Soloing Arden Vul- Session 2
The Second Foray
Dramatis Personae
- Abraham, Cleric 1
- Boris, MU 1
- Clint, MU 1
- Edgar, FM 1
- Ferdinand, MU 1
- Graham, FM 1
- Huey, FM 1
Activities
Although clint is still not better, the party decided they needed to do something. Their funds were dwindlig each day. They rented 6 beds until for 3 G per person.
They are faced with a decision:
- Do they go back down into the dungeon, knowing they'll have to pay the Halfings 10GP
- Do they reconnoiter the surface
- Do they face the stairs and go back down? There were some caves, as well as the other stairs, and several other options.
They do not really like the option of going back down. The trek was nearly as dangerous. Going into the dungeons seems slightly better, but also scary.
- 1-2: down the pyramid
- 3-5: surface
- 6: the stairs
5
After some deliberation, they decide to try the surface. There was a lot there for them which they saw as they stood on top of the pyramid.
- 1-2: The eastern part from the pyramid
- 3-4: trying to find a way across the river to the western end.
- 5-6: Check out the structures in between the river's bends
1
The eastern part seemed richer. Temples, plazas… That seems like a better place to look for money, Dick argues.
Setting off
*
They agree to set out early in the day. The sooner they find anything good, the sooner they can celebrate. They make it over to the north gate (AV-22) and the Pyramid without issues. The day is overcast and cold.
They go to the first thing they see, an ancient well (AV-14), covered in mirror shards on the inside. They make note of it; it does seem to go down a long while, and they doubt if even with their new rope they have enough.
A chimney stands not far from it. They consider going down it, but decide to check out other possibilities first.
They enter a small plaza full of masonry rubble (AV-12). A dry basin with a right arm and hand of a collosal statue in the middle. They don't see a good use for a massive arm at this time, though they make note. THey had heard the talkings of the merchants in the Inn. To the east of them stands a large gate. Most of it entirely destroyed. They disregard them.
They decide to check out the southern areas. They approach a tower (AV-7), they are pelted with heavy rocks. Two miss barely, and Graham hides behind his shield as they impact. They quickly move out of range. They hear the hooting of baboons.
They decide to check out some partially intact structures (AV-37) outside the range of the baboons. They trudge around for an hour, looking for anything of value, but find nothing.
The party decided to move on to another tower (AV-4), which doesn't have baboons on them it seems. It also seems to be mostly intact. They sidle up to it, find the opening and realize they have made a massive mistake, as they see a brown bear, equaly surprised to have found them. The party slowly moves away as the bear growls at them, but makes no attempts to follow them.
They walk past a few other towers, which seem to have decayed worse. They decided to go over to the buildings near the lake
They find some more partially intact structures, remains of the city (AV-37). They roam around searching, but again find little of value.
They move past the obviously no longer safe to use bridges (AV-36) and arrive at the dam (AV-35a), but the door is locked. They decide to start on this side of the river for now. They have more rope than they did last time, so they decide to try to get to the tower at the edge of the plaza (AV-8)
After a few attemps they manage to tie a rope. Edgar goes first and finds himself in a large open room at the top of the tower (TS-12). Three corpses in the room. Edgar helps the rest up and they pull up the rope but leave it in place for now.
They find some loot, as well as the massive head of Ibis-headed Thoth. It doesn't seem worth trying to take the 8' head with them for now so they leave it. They see that there are two pitch-black holes. The magic users identify them as being areas of continual darkness. They prod around and feel stairs, but don't know what's there. They decide to send down Clint, but attach their rope and leave little slack. He makes it down and one by one to TS-11. They leave the rope hanging on the second floor.
They arrive on the eastern landing and see a door, but an open portal to the south. The (TS-9) room seems entirely void of treasure, and two corpses that looked sucked dry. They hear noises and start running for the top. The stairs creak under them, and as they look back they see ghastly aparitions come out of the area of pure darkness. However, they make it to the top and quickly start pulling up the rope. They quickly rapel down, leaving the 50 feet of rope hanging as they more away from the tower.
Quick note
I try not to read ahead. I missed the ghosts until I went over to read TS-3 after missing that it was even a room. Decided not to back-track or kill the entire party in a retcon. The ghosts were surprised by the party according to a quick roll I did, so I decided they were slowly gathering and moving towards them. The init roll meant the party was able to move first and the stairs didn't collapse under them. Lucky break.
Badly shaken, but still alive. They move away from the tower to a small district to the north (AV-17). They spend an hour checking it out. A chimney in one of the ruins seems intact and leads down. However, all of they rope is still attached to the Tower. They don't dare the climb without any. They search through and find some valuables, but in the last cellar they enter has three massive spiders in it. The spiders squeak in as the bright light enters. The first is shot dead by Dick's heavy crossbow. Edgar and Graham charge in and quickly deal with the spiders without any damage to themselves.
The cellars up until now have proven lucrative. They search the cellar further and find 3 human remains. They are wearing Arkonthian jewelry. After another half hour they decide it's been enough and move on.
They find a hole leading to a cellar that seems to be mostly intact. Inside are a few broken statues, as well as part of the massive statue of arden. More imprtantly,Abraham finds a panel in the wall that can be slid open. They decide however that can wait until tomorrow. They have found a lot of interesting things, and it's getting late. Maaybe Clint will feel better after a night's sleep…
The loot
- Leather armor +1
- Small gold head of barbarian (fool's gold, 35cp)- 100cw
- Scroll (curse item) (C5, MU6)
- Ancient rescript in mithric (TS-12)
- Pouch with 40GP gem
- TODO Leather map case with 2 badly worn map
- Jewelry worth 300GP
3 HD 1 creatures
Experience
- 340 EXP from valuables.
- 1000 for +1 armor
- 500 for C5 scroll
For a total of 1840 exp, or 306 per person.
AAR
Not the best haul, but safe, and they have some interesting leads to go on next time. They can survive for a while on what they found, and the +1 leather will be nice to bring one of the FM down to LF, which might be useful.
I found some issues in both my own works. I need to rethink structure, or at least move things about, because they're not easy to find. Found some issues in general with my combat procedures, which have holdovers from earlier drafts which no longer make sense, or entirely miss certain scenarios that are now liable to pop up.
This session did push the limits of solo play a bit though. The plateau only has one encounter roll per 8 hours, and the information layout is a bit iffy at times. YOu can't just from the map itself see well what's there and what the players would see, particularly with the "hidden cellars" etc. I spent a lot of time just rolling oracle dice to see what the party would do, because it was impossible to not spoil myself while trying to figure out what the players would see.
Still though, had fun, they had some loot, and maybe next time it'll go smoother when we head back down into the dungeons. So until next time, count your torches and keep mapping!