Securing the Raven's March Pt 4 & 5

The following recap covers two sessions of play.

May 27th Caudex Annales 71 AUP

The party of adventures traveled to the hamlet of Kale. Along the way they met some merry barbarians who were questing to slay a Hydra. 

The Goblins open fire at long range!

After arriving in Kale, the players were met with rumor and hear-say concerning the goblins. However, they were soon directed to some ruins outside of town. The party found the ruins easily enough, and came under fire from two goblin look-outs in a huge gnarled tree! 

The party took cover behind trees, and advanced upon the snipers. The party traded shots with the goblins to little effect either way. But then Osparagus non-nonchalantly pointed his fingers and his magic missiles unerringly killed the goblins.

The party then made their way down the stairway hidden beneath the great gnarled tree. The first room they found was empty, but they spent a few minutes mapping it out, and searching for secret passages, to no avail.

The second room, deeper down, contained 6 goblins, eager to repel the interlopers. However, courage soon left the goblins as they were assaulted by Trouser the war dog, and his deadly master Trebor. The goblins scrambled through the mouth of a great carved face in the far wall, and tried to go across a bridge suspended over a gully. But the last goblin was struck by a crossbow bolt, and tumbled over the side.

A one-page dungeon I found here

The party then sortied across the rickety goblin-made bridge, after having sent Trouser across first.

They found a chamber with a spiral staircase going down, at one end, and a curious hole in the ceiling. However, the party had been exploring for nearly an hour, and needed to rest. So they spread out in the apparently empty chamber to take a breather.

As they relaxed suddenly a rope uncoiled from the hole in the ceiling and five goblins rappelled into the room! Somehow, the party was not caught unawares, and scrambled to the defense!

The fighting was brutal and swift, and as the goblins from above were cut down, more came running up the spiral stairs! Quick thinking, and some military oil, bottle-necked the goblins on the stairs in a screeching conflagration. The remaining goblins backed down the steps and were pursued and cut down by the stalwart Trebor.

However, during the fighting, Frega had suffered a nasty blow to the side of the head, rupturing her ear-drum. She would require a month's bed rest. 

The party searched the upper room and found the goblin's hoard. They also searched the lower chamber and found a large stone door. They opened it, and were greeted by a horrible ooze thing creeping up the walls of this deep chamber. Two of the party fled, and the others backed out and closed the door. It was decided to retreat outside the dungeon and camp for the night.

On their way out, they were met by a goblin scouting party that had returned to find their home destroyed. The party tried to lure the goblins onto the bridge, and cut it, but only managed to cause one goblin to fall to his doom. The remaining goblins made good their escape.

 After mending the bridge, there was still time in the day for Rothus to help the wounded Frega back to Kale. The rest of the party set watches, and rested undisturbed through the night.

The next day, bolstered by renewed spellcasting ability, and inspirational tales from the bard, the party returned to the stone door to confront their gelatinous foe. The party planned to use the split-level room to their advantage, and prepared their military oil as molotovs, as well as a small bundle of flammable ammunition. Their preparations done, Wervay opened the stone door, and they waited. 

The Black Pudding negotiates the narrow door

Soon, a Black Pudding made of molten flesh surged through the open door. The wizard, the explorer, Ogden, and Trouser quickly fled at the sight of it. Fortunately, they had not been carrying any of the oil, which Trebor threw to great effect. However, the Pudding was not slowed by the split-level room, and oozed up the wall to attack the defenders. The party threw everything they had at the pudding, and struck it with their weapons, however, they instantly learned that Puddings split-in-two when struck! 

Wervay fell under a fleshy pseudo pod, and the courage of the remaining group faltered. Trebor and Korian made for the stairs, but Erick rushed towards Wervay and tried to pull him out. The implacable ooze then smothered Erick as well. Trebor and Korian were backing up the stairs, but they were soon joined by Osparagus, whose courage had returned. Together, they beat back the Pudding, splitting it into smaller pieces which were then sizzled to a crisp by Osparagus.

After the Pudding was slain, the party rushed to mend their comrades, but unfortunately, they could not be saved. The survivors briefly considered returning Erick to be be Restored to Life, but realized they were too far from a suitable cleric. Somberly, the group buried their fallen comrades, and then went over the dungeon carefully, looking for any secret doors.

They found one, and inside were two old elven corpses. Their swords were still in fine condition, and each glowed with continuous light. Behind this antechamber, they found an old storage room, with a statue made of quartz. When one of the group touched something the statue animated and attacked. Before the statue was shattered, it felled Ogden, who was revived, though he suffered gruesome scarring.

Their exploration complete, the group paid their respects to the fallen, and then returned to Kale for the night.

In the morning, Korian gave severance pay to Frega, and Rothus, relieving them of service. The group found healing for Ogden who was soon fit for travel. The party then returned to Rythey Tower.

-I enjoyed the dungeon-crawl very much. The Exploration Turns mechanic adds so much interest to the process! I Took my largest d6 and left it on the table, and after every 10 minutes of in-game time I would advance the die side. At every odd interval I would roll for a wandering monster, which only happened once. Keeping accurate time like this allowed me to know that the party had been exploring for 2.5 hours, thus making it about 5pm when the wounded characters set off for town. I have not had a dungeon experience that felt so organic and alive like this before. It was very rewarding!

My players learned that there are some encounters that you should just run away from. The Black Pudding is a 10 hit-die monster! It is not to be trifled with. The encounter with the Pudding was a learning experience for all of us, because none of us have ever been truly prepared for encounters that are beyond our character's ability. My players and I have played many RPGs that have scaled encounters, where retreat rarely ever needs to be an option. I enjoy this aspect of ACKS; the fact that you should probably let sleeping monsters lie!