Orkish Odyssey

Plunderers! of Thracia: #4

The Party

PCs

NPCs

The Session

Another adventurer, a former goatherd named Merzh, who has also come to the ruins of Thracia, stumbles upon our main party burying their dead, Carlfel the Elf Mage and the porter Darsh. Merzh joins the expedition, and they continue to search the ruins for another entrance to the Caverns.

We had another player guest starring in this session, and they played Merzh. The other two players were playing Albilee (a Human Expert) and Billosh (previously a retainer, now promoted to 1st-level Human Fighter). Their NPC followers include Veirne (a 0-level retainer), Dibb (a porter), Stranglix and Nurgan (mercenaries).

The party goes south to a two-story building. The bottom floor is scattered with debris from what appears to be a former museum; among the wreckage, the party finds some mysterious herbs in wax canisters. The top floor looks to be an observatory with a giant telescope and a worn mechanism to open the roof. The party leaves the building and continues west.

The party now enters the area of the Lost City of Thracia from the original Caverns of Thracia module.

Approaching from the southeast, the party sees two structures, a large, open temple-like area to the north and a small, enclosed one to the west. The party wanders around the larger structure before veering back to the smaller one. The party finds a staircase descending into the earth but spots a foot peeking out of the darkness. It's a group of Thracian tribesmen.

I'm rolling for reactions for most encounters, though most inhabitants of the Caverns are weighted toward more hostile reactions. For the tribesmen, I rolled 2d3, and got a 6 (Neutral reaction). I took this to mean the tribesmen won't let the PCs down their staircase unless the PCs prove they can be trustworthy allies.

Despite the language barrier (the late Carlfel was the only one who spoke Ancient Thracian), the party and the tribesmen are able to make themselves somewhat understood. The tribesmen will allow the party to use their entrance to the caverns if the party brings them the heads of at least one gnoll.

I will die on the hill of RPing language barriers, I think it's a very fun puzzle to try to communicate things via charades.

The PCs continue exploring the area and climb onto the temple-like structure, where they are quickly surrounded by gnolls. The gnolls' leader demand that the party surrender, but the PCs have other intentions. Billosh tosses her lantern at the gnolls' leader, lighting him on fire and beginning an intense skirmish. When the dust clears, the gnolls have all been slain, but so have several members of the party: Billosh, the mercenary Stranglix, and the porter Dibb. Albilee, Veirne, Merzh, and Nurgan are left to bring the heads to the Thracians, and (presumably) to seek rest and recovery.

An interesting rules wrinkle emerged here. The players weren't really interested in playing 0-level PCs, so we had decided last session that when a player's PC died, their next character (whether a 0-level companion or a hireling) would be promoted to 1st level. This actually had an impact on the combat, as when Billosh died, Veirne got an immediate bump to his attack rolls from getting promoted. I don't think any of this is addressed in the rules, and that's fine with me, this is an area where I'm comfortable letting each table decide their own experiences.

As for combat, I felt pretty good with this fight. It was pretty evenly matched, and it really did feel like it could go either way for the whole combat. The initiative rules really help with that, since by rolling every round, there's a chance of either you or your opponent going twice in a row; but keeping things side-based means initiative is quick and easy compared to how, say, 5e does it. About half or more of all attacks are misses, but there's a lot of tension since at this level, any attack can be lethal.

In Memoriam

Next Time...

With the party almost all weakened or wounded, they will likely want to beat a quick retreat back to town so they can rest and resupply. But who knows what perils will await them on the journey home...

#caverns of thracia #jennell jaquays #orkish odyssey #osr #play report #plunderer!