rollohi-ch510-script

 Timeline. Day eleven, month two of spring. 

Last time on Rollohi, we paused. The Great Company appeared to have explored enough of level one that it was just about ready to make a move further. There still is one further area left unexplored. But for now, the company has to retreat. It is far too low on fuel supply for the cressets that it's been using. 

It's time to discuss the next move of the company. And once again it breaks down into three options. One extremely unlikely, one relatively unlikely, and one logically the way that they should go. 

I'll start with the extremely unlikely one this time. That would be the Baron's Tower. This option is only there because the orcs that were there may well have supplies. 

Option 2, the less likely one, is a retreat back to the bridge tollbooth. They can certainly get oil supplies there, but it's a fair way back. 

Option 3, the most likely option, is a retreat to the halfling village to mourn Clover and resupply. It will also have the bounty that they can pick up the now healed Dorgun. 

Once again, the votes are in. Option 3 is carried, although not with a swingeing majority that you would expect. The two halflings vote together this time to return to the halfling village, and Umbert and Xantu agree with them. Once again, I check whether they consult the retainers, and the answer is no. So I think going forward that will be the company policy. Retainers are there to follow orders and not to be consulted. 

Because of the early start down below, the time of day on breaking the Woods camp is still morning. Given the weather that appears to hold outside in the woods and beyond, it should only take three watches to march to the halfling village. Of course, encounters can be unkind. Let's see what happens. Forest encounters are far more likely one in three than open fields. 

Watch one. An encounter is rolled. Six three. This is a dryad. Now based on the party's original exploits in the Whispering Woods, this ought to be sympathetic. Yes it is. Although it comes with some perils, the Dryad volunteers bonus food supply, spring nectar, but coming near the level one men folk, they are forced to save versus charm. Kelm the Archer, Yeno, a crossbowman, Rann the Spearman, and Maro the Spearman are all susceptible, and a loyalty check is required for them. I grudgingly give a plus one for the effect of Ingle and Xantu's charisma. 

Rann scrapes by, but the other three make it easily. Bidding farewell to the friendly Dryad and not leaving any of their company behind to desperately, shall we say, tree hug, we move on. 

Watch two. No encounter. 

Watch three. This will be the watch in which they reach the village. No encounter. 

Day nine. Month two of spring. Rest and resupply at the halfling village. 

Oil or tallow is restocked, and pavises and spear shafts renewed where needed. Arrows are resupplied, but no crossbow bolts are available. Food too is resupplied. Rope is resupplied. And Eryn makes sure to visit her horses and Kylie follows suit with her war horse and horse. 

During that day, I roll a single encounter check for occurrences around the village. There is an encounter. Because the village is a static bound, I treat the encounter roll a little differently. A two-stage. First, is it a chaos force? No. This is purely random. Now I can roll on the usual wandering monster table. Three three. A blue dragon flies overhead. Time for another quick oracle check. Is it concerning itself with the war? No, it moves on. 

It is time to level up for all of the level ones that saw action in every case. However, several level ones, including Dorgun, were out of action or stood back as reserve for some of the actions. I'll have to do this away from the table, going back over my records and notepads to see who did what when. 

And for now, Kelm, Rima and Enonny are the only three who've been in virtually everything. It's not great news for them. Level 2 in my Cursed by the Gods hit point system is the most dangerous time. None of them advance in hit points, and two of them drop slightly. 

Day 10, month 2 of spring. It's time to return, with Dorgan now fighting fit and Clover properly mourned, to the woods. 

The weather is the same if not a little better, so once again it will take three watches march. In watch three, the woods, I roll an encounter, and this one is potentially very ominous. It's a troll. However, the range is quite long and its attitude is ten, mildly curious or indifferent. Neither side particularly detects the other in any detail in such a way to reveal. I note that the troll may haunt the camp looking for easy prey and move on. 

Watch four. The camp is rebuilt. Do they decide to build any fresh coracles? The normal answer for this would simply be no. 

Watch five. With supplies roped up ready, the company sets watches and prepares to spend the night above ground. I roll one encounter overnight. Is it the troll? No. Alright, time to find out what it is. 4-8. Pixie. I allow a plus one, as has become tradition, for the presence of Kylie and in this case Elion. With that plus one, it becomes 7 neutral. The Pixies cruise about the camp, undoing a few knots and stealing a few shiny items. That may later have consequences among the retainers, as this or that sentimental value trinket is missed. However, that's not the Pixies problem. 

Day 11, month 2 of spring. The weather is the same as previous. It's now around 14 on the Cohen scale. Roping down, including re-tying knots and wondering how they came undone, takes a full watch. 

Day 11, watch 2. The party moves in, finding the river level very much the same, but with one major difference. As they move away from the starting cavern, they encounter more giant crabs. This time three of them. 

I've discerned now that OSRIC hit points are stacked higher than OSE hit points, and so it's worth re-rolling in every case. These crabs have hit points 9, 14, and 14. The range is normal for bows as long as there's light. The attitude of the crabs is defensive. There's no surprise on either side, and initiative, round one, even. 

Missiles. Ten archers or crossbows can loose during round one. They're loosing at AC3. Two crits are scored and no other hits. Hit points of the crabs, because those were separate crabs, are now nine, eight and eight. The two sides move to close quarters. Dorgan now replacing Kylie [in the front rank] bounces off the crab armour, but saving the day a little, Xantu crits. 

Round two. The crabs attack for one, getting past Eryn's armour, three, which doesn't, four getting past nothing, and two getting past Dorgan's armour. Dorgan this time hits for two and Eryn for three, killing that first crab. They are fighting with advantage, and once again Xantu crits. 

Kylie is highly pleased, because these three crabs are in a retrievable spot. She was never able to follow up on the carcasses from the earlier mob. While the carcasses are dragged back to the starting cavern, Gage the Halfling notices some loot. There's a shiny dagger, unaffected by the water, and bracers. Cloth bracers, or perhaps light leather. Of course they'll have to be checked for curses, but they potentially will be of great value to Umbert. However, in the meantime, the dagger is yoinked by Cied. Pod looks daggers over her shoulder, if you'll pardon the expression, at Umbert. 

Turn four. With everything now reordered, the advance recommences. They return to that southeast nook closest to the entrance and starting cavern. There are more stirges. Obviously, there must be a breeding colony somewhere just in the rock above. These are swatted quickly. I shall not bore you with the explanation. 

Turns 5 and 6, and the rest turn 7, there is no encounter. The company is now opposite the bench that is well known for having green slime around it, and the opposite bench. Further back, in a bench that they are not planning to explore again, green slime has begun colonising. There is no encounter. 

Luck stays with the company, as by the 14th turn, it is ready to enter towards the keyed orc door, the one with the fancy trap that they never really noticed because they had the key, and according to the Oracle, no changes have occurred. 

The Orc Chief is still under the impression his decision to pull the foreguards in off the outer guard post paid off. Cied pops into the guard post to see if the captive orc has done anything in their absence. He has somehow suffocated face down in the slime left by the orcs. 

Cied titches melodramatically like a stage villain and grins also like a stage villain. "I wonder how that could happen. Titch titch! Poor thing. Somebody must have left him in an awfully careless place."

"I bet somebody must have left him in an awfully careless place," Pod agrees, grinning. 

There's nothing worth discussing here, so Ingle says nothing. They must here make a decision on searching north through that other door. A clear majority agree with this. Jack at the front of the party temporarily checks for traps and clears it all clear. 

Turn 15. Having rested, party order is re-established as the company filters in through that door north. Here, they search a series of well-cut chambers, and the evidence is there for all to see. The black halflings, or evil halflings, who turned to chaos, have been put down. Grizzly roasting pits and such like are dotted around what used to be the halfling halls. Any finery has been torn down and destroyed. There is no loot. It takes two hours to thoroughly search and rest over the unflooded areas. None of them has any underwater type equipment, and so the flooded area will simply be left, assumed to be useless to everyone. 

Turn 27. The company reassembles, reports very little to be found, save for some fuel supplies for campfires, and at this point, the leadership declares this is a decent place for a night's rest. Watches are set, the campfires lit, and everyone in turn takes their rest. 

Day twelve, month two of spring. At what would be dawn up in the outer world, a supply check is made. Light sources are fine. Pavises are fine. Rope used for bundling the crab shell with is down by one. Food supply fine. 

The company reassembles back at the orc guard barracks where the suffocated orc still lies, and the lockable door. 

Turn four. Jack opens the door again with the key, and the party begins to shake out into descent order, as they immediately find a sloping passage down. The company descends. And here is a quote so that you know what will be coming next session. 

"The caverns of the orc layer are humid, musty, and dirty. Many small air vents from underground volcanic activity are released throughout the passages. The ambient heat from these vents renders infravision unreliable, and so the orcs illuminate the passages and chambers with brasias. The halls and chambers are generally ill-kept. Bones and rats are bound throughout the complex. In this level, an encounter chance is 30% or a 1 to 3 on a D10, rolled every three turns."

And as the company descends, the first encounter I roll is one green slime. Once again, Dorgan shows that he has an unusually cursed existence as he is the one that the green slime drops towards. But this time he saves. It's a save against paralysis, in other words, a dodge. A few drips of green slime do hit Dorgan and are quickly dealt with by a cresset bearer. The green slime likewise is quickly dealt with as it lies harmless on the floor. But below them, the guard orcs stationed at two points at the base of the descent have heard the commotion and are preparing an ambush.