Dwarf OSE+ Dark Citadel Session #25 (25 JULY 2024)

    Okay, it took me a few days to get around to writing up this particular recap but its been insane around my house. Family issues with custody of my grandson for my youngest daughter so its been, emotional and tense. The real world always takes precedence y'all. It also means that I will be taking care of a 10 month child allot. Blessed beyond Measure imo but anyway, let's recap our Orc Games .... Dwarf Games ?

    We picked up with the PCs having a bit of downtime to go over and they spent it mainly on crafting some more Holy Water in a consecrated font at their reclaimed Tempe of Thaneduhr, my ruling is simply that if you have a consecrated font/basin and use pure water the simple casting of Bless can gather d6 Vials of Holy Water per Week. Namman has been consistent in doing this so the party has a stockpile of these Vials of Holy Water and I need to figure out a chart for the selling of Holy Water for the Temple as a means of income. Technically it is the only location for all of the local Dwarf coming to the region to reclaim the Dark Citadel so should be profitable.

    The Brotherhood of Expendable Strangers returned to the ruins at the confluence of another underground river where they had previously engaged a Medusa and a trio of Harpies. They opt to only bring 4 Dwarf Crossbowman this time to aid in rowing the Folding Boat. I previously ruled; not sure if I poste dig though, that followers receive 1/2 XP in much the same way as a regular Retainer of All XP. Since 3 of the FTR types in the group have Followers this will be a common but bringing too many will definitely tank any decent XP totals. I make the roll to traverse the dangerous corkscrew and they land upon the shore nearest where they fought the Harpies and return to searching the ruins of the Tower they were laired in. Noting that others have searched it recently and these were prolly human they grumble about losing imagined treasure to a rival adventuring party. There is discussion on what to do to them upon meeting them again in the under.... deep realms ;) Further exploration of the area where they encountered the rival adventuring party reveals a cave with several slain stirges and signs of digging in the guano.

    Using the term guano for stirge poop led to an interesting conversation on the many different terms for various types of scat for animals. That's the life of a DM and how you end up going down odd rabbit holes of research for your games. Is it guano since I Thought meant only bats ? Stirges are bugs or birds ? 

    They search these areas thoroughly spending 3 turns in each plus a rest period with discussion about following the other river to find where these other adventurers are coming from as well. Returning to the Dark River and unfolding Geoff's Folding Boat they head to the far shore along the tributary feeding the Dark River and pass over a sunken boat which they stop to investigate. They stop, Gremmin strips down to woolen clothing and ties off then dives to the submerged vessel and begins inspecting it for possible forgotten treasure. A large figure is noted in the water but I roll a 10 on Monster Reaction so the Giant Gar moves along. A metal rod is discovered pinned under the vessel and it is retrieved. It is of Dwarf design and radiates magic upon detection by the Acolyte Retainer Nobrut Barrelstone. Gremmin retains it in his inventory and they embark for the far shore. After disembarking he pushes the button and it extends into a weightless metal oar. Retracting it they inspect a nearby boat that had been dragged 20 some odd feet ashore. Geoff finds a small bag with coin and signs this was previously used by Death Fist Orcs and abandoned. 

        The topic of the rival adventuring party is brought up again, the four Dwarf Crossbowman of Namman's Temple Guard are left on the shore and they explore some ruined buildings to their south. More guano is found and there is lots of it, slimey too. Someone should watch what they are eating. They look upwards and the sound of their armor has alerted the creatures in the recesses of the ceiling which are the largest bats they have ever seen. These begin immediately screeching drawing fear of attracting other creatures and they descend to attack swooping amongst the party. I play it fast and loose with the ability to hit the hovering and simultaneously swooping Doom-Bats to keep play quick and fast moving. It turns out to be one of the hardest battles the Expendable Strangers have fought. Crappy AC but high hit die and thus higher THAC0s make these mean opponents plus their screeching ability eliminates all spell casting after a few rounds for the duration of the battle. Eventually however the PCs are victorious but everyone is wounded and several nearly died. They search for several turns after taking a quick rest then explore westward further into the ruins where they discover several old bodies of slain Death Fist Orcs riddled with boney quills. Further west a low growl is heard and an ugly female head atop a leonine body shouts curses and insults at the PCs as the female Manticore looses a volley of tail spikes at the party as several seek to close with her.

    There was zero chance of them surprising the Manticore due to the battle with the Doom-Bats. The bodies of the Death Fist Orcs are a month old and mark a boundary between the Doom-Bats and the Manticore whose mate was discovered petrified by the Medusa in previous explorations. I am surprised there is no arguing about Dwarf movement as we typically have when they have to close but that is the big drawback in playing a Dwarf imao, stubby fekkin legs. Redrum is forced to shatter his shield as they close due to the Manticore concentrating all 6 attacks per volley on a single target. Gremmin has been using the Wand of Magic Missiles at the rate of two charges per round for several encounters and after but a single round of melee the creature is slain. Half of the party held back in the ruins and used a wall as 50% cover while the others closed marking better use of tactics. I prefer not to use battle boards as it slows down play and keep it as theatre of the mind as possible as well. This creatures lair is searched and several potions; which were marked in a small container, are discovered. I have never seen players so excited about Potions of Water Breathing but the river travel makes them all very nervous. Geoff has lost several PCs over the years due to drowning which I find funny honestly.

    They find the far west ends in the Dark River and return to the shore and travel up the tributary to discover how the rival adventuring party accesses the ruins. It is a full day travel upstream through narrow underground river until the roar of a waterfall is discovered. A tall cliff goes up and the bottom of a chain can be seen above beside this waterfall. Feeling fresher air they deduce that a cave on the great lake below the upper works of the Dark Citadel must overflow and fall some 200 feet to this tributary that eventually joins the Dark River. Obvious remains of a camp are at the bottom of the cliff but there is not easy way to access the chains above which are most likely attached to a large block and tackle far above. A fairly complex way to access the depths and nearby they find a river boat which they take with them when they return down river after a nights rest.

    They return to their strongholds and discover that using the magical Rod of Oars negates any chance of danger in the corkscrew as well as increasing movement of the vessel by 100%. The potions and this device are treasured items recovered from the ruins. I was rusty from not running for a few weeks and technical issues still plague our session with microphone and feedback but it was a fun session. Looking forward to running again on a weekly basis now since i ma not currently a player in any games.

     Game Well, Game Often Y'all