Session 0 (held in session 5; as my daughter is wont to say these days, "don't judge me!") yielded some good things. We talked a bit about lines and veils – things you don't want to see in the game at all and things you can accept allusions to – and a bit about conflict resolution. We also touched on the worst part of the dungeon, so far: the personality swap trap.
I don't like it. I like the idea of it, but I don't like forcing players into playing characters they don't want. As an effect that fades, it would be okay, but as it is written it's just straight-up bad. It touches on that whole "don't tell me how to play my character" thing. While PCs probably shouldn't pull every lever they come across, certain traps are just not fun. We retconned it, so August-Wilhelm is no longer a coward; the effect faded after a few days. Halvar is still retired, though.
"My" Death & Dismemberment got positive feedback. I might tweak the actual table some, but the players enjoy hitting 0 HP not being a done deal, that there's a chance to survive. Zordo's player is brought up to speed on what happened in town after they left.
Spoilers below this line.
The Session
The party discusses whether they have any solid leads for The Mystery of the Child-killing Doll, and reaches the conclusion that they don't. They consider insulting the doll while they make their way to the oak.
Having reached the oak, the party instead begins talking about their plan of action for the oak itself. I would think that that is something to do while in town, but who am I to judge. Grabbing the fauns' human meat and trying to lead the ghouls to the troglodytes is brought up as a possible idea; trying to get the ghouls to attack the ogre is another. They decide to check out the Bat Cave.
When they reach the Hunter room they notice that the cloth covering the mirrors is gone (stolen by the troglodytes, who knows that the PCs are evil); I give Buffalo-Frans a choice: roll to save against either DEX or WIS, but he fails it. The Hunt begins! The group is slightly worried, but the player didn't mention anything more than seeing a strange face in the mirror, and so they continue onwards.
They reach the corridor leading to the blade trap (21) when the encounter die comes up a 2. The Hunter attacks; from the rear! Rodwulf barges past everyone, dodges the blade trap, and starts running away. The first dog attacks Gyig, who's 2nd to last in the marching order (they're still in room 22), but fails to land a hit. The second hunting dog attacks August-Wilhelm, but he's wearing too much armor to make a difference. The party turns as one and attacks back.
While the dungeon states that the Hunter and his dogs can only be harmed by magical weapons, I rule that if they're not killed by magical weapons they won't die. So rather than killing the hunter, they just briefly force him back. Did I cheapen it? Perhaps a little.
The fight is over pretty quickly, with only minor damage done to the party. Rodwulf tried to sleep the Hunter, not knowing that he's undead, which didn't work. The party decides to go back to room 13 (Hunter room) and sacrifices their camping gear to cover the mirrors again. That's when the Hunter strikes again. Again they fight him off, this time killing him with a silver dagger. The Hunt is over.
The party makes its way toward the Bat Cave (area 33) when a Crab Spider attacks Buffalo-Frans. It is dispatched with ease. As long as there aren't too many enemies and the fighters can get the attention, fights aren't terribly dangerous.
They reach the Bat Cave and immediately start digging at the first pillar. They notice that if they talk in more than a whisper, the bats above (unseen, but heard) react. 20 minutes of digging later and they hit rock, with nothing to show for it. They repeat the procedure at the second pillar, when a group of lizard men shows up. A brief encounter, the lizard men are about 20' away, and Zordo opens up a dialogue. I'm letting my players roll the Reaction Roll if they talk with the monsters so that they (the players) can see the effect of CHA better. The lizard men are in a good mood, and tell the party about the shrine after the waterfall. All hail Kezek!
They find nothing while digging at pillar number two, so they repeat the process at pillar number three. Some of them touch on the fact that it could be about the jungle (room 29) rather than here, or that maybe it's the guano itself that's worth money, but still they did. Nothing. While digging, Zordo scouts a little bit ahead and is attacked by the skeleton in area 34. He shouts to the rest of the party, triggering the bats.
The bats aren't ... an amazing encounter, with my initiative system. It works, and luckily the bats leave after the first round of combat, but it was a bit painful. Combat was pretty quick, though.
Throughout every encounter, Rodwulf's player says "I cast sleep", which they can't since that spell is already used. It does point to a weak part of the rules though; what does a Magic-User do after having used their one spell, at first level?
After the skeleton is killed, the party focuses on the passages leading away from the Bat Cave; they check out area 36 and quickly close the door when they see two black skeletons. I figure that the skeletons deactivate when they can't see a target, and so nothing comes after them.
Next, the party heads to room 51. They open the door and sees a gnome. The gnome reacts, though, and runs into room 52 shouting "The murderers, they are here!" Zordo shouts after that they just want to talk, but the gnome slams the door shut behind him, either not hearing or ignoring it. The group discusses things a bit, and August-Wilhelm wants to clear up any misunderstanding. Zordo opens the door and is met by two crossbow bolts fired from behind a table-turned-barricade. He stays out of sight of the opening and says he just wants to talk. "We know yous are murderers, you wanna sell us to the ogre!" Rodwulf explains that the group was just scared of the ogre but if the gnomes worked with the party they could maybe defeat him together? A brief pause from the gnomes, and then "alright, we can meet up to discuss things. 1 week from now, at the fairy ring between the oak and Agda's place" (I think I named the witch Agda, I'm unsure). The party's happy with this and leave the gnomes alone.
They reach the three doors at the end of the cave and open the bull door. They enter 42 before the group decides that it's time to maybe end the session, and the party starts heading back. Just before the exit, Bozurah's phantasmal force shows up and tries to prevent the party from leaving. They ignore him, and Hawk (a torch-bearer, I might have skimmed over the party recruiting him), Gyig, and August-Wilhelm sprouts mustaches.
At the exit, they find that someone's cut the rope. It is decided that Buffalo-Frans will be the one to climb up and re-tie the rope. He does so and finds a message carved into a nearby tree, "talk shit, get got", at about knee-height. The group immediately decides that it's the gnomes that did it. I had decided that the evil spirit overheard the group talking shit about them and that it cut the rope as a warning.
In town, they find that their innkeeper, Johannus (I think it was) has been murdered. Throat slit. In a closed room. Only tracks were small, child-sized perhaps, made from the fireplace. Who could have done that? Apparently, it was the gnomes, if you are to believe the party.
The party sold a silver sword and some ancient silver coins to Mevverwen for a total of 900gp. Rodwulf blew the Hunter's horn before anyone could stop him, and summoned a hunting dog, so the party's keeping that.
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