The Dungeon of Graves - Session 4
Another week, another expedition into the ancient dungeon.
The Story So Far
September 26th 2021
- Grudge, Fighter 1
- Ray, Fighter 2
- Radish, Druid 1
- Milo Crest, Fighter 1, retainer
- Pumba, Young Boar, pet
In the downtime before the session, Radish the Druid ventured into the nearby forest looking for an animal to tame. He came upon a young boar which very nearly gored him, before he was able to enchant it with his druidic magic.
Party rehired Milo, who bought himself a shield and an axe between the sessions, intent on following Grudge's martial example.
They agreed to try again for the bounty on the River Rats bandits and so ventured into the Mouth of Doom. After some initial confusion about which door to take, they arrived at the entrance to the bandits' hideout.
Making a good use of surprise, the party killed two bandits and knocked one unconscious. The remaining bandit thrown his weapon down and surrendered. After some quick interrogation the bandit revealed their leader, Tall Jack Rat, hides in a nearby room, accessible through a secret passageway.
After making sure the bandit is properly tied up and gagged, they moved towards the secret door but were alerted by sounds of insectoid footsteps coming from behind them. Lurking at the edge of their torchlight was a giant light blue ant with a wide and flat head covered in green hair. Its mandibles clicked ominously but it wasn't keen on charging the party. They lit a puddle of oil between them and the creature and hurried through the secret door.
Barging into the main bandit hideout, they again managed to fully utilise the moment of surprise. Ray threw a flask of oil at four bandits sitting around a campfire. One bandit succumbed to the fiery explosion immediately, others were injured and caught on fire. Radish summoned his druidic powers, sending forth a swarm of ethereal vipers, which latched onto enemies in the area making them easier to hit. Milo and Pumba charged a burly shark-headed slug-person, goring and hacking him to death. Grudge struck against Tall Jack Rat himself and caused a grievous injury.
Moments later, the whole party surrounded Tall Jack Rat, ready to strike him down. In the last second he yelled out: "Wait! We surrender." And so the bandits were defeated. Jack pleaded for his freedom. At first he offered information about the dungeon. Path to a room with wondrous magical pools. He insisted he knows their properties, party however saw through his bluff. Next he offered coin and servitude but they were not pleased with the meagre offerings, compared to the bounty awaiting them at Zelkor's Ferry.
Party looted a pouch of coin, a stash of tobacco and all the equipment the bandits carried. They tied the bandits together and without much of an issue marched them outside the dungeon and back to the settlement. There the guards congratulated them on their haul and Rasmus, the trade post master, payed out their reward.
Radish attempted to sell dead body of the slug-person to Old Ulman the local necromancer but he was not interested, informing the party they're fairly common within the region and their bodies posses no magical properties. Ray still fashioned a "sword" out of its shark like teeth.
With their newly acquired funds, Ray decided to throw down a friendly fishing contest. Local guard took the main prize after narrowly beating the ferryman. The match had to be decided by using Rasmus's scales to weigh the fish exactly. Radish participated as well but came only at third place.
Radish spent next few days helping out local villagers and trying to convert them to his faith. Some of them were curious but mostly they were confused as to how his faith is different from their own.
Grudge and Milo, in a typical adventurer fashion, decided to spend their hard earned money on booze and food.
Treasure acquired: 175gp, tobacco (50gp), looted equipment (166gp), bounty (1900gp)
Monsters defeated/dealt with: 8 regular bandits, 1 slug-person bandit, 1 Tall Jack Rat
Deaths: none
DM Thoughts
Radish's player decided to risk using Animal Friendship on his own, which nearly cost him Radish's life. Only after the rolls, we realised a boar exceeds the maximum HD requirement. Rather than retconing the encounter we simply subtracted one HD from the board and reflavoured it into a young boar (modifying the hp and hit modifier accordingly).
I was little surprised at how quickly and unanimously the players turned against the bandits despite having a fairly positive first interaction with them. But that's what happens when you dangle a monetary reward in front of adventurers, I guess.
Surprise rounds really worked wonders in their fights against the bandits but players also rolled well on their attacks. If I remember correctly they haven't missed or missed just once in the two fights. Bandits failing their morale checks also ensured PCs came out of it unharmed.
Describing how they spent their carousing money was a good bit of fun. For the time being I'm giving them 1xp per 1gp spent on completely frivolous endeavours.
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