Immersive Ink

dtspurrier wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:34 pm

( not exactly sure Bilfur can read)

Good question!

I would say, Bifur for sure can read Druid scrolls. It would be weird if he couldn't use a major ability of his class! So Bilfur definitely can read well enough, to know that this is not a Druid scroll.

Whether or not Bilfur can read and write English, I will leave to you as a role-playing decision. There is nothing in the rules that Int 6 characters must be illiterate. I personally think Int 6 is like a C student level of intelligence: You are below average in your class, sometimes it takes you a second or third try, but you get passing grades.

You've mentioned a few times that Bilfur is a feral child of nature, so if you want to say, therefore he can't read English, I think that is a fun role-playing decision. Either way, let's say he knows enough of the wild Druid-runes that he can read a spell-scroll or communicate with other druids.

Now that Bilfur knows the scroll is not Druidic, if he wants to hand it off to a higher-Int party member, that might be a good compromise. When the party reaches the surface of course!

kipper wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 09, 2021 6:21 am

Dame Simonetta broaches the possibility of loading up a couple of the footlockers with the ingots, and then carry them between us.

Perfect idea. The footlockers have handles on either end, so a team of two hobbets can carry one footlocker between them. I rule that doing so would allow the party to maintain 6" movement rate, since the load is well-balanced (and easy to set down when it's time to rest or fight).

Each footlocker has 120lbs capacity therefore can hold four 30-lb ingots. The dozen ingots divide perfectly into 3 footlockers, and the rest of the treasure can squish into backpacks and empty sacks.

Onward to the surface!

Kiplyn would grumble every so often but go along with the plan. "I'm sure I'm going to get a blister from this."

Dougal loads up a footlocker with ingots and grabs one handle.

bilfur will help carry a locker

( also for the staff if it is magical is there an identify spell? )

(ooc bilfur only knows druid and some english, probably 5 or 6th grade reading level)

The dice gods smile on the party and there are no wandering monster encounters! The passageway does connect up with the mapped area (as suspected) so that the party doesn't have to backtrack through dungeon level 2. Many rats can be heard squeaking in the distance, but they do not bother the party.

Soon the party reaches the ladder to the surface, bringing The Sixth Adventure to a successful conclusion! Getting the 120lb footlockers up the ladder is a bit of a hassle, but oh so profitable: some of the party members are sure to level up from the experience gain!

Map update coming soon; the files are on my other computer.

Out of Character

@dtspurrier asks a great question, about identifying magic items. There is no quick and obvious way to do so, but a few in-character approaches that might work. Basically, you have to role-play it and solve the puzzle.

A few hints Bilfur could try:

The document in the scroll-case might be instructions for using the staff?
Trial and error, for example hit something with the staff and see what happens, or try to guess the activation word.
Detect Magic might show an "aura" that gives a clue, what school or type of magic, like Evocation or Divination.
A successful Mythos check would give arcane/occult insight.
Ask an NPC, such as a more powerful Druid.
Hire a Sage
etc.

I would give the same advice to @kipper and @ehiker133 with their rings. (Assuming these items even are magical, which is yet-to-be-determined!)

Out of Character

I debated how to handle the mystery-metal ingots. One option was to make you appraise the value of the metal in-character (for example by hiring a jeweller) before I awarded experience points for it. Awarding xp obviously "spoilers" the value of the metal. But at the end of the day, it's a rich haul, and your characters deserve the experience points. I won't make you jump through any hoops: The metal is electrum, worth half as much as gold, so 360lbs x 20coins/lb = 7,200 electrum pieces = 3,600 gold. Nice job, guys!

The compromise is that your PCs don't know, in-character, what they have found. They get the experience immediately, but they will be unable to actually spend this money, until they find a buyer.

Delving Deeper uses a gold/sliver/copper standard, but now that we have added electrum to the mix, a clever reader might predict that other exotic metals, like platinum or mithril for example, could feature into future Adventures.

Here is the tentative monster and treasure xp according to my tally:

MONSTER XP (this will be adjusted based on dungeon level for higher-level characters, for example a 2nd-level PC gets half XP for kills on the 1st dungeon level)
Green slime 300
Yellow mold 300
Gray ooze 300
6 large centipedes 600
12 hobbet skeletons 600
2 human skeleton hands 200
TOTAL 2300 or 383xp/character before adjustments

TREASURE
Rust monster 15 gems 2340
Yellow mold mixed coins 590
7200 electrum pieces 3600
12 silver daggers 360
TOTAL 6,890gp

MAGIC/SPECIAL
Staff Bilfur
Scroll case Bilfur (for now)
Skull ring Dougal
Spider ring Dame Simonetta

HOW DO YOU WANT TO SPLIT THE TREASURE? Hypothetically if you do an equal split of the metal, coins and gems, it works out to 1,148gp per PC, nice!!

Before I do my final tally: Did I forget any monsters or treasure?

Out of Character

We still need to resolve the final treasure distribution, but while we do that, in the interest of moving the story along, could you also please join with the other Hobbets in the Seventh Adventure: https://forum.immersiveink.com/viewtopi ... 293#p34293

We fought the rust monster & forced it to retreat, but I assume we're only gaining XP for destroyed monsters? IIRC OD&D and DD v4 state that "defeated" monsters yield XP, but I don't recall what term DD v5 uses nor whether any of the works specify a definition of "defeated". I've sometimes judged this to mean monsters yield XP in cases where they are soundly defeated or routed, but I think there's justification for "permanent defeat" (i.e. destruction) being necessary.

That aside, the list looks good! Willie is in favour of an even split for the monetary treasures (gems, coins, and electrum bars), reserving the silver daggers (which he thinks the party should arm itself with). For the magic items let's assign them where they are most useful -- which will require some experimentation to find out what they do.