Dwarf OSE+ Dark Citadel Session #11 (4 OCT 2023)

 

  Started this game a player short as he is in FL on vacation. Sick in a Hotel Room in FL which is how his luck usually runs so ... sorry bud. Get Well Soon ! I was tired but looking forward to this session as they had hired five Retainers who wished to reclaim the Head of Axios from the Bloody Skull Orcs which has turned into sort of a blood feud for the Brotherhood of Expendable Strangers. This clouds judgement and I see allot of other edition mentality kind of creeping into my Vintage Gaming Advanced OSE game. It is what it is, an ongoing project.

   A few items cleared up in DragonSpire Hold between sessions by Gad who has spent allot of Coin in the form of Gems in town trying to get information on the Thieves Guild and post rewards and Inquiries for the return of the Stolen Scroll. It is a work in progress which I need to dedicate a few hours a week in Discord to resolve. Mainly myself rolling Virtual Dice and making notes then hoping I do not forget. New Meds means new side effects, battling tiredness and forgetfulness atm.

   The Dwarf cohort makes various plans about how they are going to tackle the Orc defenses on this their Fourth foray against the Bloody Skull Orcs. Everyone is loaded up with Alchemist's Fire and Oarsmen are hired to man the River-Boats. SO we have Five Retainers and Nine Retainer-Hirelings who will not leave the Boats in addition to the Four Player Characters for a total of a Eighteen Dwarf Expedition. Allot of coin is dispensed to the new hires and off they row.

   Approaching the landing north of the Bloody Skull Orc docks they notice it is empty. Gremmin announces he is scanning for signs of an ambush and I allow all PCs to roll a d6, everyone fails. This is followed by a bit of silence as I try to get actions and they commit to landing the boats and exploring the cave that leads to the Glittering Hall and the pools beyond to access the rear entry to the village. A few minutes later after we get the marching order settled they advance and encounter a group of ancient Dwarf Zombies in tattered armor and clothing which are successfully turned by both the FTR/CLC Zeb & the FTR/ACO Redrum resulting in the undead fleeing towards the pool room where several falling over the ledge into the water where the Giant Crawfish dwells then sinking to its eight foot depths unable to extract themselves from the depths.

[ I make a Ruling on TURN DURATION and set it at 1 TURN a LEVEL]

   One of the Dwarf Retainers was sent to the River-Boats to warn of the danger of Undead and stand guard with them as well. They eventually descend into the edge water and work their way over tot he other landing where they find old campfires and broken crates. The campfires are investigated but crates ignored as they creep up on the rear entry to the Bloody Skull Village. They are heard as they approach in Plate Armor and a shambling mob of animated goblins, orc and very ancient desiccated Dwarf approach them with an Orc wielding Halberd behind them shouting orders in Orcish. A coordinated effort of Turning and Missile fire results in the death of the Orc while most of the undead are repulsed back into the chamber they came from as the sound of a gong echoes in the cavern. 

   This is where DM seeking clarification and describing the terrain meets PC hedging their choices to gain advantage so sets the tone for the rest of the evening. I am tempted to place individual tokens and reduce the game to a turn based video game rpg and allow it to go to 20 minute round inevitability but get the PC's actions and they fall back in haste towards their River-Boats. I should keep a better round tracker but I do not know if I have enough paper in the house at this point as they debate; in game I simply state they are arguing on the shore, over whether to "bottle-neck" the hall and wait or get into their boats and head to the docks. Ignoring or forgetting whatever plan they had earlier which is always the same, make noise and find a bottle-neck with the second 'plan' of the fallback of fighting retreat. 

   These back and forth arguments make sense and can and have alerted monsters to the presence. It usually speeds up if I give the indecision time they take as X amount of rounds debating it in the adventure. I'm just clicking the amount of time on the edge of the Hit Point tracking shit now. Which I kept dropping this week, WTH butterfingers !

   Mechanically as the phase system is set up if you move out of combat then you basically forfeit your attack for positioning. The orcs on their turn would move up and attack and your phase of melee combat would have PASSED. I treat movement as something that happens through out the combat round and allow to be a bit more cinematic for description but has resulted into more of "I am holding my action until they get up to where I can hit them" and rendered the DECLARATION PHASE almost meaningless and this will be addressed in my next session as it makes the PCs completely reactionary to the actions of the NPCs and Monsters resulting in a much less Heroic feel and shifting the majority of the encounter to me as the DM with the PCs becoming less Proactive or Creative. Quickly losing interest in it overall ....

   Approaching the Docks via River-Boat the Brotherhood finds only a pair of Orcs on Watch Northern Dock with the Southern Dock unguarded or Abandoned, there is allot of noise from within the village after the Gong had been sounded. It has been a Turn and several rounds since the alarm was raised. The Dwarf Cohort gains initiative on the Orc guards and one is slain by Bolt Fire from the Crossbows while another stands his ground holding the boats at bay with a Pole Arm until he is fallen by more Crossbow Bolts. They disembark with Gad issuing multiple orders to the Oarsmen who return perplexed glances but this is overlooked by the party as they turn their attention to one of the doors to the buildings and the With Doctor hut is strangely quite with a tabard with Orc Script hanging over the entry. 

   The group spends five rounds trying to gain access to that building with everyone failing their Open Door Checks and Open/Cloe ability of the Lore-Master until Gad finally pushes it open and sees various Orc Females and Children piling up furniture on the door they have been trying to force open. It is a large Feasting Hall from the Dark Citadel days turned into a giant rompers room for the females & young whom are now fleeing Northward through a communal kitchen area. They opt to advance up the street with Gremmin climbing into the Witch-Doctor Hut. 

   Gremmin discovers a room tossed and searched with scribblings all over the walls, a sleeping pile near another window overlooking the street similar to the one he climbed in through overlooking the Docks. Various parchment lay about the room which he begins to gather up as he heads over to the other far window. The rest of the group however turns the corner and discovers ten orc in a line with Orcish females and children running out a door behind them and up the street towards the stairs that lead to the back entry area where Axios Fell. There is no Roll for Surprise as they was an alarm raised and the PCs have been taking their sweet time getting down the twenty foot street. Some of the Orcs may have thought they were gonna head on down the river but were still prepared so Initiative is  rolled.

   I can sum up this fight quicker than the round by round combat that it became as there was missile fire from both sides with Gremmin firing from the window of the Witch-Doctor Hut while the party formed parallel lines versus the Orcs thirty feet away until Zeb & Redrum advanced to the middle and fought there against Battle-Axe wielding Bloody Skull opponents. The Dwarf Retainer Cohort are terrible shots and miss most of the time but several Orc Archers are dropped over time until the party sees the Orc Shaman join the fray from his Hut to the north. All fire is directed at him and he is disrupted and wounded but not slain of the Seven Bolts & Arrows, Zebulon blinds him with a Light Spell. More Orc in through the rear entry with the undead milling about still under the effects of the Turning Ability of the Divine classed PCs. This has been an Hour of Play Time as pure Combat ...

   The arrival of more Orc and the exodus of the women and children creates cover for the Blinded Shaman who is rescued the following round by the Ogre sighted in their previous foray. All arrow fire is directed at the Ogre who shields the Shaman with his body and carries him away to the East of the Village. The additional Orc file into the Plaza and the Arrows & Bolts fly, I noted that the Orc have more Arrows on average than the Dwarf Cohort does on Bolts. I inquire, I get 13 which seems off but I'll keep better notes next time. The Plaza Battle has firing lines thirty feet apart and a general melee in the center. This continues and Retainers begin to fall and the PCs take some damage but overall the Orc are taken it harshly.

   The Ogre returns with an Orcish female wielding a large spiked club with Five large Orc Bodyguard Types while a large Orc stands next to the Ogre. The party decides to declare all missile fire upon the Female Orc as she is leading the entourage into the Plaza. They definitely drop her like an afterthought and the bodyguards look over their shoulders at the Orc standing next to the Ogre who had just offered them parlay to surrender in Common. He now shouts "KILL THEM ALL !"

   They fall back to Plan B which is fall back fighting and throw oil. There is a bit of back and forth as they figure out the Orc Archers have been steadily inflicting damage and the addition of the Bodyguards type; here I find some issue with the sheet so modify a chieftain sheet which raises eyebrows in the combat but I fix it, they take some grievous wounds and continue to fall back towards their Retainers. I'm glossing over how long this battle has gone on but they are now in fall back mode yelling at each other about throwing more Alchemist's fire to create a barrier. They fall back on top of their Retainers whom are not able to fire missile weapons at the Ogre as they have brought the Melee into the support line. Zeb has to shatter his Shield and leave Redrum and some Retainers to Fight in melee, Gad is heading towards the boats at half move to fire his bow, I have previously ruled you cannot move and fire a Crossbow. 

   Alchemist Fire reveals where the THF/LM has been firing from in the shadows and the Ogre shouts he will climb in there and add his head to his belt after he kills the Dwarf Priest. Zeb uses the Ring of Dimensions; I rule it goes off in the MISSILE PHASE as I have previously ruled that is when Wands and Staves function as well, to portal into the Witch-Doctors Hut. He prepares to throw Alchemist Fire between the Ogre and the Melee as the Alchemist Fire tossed by Gremmin has been deflected and was ineffectual. He drops the torch upon the bedding and flees, Zeb uses the burning bedding to light his Alchemists Fire. There are several Dwarf laying presumed Dead in the Melee and one was dispatched by the Orc Elite/Bodyguard. The Line breaks and Redrum has to shatter his Shield as well and they opt to route while the Alchemist Fire is tossed at the fleeing feet. Two of the Dwarf were at Zero Hit Points and were simply unconscious and appeared slain so they now are screaming in agony as they are set on fire and perish. The Ogre Fails his Morale Check when confronted with Flame and falls back with the Bodyguard entourage while the Orc Chief picks up his slain mate and falls back a well.

   The Brotherhood of Expendable Strangers file into the River-Boats, I have forgotten to fire two rounds of Orc arrows at the party and the Oarsmen did not tie up the other River-Boats and they are left. Gad yells and scolds the oarsmen for not doing what he ordered them to do but the Dwarf Oarsmen were very forward about not doing anything extra besides rowing the boats and capturing extra River-Boats was definitely an extra. Obstinate Dwarf personalities Clash but the Oarsman simply shrug. 'We are rowing back' and offer no other excuses after watching the PCs burn immobile Dwarf Retainers alive to cover their retreat. 

   Just Monster XP and BONUS XP this week, no treasure. They fall back to Ergol's Landing as it is now being called by Dwarf coming to the Ruins battered and Bruised with plans to "quickly" return to the Fray. I'll have to roll Loyalty Checks to see if the remaining Two Dwarf return or leave employ. They got regular pay but no split and it was a terrible battle so there will be a negative modifier applied. Two Weeks and now we have a player switching to Night Shift for a month or so but another returning from vacation so it rounds out I think, anyway it was fun if a lil aggravating at times

  The Orc Shaman was not obviously not powerful enough to animate the Dead so the Bloody Skull Ally or Allies are so what lurks further past the Bloody Skull Orcs ? Can the Brotherhood of Expendable Strangers survive these perils and emerge Triumphant ? Who knows, but the Dice are always trying to kill you

 

#OSR #VintageGaming #DarkCitadel#OSE