The Dungeon Game: Weekends at Stonehell, session 8
The party finish exploring the first quarter of Stonehell's level 1 and lose one of their war dogs and Sinthia (again).
Party Members
- Tiny Tina - Level 2 Cleric
- Telperion Desh - Level 3 Magician
- Vako Adjacent - Level 2 Paladin
- Sneaky Jan - Level 3 Thief
Followers
Sparkles (Porter and Torchbearer), Packet and Loadwell (Porters), Medium Sized Marta (Woman at Arms), Sinthia (Woman at Arms), Duchess de Capitaine (Woman at Arms), Konan (War Dog), Kurgan (War Dog), Krull (War Dog)
Session Recap
In-Universe Date: April 5th, 3017
Between expeditions, Tina the Titanic hires several workers who, under the supervision of Snorri Broadshoulders, begin work on repairing and rebuilding the Gatehouse and walls into the valley around the dungeon. Also the first batch of adventurers to be taxed come through. While they grumble about the poor conditions at Crownfall Keep, they still pay up and do appreciate having a place to rest before and after they go into the dungeon.
Speaking of the dungeon, it's another delve for the Crownless Company into the belly of Stonehell. First order of business is to bring Telperion to the sigil they found in the previous delve, who casts Read Magic to discern that it is some sort of teleportation magic. Deciding not to risk being teleported to God knows where, the party leave it alone and instead head east.
Sneaky Jan scouts ahead, and nearly gets himself zapped by a trap between a pair of metal statues. The crackle of the zap however alerts the nearby orcs who throw a few javelins at him and then vanish back into their room. The group decide to retreat back north into a more defensible position. Turns out the orcs had the same idea, trying to ambush the party from the back, but instead getting hit with a Sleep spell for their troubles. However being the clever bastards that they are, a detachment instead drive the mass of giant arts in the nearby refuse room/toilet up towards the party.
The panicked rats start to bite and lash out at the group, an unfortunate bite leading to Sinthia Headgiver to contact a fast acting and horrible disease which proves to be fatal. The orcs themselves use the distraction to press into the party, and after much violence they murder Krull, one of the party's precious War Dogs. With their pet slain, the Crownless Company have had enough and slaughter the remaining orcs.
After moving their fallen and the loot from the orcs close to the stairs up, the group decide to see where the orcs came from, finding a common room lit up by a dim light bulb powered by some copper wiring, and a nearby room which was clearly abandoned recently as the door is still open. As they return back to the stairs they are assaulted by another orc force - several skirmishers lead by a captain in plate armor and wielding an enormous great axe.
The group fight them off successfully and without any further losses and for their trouble get a magical two-handed weapon, some gold and more equipment to sell back on the markets back in Zorb.
After resting for a day to heal up and catch their breath, the group head back once more down into the dungeon and further south, reaching the actual orc territory, judging by the graffiti on the walls. They run into some kobolds and pay them to learn where their rumored market is, as well as to get the lay of the land. The kobolds are as helpful as they can be, before leaving. Exploring more of the caves the party stop to harvest some dungeon mushrooms, but get accosted by some aggressive subterranean locusts. They get rid of them easily enough, save for Telperion getting covered in locust spit and throwing out his last several meals.
Deciding that enough is enough the group pack up their loot and head back to Zorb. Back in town, Tina once again recruits Sinthia...or someone who appears to be her anyway.
Observations
This was a short session due to player schedules, however a lot happened in that short period regardless. The orcs finally claim an actual victim in Krull the war dog. While the war dogs were fairly cheap to buy and equip, they are also rare and scarce and not as available as other hirelings.
While the party did not find much in the way of treasure, they did at least fully explore and fill out their map which I think is a good achievement for sure! That and finding their first magical weapon, though being a two-handed one makes it awkward as the party's primary fighter, the paladin Vako Adjacent, uses a shield and sword.
The first fight against the orcs and rats I think was interesting, though I know my players are growing annoyed and bored with orcs at this point. However, similarly to the fight with the bugbear and orcs last session, this one I think produced and interesting combat situation by mixing two different enemies. While the rats are not super dangerous they could spread around and basically attack anyone (and they did), while the orcs are heavier hitters and use actual strategy and tactics when approaching enemies (in this case attacking the clearly less armored and more dangerous dogs). This mixture of enemy types seems to just produce more dynamic combats, which tracks with Bateman's suggestions on Facilitating Fiendish Fights.
This is something I try and keep in mind when I run fights, making sure different enemies act in different ways depending on who or what they are facing. I don't know how well this comes through in practice, but I am trying at least. But I will admit, there's only so many fights against orcs that one can have before it becomes clear what their tactics are. And the party now having access to 5 sleeps per day makes most of them just a waste of resource rather than actual danger. Something to think about over the next week, which I'll be skipping as it's Easter here in Bulgaria.
On broader campaign note, after a discussion on the Gay Beholder OSR Discord about torches and their aesthetics, I decided I am going to just change that aspect of my setting and remove those, instead replacing torches and oil lanterns with battery powered flashlights and..er...lanterns. I also am including instances of electrical lighting in the dungeon as well, which for those of you who have read Stonehell know isn't too much of a real stretch.
I am trying to lean more into the more modern elements and closer to the science fantasy bits of the setting, which are already there just have not been pushed to the forefront as much yet.