Stonehell Session 2
Trigger warning, death(s) of an animal. Not-graphic.
Alright, I'm writing with a headache so there might be some events that I miss. But I will do my best to recap this session. Second session happened as it was scheduled. So that's exciting! Mild spoiler below for any of my players. You can skip it by looking for the other line.
First thing I had to do before this session, restock the dungeon. A week has passed in the dungeon and some denizens moved back in the previously explored rooms. I used the procedure that was in the Stonehell module to generate new content of explored rooms. The more difficult thing I had to roll for were the treasure tables. I ended up using Labyrinth Lord but it was just for this instance. This is the version I looked at. The art free pdf is costs nothing to download on DriveThru.
For restocking the monsters, I just used the random encounter table. Most of the rolls were empty, that's to be expected, but I used the context is some of the other rooms as to why there was a lone dwarf in one room and multiple rats in another. Just as I am writing this, I thought of a reason for the treasure. Bandits would've tried to stash valuables they have found or the kobolds just tossing 'junk' in corners of the room. Out of sight, out of mind.
Either way, the rest of my prep was just reading ahead on more rooms. Just in case, I read the second level and most of the first floor. The narrative really builds itself once you give it time. Anyway lets get in to what we're here for.
Today's session we are joined by Joel Osteen, the Anti-Cleric (reminder, this is to be ironic and funny). Ashton Moonston, the Thief. Barthor, the Magic User. And finally, Sweat, the Fighter with Dekori, the Magic User.
I wasn't sure if my players wanted to start on the surface again. I didn't change anything to the rooms they already explored. So I thought it would be no point in running them through that again. Players were here to go dungeon diving so I threw them in the first floor, first room. The members that were in last week's session decided that it would be best to explore the more immediate rooms. Scout out the area and make decisions on where to further explore.
Sadly, there is not much on the first floor. At least, this part of the first floor. The only thing greeting the party were burned rooms and rotted furniture. Except the pit trap that is close to the entrance. I felt I had to ask specifically where the light bearer was. Because I try to telegraph environmental danger as much as I can and wanted it to make sense. I tried to imagine how a pit trap might look. My first thought lead me to thinking its similar to how a pit trap would look like above ground. Thin mesh with leaves covering the pit below. Except, all I had to work with was stone. Well, hallways with traps have to look different, right? So I made an effort to describe this hallway's floor looks different. It steps down a couple inches and raises back up. Hoping this was enough of a clue to make them ask more questions, it didn't work as well as I would have thought. The party member Sweat just stepped forward and fell down the trap. Only a couple damage so not seriously hurt, but enough to be concerned when entering a fight. Unsure of how to cross the pit now, the party turns back.
The party went further north, to a similar path as last session. Instead of turning left, the went right at the crossroads (where 'da dragon's den' sign is up... thinking about it now, there is no reason to have the sign up there).
They turn in to a refuse room where a combat encounter ensued. The Spitting Cobras killed more of the party member's dogs (more on this later). And the party themselves, unharmed. I thought that a combat encounter would take long enough for a dungeon turn and triggered a random event. A group of Orcs (pig-like in my setting) wandered in, reaction roll: uncertain. One of the party members could thankfully speak Orc. Through talking things out, and no one really wanting to fight, the Orcs went back the direction they came from.
The party moves further north. They pass a room full of cadaver and giant rats. They see some kobolds to the west. They were close enough when they turned the corner that they could see each other. Reaction roll: uncertain. But with a +2 this turns to a friendly encounter. I gave it the +2 because the party was yet to harm any kobolds, and they slayed "Da Dragon" in the last session. Joel handled the entire conversation even though Dekori could speak kobold as well. The encounter went well. The party got some information that the kobolds live far to the south east. It was funny to me how excited the party members were to try to go there and meet up at their home. It might be a couple of sessions before they get that far.
After the kobolds gave a hint on how to deal with the pit trap, the party rush back to the south east to gather materials. This was honestly just me, the GM giving, the party a hint. Because I had a thought, "Oh, this is how I might deal with this situation". And this was a in-play way of telling them that.
In the room that has a one way door, there was a lot of kerfuffle on how to handle the door from not closing all the way. They thought of a solution to prop the door from closing and thought it worked well enough. I still had them roll a D6 to figure how successful they would be. Both characters involved rolled high so I let them work out how the door was propped.
They run in to Snorri, the dwarf architect. I used the description in the module to base this encounter. I didn't roll a reaction since I'm sure Snorri is not interested in a fight at all. And Snorri was too concerned over the stone work that the party was immediately uninterested to press for more questions. Which is a shame, I thought it would have been really funny for the party to sit there, multiple dungeon turns, just to hear Snorri drone on and on. But either way, the party moves on.
There was another refuse room, populated with a lot of giant rats. One of which had a bronze collar. Reaction roll: Negative. I needed a second to think about this. I settled that they were very protective over their territory and didn't want the party to mess around with them. When the party backed off, the rats didn't follow. Well, even though combat is war, the party decide to fight them anyway. A good chunk of this encounter involved a lot of rolling of dice to hit. Joel had one of their dead dogs and threw it in the room. That distracted some of the rats. Barthor came up in the idea to throw oil in the room as well and set the oil on fire. That dealt with a good chunk of the giant rats. But sadly, this was not done in time that Ashton Moonstone died horribly to a rat tearing him apart. Stonehell Dungeon claims another.
The session ended shortly after a retreat to the Stonehell entrance. I rolled if the Orcs in the other room heard the commotion (which was very likely if there was a fight) and they did. The shadowy figures scared the party to book it away. I figured with the fire in the refuse room that the Orcs wouldn't have bothered to give chase. Also, I don't have any chase procedures so I didn't want to deal with that.
I'm really enjoying running this game. I came up with more house rules between sessions and made post about it with the players. They seemed to agree on them, long as I explained more detail on what I was intended. There will definitely be a post going over our house rules and I may comment on them as well. Not sure there will be a session next week so there might be a couple weeks before the third session report is up.
Something to think about for next session. One of the party members tries to bring in hunting dogs. I allowed that they would act in combat rounds, they just acted like a worse and more expensive hireling. Half a hit die is no joke. I think I'll disallow party members to purchase any dogs. Too many graves at this point and I want my party to not lean on them so much.
Hope y'all had fun with this read!