Session 28: The Hanged Man's Crypt

Preface: I have been working on a new setting in my free time between Battle Braunstein preparations. Since Platinum has been referee for a lot of games recently, I finished my side project and decided it was time to dish out this new setting, Spectrel Oram.

I have noticed due to 1:1 time keeping and time jail for Down Time (DT) mechanics, such as training to next level, parties will form that only get played 1 to 2 sessions before they are tossed aside for the more favored or higher level parties. I consider this a feature rather than a bug. There is always a group sitting on the rafters awaiting their next move. Maybe they become a NPC adventurer party they players run into.

With the use of upkeep costs, these guys maybe performing extended DT activities or just hanging around town but eventually they will go broke if left for too long. This cost will also will cause henchmen & hirelings to leave the party's service to search for paying work.

Now we get to the session at hand. The party known as The Silver Claw has been unused for about 3 months. (Session 16) They were dealing with a evil magic mirror but this grew stale especially when the party realized they would be broke.

After one of my players complained about them always making new parties and not using old ones, I thought about the new setting. Then I realized we didn't need a new party, we just have to re purpose an old one, bringing interest back to them. The place they were going was about a month sea travel away and with sufficient DT. I asked if they wanted to go to the new location with The Silver Claw? They all agreed with no arm twisting.

I am awaiting a mega dungeon, Ave Nox. I plan on running it in this setting, but the book has been delayed on Kickstarter. Now you may be asking, "why run a pre built mega-dungeon? Isn't using modules anti-BROSR?" To the core original principals, I would say Yes, but rules that are not explicitly listed inside the AD&D rule books are made to be broken. I am The TTRPG Heel after all, plus the Champ does as he pleases!

I constructed a single floor dungeon with an undead crypt theme by using the rules form Appendix A: Random Dungeon Generation, starting on page 129 in the Dungeon Masters Guide. (DMG) When stocking the dungeon, I gave every enemy I rolled an undead theme. For example, if I roll an orc, it is now a skeletal orc, which is way worse than a regular one. I constructed 2 small bosses for the dungeon this time.

If my setting is to have that grimdark feel, there needs to be the fear of death around every corner. The tension this creates is what will instill the "fear" into the party. This is how games such as Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and The Evil Within help accomplish the task along side the visual and audio component.

On top of all this, we also have another new payer in the face to face group. He has played 5e but had never experienced the superior system that is AD&D. He rolled a cleric with 18 wisdom and 18 dexterity, this is going to help him out big time with the defense bonus and bonus spells he will receive.

Player Characters, Henchmen, Hirelings, & Animals:

The Silver Claw

Smoker - Level 2 Human Fighter, Lawful Neutral

Rameses Numeral Uno - Level 2 Human Fighter, Lawful Neutral

Jinder Mahal - Level 1 Human Cleric, Lawful Neutral

Scheiße Schlamm - Level 1 POX Human Thief, Chaotic Neutral

Klarma - Level 1 Human Cleric, Lawful Neutral, Henchmen Smoker

Cromo - Level 1 Human Fighter, Lawful Neutral, Henchmen Rameses

2 Oxen, 2 Guard Dogs (Smoker)

Downtime - Smoker and Rameses are running out of funds. They decide to sell the evil mirror, Gwyn, to the Mission of Andeen without Padre Pedro for 6,000 gold pieces. They split it even and hire a new henchman from Rameses wrestling gym named Cromo.

There is a rumor that has been going around about The Great Adolfo Pirelli making a mysterious trip to Spectrel Oram, a protectorate of Paradiso. Allegedly he has convinced their King, Lord David Greyash, to temporarily allow adventuring to be legal in the region for a trial run.

Spectrel Oram is located between Gnoma Scotia and New Hope. It resembles New England in regards to climate. It is almost never sunny, mostly overcast and rains quite often. It is not a tourist destination like New Hope and has little immigration. It has a feudal system like the old world countries, but religious institutions of outside origin are forbidden. It takes about a month to sail from Paradiso to Relicta, Spectrel Oram's capital city.

The Adventurers' Hall will pay the fee for any who are willing to take up the call and sail to Spectrel Oram for work. The Silver Claw is the only adventuring party wiling to leave the picturesque Paradiso beaches. The Silver Claw is a little nervous without their old cleric Padre Pedro. Klarma, somewhat insulted, tells the party he has a close Punjabi friend from temple that has thought about taking up adventuring. He would probably be willing to leave for work. His name is Jinder, and when he is not praying to Surya, he is wrestling at his Punjabi only gym. Jinder accepts the invite. The party has to abandon their hirelings but the henchmen will go with them. Then they set sail for Spectrel Oram .

3/24/24 The ship docks at sunrise on a cold foggy morning in the harbor of Relicta. Despite the weather a group of protesters covered in pox scars have gathered at the docks. They appear to be members of The Grave Robbers Union (GRU) Local 1. They have signs that read, "Scabs Go Home!" and "They're Taken Our Jobs".

The Silver Claw attempt to speak with the crowd but on a terrible reaction roll, the GRU members can't hold back their anger and attack. The combat is short and the party kills most of them knocking out only 1 while 2 others fled carrying him.

The local authority, The Black Legion, quickly appear on the scene of the crime. They wear jet black plate mail with ornate helmets with face covers made to look like theater masks. The guards don't say much but gather enough intel to find out the GRU started the conflict. They permit the Silver Claw to leave, so that party heads straight to the Adventurers' Hall.

As the party walks the streets of Relicta, they notice the city feels empty, as if it was way to big for the local populace. This gives off an eerie vibe through out the city. Locals appear pale with white to grey hair and a gaunt frame. They also seem unable to emote like regular people.

Eventually the party makes in the the Adventurers' Hall. It is a small shack of a place with just enough room for the Silver Claw and the stationed hall members. The hall staff appear disappointed in the amount of adventurers that came, but are glad the Silver Claw took up the call to adventure.

The party then gets a lore dump about the city from a magic user at the hall. The POX, are what locals call humans from the lazaretto to the South named Plaga. The POX carry an extremely infectious and painful disease that can even mutate those subjected to it. This is why the POX are not allowed to leave Plaga unless they are picked up by one of the Plague Masters to be brought back to their institute for experimentation. Sometimes the POX are cured and thus allowed back into society. They will have server scaring on their bodies from the treatment process but that is not the worst of it. They are forever considered an untouchable class of citizen and can only work the most dirty and disgusting jobs in the kingdom.

The only reputable form of employment to them comes from the GRU, so they are staunchly loyal to the union and are willing to even die for it. They have had the Greyash Dynasty's ear for hundreds of years, which is how the ban on adventuring has been held in place since time can remember. The GRU will stop at nothing to prevent the Adventurers' Hall's success, and have been doing everything they can to prevent any jobs from reaching the Adventurers' Hall.

The Thief who works for the hall then informs the party that he heard some GRU boys talking at the Black Bat Tavern about heading to a crypt under a sanguine tree. Its a large tree outside of town where prisoners are sometimes hanged. They had a key and have a contract with someone named The Executioner to retrieve an ancient execution tool known as The Hanged Man's Noose. The crypt is locked but the GRU have a key... Well, they had one until the thief alleviated them of it. If the Silver Claw hurries, they could beat them to the artifact.

The party packs up and starts to head to town when Smoker notices Jinder's lack of a holy symbol. Smoker gives Jinder the funds to purchase a silver holy symbol for his deity. Jinder's deity Surya is a sun god so he searches the market for something resembling a sun. Stumbling into an antique store, he manages to find a silver sun with a weird face scratched off of it. Jinder decides this will work perfectly for him, and he purchases the holy symbol. Jinder returns to the party and they head off to the crypt with no encounter.

The Silver Claw spot a large tree with red leave and several dead bodies hanging from it in the distance. Below the tree is 4 men in blue leather uniforms resembling the GRU members uniforms they encountered earlier. The party approaches with caution hoping for peace.

The party makes a reaction roll, and they roll terrible again. There is a quick battle and the party kills 3 of the 4 GRU grunts, knocking 1 out with an overbear from Ramses. They plan on interrogating the prisoner but he wont talk even under the threat of death. They leave him tied up outside and head through a hole in the base of the tree.

It tunnels down until it opens up to a cave like entrance. Inside it a metal gate that had a lock which appears to have been destroyed by something. There has to be more GRU grunts inside. The party descends into the crypt hoping to catch up with the GRU.

The party explores a lot of empty rooms, well empty if you don't count all the bodies hanging by the neck from the ceiling like trophies. Eventually they run into a shrieker and manage to slay it before it can attract any enemies lurking in the crypt. The party back tracks to an earlier room, then takes a door they didn't check.

They enter a room and roll surprise. They win 4 segments of surprise against against the skeletons and make quick work of them. In the corner of the room hangs a cage with a POX inside. He is not that ugly for a POX, but he reeks of excrement. Since he is not in a blue GRU uniform the party goes to speak with him.

He says he has some skills the party could use if the set him free. The party decides its worth the risk and they release him. The POX introduces himself as Scheiße Schlamm, which means Shit Mud in German. Schlamm currently works for the Dung Sweepers Union (DSU) and was a former member of the GRU until he was fired for undisclosed reasons. Safe to say he is no fan of the GRU which makes him a friend indeed.

The party continues deeper till they come to a door. After checking it for traps, Schlamm uses a small silver mirror to see if he can spot something under the door. He is able to see a light in the distance with shadows occasionally passing. Someone or something is behind that door so the party prepares to break down the door and charge into the room, fed style. They stack up and breach the stuck door.

Inside the room is 8 GRU grunts and a Journeymen with large quills coming out of his neck and back. This is one of the before motioned bosses I made for the dungeon. Fortunately for the party the got 4 rounds of surprise again. They wipe out the GRU before they knew what hit them. The party searches the room finding 5 large sacks containing 6,000 Silver and a pouch with 17 gems on the Journeyman who was armed with 2 glowing daggers, and wearing incredibly light leather armor. They give the armor and daggers to Schlamm.

Schlamm notices thieves' tools next to the door alongside a large metal box that has a sticker with Property of GRU Local 1 on it. Schlamm attempts to unlock the door but fails. He is only level 1 so he does not have another chance until he levels. Schlamm opens the metal box and pulls out a heavy metal machine. It has parts labeled "made in Gnoma Scotia" on them, and a spout that says add fuel.

The party gets it set up but only Jinder is able to figure out how to start the 2 stroke engine, by putting an oil flask in the fuel container and then pulling the start cord in choke before full. This was done via an intelligence check.

The Lock buster rules are as fallows, note this is a home brew item. The Lock Buster can open a simple lock in 1d4 turns so long as someone remains operating the device in exchange for an oil flask of fuel. During this time the Lock Buster will make loud noises that can alert wondering enemies with a 50% chance each turn, same as a shrieker. it weighs 1,000.

Schlamm mans the device and I roll a d4. It comes up 3, so 3 turns until the lock will be busted through. During the 2nd turn they do alert some wondering monsters. I roll in the dmg and get orcs. Here come those skeletal orcs I mentioned earlier. They have hit die and damage of orcs but the take ability of skeletons where non blunt weapons only deal half damage.

Jinder and Klarma turn the orc skeletons away and the party picks them off 1 by 1. After they have cleaned up the enemies, they see the lock is indeed busted off in the same fashion as the front gate of the crypt. They open the door and it leads to a room with 3 doors. 1 of the doors is stone with an ornate depiction of the hanged man and the hanging tree full of bodies. There is a comically large key hole in the middle of the door. It is much bigger than the key they already have, so the party checks one of the other doors.

The party stumbles upon a group of 13 goblins wearing human bones as armor. The party rolls for surprise, and again they score another Chad 4 segments of surprise. They slaughter the goblins but find no key. They do manage to score 2,000 gold pieces so the party heads back and checks the other door in the previous room.

They open the next door. It has a hallway that opens up into a rectangular room. As they draw closer the party spots 2 zombies with metal helmets chained loosely to the wall. 1 of these zombies has a comically large key around its neck. The party launches oil flasks and then engage in armed comate and finish the zombies again with no casualties. The party recovers the key and heads back to the room with the ornate stone door.

The key works and the party walks down a hallway till they come to a door. The door is locked, however it appears to match the key that the thief gave them at the beginning of the quest. The party tried the key and it indeed opens the door into the final chamber of the crypt.

A sarcophagus that has been wrapped in chains and locked closed lays in the middle of the room. The artifact must be in there. They try their key again on the chains padlock and it opens.

The party elects for Cromo to open the sarcophagus in exchange for a nice bonus to his pay for the month. He accepts and then Jinder has the smart idea of casting protection from evil on Cromo right before he pushes the sarcophagus open.

Chromo stares into the sarcophagus and shouts, " AHHHH, DIOS MIO!"

A 7 foot tall man rises up. He has a bloody sack over his face, a large floppy farmers hat, and a noose around his neck. This is the Hanged Man, the other boss i had constructed. He is a level 3 duel classed Fighter/Magic User.

The hanged man wins initiative and casts shocking grasp. He reaches towards Chromo, yet he is unable to touch him thanks to Jinder's Protection from evil spell. the party counters with some attacks but they miss most of their hits.

It is time for the Hanged Man's signature weapon, his artifact. Its called The Noose of Strangulation. It is in all essence a re skinned Necklace of Strangulation, except it can be thrown as a projectile weapon. Its target must make a paralyzation saving throw. If they fail the noose makes it around their neck and they take 6 points of damage each turn till removed, which is mostly impossible until the target is dead.

He launches it at Chromo but Chromo makes the save and the rope veers off. The party moves in and lands some decent hits in this round.

This round I see my boss is almost dead. I want to score a kill in here so I have the Hanged Man cast his 1 level 2 spell, Rope Trick. This will allow him to bring The Rope of Strangulation back to him. The party lands some more hits in but the Hanged Man's not dead yet.

Next round, winning the initiative is crucial for the party this round or someone might be heading home in a coffin. The party rolls and manages to win initiative. They almost fail, but Jinder delivers the killing blow. The Hanged Mans body dissolves into dust leaving behind The Rope of Strangulation, A Spell Book bound with tanned human flesh, 3 unlabeled potions, and 2,000 gold pieces. A nice score to round off the adventure. The party returns home with no encounters.

Treasure & XP:

Treasure:

6,000 Silver Pieces - 300 XP

4,000 Gold Pieces - 4,000 XP

2 Daggers +1 - 200 XP - Schlamm

Leather Armor +1 - 300 XP - Schlamm

Hanged Man's Spell Book - 4,000 Gold Pieces - 4,000 XP

Gems:

7 Hematite - 70 Gold Pieces - 70 XP

2 Shiny Obsidian - 40 Gold Pieces - 40 XP

2 Blood Stones - 100 Gold Pieces - 100 XP

5 Aqua Marine - 2,500 Gold Pieces - 2,500 XP

Oriental Topaz - 1,000 Gold Pieces - 1,000 XP

Potions:

Human Control Potion - 900 Gold Pieces - 500 XP

Fire Resistance Potion - 250 XP - Smoker

Diminution Potion - 500 Gold Pieces - 300 XP

Monster XP:

16 GRU Grunts - 224 XP

Mutated GRU Journeyman - 346 XP

4 Skeletons - 114 XP

10 Orc Skeletons - 171 XP

10 Goblins - 146 XP

3 Zombies - 106 XP

The Hanged Man - 832 XP

Total Treasure Value & Total XP:

13,110 Gold 6,000 Silver - 3,277 Gold 1,500 Silver Each

15,499 XP - 3,874 XP Each

Rankings:

Smoker - E - Got kills and lead the party bravely

Rameses Numeral Uno - E - Got Kills and lead party bravely

Jinder Mahal - E - Healed the dog and turned undead

Scheiße Schlamm - E - Opened locks and checked for traps