17th-23rd Day of Last Rain (wet season). Food 4.1. Rest in town.
Encounter 1 in 20 (3x per week). 16, 6, 16, No.
Event 1 in 20 (3x per week). 11, 17, 9, No.
Urban Adventure 1 in 20 (3x per week). 17, 6, 13, No, and PCs decline.
After 5 days of full rest, the group are fully healed of their wounds and looking to equip themselves for their next adventure. They are able to hire “Holland”, a male Human Porter who is not expected to fight but assist with carrying spare weapons, loading crossbows etc. The Elite Trooper from the Stretched One fight begs to become their 5th fighter, but the group almost unanimously thinks this is a bad idea. As he is led away, stunned, the group are approached by someone they all recognise- the affectionately called “Five”, a male Elven Fighter/Magic-User (he has five names, and nobody can pronounce any of them). He stands almost 7 feet tall, with hair that comes down to the small of his back. Despite being an Elf, Five is one of the strongest in all Managal, yet has all the keen senses and wits of his kind. He bows in greeting, and is welcomed warmly.
I gave the party a 100% chance for a Porter, but rolled 4d6 to see what each thought about the surviving Elite Trooper from the big town fight (you may recall he had a bad experience). 3 out 4 said some flavour of “no”, and when I threw in the Porter’s opinion just to see, he said “no” as well! Running out of (alive) NPCs who have appeared so far, I rolled to see who else was available, and got a Fighter type, then Elf. In my house rules, Elves have to be some flavour of Magic User, so we arrived at F/MU. PCs aren’t supposed to have levelled retainers at L1, so I guess we are running with 5 PCs now. “Five” was exceptionally lucky, rolling 13, 16 and 17 (total bonus +5!) with only an 8 (-1) in Constitution tarnishing someone rivalling Conan in prowess.
The last 2 days of the week are spent equipping in haste, as everyone is eager to return to the ruined monastery. Horses and saddles are bought for all; rations, arrows, oil and holy water are restocked; adventuring and camping supplies packed. “Five” is bought some upgraded armour, Naki and Vasily have new bows, and the martial characters have studded leather for sleeping. Morgan even manages to procure a precious Healing Scroll. Pausing only to pay their respects at the graves of the fallen, they head out at first light.
24th Day of Last Rain (wet season). Food 11.1. Normal Movement (30MP).
Encounter 1 in 12 (mostly safe) (Day and Night). 5, 5. No.
Event 1 in 8 (Terrain, Weather and Tide). 6, 4. No.
Feature 1 in 10 (Natural and Construct). n/a (already explored).
It is mid-afternoon by the time the party reaches the monastery. Nothing disturbs their progress, so they arrive with several hours of daylight left before nightfall. The mounts are stabled in one of the intact buildings, and the group spend an hour reinforcing walls and doorways. Holland is left to set up camp in one of the other buildings. Before venturing below, Five casts Magic Mouth on the camp’s doorway to give a loud yell if any creature comes close, and Holland seems happy with this (Morale 6, +1 for spell, 2d6=7, pass)
As a reminder, this is the layout, and the PCs have destroyed all the Skeleton inhabitants. Only the Relic room, Library and Vault remain unexplored.
The group advance down the hallway, mercifully the awful smell of vinegar has faded since their last visit. Past the Wine Cellar and Punishment Room, the hallway continues until the lights of the group illuminate the end - three doorways, left, right and straight ahead. Naki creeps ahead, and notes that the left and right doors are swollen shut like the others, but the door straight ahead is metal-bound in a stone frame, with a lock. Listening at all three doors, he reports nothing. Pulling out his lockpicks, he pokes around for 10 minutes before beckoning the rest of the group. “We need to smash all of these to get through,” Naki says dejectedly. Five claps a meaty hand on the Halfling’s shoulder. “That’s why I’m here!” If there is a monster, it’ll be behind the locked door, they reason - so Five and Vasily step up.
The door crashes in on Five’s side, and everyone grabs their weapons. Their lights shine on a scene of bizarre chaos. The room was some sort of vault, with shelves, plinths, pedestals all knocked over and broken, their previous contents of wood, glass and fabric smashed or rotted beyond recognition. 7 Skeletal bodies lie in various death poses, some still with rusted weapons in their ribs or broken bones visible. One appears to have a broken neck. Then there is a clatter of stone on stone - from behind a crumbling altar stalks a large dog - appearing to be made of smooth black stone - it halts and stares at the PCs.
No roll was made for Listen as no mobile contents in rooms.
Naki failed Lock Pick rolls.
Open doors - Five has 3 in 6, Vasily has 1 in 6 chance. (3,2 = success on first try)
(Relic Room contents = Nothing. Door? 50-50 = Yes. Library contents = Nothing. Door? 50-50 = Yes. Vault contents = 50-50 Hazard+Treasure / Feature+Treasure = Feature).
The Feature rolled was “an object stolen by the dungeon inhabitants” … “A dangerous pet”. This made me think of a “figurine of wondrous power” that I remember from AD&D1e. So, Bandits assaulted the monastery in times gone by, and while the monks fought back, they were overwhelmed - but in the Vault, the Abbot activated the Onyx Dog with a “Protect” command - the dog slew the last of the intruders, but the Abbot was dead, and there were no other attackers - so the dog waited, and waited, and waited …
This isn’t supposed to be a fight, but it could become one, let’s see:
Magic Users recognise “Onyx Dog” magic item? Hard (1 in 8 +INT) Five, Ghost = 8,8 no.
Cleric recalls legends about a nearby monastery? V. Hard (1 in 10 +WIS) Morgan = 10, no.
Each PC votes attack (1-3) vs back out (4-6) = 5, 5, 4, 5 = back away!
The Onyx Dog makes no move as the PCs drag the door back into place. They look at each other and breathe a collective sigh. They decide to re-check each door for sound, but detect nothing. These doors turn out to be much more resilient than the vault door, and it takes almost an hour to break both down. Ghost and Naki return to the surface to check on Holland, who reports no disturbance but he estimates only an hour of daylight remains.
Is there a clue to the Onyx Dog’s activation commands nearby? Likely = Yes, but hidden.
Which room? 1-3=Library 4-6=Relic Room 7-9=Vault 10=Two Places, d10 = 5, Relic Room.
The group decide to split up and search both open rooms - Ghost uses her “Detect Magic” and declares that the Onyx Dog is indeed magic, but nothing else in the vicinity. After an hour, Holland calls down to report the sun is setting, so the PCs quickly huddle to share their findings. The Library was nothing but ruins, but Vasily says some of the broken stonework in the Relic Room had runes inscribed, and he drops half a dozen broken pieces of stone from his sack onto the floor. Morgan gives a casual glance, then rubs his chin, before picking one up. He muses, “I recognise this one - this rune is called ‘Inquo’, for loyalty, which is one of the aspects of the goddess of family - she is sometimes depicted looking over her followers as a large but loyal black hound …”
As the Clue was “Hidden” (I rolled a choice of hidden, cryptic or obscure) then the PCs merely had to search for it (which they did) - Morgan didn’t have to make any rolls for it. However they will have to search again tomorrow specifically to find more runes/clues.
25th Day of Last Rain (wet season). Food 10.1. Normal Movement (30MP).
Encounter 2 in 6 (Day and Night). 6, 6. No.
Event 2 in 8 (Terrain, Weather and Tide). 8, 8. Tide.
Feature 1 in 10 (Natural and Construct). n/a (already explored).
The group are in good spirits and after a quiet night are eager to explore the remains of the monastery. Leaving Holland again under the protection of a Magic Mouth, the PCs head back underground. Vasily is left to watch the Vault door while the others search the Relic Room for more clues. After an hour of turning over stones, the PCs one again convene and discover these runes/phrases - “Inquo, To Heel” and “Inquo, To Bed” - also a pictogram of a master’s hand over a dog’s head. It is Ghost who stands first, and declares, “The solution is simple - remove that door and let me inside”. The others glance at each other and shrug, then Five and Vasily move the barricaded door to the Vault. Ghost steps inside slowly, and the Onyx Dog fixes its eyes on the approaching Half Orc. “Inquo, To Bed” she says, stepping closer, and closer, “Inquo, To Bed”. The Onyx Dog does not react as Ghost approaches, until they are side by side - Ghost reaches out and gently touches the Dog’s head: “Inquo, to Bed!” The Dog sits, and then quickly shrinks to a statuette the size of a small flagon.
Onyx Dog, Inquo - AC15, HD2+2, Att Bite 1-4+2+Hold, Move 50, Save F2, ML12, XP100
Special: Can hold on each round after biting, causing 1d4+1. Save vs Death+STR to break.
When called, Inquo becomes a full size Onyx Dog and will follow/protect the summoner who calls him “To Heel” until told “To Bed” or brought to zero/less HP, at which time he reverts to a Figurine. If “killed”, Inquo has 10% per negative HP of smashing to pieces, but only 1 roll is made. Inquo heals 1HP each sunrise, no other healing generally works.
Ghost earns 100XP and claims Inquo for herself, for now. There is nothing else to discover in the dungeon, although the group spend an hour searching the Vault. They mount up and scout to the north and west, finding more forbidding mountains and forested hills - they do not wish to get cut off from Managal by the Hill Giants, so decide to head East instead, where their scouting reports yet more forested hills - and now they are out of daylight.
There is a Tide Event: Smell/Nose (real) : Earth/Rock.
The group are looking for a campsite in the grassland east of Managal. The horses and Bess become skittish, turning their heads and stamping their hooves. Eventually the party picks up on the smell, like freshly turned earth, barely concealing the scent of decay - there is clearly some battlefield or mass grave ahead. The red mist subtly thins out, as if encouraging the group to approach - but as one, they turn their mounts away, and retreat at a gallop.