Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 8

 

Prolegomenon

My Christmas break is well and truly over, its back to the reality of work, getting existing orders out and new orders in, making a living is never easy.  Thankfully I feel I have recharged my batteries somewhat over the past week or so, I am taking on the 2022 character creation challenge, that's proving fun and I am managing to find a little time to get some gaming in. I am carrying on with Tilly and Moonwane and their travels Through Sunken Lands, its fun but sometimes a little slow.

I want to make a few changes in this session, as much as I like the d20 oracle offered by Zathrum, I sometimes find it disrupts the flow of the game, for example, the characters enter a village, I ask "is the village quiet?", I roll on oracle and get 'Yes (so long as)', and then I'm thinking to myself "so long as what?", so long as no one see my characters, so long as my characters are quiet, so long as its not a market day, what!"
Zathrum has a probability table and I think this table could speed things up,, there are 20 probability options each with two possible outcomes, so option A can be 'No', option B can be 'Yes'.  So my plan is roll 1d20, that gives me the probability then toll d% to see wat the outcome is, e.g. I ask "is the village quiet?", I roll 1d20 and get 16, option A 80%, option B 20%, rolling d% I get 60, so 'No, the village is not quiet", I ask 'is it market day?", roll d20 =5, option A =25%, option B=75%, I roll d% = 65, so "Yes its market day".
I hope this table will aid the flow of the game for me, we will see how it works in reality.

In my last session (read it here) we left Tilly and Moonwane (along with Whiskers and Farhad) on their  way east accompanied by soldiers and being taken to the island fortress of Tavin.  They have their weapons and camels back, have an escort of camel riders and are making their way in the early evening towards the next village on their journey where they should be able to spend the night before their escort turns back to the island fortress and they can continue east in their quest to fine Karloak.

Tools used in the session and other stuff.

We will be using the following toolkit for this session,

Through Sunken Lands and other adventures RPG

Parts of Zathrum 2.2 GM emulator

UNE for any unexpected NPC's that may come up

Before I start I get 12 verbs from Randomlists.com

1 Muddle, 2 Applaued, 3 Place, 4 Intend, 5 Heat, 6 Delight

7 Unpack, 8 Watch, 9 Explain, 10 Expand, 11 Kiss, 12 Paste

I can use these if I get stuck

I also get 12 names, 6 male, 6 female, as I am in the south I go for old middle east style fantasy names.

Male Names, 1 Nadin Shumi, 2 Malik, 3 Erib Addad, 4 Agum, 5 Ahi-Kilim, 6 Balad
Female Names, 1 Zakiti, 2 Kishara, 3 Ri, 4 Shalana, 5 Bibi, 6 Sarpanitum

I can pick one or more of these at random for impromptu NPC names 

One thing I tend to neglect is housekeeping, usually forgetting to write down at the end of each session how much each character has in money, equipment they bought or lost, who has what, current hit points, all that sort of stuff, of course this is important because if I don't do it I forget and then I have to go back through all my notes and posts to find out who has what and that can be really time consuming.

So a little bit of tidying up may be worthwhile now.

Moonwane got bashed a bit in the last session during the skirmish by the fortress and lost 5 HP, so he is currently at  13HP.
They have the 80 silvers left from the money Karloak  left for them, also Tilly has 24sp and Moonwane has 16sp.
Also

Large Tent (big enough for them all 40 silvers

Various pots and pans to cook with    5 silvers

Waterskins each holding 5 pints x 6   3 silvers  (cost 5 coppers each)

4 days rations each @ 2 coppers       3 silvers

2 days iron rations each                    3 silvers  (cost 5 coppers per day)

6 days feed for each camel              1 silver 

At the village of Pardiza

Using the sample region tables in 'Further Afield' for desert I roll to see if there is an encounter on their journey to the village of Pardiza.  There is a 3 in 6 chance that an encounter will occur, 1-3 on a d6, I roll a 6, so the journey to the village is a simple and safe one.

It is around 7pm when the party near the village, I want to check if the village is walled, I roll d20=4, so only a 80% chance it is walled (option A 20%, option b 80%), I roll 69 so it is walled.  I also want to know if the entrance to the village is open, roll d20 = 2, so only a 10% chance of the gates being closed, 1 roll 13, the guards are just about to close the gates at the entrance to the village for the night.

The journey to Pardiza was thankfully uneventful, nothing and no one was seen or heard on the road, everything peaceful, it seemed a perfect evening, it was almost as if the battle against the  chaos children had never happened.
After a journey of only a few hours the party make it to Pardiza, approaching the village they notice the guards are about to close the gates at the entrance to the village for the night.  Farhad and one of the men from the fortress ride up to the gate and talk to one of the guards.

I roll 1d6 to see how many guards are at the gate, I roll 3.
Farhad asks the guards if there is a hostel in the village the party can stay at. Roll d 20 = 13, so a 65% chance the is not (option A 65%, option b 35%), I roll 67, so there is.

The guard points to a large building near the centre of the village and tells Farhad that is the local hostel, there should be plenty of room for them and a stable for the camels as no one is travelling to village much these past days, not even passing through and not a soul is staying here, but he tells them to hurry as the village and the hostel will soon be locking down for the night.

The guards allow the party to enter through the gates and they make their way to the hostel.  The guards seem untroubled by three adventures, four soldiers and a winged cat entering their quiet peaceful village.

I want to see if there are many people out and about in the village, roll d20 = 8 so a 40% chance of it being almost deserted, (option A 40%, option B 60%), I roll 07, so the village there is not a soul stirring in the village.

The hostel owner was just locking up the stable for the evening when the party arrived at his door, Farhad again doing all the talking as neither Tilly nor Moonwane can speak the local language, secures three rooms, the soldiers decided to stay in the stable with their camels as they intend to head back to the fortress as soon as they can in the morning.

Tilly, Moonwane and Farhad pay for their food and rooms, the meal and lodgings comes to a total of 4 silvers.  They pay this out of the 80 silvers left from Karloaks money.

The night passes peacefully, after a good rest the three adventures are up reasonably early, they meet up for a simple breakfast and leave the hostel, they go to the stable, their camels are there though the 4 soldiers have taken their leave, presumed to have headed back to the fortress.

I want to know if anyone else is in or near the stable, roll on d20 = 8, check probability table, 40% Option A (No), 60% option B, so 40 (Yes), roll %d = 79, so yes.

I use Une to see who is there and get touchy soldier called (1d6=6) Balad
I want to know if he is alone, roll d20 = 8, again 40% option A (No) 60% Option B (Yes), roll d% = 68 so he is not alone, I ask if there is more than 1 other person with him, roll d20=12, Option A (No) 60%, Option B (Yes) 40%, roll d% = 75, so more than 1 person, I roll 1d8 to find out how many more and get 5, so Balan and 5 other soldiers.

As the adventurers go into the stable their exit is barred by 6 of the village guards, 5 armed with spears, and the 6th armed with a short sword, he steps forward and makes himself know to the group, only Farhad can understand him and he translates for Tilly and Moonwane.

He tells them that he is Balan, the captain of the village guard and the village ruler requests their presence.  Realising that resistance would be worse than futile, Tilly, Moonwane, Farhad and Whiskers allow themselves to be take to the village leader.

As they walk through the village, Balan explains to Farhad that the village ruler requested his desire to meet the newcomers to the village and goes on to says that he brought the guards only because he was worried the adventures may have refused to accompany him and that would have meant trouble for him and that is not something he needs .  The village guards seem fairly relaxed, they allow the adventures to keep their weapons and only Balan remains with the party to guide them to their meeting.

The party arrive at one of the grander houses in the village, Balan knocks on the door which is opened by an elderly servant and, as Balan takes his leave, the servant shows the party to a large room where sitting alone is a middle aged man with dark features who introduces himself as Erib Addad, village leader and son of the God King himself, the beckons the party to sit down and offers them a warm bitter tasting dark drink which Farhad happy accepts.

The noble, speaking in common Jundar, tells the party that he knows of their mission, to seek out the one Tilly knows as Karloak, Moonwane knows as the old Priest from Jundar, the nobleman says he knows him to a spirit of the balance and not of this plain.  He tells the party that their journey may be in vain, Karloak may either already have been forced to return to his own plain by the gods of chaos or he may well be dead.  He continues to say that Karloak went south, not east, to find the white citadel, a ruined fortress some days south of the village, there he hoped to find an ancient artefact with the power to banish the forces of chaos from this land for good, that was days ago and he has heard nothing of Karloak since and the forces of chaos continue to move east and north, gaining in strength each day.

He finishes the meeting by telling the group that he knows all this as Karloak was here and stayed with him and told him that a rouge, a champion of the balance and a young mage would arrive looking for shelter, he advises the party to head south, find the white citadel and hope they find Karloak or at least the item he was looking for. 

As the party take their leave the servant approaches them and hands them a map, a rough map of where they believe the White Citadel to be.

On their way to the stables for their camels and equipment Tilly and Moonwane decide to head south to find the ruined citadel and whatever it was Karloak was looking for, Farhad is less convinced by this course of action but has little choice but to go along with the new plan.

Before they set off they purchase the following -

3 days rations each @ 2 coppers       2 silvers

2 days feed for each camel              4 coppers
3 torches each                                   6 coppers
50 feet of rope                                   1 silver

Again that comes out of the money from Karloak, leaving them with 72 silvers, they also top up their water skins to make sure they have plenty of water for the journey.

The journey south.

I roll d6 to see how many days travel the ruins of the White Citadel are from the village of Pardiza, I roll a 5, so that makes it almost 100 miles south.

I also wonder if the map is anyway accurate and roll d20 on the probability table, 16, so that is Option A 80% No, Option B 20% yes, I roll 53 on d% so the map is not very accurate.

I decide the party will need to make an INT check each day to see if they have been able to keep on the correct path, with a poor map I will give them a -2 to each roll, non of the party have any relevant skills such as map reading and I don't think whiskers the little cat with wings will be much help.
If they fail to make a successful INT roll I will roll 1d10 to see how many miles off course they go.
Finally, I will use the Desert table in Further Afield to see if they have an encounter, a roll of 1-3 on d6 means they have some form of encounter, a roll will then be made on d8, 1-6 as per encounter in Further Afield, 7/8 they encounter 2d6 chaos children.

Day one

INT check Roll 12, the highest INT is Farhads which is 15, -2 =13 so Farhad keeps them heading in the right direction.

Encounter Check 3, an encounter, roll d8 = 7 so 5 Chaos Children. I get them to roll an INT check to see if they can avoid the chaos children, this time I allow Whiskers to make the INT roll, the cat INT is 17 and he rolls 15, so Whiskers is able to alert the characters to the presence of the Chaos Children and they take avoiding action.  A close thing.

At the end of the day they make camp but decide not to make a fire, it is far to risky, tonight it is a cold meal and even in the tent it is too cold to be comfortable, Whiskers, Tilly and Farhad take turns as watch, letting Moonwane rest, I allow him to recover a further hit point, now he is at 15 hp.

Day two

Encounter Check, 6 so no encounter.

INT check against Farhad 20, they wander off course by 4 miles, again they camp but decided to brave the cold evening without a fire, this time Moonwane helps with the watch so he does not recover a hit point.

Day three

Encounter Check, 3, so an encounter, roll d8 = 2 meaning they have to make a wisdom check or they will go further off course, they roll 12, Whiskers has a WIS of 14, again the little cat is able to keep them from danger.
INT check, 11, this time they pass and manage to not wander further off course.

At camp they do light a fire and have a warm meal cooked by Farhad, but no sooner have they eaten then they douse the fire.  Moonwane is able to get a full night s rest and he recovers 1 hit point taking him up to 16hp

Day four

Encounter Check 5, so no encounter.

INT check, 9, they easily pass this time and although still four miles off course they are not any further away.

Again they risk a fire to cook with and as there seems to be little danger they allow Moonwane to rest again, he is now at 17 hp.

Day five, 

Encounter Check 3, and encounter, roll d8 = 1 they get lost and have to make a WIS check to avoid wander aimlessly all day, they roll 2 and are able to find their way again.

INT check 14, however they end up 8 miles further away from where they need to be.

Whiskers is able to fly around, the little cat seems to have been sent by the gods and he is able to find the ruins, however they are too far away to make them before night fall, it will be another day, they are now low on food for both themselves and their camels.  Moonwane is unable to rest so remains at 17hp, nearly full strength which is good.

Day six,

Encounter Check 5, no encounter.

Whiskers is able to guide the part to the ruins, and it is late afternoon when they see their destination come into sight.

A whiskers eye view of the ruins of the white citadel.

And that is where I will leave it for now, in the next session the adventures will search the ruins for what, well they do not know.  This session ended up being all about getting them to this ruined citadel, and I suspect that it was also the penultimate session in this game.

Adventure on!