AD&D2E/Five Leagues - Chapter 2 – Clearing the Docks

Chapter 1’s Resolution Phase

With the party having arrived in the small city of Port Vantage, I’ve realised I forgot to do a few steps last time.

One of the key parts of a Five Leagues campaign turn is the resolution step. Here the fate of any fleeing characters are handled, adventure points are gained, experience is assigned to characters (if using Five Leagues’ built in system of character progression), threat levels change, and news travels about the world.

Adventure points are simple – we only had a roadside encounter so we don’t gain any. Nobody fled the field from our party, so we don’t need to roll for our ‘flight in the dark’, and I’m not too interested in the equipment damage system.

We’d also normally have rolled for loot here, but since we were attacked by wolves, I’m neither going to roll for loot or ‘unusual finds’ from our travel encounter. When we face more intelligent foes, we’ll be rolling here. We didn’t need to do this for the starter scenario and I handled that using AD&D’s loot tables, so no foul there either.

I was asked why the party didn’t try to skin the wolves to sell – two reasons: (1) I didn’t think of it at the time and (2) none of them have the proficiency or skills to do. Let’s say they didn’t think of it either. Recruiting a local ranger or woodsman would be a good way to supplement the party’s income and would cut down how many rations we need to buy before each adventure too.

News Travels

What I absolutely am going to roll for at the end of our first turn is the ‘News Travels’ table. Like many other Five Leagues tables, this one uses a D100 and represents information reaching the party either out in the wilds or in town. We’ve just arrived in town so now seems like a perfect time.

We rolled an 89 – ‘a stranger is visiting’ – we now need to randomise which settlement they’re in. If we visit that settlement in the next two campaign turns and want to meet them, we can get a free traveller encounter. We rolled a 1 (on a D3), so the stranger is visiting the trading village of Azurewater over in the west of the map. We might not get there, but we’ll see.

Hearing the News

The Golden Bridge inn had seemed the perfect place to make their temporary home in the city. It sat right at the centre, by the market square and temples. Not the cheapest, but maybe the best place to find a good lead on work.

The mule had been stabled, for a modest fee, and the troubles of their march were melting away in the reasonable beer and good meal they’d ordered. Garagrim grumbled of course – human beer hardly compared to the craft of his homeland, but it washed the road-dust and memories of goblins and wolves away all the same.

Brun returned to the table with another round, placing Roland and Argwyllem’s cups down first.

“I heard something at the bar just now, sire. A caravanner come from Azurewater in the west saying that he’d met an interesting fellow in that town. Didn’t say much about him, but mayhaps somebody we’d care to meet?”

“Perhaps, Brun. If our travels take us that way. Let’s rest for now and see what other leads we can find tomorrow after regaining our strength.”

“I’ll drink to that, by Moradin!” The dwarf’s good cheer set them all laughing as the light fell.

Chapter 2’s Preparation Stage

One thing to note before we get into the prep stage: with the blend of AD&D and my desire to track in-world time in a more granular way than Five Leagues requires, we’re probably going to get very fast and loose with some of the rules of the campaign turn very soon.

Mapping the City

Now that we’ve reached Port Vantage, it’s time to give the city a map. Watabou to the rescue again:

We’ve got a nice-looking city here; a busy docks district, a rich castle district up on a hill to the south of the city, a central market square surrounded by taverns and temples, and new arrivals building homes outside the walls.

Watabou gives it a population of ~24,000 which feels about right. It makes Port Vantage about ¼ the size of medieval London, and it’s large enough that we could have some (mis)adventures here with thieves or in the ancient Pashanti catacombs.

Local Events and Hard Times

Now to rolling!

We’re quite clearly ‘In Town’ following Five Leagues binary system (the other option being ‘in camp’, for when a campaign turn begins out in the wilderness). This means we’ll have access to town actions, like finding manual work to help pay our upkeep or visiting a blacksmith.

The first thing we need to do however is roll for ‘Local Events’. Another D100 – 94, which would be ‘Aggravated Wounds’ if we were using Five Leagues system of managing injuries. Instead, we’ll have the cantankerous dwarf Garagrim awaken complaining about the wolf bite, already healed by the Cleric.

Next we have the ‘Hard Times’ step – this is where we pay for upkeep and maintenance for the warband. I’m using AD&D’s costs and treasure. Working out our cost per day to stay in common rooms works out at about 5.5 gold pieces per day (5 gold, 5 silver) accounting for rooms, stabling, and meals for each member of our warband. What that tells us is that we really need to start earning some gold or finding treasure or we’ll be stone broke very quickly.

That will lead to people in Roland’s warband becoming very unhappy, and potentially leaving us.

Campaign Activities

We can now undertake 2 campaign activities (per Five Leagues) – there’s a different table for in town and in camp. I’m going to limit which activities I can take to ones that make the most sense for the AD&D non-combat proficiencies we have in the party.

Garagrim could try and find work in town as a blacksmith (the Hard Work activity) since he has that proficiency but that won’t pay anywhere near enough to keep the party going – maybe 2 gold pieces a day as a skilled craftsman. If he spent the whole week in town working a job perhaps, but that’s not really adventuring. Maybe we’ll do this in future as the group grows.

We could Help the Town Guard to secure free food and lodging, but we hit the same problem – unless I roll a combat encounter for that perhaps. Another to go on the ‘Maybe Later’ list for if we’re stone-broke.

There are two activities perfect for our group however: Meet the Locals and Pray. We’ll have Roland meet the locals, and Argwyllem find the local temple to Torm to pray. Meeting the locals uses another D100 table, with chances for anything from just having a nice chat, to gaining an adventure point or story point, to a contract. We’re really hoping for the latter so we can resolve our poverty.

Praying would let us gain the Blessed status in Five Leagues – improving a roll on the injury table for a character – but since we’re using AD&D rules, we’ll say it gives the character doing it the effect of the Bless spell until the end of their next combat encounter.

Meeting the Locals & a Contract

We get a 68 (another D100 here) for our meet the locals roll – that means there’s a Contract on offer. Time to generate it.

All of this is D100 driven. For our source of the contract we get a 68 – the Town Council. For our promised reward we get 97 - ‘D6 Gold Marks, +1 Adventure Point’. We’ll work out the AD&D gold reward shortly. Finally for the contract type we roll a 4 – ‘Chase off group’.

This is an interesting one. Five Leagues tells us to add a camp to the current map area (since, we’re using hexes, that would be Port Vantage itself) populated by enemies from the roadside enemies table. We must carry out a camp raid against them within 3 campaign turns and hold the field when we do so.

For our gold payment I used Treasure Generator - Kassoon.com – generating a CR 0-4 hoard of just money, giving a total on offer of 180 gold pieces.

We’ll absolutely be taking this contract straight away – we’ll say it takes place on D8 of M4 to give the warband time to rest from the road – we need that money.

Fleshing Out the Contract

The contract being in the same map region is an interesting one to create a narrative for, and the Roadside Enemies table has a few good options for a fight in a city.

I’m going to pick Port Vantage’s Western Docks district as the location of the group we need to drive off.

It’s a warren of warehouses, shipping companies, taverns, and probably a pretty seedy place all round.

Perhaps there’s a docklands gang that’s gotten too big for their boots, but I think it might make sense for us to be asked to clear out an insidious gang of slavers who’ve moved in. You’d think the town guard might be able to deal with it – but with Viscatti’s men focused on barbarian threats from without, I’m sure it’d be easy enough to slip the guard captain on the docks a few coins and gems to keep things from being noticed.

Let’s make this into a multi-level affair: a warehouse acting as a front business for the slavers, then a below ground set of pens and the market for buyers, maybe some secret passages running out to a quay. I’ll use the Five Leagues ‘Rag-tag brigands’ enemy table – one bonus rule in place for these is a bounty. If we kill a leader or unique foe, on a roll of 5-6 on a D6, we’d get an additional gold mark. I’ll call that 10 gold pieces in AD&D currency.

With all that done, it’s time for…

Playing the Contract – Y1, M4, D8

Breaking the Rules

We’re going to be diverging pretty hard from the way Five Leagues wants us to play out the camp raid scenario with our multi-level approach.

We’d normally be on a single map and trying to sneak up on a group of monsters or ne’er-do-wells and to drive them off. We can try the sneaking part for sure, but how the scenario plays out is going to be much closer to a very combat-encounter heavy TTRPG session.

Setting the Scene

The group gathered in the deep sunset shadow of an alley deep in the western docks. Ahead of them stood the warehouse – ‘Montagon Transport’ – the small front windows lit by flickering candles.

The contact Roland had made at the city hall had given them a tip-off: tonight they believed there would be an auction taking place in the slavers’ hall built into the warehouse’s cellars. The perfect time to break the group up, free their prisoners, and capture any of the city’s elite making illegal deals.

City guardsmen, brought from other districts, were similarly waiting in alleys or on street corners out of uniform but well-armed. At a signal from one of the warband that the gang had been put down they would come in and take charge of the freed slaves and handle any arrests.

“So, what’re we waitin’ for?” Garagrim hissed through his beard.

“Patience, master Hammercrag. We must watch and wait – let the guests arrive. The more we catch in the trap, the happier the guard will be.” Argwyllem placed a hand on the dwarf’s shoulder as if to hold him back.

Roland followed up with a cheery smile; “And the more evil we will have stopped in one fell swoop.”

The dwarf went back to fingering his axe under his cloak.

“Bah, I’d rather get it o’er and done with, but you have your way, as long as we get that coin at the end.”

The Warehouse – Level 1

This is level 1 of the slavers’ warehouse. I made the map using Inkarnate (https://inkarnate.com/) very quickly. It’s a little sparse on details but gives us enough to play with.

Each of the shelves and piles of crates will act as floor to ceiling cover and will block line of sight. It gives plenty of space for guards to try and hide and ambush the party from if they need to. The top left room has a trap door leading to level 2. The top right room is the warehouse office for the slavers’ ‘legitimate business’.

This level is going to hold 4 guards – we’ll roll for how many are on the lower floor plus any who flee downstairs during the initial fight when we get there.

With our party not being a particularly sneaky one we’re going in through the front door once the auction on the lower levels has started. The first thing we’re going to do is check to see if the guards are surprised when Roland and co. kick in the door from the street. They’ve waited until all the auction guests have arrived, so they shouldn’t be expecting anybody else.

The group have crossed the street in poor light to approach the warehouse, so we’ll give the guards inside a -1 modifier – they’ll be surprised on a roll of 1-4 on a D10 as a result.

The guards get a 10 – absolutely not surprised by the party. Clearly one of them was attentive and watching out of a front window.

Slavers’ Warehouse - Level 1 – Round 1

We start with initiative as always and the slavers’ come out on top. Three guards are present in the main hall of the warehouse, whilst a fourth is attending to business in the main office.

He gives a shout to his fellows: “Hold them! I’ll go below and warn the others.”

The 3 guards will make an immediate morale check, to see if they follow orders, or run after their boss to form a more effective defence on the lower level.

All 3 fail their checks and turn tail immediately and run for the hatchway. This isn’t the end of this fight just yet though – the party might be able to subdue or capture some now if they can chase them down and hurt them enough that they surrender. This would let the party get useful intelligence about what’s waiting for them below the warehouse.

Garagrim will need to run to catch the escaping slavers, whilst Roland can get away with a jog. I’ll say this takes their whole round as their focus is on moving quickly through the dimly lit warehouse without falling. Garagrim rolls lower than his Strength attribute so he can run without issue.

They’re hot on the heels of the fleeing guards – next round Garagrim and Roland will be able to make attacks of opportunity at two of the slavers.

Slavers’ Warehouse - Level 1 – Round 2

The party wins initiative this time around – Roland and Garagrim will be able to make non-lethal attacks (at a -4 penalty) against the two they’re adjacent to, and Roland and Brun will be able to get involved too. With any luck they might be able to bring a guard down, but those penalties are pretty bad: they give the guards an effective armour class of 2 (Studded Leather + Shield is an AC of 6 normally).

We are attacking the rear facing of the guards however, which gives us a +2 to our dice rolls – guard effective AC worsens to 4. This might work out.

Eleonora could cast Sleep to try and bring them down – but we’re going to need that spell slot on Level 2.

A real spread of rolls here! Brun and Argyllem both miss, but Garagrim hits twice and Roland hits once (with an effective THAC0 of 19 thanks to specialisation with their weapons). Eleonora doesn’t try to make an attack – you can’t make a sling bullet non-lethal.

As we’re trying to attack without doing lethal damage, any damage we roll gets halved.

Garagrim delivers a mighty 5 non-lethal damage total thanks to his strength and expertise bonuses (3+3/2 + 2+3/2) whilst Roland delivers 3 (4+2/2). Garagrim’s attack is enough to take the first guard down to 1HP – we’ll say he’s out for the count.

We’ll make Roland’s target roll another morale check when we take the slavers’ turn to see if they surrender or keep trying to flee.

Now for the slavers. The boss and the guard who made it into the room both duck down the hatchway with their turn. The conscious slaver in the warehouse however fails his morale check and turns and surrenders to the party. As a lawful good character Roland is compelled to accept it, and for the man to be turned over to the city guards to stand trial.

It does mean that they’ll be able to interrogate these two and learn a bit about what awaits them below rather than going in blind.

With the other slavers gone, its time to step out of combat and interrogate the prisoners. We won’t search this floor for loot yet – not with two guards running below to warn their fellows and prepare a defense.

A quick tally for this floor so far gives us:

30xp total for the party from defeating two slavers
10xp bonus for Garagrim for defeating one personally

The Interrogation

With both slavers tied up and Garagrim and Brun set to watching the hatch below, Roland knelt down in front of the conscious guard.

“Tell us what awaits us below, and I promise you on my oath to Torm you shall see a fair trial.”

“Nothin’ fair about puttin’ me in the hands of Viscatti’s men.” The man spat a loose tooth at Roland’s feet.

“Perhaps, but it’s perhaps more justice than you might deserve if what I’ve been told of what your gang does below is to be believed.” The paladin’s commanding tone, backed up by a hand on his polehammer made the captured slaver blanch.

(We make a quick check against Roland’s Charisma here, rolling well under his score of 18 with a 9. The slaver is inclined to tell him the truth.)

“Bah, I might get away with forced conscription. Fine, I’ll tell you.” The slaver paused for a moment, shuffling in his bindings.

“When you get below, there’ll be two doors – one takes you to the reception room. They’ll have locked that up tight to protect the auction. Take the door on your right and you’ll come down to the processin’ area and guard room. They’ll fight you there but be ready – there’s maybe eight of ‘em down there, plus the boss runnin’ the auction and the men who ran.”

Roland gave the man a firm smile. “Very well, I’ll hold you to that.” Leaving Garagrim by the hatchway, the two guards were secured in the warehouse office, tied to the legs of the desk.

The Warehouse – Level 2

This is level 2 of the slavers’ warehouse (map also made with Inkarnate). The red carpeted areas are those designed for guests, leading to the central auction hall with its presentation walkway separated by a sandy pit from the audience.

To the south, down the rocky tunnel, is the processing room which also doubles as the guardroom and kitchens. The outer corridors hold the cells, before leading to a readying room and out onto the presentation walkway.

The party might need to split up here, to prevent the slavers and their guests fleeing whilst they fight through the guardroom. If we hadn’t lost the thief to the goblins on the road, we might have been able to pick our way in and surprise the audience. Unfortunately Garagrim isn’t strong enough to break down a locked door. We’ll reveal who is in what rooms as the party open doors and get to them.

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 1

The party enters by the spiral staircase leading up to the hatch on level 1. Each unexplored room has been marked by a question mark.

As expected, the door leading to the guest reception is locked. With no way to open it for now, we’ll need to leave at least one character to guard it. Brun is going to have to take that chance. We’ll keep Argwyllem as close as we dare to try and have him rush back if there’s too much trouble for Brun to handle.

The rest of the group advance down the stone corridor, pausing at the door.

Hidden from the party, noises can be heard deeper in the complex.

Kicking open the unlocked door to the guardroom brings us to round 2.

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 2

The door bursts open at a kick from Roland to reveal 5 guards stood ready. No chance of surprise due to the escapees from level 1. Thankfully the party barely wins initiative by a single point.

Roland leaps into the room followed by Garagrim. Eleonora will hang back but allow Argwyllem to pass to join the melee. I don’t think it’s worth using up her single cast of Sleep just yet. Hopefully that’s not a mistake.

What follows the charge can only be described as a massacre. Roland and Garagrim both make their 2 attacks, scoring 1 hit each. Argwyllem, perhaps powered by divine fury or the blessing he received at the temple before the raid scores a critical but misses with his follow up attack.

All three of them deal enough damage to kill a slaver guard each outright, leaving only 2 standing and in need of a morale test at the end of the round.

The two surviving guards fight back, both rolling 14s. With their THAC0 of 20, that’s not enough to beat Acs of 5 (Roland) or 3 (Garagrim), leaving the slavers without any meaningful result.

Incredibly they pass their morale check – they didn’t even need the bonus to their base morale score (of 9) of +3 for defending their ‘home’. That will take us into round 3 with the combat in the guardroom continuing.

The tally at the end of round 2 then is:

45xp for defeating 3 slavers
Another 10xp bonus for Garagrim for striking down a slaver guard
The slaver guards pass their morale, continuing the fight

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 3

Round 3 begins with the party winning initiative again. This round Roland and Garagrim will be making a single attack each. Eleonora, seeing the fighting here is going well yells to the front-line: “I’ll return to Brun and help keep watch at the door to the auction!”

A spell-cast here would be wasted, but if the rest of the gang tries to break out poor Brun will be overwhelmed, and a cast of Sleep would be much needed.

Powered by righteous fury the massacre in the guardroom continues. Roland, Garagrim, and Argwyllem all make their hits and deliver more than enough damage to kill the 2 remaining guards outright. Garagrim claims another for his growing score of bonus xp at the end of this battle.

We don’t have any actions for the bad guys in the guardroom for obvious reasons, so it’s time for some hidden movement by the remaining denizens of this floor.

Back in the entrance room, Brun can hear clearly noises on the other side of the locked and barred door now. It sounds like the rest of the gang, or their guests, might be trying to make an escape.

The tally at the end of round 3 then is:

An additional 30xp for defeating the two slaver guards
Another 10xp bonus for Garagrim

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 4

Round 4 starts with the bad guys winning the initiative. Back at Brun’s watch post the door is flung open to reveal a guard and 2 of the auction’s patrons. They’re trying to flee, thinking the sounds of battle elsewhere meant the group were distracted.

The guard swings for Brun and scores a dangerous hit; the attack was clearly a panicked rush however, dealing a mere 1 damage to the bold squire.

With the sounds of battle breaking out at the reception room another door can be heard slamming shut – presumably the one to the auction hall. The escaping guests cry out in alarm and run back through the reception room, leaving the fight between the guard and Brun.

Sticking with Brun’s part of the map for now, he returns the guard’s favour with an attack – unfortunately it’s a miss. There’ll be a stand-off in this corridor unless Eleonora can make a careful attack with her sling over his shoulder.

She scores a hit – dealing 3 damage to the slaver.

That’s Brun and Eleonora’s part of the action over. Moving back to the rest of the group, Argwyllem and Roland move quickly into the southern-most corridor. There they find the horrible sight of the slaves’ cells with a few poor souls still trapped, not yet taken to the auction.

Garagrim kicks open a door to a stone-built room, startling the kitchen maid at her work.

The door gave way easily to Garagrim’s hobnailed boot, half falling off its hinges. The small stone room on the other side was clearly a kitchen. A frightened maid servant looked up from behind the oven, cowering at the blood-stained dwarf.

“Stay there, lass. Don’t come out until ye hear the fightin’ stop.”

The dwarf’s growl did little to reassure her. Backing out of the kitchen, the dwarf saw the tail of Roland’s cloak disappear through a door into another stone tunnel. Sounds of fighting were coming from behind them now, where they had left Brun.

“Better go and save that fool knight’s squire!” With that, the dwarf began running back up the way they had come on his stubby legs.

No tally to make for the end of this round.

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 5

Round 5 sees initiative swing back to the party. Sticking with Roland and Argwyllem they rush up the corridor with no time to stop and free the prisoners.

Back with Brun and Eleonora (Garagrim is still struggling his way up the stone corridor courtesy of his little legs), they both attack the escaping slaver guard again. Brun misses once more, but Eleonora’s aim is true, and she strikes him with a sling bullet. 4 damage is enough to kill the guard, leaving the way clear for them to push into the reception room and to the door to the auction next round.

The two patrons, having thought better of their escape can be heard pounding on the door back into the auction hall to no avail.

That leaves our tally at the end of this round as:

15xp for the party with the downing of another slaver guard

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 6

Round 6 opens with the party winning initiative again. Garagrim makes a strength check to run, managing to catch up with Brun and Eleonora who rush for the door to the auction hall at a jog, only to find their way blocked by the trapped patrons.

Argwyllem and Roland both jog along the cell corridors, finally bursting through the curtain onto the presentation walkway.

What they see reveals a scene of chaos: 3 slavers, led by a vicious looking half-orc stand guard at the great double door into the auction hall. The door is barred with a wooden beam, preventing its opening from where Brun, Eleonora, and Garagrim approach.

Around the door also stands a group of patrons, in varying degrees of clamour at their being trapped. If the guards look distracted they might provide an unintended benefit to the party by lifting the bar and opening the door to escape.

The boss who fled from the first level is behind the auction desk, gathering up as many bags of coinage as he can from its drawers.

On the presentation walkway two slaves stand in surprise with their escort in between, the slaves’ chain in one hand and a wicked club in the other.

With the party’s whole turn spent on movement, it’s time for the slavers.

The guard on the stage drops the chain and rushes Argwyllem, striking at him with his club but missing. The three guards on the viewing platform move to the railing and all let loose a single shot at Roland. Only a single shot lands home – a short bow thankfully rather than one of the crossbow bolts, dealing a paltry 2 damage to Roland.

Only the half-orc remains guarding the door. With all the chaos, will one of the patrons be brave enough to make a break for the door? I rolled a morale check for them – here I’m looking for them to pass with a score lower than 10 to see if one works up the courage to cut past the guard and lift the bar.

Almost but not quite this round.

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 7

Initiative this round gives us something of a surprise: the party and the slavers both roll 9 so will be acting simultaneously, whilst the audience patrons roll a 6 and will be going first.

Time to see if one of them works up the bottle to lift the bar off that door before the guards can stop them. Unfortunately not with their roll of 11, so the room remains sealed for now.

We’ll handle the slavers first. As Roland charges in to join Argwyllem in fighting the guard on the stage another volley of arrows and crossbow bolts comes sailing across the room – to no effect, with poor rolls from every guard on the other side of the barrier.

The slaver in melee with Argwyllem fares no better with another miss. There’s a lot of luck being burned in this fight by the party!

Roland and Argwyllem reply, with equally poor results. Argwyllem rolls a 1, fumbling his attack and smashing his morning star down into the railing running across the edge of the stage, no doubt sending splinters flying.

Roland does better, hitting with one of his attacks, and once again dealing enough damage to kill the slaver guard outright. This sets them up well to make heroic leaps from the stage to the audience area next turn but that is going to be a challenge - leaping into the teeth of 4 prepared guards, including that scary looking half-orc.

On the other side of the door Brun, Eleonora, and Garagrim shove the panicked patrons aside and begin their own banging on the barred door to try and force it open. However, with none of them having the exceptional strength needed, they’re helpless to assist in the combat for the moment.

It must be extremely frustrating for the warlike dwarf and the loyal squire to hear noises of battle on the other side and be unable to get involved.

Our tally for the end of round 7 then is:

1 bandit guard slain – another 15xp for the party

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 8

Another initiative win for the panicked patrons, followed by the party, then the slavers sets the round up to be an explosive one.

Unfortunately, the patrons are still cowering in fear and don’t make a break for the door. At this rate the rest of the party trapped behind the door might be better off trying to sprint as fast as they can around the other way – but doing that would give the guards a perfect avenue for escape.

Roland Argwyllem aren’t for hanging around however – they rush to the railing and both make strength checks to leap from the railing to the other side and get in amongst the guards. They both pass, but Argwyllem just barely.

They make it across, but I’ll rule neither of them is able to make an attack this round. If Roland hadn’t used his second attack last round he would have been able to make a single attack against a guard.

Argwyllem will be facing the half-orc, so he’d better hope that door gets opened soon or Roland can dispatch his foes quickly next round.

A hail of blows meets the two leaping heroes but to no effect. Worryingly for the party that half-orc is making 2 attacks this round, but even with a low (for this level anyway) effective THAC0 of 18 his best roll of 10 isn’t enough to get through Argwyllem’s AC of 4.

The gamble of leaping the railings seems to have paid off – for now!

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 9

Initiative works in the party’s favour again this round – the patrons win, then the party, then the slavers.

Incredibly, two of the patrons finally finds the necessary bottle to make a break for the door. Two of the noblemen rush forwards now that the half-orc is distracted and in battle with Argwyllem. They both make strength checks to see if they can throw the bar aside quickly – one fails badly, but the other succeeds well enough that the bar is clumsily thrown to one side and the door crashes open under the hammering of the party members stuck outside.

The patrons try to make a break for it and crowd around the doorway – they’ll need to be detained! Now might be a great time for Eleonora to try casting her Sleep spell.

Meanwhile on the stage the two slaves who were on display move to the railing. The slaver boss hasn’t moved from the desk yet, still trying to gather up all the coin and documents he can – he might try and make a break for it over the stage and escape and these two slaves are the only people standing between him and a clean getaway.

Now it’s over to the party.

Eleonora begins casting her Sleep spell, centred on the patrons who are blocking the door. Garagrim and Brun try a more forceful approach – both will make Strength checks to force their way through the crowd in a hurry to reach the fighting on the other side of the viewing couches.

Brun fails and is stuck there, but Garagrim succeeds and barges his armoured form through the crowd, likely with a mix of curses and threats to use his axe!

Now the massacre of the slavers begins anew – Roland has 2 attacks this round, Garagrim makes 1 (similarly I’m ruling that pushing through the crowd used up 1 of his attacks), and Argwyllem strikes at the burly half-orc.

All of them score hits and the resulting damage is something to see – Argwyllem delivers his maximum possible damage to the half-orc, slaying the brute instantly. Roland strikes down a guard with his polehammer and Garagrim chops at the legs of another. With three of their enemy down in a single round, there’ll be a morale check for the remaining slavers at the end for sure.

Now for the slavers.

The boss makes a run for it – scrambling over his desk, he rushes towards the railing and makes a strength check for the leap. He beats it easily and lands on the other side, running his way into contact with the 2 slaves on the stage.

Next round he might be in for a vigorous beating from his former charges. The guard at the other end of the stage, perhaps shaken by seeing his fellows cut down so quickly, misses his attack against Argwyllem.

The party has been exceptionally lucky during this whole adventure, coming away with barely even a scratch on them.

At the end of the round, Eleonora’s Sleep spell takes effect, scattering the audience patrons with a soporific dust.

Rolling 2d4, the spell will affect up to 5HD this time – enough to put all the patrons blocking the doorway to sleep. They collapse to the ground, their shouts of panic going silent for now. This will make it much easier to arrest them all for the city guard.

Before we tally up the round – one last thing to do: the morale check for the remaining slaver. He rolls almost as badly as it’s possible for him to do, and that’s before put any negative modifiers on there.

With that roll, the slaver instantly surrenders – dropping his weapons and falling to his knees begging for mercy from the cleric with the bloody morningstar mace.

The boss is already running and trying to make his escape, so nothing needed for him for now.

So, our tally at the end of an explosive round 9:

3 slaver guards defeated for a total of 45xp
Another 10xp bonus for Garagrim for his kill
65xp for taking down the half-orc lieutenant
50xp for Eleonora, for using her Sleep spell to solve the patron problem

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 10

This is the round that will end the adventure I think. In a rare change, initiative doesn’t go the party’s way – the slaver boss will go before the heroes, but the slaves on stage act first.

They swarm their hated gaoler and strike at it him with their fists. One of them connects, dealing 3 damage.

Now it’s the boss’s turn to reply. He’s still desperate to escape, but he’s not above cutting down his former charges if they’re going to get in his way.

He draws his short sword and strikes, cutting down the slave who punched him before making a run for it – giving the remaining slave a chance to make an attack of opportunity. He misses, and the boss makes a run for it into the tunnels, perhaps with a parting insult to the adventurers who’ve ruined his business.

The party are now in a tricky spot – they need to detain and arrest the patrons of the auction and manage their prisoners, but they need to try and stop the slaver boss if they can.

Brun races back through the reception area and towards the guardroom. Garagrim passes a strength check easily and leaps the gap to the stage to give chase to the fleeing leader. The rest of the party – Eleonora, Argwyllem, and Roland all remain in the auction hall to secure the prisoners. Patrons and the surrendered slaver guard are tied up.

Slavers’ Warehouse – Level 2 – Round 11

Initiative goes to the slaver this time and he continues running – to a suspicious gap between cells in the southern corridor.

Once again we must lament the loss of the party thief – if Alucia was still with them, they’d have a much better chance of finding this secret door.

As it is, they’ll need to spend time with Garagrim using his dwarfen senses to search the underground stonework. If they don’t find it, the slaver boss has made good his escape, no doubt to a waiting boat in some part of the docks and has made off with the bulk of the money.

Garagrim fails a strength check to run fast enough to get around the corner on his side of the corridor, but Brun makes it. Too late however – no trace of the slaver boss remains. Perhaps one of the slaves saw something, or the dwarf can use his natural feel for stone to discover where he went?

For now, I think it’s time for us to leave combat-time, and re-enter narrative time to wrap this up.

Concluding the Adventure

From the Character’s POV

The breathless dwarf rounded the tunnel corner to see Brun the squire standing stupefied at the other end.

“Where’d he go, Brun?” Garagrim’s voice was ragged from the effort.

“Not a clue, master Garagrim. The tunnel’s empty – just the cells.”

(Garagrim passes an Intelligence check here with a roll of 5.)

“Bah! There must be a secret passage in these stones. Help me search along this wall.”

Inch by inch, the dwarf and the squire combed the stonework, feeling their way along for any sign of a doorway.

(Garagrim makes one of his dwarfen ‘stone sense’ checks here – rolling a 1 on a D6 means he discovers the sliding wall.)

With a cry of joy, the dwarf pushed on a loose brick that stood slightly proud from the corridor wall. The wall shifted, revealing a narrow, unlit passage descending slightly away from the warehouse. The walls of the passageway were slimy, and the distinct sea-salt smell of the docks came through the cool air.

“It took us a while to find it, master Garagrim. He’s made a clean escape for now I’d think.”

The dwarf scowled, thinking the comment an insult for a moment before nodding. “Aye, you’re most likely right, Brun. We’d best be back and help with the prisoners. We’ll need to tell the guard to put a closer watch on the docks.”

Tallying up XP and Treasure

With all of that out of the way, we’ve got a lot to tally up for the party before we even get to looting the place:

245xp for all of the slavers defeated, distributed equally amongst the party members
40xp as bonuses for Garagrim for his personal kills
50xp bonus for Eleonora for her use of Sleep to detain the patrons
We’ll also award 300 ‘quest xp’ for completing the contract – it would’ve been more if they’d also managed to detain the slaver boss
180gp for completing the contract as stated – they’ve driven off the group after all
1 adventure point for completing the contract

Roland will need to tithe 10% of his share to his order, so that’ll reduce the payout to 162gp. Still not a bad haul at all, and the party is no longer dead broke.

Now it’s time for some looting. We could take the dead guards’ weapons and armour (studded leather, shields, short swords, crossbows and short bows) but the city guard are most likely to take possession of that and none of it’s better than what we have and we don’t have enough capacity to carry it out of there.

However one item does catch the eye of the party – the slain half-orc has a very well-made longsword. We’ll need to try and identify that later but that can be a lengthy process and not guaranteed. For now, Eleonora makes a ‘Spellcraft’ non-weapon proficiency check and detects that the sword is magical. How magical, and what benefits it can provide, will be found through use or identification later. We’ll keep the sword in Borden the mule’s saddlebags for now.

We also find a mix of pocket coinage on the slavers’ bodies for a total of 7.3 gold pieces (mostly made up of silver coinage, but it’s easier to convert to GP for accounting). With all that said and done, each character takes a share of 33.86GP from this adventure in coinage.

Final Thoughts – End of Y1, M4, D8

This… was a long chapter. Lots of gameplay to get through where I made things quite involved. I also wanted to start putting more of the roleplaying/fiction into this rather than it just being a tally of dice rolls and opponents slain. I hope it works and adds to the action.

The escaped slaver boss is fun too – I think he’ll become a recurring opponent for us in the campaign as part of the ‘Ruin Within’ threat.

We only really played through 1 in-game day – there’s still another 6 to go for the week of the campaign turn. In the next chapter, we’ll go shopping for some rations with our new found cash and prepare for an adventure out into the wilderness.

There’s an unexplored location north of the city so that’s probably going to be our next destination. That’ll come with a travel roll, potentially a roadside encounter, and then whatever awaits us.

I hope you’re enjoying these chapters and as always any feedback on style or format is very much appreciated.