Session Log: Hagfish Hall 3

While I was happy with the last two session logs, I felt like the signal-to-noise ratio was sort of low, so I'm trying to change that this time around. We did two delves this week, with a little downtime turn in-between.

 

The Party

Daevon, a Veteran. Polearm, chain + shield.

Isabella, an Acolyte. Pike, chain. Usually carries the lantern.

Dandelion, a Medium. Sword, chain + shield.

Dandelion's Map

Delve I

Date: January 2nd. Gross weather; low visibility, alternating between rain and flurries.

The party return to the dungeon! Venturing inside, they are greeted by a mocking smile from the painting hanging overhead. Her expression suggests: "How have you not made it deeper?"

In the interest of caution, attempts are made to listen at the eastern and western doors. The dungeon rebukes them, [with clock starting at 20, a 6 explodes into another 6, and then into a 5] for a flash moment, the lady in the painting seems to laugh.

Fearing an approaching encounter, the party hunkers down in the corner, shields up, and Dandelion draws a circle of protection. They await an encounter.

Encounter!

Two beastmen enter from the west, heads low, prowling. One wields an axe and shield, the other brandishes a halberd. When they see the party, they attack.

Everybody misses on the first round. Dandelion strikes the one with the halberd.

Daevon takes the blunt face of the axe to the side of the head. His vision goes dark for a moment. He's deep beneath the ocean, and sinking deeper. Bricks sink around him--an entire castle, sinking in an ocean of blood. His eyes snap open.

[as i've mentioned before, we've been using this injury system from Papers and Pencils. an addition i've made is a table to roll when a character suffers damage greater then their maximum hp. typically, this is some variation of instant death,m; however, one option, inspired by the Blue Shift in Snow's Songbirds, sees the target survive miraculously, after seeing a vision from the House. Daevon rolled it here]

Rather then retreat while wounded, Daevon attacks the injured beastman, in an attempt to force a morale check. He succeeded, striking and killing it.

The remaining beastman fails morale, cutting his losses and fleeing down the hall. At this point I noted that he looked particularly fearsome, even among those already encountered. [11 hp!]

Briefly, the idea of attacking him as he fled was floated, but given how tough he looked, the party thought better of it. Dandelion: "Ideally, I never want to see that guy again."

Exploring Westward + "Todd"

The party decides to try their luck at the western door, finding a hallway ending in another door. They open that door, using a mirror to look around corners.

The party comes to a large room, with a high ceiling, and wooden rafters. From up in the rafters, a voice calls out: "Oi! Is anyone there? G'day to you!" A dark shape up above seems to wave.

Everyone in the party immediately loses it a bit. The door is slammed, and everybody retreats back down the hall. The party nicknames the shape "Todd," and proclaim that they want nothing to do with him, at least until they can return with crossbows.

In absence of loot, the party returned to town with the body of the slain beastman.

Downtime

We had a bunch of time still, so we decided to run a downtime turn and do another delve. Daevon and Dandelion relaxed, while Isabella tried to learn more about the beastman corpse. She was directed by the townsfolk to take it to Lenne, a bogwoman who lives out beyond the cairns. She took the body there on a sled.

She found Lenne at a crannog, splitting wood with an axe. Lenne, a possible witch, told Isabella that the beastmen where once nobles of the Old House, turned monstrous by their obsession with genealogy and military pedigree. The new banner on its surcoat (depicting some manner of rampant beast) seemed to indicate that the beastmen were no longer loyal to the Old House.

 

Delve II

Date: January 9th. Snowed a few days ago, but now just plain frigid. Nasty wind. Clear sky.

The party returns to the dungeon, opening the door in the usual fashion--Daevon pushing it open after Isabella lights her lantern. They head east from the entry hall, then south, this time without listening at any doors.

The party has been very curious about the so-called "red-pine door," seen on the map leading into area "E." Previously, they were able to identify that there was some kind of still water behind it, but little else. It has been quite a topic of discussion, both during and between sessions.

Opening it, the party finds a room of smooth marble, with a pond in the middle, and benches. An inscription sits on the other side of the pond. Lily-pads and flower petals float on the surface.

From the door, Isabella throws her mitten into the water. It floats for a moment, then sinks.

Daevon pokes the surface with his 10' pole, slowly approaching until he hits the bottom. 4.5' deep.

Dandelion circles the pond and finds the inscription, written in Classical, which she can read. "My dearest Ophelia, I love you to the bottom of the sea."

Approaching the water with the lantern reveals a figure, made of the same marble as the rest of the room, laying at the floor of the pond. She looks ethereal, eyes closed, hands crossed over her stomach.

Daevon searches the walls for any secret doors, but finds none. At this point, we were running out of time for our session, so the party withdrew from the dungeon. As they leave, they discuss returning with flowers for Ophelia.

After Session Thoughts

Everyone seemed to have a really good session, myself included.

I was especially happy with the level of discussion following after. Players wondered who might be bringing flowers to Ophelia's shrine. It was suggested that it might be the corpse-warriors, as they learned this session that the beastmen were no longer loyal to the Old House, whatever that meant. This also lead to some speculation that the beastmen might be in conflict with the corpse-warriors. I was very happy to hear some of these ideas, especially given that the party has only explored 5 keyed areas.

I was also very happy with the sense of dread which built as the party explored the pond room, especially once Ophelia was mentioned. Some of my players read my blog, and so had seen an older post where I mentioned Saint Ophelia as a powerful, flail-wielding monster. I think this made for much more effective foreshadowing then if the players had thought the room was just a Hamlet reference.

Finally, I'm still trying to sort out how exactly I want The Clock to work for random encounters. I've started making moving between areas only cost 1 tick, rather then an entire roll, but it's still leading to encounters a little too frequently then I would like. I like the way the exploding nature of the d6 means your never truly safe, but I would sort of like to have encounters a little less often. Right now I'm wondering if it would help to start the clock at 30, then have it start at 20 on subsequent encounters. Much to think about!

Also that 11 hp beastman is definitely coming back.