Below is the first session writeup for our Stonehell Labyrinth Lord campaign…written by Rachel. I’ve got this tagged as Session #1a since it was our first “Stonehell” session so to speak but our second with these characters (or most of them at least).
We picked up with Bambi, Charity, and Pedro having “fled” the goblin caves leaving the looted bodies of their companions behind.
My comments in brackets and italics as usual.
Warning: There are potential spoilers for Stonehell below.
After losing two of our party members to the spear-throwing goblins and gathering up their belongings and over 30 spears—Bambi, Pedro, and I headed back towards the keep from the caves. It was relatively late in the day, so we had to stop in the woods to spend the night, trying to assemble “beds” of the leaves (or nests, in Bambi’s case). Each of us took a watch during the night, and fortunately it passed uneventfully. The next morning we headed back towards the keep, the journey taking us most of the day with everything we were toting.
[As Rachel was quick to point out during play, the equipment list from Basic D&D had no bedroll or tent or the like. Jamie jumped in quick with Bambi building her nest…thus defining this as a typical halfling practice while traveling.]
While we were en route, Sister Hope arrived at the keep, telling the guard that she is looking to join adventurers who could benefit from her healing abilities. She is admitted to the keep and heads to the church immediately to pray and thank her God (the Great Gold Dragon) for getting her there safely.
[Hope is Todd’s new character to replace Uncle Preston. Todd seems to have a thing for playing clerics. Hope has already been portrayed as being, well, a bit naive.
I’ve borrowed the notion of the Great Gold Dragon as a faux medieval Catholic church from Running with Dice as well as a few of the other house rules posted there.]
A rather dusty man named Noah Lark arrived at the keep as well. The guy on the wall (who we later learn is named Gym) asked him who he is and what has brought him to the keep. Noah says he is looking for a man named James, who apparently stole something from someone. Gym is very suspicious, tells Noah that he is the lord of the keep, and that Noah must pay 80gp in order to enter the keep. Gym continues to be suspicious and outright accusatory to Noah, suggesting that he may actually be this James guy and killed Noah and assumed his identity. Gym claims that Noah is surrounded with an aura of blood and has a trail of blood behind him. He also accused Noah of “lying with badgers.” Fortunately for Noah, another guy showed up on the wall and Jim tells him he delayed Noah at the gate until the guard returned. The real guard told Noah that Gym has had a few head injuries and is a bit off. Noah is allowed to enter after assuring the guard that he will not cause trouble.
[I really have no idea where Gym came from…it just sort of happened. I certainly had no plans for an NPC like this when we started the session and not even when he first started interacting with Noah. It just kind of happened as RJ and I played it out. It certainly was fun and Gym will likely keep showing up (and did later in this session).]
Noah heads to the tavern first, and Sister Hope ends up heading there after going to the church and joins Noah at his table. At the tavern owner’s suggestion, Hope feasted on the mead, stew, bread, and cheese while Noah enjoyed a small beer. While they are getting acquainted, Gym enters the tavern, hidden by a cloak, and comes up behind Hope. He whispers to her that Noah is a murderer and lies with badgers. Sister Hope is a bit alarmed by this, but decides that she may be able to use this knowledge to her advantage and gets Noah to purchase her meal.
Bambi, Pedro, and I finally arrived back at the keep by late afternoon and headed to the trader’s with the spears and other goods we brought back from the caves. We sell the two backpacks for 1gp each; the thieves’ tools for 12gp; wolfbane for 2gp; club for 1gp; silver dagger for 16gp; short sword for 4gp; 37 spears for 5gp; and plate mail for 225gp (the trader needed additional time to examine and assess the plate mail). We learned from a few folks around town that we actually had not made it the caves we sought out, but to some smaller, not as dangerous or loot-filled caves that are on the way to Stonehell. Apparently it is a bit of an initiation rite for those at the keep to allow adventurers to go the wrong caves first, so fortunately three of us made it back, although we are sorry that Uncle Preston and Loki did not survive the initiation too.
[As I mentioned in my previous post, Stonehell and Labyrinth Lord It is, we had to shift gears from Keep on the Borderlands to Stonehell and this idea of “initiation” kind of covered it.
The PCs also benefited from the switch from Basic D&D to Labyrinth Lord in a monetary fashion. The plate mail that they scavenged from poor Uncle Preston (even the gate guards asked about him when the party returned to the Keep). In Basic it costs 60gp and in LL it costs 450gp. Given that they got half price for it, that’s almost a 200gp profit just from Preston having shuffled off to that Great Gold Dragon hoard in the sky. Shh…don’t tell the players about this though…they might start to think that I’m a softie.]
The three of us headed to the tavern while waiting for the trader to look at the plate mail. There was a guy in a cloak standing outside, who motioned us closer to him and told us in a stage whisper that there is a badger boffer inside the tavern. He then screeched “badgers!” and ran off. We headed in the tavern and met Sister Hope and Noah. Hope seemed excited to meet adventurers and asked if we could use a healer. Bambi mentions that I am still wounded and suggests that Sister Hope heal me as part of an “interview” to join our group. Hope was able to heal some of my wounds, for which I was very thankful. After talking with both Noah and Hope, we decided that they would make good additions to our group before heading back to the correct caves this time.
After dinner at the tavern, we all headed to the inn to get rooms. While Bambi opted to stay in the common room, the rest of us purchased private rooms for the night. While we were a bit disappointed that the rooms were not as “exquisite” as Pedro had made them out to be, the rooms were nice, clean, and comfortable. Hopefully a private room would be just what I needed for the next 24 hours in order to fully heal from my injuries before we set out again.
[Pedro has illustrated that his true “profession” is not as a fighter but as a marketer. In the prior session, he attempted to convince the innkeeper that he could spread word of the “exquisite” private rooms and bring in business. Although the innkeeper indicated that he needed no marketing…particularly since his is the only inn in town, Pedro refused to take no for an answer and proceeded with his advertising campaign. This later spread to the tavern as well. The shouted phrase “Stop marketing!” has become something of a catchphrase in the campaign already…though “Badgers!!!” is more fun.]
While I remained in my room resting the next day, the others were out and about the keep. Apparently about a dozen signs had been posted on the wall and around the keep bearing crudely drawn pictures of badgers with Xs drawn across them. At least one or two of the pictures were of a badger and a man, and had Xs drawn across them as well. Some other adventurers had returned to the keep with a good amount of loot and were at the trader’s when Bambi went in. She returned to the trader’s later to show him our map and get more details about exactly where Stonehell is. Noah asked a few folks in town if they have seen a man named James, but no one reported having seen or heard of him.
Sister Hope went to the church again, and prayed and patiently waited about an hour to see if the young acolyte would take a break from praying. She finally speaks to the acolyte, who is very eager to take a break and asks her to keep the prayer going for 15-20 minutes. While Hope is praying, a battle-scarred adventurer-type named Bahb came in to pray and Hope talked to him a bit. Bahb thanked the Golden Dragon for his adventuring prowess and prayed for companions of his who apparently had not made it back from Stonehell. When the acolyte returns, Sister Hope tried to ask him questions but he indicates he has to keep praying and cannot talk to her. Hope asks what he does if someone comes in who needs help while he is praying, and the acolyte gestures at a nearby bell. Hope threatens to ring the bell, so the acolyte does and an older priest/cleric enters the church. Sister Hope asked him a few questions and learned that healing and other services may be purchased at the church.
[The prayers are intended to keep Chaos at bay. An interruption of the prayer could give Chaos the opportunity to seep into the community.
Definite Stonehell spoilers ahead.]
My full day’s rest was beneficial and healed me completely, so I was able to go the tavern with the others that evening. Sister Hope spied Bahb at the bar and invited him to join our group, asking him to tell us about his adventures at Stonehell. He tells us that kobolds run a bazaar there and sell things that they have found deeper in Stonehell. A couple of my companions did not like the idea of doing business with kobolds, but Bahb said they are fine to trade with, and may be easily intimidated if one does it correctly. Bahb tells us there is a black bear named Coal who lives in a cave before you get to the main entrance of Stonehell, and that adventurers sometimes throw food to him (for good luck?) on their way to Stonehell. There is also a mountain lion in one of the surface caves, but Bahb suggested we leave him alone. Bahb says the lower levels of Stonehell are more dangerous and more rewarding loot-wise than the surface caves. After talking with us for a bit, Bahb says that he does not think our whole group has a very good chance of making it back alive. Bambi seems to take this as a wagering opportunity, and Bahb says he’ll pay us 100gp if we bring the mountain lion’s body to him. Bahb also mentioned that the stone and rock shift and change at Stonehell, but was not willing to answer my questions about it and headed back to the bar. While Bahb may not remember all the details about how the stone and rock moved, he should have remembered something about it. I will definitely have to keep an eye on this when we get to Stonehell.
[Bahb is another “on the fly” NPC as was the wager for the mountain lion. I do recall that Bambi took his comments about most of the group not returning as a challenge and opportunity to wager. Bahb’s response was how would they prove that they went to Stonehell…even just the surface area. I’m not sure if I came up with the idea of returning with the mountain lion’s body or Jamie did. Regardless, Bahb had warned them that the creature would likely be a bit too dangerous for the group to handle. I guess we’ll just have to see whether it is his warning or his wager (if either) that pushed the party to specific actions.]
A mercenary approached our table and asked if we were interested in hiring anyone to go to Stonehell with us. His name is Donnick, and he and five of his friends are looking for work. Pedro tells him that we would like to hire someone to carry a light source and other things for us. Donnick tells us he has leather armor and a short sword, and expresses that he would like to have better armor for the trip. Pedro tells him that we will pay him 2gp per day and that if we find any better armor or weapons on our adventure, he is welcome to them. Donnick’s friends are a bit upset that he has gotten a job without securing work for them too. We take Donnick, buy him a bedroll, and purchased 10 pints of oil for him to use with Noah’s lantern on our trip. We head to the inn to spend the night, Donnick spending the night in his bedroll in Pedro’s exquisite private room.
[Um, Donnick’s friend were so upset that a fight almost broke out…again, all of this is totally on the fly as was Donnick. Donnick sucker punched one of his now former friends and then stood with his new “friends.” This seemed to impress the party, especially Pedro who did the actual hiring. Donnick had also indicated that he and his friend were former soldiers (i.e., not non-combatants).]
The next morning we head out with Donnick, heading the same direction we did before but continuing until we see the curtain wall and the gatehouse to Stonehell. We see a few caves along the sides of the ravine before the gatehouse, but have yet to spy Coal or the mountain lion…
[Finally! The party has arrived at Stonehell…more or less. Two sessions in and almost the whole time has been spent in the keep with only one combat encounter. I’m perfectly fine with that! So are my players…which is probably why we’ve had two sessions with just the one combat. 😉
We ended with the PCs approaching the curtain wall of Stonehell. We’ll be picking it up again this weekend.]
