Run Date: January 24, 2024
PCs
Fenric:
Lv2 Thief
Zen Po: Lv1 Crusader
Dalinar: Lv1 Ravager
Mina:
Lv1 Explorer
Hench
None
Treasure Hunting in The Drop
The players came to the table with the express plan to return to The Drop and dig out whatever other wonderful trinkets might be down there. On the way there, they hit up Zardoz; the giant head-shaped rock.
Fenric walked around Zardoz to get a better look at the entire picture. He noticed that the back of the neck had a hollow in it, and discussed delving it with the group. This discussion took quite a bit of time, as the party was expecting to find a dungeon entrance. Fenric ended up sliding down first and finding that it was nothing more than a single “chamber.” The head itself was hollow with a small stone landing allowing viewing from behind the eyes. The group seemed to take little interest in experimenting or even looking around so I used Zardoz as a learning opportunity. “Yo, look through the eyes.” Zardoz’s eyes worked a lot like one of those viewing binoculars at major parks you use to see vistas. Simple, but effective. The response of, “This is worthless,” made me smile. Anyway, I explained to them that the world can sometimes have wondrous and magical points of interest, and that this example was their one freebie. Have fun boyos.
The player that has been handling the mapping guided everyone through the passages they’d been through prior until coming up to a door the group skipped last week. A bit of force was needed to get it open, and it revealed more halls (as dungeons do). As the group discussed which direction they wanted to explore, they hit an interesting encounter. Around the southern corner, they spotted a light and long shadows coming their way. The noise had drawn something.
The party took the initiative and called out to parley. They spoke the same language, a good sign. The strangers neared the corner and talked around it while avoiding revealing their faces. The party did the same. Negotiations went well, revealing another party of adventurers that had been trapped for some time. They were exhausted, wounded, and starving.
The group gave them some food and offered to guide the starving party to the entrance in exchange for information on the dungeon. They learned that an animated lion statue killed their fellow members and they used rubble to bar the creature until it gave up. After that, they found their rope had disappeared. They were too weak to attack the lizards and chose to hunker down in a chamber in the hopes of something coming by.
The PCs wanted the treasure from the lion, but thought better of it. They explored the chamber the lost party settled in and found more lion imagery. The center of the room was filled with water and rubble from an old fountain. On the opposite side was a door. “Nah, we didn’t explore that one. Didn’t want to risk it after losing our friends to the lion.”
Dalinar burst through the door and discovered a small chamber with a step pool flanked by gargoyles with water flowing from their mouths. At the back of the room was a statue of a man with flowing locks of hair, armor, and sword. Dalinar took the lead in exploring this room while the others prepared for potential dangers. He stepped up to the pool, knelt down, and drank.
The statue immediately animated and placed its blade out, as if knighting someone. The party froze, expecting the statue to come charging at them. After nothing happened, Dalinar stepped forward and bowed before the blade. The stone sword chipped away, revealing a sharper, shinier edge. Dalinar could feel his Hero’s Soul interacting with the statue. After several tense moments, the statue saluted and stood aside; revealing a small treasure room.
The group took a breath. Dalinar decided to head down and look at the haul. The party tried to follow, but found the statue barring their way. It seemed that Dalinar was the only “knight” allowed in. In the chamber, the Ravager discovered sacks of coin, valuable insignia, and a pair of potions. Mission success!
The players were happy with their haul (we rolled it at the table again), and decided to keep going. They had plenty of session time left, and this treasure drew them further in. The PCs lead the lost party out of the hole, tossed them 100gp, and headed back in. Zen Po, the one mapping, lead the group back to a door they’d passed by a few times while exploring. They forced the door open and found the stairs descending downward.
The chamber the group stepped out in was filled with a few inches of slowly flowing water and a forest of eroded stone spikes and pillars. While they weighed which direction they wanted to go, however, they were ambushed by a pair of humanoid chameleons. The ambush threw the group into disarray and they attempted to retreat to the stairs. Some confusion of readies and retreats didn’t help. After a bloody and panicked defense, the group cut the pair down and continued exploring.
The next chamber the party found looked like a Japanese garden; a pond and small stone bridge with moss and lichen carpeting. Large water crickets hopped around this chamber, ducking away from the party’s light. There was some conversation about the room and the creatures before the party decided to skirt the edges and avoid spooking the “screeching violin” crickets (they hadn’t alarmed yet, but still sounded terrible). At the back of the chamber was a door bearing the form of the lake goddess from the previous session.
The party headed through the door and discovered the stepping stone chamber. The shrine was off in the darkness, but the path was obvious. Fenric took point and began jumping the gaps. He managed to make it to the other side without slipping and dove right into trying to pull the statue from the niche. He couldn’t lift it, but discovered that it could indeed shift.
Mina attempted to help him out, but plopped into the water after her first few jumps. She decided swimming was the better option and found her way to the shrine. The two worked together to pop the statue out. They broke the seal with a “Schlop!” and found the shrine had a large hollow flush with valuables. Stash #2 was rolled out, revealing weighty coins, valuable trinkets and gems, a trident, and a necklace bearing a perfectly smooth stone. The group was happy, but had one more obstacle: the weight.
The party formulated a plan to fill up some backpacks and a sack with the coin and swim everything across. It would take several trips and some time, as well as laden them on their way out (that’s what you guys get for choosing the Heroic Treasure!). Over the course of the process, and the noises, they continued to run the chance of spooking the crickets in the adjacent room.
As luck would have it, the group managed to get their haul while dodging any encounters. Given my rolls, this isn’t a surprise. So, laden with treasure the group journeyed back to the entrance and worked to haul their treasure up. Even with all that extra time, I still hit on nothing.
The PCs rode high on their way back to Sherbin; where they immediately began the process of paying for identifications and planning their spending.
Rewards (Totals)
1725xp
1025gp
2
Scrolls of Warding
(Amulet) +1 Sling Bullet
+1 Trident
(Spear)
Potion of Delay Disease
2 Potions of Discern
Evil
Potion of Recuperation
Scroll (Frighten Beast)
Scroll
(Pass Without Trace)
Scroll (Discern Gist)
Potion of
Clairaudience
Potion of Cure Light Injury
Afterword
I can now say without a doubt that rolling treasure at the table is exciting for both the players and myself. It eats up some session time as we go through the motions, but 30 minutes out of 4 hours isn’t terrible. I think if I could automate the process, I’d be more inclined to do it ahead of time; or use it as a backup for when session time is pressed.
The second level of The Drop was me stealing a map from another of my Appendix A stock and using the JJ stocking rules to fill the level. Empty – Treasure and Trap – Treasure seem to be favored right now, and the players aren’t complaining about not having to fight (much) for the haul. It will be very interesting to see if this current party TPKs like the last one.
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