Session 4/5 - Group 2 Report

Having rested up, and after ordering some new equipment using the coin they had earned from their first foray into the Forgotten Academy, the Adventurers returned to the ruins to continue their exploration. Using the stairway in the southeast turret, they proceeded immediately to the third floor of the main academy building, and quickly found a semicircular alcove cut into a passage wall, with a plaque that said "Headmaster's Office".

Remembering the instructions on the card they discovered in the Visitor's Registration room, and wearing one of the silver medallions they also retrieved from that room, Khiss stepped into the alcove as the others stood wondering what to do, and loudly announced his name and title. Without warning, the semicircular wall spun 180 degrees, leaving the rest of the party to stare at a semi-circular stone wall that now protruded into the corridor. Khiss, in the meantime, after regaining his balance looked into a room that was dimly illuminated by light from a glass ball on a desk a few feet away. The room was completly dust covered, showing no signs of disturbance for many, many years. The Taxlatl didn't have much time to take in everything he saw though.

On the other side of the wall, the party was concerned about the abrupt disappearance of their companion. Their only hint at what to do was on the plaque that was affixed to the part of the wall they could now see. It read, "Knock for Access". And so Nosgoth did... banging on the wall with his Great Maul as much out of frustration as anything else. This caused the semicircular wall to again rapidly spin 180 degrees, returning Khiss to the sight of the rest of the party.

After the party regained its composure, and Khiss explained there were rooms on the other side, they one-by-one proceeded to "announce themselves" into the room beyond the wall. Once all were inside, the searching and looting commenced - and there were many trinkets to consider. The group cleared off the headmaster's desk, taking two decorative skull bowls, one of human and one of Awkwana (birdfolk) origin. Three quill pens yielded at least the three gold nibs. Inside the desk, they discovered twelve more silver medallions similar to their Visitor badges and the one other Badge that Leopold had taken from one of the teacher's rooms below. These twelve were slightly different than the others, though clearly related to them somehow. From a curio cabinet, the party removed several items, distributing them into backpacks as best they could.

The adjoining room was a library, but a library that apparently had long ago been stripped of almost every book it once possessed. There were a few volumes remaining, most too badly rotted to be recoverable, but Matryx managed to find one volume that appeared to have at least a few blocks of pages intact - and quick leafing through these revealed a spell formula for Identify an Item. He wisely packed the book away carefully; he would transcribe the spell back at camp when he had the right conditions and materials to do so.

The third room in the Headmaster's suite was a bedroom - a bedroom that clearly had not been used in two thousand years. The bed was made up, but vacant. No skeleton or other remains of the Headmaster could be found. Nosgoth took the opportunity to test out what appeared to have once been quite lavish and comfortable bedding - as he leapt onto the bed, it promptly collapsed and enveloped him in a cloud of slowly settling dust as the others laughed.

Having removed everything deemed worthwhile, the party left the Headmaster's Suite and continued their exploration of the Academy ruins. They made their way to a doorway leading into the northeast turret - they expected this was above the custodial room in which they had found the keys in their last visit. Opening the door revealed the stench and sight of thousands of years of accumulated bird droppings covering a spiral stairway leading upward, and illicited quite a number of started croaking calls from creatures far above them. Closing the door, they decided to leave that exploration for a future time.

Making their way westward along the long straight corridor, they came to its end, where a heavy locked double door stood in the right-hand wall. A sign above identified this as the Library. The corridor itself turned to the south, and another door was visible halfway along it. This door looked like the other classroom doors they had encountered. The plaque on this one included the image of a shield. Also notable were the two holes that had been cut or gnawed through one of the doors at its base - far too small for even Leopold to squeeze through.

Khiss dropped to the floor to peer through the holes; he could determine this was indeed another classroom. Pushing the doors open with some difficulty, the party entered the room. It was similar to the others they had seen, with the podium and blackboard setup, but in this room, the remaining walls were covered with shields of every shape and size. Most were badly rusted or rotted. One cautht their eye, as it seemed to be in pristine condition. Leopold recognized that the coat of arms painted on this shield was a portion of the current King's coat of arms, and commented that connection to the royal family might boost the value of this shield. Although its appearance sugggested magic was involved, Khiss checked nonetheless and confirmed that the shield was indeed magical.

Matryx attempted to climb onto the shoulders of the Lizardfolk, and doing so, managed to remove the shield from the wall. But he slipped as he tried to descend, and fell off Khiss' shoulders. Nosgoth reacted immediately in an attempt to catch the Human magic-caster, but failed to do so. Matryx got up slowly, one ankle obviously injured.

The door they expected to lead to the teacher's quarters also bore a small hole gnawed out of its base, so the party approached with caution. They heard faint rustling and perhaps some high-pitched whispering, but could not discern any recognizable language. As they entered, they could still hear faint whisperings and chittering, but saw nothing. Matryx crossed the room to a bookcase, attracted by the sight of one book that appeared to be relatively intact. It, like the book in the Headmaster's Library, contained several blocks of pages that were salvageable - and those pages contained spell formulae. But as he opened his pack to store the book, he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his calf and caught a glimpse of a tiny creature with a pointy knife darting back beneath or behind the furniture -- a Gremlin of some sort!

Matryx backed out of the room. Khiss entered and attempted to entice the creatures to not attack. The response was another hit and run attack that glanced off his leathers without doing damage. At the same time, two tiny creatures, no more than a few inches tall, darted right past the startled Taxlatl, through the door past the others, and headed for the outer classroom door.

Battle ensued. One of the smaller gremlins was subdued alive and trussed up to be brought back to camp for questioning. The others - three tiny ones like the captive, and two larger, different creatures, were dispatched quickly and easily. The party was free to explore the teacher's rooms further. Nosgoth smashed the skull of the skeleton lying on the bed to reclaim the Peaceful Repose Talisman on its forehead, and a silver medallion apparently dropped by one of the Gremlins was recovered.

At this point, with their backpacks full and Matryx wounded, the group decided to return to base camp yet again.

The session ended here.

Playtesting Notes / Things to Address

FoundryVTT Issues

Spells need to be updated to work with the new combat mechanics

Consensus was to automatically deduct the rolled stamina drains from attacks.

A mechanism for denoting spell charges in magical items (e.g. Matryx' staff and Khiss' headdress) is required.

Rules Issues

Mechanics for attack forms such as "shove" and "grapple" need to be codified

Overall Impression

Session went well. Combat was fast and easy to follow. The party's decision to take a gremlin alive brought up a few areas where rules may need to be expanded a bit.

Party Gains