Session II, Part IV

In this thread, Frank Mentzer himself explains some of his design thinking behind the Basic Dungeons & Dragons Red Box solo adventure.  I wanted to recreate the unexpected pathos that the adventure produced for me as a child from Aleena's death, but, as previously narrated in Session II, Part III, the PCs upended those plans by sending Bargle's head flying across the room!  

Additionally, the PCs upended my plans for Warduke, as well.  But, it doesn't go all the party's way: eager for a magic weapon, the PCs try to take the demon-possessed sword, which Warduke abandoned after he surrendered.  However, the sword immediately starts magically urging the nameless Fighter to murder the nameless Thief, and vice versa (since the demon has a radius of influence).  

Quickly, the party drops the magic sword, grabs as much loot as possible, and flees!

For a job well done, I credit the PCs with experience for overcoming two major challenges:

* solving the identity of Messr Infamous, and

* preventing Aleena's death

Our next classic Olde School D&D adventure is the highly respected N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God:

Atmospheric and investigation based, Against the Cult of the Reptile God isn't your typical D&D module, but Douglas Niles does a great job with the setting and the mystery, which are full of flavor and interesting plots and details.


Returning to Vĩnh Long, Capitaine d'Artagnan is pleased with the PCs' work and offers them another job: the mayor of Orlane, a village made up primarily of Gaulish expats located just south of the main trade road between Vĩnh Long and Cần Thơ, has requested help.  Formerly a prosperous and booming farming community, people have started suddenly disappearing for unknown reasons over the last year.  Paranoia has gripped the once friendly town and people are moving away in droves.  Consequently, Orlane's population has more than halved.

Again, d'Artagnan earlier sent an elite team but hasn't heard back from them, so he needs another group to check out the situation.  Again undeterred, the PCs accept the job.  They also decide to make Aleena a permanent member of the party.


When the party reaches Orlane, they find most people nervous and unwilling to speak with strangers.  To set up a base of operations, when given the choice between the Golden Grain Inn and the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent, the PCs choose the latter, dropping their excess gear and beginning their investigation.

As the party explores Orlane, a couple uniformed men start following them, who turn out to be Gendarme Adjoints and who say they are following orders.  Curious, the PCs go speak with Le Gendarme:

Gendarme Wiggum, who is an affable fellow but doesn't seem particularly smart, says people have been inexplicably disappearing, often times in the middle of meals or the like.  Apparently way behind in his paperwork, Wiggum is unable to give an exact number of people who've disappeared, but believes the number to be about 50 and he also hasn't been able to discern a pattern to the disappearances.

Checking out the house of the first known disappearance, the PCs find some coins from Rạch Giá, an infamous pirate port on the west coast of Fantasy Vietnam.

With a fell reputation, it is widely known that strange persons and artifacts routinely come from far and wide to Rạch Giá.


Next, the PCs try talking with a farmer who disappeared for a while but then returned, but he is an asshat and rudely blows them off.  The nameless Fighter rolls a critical success on his Charisma roll!  Strangely, however, this seems to have no effect, as the farmer continues to be an asshat.

Later, the PCs treat the Gendarme Adjoints to lunch at the General Store.  Conversation with the husband and wife owners goes a little awry, and the suspicious nameless Thief tries to check out the back of the General Store, only to encounter the owners' sons blocking the way.

After dinner, the nameless Thief slips out of the inn and heads back toward the General Store.  He notices he's being tailed, and is both able to lose his tail and also find out that the tail is one of the Gendarme Adjoints that had been following the party earlier.

Reaching the General Store, the nameless Thief stealthily creeps up to the building.  He sees heavy blankets over the windows to the back room to (literally) cover up a secret meeting going on.  Most of the conversation is muffled but he does make out the word "heka".  The meeting adjourns shortly before dawn, and the nameless Thief sees several people come out of the General Store, including the asshat farmer and the other Gendarme Adjoint that had been following the party earlier.

However, D's extraordinary string of good rolls ends when the nameless Thief breaks the window while trying to sneak into the back room of the General Store, waking up the family inside.  As the lights turn on, the nameless Thief flees!