B8: Journey to the Rock-The Conclusion
Thanks Zireael. It's been fun playing through old modules.
I just left a crazy old man to the dangerous wild, close to the end of the hostile woods. My party slings backpacks onto shoulders and heads out once more to the east. I reach a campsite, which acknowledges my homebound direction. "After a long trek eastward, you find yourself tired and ready for some sleep. The ground may not be a bed, but the burning in your ears and the ache in your muscles diminishes nonetheless." I heal up the party and refresh my magic. Well, that's it, I think. A few more steps and I should be back to the path towards the manor and... oh what the #%@& is this?
"As you break camp, the forest comes alive. A pair of thin bugbears armed with crude clubs raid your campsite. You see each bugbear wears an iron prison shackle around his ankle. They attack voraciously."
This is a bit dumb of them. I would have thought about letting them go since it already looks like they were having hard times and were only stealing because of desperation. Now that they've attacked, I have to put them down. The bugbears have an AC of 4 and 18 hit points each. With their strength and hit dice, they could do some serious damage to the party though they are armed with clubs. I take no chances. Queenie sleeps them both, and (un)reason and Col Pladoh finishes them. The party members receive 60xp each, though we leave the two clubs behind. The battle isn't even worth a screen shot.
We continue east, and slightly north. "You stop, standing at the point where the three trails converge. The air seems full of static, and you see that the grass and smaller trees are bending towards you, some against the breeze. And then, suddenly you are standing before the home of Lirdrium Arkayz. The door opens and two fighters inform you that Master Temlin is awaiting you. One leads you into the manor."
"Jenlar Temlin meets you in a large parlor. 'Congratulations, adventurers! I see you have returned successfully. Do you have the secret of the Rock?' Fenris tells Master Temlin the words you heard in the hall of the Rock. The warrior listens intently, then speaks again. 'You have indeed done well, but the secret of the Rock is a twofold secret. What else have you brought back from your journey to the Rock?' You hand Master Temlin the talisman of the Rock. He looks at it for a moment, then smiles. He bows and opens a small chest holding six pouches. Each is filled with your agreed upon reward."
The game lets us know that we each receive 800 XP and a total of 2400 gp. Each character now has enough XP to level up and also has nearly 800 gp each, plus jewels and gems and magical items unidentified.
"When you ask about the talisman, Master Temlin says, 'Master Arkayz is engaged in a secret labor and the talisman is necessary for the work's completion. It was to have been his long ago, and you have restored it to him. The secret of the Rock is wisdom you may benefit from in the future. I am glad that you have succeeded where so many others have failed. This bodes a bright future for you all.'"
Don't sweat it, man. Success is what happens when you bring in two magic-users with area effects spells to a stabbing match.
"Master Temlin gives you rooms to stay in for the night." After restoring Queenie's
sleep spell, we get this: "'Good journey. Follow the trail south, towards the inn. There you will find the path back to the main road near Specularum. From there, allow the winds to carry you where they wish. An adventurer's life is one of whim and luck as much as struggling and strife. Enjoy! You may seek training in the city of Specularum. Master Arkayz has friends there. If you mention his name, they will treat you well.' Master Temlin claps you on the back as he pulls open the door to the hall. You return to the cold autumn air. The door men nod to you respectfully."
We have completed our only quest and the party is fully healed and ready to go. My priorities are now to level up all six characters, identify the items that appeared magic and purchase some decent gear with the coin left over. None of which I can do from my current location. I opt for heading to Specularum.
I head south until I receive this message: "The path to the east will take you away from the Rock and Lirdrium Arkayz, back to the main road to Specularum. To the south is the Inn where you met with Hakeem." East it is, then. "The trail winds north from here towards the great city of Specularum." I choose to continue.
On the world map I go north until I reach Specularum. "Specularum. Three warring factions, one murder. Who is to blame? The Torenescu, the Radu, the Vorloi? Enter Specularum and drop into the heart of a deadly murder mystery. Load game 5, the UA conversion of the Veiled Society, for Characters of levels 1-3."
We will be dropping into Specularum, but only as an interlude. When I enter the town it tells me that "the folk here recognize the name Lirdrium Arkayz. They offer training for the discounted price of two hundred pieces of gold." I actually don't think that's a discount, but whatever.
Fenris becomes a level two paladin and now has a whopping 14 hit points. Because he is dual-classed Scott DeWar can only increase his thief level, but now has 10 hit points. Queenie becomes level 2 with 8 hit points and learns
magic missile. Col Pladoh learns the same spell, but is at 7 hit points. GlassEye is a level 2 ranger with 15 hit points and (un)reason is a second level cleric with 14 hit points. We are now looking much more resilient.
One of the pieces of jewelry we sell is worth a whopping 2,379 gp, and one of the heart-shaped gems was worth 250gp. The rest of the haul pales in comparison. We ID some items and I find out the Fenris' sword we hauled from the Rock is a
+2 broad sword. Pretty sweet that he was swinging that bad boy around at level 1. The bracers we picked up showed up as magical, as did the silver dagger, but when we ID Queenie's we find that they are normal items. Queenie could wear the bracers anyway since she, like everyone else in the party, is pretty much walking around naked. I could buy them all pants and shirts and shoes, but such items have no impact on gameplay and take up item slots better used for loot. Her ring is a
ring of protection +1 and her potion is a
healing potion. I give her ring to (un)reason, who has the worst AC of our melee fighters. Col Pladoh ends up with the same bracers and silver dagger, but with two potions. I still have 6,095 gold pieces left over. I decide to purchase three suits of field plate for Fenris, Scott DeWar and (un)reason. I sell their old suits of studded leather and purchase 100 arrows for GlassEye. On a whim I sell off the bracers for Queenie and Col Pladoh as well as a potion, and buy 72 darts each for Queenie and Col Pladoh, which does similar damage to the sling, but has a chance for two shots in a round. With my remaining cash I get GlassEye a suit of chain mail. Fenris now has an AC of -1, Scott DeWar of -2, Queenie of 6, Col Pladoh of 7, and GlassEye and (un)reason at AC 0, though GlassEye goes to an AC of 1 when he switches out the mace and shield, for his primary weapon of a bow. I have the magic-users each memorize two
sleep spells and (un)reason memorize four
cure light wounds spells. I was tempted to go with a
bless, but we'll see how this goes.
I'm feeling pretty good about our chances here.
"As you set out from Specularum, you feel as though you are finally putting a close to your adventure leading to the Rock. Now, the realm awaits you with more adventures, deadlier foes, and far greater treasures. But indeed where to from here? Where to indeed..."
I go north past Urnst, then procure a boat south along the river to the town of Kleine.
Next up, B10: Assault on Raven's Ruin!
But before we tackle that challenge, I am curious if those that played B8: Journey to the Rock can tell us whether or not the FRUA module followed the original closely. This is my first exposure to the adventure, and it certainly feels like a TSR adventure, with oddball creatures, crazy wizards and gnomes that defy Darwinism. I'll admit that this adventure has more to it than I thought it would and I definitely had fun. Being first level, I definitely was discouraged from exploring as deeply as I would have liked since I was trying to avoid being horribly murdered. There are other paths I did not travel, and therefore other encounters I completely missed out on. There is definitely replayability here.