I decided that three RPG's a week weren't enough so I started a new game every other Monday. It is meant to be zero effort. No prep, no stress, just show up and play B/X if you can make it that night. I'm actually using some megadungeons I've reviewed; a first for me. I scattered Stonehell, Barrowmaze, Darkness Beneath, RA, and a couple of others around. The group ended up going to DB, much to my delight. We've played four times so far. Here's the tale so far. How much can you recognize?
S1E1 - GOLD!
My new Moonday group has met twice now. This is their story.
Algenar - The Elf
Ballbuster - The Dwarf
Jane - The Fighter
Puck - The Halfling
Anabelle - The Cleric
System - Ruffians & Reprobates, Bryce's 9-page LabLord hack. Coming soon to a DMCA takedown in the heartland.
They sat around in the Bar of the Boatman in the city of Krshal, nursing their weak ales and cursing, individually, their ill luck. Then they heard it. They heard it over the den of the farmers. Over the den of the barware. Over the den of bawdy farming songs sung loudly and badly by the drunken fieldhands ... GOLD! It stood out like a flame in the night. And then the conversation was lost. Except ... each of them was instantly aware of four others who also heard THE WORD. They knew, then and there, that they could trust these people with their lives. They they had a bond with them MUCH closer than any that they may have had with their families. These were their people. Kindred Spirits. Murder Hobos.
They noted the farmer that had said the word and one approached. Polite at first and then with more gruff the questioning began. Where! Where was the GOLD?!? The farmer was insulted, he wouldn't speak and got up to leave. That's when the violence started. One MH grabbed him, putting blade to his throat, while two others helped drag him outside. The remaining two drew weapons and threatened the rest of the farmers to keep back! And so they made their way to a dark alley to begin the 'questioning.' The farmer had just made a delivery to the Heffer, the Hurling Heffer, of some onions and he had heard someone mention that a gold wagon had gone missing. A quick punch to the back of the head silenced the farmer and the group of comrades went in search of a sign that on it had ... a fat woman puking.
It wasn't hard to find. Everyone they met seemed to know where they going before they stopped for directions. Soon they found themselves in a nicer part of the lower-class hovel quarter and saw the place they were looking for. It wasn't hard to find: there were people in every doorway and huge bursts of noise coming form one sunken one, with women and men yelling from the upper floors and dogs fighting in the street in front of it with people betting on the outcomes.
The group spread out. Anabelle struck up a conversation with Heironious of Heori, follower of Sir Lorp the Pure One, both knights in shining armor. From him she learned of the field of barrows nearby and The Mausoleum. Ballbuster grabbed drinks and watched a sleeper getting nailed by clients on a table inside. The other patrons seemed to be better in how long the client could last. Jane headed to the bar and ordered 'their worst concoction.' Wagers were placed and money changed hands after he vomited up the bar drippings and piss water. More wagers were struck after he tried again, with the 'new' bar rag drippings. And got sick again. And still more, again and again, until he finally managed to keep down the concoction of stale booze, vomit, piss water, and his own stomach bile. Algenar say an elf in a corner table sitting by himself. Well, except for his pet panther at his side and his two scimitars on the table. He saw him disintegrate someone who bumped his table. People were giving him a WIDE birth. He sat down and struck up a conversation with the strange elf , Galstaff by name, and noticed that his panther was stuffed and his scimitars made of wood. From him he learned of the Prison of the Silken Caliphate, a popular locale to test ones bravery and skills. Puck found a table of halflings. Just as he was approaching a barmaid slammed down a side of venison and the halflings tore in with their hands and teeth in a mighty display of carnage. The barmaid seemed to be extra-viligant about keeping their mugs full of ale... From them he learned of a gold caravan that went missing yesterday in the Bleakmarsh ... and how noone else in the bar was taking it seriously or paying attention to it. The group left at 2am to get to the marsh early ... because people don't EVER come back from the Bleakmarsh at night.
Signs of blood and battle were obvious on the road and they followed the heavy wheel ruts off the road and to a sinkhole a bit away. It wound down and down in a spiral to the bottom, some distance below ground. They lit their lanterns, set their order, and marched down ...
The first chamber at the bottom of the sinkhole ramp expanded FAR to the west so the group hugged the eastern wall, killing a cave possum they saw and taking it with them. The entered a new cavern and found a dried out and desiccated body on the ground, as well as GIANT lizard footprints. There was much trepidation. They continued to the south, and found a large chamber that had been the scene of a recent battle. Blood on the floor, crude spears, giant crab claws, etc. They made their way further south until, hearing sounds of battle from the south they took an western tunnel ... following as much as they could the wagon tracks on the floor of the giant caverns. Puck snuck back and saw a massive battle between beastmen, crabmen, and reptilemen all by the shoroes of a large underground pond. Wanting none of this, he returned. They tracks finally ended, the rock floor being too hard. They turned left, down a sloping passage filled with broken spear shafts that had head of people, beastmen and reptile men mounted on them.
Coming to the end they found themselves in another chamber, this one with two passages east and one south as well as rays of light and dripping water coming from the marsh far above. Continuing their search for the GOLD wagon they found the passage ending in a strange site: a crude home. A large cauldron bubbled, a pile of skins rested near it with a small pile of coins on the floor. Strange and intricate bone decorations were everywhere. And in the middle of it all was an 8' tall gaunt create with a long nose, bristly black hair, long claws, and skin as black as night. It called out to them in several languages as they huddled near the entrance of its home, and switched to common as soon as they said something in it. Eustace smacked his lips and rubbed his cracked & bloody hands and wondered what tasty morsel the group had brought him ... ? He smelled halfling, elf, and dwarf ... One of them perhaps? He crept closer ... and by this time the party could see his eyes clouded over with glaucoma; he was blind. The group gave over the dead possum to Eustace and struck up a conversation with him. Did many people bring him things? "Oh, old Captain Yretch used to, but he hasn't seen him for, oh, a couple of hundred years. There was Archibald the Younger before him and Archibald the Elder after him, good to see the kid made something of himself. Captain Marduck came by last month with a tasty elf ... " All the while Puck was edging closer to get a better look at the small pile of goodies on the floor ... and in the end decided it wasn't worth it. The group excused themselves and backtracked, taking care to watch for the nasty holes in the ground to the west that Eustace had warned them about, near the lairs of the reptilemen.
Their pole'ing of the ground paid off when an ankle-breaker trap was found. Just beyond it they found a crossroads with a chamber to the north full of Reptilemen! They roared and charged in to battle ... except for one who had mutant frog legs who hopped eastward down one of the many hallways that left the guard post chamber. Algenar summoned the mightiest spell in his 'Beginners Introduction to Arcane & Eldritch Powers "Man" Was Not Meant to Know" and cast sleep. The three remaining went down and were quickly beheaded and searched, but had no loot. 'Froggy' soon appeared in the hallway they had just came down, looking to flee further west ... there must have been some looping corridor somewhere ... and was dispatched with a lucky arrow shot!
The group then went south at the crossroads and found a passage that had been blocked up. It sloped down and many large boulders had been piled up to block the passage off. Some had fallen loose ... and Puck crawled through a hole to explore. He made his way carefully down a rubble strewn slope to find a new chamber. There he saw three creatures floating toward him. Large balls, floating, with a great toothy maw, a large central eye and many many eyestalks all ending in a different colored eye. A) He wet himself. B) He went running back up the slope and dover through the hole he came in through, yelling for the group to "Block it off! Block it off!" ... they decided west would be a better choice. There they found a chamber with a great chasm in the middle and a variety of hallways leading off of it. They then began to worry about time. It must be close to 11am and civilization was several hours away ... they did not want to get caught in the Bleakmarsh after dark ... no one ever returns after dark. They backtracked to the sinkhole entrance so as to be closer to the exit ...
(Map link cause I can't figure out how to insert a pic.)
cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1560413.jpg/url]This is the first session of my new Monday game, from a month ago. This last Monday, during the second session, I switched form the party mapping to a map covered in newsprint that they cut off as they explore. You can see a portion of the caverns they explored in the first session. Right under the $199 is the sinkhole entrance room. They did not know how far the chamber went west during the first session. The chamber to the right is where they found the corpse and dinosaur footprints. In the lower right hand off, out of frame, is the room with the pond where Puck saw the battle. The hallway going off the map to the south was the downward sloping one lined with the heads on stakes. Yes, the party had unwittingly stumbled on to level 2 of the dungeon ...
This is a casual group, in which people can come and go as they wish from session to session, no big deal. For my part I've grabbed several megadungeons and spread them out near a large town/small city. The whole idea is for a zero-effort game for the players and the DM. The only commitment is that I'll be at the table on Monday at 6:30 ready to run a game for anyone who shows. I like to contrast, so the town is boring and full of mud farmers and people in poverty with skin diseases, all of whom look down on 'People like them', the Murder Hobos. The part of town they hang out in is lively and exciting in contrast, with people like Sir Heironous, Galstaff, and the halflings.
S1E2 - Of Gunk & Gods
My new Moonday group has met twice now. This is their story.
Algenar - The Elf
Ballbuster - The Dwarf
Jane - The Fighter
Puck - The Halfling
Anabelle - The Cleric
System - Ruffians & Reprobates, Bryce's 9-page LabLord hack. Coming soon to a DMCA takedown in the heartland.
The party was in some caverns they reached via a sinkhole on the edge of the Bleakmarsh. They had explored deep in to the caves and then returned to near the sinkhole entrance so they could ensure they got back to town before nightfall. No one returns from the Bleakmarsh after sundown ... Puck decided to wander off home and the rest of the group went south again to investigate the pond he had found. They paused again to investigate the cavern room with the blood and body parts before journeying south to the pond room. They a scene of might battle with dead reptilemen and beastmen and crabmen. As they started to enter the room a group of four reptilemen charged at them from different branching hallways! This was the groups first taste of true hand-to-hand combat! Jane and Ballbuster corked the hallway, side by side in their plate armor and shields, while Algenar shot arrows from behind. The two on Balbuster were mighty warrios and their crude stone implements struck true several times. Anabelle took care of the problem though a new found faith in her generic god by calling on him/her/it to do some generic healing. [Ed: Rule change. She made a BASIC character with 0 spells for clerics at L1. R&R doesn't do that nuts.] The two on Jane seemed to new to the 'combat' thing. After several rounds Anabelle dropped her weapons and went sliding under Janes legs to get in to the mix, only to have the last creature fall on her as jane dispatched it. Ballbuster looted the bobdies while Jane gutted them looking for hidden loot. Algenar tried to salvage some of the 1,000 missed arrows he had shot while Anabelle investigated the bodies of the crabmen. Were these humans wearing crab parts, mutants, surgical constructs? Since the exoshells and giant crab claws that replaced their right hands looked natural they decided they were mutants. They also found several necklaces on the reptilemen made of crude chunks of silver ore. Yeah! Loot!
They then investigated a downward sloping hallway a little to the north that ran east. Only to find themselves confronted by a naked beastman wielding a stone war club charging up the tunnel at them, followed by two crabmen! They were surprised and at the mercy of the strange humanoids! One of the crabmen got too close to the beastmans flapping junk though, causing to him to go down in a heap in the corridor, with the offender pausing as if to say 'My bad dude!' The other crabman charged in ... to Anabelles set 10 pole! He impaled himself upon it ... only to being crawling up the pole to reach Anabelle with his giant right crab arm! Eek! The party quickly dispatched he two crabmen, aiming for their soft underbellies and commenting on the lack of effectiveness for a bipedal creature with a hard REAR shell. Meanwhile Jane had the engaged the beastman who had by this gotten to his feet again. Jane gutted him, his intestines spilling to the ground. But the beastman was not done! He grabbed a pile of his own intestines and strung them around Janes neck, using them as a garrote to strangle Jane! Unfortunately, for the beastman anyway, the group then quickly dispatched him before he could complete his maneuver. They had no loot. The party was injured. Spells were depleted. Night was coming. They decided to return to Kryshal. Ballbuster went back on her own.
They wanted to go back to the inn, heal up, get some supplies ... what they got were gate guards. Lazing beside the gate were two, ignoring everything and everyone that went in and out of the gates. Until the group approached. One got up and stood in their path, while the other looked on bored. "Well lookey here what we got! Some vagrants!" It was true; bloodies, covered in filth and dust ... it was obvious they were Murder Hobos. "Well Carl, what do you think ..." at which point Algenar shoved a hunk of silver ore in the mans face and walked right in. The guard was stunned. The other guard got up and started looking at the ore also. "Yeah yeah, go in" said the first guard, distracted by the silver. In they went.
First stop: assay office. They found a stall and quickly washed off the blood & viscera from the amulets, cut the "leather" thong from it, and founded it in to a more natural' shape. They elected Anabelle their spokesman, since she only had a -1 to her CHR, and went in. She spoke up, with the other three grinning fools standing behind her. The assay guy had clearly seen this thing before and valued the hunks at about 40gp each before pointing them to a silversmith down the street. He gave them 50gp each for the 9 remaining amulets, since he needed silver right then. They all went over to Fast Edy the Usurer to get the cash while the party cuts the other things off the ore. ("How much for this silver candlestick?! Only a little brain matter on it!") The group split.
Algenar and Jane hung out at the Heffer. Drinking & gambling was in store for Jane, while Algenar hung out with Galstaff, hope to learn a new trick. In the course of a few days Algenar picked up a new spell for his book from his 'buddy' Galstaff while Jane lost money and they both got a better sense of the Heffer. There was clearly a table of down-on-their-luck guys who who hire out for service for a little cash. They looked like a sorry lot, nursing their watered-down ales. They also figured out that most of the folks in the inn didn't actually have a lot of cash. Most were pretty tight-fisted because they were down to their last few coppers. They thought that the Prison of the Silken Caliphate was a well-traveled locale ... turns out it isn't. A decent number of groups go, and a decent number of groups return, but there are A LOT fewer groups going then they originally thought. They didn't let slip that they got their cash in the Bleakmarsh, instead claiming to have gone to the Prison. Glastaff let on that the Mausoleum was a TERRIBLE place and the Well of Souls a death sentence, but wouldn't say more, his face blanching. They tried to buy some healing potions in the Heffer, but the guy was out for being a sham right before Jane & Algenar were about to test he potions on the guy selling them ... Jane went off to the Temple of Tarvin for potions, following a tip, but advised against it since "Tarvin's an not a very nice person." It wasn't too hard to find: in a nicer part of town surrounded by slightly better buildings than hovels, there was a small hill and sitting on it a great white gleaming greek temple with broad steep, wide stairs running up to it and the glowing words "HOOKERS & BLOW" in giant letters above the entrance. Jane felt very conspicuous as he trod up the stairs, under the sign, being watched by everyone on the street, he being the only one of the stairs. He was met at the top by a priest in white robes tied with a gold sash. The inside was towering & magnificent, with the ceiling being support by huge columns that were seemingly made out of diamond. Not inlaid but rather solid diamond! He asked the priest for healing potions and was told they were 45 gp each. Jane tried to bargain the priest down to 40 when "FIFTY FIVE GP!" a loud voice rang out. It seems Tarvin was a more hands-on deity than usual ... being out of the price range for Jane he returned to the Heffer and filled in Anabelle, who had returned.
Anabelle, you see, had gone to the Temple of Sir Lorp the Pure One when the party split. She had made a "request free" donation, which seemed to surprise and excite the young priest. She wanted to intern with him to learn more healing. He readily agreed and pointed out that tomorrow was Free Clinic day and he could sure sure use the help! She spied a man in a pile of hay in the corner moaning and the priest responded that some locals brought him in yesterday on a donkey cart. He had been part of a group that went to the Well of Souls, but was floating in and out of consciousness. Anabelle tried to help him, and found a completely withered and blackened right arm and a chunk missing out his left side, the surrounding tissue black and as hard as rock ... because it was. She questioned the man but all he did was wake up momentarily, grab her collar and scream "THE WELL! THE WELL!" before passing out. The prognosis was not good. Going back to the Heffer she learned from Jane of the Temple of Tarvin and set off with the cash to get a better deal. Tarvin was having none of it, insisting on 50gp as soon as she walked in. She asked a lot of questions about Tarvin of the priest, which mostly just exasperated the poor man,who seemed reluctant to do anything. When asked about literature a 1 page pamphlet was produced htat consisted of the face of 14 year old boy beaming out. When asking for something more extensive she was shown the Holy Word: a 237 volume set, each book the size of an unabridged dictionary. She asked to buy book one and was met with a "Seriously lady?" It seemed she wanted to join Tarvins priesthood ... at which point the priest offered her a discount on those healing potions she wanted.
After 3 days of Cure Lights boosting their 1hp/day healing they headed back out at 2am to the Bleakmarsh ... but not before letting it slip that they were returning to the Prison of the Silken. Sir Heironomuos of Heironi was heading there also, so they him get an hours start. After which they noticed a wagon following them at a distance ... they doubled back and lost the wagon that was seemingly tailing them and headed to the Bleakmarsh, and down the sinkhole. This tim they ventured to the west and found the cavern turned in to a broad, high hallway covered in stone tiles & blocks and that was filled with mists. They started west and went, and went and went. Finally they found a small pool of water on the north wall, bubbling and such, that the mist in the hallway seemed to be coming from. Alganar tasted the water and reported it tasted like sulfur. Anabelle began to probe the pool with her 10' pole, or tried to anyway ... she couldn't find the bottom. She got down closer to put more of the pole in ... only to have a giant chunk of mold fly out of the water and attach to her face! Eeek! Jane tried to hit it with his Bastard Sword, and thankfully missed. As a burning sensation started to waft up her nostrils she got her hands under it and flung it in to the pool, at which time the pool smoked and boiled more, and the creature seemed to dissolve. Close call! Jane showed his contempt by taking a leak in to the pool. CAUSING ANOTHER CREATURE TO LEAP OUT AND ATTACH TO HIS EXPOSED GROIN! The acid catheter almost killed Jane, but fortunately Algenar was there with a torch, shoving it up against Janes groin and causing the create to die. And Jane to have a horribly scared groin. Anabelle did her best to heal him up and they continued down the mist-filled hallway. After seemingly forever they found two GIANT BRONZE DOORS closed and with no handle to open them. They were filled with carvings/designs of a fairy-tale like place. Lots of castles, fields, towers, etc. A some bridges. A WHOLE lot of bridges. Who ever did the design had a serious bridge fetish; they were everywhere. The doors would not open. There were small alcoves to the right and left with a door in each so they turned right, opened the door, and went down a hallway to a room.
In it they saw a strange sight. Two gaunt people, naked, with patchy hair, were reaching in to their own butts to pull out nuts to write graffiti on the walls. Uh ... And now they were leaping across the room at the group! jane was yelling "Undead! Undead! Turn them!" which Anabelle attempted. Crit. A holy beam of light, with halos, came down the ceiling and struck one of the creatures head on, causing it to flee. Where the light hit the floor was a small and delicate aperitif glass filled with purple Alize. Agenar and Jane got the drop on the second creature, both hitting and killing it. They decided they had had enough (and it was 10:30pm) and to return to town again.
Algenar got 100xp for Not Being a girl thingy and tasting the water.
The new mapping technique (see session report 1) works well for keeping things going. It also helps keep people on level 1 since they are not putting together that a downward sloping hallway with warnings/enemies means "new level coming" when the hallway leaves the map.
R&R is working out great. Still deciding if I want to OGL it or edit things enough to just release it without LabLord and OGL license info. The ghouls were wanding monsters who my second roll indicated were engaged in 'Art.'
Tarvin is an old idea of mine from the 90's. Some adventurers become gods. Adventurers are pretty much not a very nice persons. What about an adventurer who became a god recently and is a pretty hands-on guy?
The casual thing is turning out great. I don't usually run modules, and I'm kind of doing that this time (bonus points if you can point out some of the products I'm smashed up.) It's helping with the whole "show up, sit down and play" thing that BASIC is about. 5 minutes to make a character and we're playing. 0 prep time for the players and almost 0 for the DM=Playing more D&D.
S1E3 - Luck Runs Out
The Moondays - v1.0
Puck The Halfling - R.I.P.
Ballbuster the Dwarf - R.I.P.
Algenar the Elf - R.I.P.
Annabelle, Cleric of Tarvin - Ran away
Jane the Fighter - Alive because he stayed at the inn
The Moondays - v2.0
Gawain the Thief - R.I.P (lived less than 5 minutes)
Solara the Elf
Lizzy the Fighter
+ Annabelle, +Jane (inn)
The Moondays - v3.0
Oaf Stonebeard the Dwarf
+Solara, +Lizzy, +Annabelle, +Jane (inn)
The Moondays had been very lucky up until this point. During their first session they explored every hallway known to man, narrowly missing almost all encounters ... except for the ones they saw coming and avoided. Quick thinking let them avoid combat with Eustice the Black Troll and they retreated hastily when seeing beholders.
The second expedition saw them getting lucky with a Sleep spell and using fire to kill something strange and weird they found. They also found the might of the god Tarvin truly terrified a couple of undead, and everyone struck true , easily killing a remaining Gaunt One before it could bring its powers to bear on them.
More than once the party had members who were down to their last hit point. The third expedition found their luck holding for a bit until they pressed on to a point it failed utterly. Twice.
The Moondays were regrouping at the bottom of the sinkhole when Puck the Halfling and Ballbuster the Dwarf showed back up, complaining that the group left the inn while they were in the john. The party set forth down the great wester mist-filled hallway. Reaching the great bronze doors, they spent some time examining them in detail. They could find no lock and no handle and the doors, 50 feet high, would not budge. The spent some more time examine the fairy-tale inlays on the door and wondered aloud at all of the bridges that seemed to exist on in this design. Finally, just after Annabelle knocked on the 27 times (the number of bridge scenes on the doors) the wide door, made of brass, to the south opened up and and three kids came out. They were armed with sticks and two wore pots as helmets. They were here because Marcus, the butchers son, said they were wimps and they were proving him wrong. The party offered the kids one gold crown each to join their group, and the kids readily agreed. They explained that there was an iron jail gate down the way they came, so the party went that way.
They found a hallway that ended in a portcullis blocking off access to a room beyond, the wall of which were all carved with designs. Puck, in an amazing showing of his 8 strength, lifted the portcullis above his head, while Ballbuster and Anabelle helped. They wedged a pole under it and spiked it up, entering the room to explore. The wall designs showed humanoids that looked like the snake people they saw earlier (who were slaughtered by the reptile men) ... except these had vaguely elvish features. They were frolicking in jungle settings with dinosaurs; petting them, riding the, paining them, etc. They also found a lever which raised the portcullis. Puck was listening at a door in the room when he heard orc voices ... and hey were getting closer! Aieee! Anabelle and Ballbuster took up positions beside the door while Puck and Algernon stood in the center of the room. The kids started crying ... which the orcs seemed to hear. Algernon quikly gave gold crowns to the kids and told them to run back home, which they readily did. The door slowly opened ... and then was shoved open mightily. A massive orc stood there, with a group of his buddies huddled around behind some walls 10 feet away. Algernon said 'Shouldnt have done that' and shot an arrow at him, killing him. The other orcs gave a massive war cry and flooded in to the room .. spoiling the corking action of Ballbuster and Annabelle. Algenar let fly with a Sleep spell and got all but three of the orcs. One of them put the smack down on Puck. Puck had broken off his dagger in it and the orc hugged him to death ... while at the same time Ballbuster had another orcs sword running THROUGH her. The orcs were dispatched and the group found the orcs had come from a caved-in room.
They went down a side-passage to the south and, just as Annabelle was asking if anyone was checking for traps, she fell in a pit in an intersection. A pit everyone else had passed over. They pulled her out and went in to a room to find three statues of High Snake People in alcoves, with a central dais with a pool of water in it, with a stone crocodile statue in it. Ballbuster poked it and the croc statue opened its mouth. He put his pole in its mouth and the mouth clamped down, snapping off the last foot of the pole! Ballbuster felt bad about life. He id the whole croc/pole thing again and felt overcome by enui. Meanwhile Push found that one of the staues pivoted and opened a secret door. On the other side was a STEEPLY descending passage, about a 25% grade, that twisted in to the darkness. There were bootprints in the dirt. They tied Puck to a rope and sent him down, but the rope came to an end before he saw anything. They pulled him up and Algenar took everyone back to the carvings room to see what the Elf/Snake/Reptile people ate. He saw a scene of them feeding gems to a crocodile! At the same time Annabelle found a handle on the wall and pulled it, opening a stone drawer. Inside were six emeralds and a section of black silk that contained a long thin silver stiletto covered with black runes, and with no crossbar. Ballbuster grabbed most of the loot, but Algenar took one gem and hustled back to the croc statue. The statue opened its mouth and the croc tail wagged faster and faster as Algenar got closer. He tossed the gem in to its mouth and the mouth clamped shut with a *SNAP.* Algenar felt pretty badass in that moment, like he was the king of the world!
They continued down a different hallway in the intersection, only to find a door that didn't seem to open and fronted on to a black wall. Going the last direction in the intersection they wet through a room with more carvings, but in this one the people seemed more reptilian and were clearly using magic. They found a stairway that ended in a blank wall, a search of which found a secret door. Going through they found another room with carvings, showing the humanoids even more reptilian and using even more magic. The next rooms had more of the same and a LARGE fist-sized orange gem in the middle of the room. While the rest of the group looked for doors, Puck stared in to it and saw flames inside. Not hokey 70's sci-fi movie flames but ACTUAL FLAMES. He stole it, claimed it disappeared, when in the next room to look at it more, and then said it came back in to existence. Algenar wanted to feed it to the croc. Instead they went in to the last room in the chain, finding super reptilian humanoids casting spells that make stars go supernova.
While searching in the 'mirror position' for a secret door, Anabelle saw a green gas coming from a secret doors crack. She ran out yelling GAS! but Ballbuster investigated, falling asleep. Algenar pulled her out and then opened the door, causing the gas to spill out in to the room. Algenar made a couple of "breath holding" forays down the corridor and found a gas clear corridor within running distance. They group made a run for it . They turned the corner and went down some stairs. And then the DOOM OF MAN caught up with them.
Ballbuster, leading, came in to a room. There was a huge pile of loot in the middle of the room. Coins, packs, bags, weapons, etc. The group was feeling pain of "$$=XP" combined with not finding much ca$h. There was also a grey circle and a pink circle in the room, each just a couple of feet across. And in the room was an emerald-green naked androgynous creature with bright blue eyes and flames dancing in the palm of each hand. Ballbuster retreated hastily while the party asked what he saw. Then the creature came in to view. The Moons got init. Ballbuster ran in and hit it with hammer. Puck ran in to the room. Algenar missed with an arrow. Annabelle called out 'we come in peace!' from the stairs, which, in retrospect, may not have jived with the 7 point hit Ballbuster delivered. The creature shot flames at Ballbuster, cooking her and killing her. Algenar ran to the pink circle and stood in it. And got immolated the next turn by the creature. Puck offered the creature the orange gem. It waited. Puck tried to take some loot from the pile. And got immolated for his efforts. Annabelle ran away and made her way to town. 3 party members dead. Ballbuster had the emeralds and dagger, so no loot was gained.
Back in town Anabelle did some volunteer work at the 'poor temple; but was getting the stink eye from the priest there. He was upset she went to see Tarvin. Anabelle responded with the idea that the priest sell healing potions so people don't have to go to Tarvins temple. The priest was having none of it. Anabelle grabbed a new group and headed back to the Bleakmarsh.
This time Gawain the thief, Lizzy the Fighter, and Solara the Elf were in tow. They headed left this time, avoiding the misty hallway. They found a couple of corpses, not dead more than a few days. One was completely shredded. They heard signs of a battle up ahead and creeped up to find sub-humans with a mutant crab-man battling some of the Reptile men. Solara blew her Sleep spell, only snagging two of the Reptile-men. This allowed the sub-humans and crab guy to win the battle, although only the crab-man and two sub-humans were left. The party charged in to clean up. Gawain ran up and missed a human, only to be brained by war club. His fragile 4HP skull and AC5 was no match for the sub-human. The party ended up killing the three survivors, but found no loot. They turned around the corner and found a cave with a large 8 foot tall brute of a man in a loincloth cooking a stew. They greeted him warmly. He pulled out a large metal spoon from the pot and grinned at them, showing his pointed teeth as he approached them. Annabelle said 'I dont want ANY part of this.' and fled back through the battle scene, leading the creature through it to distract him, while the party followed her. Her clever plan worked and the creature drug some of the bodies back to his cave. The group went back to the sinkhole entrance and saw a dwarf, Oaf Stonebeard, fleeing down the ramp with 3 reptile-men in hot pursuit. The party dispatched them in one round and headed back to town.
S1E4 - More fun than a bag full of possums!
Annabelle the Cleric of Tarvin
Solara the Elf
Trixie the Fighter
Jane the Fighter
Oaf Stonebeard the Dwarf
Back at the Hurling Heffer the group was huddled around their table discussing what to do next. Annabelle was hot to trot to hire some criminals and go after the green man and all of that PhAt L00T he had ... including the stuff he had takes from her dead comrades. The rest of the group seemed more inclined to go after the hulking brute of a man who was cooking dead bodies over a nice stew pot. Their discussions were interrupted by the doors of the bar flying open and three guys came in carrying a body that they threw on a bar table. It was Sir Heironious! He was gravely injured, covered in many shallow cuts, horribly burned in places, and breathing very badly and shallowly. Three others limped in as well, with one body not moving in the back of a donkey cart outside. Every in the bar was gathered around and talking excitedly as Annabelle stepped up and cured him. They slowly got a story out of him, his comrades, and Galstaff. They were on their way to the Prison of the Silken Caliphate when they were jumped by goblins, who are known to hang out around the prison. They had bags shoved over their heads and were beaten in to unconsciousness, never seeing their attackers. Sir Heironious was badly tortured by the goblins, having his nails pulled out, being burned with torches, and suffering many shallow cuts. One of his group was killed. Everyone was robbed. Eventually Galstaff, also on his was to the prison, heard some screaming and investigated, seeing some goblins. He disintegrated one while the rest ran off to the woods and shot sling stones. It was a brutal attack but Galstaff managed to get everyone out of the clearing and back to a farm where the got a donkey cart and some help to bring everyone back to town. The bar was abuzz! Solara thought it was kind of brutal and unusual for goblins to engage in such activity, especially only eight goblins at that. Heironious was a big deal with his plate armor and two-handed sword and they were geared up for a dive at the prison. Someone nearby agreed it was weird, and noted the increase in attacks like this in the area before everyone was distracted and talking again. The Moondays briefly considered going to take on the goblins but decided that Heironous was at least second level and if he got taken then here was no way they could stand up to the goblins. They went back, planning on hitting the brutish man.
They went down the sinkhole only to get immediately distracted by a passage to the north. They had walk by it every time they entered and exited, but it was just on the edge of their light in the darkness of the great cavern so they had not noticed it before. Solara scouted down it to find a natural fountain spurting black brackish water in to a pool that had possums around it, drinking. While the rest of the group guarded and kept watch Anabelle and Jane ran around grabbing possums and stuffing them in sacks. Then three kids walked out of a hallway to the west! It was the same three kids they had seen earlier. Since they had done so well, earning three gold pieces, they had decided to come back and seek their fortunes. Questioned, they reported a room with a giant flaming ball of death to the west. Annabelle, in particular, was unsatisfied with the answer and ending up backhanding the lead kid HARD. He collapsed crying "Don't hit me daddy! Don't hit be again daddy! I'll be good! I'll be good!" while one ran away down the hallway and another ran and hid behind a rock, all terrified and crying. The group went west and down a side hallway where the saw some light. Rolling around on the ceiling was a three foot diameter flaming ball that occasionally shot out flames to random spots on the walls, ceilings, and floors. They decided it would be best to avoid this dead-end room and went back to out the hulking brute.
They approached his cavern and heard him humming and singing to himself. Anabelle ran in and emptied the sacks of possums on to the floor and ran out again The brute was excitedly yelling 'POSSUM! POSSUM! POSSUM!' as he ran around collecting them. Meanwhile Solara starting shooting him with arrows as the rest of the moons ran in to the room. Jane stabbed him in the mouth, the other end of his sword coming out the back of his head while Solara stuck an arrow right in his eye socket. [2 crits in a row!] The group was victosious! Searching, Solara found many many many wall niches, a lot of which had a coin or two in them. Anabelle found a potion bottle and Oaf found a golden necklace made of miniature skulls. Actually, miniature skulls covered n gold and then strung on a necklace. Annabelle's potions was golden and smelled of walnuts and ginger. Solara found about 1000 coins! XP! Being full up on resources, they decided to press their luck.
They went back to the flaming sphere room and, continuing west they came to a crossroads in the natural tunnel. They headed north in to a room full of rags and shredded cloth. Anabelle and Jane recognized some it as the clothing worn by their dead friends tat the green man killed ... some with bits of charred flesh still attached. Searching, Trixie found a stone tablet full of arcane writing and a picture of tentacles caressing a human female form. It made her feel queasy, as did Solara when she looked at it. About this time Oaf felt the floor to the NE was very weak and the party decided to chisel through it with a hammer and spikes. They made a hole in to a room below and saw a set of full plate, glowing golden laid out in the middle of an empty room. Empty except for the glowing blue longsword next to it. And the pile of large hairy bodies and goblin bodies by he only entrance to the room, on the north. Many were missing limbs. They tied a rope to Trixie and lowered her. She cautiously approached and eventually picked up the longsword. A sword that made her feel good all over ... but strangely she couldn't let go of. Right about then the guard party saw a dwarf and elf coming the hallway. The dwarf was full of bluster, claiming this was their dungeon and that they were looking for a missing silver shipment, and so on. The Moons drove them off while hauling Trixie out of the room below along with the glowing blue gothic armor, which Jane put on.
They went back near the entrance and took another hallway. Jane's new armor started shouting HERE I AM! HERE I AM! while Solara saw an elf skeleton with something in its hand down a side passage a group of halfling merchants in a room to the east, huddling and calling out for help. Jane & Trixie went up the sinkhole so the armor would stop yelling, while the rest of the group went to talk to the merchants. They were dressed in finery and were stuck and lost down here after their caravan was raided. They thought the exit was to the west and would the group kindly escort them? Annabelle noticed that their clothes were actually kind of ratty, and some of the group of five were fingering knives. She yelled out a warning and Solara cast SLEEP. Three went down, with the other two quickly falling to the Moons! Throats were cut. They searched them but only found tiny keys in their belt pouches. The went west, where the merchants wanted them to go. Inside a large cavern they found a ratty rug laid out in front of a giant comfy chair, surrounded by lockbox creates labeled GOLD. On it sat a small man with a black beard, smoking a pipe, dressed in a green waistcoat and a green top hat. "You'll be after O'Shanasea's Gold then, will ya?" He disappeared. The Moons searched frantically for him! There was cackling as Oaf's axe turned in to a red herring! And then his armor turned in to a suite of point medallions! Meanwhile Anabelle drank her potion and turned in to a possum, a fly, and then some potato salad. FInally she willed herself in to a werewolf about the time the Leprechaun went down to some blind blows from the rest of the group. The room to the south had eight small cots, a fire pit, and footlockers, opened by the tiny keys. They were full of silver and once fine clothing. Jane searched the fire pit and found a trunk buried under it full of gold and silver bars, a glowing sword, and two potion bottles. Oaf took the glowing white sword and felt it talk to him about destroying the bourgeoisie! Power to the proletariat! These big words went right over Oafs head, and his 5 int. They group returned to the skeleton to collect a ruby from the dead elfs hand, and went back back to down for bookkeeping ... Annabelle was VERY close to second level! At Last!
