Stonehell Session 5
Another session, another report! Trying to stay ahead of the curve here so hopefully this report will go out there before too long. (oops) I do apologize in getting the name wrong for one of the characters. twice. Shit, I'll do better if I can.
Also, it totally slipped my mind to look at resources for expanded equipment lists. I think I can try to pull something up by next session.
This session we are joined by Lomwoginn the Dwarf Magic User. Charlice Moonstone the Human Fighter. Echo Enoch the Half-elf Anti-Cleric.
The party decide to start out in the Contested Corridors. Wanting to go back to the room with the Sphinx, the party hurries over. I'll admit, I forgot I restocked this room before the session and didn't use the 'monsters' I rolled. It was just a bunch of bats but they could have triggered a forced random event depending on what the PCs do. Anyway, the PCs entered in the room with the chance of a random encounter. Rolled a D6 aaaand, 1. This is probably why I forgot to think of the bats. What is the encounter? Doom Lure. Great - I'll need a few minutes to figure out their deal. They mimic other creatures and do what they can to avoid any conflict. They hang out by traps too. And for reasons, they are unique to the dungeon. So I do not think the PCs would know of them. I rolled randomly to see what it might be, D20 on the encounter table. And a Fire Beetle! Okay, I used my best judgement and placed it behind the portcullis... that happened to be trapped. Again, they try to lure adventurers in to traps.
Echo Enoch took the bait and tried to interact with the beetle. However, they would not interact with the portcullis itself. In hindsight, I think I make it obvious when things might be trapped. When asking for clarifying details on the character's actions, players get so paranoid of their environment. "Are you sure?" and "Do you touch the portcullis?" are right on the nose. But things work out the way they do and one the PCs, Charlice, grabbed the portcullis to lift it. I made sure to give them a chance to react to the Green Slime now oozing down from the ceiling. I looked at the entry for it in Delving Deeper, here. And it left me with more questions than answers. I ruled that if the monster was dealt heavy impact, it might try to back off. Also, the text didn't say anything about magic weapons, or fire. So Lomwoginn tried to 'shoo' it away with a lit torch. I made the ruling that this monster didn't like fire and tried to move away from the flames. After another round of the party trying to get rid of it, it retreats out of the room. It melted the portcullis iron bars on the way out.
Now, back to the Sphinx. The party spent a large amount of time here, turns wise. Trying to decipher the riddles, the party was left with just guessing. The module was a little vague on the rules in which the party was allowed to interact with the Sphinx. So I allowed them to ask the Sphinx for riddles at the edge of the room. To compensate for the change, I just moved time forward more frequently to see if random encounters would trigger. And one did! Another mischief of Giant Rats. These things have really fucked up the players several times up to this point. This was a creature they did not want to interact with. So they went through the portcullis that the Slime melted. The party hid behind the corner and waited for the pack of rats to pass by. Once it was safe, they continue with the riddles. The Party does get to the last question and are successful in solving one of the riddles. A fair bit of coin along some potions of extra healing. Since Stonehell was written for Labyrinth Lord, I'll just look for similar wording in Delving Deeper. Sure enough, we look at the potions section and find what we are looking for. Extra Curing. Similar wording and heals for a lot. That may not be as useful for the party now. But if they hold on to it, then should come in handy once the party levels up a little.
From here, the party moves South then East. They enter the Machine Room. This is a room where some interesting things can happen. Weird goo, spits of steam, and the chance of death from explosion. But mostly, the party just triggered the chance for random encounters from the noise they were making from interacting with the machine. So, the first random encounter. Giant Ferrets. How many? Three. Cool, one for each party member. Though, I didn't think of that at the time. I was face palming from rolling 11 on the reaction for the Ferrets. Which meant they they were quite positive. Of course, my party members being who they are, wanted to immediately adopt the Ferrets. Offering food, crouching to not look threatening, and cooing to bring them closer. Hey, with that high of a reaction roll, I figured might as well let the party get what they want. So now, each member has their own Giant Ferret. Lomwoginn named theirs Farraday. Charlice named theirs Mr. Wiggles. And Echo Enoch named theirs Ferretnand. More fiddling with the machine triggered another random encounter.
The sound of boots and dim torch light in the distance. The party grab their new companions and hide in the machine room. Closing the door and covering their lantern, they hold still with bated breath. Voices on the other side of the door, "gut them when I get the chance" and other reference to the party. Bandits. Searching these halls in hopes for an easy payday. I rolled to see if the bandits would check the door. A moment of silence and the sound of boots continue down the hall to the East. The party waited behind the door until the torch light could no longer be seen.
I'll pass over some detail to make sure this doesn't get too long. But the party decides to move on and explore more rooms towards the South West of the Contested Corridors. They find a trap that is protecting a secret door. Running into a group of goblins and almost had a moment of triggering combat. Then followed up with hitting a couple storerooms, the party found a grappling hook that they were eager to find some use of. They go in to a 'throne' room, where the only remaining audience were insects. Then, something wild happened shortly after this.
The party comes to a set of double doors. They hear murmuring on the other side and believe that whatever is on the other side, is bad news. It was definitely bad news. A group of Berserkers. They don't roll for reaction, they just attack. The Party thought it might've been the group of bandits earlier. Echo Enoch, remembered they had the Helm of Telepathy. And they decided to use it to influence one of the figures on the other side. Just enough to trigger a fight among themselves. Honestly, I just went with my gut, had Echo Enoch roll 2d6 and tell me the result. I didn't write down the result itself but I remember that the result was high. It might have been 11? But either way, I said that Echo Enoch successful. This resulted in the Berserkers to fight among themselves. With the sound of only one heavily breath, the party barges in. Surprise round of initiative, and Echo Enoch threw a hammer to one tap the only Berserker standing. Hey, this was an awesome sequence. The party used the tools they had and did so in a cool way. I gave everyone 100 XP. Not something I plan to frequently do, but it was cool to see something like this play out. The party gather what loot they could find and we ended the session here.
It was a good session for exploring a lot of rooms. The party didn't make it out with much money this time around. But surviving is a greater achievement on its own. I do think my players are adopting to this style of play well. I have yet to ask if they would be interesting in more gear to buy in town, but I'm sure they would be happy for the opportunity. We will not have our next session for a few weeks. So heads up, it'll be some time before session 6 is out there.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day/night!