Dyson’s Delve - Session 9

As I continue to play through Dyson’s Delve using Swords & Wizardry (affiliate link), I’ve gotten into a good groove of session structure.

Downtime

Nobody leveled up from last session, so all I need to do this time is the downtime activities using the Downtime in Zyan supplement by Ben L and hire some more retainers. For the party to progress, they need to increase the amount of force they can bring to bear on their enemies. That’s not done solely through individual character power in the original designs of Dungeons & Dragons.

Chuckles

Last time, he took Illuin and his lantern-bearer out on the town. The lantern-bearer died at the very end of the expedition afterwards, so again the barbarian will go out to engage in revelry, but this time to honor the memory of his comrade who has departed this world. In fact, I think he’ll gather more of his fellow adventurers as well. Last time, the thief Illuin contributed to the party, so he’ll get her to join in. Krimkol and his dwarf-at-arms will tag along as well for the revelry.

He spends 400 gold again, receiving 400 XP. However, as sometimes happens with people unfamiliar with the customs and general social practices of a region, he ends up making a fool of himself in the view of others when he says a public prayer in a bar to the spirit of his lost retainer. (This leads to a -1 penalty when dealing with most NPCs in the area.)

Illuin

She goes along for the revelry as well, though she’s starting to learn that her constitution can’t always keep up with her friend’s. This time, though, she not only tolerates all the various substances quite well (exchanging another 400 gp for XP), when she wakes the next afternoon, it turns out a drinking companion from outside the adventuring party had covered half the expenses, meaning she only spent 200 gp to get the reward.

Krimkol

Dwarves have a reputation for being stout drinkers. Whether or not that’s deserved, Krimkol does his best to live up to it, and his 400 gp leads to all sorts of wild experiences that reinforce the stereotype. He receives his 400 experience with no other mishaps or boons.

Khnar

That last encounter with the manticore left him somewhat shook. Even with his shield and other fighting prowess, without better preparation he could have been easily slain. Therefore he returns to his martial training to keep in top form. He gets three benefits: +1 to hit with his battle axe, +1 to damage with the same, and a +1 to AC with his shield as he focuses on the traditional techniques he learned from his mother.

Parouz

The Elfblade can learn no more of the basic spells at her level, and it will be a while until she can learn 2nd-level spells. But that restriction applies to the basic spells for mages (and elves). With the advent of study of the tomb of Saint Ulther (and perhaps her observations of Anela when they adventured together), she could attempt to learn a necromancy spell. Krimkol might not approve, but that’s not her concern.

Therefore, she’ll work on her spellcraft in her downtime. If Anela were here, she could teach her hold undead directly, but instead Parouz must rely on her memory and notes. She masters the spell slowly, but as it is only a 1st-level spell, she is able to complete her spellcraft in this same downtime.

Retainers

Last time, Chuckles spent a significant chunk of change on spreading the word of his exploits, without too much concern for strict accuracy. That will net him a few followers, I think: not yet apprentice-types (i.e. no special hirelings this time), but two adventuring men-at-arms who’ve recently left their lives of soldiering.

Human, Soldier (2): HD 1 (4, 5 hp); AC 12; Atk weapon (d8); Move 12; Save 17; Morale 8

They can double as porters when needed. I’m not subtracting additional recruitment costs due to the nature of how he brought them on board, but he will pay their weekly wages of 35 gold each. As befits his preference for limited wealth, this has him down to being almost back at his starting gold balance, though with more stories and reputation.

Spell Preparation

Parouz knows 9 spells now, but she can only prepare 2 per day. This time, she takes magic missile and her new spell, hold undead.

Krimkol prays for a blessing from the gods that dwarves do not name to others. He continues to ask for the ability to cure light wounds in order to safeguard his fellow adventurers.

Return to the Delve

The Underclock is set at 20. Since they didn’t rest last time, the Underworld die steps back down to a d6. I’ll continue my practice of rolling twice per level that they simply transit on the way to actual exploration. This time, they are not returning to deal with the manticores, so they’ll pass through four levels before getting to the Howling Halls on the fifth level.

Level 1 rolls: 5+4=9 => 20-9=11
Level 2 rolls: (6+4)+(6+3)=19 => 11-19=-8 (encounter)

Before descending to the third dungeon level, they encounter a ratling. It’s quite hostile and leaps to the attack!

Ratling (1): HD 1 (8 hp); AC10; Atk 1 bite (d6); Move 12; Save 17; Morale 7

This one isn’t diseased and the encounter begins at 60 feet of distance.

Round 1: The ratling is fast enough to win the initiative and immediately goes for Chuckles, but can’t quite get through the barbarian’s armor. Chuckles’ counter-blow misses, but Illuin gets behind the ratling and cuts it deeply for 6 damage. Krimkol finishes the job.

The Underclock resets to 20 as they proceed.

Level 3 rolls: 5+2=7 => 20-7=13
Level 4 rolls: 3+3=6 => 13-6=7

That’s the state of the tension in the dungeon when they reach their intended point of exploration: level 5.

Turn 1

A strong wind blows as they come down the stairs from the vestibule where they had previously fled a manticore. There are small well-like structures in the corner of the room that bring in this air. The two dwarves explain to the others that the original constructors likely wanted to ensure that the inhabitants could breathe freely and healthily. There is a statue of a four-armed humanoid wearing a crown here as well.

This wind would blow out regular torches; it’s strong enough that, from time to time, it might even gust enough to blow out a lantern.

The group finds a corridor that exits from the room. They can go straight down the corridor or take a side passage on its right side (south). Krimkol points ahead, where he can just make out tapestries in the next room, and they go that way.

Underclock roll: 1 => 7-1=6

Turn 2

Indeed, the wind has the tapestries flapping. At the end of the hall, a corridor leads left and right. Chuckles notes tracks, mostly human-type but some others he hasn’t seen before. Stone gargoyles in the corridor are making enough noise (as the wind blows through specially-carved whistles in their faces) that it’s hard to hear.

After conferring briefly, they decide to go left, in the direction of the strange tracks. Illuin attempts to move quietly, but somehow even in the whistling noise, her steps are oddly loud.

Underclock roll: 4 => 6-4=2

Turn 3

A pair of caterpillar-like creatures are feasting on the corpses of four humans. Despite the noise of the group, the carrion crawlers seem unaware of the presence of the adventurers. Illuin notes that the human corpses still clutch their treasures, so perhaps it’s worth trying to eliminate or run off the scavengers. (This could be a terrible idea!)

Carrion Crawlers (2): HD 3 (15, 10 hp); AC 14; Atk bite (1 hp) and 6 tentacles (paralysis); Move 12; Save 14; Morale 9

The encounter starts at only 10 feet of distance, so no missile attacks will occur.

Round 1: Parouz starts to cast magic missile on the monsters. Illuin uses this opportunity to backstab it, but she can’t get through its thick hide, nor can Chuckles. Khnar drives his axe deep into it for 7 damage (leaving it with 3 hit points), and Krimkol finishes it off. The retainers hit it for 3+4+8=15 damage, dropping it as well!

Underclock roll: 4 => 2-4=-2

As they catch their breath, before they can pick through the corpses, something comes out of the darkness.

Turn 4

Another of the carrion crawlers appears, perhaps to feast on its brothers. This one has 12 hit points and is spotted at the last moment, but it is just as surprised as the first two were. The group won’t all get automatic bonuses for attacking from behind, however.

Round 1: This time, Khnar faces it directly. The training pays off and he hits it for 5 damage, taking it to 7 hit points. Parouz attacks from behind for another 3 damage, but the other adventurers have trouble getting to it while avoiding its waving tentacles.

Round 2: The monster (down to 4 hp) wins the initiative. First it bites one of Chuckles’ followers (down to 4 hp). Four tentacles miss; two hit Parouz, and she cannot resist the paralysis. Illuin finally brings the monster down.

They catch their breath and decide to wait out Parouz’s paralysis here. (I previously ruled that cure light wounds does not affect paralysis; as far as I can tell, nothing does by default. That may be something for Krimkol to study later.)

In the meantime, the treasure here is packed in bags containing 6000 sp, 1000 gp, and 3x 100 gp gems. Perhaps even better, one of them still holds onto a shield +1. She won’t need it anymore, so instead Khnar will take it and hand off his shield to one of Chuckles’ followers.

Underclock rolls: 5+2=7 => 20-7=13

The Underworld die steps back up to a d8.

Turn 5

Now that Parouz has regained control of her limbs, they can proceed. The group continues back down the corridor, past the tapestried hall. There are two more exits on their right, one to another corridor and, near the end, a door. They decide not to chance the door yet; they’ll go down the corridor.

That corridor opens up into a medium-sized room with another adventuring party in it! Is this the group that Chuckles got into an argument with during the previous downtime (likely)? No, fortunately. Actually, was that the dead group (unlikely)? No, not them, either. There are a number of adventurers down in these halls, it seems.

In any case, our adventurers have gotten the drop on the other group. But, while they’re not heroes, they also aren’t necessarily going to murder this other group in cold blood. Khnar tries to hail them in a fairly neutral way; hopefully his charisma can balance out Chuckles’ current poor reputation from his mishap during the revelries a few nights before. It does (per the reaction roll); the other group is a bit hesitant, seeing another set of heavily armed adventurers, so both sides just back away from each other. There are enough things down here that want to kill them all.

Underclock roll: (8+1)=9 => 13-9=4

Turn 6

They’ll retreat back through the tapestried hall to the first side passage they had encountered. That leads almost immediately to a 4-way intersection, at which they go right (west, at this point).

When they enter the room that leads to, they find a clan of kobolds living in a suspended ceiling. The kobolds don’t notice them, fortunately. Khnar reminds the others not to try anything since the others have the high ground, and they pull back slightly to try another way. (This does make the fifth room explored on this level, which is a minor feat of exploration.)

Underclock roll: 4 => 4-4=0

That’s an omen: an ill wind blows, nearly knocking the lantern out of a follower’s hand. The Underclock resets to 3, and the group continues on.

Turn 7

Going back the other way, they approach an oddly-shaped room with six massive silvered mirrors on them. The mirrors seem somewhat dulled, and in the center of the room floats some sort of staff. Do they recognize the danger here (unlikely)? Yes, Parouz points out that the mirror reflections don’t look right. Chuckles throws a spear into the room - and it sticks into a gelatinous cube for 2 damage!

Gelatinous Cube: HD 4 (14 hp); AC 11; Atk engulf (2d4); Move 6; Save 13; Morale 12

The cube is 20 feet away from the group. They’re going to try to pull back and fight it with missile weapons and magic.

Round 1: Clearly surprise is not on the table here, but the adventurers do manage to win the initiative. Parouz starts to cast magic missile while Illuin looses an arrow to hit it for another 1 point of damage (down to 11 hp). Chuckles’ spear is still stuck in it, and while he has another one, he decides to throw flaming oil at it, hitting it for 2 damage (9 hp now) and setting it aflame. Khnar does the same for 3 damage (down to 6). Krimkol tries to hold the line with his shield while his dwarf-at-arms throws more oil unsuccessfully, leaving a burning patch of oil on the ground. The two human soldiers are pulling back slightly, and Parouz finishes her spell for 2 more damage (4 hp). The cube tries to advance on Krimkol, and I’ll give him a special +1 bonus to his AC for the oil patch. It doesn’t matter; the cube engulfs him, dealing 6 damage to the dwarven priest (down to 4 hp). He’s strong enough to make his save against paralysis, but he’s still stuck in the cube.

Round 2: This time the cube wins the initiative. It takes 2 damage from the fire, then tries to fully engulf Krimkol again, but it doesn’t succeed. Instead, he cuts it with his magic battle axe for 9 damage, ending the threat.

As the acidic form of the cube loses its consistency and collapses into the stone floor, the priest is able to recover the staff from the center of the room. It’s a staff of healing, an amazingly powerful item. As he grasps it, in fact, he feels its power and heals himself for 3 hit points (back up to 7 hp). He’ll have to decide what to do with his equipment overall later, but for now he stows it on his back.

Underclock roll: 6 => 3-6=-3 (encounter and reset Underclock to 20)

Turn 8

As soon as that cube finishes dissolving, they can hear a slurping sound coming from the entrance to the south. It’s another one! It doesn’t seem to have detected their presence, judging by its slow, methodical movement. They decide that they’ve had a pretty good day and retreat back to the surface.

I’ll make one more roll on level 5: 4 => 20-4=16.

On level 4: 4+3=7 => 16-7=9.

On level 3: 5+2=7 => 9-7=2.

On level 2, the first roll is a 7, so there’s definitely an encounter. There is a trio of feral undead cats that don’t notice the group. The adventurers keep going, and the second roll on the same level is 4 => 20-4=16.

On level 1: 2+2=4 => 16-4=12. They exit without any more trouble.

Rewards and experience

Monsters: 1 ratling @ 15 XP; 3 carrion crawlers @ 240 XP each; 1 gelatinous cube @ 240 XP
Treasure: 6000 sp = 600 XP, 1300 GP = 1300 XP; shield +1; staff of healing
Feats of Exploration: 1 minor (five rooms) @ 255 XP

From monsters, they gain 975 XP. From treasure, they gain 1900 XP. From feats of exploration, they gain 255 XP. In total, that’s 3130 XP, which is 626 XP each before bonuses. They also each get 380 gold.

That’s enough for Chuckles to reach third level as a Barbarian. Similarly, Krimkol reaches third level as a Dwarven Priest. I’ll take care of that bookkeeping at the start of the next session.