So, for the adventure on Moonday, the 24th of Harvester (576 CY), the party was eligible to gain experience from: 6 giant rats, 12 zombies, 2 bugbears, and 8 giant rats. The party recovered the following treasures: aquamarine gem worth 500 gp from the zombie cells and 24 gp recovered from the bugbears.
Since the zombies killed off Marshall and William, they are not figured into the division for the rats/zombie, bugbear, or second giant rat encounters. Using the conversions for figuring challenge, the zombie and the bugbears were full XP challenges given the combatants involved. The first rat encounter had a challenge rating of 0.75, the second had a rating of 0.80. Surviving characters involved included:
Wandering Encounter #1 (6 giant rats): Elana, Gort, Trixalix, Elmo
Set Encounter #2 (12 zombies): Elana, Gort, Trixalix, Elmo
Wandering Encounter #3 (2 bugbears): Gort, Spugnoir, Trixalix
Wandering Encounter #4 (8 giant rats): Elana, Gort, Trixalix, Elmo, Mort, Kevin
During the beginning part of the session the party was back in Hommlet and, the evening they arrived home, Elana, Trix, and Spugnoir took the body of William north to the Temple of St. Cuthbert (on the mule). Elmo and Gort took Marshall's body back to his home in Hommlet (area #4 on the map). Gort gave the family 1 gp for Marshall's earned pay and 5 gp for restitution and cremation services (he was of the Old Faith). Elmo spent some time consoling the family while Gort felt like a heel. Elana spoke with Calmert and they left William's body at the temple for burial preparations. Elana and Trix went to the brewery to inform William's master of his death - the brewmeister did not take the news well (he flew into a fit of rage, so they left). Trix and Elana then stopped at the moneychanger's shop to sell the gem (it had to be sold for shares). Nira Melubb offered them 375 gp for the stone and they accepted the offer (paid as 75 platinum pieces per request). They then went to the trader's shop and sold the two morningstars for a total of 5 gp. The traders did ask where they were getting all these weapons from....
Each share of treasure was thus an even 25 pp and 8 gp (the 5 gp from sale of the morningstars was not counted since it was given to Gort as recompense for his generous donation to Marshall's family). Only the PCs are eligible for shares since Elmo was being paid as a hireling and Spugnoir only asked for MU scrolls in exchange for his participation. The party returned to the inn where their experience points were totaled and given out. The totals are:
- Elana Barzan: combat 139, treasure 133, +10% bonus = 299 (E)
- Gort Martin: combat 256, treasure 133, +10% bonus = 428 (E)
- Trixalix: combat 256, treasure 133 = 389 (S)
- Elmo: combat 139, treasure 0, +10% bonus = 153 (E)
- Spugnoir: combat 117, treasure 0, +10% bonus = 128 (F)
After receiving nothing for his efforts, Spugnoir decided to renegotiate his position in the party. The party reluctantly agree to cut him in for an equal share. Gort advanced him a gold piece for his rent at the inn (since he was mostly broke by this point). The party reported to the druid Jaroo Ashstaff to keep him apprised of the situation before retiring for the night at the Inn of the Welcome Wench.
Godsday the 25th of Harvester was a somber day. The party spent the day healing from their wounds. Elmo went to see Canon Terjon at the Temple of St. Cuthbert and was healed partially for free (since he is a known servant of the Viscount and lay member in good standing). The others were healed by Elana and Gort, including Elmo who was still injured. The party split up, attending funeral services for both William and Marshall.
Waterday the 26th of Harvester, the party met at the Inn in the morning and the PCs informed Elmo that he was more than eligible for a share of treasure in the upcoming adventures in the moathouse. Elmo eagerly agreed (so now all treasures are split an even 5 ways, with Spugnoir still getting first pick of MU scrolls found). Spugnoir memorized TWO sleep spells this day (at the insistence of the party).
The party left the village at 9 am and arrived at the moathouse by 11 am. They lit the lantern and descended into the dungeon, returning to the ogre chamber. Unfortunately, they found 10 giant rats feasting on the ogre corpse (the number of wandering monster encounters is mind-boggling, and almost always rats!). It only took the party 4 rounds to kill all the rats (no surprise on either side). Elana, Kevin, and Mort suffered rat bites but no one was diseased. They opened the secret door they found previously and found a small 10' square room beyond with a steep, narrow stairway curving up to the north. A lot of searching then began in the small room, with most of the party taking turns looking. Trix was sent up the stairway and he learned that it was a secret passage that opened into the bandit's tower chamber above in the upper ruins. He returned to the others as Spugnoir located the secret door on the eastern wall. As the party searched for the means to open it, I rolled a wandering monster encounter!
An ogre was rolled up as the encounter and, since there was no other place for him to enter, I had him open the secret door they were searching for!! Needless to say, the ogre was surprised by the party - Elmo armed himself as Kevin and Spugnoir retreated to safety. The first round of combat, Elmo and the ogre missed each other. The second round, Gort moved in and took the ogre out with a single blow (rolled near maximum damage for his two-handed bastard sword!). The ogre tumbled backwards down the stairs into the darkness (he was at -2 hp, but I decided that the fall probably did him in). After the ogre fell, the lantern went out (out of oil) so we ended here in darkness! (8 turns passed since entering.)
* * * * *
This was a frustrating session. It was a hot and humid night, Elana's player was sleepy, and the party just was having bad rolls all around. The somber funerals in the beginning of the session were a bit over the top, but I wanted to role-play the consequences of sending "red-shirts" into combat. Normally, the players treat NPCs like crap, but this session they realized that everyone is someone else's child, spouse, father, or friend, especially in a small village like this. Elmo was moved to tears when these men fell - he signed on to try and safeguard them but the zombies proved to be too much for even the ranger to prevent their deaths. He was practically neighbors with Marshall's family and probably grew up with the guy. The players felt that they owed the families something for getting them killed. That, to me, was a success in role-playing. Getting the players to emote during a session equals good playing.
The XP wasn't that great, but they did manage to stave off their monetary woes with the location of the gem. It's not enough to train, but they pretty much know this. These characters will likely never have enough XP and/or money at the same time to train for a level, and we'll probably switch to 2nd edition before they get the chance.
One important fact I learned from this session is to ALWAYS make sure the party splits the treasure FIRST; then the DM can calculate what treasure XP they earn based on their share. Also, one must always adjust treasure XP by the same challenge fraction from the encounter which it was derived. In this case, the treasure was gotten from the zombies and bugbears, both of which were full XP encounters, so no worries there (and no adjustments made).
Next session the party descends into the darkness....
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