Murdicog's Manse Session 13: Raiders of The Xanthic Vault
Players: Osric III of Kikstahta, Hero (EvilTables); Grappadora Hamaques, Swashbuckler (Jay_zer0); Buster Diamantis, Theurge (Mistuh); Xaldun of Portage Town, Swordsman (roguewithwhimsy)
Summary
At the end of last session, the party of adventurers was somewhere deep in the Wilderlands of Ü, having followed streams knorth and ouest from Ux Quorath in search of a dungeon marked on their map. To their knorth, stone stairs led into the foothills of a mountain ridge (marked, it seemed, by the sigil of Zurthine House Indrath, as identified by Xaldun). To the psouth, a triangular yellow structure was visible, seemingly the source of the Gnoll that Grappadora had so expertly dispatched with his radium rifle.
After a brief discussion, the adventurers chose to investigate the yellow building. It turned out to be yellow-painted concrete, with large metal doors in front. Over the doors, human corpses were mounted on crude spikes. Gnoll footprints were visible going in and out. A panel by the door had a red and a green button next to it.
Osric's apprentice, Amphibia, was instructed to press the red button, after which nothing happened. Upon pressing the green button, the door slid open revealing five Gnolls feasting on a hemiuach carcass. The adventurers took advantage of their surprise and rapidly slaughtered them.
The room was small and triangular, with three doors. Noticing ancient glyphs above each door, Buster cast Read Languages and learned that the neighboring rooms were "Refridgeration" [sic], "Personal Protective Equipment", and "Laboratory".
The adventurers began to methodically clear the floor. In the PPE room, they killed 6 Gnolls and donned hazmat suits and gas masks. In the Laboratory, Buster found microscopes and a few dried-up seeds. In Refridgeration [sic], 6 more Gnolls were dispatched. In a room marked storage, 7 more Gnolls were slaughtered, and 17 Gnoll eggs claimed.
They then went upstairs, to an area marked "Vault". This was a triangular hallway around the structure's perimeter, with a huge vault inside. Amphibia was asked to try to pick the lock of the vault, and managed to do it despite the fact that it was an electronic lock. As soon as they had gained access, however, a patrol of 12 Gnolls spotted them. Buster cast Phantasmal Forces to disguise the adventurers as Gnolls, but the language barrier remained. Thus, Sleep was necessary to dispatch all but one remaining Gnoll. As it ran away, Grappadora took aim with the radium rifle and felled it with a single hit.
Inside the vault, they found 7,000 silver lunes, 4,000 golden sols, 12 canisters marked with an obscure sigil that Read Languages translated as "BIOHAZARD", and a mysterious ring, claimed by Osric.
...as you don the ring, you feel the vertiginous expanse of deep time, of nameless swamps and lidless eyes and fires blazing in the heavens... you feel an affinity for that which is ancient & reptilian...
After some logistical shuffling, the party managed to ferry their loot out of the vault and safely reached the remote village of Vul Anoryith.
Aftermath
Treasure Found:
- 7,000sp
- 4,000gp + an uncertain amount recovered from Gnoll corpses
- 17 Gnoll eggs
- 12 canisters labeled with a biohazard symbol
- 10 gas masks
- 6 hazmat suits
- Ring of Dinosaur Control
Foes Encountered: 36 Gnolls (all slain)
Rumors:
- What's on the "greenhouse" level?
- What do the canisters contain?
Deaths: None
XP Awarded: Base award of 7575, modified by level
Notes
- A fun session! I'm glad the party has started exploring the hexmap, as much as I did enjoy running the Murdicog's Manse megadungeon.
- There was a fun, unlikely moment where Grappadora had rolled 2 damage with his radium rifle shot against a fleeing Gnoll, and against all odds I rolled 2 HP for its 1.5 HD.
- The description for this hex can be viewed here. I drew the map and came up with the details in a panicked rush about 10 minutes before the session... and it went fine. I'm chalking it up to having had my chakras unblocked by classic Trav.
- This was also my first time actually running a lair generated with the OD&D tables. In this case I opted to treat it like a mini-dungeon, albeit one stocked with only one type of enemy. There are other lairs on the map that I'd steer toward treating as a mass combat scenario, but in this case since the description indicated it was an ancient super-science ruin, the dungeon approach felt right.
- I'm going to use Franc's Burgler class for Bekhtar Amphibia (Osric's thief follower).
- Mistuh cast Phantasmal Forces during the first fight and I adjudicated it clumsily. I will need to put some thought to how I interpret the spell, particularly when and how to roll saves against it.
- A slightly silly ruling: Gnolls roll initiative with disadvantage in the cold, since they're cold-blooded insectoids.