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| It looks like a chapel |
In this post, the party will get back to basics, and so will I. This post is about bookkeeping and character roles.
The issue with Session 7 was that the party had long ago stopped paying attention to roles and supplies. With no one in charge, their behavior was limited to simple reactions. They entered a massive space with nooks, crannies, and more than a boatload of nasties to contend with. And Nononn died as a result.
From my end, I had scattered notes, and as the DM, I lost track of things. Since this is largely a solo endeavor, with me planning the actions of nearly a dozen characters and twice as many monsters, I skimped on the basics, such as tracking inventory.
It's time to fix that.
I've taken the first step and stated the problem: a lack of foresight. When you are the DM, you may notice your players stop wanting to be their characters. If you see this happening, you can throw in an event that allows the party to recuperate and gather their thoughts, remake or reforge themselves, so to speak.
One option is to simply let them get lost in a minor way. Being lost is defined as not knowing where one is, which is a perfect description of what is happening to the party. Getting lost can be beneficial to a party. No one knows where they are, so they can take a breath and recollect, away from constant threats.
I also favor a mini-event where the party encounters people who allow them a moment to get a grip on their perspective. We see this in movies and books a lot, so it's fair game in my opinion. Atreyu encounters Morla the Turtle, the Hobbits meet Tom Bombadil, and the children in Narnia meet Father Christmas. I have a pre-generated duo named Jen and Flameheart that I can throw into almost any campaign... except this one, because the party is trapped.
However, three people could fill the role instead.
Let us return to the party in the chapel, panic in progress. The party collected Nononn's remains. Sybil lies next to him, paralysed. Belaphon sat, trapped in blindness. Dorian discovered the curse when he tried to heal Jude. Merry and Gabby whisper about evil curses and take over the healing process. The zombies howled and hammered on the doors.
Rety took it in and was outraged. She took charge of the situation.
Why would she take charge? She has an 18 Charisma and she turned it on.
Nonplussed, Gabby's mouth dropped open.
"Lady Gabrielle Durant, benefactor of this party, we must ready your quarters for the wounded," said Rety in a near-reverent whisper. Gabby, who was no slouch in the charm department, found this both respectful and needful.
Gronk had the fighters gather up the treasure. They looted the cleric's and magic user's quarters. He ordered all the doors to be checked and spiked closed. While the party didn't know it, Gronk heard the bees and the cockatrice in the room with the holes. Not wanting a fight, the party forgoes more treasure.
They use bedding to make two litters for Nononn and Sybil.
Destination selected, the Rety led them south and out of the chapel. They traversed the Indoor Forest and made it to the door to Area 5, before encountering trouble.
William Amber bellowed, "Who the hell are you?" as he stuck Dorian with a hold person spell.
Rety, Lance, and Khouri loosed arrows at him. With only 29 hit points and no chance to ready a spell, the party handled him easily. The arrows did little, except that every hit prevented the preparation of a spell. Wizards in B/X shouldn't travel alone, or the DM should prep the wizard with spells instead of using the listed suggestions. Fireball or lightning bolt would have made this a challenge.
Rety grumbled as Lance picked up Dorian. She was losing more men to carrying people. They raced to the Study and barred the door.
I find that spells like sleep and hold person are more traps than effective attack spells. The consequences come after combat, usually not during combat. William tied up two, possibly 3 characters with one spell, since Dorian needed to be carried away.
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| This looks like a study |
Once inside the study, wounds were attended to, and armor and weapons cleaned. Rety and Gabby prepared a meal for the party and discussed a few things. They asked the party to arrange their equipment on one table while the other table was set for the meal.
The Rakastas left a lot of mundane items behind, which the party took advantage of. Sybil, Dorian, and Bela all rested on fine furs. Nononn was draped in silk.
Since the party was at rest, the hold person's spells faded away naturally. Surprisingly, Sybil's first act was to cast Continual Light on Belaphon to relieve him of his curse. When Dorian rose, the three recovered heroes added their equipment and treasure to the pile on the table.
Sybil's sword glowed ominously as it reacted to chaotic creatures, in this case, Sybil.
"Sybil, sheath your sword," she ordered, and the Magic-User took it back. This is a character-defining weapon, and Rety had no intention of putting it in the party's sharing pile.
The silverware and plates were rather large for humans and demihumans, but they made do. As they ate, Rety spelled out her simple plan.
"To attend to our friend, Nononn, we must first attend to ourselves," she announced.
"Once this task is complete, we must provision ourselves for a long foray into the castle. We should no longer plan on retreat," she said. The party nodded in agreement.
"We shall check our animals, gather what we can from the forest, and start our journey. I know not how long we shall be, but I would like to be free of this place by the end of the week."
This garnered many grunts of approval. None knew how extensive this adventure would be. They aren't even halfway through it. My personal plan is to get them to Averoigne by mid-October. I will have to enlist my kids to help with all of the combat rolls.
Rather than detail how everyone was armed individually, I will explain it as Rety did. She used a chessboard to explain it to everyone.
The front rank of fighting men had the heaviest armor with lighter sidearms. These were Parker, Warren, and Lance. The next rank has slightly lighter armor, bows, and swords, with the exception being Jude, who doesn't use a bow. Khouri and Merry rounded out the second rank. The third rank was made up of the two magic users on the flanks and Dorian in the middle. Rety took the rear position with her bow, as a tail gunner. Jude, being centrally located, could issue commands and warnings.
Lety distributed the 4 Bags of Holding among the ranks. Lance, Jude, Dorian, and Lety each have one. The vast majority of the party's gear was placed in the bags, leaving everyone carrying very light loads. However, for their very next task, no one will be carrying a backpack.
The party readied Nononn for his final foray to the burial site in the Indoor Forest.
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