Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 7

A bandit in the Tunnels of Mothric. Image by Midjourney.

I'm playing a mashup of Scarlet Heroes and Basic Fantasy RPG with a few supplements to turn it into a solo fantasy hexcrawl in the world of Eilobar, a doomed land entering its end times. I'm using the Level 0 Character Tumbler, Hexcrawl Aventures and also 47 Critical Hit Tables to Spice Up Your Game. Starting with level 0 characters I'm attempting to keep them alive long enough to level up from -100 to 1 XP and become actual heroes

Introduction

Last time the heroes went out to the swamp to obtain chelonian scales for Yorthmaf the wizard, in order for him to bind a new spellbook for Geoffrey. After hunting down a chelonian and killing it, they went back to Keyham.

The Adventure

They give the chelonian scales to Yorthmaf. He says it will take him until the next day to bind the spellbook and transcribe a spell. He agrees to transcribe Magic Missile (from the BFRPG rulebook, probably the most useful spell for a combat heavy first level adventure). Let's award 2D12 XP for finishing this simple quest. We're continuing with the levelling up mechanic from BFRPG rather than switching to Scarlet Heroes'. Each hero receives 9 XP.

They pay for a good meal and rest in their homes. The next day they collect the spellbook and go to the market. Let's say in a village they can only sell loot for 25-50% of its value - they'll have to take what they can get for it. Celomir gets 29GP for the necklace.

They now need more rations and adventuring gear before going to the Tunnels. It's probably a good idea to get some dungeoneering equipment. Celomir buys a shortsword and keeps his dagger as a backup weapon, and restocks his arrows.

Between them they have enough rations for two weeks (including dog food), thieves' tools, a 50ft rope and 12 iron spikes, 10 bandages (we'll add the rule that in order to heal over time they need bandages), a lantern and a flask of oil for it.

Also, the equipment list in BFRPG lists bedrolls under adventuring gear. Our heroes can't even afford one yet, so we'll have to give them some kind of penalty when they have to rest outdoors on the ground. We'll say -1 to attack rolls and any checks they make.

Before we leave for the Tunnels of Mothric, let's have a closer look at the heroes, using the character generator in Maze Rats.

Celomir, male elf thief and party leader

Age: 53

Background: Hunter

Appearance: Willowy and bronze-skinned

Personality: Loyal to his friends

Stilda, female human fighter

Age: 20

Background: Barber

Appearance: Furrowed brows and a broken nose

Personality: Menacing

Geoffrey, male human wizard

Age: 47

Background: Wizard's apprentice

Appearance: Gorgeous! But with a scarred face.

Personality: Chipper

The journey to the Tunnels is uneventful. When they arrive three days later they discover the wheelbarrow left by Hily the Carter several weeks ago. I've lost the details of what loot was in it, so we'll say 2D6 GP's worth - 7GP. They can push it back to town on their way home later.

They enter the dungeon. The two giant crab spiders that killed and ate Hily, Urim, Dinas and Gerry are somewhere on the loose, so if we roll wandering monsters it will be them (edit: I completely forgot about this for the whole session. Oops.) They explore the first floor for a while, finding dead goblins and stirges, and empty treasure chests. During this time no wandering monsters find them.

They discover the library with the sixteen wolves that their predecessors trapped inside there. Four have starved or been cannibalised by the stronger ones now (1D6's worth). The others are ravenous and attack immediately.

Seeing how many there are, the heroes back up from the door and let them try to get through it one by one. It's cheesy but since the dumb animals are starving they fall for it.

The first wolf attacks Stilda but misses.

Stilda fights back but misses the wolf. Geoffrey swings for it with his mace, and doesn't manage to summon the energy to hit it with any magic. Celomir shoots at it diagonally, between Geoffrey and Stilda but misses. Finally Dill jumps at it, also missing.

The fight continues until they've thinned the pack down to six, Stilda taking some bites in the process, and then the heroes step back and form a defensive wall, letting the beasts rush into the room. They go wild, biting everyone and sadly killing Dill.

The heroes fight back, Geoffrey casting Magic Missile on one and blasting it across the library, Stilda killing another.

One wolf bites Stilda deeply.

Defy death (Stilda can roll a 1D4 damage die and take that damage instead of the fatal blow. Each hero can do this once per expedition. Since she has 1HP, she has to roll a 1, no damage, to survive).

She rolls 1: No damage!

Stilda endures the pain and slashes at the wolf, cutting its throat. Only two remain now. (I realise I forgot about morale again. We should have done a moral check for each wolf when the first one died, and then when half had died, according to SC rules).

Both wolves whimper, turn tail and flee out of the dungeon. What a fight! It's fun using the fray dice to inflict extra damage each round, and makes it a bit more survivable. Stilda is on 1HP, Celomir is on 2, Geoffrey 3 and Dill is dead. Geoffrey receives 375XP, Celomir 75 and Stilda 150.

The SC rules say heroes can take a few minutes to rest and bandage their wounds after each fight, which will heal 2HP. So let's use the bandages for that now. Everyone is fully healed except Stilda who needs more time. They go outside to help her get some rest, and Celomir decides to use his Hunting trait to skin the wolves and take their pelts.

Celomir spends the day skinning the wolves and leaves the pelts to dry near the entrance. He is able to salvage eleven out of the twelve. It will take Stilda four more days to heal, so they get comfortable and wait.

On the third day eight lions wander towards the dungeon entrance. As they're animals we'll roll for their reaction. Frist Celomir takes cover to prepare an ambush, just in case.

Hide check: Hide +1, Dexterity +2, slept without bedroll -1

Success!

He hides in the undergrowth.

Lions' reaction roll: Favourable.

Luckily the lions pass by, ignoring them. On the fourth day eight giant flies approach their position. They take the same preparations as yesterday (Celomir succeeds at hiding).

Reaction roll: Unfavourable.

Do the flies attack? (50/50)

No. They buzz off.

Fully healed up, they enter the dungeon. Almost immediately they are confronted by six orcs wandering down a corridor.

Celomir shoots at them, killing one. Stilda moves into position next to him in the narrow corridor.

The orcs charge. One chops at Stilda, she is wounded again.

Stilda fights back, killing the one that hit her. Celomir cuts another down with his sword.

The orcs attack again, one dropping its sword (critical miss) and fumbling around for it on the floor. Another hits Stilda's leather apron,, not harming her.

Stilda brings her sword down on the head of the one reaching for its sword, killing it. Celomir stabs the other next to Stilda, killing it, then whips his sword back and chops into the one closest to him, killing it too. (AGAIN I forgot morale checks!)

They loot 32.40GP from the orcs along with their weapons: two shortswords, a mace, handaxe and warhammer. Stilda bandages her wound and they move on. They can't loot the orc's armour as it wouldn't fit a human, so they couldn't sell it.

They walk down the corridor the orcs came from, enter a room with some simple furniture and a chest with three human bandits guarding it.

Celomir shoots one but it bounces off his leather armour. Stilda charges at one, cutting open his stomach, killing him. Emboldened, Geoffrey runs at the first one with his mace (critical hit!). He smashes the man's face back into his skull, leaving him a quivering mess on the floor. He tries to zap the last bandit from a distance but is unable to summon the energy.

The remaining bandit holds his nerve (morale check passed). He advances on Stilda with a mace. She easily parries his strike. The heroes surround him. Celomir demands he surrender.

Charisma check: Charisma +2. (Average difficulty, 11 on 2D8).

Success!

The man throws his mace down. "Where is Mothric?" Celomir demands.

"He's - he's on the next floor down in his lair."

"What manner of creature is he?"

"I don't know, but he's good with magic, he looks like a goblin but sort of blue."

"Sounds like a boglin," says Geoffrey, "I've heard they're spellcasters."

"Are there any more lairs of monsters in this area?" asks Stilda.

"Yeah, I've seen two libraries to the south. One has a nest of giant bees, the lads said they saw about twenty of them. The other has cobras crawling all over the shelves."

"Alright," Stilda says, "Now give us yer gold and get lost."

He hands over 2GP and runs. They find 5GP among the corpses and take the mace, a shortsword and a longsword. None of the armour is usable. The treasure chest contained the bandits' hoard - 60 gold!

They decide to clear the rest of the area except for the libraries, since one sting or bite is enough to kill and the creatures will starve anyway once they've killed Mothric.

They head north and open a door into what looks like a tomb. Eight armed skeletons stand guard over some urns here. Stilda is carrying the weapons they've looted so she pulls a mace out of her bag, which takes one turn.

Celomir runs in and attacks the nearest skeleton. He hacks at it with his shortsword and chips some bone off it. Geoffrey attacks another but misses, then fires a blast of magic at it, shattering it.

The skeletons advance. One of them steps on a pressure plate releasing a poisonous gas! The heroes cough a bit but (succeeding at their saving throws) are fine. The skeletons don't breathe so they're unaffected. They mostly go for Geoffrey and he is hit twice by a shortsword and a club, wounding him badly.

Stilda smashes two skeletons with her mace and steps through the doorway into the tomb with the others. Celomir hits his one again, the force disconnecting all its bones sending them flying. Geoffrey attacks oen but it parries. He flees the room, fearing for his life.

Two skeletons hit Stilda but she bravely fights on.

She swings at one, misses then whirls around and smashes it in one strike. Celomir misses his.

A skeleton marches up to Stilda and hacks her arm with a scimitar.

She roars in pain and wallops it over the skull, smashing it. Celomir smashes the ribs of his one and it dies.

Only one remains but it knows no fear. It swings an axe at Stilda, misses, then she spins around and smashes it with her mace. All is quiet after that.

A difficult fight, and the foul creatures held no treasure. They bandage themselves, healing 1HP each (edit: I forgot it should be 2HP!), and then decide to carry on clearing out the tunnels. They leave the skeletons' weapons where they lie.

The next room is a garbage dump with six goblins working there and a huge deep pit in the floor. A dead body lies in one corner and sacks of refuse are strewn around.

The fight is over quickly, with one goblin thrown into the pit by Stilda, another fleeing and the rest dead. They loot 17GP and a small hoard of cheap jewellry: a malachite amulet, a citrine belly chain and a citrine necklace.

They decide not to push their luck any further and return to Keyham.