Causticas the elf, F2/MU2
Korin Clubfoot, dwarf, F2
Dodecatheon, MU2
SESSION REPORT:
The party has saved Hommlet from the evil cleric's gang and a possible resurrection of the cult that ran the Moathouse 10 years ago. However, they have sustained serious injuries and they were also ready to train and become stronger. So, they 've spent more than 1 month to recover and train to become stronger.
On Planting 1st, they were ready to go. They have discussed about what their next move could be. One option was to visit the Temple of Elemental Evil to make sure that there is not any more cultists' activity, in case that the cleric's gang was part of it. Another one came through the interrogation of some of the cleric's goons. They revealed that they had first met and joined forces with Lorath in a village known as Orlane. Also, the party have heard rumours about pirate activity close to the port of Dyvers.
They decide to follow the clues they 've got from the interrogation and visit Orlane. So, they bought 4 mules, one for each of the party members and one more to carry their staff and started their long journey.
Unfortunately the journey didn't start really well. Just a few hours after they left Hommlet, they were attacked by 13 stirges! Causticas managed to put some of them to sleep, however the monsters quickly attacked and put out of the fight Dodecatheon and soon enough Causticas was unconsious as well! Korin was alone against 3 stirges that survived the first rounds of the battle. After a gruesome fight, he managed to defeat them. However, now two of his comrades were unconsious and the extra mule was dead. So he tried to patch his friends' wounds and returned to Hommlet.
There, the party rested for a week and after that they trained once more to become stronger. On Planting 14th, they would be ready to head to Orlane, let's hope successfully this time!
LOOT AND KILLS:
Loot:
-
Kills:
13 stirges
DECEASED PLAYER CHARACTERS:
Urikas the elf, MU1/F1, Readying 25, 576 CY. Eaten by ghouls
Zyla the elf, C1, Readying 25, 576 CY. Eaten by ghouls
Jack, F1, Reading 28, 576 CY. Killed by the evil cleric named Lorath
THOUGHTS AFTER THE SESSION:
After T1 was over, we had a discussion with the players about what modules to try next and how to continue. I offered them a few choices and they picked N1, noone had played it and also made sense to follow the clue that the goon gave them.
At this point, it's not a classic adventure, meaning that I pick modules and just try to connect them by adding a few extra pieces of lore. I was still not very familiar with the setting and I didn't want to start creating too much of my own things in here. Using modules was a good choice I think because it helped me experiment a little more with old school gaming and learn a few more things about running ADnD/ OSRIC and about Greyhawk.
One thing that we learned in this session (and it is going to be a reccuring theme in this campaign) is that travelling is EXTREMELY dangerous. For the encounter checks, I am using the OSRIC rules, dividing the day in 3 phases (morning, afternoon and night) and rolling a d12 in each, with a 1 meaning an encounter. I will not use for now the Greyhawk encounter tables, just the ones provided by OSRIC. And guess what happened! The first freaking roll was an 1!!!
The stirges were extremely tough. In every battle, I roll everything openly, the attack rolls, the damage, the enemies hp etc. Most of the PCs made peace with the idea that this is a TPK since it came down to 3 stirges vs 1 dwarf. However Korin has proven to be too tough for the stirges sting.
This encounter however helped the party very much. Yes, all the preparations for the journey (calculating rations, trying to see what animal they would buy for transporation, picking the route that they would take etc) were in vain, but if you remember, they got a TON of xp in last session. This means that not only they gained a level, but they lost a big part of the xp because the amount that every PC was enough to take two levels at once! So, according to the OSRIC rules they all took just 1 xp before they were ready to level up! And guess what! The stirges, although they almost caused a TPK, gave them enough XP to be ready to train once more!
Another ruling that I stopped using from now on was the one about using bandages to stop the bleeding. In the previous session I had the characters roll a d20 under the wisdom to succeed but from now on, I will allow them to stop the bleeding if they have bandages and spend a whole round helping their comrades.
There is a good and a bad side in everything I guess. Let's see if next time, they will manage to get to Orlane safely!
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