Blackmoor (OSE): No 3 - Vermin and Clockwork

Played online – 16 Sep 2020 

Dave is running games using Old School Essentials set in Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor.  Wednesday games have been the “main” quest of exploring the Under-Booh: Sunday games have been side quests. 

16 Sep 2020 Session: Centipedes and Rats 

 

Dave	Games Master
Me	Pluteus	Cleric of King ‘Shroom (Lvl 2)	Retainer:  Holmund the Mage (Lvl 1)
Spencer	Juss Overhere	Hafling (Lvl 1)	Retainer: Scutter (Lvl 1 Thief)
Seph	Sir Robert the Fearless	Fighter (Lvl 1)	Retainer: Eric (Lvl 0 Human)
Ian	Radlea of Booh	Halfling (Lvl 1)
Swiper	Ballard	Magic User (Lvl 1)
Guy	Dexter	Thief (Lvl 1)

 

Previously... 

I’d like to say that we started our session in media res, but our beloved GM (now the Professor), tells us the ‘in media res’ is always grammatically wrong and that “it’s in medias res (accusative) if you are going into the middle of things and in mediis rebus (ablative) if you are left in the middle”.  Does that set the tone?  I think so.

You can imagine what fun we have parsing rules or deciding whether the plural of arquebus is arquebi or arqubuses (it’s the latter).  We decided to use hackbut/hackbuts. 

So, we were in mediis rebus... 

 

The write-up of the previous session is here.  Some might suggest that my note-taking tailed-off towards the end.  I would point out that after Gandalf is killed and the rest of the Fellowship make a fighting exit from the Mines of Moria, they kill a roomful of orcs.  That is covered in a sentence.  I would suggest that we were in a similar situation. 

This Time in the Under-Booh... 

 

 

 

So, after the death of Scruffy and Scutter, we defeated the giant ants.  We made a half-hearted attempt to find their nest in the hope that it was lootable.  However, when we found it, it was far from empty – occupied by numerous creatures the like of which we had seen bite a dwarf in half.  We moved on and found a safe place to camp. 

 

The next day (Day 4 of the current delve) we continued our trek towards the northwest. 

 

We were surprised to bump into two new adventurers – Dexter, a thief, and Ballard, a magic user.  They were in the employ of the Tunnel Fighters’ Guide of Booh (for whom the rest of us had previously worked).  We exchanged information.  Hearing from us how dangerous the Under-Booh was proving, and of the rumour about the Clockwork Fortress, they agreed to join with us.  In return, they told us about the Guild’s secret camp – the Lonely Lodge – and entrance into the Under-Booh. 

 

We did consider leaving the Under-Booh and taking advantage of the Guild’s resources – possibly even travelling back to Booh overground.  After some debate, we decided that the Guild wouldn’t welcome our presence in a ‘secret camp’, and ask too many questions about our current employers.  We were still uncertain about how to handle conflicts between these Halfling factions 

 

The rest of the day was spent following the same passage to the NW.  It terminated at a crossroads, where we camped for the night.   

 

Ballard demonstrated an ability to read hitherto hidden Dwarven signs.  These read 

 

• “True Gnome” (NE passage) 

• “Bottomless Shaft” (W passage) 

• “Black Damp” (S passage) 

• “Clockwork Factory” (SE passage – the direction we’d come from) 

 

We realised that if we were to continue looking for the Battle Throne, we’d have to double-back on ourselves.  A whole day (Day 5) was spent doing this, before we camped at the junction with an unexplored passage leading eastwards.   

 

 

Again, we were attacked during the night – this time by three giant centipedes.  One was destroyed by Juss’ hackbutt, the others put to Sleep by Holmund before being despatched by Dexter (who was interested in extracting their poison).   

 

After further rest, what was left of Day 6 was spent travelling east into unexplored territory. 

 

 

 

Here we found a group of five giant rats chomping down on the bodies of four dwarves.  After fighting the rats, we stripped the bodies and moved on.  Coming to another junction, we decided the take the passage north in search of the elusive Clockwork Factory.  We left the dwarven workings into more natural passages, eventually coming to a cavern crossed by a raging river. 

 

 

Crossing this 80ft river took some finessing.  First, we stashed the loot we’d collected so far and tethered our trusty (but not very trusting) mule.  Then with a combination of our thief's climbing skills, and a lot of rope, we made a makeshift bridge which we were able to cross without mishap.  We were acutely conscious that we would be in trouble if we tried to make the return trip in a hurry. 

 

Pressing Northward our scout, Dexter, spotted some gems embedded in the wall.  Heedless of the noise he was making, Pluteus took a crowbar to them and managed to prise several out.  In doing so, however, he appeared to have alerted others to our presence.   

 

Three very large copper-coloured humanoids – clearly products of the Clockwork Factory – loomed out of the darkness.  A long battle followed, made more risky by the fact that Dexter became separated from the rest of the party.  Fortunately, he was able to use his agility and skill at hiding to good effect and the automata were defeated.