Shadowdark Thracia 2
Players: Akashic Akakius Zema Zafat Fenn Plutokratos Strabon
Carousing: - Akashic paid a priest to befriend him, donating 10% of his wealth - Thieves mugged Fenn for 5% of his wealth.
With a buffed up party the adventurers made their way back to the Lost City.
With some scouting ahead, Fenn saw there was a Gnoll Patrol atop the central building (the one containing the known entrance). The party preferred to explore around for other entrances.
Fenn was able to spot another structure to the west, but due to the dense foliage did not see the hiding cultists guarding it. The cultists were wary of them at first but willing to talk. They told the party to leave and were firm, but not outright hostile. As Zema was leaving he said "cheers" in Ancient Thracian. The leader, the Priest Theylas, was caught off guard by this comment and found it suspicious, taking it as a threat.
Fenn tried to scout up the side of Area A but caught the attention of the guarding Gnolls who turned hostile. They remember their fallen brethren from last session were killed by such figures. The party decided to try and pull the Gnolls into a fight with the cultists but mostly ended up getting caught in the middle.
They did discover that the cultists in fact were guarding a secret entrance. However, mid-fight, Akashic micast burning hands and farted out a black cloud that engulfed the nearby area in pitch black smog. No one in it could see anything.
That worked more in the party's favor than initially anticipated. As a result the party were able to swing the fight. Theylas was badly wounded in the kerfuffle and disarmed. By the end the party captured him and let his guard Idomar free, though they did expect the guard to meet them in town. He offered to help them out if they pay for his drinks this week.
Loot haul 12gp. 2 dwarven shields (20gp). Potion of invis (80gp) Party gains 2XP
Zema Zafat reached level 2
Downtime:
Theylas let himself be captured. He will use the spell COMMAND during downtime on a guard to try and kill himself so he doesn't spill any info.
If Idomar goes boozing here is what he knows of the caverns:
- He's been to area 1-19 but never past the bridges
- He knows the composition of the Tribal Religious Procession and Funerary Party.
- He knows that Priests like Theylas wear silver chain necklaces with skull pendants on.
- He mostly had to guard off Gnolls and Lizardmen
- To his knowlege the Cult conducts sacrifices in here (some of them consensual) and also hold funerals (they store their dead in room 1-27B)
- He doesn't know much about their God. They would just pay him decent coin. He knows the Cult stores their treasure north of 1-19.
Factions: Gnolls know about the cultists in Area B. They are going to raid that entrance more often, leaving their entrance more exposed. - 30% they are in Area A. 50% chance they are fighting cultists in Area B.
Thoughts:
I don't enjoy running combat heavy sessions, especially not with so many combatants. Part of me is debating whether 6 players is really worth it. It feels like a massive group especially when we get into initiative. Side based initiative for fights may be the way to go.
There is definitely a bit of a learning curve when it comes to running the factions here. Details are quite sparse. I know now that my prep needs to involve fleshing them out more. There is no guidance on how to run these encounters. The lore details are spread throughout the whole book. I don't know basic things about them that players will certainly ask about. It has me on the back foot a bit when it comes to what I can explain.
I do feel like the overworld plays like a puzzle to be solved. It is definitely not the kind of design you see today. Making the dungeon entrance a pain in the ass every time is a surefire way to progressively discourage open-table megadungeon play. However, the second entrance does skip the Gnolls but offers up the cult.
I can see how you are pushed into playing these factions off each other from the jump and for the most part I do think I have something to go with for next session.
The situation feels relatively plain at first. You have guards at each entrance. Neither party likes you. Or each other. However, the simplicity leaves a lot of room for the party to complicate things.
This session was a bit of a slog, but I can't beat myself up over it.
Its evident that this module focuses on challenge based play. D&D was a wargame back in those days. Not to say that the module is all about combat, but that combat presents great risk for mild rewards. If the parties want easy access into the dungeon they have to earn it here.
I do wish that the overworld had a bit more going on to inform what the factions do outside the dungeon, and whether or not they have much presence after all. I guess that is entirely up to me, but again some clarity would have been appreciated.