The inaugural session for The Exarchate of Alsudhvi was a one-shot adventure which I (Richard) ran for my sister Hope, her fiancé Justin, and my wife Sophia.
Dramatis Personae:
- Sophie played The Cleric of St. Gogar the Bright, Dolvia of Eda, Catechist and Undead Slayer
- Hope played The Elven Ranger Nyana of Trisgolor, Archer and Woodland Stalker
- Justin played The Fighter Baki of Ina-Vlamun, Man-at-arms and Guardsman
Start Date: The 25th day of Epiphi, in the Third Month of Harvest
When Last We Left Our Heroes...
Our adventure began in a hamlet about twenty miles north of the Duchy's capital of Aesta-Suvash, out in the countryside in a little logging village known as Vlamesht. The companions were passing through, Dolvia and Baki having worked together in the past and the Elven Ranger Nyana passing through the hamlet as a way of avoiding the larger city full of men on her way from one elven fastness to another.
As many loggers had recently returned from the Wormholt, the primeval forest north of the village the local inn of The Wandering Chestnut was full, and the companions were forced to sit at a table together. They noticed that after they sat down, several of the locals vacated the adjacent tables, and nobody even came and took their order. Soon, they realized that it was Nyana in particular who was being shunned. She walked up to the tavern's owner--a brusque, one-legged man named Hetalvar. He explains that some of the more ignorant among the village folk (not himself, of course) confuse all of the "fair folk" and are suspicious Nyana might have something to do with the recent "troubles" which had come upon the village.
It turns out that a few loggers had gone missing recently, but nobody thought anything about it at the time (after all, they're a transient sort, and sometimes people just leave). Then children started disappearing. To-date, four children have gone missing, including Hetalvar's daughter Besi. It turns out that about three nights ago, a couple of drunk loggers had seen several "goat-men" run off with the girl and take her off towards the "Khizd Oak," a sacred oak which once belonged to the Saftash god of the underworld, deep in the Wormholt. Nobody believed them at the time, and since then Hetalvar hadn't been able to get anyone to look into it. Nyana volunteered and the party was hired to go in search of the girl. They were offered 50 GP apiece (a hefty sum, and probably everything the innkeeper had managed to save over the years), together with a Blood Honey Tincture [a healing potion] Hetalvar still had from his army days, if they could find his daughter and bring her home.
[And basically this is where things got amazing in a very low-level OSR kind of way.
Justin (who was playing an RPG for the very first time and was perhaps still not convinced that this is a real thing that we were doing) wanted a camel. I explained that there were no camels in this part of the world. The reason he wanted the camel is because, since it was Hope's first OSR experience and Sophie's first time playing an OSR game in a long time, I gave them a brief rundown of some of the implicit assumptions of OSR games -- things like the fact that you'll need something to transport loot from the dungeon, but also that you'll need hirelings to guard the animals because the animals won't go into a dungeon with you, etc.
Anyway, I finally talk Justin out of this camel and he decides (after realizing that he doesn't want to spend money on a mule) that he'll just gather up all of the local stray dogs and hitch them to a wagon instead, because his character (despite having the most starting gold of anyone in the party) is hella cheap.
Me: Well, you can certainly try...
Justin (looking at Hope's/Nyana's character sheet): Well I'm going to take the Ranger with me because she can just talk to animals and that should make this easy.
Me: ...you are correct sir.
Hope: Wait, I can? looks at character sheet OOH THIS SAYS I CAN TAKE ANIMALS AS HIRELINGS
So.
We spend the next thirty minutes talking to various dogs in town.
The local pack of strays is not interested in danger or traveling or anything except easy food (rolled a 2 on the Hireling reaction table). One of them lifts his leg at Baki.
Justin: What about one of the missing kids? Did they have a dog?
I roll a die to check. The kid did in fact have a dog.
So they go and hire this dog instead and it's an easier sell because she (the dog) is eager to get her human back.
In case it is not clear, this was about thirty minutes of me roleplaying as various dogs. Fortunately I have spent my entire life around dogs and have a good number of dog personalities banked.]
After using Nyana's ability to communicate with beasts to attempt to enlist some of the hamlet's stray dogs to aid them in their quest, they manage to identify Una, a grey hunting dog who had belonged to one of the missing children. Una is most solicitous to find her mistress, and so the companions now had a Hunting Dog Hireling, willing to work for scraps and belly rubs until she gets her human back.
In the meantime, Dolvia goes around to the locals and, after some bargaining, manages to hire three Level 0 retainers, secure a mule (just a loan from someone who wants to help get the children back), gets torches, etc.
[The hamlet is usually too small to have hirelings, but owing to its proximity to a Small City, it has hirelings as though it were a Class VI market.]
The retainers throw out a price, that they are willing to work for 25% of the treasure, which very high, but Dolvia agreed to the terms, and as a result the hirelings were inclined to be VERY loyal.
With these preparations made, our companions began the overland journey, which went smoothly due to the presence of the Elven Ranger, and the fact that the hunting dog is capable of tracking (as per the Tracking Proficiency) and also knows one of the people they are looking for. They move along at a pretty good pace, and it would only take them one day to traverse the three hexes they need to get to their destination.
A few hours into their journey, they are attacked by a small pack of rabid Dire Wolves. Thanks to Nyana's watchfulness, they are not caught unawares, but the four wolves were large and vicious, and the battle was a close affair. Although the company drew first blood, the endurance and savagery of the Dire Wolves seemed likely to carry the day. Two of the three hirelings were ripped apart, Una the dog was dropped to 0 HP, and Dolvia the cleric was seized, shaken, and thrown against a nearby tree, dropped to 0 HP as well.
[This was Justin's first fight in an RPG ever, and Hope's first taste of OSR combat. Everyone did very well. I especially appreciated how quickly each round went. When you don't have "can I spend this to do more damage" abilities or "can I spend this to re-roll" hero points, combat really clicks along. Also, can I just say, I really like rolling for initiative every turn. It doesn't really bog things down, and it makes initiative so much more important.]
Baki saves probably the whole party and the whole quest by ordering remaining hireling to use the group's one healing potion to revive Dolvia. She wakes up and is able to rejoin the battle, and this turns the tide. Between Baki's glaive, Dolvia's mace, and a rain of arrows fired from the treetops by Nyana, two of the Dire Wolves are slain, including the pack's alpha, triggering a morale test which the remaining two dire wolves fail. They turn and flee.
In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Dolvia did her best (via the Healing Proficiency) to stabilize Una the dog. But Una's condition was grave enough that if she did not recover at least 1 HP in the next 24 hours, she would die. The companions had a choice before them: would they make camp out here in the forest to give Una some time to recover, or would they press on, meaning that the dog would most likely die?
As it happens, by using their abilities in tandem, the companions were able to avoid both of these outcomes. Nyana vanished into the forest, returning an hour later with a bundle of comfry which she--with the help of the denizens of the forest--had located. In the meantime, Dolvia and Kuzan (the remaining henchman) buried the two fallen henchmen, who had been savagely ripped apart by the dire wolves, with honor, and with all of the necessary rites to ensure they could not be raised again as undead. When Nyana returned, Dolvia used the comfry to treat Una, restoring enough HP for Una to continue on the journey.
Without any further incidents, the companions arrived at the Sacred Oak, and quickly located a hole at its base leading to a network of tunnels full of bizarre things like living faces emerging from roots (whom the companions managed to irritate and infuriate) etc. But they did not go very far into the larger tunnel complex. Using Una the Dog, they tracked the scent of the children, who were being kept in a set of chambers relatively near the entrance to the dungeon.
The children had been taken there by a small "flock" of goat-men/fauns [who are not typically a thing in this world -- as I pointed out when Hope asked, nobody in this world has ever seen a faun] who had turned a part of the dungeon into an eerie little house with a sitting room, library, kitchen, etc. It all felt like a bizarre parody of normal human life. Everything was flimsy, shabby, or just wrong in some way.
The fauns welcomed them in and tried to serve them drugged tea, but the companions did not fall for it, and managed to fight their way through the fauns (and a couple of chair mimics) to the center of their lair. By the way, during the fight with the fauns the dog went down yet again, but they managed to revive it using the herbs in the fauns' kitchen.
They kept one of the fauns, a female, alive and made her show them where the children were. Three of the missing children were alive, a fourth had already been neatly butchered and carefully packed away.
As it turns out, the fauns had been a normal flock of goats before their leader, Ramius, had been elevated by "the One who lies below." Ramius had then been feeding human flesh to the other goats (along with other dark rites) to turn them into fauns as well.
The companions had to decide what to do with the remaining faun. Dolvia wondered if they staked her out somewhere and starved her for a while, if she would just turn back into a normal goat. But Baki cut that conversation short by clubbing her on the head. As it turns out, nobody had a problem with this.
There is still a massive tunnel complex down there which they have not explored, but they looted the Fauns' lair (which had a decent little haul of treasure) and headed back to the village of Vlamusht. They made it back to the hamlet without any encounters and returned the children (and the dog) to their homes. They're a good deal richer for their experience, and they've learned some rumors about a clan of dwarves who live in the tunnels and who worship a massive idol made of emerald.
Kuzang, the remaining henchman, found that the experience had rekindled his old love of adventure (the gold probably helped with that), and intends to continue serving Dolvia on these favorable terms [Kuzang gained enough XP to become a Level 1 Fighter].
Will the heroes of Vlamusht return to the tunnels beneath the Khizd Oak? And will Baki ever find his camel? Only time will tell...
End Date: The 27th day of Epiphi, in the Third Month of Harvest
Monsters Killed:
- 2 Dire Wolves (2 more routed)
- 3 Fauns
- 2 Chair Mimics
- 4 Enchanted Sheep Skulls (Undead)
- 487 GP
- 192 SP
- 202 CP
- A Silver and Sapphire Ring (400 GP)
- 10 Doses of Sleeping Herbs (Save vs. Poison or fall sleep for 2d6 turns)
- 3 Bundles of Comfry
- An Unidentified Potion
- A Sheepskin Grimoire of arcane spells:
- Charm Person, Detect Evil, Phantasmal Force
