The characters
Kim, thief (John)
Yémos, cleric (John, temporarily)
Mayhem, barbarian (Chris)
Caleb, wizard (Chris)
Anêr, swashbuckler (NPC)
Kúflaug, Orc slave (NPC)
The events
Getting back to the 4th of Párūs, Kim doesn't get the deal she wanted for the cult's items, as the merchant only offered her 40 silver pennies and 10 copper farthings ($130), but she did peddle the weird armor for 92 gold pieces ($1,840). The group chose to first spend that at the Wishing Well tavern over by the West Gate of town.
On that rainy night, they heard a well-coifed woman over at the next table babbling loudly how she didn't think the Lady Lummenólē was all that bad. Kim thought a bit, and remembered that Lummenólē was the Lady of the village and a cleric of Lutōdîvē, the goddess of love. Yémos let Kim know that the followers of Lutōdîvē were a bunch of perverts. Kim shrugged and went on to picking the pockets of the patrons, getting 15 farthings that night.
The next day, they awoke to Caleb coughing. Yémos tried to diagnose what it was, but only could dodge phlegm. They asked the barkeep, who said that there were two clerics in town: Ōrrášus, cleric of Bagóbros near the tavern, and Lady Lummenólē, who lived in Castle Rēláistis, in the southeastern corner of town. Lummenólē was the mightier cleric, but Ōrrášus was nearer and more likely to see Caleb.
So, they walked out into the rain to the Church of Bagóbros, god of crafts and wealth. There they saw Ōrrášus, a tall, pudgy man wearing a dark brown wig. Caleb asked him for help, but Ōrrášus only stared, blinked, then told Caleb not to cough on him. Caleb asked again, and Ōrrášus told him he'd take a look, for a donation, so Caleb handed over 10 farthings. Ōrrášus rolled his eyes, but did look at Caleb, asking him to cough and looking down his throat. Ōrrášus said that it wasn't deadly, but that Caleb should get a few days rest.
So they went back to the Wishing Well, though not after a wagon drove past them and splashed mud and water onto Kúflaug. Caleb rested at a table in the tavern, while Anêr watched Caleb. Mayhem and Kúflaug went fishing down by the docks, and Mayhem got one trout. Yémos and Kim went looking for nuts and berries outside town.
Caleb didn't get any better that night, and the barkeep asked Caleb to say he got his illness from the Pink Moose tavern, lest anyone think Caleb got his illness from the Wishing Well. Kim had seen enough, and he and Yémos take Caleb by the arm to see the Lady Lummenólē. Outside the tavern, a gaggle of pilgrims called loudly for help going to the church of Rōripermónē, the farming goddess, in Órkōn Wall, about five miles away. Kim and Yémos, however, kept dragging Caleb.
After about an hour's walk around the village, they reached Castle Rēláistis, decked out in flowers. Kim holds back a sneeze from the lovage among the flowers, and they ask the two guards before the gate to see the Lady Lummenólē. Again, their first try to get in didn't work, nor did Caleb's coughing, but the guards also opened the doors for 10 farthings. They bade Caleb, Kim, and Yémos to hand over their weapons, and told Caleb to keep away from them.
They walked upstairs as the guards also bade, and waited outside a door, hearing the grunts, screams, and moans of orcs and a woman. After many minutes, two orcs walked out, and asked the gang, "Are you next?" The heroes walked into the room, and met Lady Lummenólē, a slim middle-aged woman, beautiful albeit with silver-grey hair, and wearing little clothing.
She gave Caleb the same diagnosis as did Ōrrášus--more rest--then asked where Caleb had been. He told her he had been at the mines, and no, he had fought no zombies, only skeletons, hobgoblins, and lizard men. She perked up upon hearing about hobgoblins and lizard men, and asked if he had brought back any of the latter.
She had her cook give the heroes a meal of beef stew, then they went on their way back to the Wishing Well, to meet the others who had went fishing again. Caleb kept coughing, and by now his chest was hurting. Yémos cast a Detect Poison spell on Caleb to be sure, but found nothing. They went to bed on the tavern's cots with the rain pouring.
The next morning, Caleb still was in pain, so Yémos cast Major Healing to ease his pain. With that, the gang set out, keen on keeping Caleb away from the smelting in Rēláistis. They chose to head south, to the wooded village of Térrivīš.
In the woods, about midday, the gang met an arrow at each one of them, with both Anêr and Kúflaug taking one to their chests. From out of the trees came nine bandits, with three of them holding back to reload their bows. The archers fled after one of Caleb's Blast Balls, which downed two thieves, and Anêr's sword downed a third. The other three bandits held fast, and fell at the hands of the heroes. Yémos, feeling for them, bound the wounds of the downed bandits, though he couldn't save one. All stripped the six bandits of their goods and wealth, and kept going to Térrivīš.
In Térriviš, a wooded village with a statue at each corner, the heroes unloaded the gear of the bandits and got 957 farthings and 193 pennies ($1,729) for all of it. Then, they went to the Blind Arrow tavern for the night.
I had rolled for the bandits in the d30 Sandbox Companion, and came up with a number of bandits equal to the size of the party +3, with a level of average party level -2. I applied the latter to the skill levels on the templates in the back of Mirror of the Fire Demon, so wound up with many unskilled goons. I forgot to apply woods cover to their skill for their first shot, but that would have been cancelled out by their Accuracy bonus, which I also forgot to apply; big whoop.
But the real takeaway was just how much treasure they had. According to the d30 Sandbox Companion, I came up with 2,000 cp, 2,000 sp, 500 ep, 6,000 gp, 500 pp, and 12 gems. Even lobbing off a third for the guys who fled, it was still high. I think it's based on Treasure Type A, which is a lot (12,000 gp or so), but meant to be for a whole gang of bandits, which is 20d10 bandits in the Monster Manual. (I'm working on a bunch of posts that will touch on bandits in AD&D, incidentally, so for once, I can remember the Treasure Type of bandits and brigands off the top of my head.) So even lowered from there, the players were amazed, so we all agreed that the loot included what they would get from selling their gear, which I ruled Kim would make sure to do due to the last two blog posts becoming house rules.
That's the lesser issue from the session. The bigger one is that I gave a PC an illnesses. The players have had warning for the last three months or so that I want to try this out, so it was only a matter of enough game time passing before they found out who got sick. The players know what it is, too: histoplasmosis, aka spelunker's lung. It's a bother that someone can get if he goes into caves wherein dwell many bats that shit on the cave floor. Given that description, I'm amazed that I've never seen this in a gaming product before. I found it while researching a Pyramid article on illnesses, and picked it as a test case.
I'm pleased with how it went down. It took awhile for the players to realize that the weather was giving Caleb penalties, and after a few game days I broke down and told them I was applying Rēláistis's Hygiene modifier of -2 to Caleb's rolls since it was low owing to all the smelting that happened there. It led to exploring and roleplaying, but didn't give too much of a problem, since even Minor Healing can heal the HP loss. Caleb still needs to roll for a bit, however, but hopefully the fresh air will help now.
They walked upstairs as the guards also bade, and waited outside a door, hearing the grunts, screams, and moans of orcs and a woman. After many minutes, two orcs walked out, and asked the gang, "Are you next?" The heroes walked into the room, and met Lady Lummenólē, a slim middle-aged woman, beautiful albeit with silver-grey hair, and wearing little clothing.
She gave Caleb the same diagnosis as did Ōrrášus--more rest--then asked where Caleb had been. He told her he had been at the mines, and no, he had fought no zombies, only skeletons, hobgoblins, and lizard men. She perked up upon hearing about hobgoblins and lizard men, and asked if he had brought back any of the latter.
She had her cook give the heroes a meal of beef stew, then they went on their way back to the Wishing Well, to meet the others who had went fishing again. Caleb kept coughing, and by now his chest was hurting. Yémos cast a Detect Poison spell on Caleb to be sure, but found nothing. They went to bed on the tavern's cots with the rain pouring.
The next morning, Caleb still was in pain, so Yémos cast Major Healing to ease his pain. With that, the gang set out, keen on keeping Caleb away from the smelting in Rēláistis. They chose to head south, to the wooded village of Térrivīš.
In the woods, about midday, the gang met an arrow at each one of them, with both Anêr and Kúflaug taking one to their chests. From out of the trees came nine bandits, with three of them holding back to reload their bows. The archers fled after one of Caleb's Blast Balls, which downed two thieves, and Anêr's sword downed a third. The other three bandits held fast, and fell at the hands of the heroes. Yémos, feeling for them, bound the wounds of the downed bandits, though he couldn't save one. All stripped the six bandits of their goods and wealth, and kept going to Térrivīš.
In Térriviš, a wooded village with a statue at each corner, the heroes unloaded the gear of the bandits and got 957 farthings and 193 pennies ($1,729) for all of it. Then, they went to the Blind Arrow tavern for the night.
Notes
I had rolled for the bandits in the d30 Sandbox Companion, and came up with a number of bandits equal to the size of the party +3, with a level of average party level -2. I applied the latter to the skill levels on the templates in the back of Mirror of the Fire Demon, so wound up with many unskilled goons. I forgot to apply woods cover to their skill for their first shot, but that would have been cancelled out by their Accuracy bonus, which I also forgot to apply; big whoop.
But the real takeaway was just how much treasure they had. According to the d30 Sandbox Companion, I came up with 2,000 cp, 2,000 sp, 500 ep, 6,000 gp, 500 pp, and 12 gems. Even lobbing off a third for the guys who fled, it was still high. I think it's based on Treasure Type A, which is a lot (12,000 gp or so), but meant to be for a whole gang of bandits, which is 20d10 bandits in the Monster Manual. (I'm working on a bunch of posts that will touch on bandits in AD&D, incidentally, so for once, I can remember the Treasure Type of bandits and brigands off the top of my head.) So even lowered from there, the players were amazed, so we all agreed that the loot included what they would get from selling their gear, which I ruled Kim would make sure to do due to the last two blog posts becoming house rules.
That's the lesser issue from the session. The bigger one is that I gave a PC an illnesses. The players have had warning for the last three months or so that I want to try this out, so it was only a matter of enough game time passing before they found out who got sick. The players know what it is, too: histoplasmosis, aka spelunker's lung. It's a bother that someone can get if he goes into caves wherein dwell many bats that shit on the cave floor. Given that description, I'm amazed that I've never seen this in a gaming product before. I found it while researching a Pyramid article on illnesses, and picked it as a test case.
I'm pleased with how it went down. It took awhile for the players to realize that the weather was giving Caleb penalties, and after a few game days I broke down and told them I was applying Rēláistis's Hygiene modifier of -2 to Caleb's rolls since it was low owing to all the smelting that happened there. It led to exploring and roleplaying, but didn't give too much of a problem, since even Minor Healing can heal the HP loss. Caleb still needs to roll for a bit, however, but hopefully the fresh air will help now.
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