Blackmoor Campaign pt. 11.

[William]

During our session on Saturday the 4th of May the PCs recovered from their battle with the Rhodessa, as most party members suffered some sort of injury, but Kay Rocklin especially so. After just shy of a week (in game time) of rest the PCs were ready to embark upon their adventure again, and they decided that the best course of action would be to explore and map the rest of the valley, taking into account the mad hermit reputed to live in the woodland to the north of the Keep (a sizeable portion of which has already been explored by the party). The PCs (and the players with them, obviously) now have to face the fact that they are possibly going to have to finish their quest without any more help from the mercenaries, but they still have the services of the staunch Abbie Megarry the Ranger, and the players agreed to take it in turns playing her and getting her up to the 2nd level of experience.

On the day of their departure the PCs and Abbie called once again into The Traveller's Tavern. There they found both of their previously employed mercenaries in the company of another two potentially hired warriors. The PCs succeeded in making a good reaction roll, and it was agreed that when the PCs have finished scouting and mapping the valley, should they need some additional muscle for clearing out any trouble within the valley, that they will hire all four mercenaries for backup (possibly).
Afterwards the PCs began their mapping and scouting mission, initially by making their way down to the valley road and taking it east, coming off it to explore the patch of woodland upon the eastern side of the valley, and taking it just up into the fringes of the mountains. Finding nothing there of interest, and encountering no wandering monsters either, the PCs then made their way down below the fens (which had been home to the evil Lizard Men lair), the river, and the copse of fir trees (that had been home to the giant Spider lair), and explored the southernmost part of the valley, two thirds of which is covered by woodland. Like all the other sides of the valley the southern side contains a slight rise before arriving the edge of the mountains, and the PCs made their way round this to the western side, crossing another stream (making its way down into the fens and feeding the river there, which snakes through the base of some of the mountains, at times even going underground) before being told to make a roll for surprise. The group managed to not be surprised, largely thanks to Abbie the Ranger, and so the party managed to catch a glimpse of a camp within the woodland up ahead.

The PCs held back and spied upon the camp, realising (rather ironically) that the members of the camp were probably spying on the Keep. After noticing that the camp contains a dozen or so members the PCs decided that it would be best to report them to the Keep, and to come back at a later date with reinforcements. They decided to sneak away and I allowed them a Move Quietly roll with bonuses due to their distance from the camp, except Ari the Thief who I allowed a Move Silently roll with bonuses. Luckily they passed their skill checks and they moved in the direction from which they came - back south and then east.
Once out of the woodland they made their way through the fens and back to the valley road. From there they made their way back up towards the Keep, and after being admitted through the gates they were greeted by the Corporal of the Watch. They informed him of the spy camp and told him that they would return to the area but only with reinforcements, as they were outnumbered by at least two to one. However, they insisted that before returning to the spy camp they would check out the woodlands to the north of the Keep, as there may be more camps there, and they wished to check out once and for all the rumours of "The Mad Hermit". The PCs also insisted that the camp was not big enough to launch an attack upon the Keep, but that they may be possibly planning to rob travellers making their way along the valley road.

The next day (in game time) the party set out once more to map and scout the valley, this time to finish the woodland area to the north of the Keep. The northern side of the valley rises upwards in altitude more than the other three sides, making mapping the area somewhat more difficult for the players who are still new-ish to OSR gaming. After a while they got the area mapped whilst they were doing it their characters came across a huge oak tree covered upon one side by a thick bush. Whilst within the area of the oak tree they were approached but not surprised (once again thanks to Abbie the Ranger) by a friendly but unkempt, bearded man claiming to be a holy man seeking goodness in nature. The players immediately became suspicious that this was the mad hermit, but they attempted to remain calm and to deal with the stranger on reciprocal friendly terms. Reaction rolls were made with a penalty applied due their foreknowledge of a mad hermit, and the players failed to make an good impression upon the stranger, as he sensed that they were uncomfortable in his company. Unsurprisingly the "mad" hermit attacked.
Combat ensued and the mad hermit called for his mountain lion. Firearms and longbow were drawn, and most of the characters won the Initiative roll against the hermit due to some high Dexterity in the group, but unfortunately his mountain lion landed upon Abbie Megarry. The mad hermit was almost decimated as the first firearm (a musket that was wisely preloaded) shot hit him for a whopping 8 hit points of damage, plus Ari managed to successfully land a good blow with his short sword. Abbie was wounded but luckily not fatally so, and Percival Svenson, failing in his attempt to hit the mad hermit, turned his attention to helping her. Abbie released an arrow from her bow but unfortunately missed the mountain lion.
At this point I rolled for fear as neither the hermit nor his mountain lion are firearms using creatures (kind of obvious for the lion, LOL). Unfortunately for the PCs the pair passed their fear check, so neither became intimidated by the loud noise caused by the gunpowder and fuse. A second check for morale was made for the hermit losing over half of his hit points, and once again the check was passed (once again not surprising for the "mad" hermit). The mad hermit managed to hit Ari back due to his close proximity, but the blow turned out to not be fatal.
The initiative for the second round was rolled and once again most of the characters won thanks to some high Dexterity in the group (though some lost due to hermit's own high DEX). Percival landed a good blow upon the mountain lion with his mace, and Abbie this time hit with her arrow at prety much point blank range. The mad hermit was killed with another winning shot from Ari, but the mountain lion managed to strike Abbie again, this time bringing her hit points close to zero (the mountain lion had three possible attacks - two claws and one bite).
During the next round most of the characters won initiative again, plus the arquebus was now prepared to fire (fuse, gunpowder, plus lead ball) and was aimed upon the mountain lion. The shot was fired and hit. The lead ball from the arquebus caused a massive 13 * hit points of damage, killing the lion (which had already been hit by Percival and Abbie) outright.

Some of the characters searched the area and found the mad hermit's lair within the hollowed out oak tree, whilst Stefan the Sage tended to and bound Abbie's wounds. Within the hollowed oak in a chest buried in dirt and leaves were 31 gold pieces, 164 silver pieces, a dagger, and a potion. Also scattered around the lair were the hermit's other possessions such as crude wooden furniture, crude wooden cutlery, and a bed made of leaves. The characters bagged the treasure and made their way back to the Keep. We ended the session here.

* Should a firearm cause a lucky 10 hit points of damage another D10 for damage is rolled, though I'm still waiting for one of the firearms to backfire (a 1 in 10 chance; I've forewarned them).

Bill

[merias]

It's interesting that even though OD&D + supplements (S&W Complete) beefs up fighter-types considerably as compared to White Box OD&D, playing the former can be far more dangerous for PCs due to the addition of attack routines like the lion's claw-claw-bite. It makes wilderness adventuring even more deadly for low-level parties - if you let a common wolf/lion/bear get in even one attack routine against a party, someone is probably going down . Abbie got lucky!

Also nice to see the firearms finally showing their worth!

[William]

Yes Abbie got very lucky indeed!

And yes, the firearms really showed their worth at the session - if it wasn't for the party using them they would have very probably lost at least one party member to the mad hermit and his lion.
We'll just have to wait and see how things fare for them at the ravine/ Caves of Chaos. They could end up seriously outnumbered there, plus loud noises don't always scare people and creatures away.

We're playing board games today as someone can't make it, but I will have another campaign report written A.S.A.P.

[badams30]

Cool session. One of the first times I was a PC in the Keep, we had a near TPK with the hermit and his kitty. Worst part was we had him terribly outnumbered, but the dice were NOT with us, and all but two died. What a mess.