Solo RPG Campaign 6. Goblins Galore

Preparations

My notes tell me that, although I began playing this session on 3/18 (in-game and IRL) I didn't actually begin the delve proper until 3/23, and finished on 3/25. This is another delve in the dungeon under the mountain shrine. The party's objective is to explore beyond room #6, where Timbo had died to the crab spider last year.

On Day 1 (3/18) the weather is warm and clear. The wilderness random encounter came up as a favorable terrain encounter. Normally, these are skipped if the party is following the same route as they have before. However, I decided that since this was their first time returning to their original campsite after the Attercops had been eliminated, they would probably scout around the area and ensure things looked clear. This would provide the justification for them to discover the favorable terrain, which was given as "safe haven". The party has discovered a nearby rocky ledge which is both defensible and well-hidden. While camping here, they will have no over-night encounters.

Delve

On Day 2 (3/19) the weather was warm and drizzly when they enter the dungeon. They enter the standard entrance into room #1, and proceed through room #2 into room #5. Here a wandering monster is indicated. Before rolling on the random encounter table, I give a 50% chance that it is one of the remaining cobras from last year's delve, that had somehow evaded the giant ferrets. Indeed, this is the case. In round 1, neither side is surprised, but everyone misses. The cobra spits at Chadonius, but its venom is harmlessly blocked by his shield and armor. On the second round, an arrow from Edelweiss puts it down, for 13 XP.

They continue into room #6, which is empty, and of the four exiting doors, they elect to head south into room #13 first. I decide the door in this room exists into hallway 4, though it's a one-way door. Although the room is empty, I rolled on a dungeon dressing table, and got "medicine cabinet." I interpret this to mean that there is a small table with some type of healing herbs on it. I rolled randomly to determine the type of ACKS herbs they were, and incredibly I got Birthwort -- used as a remedy against snake bites. This clearly indicates that there's someone else around who is defending against the cobras -- a wonderful little synchronicity on the part of the random math rocks. 

They take the herbal poultice and head back north into room #6, then proceed west into room #14. The door on the opposite wall opens into a hallway which extends beyond the range of their torchlight, but they decide to leave for a future delve.

The north-west door opens into room #15 and the stocking roll indicates a goblin lair consisting of nine warbands. This would result in 49 "regular" goblins plus 9 champions, 1 subchief, and 1 chief (a total of 60 goblins). And here's where the retro-active nature of no-prep solo play comes in. If I had been designing this dungeon as a GM before play, the rules specify that the monsters are not all in their lair. The individual warbands are scattered as patrols and sentinels throughout the dungeon level. So room #15 that the party is about to enter, is not the actual lair, but a simply patrol of a single warband (consisting of a champion and 6 regular goblins). The real lair will be somewhere nearby on this level. In the meantime, wandering monster checks will be more frequent, and will indicate goblin patrols. Furthermore, other monsters on this level will have been displaced or killed by the goblins.

Jelyssa hears the goblins through the door, but the goblins do not hear the party, and their champion is surprised when the party enters. The combat is mostly over in two and a half rounds, but notably, Marzipan successfully casts Beguile Humanoid on the goblin champion in the first round, who then pleads with both sides (unsuccessfully) to stop fighting. On the third round, he breaks free of the enchantment, but by then it's too late. His band has been slain, his morale broken, and he surrenders. Jelyssa ties him up, and they try to interrogate him via intimidation, but they fail, and he spits in Edelweiss' face (Edelweiss is the only one of the party who can speak goblinesk). Meanwhile, Jelyssa examines the room they are in, but fails to find the secret door on the north wall, and the rest of the party takes the time to rest.

The party returns to room #6, and checks the door in the north wall. Nothing is heard, so they enter room #16 and light a new torch. Although a treasure is indicated in this room, it is hidden, and the party does not notice it. Jelyssa listens at the door to room #17 and hears goblins on the other side. GM note: in a previous adventure, while exploring the hallway north of room 17, they had listened at the north door to #17 and heard nothing, but the room stocking table said that it was "unique", which I left open for future interpretation. Now I am ruling that this is the center of the goblin lair, or at least that it holds a goblin idol. 

At this point, the goblin captive cries out to the 7 goblins in room #17 to rescue him. At the same time, I also roll that a wandering monster (i.e. another goblin patrol) will be arriving, which I determine will arrive from room #6 during round three. My party has stumbled into an ambush and time is ticking!

Chadonius opens strong with a double kill, thanks to his cleave, while Radnor enters into a berserkergang rage and kills another. But Jelyssa gets hit with two arrows, knocking her down to -2hp. Zephira attends to her wounds, and a roll on the Mortal Wounds table leaves her with a long line of noticeable scarring along her jaw. As she is waking up from the treatment, she notices that the champion they had taken captive earlier is trying to escape, so she backstabs him, but fails to kill him (GM question: I need to double check whether characters are able to take combat actions after being treated on the Mortal Wounds table. I think it depends on the severity). Meanwhile, Marzipan has successfully cast Choking Grip on the second champion (from room #17) while Chadonius and Radnor kill three more goblins between them.

Things are starting to look OK, but it's at this point that the second patrol (fortunately only three) enters the room and keeps the fight going. Zephira takes 2hp of damage from an arrow, as Chadonius charges the newcomers and kills one of them. Meanwhile, Marzipan finishes choking the champion and Jelyssa hides in the shadows and performs a second backstab, killing their previous captive (who had been fiddling with the north door to the corridor, trying to escape). In his rage, Radnor finally kills the remaining two goblins, cleaving them with his great axe.

The party temporarily spikes the doors shut so they can take a rest after the combat. Zephira uses her two daily Lay on Hands to heal herself and Jelyssa. Realizing that they've gotten themselves into a mess, they decide to exit the dungeon as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, on the way out, they hit another patrol of 5 more goblins guarding the exit to room 2, but they cut through these pretty quickly and complete their egress.

Aftermath

This delve lasted about an hour and a half (9 turns of game time) and contained a lot of fighting (a cobra and 4 goblin warbands). But since the lair has not been cleared, and wandering patrols from a lair don't typically carry treasure on them (at least in ACKS II) there hasn't really been any treasure recovered. The only experience earned for this near-death experience is 123 XP, divided six ways (about 20 each). Which is rather disappointing. Although at the beginning of the next session, I realized (and corrected) that I had forgotten to account for champions being worth slightly more XP.  Still, I'm not going to be making it to 2nd level any time soon with returns like this. At least I took out 4 of the 9 goblin bands (reducing their numbers from 60 to 38, though the party has no way of knowing the total number).

Up to this point, I think all of my combat has been done via Theater of the Mind (which is permitted by the rules), but as I reference and learn the rules, it keeps referencing concepts such as facing and engagement that are more easily tracked on a tactical grid. I decide that in my next session I will try to use this type of combat to better learn the intricacies of combat rules.

I also realize that I need to find ways to increase my forces if I am to take out this lair. But the lair is not static. How will the goblins respond to this incursion?