Adventures in a Doomed World: Session 26

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 Adventures and some homebrew rules. The characters started as level 0 peasants and have since levelled up to become heroes.

Introduction

The party, having lost their rogue Helia during combat with a demon cult, are on their way back to their home village of Keyham to recruit a new adventurer before they travel a hundred miles west to the town of Seethorpe. There they'll look for Thiri, the dwarvern scholar of ancient languages who may recognise the symbol they've found in two different monster lairs.

The Adventure

Stilda, Cyna and Bryne arrive in Keyham at dusk and go to visit their friend Phomund, in charge of recruiting locals when they need them.

Has Phomund found any potential recruits? (Likely)

Yes.

We'll say he's found D4 recruits: 1.

Let's roll up the character.

Eardbed, human male hermit

STR: 7 (-1)

DEX: 11

CON: 8 (-1)

INT: 11

WIS: 10

CHA: 9

HP: 1

AC: 9 (unarmoured)

He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He is seasoned by age and experience but still in his prime. He is altruistic, given to helping those in need but also a bit paranoid.

They greet him suspiciously. He looks weak from spending years living in a tiny hut on the plains and all he owns is a small club (1D4 damage die), the rags he wears and one pound of magic mushrooms. "Look," Cyna says, "We can't go spending our hard earned gold on kitting him out with the best gear. If he wants to come with us he'll have to prove himself in the field."

Like Stilda, Cyna and Bryne, Eardbed will start at level zero with -100 XP, no attack bonus and no fray die. If he survives long enough to reach 1 XP then he'll gain a class of his choice and everything that comes with it - including a few more hit points!

"Alright," Stilda replies, "But let's sell Helia's pony and get him a proper horse at least. We don't want him lagging behind and getting eaten by monsters."

They stay the night at the inn together getting to know Eardbed, then in the morning they sell Thamas the pony at the stables and buy a new horse, Oppo. This leaves them with 497.12GP. Now they're ready to set off for Seethorpe. It's about 100 miles west of Keyham, towards the centre of Lond. The furthest they've been is the goblin cave 30 miles west, and after that it's unknown territory.

They ride out into the hills, making slow progress on the uneven land. A few hours after passing the ruined Vathmang Temple the sun sets and they make camp. The next day they travel across rolling plains. In the afternoon they see a pack of seventeen gnolls making their way towards them. They could outrun them on the horses but the heroes are never ones to shy away from a battle, and it's a good chance to test Eardbed's mettle (and his one hit point).

They dismount and both groups charge at each other, the gnolls spread out in a rabble. There are five archers among the gnolls which could prove challenging. Stilda and Cyna equip their crossbows and march forward, shooting and reloading, but missing each shot. Soon they are within range of Bryne's magic so she casts sleep on a group of them, but only one of them falls!

The fight is chaotic, all the gnolls with melee weapons rushing forward and trying to crowd the heroes. Stilda is in the middle of a group of them, fending off attacks with her shield when she sees three gnoll archers creeping around the edge of the battle. One of them looses an arrow at Eardbed and it hits him square in the chest, killing him. The battle rages on but eventually sixteen gnolls are slain and one flees.

The surviving heroes are badly bloodied but Stilda manages to bandage most of their wounds. They receive 1200 XP for killing so many gnolls, and find 73 gold pieces and 161 silver pieces, a good haul! Cyna levels up to level 3. She gains 4 HP and +1 attack bonus. She gains 1 point in her Athletics trait, bringing it to 3.

They mourn the loss of Eardbed and question the wisdom of trying to train someone so weak in real combat, and then bury him as best they can using Cyna's pitchfork to dig. "He lived in the wilderness, it is fitting he should rest there." Says Stilda. After that they make camp where they are and try to get some rest and heal up.

The next morning they look to the west and see the mountain range that sits to the north of the goblin cave they cleared out a few weeks ago. It will be much easier to avoid it and keep going across the plains so they go southwest around the mountains. Soon they come to the swamp where the goblins made their home and their progress slows right down as the horses have to pick a winding path through shallow water and bits of soft ground.

They refill their waterskins at a stream but the water is bad (terrain event). They start to feel a bit off during the afternoon. They must each make constitution checks to avoid becoming ill and unable to travel for 1D4 days. Stilda fails hers and begins throwing up. They'll have to make camp for the next day while she recovers. Since it's her who's ill she can't use her healing skill to cure it, she's too sick.

They rest under some trees until the same time the following day, giving Stilda some fresh water now and then until she's ready to leave again. They decide it would be best to leave the swamp, and consulting their map they can see that the village of Laford (that they recaptured from the goblins) is twelve miles to the south, so they change direction, aiming to stop off there and resupply. The sun goes down again before they reach the plains though, and they're forced to spend one more night in the swamp.

They arrive in Laford at midday. It's been a while since they liberated the small village and life has started to return to it, but they don't yet have an inn for the party to stay at. However since the villagers are still grateful for helping them retake their village from the goblins they make room in their homes for the heroes as well as feed them. They pay 8 silver pieces for stabling and feeding the horses, then stay the night there.

The next day they ask around to see if anyone wants to join them on their travels.

Stilda makes a charisma check (9: Simple)

10 -2 Cha modifier +1 reputation in Laford = 9. Success!

Cyna makes a charisma check (9: Simple)

11 +1 Cha modifier +1 reputation in Laford = 3. Success!

Bryne makes a charisma check (9: Simple)

7 -1 Cha modifier +1 reputation in Laford = 7. Failure.

They have found two recruits.

Bando, human male mariner

STR: 14 (+1)

DEX: 14 (+1)

CON: 13 (+1)

INT: 9

WIS: 13 (+1)

CHA: 7 (-1)

HP: 4

AC: 9 (unarmoured)

He has braided white hair and blue eyes, and wears a cutlass at his belt (1D6 damage), a souvenir from his days at sea in the Royal Lond Navy. Quite old now, he says he is bored living so far from the sea and seeks one last big adventure.

Ellyn, human female maidservant

STR: 6 (-1)

DEX: 7 (-1)

CON: 15 (+1)

INT: 13 (+1)

WIS: 5 (-2)

CHA: 9

HP: 5

AC: 9 (unarmoured)

She has messy black hair and hazel eyes, and has brought a carpet beater (1D4 damage). She is in her late thirties and has a curiosity for the more mysterious things of the world.

The heroes take both of them.

Are there any horses for sale in Laford, considering it's only recently been repopulated? (Unlikely)

No.

They'll be slowed down as Bando will be on foot, but hopefully they can buy an extra horse for Ellyn if both recruits survive the trip to Seethorpe. In the morning they stock up on rations and horse feed (15GP) then set off west into the plains. Almost immediately the ground turns boggy and they find themselves in another swamp, which slows their progress. They come upon the ruins of an ancient tradepost built thousands of years ago. Bando and Ellyn say it was the site of a massacre long ago, and human bones have been discovered beneath the earth here.

Unfortunately the heroes will have to make camp in the eerie ruins tonight. The night passes uneventfully however, and they continue through the swamp. Another day passes and they slowly make progress through the treacherous terrain. On the third day in the swamp they meet a strange looking woman.

Dressed in soiled but fine clothing, the human woman is sitting under a tree, dangerously dehydrated. She asks for water and the heroes give her enough to get her back on her feet (-1 ration). Introducing herself as Lady Eudocia Gerd, she explains that she was on her way to Seethorpe to buy a painting from an accomplished painter resident there, but her guide got lost in the swamp and abandoned her days ago.

The heroes offer to let her ride one of their horses and travel with them to Seethorpe, and she promises a vague reward of some kind when they arrive there. They enter the next hex tile the following day and unfortunately it's more swamp.

Three more days pass and they emerge out into plains once again, then spend two days travelling through light woodland before finding themselves in another swamp the day after. Here they encounter two poisonous pit vipers, very deadly snakes. We'll do a morale check since the party is such a large group now... Both pass their morale check and slither towards the heroes.

I'm getting a bit sick of swamps so I'm going to reduce the likelihood of finding them, but make them deadlier, so we'll say the heroes have to move at half speed through swamps except for when they're on land. This won't apply to the snakes as they live here and can swim.

The heroes can see the snakes from a distance, so they switch to their ranged weapons (those that have them) and trudge through the wet ground slowly. Stilda aims her crossbow and shoots one of the snakes, almost cutting it in half. The other snake makes a morale check and passes. Cyna tries to shoot the other one but misses. None of the others are in range yet, so the heroes and snake continue towards each other. Again Stilda shoots and hits, the bolt killing the snake outright. The heroes gain 74 XP between them and continue on through the swamp.