Summary
We return to exploring the dungeon underneath the Boyar's manor, the party get a new recruit in the process, fight a ghoul and take his shit and then go and buy a house with the money. Also von Plarf the elf gets a bit too drunk when out carousing and ends up with a quest from God. We've all been there.
Party Members
- Verasha - Level 2 Druid
- Pipam - Level 2 Illusionist
- von Plarf - Level 1 Elf
- Zoltan - Level 2 Dwarf
Followers
Jaro (Verasha's war boar); Jan "the Hard Up" (Torchbearer); Ludwig (Porter); Adam (Man-at-Arms); Walter of Potsdam (Man-at-Arms); 3 War Hounds and "Rusty" (Hobgoblin)
Session Recap
After finding the stairs heading deeper in the dungeon, the party actually decided to backtrack a bit. They grabbed all the charred giant rat corpses they gathered after burning their nest and brought them over to the goblins in the other side of the dungeon. The goblins were quite pleased with both having fewer rats around and also having some more food.
While they were there, the party also approached a runty and kind of pathetic goblin that had rust-colored fur and a large nose, gave him a giant rat all to himself and asked if he was interested in joining, which he was. After being confused by the concept of having a name the party dubbed him "Rusty" and took him with them.
The two guards at the dungeon entrance showed the party what sections were part of goblin territory and which ones they were welcome to explore (the ones with barred doors, skulls painted on them and with 'bad things' in them apparently were fine, go figure).
While they were there, the party also approached a runty and kind of pathetic goblin that had rust-colored fur and a large nose, gave him a giant rat all to himself and asked if he was interested in joining, which he was. After being confused by the concept of having a name the party dubbed him "Rusty" and took him with them.
The two guards at the dungeon entrance showed the party what sections were part of goblin territory and which ones they were welcome to explore (the ones with barred doors, skulls painted on them and with 'bad things' in them apparently were fine, go figure).
Heading back down the stairs that they found in the caverns, the party ran into a group of aggitated and clearly stressed out giant rats and proceeded to kill them all, before going downstairs and finding yet another giant rats' nest, so they went about setting this one on fire too.
However this time the flames, smoke and squeaking of the dying rats attracted the attention of someone else. A pale, gaunt and disheveled figure lurched his way towards the two men at arms at the tail of the party and managed to bite Adam on the neck and paralyzing him, before being subdued by an arrow to the forehead from von Plarf.
Afraid for their hireling the party stripped the ghoul of his shockingly expensive looking things (a giant golden key, silver bracers, tons of money in ancient coins, a signet ring) before also throwing him on the burning pile of rats and nesting material.
Figuring there was no way to really take care of Adam while in the dungeon the party retreated back to Greytown to rest, recuperate and make sure their hireling wasn't going to turn into a ghoul himself and, ya know, kill everyone. Luckily the priests of the Sun Lord in town informed them that ghouls tend to happen due to spiritual taint and corruption rather than simply being bitten, so he was going to be fine.
Selling off the loot the party now found themselves flush with cash, and not having a real place to stay in town decided to spend the money on buying a small cottage, with enough space to mostly house everyone (and the animals) and still have cash to spare. They also decided to induct Rusty the Hobgoblin into a full on party member, giving him a full share of the treasure!
That spare cash tempted von Plarf who went on a celebratory drinking bender throughout town. While many good times were surely had, she had also managed to find herself in a bit of a pickle and in her drunken stupor prayed to the Sun Lord to deliver her from this problem. The Sun Lord, being the benevolent (if rather absent at times) god that he is answered her prayers...and in return charged her with a divine Quest.
However this time the flames, smoke and squeaking of the dying rats attracted the attention of someone else. A pale, gaunt and disheveled figure lurched his way towards the two men at arms at the tail of the party and managed to bite Adam on the neck and paralyzing him, before being subdued by an arrow to the forehead from von Plarf.
Afraid for their hireling the party stripped the ghoul of his shockingly expensive looking things (a giant golden key, silver bracers, tons of money in ancient coins, a signet ring) before also throwing him on the burning pile of rats and nesting material.
Figuring there was no way to really take care of Adam while in the dungeon the party retreated back to Greytown to rest, recuperate and make sure their hireling wasn't going to turn into a ghoul himself and, ya know, kill everyone. Luckily the priests of the Sun Lord in town informed them that ghouls tend to happen due to spiritual taint and corruption rather than simply being bitten, so he was going to be fine.
Selling off the loot the party now found themselves flush with cash, and not having a real place to stay in town decided to spend the money on buying a small cottage, with enough space to mostly house everyone (and the animals) and still have cash to spare. They also decided to induct Rusty the Hobgoblin into a full on party member, giving him a full share of the treasure!
That spare cash tempted von Plarf who went on a celebratory drinking bender throughout town. While many good times were surely had, she had also managed to find herself in a bit of a pickle and in her drunken stupor prayed to the Sun Lord to deliver her from this problem. The Sun Lord, being the benevolent (if rather absent at times) god that he is answered her prayers...and in return charged her with a divine Quest.
GM Observations
It is always surprising what details will stand out to players and what will draw their interest. Rusty is a hobgoblin from one of the rooms in Dyson's Delve, described as a bit of a runt that none of the other goblins or hobgoblins line. In my description of goblins as short and covered in black fur, and hobgoblins as tall and covered in red fur (and with big noses), he immediately stood out of the crowd and so drew attention to himself. The party treating him kindly and also a positive reaction roll meant that they ended up with him joining them.
Recruiting enemies from the dungeon is an element that has been a thing since OD&D (and really since before any published version of D&D), but it has happened so rarely in my games. It often feels like players are either happy to just kill whoever is in front of them, or alternatively try way way WAY too hard to make friends with a random monster or enemy they just ran into which also feels forced and a bit too easy. In this case though the party already had some rapport with the goblins and it felt like a natural conclusion that the runt of the litter would be happy to go with someone else who doesn't pick on him constantly.
The ghoul on level 2 of the dungeon is interesting and kind of fascinating to me. I know that Dyson stocked the Dyson's Delve dungeon using the B/X treasure stocking procedures, because he said so himself, but the ghoul feels really weird. There's not that much treasure around on the first two levels, and yet here is this single enemy with 6 HP (sure, a ghoul, but even a level 1 party can take him out in 1-2 good hits) and carrying thousands of gp worth of treasure on his person. I suppose it is quite possible to never really run into him if you don't explore that part of the dungeon, but it still is curious and makes me interested into what his deal is.
As for the shenanigans back in town - the Greylands currently uses the old Jeff Reints carousing mishaps table (which I plan on changing with my next iteration of my house rules for the campaign), and having von Plarf end up with a divine quest was definitely an interesting development. I need to decide on what that quest is now, because I feel it should be something that is both disruptive (in that it doesn't involve the party simply doing what they were going to do anyway) while also not being obnoxious to deal with (so disruptive in a broader sense).
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