Stonehell Session 4
Oh, its been a minute. Turns out that feeling lazy can really get in the way of writing. Or I was just having a moment of no executive function. Either way, we're here now and time for another session report!
Today we are joined by Charlice Moonstone the Human Fighter, Lomwaggin the Dwarf Magic User, and A. A. Alan the Halfling Cleric.
The party was faced with a choice. Start exploration of the Quiet Halls, or find the other exits of the Antechamber. I told the party that they still had yet to find the staircase down and the exit to the Contested Corridors. I feel like its useful for a GM to give these kinds of details to the party. As a way to say "Hey, you explored most of the map. Here are the things you missed." My players are also aware that I restock the rooms they have already explored. So they know that there is a chance of new treasure in the rooms they already explored.
Regardless, at this stage the party decides to move on and explore more of the Antechamber. I made assumptions that the party props open the one way door that leads to room 19. I mark a couple turns for moving through the dungeon and no random encounters so far. Room 18 was left empty from the previous session and the party notice the walls are half painted. I wanted to leave more hints here that the Kobolds are the caretakers of the dungeon, and rooms are being actively maintained. Sadly, nothing of interest so the party moves on East.
Here they run in to a group of Orcs. I was not sure on the reaction since the party have yet to aggravate Orcs, so I used a normal reaction roll. Positive result! The Orcs were friendly and quite talkative. Even one of them was recruited as a hireling. This hireling was named Lash. The party were able to do this since a couple of them spoke the Orc language so diplomacy can be simplified. I figure that the Orcs would be okay with this, to let one of them go. Easy coin since there are always adventurers always looking to hire more help. I think with Lash in the party the Orc encounters would be less likely to be hostile. And Goblin encounters would more likely go poorly.
The party saw the barricades the Orcs had and decided to not press further East, and instead double back and move West. The party discover a small room, before a large chamber, that has a glyph on the wall. Nervous to investigate, the party leaves it alone. But they continue to be curious about it. The large chamber has debris with meager things of value and the hallway to the West leads downward. Ta-da! The party finds the first staircase down. I spoke with the players directly that difficulty does go up the further down they go. With this in mind, the players wanted to continue exploring the first floor of the dungeon.
Heading back East, to the crossroads connecting to the Contested Corridors, they run in to a group of Kobolds. The Kobolds have not run in to these party members before, yet the reaction roll was very positive! The entire party had the ability to speak in Kobold and with this, they were left with some information. To get to the Kobold Korners, the party would have to go through the Contested Corridors, or the Quiet Halls. Before the party and Kobolds parted ways, the Kobolds told of a new 'Dragon' is nested by the well in a previously explored room.
After that encounter, the party moves South and enter the Contested Corridors! Lash tells the party of the East passages are home to her tribe, the Open Sores. The party take the West passages. These passages were natural formed caves that the dungeon connects to. Plenty of edible mushrooms here that the party later collects. I allow it as an equivalent to a ration. The next encounter were another group Kobolds. I rolled uncertain/questioning on the reaction table. This probably threw off my players a bit as the Kobolds wanted to not interact with the party. It probably would have done south were it not for the party members speaking Kobold to calm them down. The Kobolds seeing the party not as aggressors, scurry away.
Exploration continues and largely uneventful. They discover a room with magnetic lodestone and Lomwaggin was pinned to the walls for a little bit. Later, they found a room with a red liquid dripping down the walls that the party decide to all collect. The module mentions that it would take 3 dungeon turns to collect enough to be sold for 100gp each. That is a decent chunk of change to risk an encounter.
Shortly after this, we ended the session with the party discovering the Sphinx statue. Lomwaggin wanted to return here after memorizing "Read Magic" again so they could read the inscriptions. This will be another fun room. I hope my players like riddles. Once the party were leaving the dungeon, the Cleric A. A. Alan wanted to stop by the gamble room again. I warned my players again that this action can lead to death. Accepting the risk, the Cleric spun the wheel twice. First roll, a gem. Decent value at 300gp. And the second, save vs spells or death. Shit, I thought. A failed save later and Stonehell claims another.
This was one of those sessions that seldom happen. Absolutely zero combat took place. I like these type of sessions. Whether intentional or not, to help break the expectation that everything is out to get you. Also, I feel that it gives players more chances to interact with the world. Relationships change and there is more detail given to players to munch on. No changes to rulings this time around. But I have considered adding more items for characters to buy beyond character creation. I think an expanded equipment list would spice things up. I'll do a little research on this and post my findings in the next session report.
I'll be running a second campaign here soon. So expect an infrequent session report as we start a new campaign with a different system using Eco Mofos!!