Session Log: Hagfish Hall 2

If you missed it, you can find session 1 here!

My group returned to Hagfish Hall this week, for our first full-session delve. I also tried out some downtime mechanics, and made my first checks for dungeon restock. The systems for both of these were adapted for od&d from the Serpent Song Hymnal, by I Cast Light!.

Without further ado...

 

The Party

Last week, the Long-Night came and went. Cennich was decorated with paper lanterns, and all gathered round their hearths to tell ghoul-stories. A member of the courier's guild, clad in red trim, brought a small sleigh of parcels for the people of Cennich. Some of these were for our party. [i prompted this as a creative exercise prior to play].

Daevon, a Veteran. Received a mace from a colleague, alongside a paranoid letter warning about the dangers of skeletons.

Isabella, an Acolyte. Received a zweihander from an unknown source.

Dandelion, a Medium. Received a bright yellow scarf from her cousin.

The Delve

Date: December 26. Fresh snow from the night prior; low winter sun.

The party headed down the river from Cennich, returning to Hagfish Hall in the afternoon, a little over a week since their last delve.

Upon arrival, they checked the ruins to see if there were any footprints in the fresh snow, but found none. This led to some speculation that the dungeon entrance may not be patrolled, at least not in the mornings.

Dandelion's Map

Retracing Steps

After some discussion of where they wanted to head, and some listening at doors along the way, the party headed through the entry hall with the large painting, followed the eastern hallway, and turned north, coming to the room where they had encountered the knife-dog and the beast-man in the session prior.

Both of the bodies were gone, however the room was otherwise unchanged, with the white sheets still on the floors, as the party had left them.

A New Hallway

Heading north, the party came to a hallway, extending 30' before branching both north and west. Both doors were made of furnished wood, stained a dark colour.

Daevon listened at the northern door, while Isabella listened at the western one. Tragically, both heard nothing. The party decided to head west.

 

Sitting Room, Abandoned

Opening the door to peak in, the party saw a sitting room, with various chairs covered in white sheets, and an empty fireplace.

After some time spent discussing the contents, and whether or not there might be something nasty lurking up in the chimney, I decided that the party had been looking at the room long enough that I offered them a devil's bargain: a clock roll in exchange for an observation.

The party declined, bless them (edit to clarify: if they had taken the bargain, they could have been tipped off to the hidden ambush of otherwise totally silent corpse-warriors; however, time was of the essence here, as the clock was getting rather low).

Daevon led the group in, followed by Dandelion and then Isabella. Once they had all come into the room, they realized a figure had been pressed up against the eastern wall, lying in wait.

 

Ambush!

The figure looked to be a walking, desiccated corpse, clad in ancient chainmail, rusted orange. It tapped the wall with a dagger in its left hand, then lunged at Isabella with its sword.

Two more corpse-warriors lept over some of the furniture, moving like commandos. They attacked the party from the other side.

Due to the close range, Daevon dropped his polearm and took the mace from his belt. He attempted to trade blows with one of the corpse-warriors, but neither hit.

Isabella skewered one of the warriors on her pike, but it still managed to slash her before finally ceasing motion.

Daevon felled another of the corpse-warriors, leaving only the one engaged with Dandelion.

The final corpse-warrior slashed Dandelion across the face, leaving her wounded with a gnarly scar [lingering injury]. She slew it on the following round.

Dandelion Injured!

Dandelion received the first lingering injury of the campaign. I wanted something a bit less lethal then rules-as-written, but still gross and gory, so for this game we're using rules derived from this Papers and Pencils article, with my own injury table slotted in. Some entries include a permanent reroll of either HP or a random ability score, taking the new result, whether it's better or worse.

In this case, Dandelion was scarred. She was forced to re-roll Charisma, and rolled a 4, so I described the scar as looking particularly nasty.

Isabella cast a cure wounds spell on Dandelion, though she herself was still wounded as well.

Let It All Burn!

The party almost immediately agreed that the bodies should be burned, in case they rose again. Some time was spent discussing how thoroughly the room should be searched beforehand. The clock was ticking lower, and the party was not in good shape. Decisions were made.

Daevon peaked up into the fireplace, noting distant light up the chimney. Tucked away on a ledge inside the chimney was a leather pouch, containing some gold coins.

Dandelion pulled a white sheet off one of the chairs, and draped it loosely over two of the bodies. Isabella doused it in lamp oil and set it ablaze, and the party fled the room. I deemed that since the room was filled with dry stuff, including lots of sheets, furniture, and ancient corpses, it would probably burn pretty completely. It is possible I over-estimated the flammability of lamp oil, but that's a problem for future-alice.

Escape

The party retreated back to the room where they encountered the hound last session. With an encounter close on the clock, they piled crates in front of the northern door, and Dandelion cast a Circle of Protection in front of the southern one.

I rolled randomly to determine what direction the clock encounter would come from, and it came from the north.

The party heard barking down the northern hallway, growing louder until it hit the door. Since it was behind the blocked door, they decided to flee, seeing blades start to jut through the wood just as they fled the chamber. From here, they hurried out of the dungeon.

Heading Home

Once the big iron door to Hagfish Hall had been closed, the party were reasonably confident they had escaped the pursuing dog(s?). They poked around on the surface a bit, finding the chimney by some smoke billowing up from a narrow rocky crevice. Some plans were made to try and excavate the crevice, in order to use this as another means of entry.

The party left the dungeon in the late afternoon, and as they headed back to Cennich, it started to get dark. In the distance, they spotted little fires on the bogs. These were out to the west, past the line of cairns denoting the edge of the Pale March. The line of cairns sat a mile out from the river. Those who wander past that line have been known to disappear.

Foes Slain

• 3 Deathless Legionnaires

Plunder

• 16 gold coins, stamped depicting a Philosopher Queen
  

XP: 153 per person.