Post by diogenes on Apr 20, 2023 7:58:54 GMT -6
Here is the "Player's Review" of the sixth Viper Archipelago game. The first after-action report was written by L, the second is written by G. Both are presented here, un-edited.
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L's Report:
This session we had one new player in the party, which consisted of a Magic-User (me), a Priest-Warrior and a Fighting-(wo)Man. We went back into the temple dungeon with the cult with the silver daggers because I wanted to get back my magic items off the body of my last character (yes, metagaming.) He had a wand on in that gave people super strength (ogre strength?), so I believe that's really powerful. Last session he got turned into a zombie so I expected to have to fight him.
When we got to the familiar cliff below the temple, we found a dozen of corpses mangled at the foot of the cliff. When we went up the stairs, there was a large group of pirates standing around the entrance of the dungeon. We were like, wtf, and I started talking to one of them. Apparently they were the one who killed those people at the cliff, and that those people were actually the cultists. Cool how the world can change while you're not playing! They told us that they were keeping watch for some dude who was exploring the dungeon, and they wouldn't let us in. That sucked, and I was about to give up on the plan, but my teammates said that there must be another entrance, and that made sense.
We found a different entrance in the jungle and went inside. We were greeted by the same type of robots that slaughtered Jeff Jefferson, but they were slow and we just zapped by them into a different passage. The first room we burst into was a total indoor garden. We blocked up the door with a giant plant pot and hid in the bushes. Then suddenly some of the plants started moving and they attacked us. I was literally hiding in between plants that were actually monsters. We fought them and killed them. They had poison on their tentacles which we decided to coat our weapons with.
Then, a metal centipede came into the room and started dragging the plant monsters out. We decided to follow it and there was a large room with statues. We really didn't want to disturb those statues and went past them. We continued mapping (I used owlbear for this, for the first time, and it was fun to do) and the passage seemed to go into another room, without any stairs or something. This confused us a lot, and we thought our map was wrong, but no, the referee said it was all good. So this must be some sort of magic.
Before we could investigate that further, we had to leave the dungeon because the session was getting to an end. We safely made it out. Again no treasure this session, just like last. A bit disappointing but it was a exciting session with a good combat and next time we'll be more prepared for the kind of monsters that we will find.
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G's Report:
Following the reports of ground shifted after a landslide, our path lead us southward along the shore. Leaving the cave entrance on the beach by the way, an ominous sight to behold: A pile of corpses, all naked, all pale, all vaguely sylvan in appearance, and mutilated as if they had been tortured to death, discarded from a cliff side. A set of stairs carved into the rock led us upwards to the temple ruin my new companions had previously been exploring. Only, some old acquaintances had beaten us to the place; they were pirates from the encampment. Though they turned out to be the force behind the pile of corpses, no hostilities were exchanged; nonetheless, they wouldn't let us enter the tunnels below. One of them was in possession of an odd trinket, which he used to light his pipe, but lacking direct flame, it was as if with invisible fire! We took it as evidence that more loot was to be had here.
Not to be discouraged, we reasoned that judging by the expansive size of the underground facility, surely there must be another entrance! And indeed, we found an escape hatch to the below, stuck that it was, and through great effort, we managed to remove the stone seal covering it. As for why i am calling it an escape hatch, in the stone wall of this 5 foot wide shaft was embedded rungs, forming a ladder. I couldn't possibly make speculation as to what strange methods of construction the ancients responsible were privy to, but it made for a convenient way in. I take this as a sign that they might not have been so different from us.
It was a surprisingly long climb down, roughly a hundred feet. At the bottom, the air had a peculiar taste to it. Maybe those iron guardians had something to do with it, with their lances imbued with the power of storms. Have you ever encountered an unstoppable force? These steel humanoids might be such. They marched slowly, like clockwork, but not much faster than a clock either, to our great fortune. Wisely, we avoided direct confrontation, and made our way through the tunnels, past a beautifully ornamented door, which opened up into a dreamlike scene: A garden, nay, a veritable indoors jungle! Filled with colourful plantlife, albeit in terribly neglected condition. It had been dark before, with nothing but the singular torchlight to guide our way; but this hall, it was lit bright, as if there was no rock above us to block out the sun. Since it was late in the day, i suspect the light illuminating that hall is artificial in nature.
Wary of the pursuing machine men, we blocked the doorway, and, ere the dreadfuly contraptions would break through, we hid amongst the bushes. But alas, it was a trap! These were no ordinary bushes, they were gruesome plant monstrosities, and they lashed out against us with their poisonous tendrils. We were blessed with the protection of all Saints, for we managed to dispatch these hideous, goop-filled things, suffering nary a scratch.
But if one thing is to be learned from the occasion, it is that these old ruins always have another surprise in store, as just when the dust was settling, another metallic beast emerged from a far corner, this one shaped like a worm or serpent. In that moment, I prayed to the Saints that this worm of steel would take no interest in my companions and I, and again my plea was heard, for the worm merely removed the hacked-up plant creatures, one by one, like a chamber manservant, not to be seen after. Left without options, we followed the trail, finding the exit from whence the worm thing had emerged.
We eventually made way into a great hall, this one even grander than the one we had passed through previously, yet no lights were shining here. In the hall's centre, a great pedestal was cornered by two large amber statues, their appearance fashioned after sphinges. Weary of the potential of more animated statues, we made wide bearth around the pedestal, and passed to further hallways.
It was at this time, as we were at the edge of our nerve, that we discovered a contradiction: Tunnels, intersecting with one another, yet no clue as to why, or how. For a moment, we thought we might be losing our marbles. Thus, we took the opportunity, presented by a convenient way past the aforementioned guardians--who in the meantime had returned to their posts--back to the escape shaft. From there, we made our way back to home base, disheveled and with nothing to show for our efforts. Nonetheless, plans are in motion, and we will be much better prepared when we next return.
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L's Report:
This session we had one new player in the party, which consisted of a Magic-User (me), a Priest-Warrior and a Fighting-(wo)Man. We went back into the temple dungeon with the cult with the silver daggers because I wanted to get back my magic items off the body of my last character (yes, metagaming.) He had a wand on in that gave people super strength (ogre strength?), so I believe that's really powerful. Last session he got turned into a zombie so I expected to have to fight him.
When we got to the familiar cliff below the temple, we found a dozen of corpses mangled at the foot of the cliff. When we went up the stairs, there was a large group of pirates standing around the entrance of the dungeon. We were like, wtf, and I started talking to one of them. Apparently they were the one who killed those people at the cliff, and that those people were actually the cultists. Cool how the world can change while you're not playing! They told us that they were keeping watch for some dude who was exploring the dungeon, and they wouldn't let us in. That sucked, and I was about to give up on the plan, but my teammates said that there must be another entrance, and that made sense.
We found a different entrance in the jungle and went inside. We were greeted by the same type of robots that slaughtered Jeff Jefferson, but they were slow and we just zapped by them into a different passage. The first room we burst into was a total indoor garden. We blocked up the door with a giant plant pot and hid in the bushes. Then suddenly some of the plants started moving and they attacked us. I was literally hiding in between plants that were actually monsters. We fought them and killed them. They had poison on their tentacles which we decided to coat our weapons with.
Then, a metal centipede came into the room and started dragging the plant monsters out. We decided to follow it and there was a large room with statues. We really didn't want to disturb those statues and went past them. We continued mapping (I used owlbear for this, for the first time, and it was fun to do) and the passage seemed to go into another room, without any stairs or something. This confused us a lot, and we thought our map was wrong, but no, the referee said it was all good. So this must be some sort of magic.
Before we could investigate that further, we had to leave the dungeon because the session was getting to an end. We safely made it out. Again no treasure this session, just like last. A bit disappointing but it was a exciting session with a good combat and next time we'll be more prepared for the kind of monsters that we will find.
-
G's Report:
Following the reports of ground shifted after a landslide, our path lead us southward along the shore. Leaving the cave entrance on the beach by the way, an ominous sight to behold: A pile of corpses, all naked, all pale, all vaguely sylvan in appearance, and mutilated as if they had been tortured to death, discarded from a cliff side. A set of stairs carved into the rock led us upwards to the temple ruin my new companions had previously been exploring. Only, some old acquaintances had beaten us to the place; they were pirates from the encampment. Though they turned out to be the force behind the pile of corpses, no hostilities were exchanged; nonetheless, they wouldn't let us enter the tunnels below. One of them was in possession of an odd trinket, which he used to light his pipe, but lacking direct flame, it was as if with invisible fire! We took it as evidence that more loot was to be had here.
Not to be discouraged, we reasoned that judging by the expansive size of the underground facility, surely there must be another entrance! And indeed, we found an escape hatch to the below, stuck that it was, and through great effort, we managed to remove the stone seal covering it. As for why i am calling it an escape hatch, in the stone wall of this 5 foot wide shaft was embedded rungs, forming a ladder. I couldn't possibly make speculation as to what strange methods of construction the ancients responsible were privy to, but it made for a convenient way in. I take this as a sign that they might not have been so different from us.
It was a surprisingly long climb down, roughly a hundred feet. At the bottom, the air had a peculiar taste to it. Maybe those iron guardians had something to do with it, with their lances imbued with the power of storms. Have you ever encountered an unstoppable force? These steel humanoids might be such. They marched slowly, like clockwork, but not much faster than a clock either, to our great fortune. Wisely, we avoided direct confrontation, and made our way through the tunnels, past a beautifully ornamented door, which opened up into a dreamlike scene: A garden, nay, a veritable indoors jungle! Filled with colourful plantlife, albeit in terribly neglected condition. It had been dark before, with nothing but the singular torchlight to guide our way; but this hall, it was lit bright, as if there was no rock above us to block out the sun. Since it was late in the day, i suspect the light illuminating that hall is artificial in nature.
Wary of the pursuing machine men, we blocked the doorway, and, ere the dreadfuly contraptions would break through, we hid amongst the bushes. But alas, it was a trap! These were no ordinary bushes, they were gruesome plant monstrosities, and they lashed out against us with their poisonous tendrils. We were blessed with the protection of all Saints, for we managed to dispatch these hideous, goop-filled things, suffering nary a scratch.
But if one thing is to be learned from the occasion, it is that these old ruins always have another surprise in store, as just when the dust was settling, another metallic beast emerged from a far corner, this one shaped like a worm or serpent. In that moment, I prayed to the Saints that this worm of steel would take no interest in my companions and I, and again my plea was heard, for the worm merely removed the hacked-up plant creatures, one by one, like a chamber manservant, not to be seen after. Left without options, we followed the trail, finding the exit from whence the worm thing had emerged.
We eventually made way into a great hall, this one even grander than the one we had passed through previously, yet no lights were shining here. In the hall's centre, a great pedestal was cornered by two large amber statues, their appearance fashioned after sphinges. Weary of the potential of more animated statues, we made wide bearth around the pedestal, and passed to further hallways.
It was at this time, as we were at the edge of our nerve, that we discovered a contradiction: Tunnels, intersecting with one another, yet no clue as to why, or how. For a moment, we thought we might be losing our marbles. Thus, we took the opportunity, presented by a convenient way past the aforementioned guardians--who in the meantime had returned to their posts--back to the escape shaft. From there, we made our way back to home base, disheveled and with nothing to show for our efforts. Nonetheless, plans are in motion, and we will be much better prepared when we next return.