Do we get an XP award for leaving the keep, killing two spiders and returning to to the keep? I know it will be a very small amount but every XP counts.

It's very small indeed.  The spiders were 50 xp each, and RAW is that you divide the xp among those who participated.  I think that is five characters, for 20 xp each. (Falco, Gyp, Jori, Reea and Leozaren.)

Excellent what I expected. Gyp is now an experienced adventurer!

Is it for certain we're going to the caves?  If so, what's the plan?

I believe the plan should be to locate the Caves of Chaos (or what we believe to be the Caves of Chaos) and any other points of interest we can, but it's probably unwise to just rush in--our numbers aren't that great. We need to adventure to get stronger, so we have to seek out trouble and gold, but we can't handle much yet.

There's the caves, the river, and the woods. They're all likely to hold things our characters can't handle. Which is the least dangerous? I'm not thrilled about going into a swamp.

I'd rather not trek through the swamp muck either.

Typically, in OSR-type games, the further away from the 'base of operations' (which in this case is the Keep) you go, the more dangerous things are (and more rewarding, if you make it back alive).

There's really no way to know where to go other than if we can get such information from the NPCs (which is what Falco tried to do, but they didn't provide much). Otherwise, we just keep wandering around and hoping for the best.

In terms of difficulty, Falco is about right, with one exception.  The caves themselves scale from 1st to 3rd level challenges, with the lower level cave entrances being easier.  So caves A and B are pretty easy for smart or lucky players.

Seems we're being nudged, lol.  :-)

Not really, but I do need to know where you guys want to go next.

There's no such thing as a balanced encounter in OSR. That's not how its designed to work. As I stated in the IC thread Gyp will try to talk with whatever we meet. Combat is not expected or required. Gyp has a high Charisma and a positive reaction modifier so when meeting things in the caves he plans diplomacy and negotiation first, combat is a last resort.

If we can return to town with treasure Gyp's next plan will be hire as many man-at-arms as he can find. A few man-at-arms makes a lot of difference in surviving adventures and also carrying treasure.

Death of characters is expected, the life of an adventurer is worth little. That's a feature of OSR not a bug.

Also OSR is sandbox, we can do what we want. We don't need to go near the caves at all. However I think it will be a good start.

Lead us, oh mighty Falco!  :-)

Anyone there?  GM?

Hi.

No you don't have a comparable map of the area.  If you look at the contour lines you can see that you are in foothills that are higher elevation than the plateau of the keep.  From the keep you can see south he river, the mashes, the woods and the low hill to the east.  But north, not much.  So you could easily have surveyed the view from the Keep, and be familiar with those bits.  The "2" is something I meant to erase and it marks a potential encounter.  There is nothing from the Keep or the road to indicate something there.

Thanks for the clarification.

Remember, you can spend a turn hunting and for each turn there is a 1 in 6 chance of catching enough food to feed 1d6 people.  It is mid afternoon so you have plenty of light in the day if you want to spend some turns hunting.  As with movement, 1 turn per hour needs to be a rest to avoid fatigue.

Anybody else who wants to roll for hunting/forging, please do so and I will update tomorrow.

Gyp plans to sneak up and scout around the cave.

If possible he forage/hunt on the way back to the camp?

It's possible.  It takes one turn to move each square on the map if you are moving cautiously and aware of your surroundings.  For planning purposes.

How many squares away is the cave from the camp?

About 8 squares.  The cave is at a intersection of squares, from the upper left square going 8 due west (left) is about where you are camping, a square part clear and par forest that is in a straight line north of the spider lair.

Thanks. So realistically Gyp is going to be gone for about 3 hours. Hopefully the others can hunt/forage for plenty of food in that time. So Gyp's focus will be on travelling safely and keeping out of sight. He won't stop for food.

If Gyp is scouting for 3 hours the hunter/foragers can roll for food 18 times each.

Gyp has gone scouting and will be back in 3 hours. I will reply to your post when I know the outcome of Gyp's scouting. I'm not ignoring you.