AD&D 1e Actual Play: Chapter 1, Part 2

Escape the Gloamtide

The survivors carefully lowered themselves into the water and, with great care, advanced to the beach. The pirate continued to stumble along the shore looking the other direction as the five escaped prisoners reached the shore and scrambled behind the boulders to wait for the pirate to return. 

The half-orc turned around not long after they reached the concealment of the boulders and made his way, slowly and drunkenly, back to the ring of stones and the piles of rum bottles. He crouched down, discarding the empty bottles in his hand and rummaged through the piles in search of more rum.¹

Surprise Check on d6 = 4 → two rounds of surprise

“Now!” Bertram bellowed and leapt out from behind the rock, his arm cocked back in preparation for a mighty punch. Despite having no idea the four survivors were around, and being drunk off his ass, the half-orc proved nimble and avoided the big man’s strike.

Hafkris, the half-orc pirate slaver, on ProCreate. ©2024, Eric Dill

Arthur and Blanche also failed to land a blow with their timber clubs. Perhaps because of her size, or the ferocity contained within her small frame, the shepherd managed to slam the butt-end of her club into the chin of the half-orc, rocking his neck back with an audible crack.² 

                       ⚔️ROUND 1⚔️
Bertram Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 12, miss
Arthur Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 2, miss
Blanche Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 11, miss
Poppy Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 15, hit!          
     — Poppy hits for d4 = 3 damage

Again, the pirate managed to dodge or block most of the incoming blows, until Blanche managed to swing her board and connected hard with the half-orc’s shoulder, knocking him off balance.

                     ⚔️ROUND 2⚔️
Poppy Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 5, miss
Bertram Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 6, miss
Arthur Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 7, miss
Blanche Attacks (-2) vs AC6 on d20 = 15, hit!
    Blanche hits for d4 damage = 1 damage

Though Hafkriss seemed to be rallying against the former prisoners’ assault, the alcohol worked against him and the party pressed their attack with great ferocity. Blanche landed a heavy blow to the pirate’s temple, dazing him further. Bertram followed up with a haymaker of a punch to the half-orc’s jaw, snapping his head around and cracking the already weakened vertebrae. The pirate dropped like a sack into the sand and did not move. 

                     ⚔️ROUND 3⚔️
Initiative — The Party on d6 = 6; Hafkris on d6 = 4

Blanche Attacks (-4) vs AC6 on d20 = 15, hit
    Blanche hits for d4 damage = 3 damage
Arthur Attacks (-4) vs AC6 on d20 = 13, miss
Bertram Attacks (-4) vs AC6 on d20 = 15, hit
    Bertram hits for d3 = 2 damage

                    ➕Experience➕
Each PC gains 5xp for defeating Hafkris (10+HP xp rounded up), 
PCs gain 11xp each for treasure, each PC has -484xp

                   🪙Treasure Found🪙
Bertram takes the broadsword and studded leather armor
Arthur takes the dagger

Bertram kneels atop the dead pirate and unbuckles the leather sword belt. From the belt he removes the sheath containing the half orc’s dagger and passes it up to Arthur. Laying aside the belt and broadsword, the big man begins to undo the clasps of the pirate’s worn, but very serviceable, studded leather armor. 

“You know how to use a knife, eh chef?” the butcher asked as he took off the pirate’s armor.

“Aye, I’ve some skill. Though I’ve only ever turned my knife to vegetables and whatever cuts of meat Blanche buys from your shop.” 

“Just think of any opposition as vegetables, then,” Bertram said with a chuckle. “Does anyone object to my taking the sword and armor?”

“Armor won’t fit none of us,” Poppy said, looking down at the corpse of the large pirate. “I don’t think I could even lift that sword.”

“Aye, take the armor and the blade, Bertram. It’ll be more use to you than to me,” Blanche replied. 

After a moment, and with Arthur’s help, Bertram managed to remove the armor from Hafkris and donned it himself. The leather was a bit tight in places, where the butcher’s muscles were thicker than the half-orc’s, but otherwise it fit him well. 

“What now?” Poppy asked, propping herself up on the nearby boulder.

“We could see if there’s any survivors on the ship,” the blonde haired girl piped up, moving out into the open from behind the boulder nearest the waterline. 

“Oi!” Poppy cried, jumping. “Forgot about you!” 

“Apologies,” the girl said, smiling at the shepherdess. “I’m Melisana.”

“Well met, Melisana,” Arthur said, giving the girl a nod. “I’m Arthur. This is my wife, Blanche. The big fella there is Bertram, our village butcher. And the lass you gave a fright is Poppy.”

The others smiled or waved at the young woman in greeting, except Polly who glared at her. 

“How’d you come to be on that ship,” the shepherd demanded.

Melisana frowned, recalling the events leading up to her capture. “My father owns a merchant fleet. I was on my first voyage as apprentice captain when we were attacked by those pirates. The ship was sunk, the crew mostly put to the sword, and the survivors were taken captive, including me.”

“That’s terrible, friend,” Blanche said. “Stick with us, and maybe we will all get off this island.”

“Thank you.”

“Melisana is right, we should check the ship for survivors,” Blanche decided. “Unless you have any objections?”

No one did, so they trekked the short distance back to the rift in the galley’s hull and set about searching the galley. Within, along with the ruined cargo, they discovered an ironbound chest containing a thick leather-bound tome. Its pages were scrawled in a language, or code, that none of them could decipher. Even Melisana, who had more experience than the four survivors combined in shipfaring, had no idea what was written in the book. 

Fate Check (CF5): Does the party explore the galley? 50/50 on 2d10 = 16, exceptional yes

They also found a scroll, tied with a piece of string. Blanche unfurled it, revealing a map showing a whole chain of islands. Having never been further at sea than the coastal fishing vessels she was raised in, the innkeeper had no idea what islands the map displayed. 

“Any idea what this map shows, Melisana?” she asked.

The merchant took the map and, after a few minutes observing, clicked her tongue and returned the map to Blanche. She pointed to a chain of small islands.

“I think this is the Parghwen Islands. My ship was heading there when we were attacked. Where did you say you were from?”

“Broadcove,” the innkeeper replied.

“Broadcove would be somewhere…” Melisana’s long index finger hovered over the map and then stabbed down. “Here. I think. If this circled area indicates our destination, then we must be somewhere on one of these islands.” 

“You can’t tell which one?” Bertram asked, stepping up to the two women.

“Not without more knowledge of the island.”

“How close are we to Broadcove?” Arthur asked.

“Maybe three days, depending on which island we are on, the tides, and the wind.”

“So we can’t swim for it,” Arthur muttered, scratching his bearded chin. 

“That would be a sure death sentence,” Melisana said, matter-of-factly. “These waters are rife with sharks, and other predators. Not to mention the water out at sea can be frigid, and the currents would surely drown you.”

Blanche was no longer paying attention to the discourse, having rolled up the navigation scroll. She was crouched over the open chest, flipping through a small book. It was bound in red-dyed hide and written in a high style that she struggled to comprehend, though it was in the common tongue. Something about the book drew her in, and she was certain she could see movement on the page, like motes of light dancing before her eyes. 

“Anyone have objections to me taking this big fella?” Poppy called out from across the hold. 

Blanche, and the others, looked in her direction. The diminutive shepherd was holding a crossbow that appeared to be as large as her torso. She proudly displayed the heavy crossbow for the others to see and turned her hips to show off the quiver of bolts she’d already strapped around her waist. 

Tokens made on RollAdvantage. Art, ©2024 Eric Dill

“Are you sure you can handle that thing?” Bertram asked, a bit condescendingly.

Poppy glared at the big man, raised the already loaded crossbow and fired. The weapon snapped and a bolt whizzed past the others, planting itself to the fletching in the door leading to the prison cell.

Bertram offered the shepherd a lopsided grin. “My apologies, you clearly know what you’re doing.”

“Don’t forget it either!” Poppy called back, with a smile.

“Clearly you’re the woman for the weapon,” Arthur said. 

Poppy grinned at Arthur and carried her prize over to the group. Blanche stood, taking the book with her. 

“What’s that, dear?” her husband asked.

“I’m not sure,” she replied. “The contents are…obscure, but I think I can decipher them with time.”

“You have always liked books,” Arthur replied, patting her on the shoulder.³

Fate Check (CF5): Does Melisana recognize the islands? Likely (+2, +1 for sailing skill) on 2d10 = 11, yes

Poppy fires the crossbow (-4) on d20 = 14

                           🪙TREASURE FOUND🪙
Blanche finds a curious book;
Poppy finds a heavy crossbow and takes 24 quarrels (1 large quiver);

                            ➕EXPERIENCE➕
The Party receives 50xp each for treasure found, now at -437xp each

Poppy shivered violently. “Is it just me, or is it getting colder?”

“I’m also chilled,” Melisana said.

“We need to get off this boat and search for shelter. I don’t think anyone survived the storm, or the crash,” Bertram said.

“We should move on, I think,” Arthur agreed. “There’s no one here.” 

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1. DM Note: No PC has any bonuses to surprise, but, since Hafkris is extremely drunk, I’m going to rule that a roll of 1-4 on a d6 means that the party successfully reaches the boulders and surprises the half-orc. The party cannot be surprised in this situation. A roll of 1-2 is one round of surprise, 3-4 is two rounds of surprise (see DM Note 2).

Mechanic Explanation: In 1e, surprise is determined by rolling a d6 for each group involved. The roll is compared to the opposing surprise roll and the number of rounds of surprise are determined by the result of the d6. A 1 indicates a single round of surprise, a 2 is two rounds of surprise. Both the party and the opponents can be surprised.  (OSRIC, p. 125)

DM Note 2: Upon reflection, I have misunderstood the surprise mechanic in 1e. It should be segments (i.e. 6 seconds, or enough time for one PC to make an action) and not rounds as I have played it. I will not be replaying or editing the surprise rounds of combat in this chapter, but will endeavor to play rules as written going forward.

2. For the surprise rounds, I ruled that the normal proficiency penalty of -4 would be reduced to -2. In standard combat, the penalty rises to the required -4.

3. Normally, XP is not awarded until players have reached safe haven and/or sold their treasures. As per the advice in N4: Treasure Hunt (p. 5), I will award XP at the same time that treasure is found, and at the end of every combat encounter. I will round xp gains up, both to avoid having half an experience point to factor and because my poor PCs need all the help they can get.