Session Report: Keep on the Borderlands #3
Note: this is a repost from an older blogging platform. Links may be hinky.
The Owlbear Boys Ride Again!
This was one hell of a night of fantasy adventure gaming: amazing feats were performed, characters died for reasons poetic, combat was cleverly avoided (until it wasn’t), and the tech stack stayed the hell out of my way.
We started the session back at the Keep, of course. A week has passed so the PCs had to do some financials for room and board, which left them pretty cash strapped and also really clarified the old school play loop: of course they’re going back to the Caves of Chaos – they’re fuckin’ broke. They chose to not hire any help but two players did run two characters each, including a new Fighter. Great news, right? Another sword never hurt!
They hoofed it back to the Caves under a grey cloudy sky and while deciding whether or not to re-engage with the Kobolds, Earl the Thief caught a glimpse of a Goblin lookout taking notice of them, which the party interpreted as evidence of an impending attack1. Rather than leap from the frying pan into the fire, they went with Door Number Three and fled towards an as-yet unexplored cave (the surely-not-that-bad Shunned Cavern).
Staying true to the “as written” nature of this…I guess it’s a campaign now?…as the players searched the bones and gristle at the cave entrance, I rolled for wandering monsters and wouldn’t you know it? A grey ooze falls from the ceiling. Now, these players have had some bad experiences with grey oozes, though obviously, the PCs have not. They role-played the situation beautifully, though, with the dewey-eyed Cleric urging peaceful co-existence and the Dwarfs just wailing on the thing. Alas, one of the Dwarfs got hit by a gooey blow, which dissolved her armor and revealed the fact that she goes commando, which condition persisted the remainder of the night. The new Fighter turned tail and ran out of the cave, claiming to be looking for “rocks to throw or something.”
Eventually, the ooze was dispatched and the party moved quite cautiously deeper into the caverns. They’ve adapted to old school play, so it was slow going and ten-foot-pole prodding. They came upon a nest of giant rats, though I finally remembered to perform a reaction roll and the rats weren’t too fussed. They moved quietly enough to begin to hear the sounds of something big snoring in the distance. Rizz McSwag, the other thief, decided to investigate, and dear reader, hand to God, this motherfucker had the hottest dice you’ve ever seen.
First level thief needs to move silently? Dude rolled a 9 on d100. Check. He comes upon a slumbering fuckin’ owlbear and decides to backstab it. Double damage die nearly maxes out, taking 2/3 of the thing’s HP. Rizz wins initiative, hits again, and another near max damage roll and just like that, he’s killed an owlbear by himself and trust me, that didn’t do anything for his humility.
The party resumed their exploration (after dubbing themselves The Owlbear Boys), and upon discovering the shallow pool and yet more oozes, they quite cleverly attempted to lure an ooze away with a trail of “owlbear chunks,” because boy did they want the bejeweled chalice at the bottom of the pond. While the lure was successful, they didn’t count on yet a third ooze, and rather than risk a fate worse than a topless Dwarf, they decided to ditch this cave and try another.
Climbing up the hill a bit, they discover a cave entrance festooned with signs promising “Safety, security and repose for all humanoids who enter – WELCOME! (Come in and report to the first guard on the left for a hot meal and bed assignment.)”
Again, props to the player whose Cleric bought it hook, line and sinker3. They went in, found the guards, who offered the good Reverend Cherrycoke a skewer of meat and then ran him through with the same. The battle was joined and well, the party’s luck ran out. When the dust settled, the Cleric, the new Fighter (who didn’t fight shit), and the gruff-but-sweet married Dwarf/Elf couple lay dead and the two ranged-weapon-preferring thieves and the free-swinging Dwarf were hightailing it back to the Keep.
Looks like The Owlbear Boys are hiring…
Miscellaneous Notes
A combination of Quest Portal as VTT and LegendKeeper as map/manager worked perfectly.
Really enjoying this foray into B/X and the roots of the hobby. This group has three other campaigns going, including my own Low Fantasy Gaming campaign which is about six sessions away from completion, so we’re moving on in the rotation. I am very strongly thinking about shifting this game to another night and running it as an open table for now.
Descending AC really isn’t that hard to work with, you cowards.