Actual Play: The Grinding Gear

Cross-posted from my blog (www.theskyfullofdust.co.uk)

Yesterday our usual 3.5 D&D game didn't happen, as two players couldn't make it and the DM wanted us all there. So instead I offered to run a one-off game, using the LotFP rules and the adventure "The Grinding Gear". We didn't get to finish it, time ran out, but if we need to cover another session the players were happy to continue this one.

I spent some time during the week to create pre-generated characters (straight out of the book) and a selection of henchmen for them to choose from; I have them a choice of 1 player character each and a supporting henchman too. I also printed off the spells (randomly rolled) for the spell-casting creatures and the important rules and monster details I needed for the game (the rest I just winged). After selecting their characters and a quick rules-overview for the differences between the Weird Fantasy rules and Basic D&D, we were ready to begin.

The Characters

An elf (level 2) called Padwar; a dwarf (level 2) called Frawd; and a cleric by the name of Henrik Lanceman; with a man-at-arms by name of Though, an acolyte called Samwin (Cleric Level 1), and a torch-bearer called Gyford (who smelled like a goat) to accompany them.

The Session

Hearing of reputed treasure in the region of the abandoned inn, The Grinding Gear, the party of adventurers approached the area and spotted the chapel, stables and inn, and especially the ring of dead bodies surrounding a statue for a distance of 20'. They made a quick search of the bodies, not getting too close, noting the puncture marks on the necks and back, thinking that maybe there are vampires nearby. They see the name "Garvin Richrom" on a plaque on the base of the statue. They decide to check the stables next, finding five healthy horses with full tack and enough feed and water to last several days. They conclude that there might be bandits or the like in the inn; so they head off to investigate.

Cautiously, the dwarf leading for the most time, they explore the ground floor of the inn, finding a piece of paper, a locked safe (that the cleric manages to jimmy open) with a receipt inside, and stairs going both up and down into the cellar. The inn seems empty, coated with dust, obviously not seen use recently. The various guest rooms, kitchen and pantry are all empty. The cellar proves just as empty, as does the next floor up. At the third and final floor they find not only a trapdoor to the attic, but also an empty library (with brass nameplates showing that there use to be various engineering and joke books kept there), a workshop of rusted tools and a cage wired by a gold thread to a strange gear-and-crank device. A dead sparrow in the cage is set alight when the elf winds the crank, sending a surge of miniature lightning up the wire and setting the bird alight. The dwarf manages to yank out a piece of paper before it is set on fire; this turns out to be a song sheet, for some music entitled "My Bonny Lass (She don't look so good)". They find a partially filled in journal in the master bedroom, which indicates that there is an underground tomb somewhere, holding some sort of treasure.

Next they decide to check the attic. The dwarf hears the fluttering of what might be bats up above, so they decide to send Thoug up to investigate: relunctantly he does so, opening the trapdoor and seeing dust-covered furniture and junk, plus a glitter of gold: and also dozens of mosquito-bats that start to flutter and awake as the henchman looks on in horror. Fortunately, the dwarf is quick to act, and before anything comes out of the trapdoor, he yanks the henchman down and slams the trapdoor shut.

After a bit of debate, the party decides to leave the attic alone for now, and head back outside to check out the chapel. They find a smashed urn with a name on it (AnnabelMarie) and a key-shaped idol of the local Saint McIver. They take the idol, and make a note of the name. Back outside, they finally decide to investigate the statue. While the cleric stands well clear of the dead-bodies, the others clamber up and start to poke around the statue. Gyford triggers a trap, at the same time as he opens a secret hatch that reveals a ladder going down; but gas spurts out of the base of the statue, and both the dwarf, Gyford, and Samwin all fall asleep. The elf acts quick and stuffs a body in the opening, hoping to stop it from closing. The others quickly grab their bodies and start dragging them away, toward the chapel. And just in time, as a mosquito-bat flies out of the hole in the inn's roof, but doesn't reach the party in time; they close the doors to the chapel and watch through the windows as more and more of the blood-sucking creatures pour out of the roof and the surrounding trees. They wait a good half-hour, for both their companions to awaken, and for the creatures to return to whence they came.

When all is quiet, the party sneak out to the statue; the hatch is still open where the body (now crushed) is stopping it from closing. They climb down the ladder into the dungeon; pushing the body out once they notice that the hatch is easily opened from inside.

They find themselves in a room, a single door leading out, a cryptic message on the wall. The open the door, to find a corridor, with 1' diameter holes in the ceiling. Fearing a trap, the dwarf cautiously advances, keeping an eye on the ceiling. Nothing happens. He tries the door at the end, and is pricked by a needle. He fears poison, but the cleric assures him that is isn't poison, even as the dwarf's hand turns blue. Thoug is given the lantern to hold, and the dwarf uses an iron spike to keep other door to the first room, and this trapped door, open. They then pass through the door into another corridor, and explore the rooms leading off it; they find a candle in a glass-bulb that when lit reveals more cryptic words on the floor. In another room decorated with stars and a moon, the dwarf uses the bulb to find the image on the moon, linking the words under it to the music sheet they found. Behind another door they hear voices, and when they try the door they discover it is barred from inside: voices call out from behind, telling them to leave, that the tomb and all its treasure is their's as they got there first; the party decide to deal with whoever it is and start hacking away at the door: a turn later, the door splinters open and the people inside ready themselves to attack.

The fight is long and full of missed chances, parried blows, and wild swings. A magic-user tries to cast a spell, but it is disrupted by the dwarf shooting him with a crossbow. The cleric uses his Command spell to make one of the enemy fall asleep. Then the henchman, Samwin, enters, and takes a sword to the neck from a backstabber behind the broken door: Samwin falls dead to the floor! Thoug follows, but is only unconscious, as the enemy magic-user throws a dagger into his gut.

Eventually, Gyford kills one of the would-be tomb robbers, but also falls unconscious as the backstabber knocks him out. The dwarf takes out the backstabber, and then the cleric wading in with his mace, smashes the skull of the last. After healing the elf (injured by a thrown dagger), and the henchmen tended to, they loot the bodies and take their belonging back to the entrance to store the loot, and rest for a night. In the morning, with Thoug back after a good rest, the party continue with their exploration.

They search the rooms they have found, quickly discovering hidden levers. They push then up, hear a rumble outside, and go out to investigate: but as soon as they open the door, they see three Giant Ants scurrying out the holes in the ceiling; the ants, elf and Thoug are surprised, allowing the dwarf and cleric to move into position first: both fire their sling and crossbow, but miss. The dwarf charges the ants, doing his best to block the corridor as the ants try to move past, and allowing the others to hurl sling bullets and fire arrows at the third ant as it starts to climb the wall, eager to feast on their flesh.

This proves a dangerous battle, with poor luck on the side of the adventurers. Over the course of 11 minutes (more or less) the ants lie dead, the dwarf is knocked unconscious but given a Potion of Healing from the elf, and the cleric almost runs foul of the ants. Thoug helps by reloading the dwarf's crossbow, and the dwarf uses it to kill his second ant, the third falling to the elf's bow.

The rumbling opened a secret door, leading to a corridor. They follow it down, even more cautious than before. They pass through a door with a stone idol outside, to another door behind which they can hear the sounds of growling. Beyond they find three rooms, each with a 15' deep, 10' wide pit. Doors lead out of each room. In the first pit is a troll, trapped and angry. In the second a pudding monster, giving off acidic fumes. In the third, three ghouls who hiss and promise the adventurers that they are going to eat them.

The party leave them for now, going through the doors to the connecting corridor. A door, with a plaque telling them it leads to a private chapel, looks like it might be a trap. Being clever, they remember that they have a key-shaped idol from the chapel above: they use it on the door, hear a click, and open it (bypassing the trap). Inside they see the skeleton and candles, suspect a trap, and send the dwarf crawling in to have a look around. They find the map in the backpack, but nothing else.

Back outside they discuss what to do next, thinking that there must be a secret door somewhere else. They decide to check the pits, by first getting rid of the troll, then the ghouls, and then the pudding. They use a lot of oil to eventually burn the troll, but find nothing in his pit. They pelt the ghouls with missiles, killing them all, and find a secret tunnel at the bottom of the pit. Securing a rope at the top, they each descend into the pit and open the small 2' high tunnel. They are going to have to crawl through: the dwarf goes first.

He pokes his head out of the other side, seeing algae-covered walls. He ducks his head back just in time to avoid a blob of Green Slime from landing on his head. He burns it away with a torch, and peers out again: another blob lands in his face, and he quickly scrapes it off before it eats him alive. He manages it, without too much damage, and burns that blob away too. He peers out again, but when nothing falls on his head, he crawls out and the others follow.

And that is where we finished, just as it was getting interesting. Hopefully we'll pick it up again soon.

Thoughts

I like this adventure, as it requires the players to think about their actions, and to explore their environment. They did this much better than I was expecting, especially since we've spent the past year or so playing 3.5. Overall, it was a success and it was a shame we couldn't finish it in one session.

When I run it again, I think I'll speed the exploration of the inn up, at least for the level that has nothing in it. We wasted too much time there, but I was playing it very Old School. The dungeon played out much better, and they only lost one henchman and had three people fall unconscious. Better than I expected.

Back to the normal game in two weeks (we play fortnightly), when we try to loot a shrine to a silver dragon (just killed the lizard-men guardians), and then I take over as DM for the Quest for the Moonlight Blossom (or else, as we are taking a break from this campaign in a while, we start playing in the old Known World using Pathfinder rules for a Next Generation styled campaign, set in a time a few years after the one we played when we first got together as a group).