The Part in Which a Goblin and a Drow Level Up

and the Goblin has an idea

The Briefest of Recaps:

Yllenpo and Sylvara manage to defeat the largest of the Giant Mutant Frogs, and scare off the other two. After creating a barricade of busted furniture, they explored the monster’s den, finding the remnants of the Arcanobiologist who had created the creatures, along with two intanct health potions.
The adventurers, weary from their battle, take the chance to rest in the chamber.

[Cue that catchy intro music]

DM Commentary:

Yllenpo and Sylvara have endured quite a lot. I think it is time for their first LEVEL UP!

How I will be doing leveling is taken directly from how it is done in Tale of the Manticore:

• PCs roll for HP and will Min Out at half

• PCs will also roll a d6 for each ability, and on a 6, they get a +1 in that ability

Sylvara - Level 2:

HP: Roll: 2 (min out at 4) → New HP: 11/16 (1hp gained through natural healing)
STR: Roll: 6, hell yeah! She goes from a 15 to a 16, and her +1 becomes a +2 to hit!
INT: Roll: 6! Her 12 becomes a 13, and she gains an extra language
WIS: Roll: 4, nothing
DEX: Roll: 5, nothing
CON: Roll: 2, nothing
CHA: Roll: 1, nothing

Not too shabby. I guess cleaving her way through anything that is dumb enough to take her on has swollen up some of those muscles. As for the additional language, I think Yllenpo will be teaching her some of his goblin tongue as they continue to journey together.
Lastly, Sylvara, being a Drow, gets access to the Spell: Darkness, which can be used once per day.

Yllenpo - Level 2:

HP: Roll: 2 (min out at 2) → New HP: 8/9 (1hp gained through natural healing)
STR: Roll: 4, nothing
INT: Roll: 6! His 14 becomes a 15, but no mechanical benefits
WIS: Roll: another 6! His 11 goes to 12, no mechanical benefit
DEX: Roll: 5, nothing
CON: Roll: 3, nothing
CHA: Roll: 5, nothing

Yllenpo also gets a bump to most of his thief skills. I’m not going to document that here, but it follows the rules outlined in the OSE:PT.

DM Commentary pt. 2:

With Sylvara and Yllenpo deciding to start traveling at night, I’m going to say the evening of Day 4 is going to be considered a new day. Because of that, I need to make the day’s Hexcrawl Rolls:

Daily Hexcrawl Rolls:

Weather: Roll: 17 | Result: A pleasant night for travel
Foraging: Roll: 6 | Result: nothing found this day (Yllenpo does have 7 iron rations)
Lose Direction: Roll: 1 | Result: PCs are lost, they continue further into the swamp
Stumble Upon: Roll: 2 | Result: nope
Random Encounter: Roll: 4 | Result: Yes
Time of Encounter: Roll: 17 | Result: Encounter happens near Dawn of Day 5

I think I’m going to forgo the Overarching Terrain rolls, at least for this day. I am curious though if the PCs are going to encounter the remaining two Giant Mutant Frogs or if it’s going to be some other kind of encounter. I’m going to roll a d6, on a 5 or 6, they will encounter the other frogs, on a 1-4, I’ll roll on a random wilderness encounter generator:
Roll: 5 | Result: Frogs

Chapter 14: Part 1
Day 4: Night
Event Meaning: Assist | Needs

Yllenpo woke rested and in possession of an idea.
He thought about it as he helped Sylvara remove the barricade plug they’d created the night before.
He thought about the idea as he and Sylvara chewed a few handfuls of dried crickets and mushrooms he’d gotten from a clay jar in his pack.

“Sylvara?” He asked.

“Hmm?” She grunted around a full mouth.

“What if we lived here? In this den?”

Sylvara swallowed and looked around the space again. “Not very nice.”

“Well, yeah, it’s not great now, but…it could be, if we kind of fixed it up.” He sighed. “Look, Sylvara, you and me, to most of the world, we’re nothing but monsters. I know we’ve been focused on trying to get out of this swamp, but do you have an idea about what you’re going to do up here on the surface?”

Sylvara gave him a sullen look, but shook her head.

Yllenpo continued, “At best, you’re going to survive. No village is going to take you in, they’re more likely to try and kill you. Wandering the swamp and forest is just as dangerous, and you said you can’t go back to your home. What was it called? Milroth”

“Ril’Morath,” Sylvara corrected.

“Ril’Morath, right. No welcoming party waiting for you there either.” He paused, and gestured to the space of the den. “A hole in the ground is about as nice a place as beings like us can ever hope to get, and with a bit of work, this could be a pretty nice hole.” He put the jar back in his pack and settled it on his shoulders. “I’m just saying, we’re mucking our way through this fucking swamp, hoping to find a safe place where we don’t have to run anymore. This could be that place.” He bent down and picked up his spear. “But I’m thirsty, and I’d need some tools to really make this place shine, so let’s head out and see if Moradin feels generous enough to drop a carpenter’s toolkit in our path. I’m certain I can find this place again.”

Sylvara nodded and began to gather her own few items. Her eyes flicked to the opening of the hole in the middle of the den. She’d been marched up and out of a hole very much like that one. Before she would agree to try and homestead in this vacated monster’s den, she intended to find out if there were any more monsters lurking in that dark pit.

And that is where we will have to stop for the night

I know this is a short one, but the story will continue in the next session. If you want to follow along, feel free to click the orange rectangle below. And, seriously, thank you for reading.

[Cue wicked cool outro music]