This is the third scenario that I played out with the party. The other scenarios ended in a TPK and a few survivors running for their lives after making a series of choices. Also, Simon and his daughters are just off the east and south edge of the map with a wagon. They will not enter the fray for any reason, but will wait to see if anyone escapes. They have a wagon ready to go.
In this session, the party does not make a plan, and we are just one round after the explosion. Bel has run to the main entrance to see what happened. Sybil ran to room 17 to see what had happened to Celia. Rety brushes past Bel to get to the team at the secret door.
Bel pours a healing potion into Thomas, and in the next turn, Thomas attempts to revive Dorin. Unfortunately, Dorin died in the explosion. Sybil found what was left of Celia and her dog. She decides murder is her plan.
Rety arrived at the other entrance and was shocked to see the monsters arrayed:
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| There is a tree missing because the hobgoblins and goblins cut it down. |
Previously, I had mentioned that instead of rolling wandering monsters, I had those wandering creatures join their allies in the caves. The forces arrayed against the heroes are massive. There are 32 Orcs in 4 groups of 8. The goblins and hobgoblins have 2 groups of 8 and one group of 10 on the valley floor for a total of 26. Just off the map, to the southwest are 12 more hobgoblins, armed with spears (6) and crossbows (another 6). There is a second group of 6 spear-wielding hobgoblins up the hill and over the entrance D. I did not draw these because they aren't visible to the party. The kobolds have a group of 8, one of 4, and the last group of 10. The group of 4 kobolds is wrangling 18 rats. The leaders of each tribe are in the middle near the trees.
Rety took the bow-armed Fighters and Knights into the ogre cave with her. They couldn't be seen and awaited the monster's first move.
As the explosion went off, I had the monsters roll morale to move on the caves. 16 orcs and 8 goblins pass the check and enter cave D. The goblins led the way and made themselves busy dismantling the chain and wheels so the orcs have an easy path to the slaughter.
Bel, Sybil, and Thomas arrayed themselves against the other group. Bel, who was closer, fires off a sleep spell on the 8 goblins and drops 6 of them. Sybil steps out and does something interesting; she unleashes phantasmal force on the 16 orcs.
Before I resolve that action, let's talk about the rats and kobolds. They move on cave entrance E. Remember, there is no communication between Sybil's team and Rety's team. Rety believes the Magic-Users and the Cleric were on their way. They aren't going to the secret door or room 18. They are fighting.
Everyone with a missile weapon opened fire on the rats from the ogre cave. One was killed, another was wounded. The rats strangely pass their morale check.
Time to resolve Sybil's attack. She makes an illusory attack on the orcs, an explosion like the one that claimed Celia's life. This is not entirely imaginary; she saw the results in real life. The illusion is instantaneous. It is also a repetition of something that just happened. Only 4 of the 16 Orcs made their saving throws. However, they also see 12 of their friends go down. They flee.
Now, way back in Session 8, I mentioned how little like low-level spells that are permanent. Phantasmal Force is a potent spell for 2nd level. In this case, it is the opposite of permanent, which can also cause just as many problems as a permanent spell. Sybil's illusion ends quickly and is very specifically tailored. I like it and hate it.
As a DM, I have to ask myself what just happened. Let's make a couple of rules of thumb for the monsters. To save against this, they need a 16 or better. Roughly 4/5s of the monsters should fail, and 1/5 should succeed. The second rule of thumb is that everyone saw the illusion, but some didn't believe it. However, even those who disbelieved it saw 4 orcs and 2 goblins flee it. They did not see all of the other critters drop as they are deep in the cave.
I rolled morale for all of the monsters collectively. They failed, and I use OSR Solo to determine what this means. I asked, "Do they all run?". I got a result of "Yes, but..."
Additionally, the unit of 10 goblins marked with a star was made up of 8 newcomers and two residents of the Caves of Chaos. The newcomers, shocked, flee with 2 of the resident goblins in hot pursuit. The home team goblins are pissed at the cowards fleeing. A melee breaks out between them.
In the meantime, Sybil, Bel, and Thomas walked to the mouth of the cave and saw the enemy force for the first time, and turned around. The leadership was shocked to see the party hacking and stabbing the downed orcs at the cave mouth. They howl and start rallying the troops for another charge. 8 Orcs advanced on the cave entrance while the 6 spear-armed goblins came down the slope to follow them. Behind them, the leadership unit moves away to the melee happening between friendly forces in an effort to stop it.
On the other side of the battlefield, the rats and party are battling for the cave entrance. Initiative is simultaneous. Rety and Dorian don't get to attack as the fighters formed a wall. Since the fighting men get multiple attacks based on their level, the rats died horribly. In the exchange of blows, several of the fighting men were injured. The next wave of 9 rats pauses its advance.
Sybil and Bel killed as many orcs as they could as they retreated back to the hallway. Once inside, they started killing the downed goblins, waiting for the next wave.
8 orcs and 6 goblins enter the cave. The Cleric and Magic-Users win the initiative. Bel fires off his sleep spell, downing 13 orcs and goblins. Sybil and Thomas take on the last one. While the last orc survives the party's initial onslaught, he wounds Sybil before going down under a flurry of blows in the next round.
The second wave of rats rushed the orge's cave, but barely held out for three rounds. Rety sees the 2 hobgoblin forces advancing from above and orders the secret door closed. Several members of the party are stuck in the back with spears and bolts, but no one has dropped yet.
Sybil spends her time wisely, killing as many unconscious orcs and goblins as she can. Bel and Thomas were horrified. She had lost track of the dead and was "killing" the same couple of creatures over and over again. They made a choice to gather up Dorin's body to flee this place.
Rety gave an impassioned speech to the two Knights, convincing them to doff their armor so they could carry the dead. They agreed. Slammer, Rety, and Solvo took the lead, bows ready. Everyone else carried the remaining bodies. Rety kept impressing upon the Knights that removing the dead was the honorable thing to do. The party was ready to run. The Knights hate this but follow the logic of honoring the dead.
Rety was pleased to see Bel and Thomas had the same idea, but Sybil's actions were concerning. Rety tried to calm her as the others made their way out.
The kobolds and the enemy leaders were closest to the entrance as the party exited. The 10 kobolds stuck six different characters. Both of the unnamed Magic-Users were struck, but only one went down. The unnamed fighter picked him up and carried him away. Bel cast a shield to cover the retreat, but as the party ran, not everyone was protected. Behind them, Rety and Sybil argued in the cave.
In the next round, Solvo and Slammer fired on the leaders as they ran after the party. They traded 2 arrow strikes to 3 spear hits. The party continues its retreat as Rety bodily pulls Sybil after her. Outside, Sybil stopped to cast her last spell, invisibility on Rety. Again, the fighters exchanged missiles with the leaders while Bel ran back to shield them.
The kobolds let loose one last barrage on the fleeing party. Lefty went down. The leaders and their bodyguards threw spears at Solvo, Bel, and Slammer, who were protected by the shield spell. Invisibly, Rety stopped to help carry Lefty's body. He was critically wounded. Sybil ran to assist by taking the body of the Magic-User Lefty had been carrying.
The enemy froze as 6 crossbowmen, 3 warriors, and a wagon appeared in the valley. The party escaped more cleanly this time.
The party had far fewer dead in this scenario. They lost Lefty and Slammer, in addition to the unnamed Magic-User. Everyone was injured in some way. This was much better than the last butcher bill, which ended in one TPK and one near TPK, where only 4 people made it to the wagon. This time, the party lost all of their loot, most of their equipment, and 3 characters in the breakout. They did manage to escape with the dead, which is something.
They also know that Punch's real name is Jude. The part of Lefty was played by a man named Arthur. Slammer's name was stolen from the book What is Dungeons and Dragons, a nice score if you can find it. I last posted a link to Amazon. This time, I am using a link to AbeBooks. As an associate, I receive remuneration for purchases through these links.
I can't wait to do this again, but to be honest, I want to wait to do this again. Yeah, it's that sort of production. Next time you see Sybil, Rety, and the gang will be on a ship, heading to the Isle of Dread.
One week later, Sir Jude, Rety, and Thomas the Cleric returned on horseback to the Caves of Chaos. Sir Jude wanted to recover the plate armor he had lost. Rety and Thomas were there to stop him from doing anything stupid.
They heard a clanking in the wind as they approached. The orcs had mounted the two suits of plate armor on logs at the opening of the valley. A pile of the party's weapons was displayed below them. Arthur's armor was on the left. The trio paused to take in the sight before Jude kicked his horse and led the way back to town.
"That seems right," Jude said.
Relieved, the orcs retreated to their cave, knowing the display of their enemies' destruction would protect them in the future.
You can get a copy of X1 - The Isle of Dread from DriveThruRPG.
They heard a clanking in the wind as they approached. The orcs had mounted the two suits of plate armor on logs at the opening of the valley. A pile of the party's weapons was displayed below them. Arthur's armor was on the left. The trio paused to take in the sight before Jude kicked his horse and led the way back to town.
"That seems right," Jude said.
Relieved, the orcs retreated to their cave, knowing the display of their enemies' destruction would protect them in the future.
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