have particularly good relations with the rest of their kin. This is where they huddle, afraid to go back into the worm’s lair but forbidden by the Durin family from engaging much with the rest of the wererats. Parouz doesn’t promise anything except non-aggression; they are here for their own purposes, not to interfere in wererat politics.

• Underclock: d4! = 1 => 8-1 = 7

Turn 5

The group pushes the curtain aside and enters the Hall of the Court of Rats, the central warren of the wererat court in the dungeon. This is the community whose scouts the group has previously treated with. They’ll get a +3 bonus to their reaction roll: again, they are friendly. Perhaps they’re a bit surprised to see the group emerge from the curtain, but they have enough context to know that doesn’t mean they’re enemies.

There are another three wererats here, “well dressed and armed with swords”. They graciously explain that, while the adventurers are certainly welcome to treat with their Lady, without an invitation they cannot simply stay. Parouz asks after the state of the rest of the dungeon, and is told that a pair of cockatrices as well as a family of giant scorpions inhabit this level outside the wererat warrens. The cockatrices are responsible for the “statues” they found earlier. But they carry out that petrification, not with a simple look, but with a touch.

Having been sufficiently traumatized by petrification in their own group, the adventurers are not racing to go deal with these. Is there another passage out of here? Yes, there is, but it leads to the king of the wererats, and they of course cannot speak for the king. That said, perhaps defeating any of the threats on this level would be enough to earn his favor.

The group decides they will go down to level 10 and speak with the king. They ask for an escort to show their good faith: the wererats agree to allow two of their guards to accompany them. (Reaction rolls are such a great mechanic.)

• Underclock: d4! = 3 => 7-3 = 4

Turn 6

The group is shown to the guard room, where a pair of uniformed wererat guards with polearms stand ready. One of them, along with one of the guards from the central hall, will go with the group down to be introduced to the king. The stairs are next to the guard room; this counts as a second minor feat of exploration.

• Underclock: d4! = 1 => 4-1 = 3

The group can hear the sounds of fighting off in the distance. One of the wererat guards grips his sword and says it sounds like perhaps a giant scorpion has reached their perimeter, and he leaves to check.

Turn 7

After descending the stairs, they find themselves in an octagonal chamber that seems to have been a mausoleum at one point in time. There are several other wererat guards here. After conferring briefly with their comrades from level 9, they agree to take the group to the king.

There are no wandering monsters on this level, so the Underclock will pause here.

Turn 8

The king is a “grizzled and mighty rat” who wields what are clearly fine weapons and jewelry. His wife and the prince stand attentively at his side. While the adventurers are accompanied by his own guards, he of course is not bound by any agreements his subjects will have made, and his reaction will only have a +1 bonus: he waits to hear what they have to say.

Parouz explains that they have had mutual non-aggression with his subjects in the levels above, and they have come to seek his favor. (This isn’t really why they’re in the dungeon overall, but it seems prudent to do so in this moment.) I’m going to refer back to the D30SC to get some more information on him.

• Ethos / Temperament: Conniving
• Motivation: Thrill-seeking
• Personality: Arrogant

He promises them that, if they can deal with the white worm or the cockatrices, he will grant them a boon from his own treasures. (Whether he’s being honest about this, I don’t know yet; with those traits, it’s very possible he just wants to see what happens.)

The group agrees to this, and they’ll confer together above to assemble a plan.

Turn 9

After this audience, they head back to the central court up on level 9.

I’m going to “meta” this a little bit. The cockatrices have 5 hit dice each and can petrify their enemies. The giant scorpions have 4 hit dice each (although there are more of them) and can poison their enemies. The white worm has 6 hit dice and can swallow its enemies whole - but there’s only one of it. They need to deal with one of these threats to earn the king’s favor, and honestly to safeguard their own line of return to the surface.

The worm actually seems like the best threat to deal with. Indeed, they may need to face the cockatrices later regardless. Parouz still has the phantasmal force spell going, and that should allow them to position themselves for success. They will position the bulk of the force at the exits to the stairs and wererat warrens, with the heavily-armored Shyup and Krimkol trying to keep its attention facing the other way. (Yes, I raided in WoW, why?)

• Underclock: d4! = 2 => 3-2 = 1

Turn 10

As noted, the group positions themselves so that the porters and one of the dwarves are on the stairs leading up. Parouz, Maple, and Chuckles will stay in the alcove leading to the wererat warren. Shyup and Krimkol will be in the center of the room, trying to keep the worm’s attention.

Repeating the worm’s stats here:

• Caecilia: HD 6 (24 hp); AC 13; Atk bite (1d8+swallow); Move 6; Save 13; Morale 9; AL N; CL/XP 7/600; Special: Swallow whole (to-hit roll is 4 over required number or natural 20)

Round 1: The group will get an automatic surprise round due to the worm believing in the spell, although it won’t take damage from the illusion. (Unfortunately, Krimkol’s blessing has faded.) The dwarven priest starts off, though, and gets the +2 to-hit from surprising it: success, and he deals 7 damage. Shyup also hits for 3 damage; the worm is down to 14 hp before the rest of them have even acted. Maple, as a backstab specialist, stabs into the worm’s flesh for another 6 damage. Chuckles has trouble getting a solid hit in, but Parous slashes deeply for 9 damage, which kills the worm.

This felt a little anticlimactic, but that’s how good fights should go. A fair fight is a bad fight, after all! They’ll take a few tokens to prove their victory and call in one of the wererat guards as witness.

• Underclock: d4! = 2 => 1-2 = -1 (encounter, reset to 20)

Turn 11

A wererat scouting party of 4 descends the stairs from above, surprised to find this group here. But they quickly realize the situation and don’t cause any trouble.

The group turns around and goes back down a level to visit the king.

• Underclock: d4! = 2 => 20-2 = 18

Turn 12

It doesn’t take them long to get back down there. They present the evidence of having defeated the white worm. I’ll give the king a straight reaction roll, because he doesn’t seem like the most trustworthy kind of guy: he turns hostile and immediately accuses them of falsifying the evidence as well as threatening his subjects. Everyone is taken aback, because clearly even some of his own people are aware that the adventurers did indeed defeat the monster, and they’ve never drawn steel against the wererats.

He orders his guards to attack, and we’re going to combat. Given the situation, there’s a chance the adventuring party is surprised, but no, they have dealt with enough shady sorts that a wererat turning, well, rat is not actually a surprise.

• Wererat King: HD 5 (22 hp); AC 14; Atk two-handed sword +1 (d10+1); Move 12; Save 11; Morale 9; AL C; CL/XP 5/240; Special: ring of protection +1 (already included in AC)
• Wererat Nobles (2): HD 3 (9, 10 hp); AC 12; Atk weapon (d8); Move 12; Save 13; Morale 8; AL C; CL/XP 3/60
• Wererat Guards (3): HD 3 (10, 17, 20 hp); AC 12; Atk weapon (d8); Move 12; Save 13; Morale 8; AL C; CL/XP 3/60

There are more wererats in adjoining chambers, but they will not enter the fight until at least Round 2. The king and his family are only 10 feet away here in the noble court (converted mausoleum), and the guards are next to them (also 10 feet away).

The adventurers will try to take down the treacherous king first; if they can do that, there’s a chance they can force a truce with the rest of the wererats.

Round 1: Parouz begins to cast sleep on the nobles and guards. The adventurers win the initiative roll. There aren’t any missile attacks because everyone is already in melee. Therefore, Krimkol immediately swings at the king, slashing him for 8 damage (down to 14 hp). Shyup does the same and stabs at the king with his spear for an additional 7 damage (down to 7). Chuckles whirls his war hammer, shouting expletives, but doesn’t hit. The dwarves-at-arms attack the guards, hitting the first one for 5, then 4, then 3 damage to kill him. They also deal 8 damage to the second guard, leaving him at 8 hp. Parouz completes her spell, putting the nobles and the uninjured guard to sleep. Seeing this, the king shouts a war cry, calling his other subjects to him. His guard heeds his call and stands fast. The king attacks Krimkol but doesn’t come close to hitting him. The guard tries to strike back at the dwarves without effect either.

Round 2: No spells this time. The wererats win initiative, and reinforcements enter. From the north, the wererat High Priest and his acolyte run in, surveying the situation. From the south, the king’s Vizier does the same, pulling up short when he sees the High Priest entering. I’ll roll for their reactions with hidden modifiers because of circumstances unknown to the adventurers: the High Priest is immediately hostile, coming to the aid of his monarch. The Vizier, however, holds back, waiting to see how things will play out. The acolyte is effectively the same as another guard with 16 hit points. In melee, the king can attack Krimkol or Shyup, and he randomly swings his sword at Shyup, who parries what might have been a strong blow indeed. The guard attacks the dwarves again, hitting the last one for 3 damage (now at 1 hp). The acolyte randomly attacks Parouz, who easily sidesteps the attack. In return, Shyup ripostes against the king, striking him for 8 damage, which drops him completely. Krimkol turns on the guard, attacking from behind for 7 damage (down to 1 hp). Parouz turns for the high priest, given that she wields a weapon specifically tuned to attack spellcasters, but it’s not quite enough to do damage, only slashing his robes. Chuckles hits the priest for 6 damage. Maple (who I’d forgotten about!) tries to stab the acolyte in the back and does so, but only for 2 points of damage (leaving him at 14 hp).

• Wererat High Priest: HD 4 (12 hp); AC 12; Atk mace (d6+2); Move 12; Save 12; Morale 9; AL C; CL/XP 5/240; Special: spells hold person, cause fear, protection from good

Before starting the next round, note that one guard is still up at 1 hp, the acolyte is at 14 hp, and the high priest is at 12 hp. The king is down, and the vizier is standing back from the fight.

Round 3: The High Priest begins to cast hold person on Parouz, Shyup, and Chuckles. Again, the wererats win initiative. The acolyte turns on Maple but is completely ineffectual. The guard turns on Parouz, attacking her from behind and missing. The High Priest’s spell finishes casting: Parouz fails, but Chuckles and Shyup saves. In return, Maple fights back against the acolyte and does 5 damage (reducing him to 9 hp). Shyup tries to impale the high priest, but does only 4 damage (now at 8 hp). Krimkol attacks the high priest from behind but doesn’t hit. Chuckles swings at the remaining guard and defeats him. Parouz is immobilized, but if looks could kill then the priest would have already burst into flame… In any case, the priest and acolyte must make morale checks at this point. Both of them fail and surrender.

The noise must surely attract two wererat guards from upstairs by now.

• Wererat Guards (2): HD 3 (12, 17 hp); AC 12; Atk polearm (d10); Move 12; Save 13; Morale 8; AL C; CL/XP 3/60

As they enter, the vizier holds up a hand and calls out to them. “Stop! Our beloved monarch is dead, and we must reach terms with these invaders.” He glances sidelong at the High Priest and acolyte with unconcealed disdain.

Turn 13

The adventurers offer a deal to the High Vizier. They will take the king’s sword and half of his jewelry as tribute, leaving the crown but taking his amulet. They will also allow the queen and prince to live. They will also strip the high priest of his weapon and holy symbol, effectively disarming him and showing the other members of the wererat community his failure. The vizier accepts this deal, clearly seeing this as an opportunity to take power for himself.

Turn 14

The group returns to the worm’s lair to regroup. Chuckles will wear the ring of protection +1 they took from the king. They’re not sure who will wield the mace and sword; for now, Maple will use the two-handed sword +1 / +2 against lycanthropes. It’s a bit large for someone who generally likes to move lightly, but for now it makes sense. The only member of the party who has taken any damage is one of the dwarves-at-arms, who has 1 hp left. He’ll stay back with the porter and another dwarf to guard the porters.

• Underclock: d4! = 1 => 18-1 = 17

Turn 15

From here, they head down the stairs to level 10. This is a separate area from the wererat chambers; instead, they’re in a natural cave area with two exits. Maple can hear some stomping to the northeast exit, so they’ll take the narrow passage to the southeast. Unfortunately, none of them notice the trap in this passage. Normally, Shyup and Krimkol go first, and neither of them trigger it. Then Chuckles and Parouz go, but neither of them do so, either. Maple and a porter go next, somehow not triggering it. The second porter and a dwarf follow, and the porter triggers the trap! Rocks fall and they have to save or take a significant amount of damage: 3d10 = 14 damage, killing them both. The remaining dwarves-at-arms are separated and they’ll need to go the other way around.

Level 10 still has no wandering monsters, so no Underclock rolls. (Edit: I should have made morale rolls for the other followers at this point.)

Turn 16

The group tries to meet up in the other passage, but there’s a powerful monster here, a large humanoid with a bull head: a minotaur! They’re alert and are not surprised, and of course he isn’t either. He eyes them cautiously, realizing he’s caught between two squads. He wields a massive two-handed sword, and his horns are decorated with a pair of rubies. He has shaved spiral patterns in his fur. But the adventurers realize he’s responsible for the trap that killed their companions and rush in to attack.

• Minotaur: HD 6 (24 hp); AC 13; Atk head butt (2d4), bite (1d3) and weapon (1d10); Move 12; Save 11; Morale 12; AL C; CL/XP 6/400; Special: never get lost in labyrinths

When the fight begins, the minotaur is 30 feet away.

Round 1: No one is casting a spell this round, and the adventurers win the initiative. In the missiles phase, Maple fires her short bow, but the arrow clatters off the cave wall. Chuckles hurls a spear, but it also misses. The other adventurers close in on the minotaur, shields and weapons ready. Shyup faces it first, hitting it with his magic spear for 4 damage. Krimkol’s battle axe doesn’t hit the minotaur, nor does Parouz. There are three dwarves-at-arms in fighting shape, and they attack from behind, hitting for a total of 9 damage. This overall brings the minotaur to 11 hp. He goes to head butt Shyup, only hitting armor. However, Shyup is unable to parry his bite and takes 3 damage. However, he does parry the sword blow.

Round 2: Again the adventurers win initiative. This time, Maple and Chuckles get behind the minotaur. Shyup, having been blooded by the monster, strikes back but misses. Chuckles also misses. Maple stabs in the back for 18 damage, bringing her sword down and severing the monster’s spine.

The group recovers the two rubies from the minotaur’s horns, which are worth 1000 gp each.

Turn 17

The adventurers spend a turn searching the minotaur’s lair, but find nothing else here. With one of the porters dead, they decide to return as they have extremely limited light now.

Turn 18

It takes them a turn to get back up to level 8 via the worm’s lair.

• Underclock: d4! = 2 => 17-2 = 15

Returning to the surface

For the rest of the return, I’ll just make a few more Underclock rolls to see if they run into anything.

• Level 8-1: d4! = 3 => 15-3 = 12
• Level 8-2: d4! = 3 => 12-3 = 9
• Level 7-1: d6! = 6+2 = 8 => 9-8 = 1
• Level 7-2: d6! = 5 => 1-5 = -4 (encounter, reset to 20)

Encounter on Temple Level

A single wererat comes up behind them and tries to stab the other porter, but misses. The group turns around and immediately fights it.

• Wererat Scout: HD 3 (7 hp); AC 12; Atk weapon (d8); Move 12; Save 13; Morale 8; AL C; CL/XP 3/60

Round 1: The adventurers win initiative. The dwarves guarding the porter as well as Maple are immediately able to get to it; the guards miss, but Maple dispatches it with a single blow.

From here, they can return to town.

Experience and rewards

• Monsters:
  • Caecilia, white worm: 600 XP
  • Wererat king: 240 XP
  • Wererat nobles: 2x60 XP
  • Wererat guards: 3x60 XP
  • Wererat High Priest: 240 XP
  • Wererat acolyte: 60 XP
  • Minotaur: 400 XP
  • Wererat scout: 60 XP
• Treasure:
  • two-handed sword +1 / +2 against lycanthropes
  • ring of protection +1
  • mace +2
  • jeweled holy symbol (1500 gp)
  • jeweled king’s amulet (1500 gp)
  • minotaur rubies: 2x1000 gp
• Feats of Exploration:
  • finding the secret door on level 9 (minor)
  • finding the stairs to level 10 (minor)
  • defeating the Wererat Court (major)
  • five rooms (minor)

From monsters, they get 1900 XP. From treasure, they get 5000 XP/gp.

To calculate the XP for feats of exploration, I need to add up the TXP because it’s changed since last time.

• Chuckles: 13000
• Krimkol: 13000
• Parouz: 26000 (due to XP debt)
• Shyup: 8000
• Maple: 10000

This adds up to 70000 XP, so a minor feat at 2% is 1400 XP and a major feat at 5% is 3500 XP. That’s a total of 6300 XP.

This totals to 13200 XP, divided five ways for 2640 XP. Five dwarves survived in addition to the five adventurers, so that’s 7.5 shares total at 666 gp for each adventurer and 334 gp for each dwarf. Chuckles will reach 5th level as a Barbarian! The others are not there yet.

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