Death-Stench Effluvium (Session 341)

SESSION 341: Death-Stench Effluvium 

The basics still work, near death around every corner in the undercity 

 

Day 858 Continued (Under Dry Gulch): Turn 27. Mutant frogs attack

    Frogs appear to be larger than real life, sadly…

 

They may have been voracious little buggers but they were actually on the small side, for seasoned hobos, being about three feet in length. The frogs did control the environment tactically but mindless attacks will only get you so far when you is just a froggy. The settling pool that they lived in did hold some treasure that was retrieved but probably not worth the effort. Biff was now smelling well and rank, thanks sewer juice. Exploration continued. 

They took the steps up to the west wing. This chain of chambers had seen better days. Tracks and prints all over. One chamber held the remnants of an owl bear. Looks like it could have fallen to the mutant frogs. The final chamber was a big mess of stone and soil. The back wall had collapsed long ago revealing a tunnel. Maybe it was natural maybe it was not. It was too old to tell. Grandeal recounted that he had heard rumors of a cave system southeast of Dry Gulch this probably connected to it and could easily be a monster highway. Something to consider for a future day, it was time to return to the surface. Biff stank while Gord and Chung-Li were looking unwell, time to see the Green Priestess and get purged of the sewer sickness..

 

Day 859 (Dry Gulch): A day of rest for the explorers. Carla used the day to check out the two temples in town. 

 

The Temple of Nahasha. The primary deity worshiped in Dry Gulch, Nahasha, the Horse Lord, is venerated throughout the Zelaia Plains, due to the importance of horses to the people that dwell there. Nahasa is the lord of the open prairie, of family, and of travelers. 

The Temple is a simple structure, a roof of slate supported by carved columns at the four corners. Each column is fashioned from horse bones, lashed together by woven horse-hair. The current priest of Nahasha, Usir Farseer, dwells in a small hut next to the temple. Ceremonies are held on the 26th day of each month, when horses to be sold or traded at the market are brought to Usir to be blessed. Otherwise, there are no set holy days, with worshipers or those seeking blessing coming to the temple when they are about to set out on a journey, or when their mares are foaling, or when they seek advice or care. 

 

The Temple of Tanafar. A relatively new deity, growing alongside the increase in mining. A decade or so ago, a prospector stumbled across an especially rich vein of gold in the hills north of Dry Gulch, and that night had visions of a formless shape that whispered the secrets of the earth and stone into her ear. That miner, Axca Halskul, is now the head priest of the Cult of Tanafar, and most miners, when they visit Dry Gulch, leave offerings of gold and silver nuggets at the altar. The Cult of Tanafar has grown wealthy, and with that wealth it has gained outsized influence among the community and Council. The Temple is a medium- sized building in the heart of Dry Gulch. It is sumptuously appointed inside and out, with the exterior clad in delicate pink marble and the interior carpeted with thick rugs and decorated with frescoes and carvings depicting the process of mining. The central temple has several pews, fashioned from rosewood, facing a statue against one wall carved from the same pink marble as the exterior cladding. The statue is abstract yet sinuous and somewhat reptilian in appearance. A large wrought copper bowl is placed before the statue, into which offerings of gold, silver, and copper are placed. 

 

Day 860 (Under Dry Gulch): After a night in bed it the exploration group were more than ready to get back to creeping through the sewers. Returning to the wizard’s tower it was confirmed that Grandreal was allowed to come out and play once again. Master Thyber reminded the crew that the little wiz was one of his favourites and any lasting damage to him would not be well received. Back into the basement passed the series of locked doors and then racing down the long stairwell and past the water weird pool they were once more in the lost sewers. 

They decided to go deeper down the main branch of the system. After bit they came to another settling pool (large) and a bit of commotion was in action. It was another exploration team from the Wiz Tower, this time being overseen by Suzie Hotpants. Charles and Dolec stopped listening to Grandeal after the ‘Suzie’ bit, “Quite the muffin.. no Versa but zing”. She was our little buddy’s dream girl and co-apprentice to Master Thyber. Suzie was with four fighter types and a torch and treasure boy. They were preparing to go deeper down the only pipe leaving the area. Dolec stepped up to display his preeminent Boss in Training-ness. He covered the business and secured a topside meeting with Little Miss Hotpants like a pro. “Well played partner”, came from Charles when he fell back to the group. “Take the bull by the horns” was his response to Charles and obvious sch0ooling towards Grandeal. Suzie and her crew had dibs on the passage so our group would backtrack to the frog zone, there was an unexplored area. They needed something to do and it was about to happen. 

Getting back to the frog pool and then going up the west steps there was three chambers. The first was a dimly lit chamber. Lying face down on the floor of the chamber was a body of a man-at-arms type clearly damaged and with light coming from underneath. Biff checked it out and was double rewarded. A medallion of continual light along with a whole bunch of rot grubs – Huzzah! Leaving the chamber now distinctly smelling of burnt flesh the gang pushed into the final and largest chamber in this zone. A silent and hungry horde awaited the arrival of the hobos. A clan of twisted creatures known as hook horrors. 

 

A horrible combination of vulture, cockroach, bird, bone, and claws; and is one of the worst to ever come climbing out of the Underdark (foreshadowing?). Bring on the extreme violence… It is flesh ripping time. Six in total which started as a hooky handful but once the swords got themselves sorted and in front of the puny weaklings (hello wiz-kids). This would probably have been the end of most exploration teams but we had some razor sharp blades and these things end up being more akin to mobile back scratchers. Once dead they were hacked up for neat parts. This process attracted a swarm of rats.

Eventually they got moving, into the final room in the area. Walking the twenty feet they came to a door it was swollen shut until Charles kicked it in. Beyond was a small candle lined room with a bed. The bed was should have fallen apart ages ago but a mostly rotten chest seemed to be holding it up. Inside was a lotta crap and a small onyx statue of a dog. Cool, folks seemed to know what it was. 

This section of the sewers had now been fully explored. They had three options: Leave, go into caverns, follow Suzie Hotpants. Dolec, for some reason choose number three. It was way to early to surface and going into caverns can lead to mayhem, general exploration in a constrained environment was favoured. 

More mutant frogs attacked on the journey to the next local. From the last settling pool they followed the long sewer passage to a large settling pool. On the way they encountered a dead merc, cause of death was by multiple woundings of unknown origin. This new pool area seemed to have a distinct aura of unease.  

They looked in but did not proceed immediately. 

Darkness obscured the extents of the chamber but they could see an alcove.

They waited for something to happen.

 

Team UG (you figure it out): Dolec, Chung-Li, Biff, BoB, Katre, Charles, Gord and Grandeal the Grey

 

ROLECALL (Bosses in Training)

 

Dolec Da the Hero (F7) 88101 xp +10% <120000> CRT 1d20/IV

            Missing five teeth

Chung-Li the Elven Champion Sorcerer (E7) 143241 xp <250000> +10% CRT 1d8/II

 

The Henchmen

Biff Bartley the Half-Orc Blackguard (HO8) 130139 <MAX> +5% CRT 1d14/II

‘BOB’ the Unseen (N8) 92246 <180000> +5% CRT 1d20/II

Charles in Charge the Champion (F7) 94414 <120000> +10% CRT 1d20/IV

            Franz the Grave Return (Lawful; XXXX) Sword

Critical Wound: Punctured lung (-2 CON) 

            Mostly DEAD. (-1 CON)

Katre Elf-Girl and Swordsman Conjuror (E4) 18372 xp <32000> +0% CRT 1d8/II

Gord the Scout (R3) 6500 xp <10000> +10% CRT 1d14/III

Grandeal the Grey Seer (MU2) 3250 xp <5000>  5% CRT 1d6/I

 

RESERVES (Death Recovery) 

Ramrod the Cloned Thief - Recovering from death (yet again) 846 start (876)

Bimbles of the now creepy electrical eyes– Freshly not dead (881). 

Raul of more facial scars (-2 CHA) – no longer mostly dead (866)

Herbert the Gnome - no longer dead (867)

Elapsed Campaign Time

870 – Everyone Else for reasons.

858 – Carla-Team (at Dry Gulch)   

Domain Days

Gormandia: 20 (Start 838)

Bunnland:?

Join us for session Three-Hundred-and-Forty-One when we ask the questions:

What’s with the unease?

What is beyond our light?

What happened to Suzie Hotpants?

Tale of the Tape

All is well so far.

KILLS

Giant mutant frogs (9) 

Rot grubs 

Hook Horrors (6) 

Rats (50) 

Giant mutant frogs (10) 

LOOT

1 pp

223 gp

15000 sp

Horseshoes of Zephyr

Medallion of continual light (Biff)

Components: hook horror bits x2

Onyx dog figurine of wonderous power

War for Territory (Session 340)

SESSION 340: War for Territory: We are the Roadcrew II

Leisurely hex clearing uncovers a hole into the earth, never a good thing. 

 

Day 867 (BC 13.23 0805 à12.24 0805/0705/0606): Cloudy. The first basilisk of the season it must truly be spring. Camillus, for some reason not her own, was selected for gizzard harvest duty. She pulled it off (out?). 

 

Day 868 (BCà12.24 0806/0706/0607/0707): Clear. Today they would head south and check out the previously observed pit. Looks like it was a marble mine from way back now in a flooded state of disrepair. Getting closer activated the long forgotten security team. Rising up from the flooded depths came a trio of iron living statues. 

Day 869 (BCà12.24 0505/0407/0307): Clear. Easy day. No lairs or beasts.

Day 870 (BCà12.24 0408/0507): Unusually becalmed. Perfect day for something to happen or a couple of things. 

Let the holey moley day begin!

Sasha of the keen eye spotted hole number one above a streambank in some nice sedimentary soils. Something was off. There were a number of dead killer bees around the entrance. Something had happened but what? They found out as they approached the likely hive hole. Robber flies the mortal enemies of killer bees had likely destroyed the hive. Now, disturbed from their digesting the dozen flies were happy to eat our hobos as well. 

Stupid flies we are murderhobos and now you is dead. Rhags, the only one that sorta fit in the hive, went into the hole in search of treasure and came back with a couple of pints of honey. Skull-Crusher let Rhags know that he had found the bee’s treasure. Killer bee honey carried healing powers. “Woulda preferred coin but at least its golden in colour..”, was his gruff acceptance of something being better than nothing. 

 

Returning to the business at hand. Clearing the next sub-hex they still had lots of day left. They would need it. A hidden cave entrance. It was actually a passage into the earth but we had a few observations before coming to this conclusion. The cave had seen recent use and that the obfuscation was intentional. Sasha pointed out tracks not made by feet but pole or spike like, “Insect…hmmm maybe spider the type that normally are relegated to a web. And big. Real big But nothings shocking now then is it?”. She was perplexed by the absence of webbing adding that perhaps the tracks were from some entirely different abomination. Felix was about to say something but Rhags began the descent into darkness. 

 

The ranks fell in.

 

Team ‘R’: Rhagnar, Nara, Camillus, Azucar, Wendul, Willy, Skull-Crusher, Sasha and Felix

 

ROLECALL

Rahgnar the Dwarven Superhero (D8) 288390 xp <280001> CRT 1d20/IV

            Serious wound: permanent loss of an eye (-1 to missile fire)

            Critical Wound: disembowelled less able to process poison (-1 penalty)

            Missing thirteen teeth  

 

The Henchmen

Nara the Nearly Naked Purple Swami Girl (PS7) 122235 xp +5% <125000> CRT 1d16/II

Wraith Drained: -1 CON

Sasha Plasha the Warden (R7) 134877 xp +10% <150000> CRT 1d10/III

Missing three teeth

Felix Ignatius Hemlock the once skeletal Sleuth (I7) 48517 <80001> +5% CRT 1d16/II

Wendul the Magician (W6) 58518 <80000> 5% CRT 1d8/I

Camillus the Myrmidon (F7)  69519 <120001> +5% CRT 1d20/IV

Willy the Reformed Pilferer (T7)  45726 <80000>10% CRT 1d16/II

            Agolloch the Eye of Purity (Lawful; XXXX) Sword

Skull-Crusher the Vizekorporal of Crom (A5) 15589 xp <25000> +5% CRT 1d14/III

Azucar the Elven Myrmidon Warlock (E6) 88870 xp <120000> +5% CRT 1d8/II

 

 

RESERVES (Death Recovery) 

Ramrod the Cloned Thief - Recovering from death (yet again) 846 start (876)

Bimbles of the now creepy electrical eyes– Freshly not dead (881). 

Raul of more facial scars (-2 CHA) – no longer mostly dead (866)

Herbert the Gnome - no longer dead (867)

Elapsed Campaign Time

846 – Everyone Else for reasons.

858 – Carla-Team (at Dry Gulch)   

Domain Days

Gormandia: 8 (Start 838)

Bunnland:?

Join us for session Three-Hundred-and-Forty-One when we ask the questions:

What’s go’in on in Dry Gulch?

Where does this tunnel go?

What sorta arachnid thing(s) are in said tunnel?

Tale of the Tape

KILLS

Living Iron Statues (3) 

Robber Flies (12) 

Basilisk 

LOOT

80 gp

Harvested components: Basilisk gizzard, Killer Bee stinger, Robber fly bits (3)

Killer bee honey (2 pints)

We are the Roadcrew (Session 339)

SESSION 339: We are the Roadcrew 

Spring is in swing and we is back to expanding the hobo sphere of influence

 

Day 855 (Gormandia/ Liwil/ Camp): Under a cloudy sky the roadcrew set out. First the eight miles to Liwil and then pressing on to the edge of the controlled lands along the (once) King’s Road. The forward base camp was setup (14.23 0703).

 

Day 856 (14.23 0703 BCà13.23/0703/0603/0503/0604/0704 àBC): Clear day of lair hunting was uneventful. Sasha discovered horse tracks (approx. 8) but they did not elicit any action.

 

Day 857 (BCà 13.23/0403/0303/0404àBC): Clear. Nothing to report.

 

Day 858 (BCà0805 à13.23/0504àLiwil): Clear. Camp was moved on this day to reduce travel time. A rocky finger was discovered. Atop was a chimera lair. The beast fled but we got the loot. A mountain of coin, gems and jewelry. To the order of thirty stone. The day clearing day was cut short so the loot could be transported back to Liwil to avoid the imminent encumbrance overload. 

 

Day 859 (LiwilàBCà13.23/0806/0705/0706àBC): Clear. Back to work. A quiet day aside from discovering ogre tracks going to the south west. Noted and moved on.

 

Day 860 (BCà 13.23/0606/0605àBC): Clear. Today the totally pissed off chimera returned for bloody vengeance. It got some good swings in before being cut up for parts. 

 

Day 861 (BCà13.23/0505/0506/0607): Clear. Nice and boring day. Nothing but a semi-curious pack of jackals over-watching our clumping about from atop a well-placed hilltop.

 

Day 862 (BCà13.23/0304/0405àBC): Cloudy. Not much clearing today due to travel back and forth from the camp in the controlled lands (14.23).

 

Day 863 (BCà13.23/0707/0608/0507àBC): Cloudy. Ran into a trio of weretigers. Perhaps the same bunch encountered north of Helix during the winter excursion. Tough to say. 

 

Either way, they were more curious than anything. Rhags explained what they were doing, clearing the lands to expand the domain of men. The tigers didn’t really like the idea but then they were offered some sparkly stuff to find an alternative area to haunt. It worked. They each choose a piece of jewelry and then faded into the forest. I wonder if we will run into them again. Time will tell.

 
      Rhags placates the werebeasts with loot, good thing the wizard didn’t see that..

 

Day 864 (BCà13.23/0408/0407/0307): Clear. Fine day of hex clearing.

 

Day 865 (BCà 13.23/0306/0406): Clear. More tracks discovered today, this time big prehistoric beast prints. Determined to likely be that of the gnarly triceratops previously observed when exploring the weird plateau of the druids to the north east.

 

Day 866 (BCà 13.23/0205/0206/0305 àReloc BC 13.23 0805): Clear. Hex 13.23 cleared. Camp is relocated into 13.23 prior to further lair hunting in 12.24.

 

 

Team ‘R’: Rhagnar, Nara, Camillus, Azucar, Wendul, Willy, Skull-Crusher, Sasha and Felix

 

ROLECALL

Rahgnar the Dwarven Superhero (D8) 288390 xp <280001> CRT 1d20/IV

            Serious wound: permanent loss of an eye (-1 to missile fire)

            Critical Wound: disembowelled less able to process poison (-1 penalty)

            Missing thirteen teeth  

 

The Henchmen

Nara the Nearly Naked Purple Swami Girl (PS7) 122235 xp +5% <125000> CRT 1d16/II

Wraith Drained: -1 CON

Sasha Plasha the Warden (R7) 134877 xp +10% <150000> CRT 1d10/III

Missing three teeth

Felix Ignatius Hemlock the once skeletal Sleuth (I7) 48517 <80001> +5% CRT 1d16/II

Wendul the Magician (W6) 58518 <80000> 5% CRT 1d8/I

Camillus the Myrmidon (F7)  69519 <120001> +5% CRT 1d20/IV

Willy the Reformed Pilferer (T7)  45726 <80000>10% CRT 1d16/II

            Agolloch the Eye of Purity (Lawful; XXXX) Sword

Skull-Crusher the Vizekorporal of Crom (A5) 15589 xp <25000> +5% CRT 1d14/III

Azucar the Elven Myrmidon Warlock (E6) 88870 xp <120000> +5% CRT 1d8/II

 

 

RESERVES (Death Recovery) 

Ramrod the Cloned Thief - Recovering from death (yet again) 846 start (876)

Bimbles of the now creepy electrical eyes– Freshly not dead (881). 

Raul of more facial scars (-2 CHA) – no longer mostly dead (866)

Herbert the Gnome - no longer dead (867)

Elapsed Campaign Time

855 – Everyone Else for reasons.

858 – Carla-Team (at Dry Gulch)   

Domain Days

Gormandia: 17 (Start 838)

Bunnland:?

Join us for session Three-Hundred-and-Forty when we ask the questions:

What will we find in the next hex?

Have things been going a little too smoothly?

Tale of the Tape

Weretiger trio well bribed for negotiated relocation 

KILLS

Chimera 

LOOT

24,000 sp

6,000 gp

Gems (18): 50,50,50,50,100,100,100,500,50,100,10,500,100,50,10,50,10,10 = 1990

Jewelry (9): 900*,1300*,1000,900,1600*,1000,1000,1100,1300 = 10100 (*weretiger bribes)

Components Harvested: Dragon wingtips, Lions claws

Just Singin' in the Sewers (Session 338)

SESSION 338: Under da Gulch Pt.1 

The basics still work, near death around every corner in the undercity 

 

Day 858 Continued (Under Dry Gulch): The new team proceeded. Sixty feet later another door, “Let me get that” came from Grandeal as he whispered at this door. Into a dusty chamber. Foot prints led to an iron door and to the opposite wall. “Let me get this one as well”, Grandeal pulled out a key from his shirt. “Yes that is a secret passage into the caves. The Master would like us to go into the undercity he believes it is a safer and of more present utility. Also, on the other side is a stairwell that leads to a large settling pool. We need to run past it as it is inhabited by a type of water weird”. That is what they did. Dolec and Chung-Li were a little disappointed when they got around the pool to discover they would be slinking through a relatively narrow sewer, circular and brick lined. They would be going single file. The young wizard said a junction was ahead and that was about the extent of his knowledge.

Coming to the junction they took the turn that lead to another, but smaller, settling pool with two corridors. The first passage lead to a series of gross chambers largely a dead end for detritus and filth, much to the pleasure but under nourishment of the resident giant plague ridden rats. One of the rooms was largely intact protected by a moisture swollen door. 

Beyond was a smallish chamber perhaps more of a storage closet the eight hooks from which golden yellowish cloaks hung from supported this. Dolec, Charles and BoB entered the chamber to look for loot under the cloaks. Instead death was found. Some (all?) of the cloaks were covered in yellow mold and it had been disturbed. 

The chamber filled with deadly spores. 

BoB collapsed to the floor, choking to death. 

Death was not far and Dolec and Charles started screwing about. 

Chung-Li got them on target, “Bring her out before she becomes mold you twits”. 

The fighters complied, which was probably best for them, you can’t just stand in a mold cloud because it did not immediately kill you. Chung-Li administered a potion of ‘Get that Disease Right Put of Ya!”, he was not certain it would work but it was all they had and Biff was getting dangerously upset about BoBbie’s condition. It worked. BoB was no longer almost dead she was just pissed off at receiving novice directions from the leadership team. Good thing her vow of silence held. 

Backtracking to the settling pool they went to the other side and up a short flight of steps. Another series of rooms that were less wet filthy except for the two rooms that housed a grey ooze and its loot. The former chamber looked very wet and set off BoB’s ‘ninja-sense’. A well placed test arrow found its mark and activated the ooze. Charles thanked her for likely preventing his death. Beyond was a silt filled chamber, somewhat wet and the latter noted a couple of sentences prior. Biff was certain they were in a pay zone after the ooze, “Time to earn yer coin forest fruits”. The half-orc grabbed Gord and Chung-Li into the chamber and they began sifting through the silt and filth. It was full of ancient Skeldrane gold. “Then damn idiots musta sat on the crappy and counted their gold”, Biff laughed in part because he had not contracted Sewer Fever like his two assistants. Chung-Li and Gord were noticeably displaying diminishing constitution. They still pressed on there were still good adventuring hours left in the day. They fell back two chambers. This room had a semi recently dead adventurer, that they had looted on the first pass, and another short stairwell leading down to a settling pool. Grandeal admitted to vaguely recognizing the dead by suffocation hobo, “Oh, I think I remember him part of a group we hired just about two weeks ago to conduct some exploration of the area. I have to admit though all you hobos are kinda similar…”. Moving on after the pool was another passage that came to a T-junction. Looking at their map they felt that they had reconnected to the main branch so they went in that way to see if they were correct. They did not get to a definitive answer as another side branch appeared. 

They took the diversion. 

It lead to another settling pool. This time someone posed the question, “Do ya think there is loot in these things?”. “One would risk sewer fever and your friends already look weakened”, Grandeal commented while gesturing towards Gord and Chung-Li. Before any more chit chat could be had an army of hungry mutant frogs burst from the fetid waters.

Egads!

 

        6hrs 40 minutes into the adventuring day...

Team UG (you figure it out): Dolec, Chung-Li, Biff, BoB, Katre, Charles & introducing Gord and Grandeal the Grey 

 

ROLECALL (Bosses in Training)

 

Dolec Da the Hero (F7) 88101 xp +10% <120000> CRT 1d20/IV

            Missing five teeth

Chung-Li the Elven Champion Sorcerer (E7) 143241 xp <250000> +10% CRT 1d8/II

 

The Henchmen

Biff Bartley the Half-Orc Blackguard (HO8) 130139 <MAX> +5% CRT 1d14/II

‘BOB’ the Unseen (N8) 92246 <180000> +5% CRT 1d20/II

Charles in Charge the Champion (F7) 94414 <120000> +10% CRT 1d20/IV

            Franz the Grave Return (Lawful; XXXX) Sword

Critical Wound: Punctured lung (-2 CON) 

            Mostly DEAD. (-1 CON)

Katre Elf-Girl and Swordsman Conjuror (E4) 18372 xp <32000> +0% CRT 1d8/II

Gord the Scout (R3) 6500 xp <10000> +10% CRT 1d14/III

Grandeal the Grey Seer (MU2) 3250 xp <5000>  5% CRT 1d6/I

 

RESERVES (Death Recovery)

Ramrod the Cloned Thief - Recovering from death (yet again) 846 start (876)

Bimbles of the now creepy electrical eyes– Freshly not dead (881). 

Raul of more facial scars (-2 CHA) – no longer mostly dead (866)

Herbert the Gnome - no longer dead (867)

Elapsed Campaign Time

846 – Everyone Else for reasons.

858 – Carla-Team (at Dry Gulch)   

Domain Days

Gormandia: 8 (Start 838)

Bunnland:?

Join us for session Three-Hundred-and-Thirty-Nine when we ask the questions:

How long can we dodge death so haphazardly and not have a mortality?

When will the dungeon rust come off?

What will Master Thyber do if we kill one of his star pupils?

Have we ever fought giant mutant frogs before, what do they do?

Tale of the Tape

BoB is now Charles’s double hero after likely saving him from an excruciating death by acidic ooze. She took it as all in a day’s work and a bit of balancing the score for getting her out of the mold closet.

Sewer fever is all the rage, Gord and Chung have gots it bad.

KILLS

Giant rats (23)

Yellow mold – Run Away!

Gray Ooze (for beginners)

LOOT

Platinum broach 500 gp

Ancient gold coin! 2,945 pieces of it

Ka-Bluey! (Session 337)

SESSION 337: Return to the Dome IV: Hop on Board the Loser Cruiser – Death Comes Cheap! 

Part A - Nope, the Wilds ain’t all that safe. Death occurs in the Wilds.

Part B - Damage control and setting up for new exploration season

 

Day 846 Continued (16.22 0406/0505/0506): The easy job of looking for lairs around a cyclops clan continued smoothly after planting the relocation bug in Flim-Flams pea brain. You would think that with only one eye there would be more available brain for other nothings but nope. The cyclopeans are lunks. With three more square miles checked the gang returned to base camp.

 

Day 847 (16.22 campàCyclopesà0408/0606: Clear. To begin the day Bimbles felt he could once more petition his astrological lords and masters for insight. He waddled out of camp and drew a circle, plopped down and then connected with a higher plane. 

Three questions were asked and three simple answer were given. 

1)    The demon in the dome was doing whatever it wanted

2)    The same demon could be negotiated with

3)    That cold ‘box’ below the Dwarven tomb was “dangerous”

The high cleric stood, dusted himself off and then walked towards a waiting megadungeon explorer, “Well, hereis the scoop…”. Raul offered, “Hmmm that was a kinda useful endevour. What do ya want to do next?”. “Get the cyclopes to move along”. “Sure why not? What could go wrong? We can deal with the demon anytime, right?”. “All those things..”. After a quick first lunch the gang made their way back to the Fokker clan lair. 

Story short, they successfully convinced the giants to vacate the premises. Merv, the boss, said they would be gone in two cycles. This was acceptable. The gang went south to clear a couple more sub-hexes before returning to camp. 

Trouble was coming but they did not see it. 

 

Day 848 (16.22 0607): Clear. Bimbles, never one to want to hike too much ordered the camp to be relocated four or so miles to the south to make hexploration less tedious. This took a good chunk of the day limiting lair searching to a single sub-hex. No lairs were found but a wandering basilisk was narrowly avoided. A portent in respect to dithering through the wilds? Likely.

 

Day 849 (16.22 0606/0507/0605/0704): Morning rain. The leadership duo still did not want to deal with the demon. Let us wander through the wilds further! 

The day would be lair free but there was certainly no shortage of wanderers considering the Green Dome Zone – a veritable hotbed of monstrous evil. Anyways it started with another batch of giant hornets. Only a half dozen this time and the hobos were not flat footed easy victory. Keep creeping around. Out of the ‘blue’ the trees above their heads exploded as a bolt of electricity shot through a bunch of our hobos. Herbert blew up.

Big trouble. 

A blue dragon, not huge but certainly irritated. It circled back and unleashed another blast. The dumb dumbs just watched. Zap! Bimbles glowed a bright white for a moment before collapsing in a smoking heap. Two down… oh wait. Raul wobbled a bit and then fell down, clearly not a Weeble. Three dead hobos before a counterstrike – yikes. All was not lost. The dragon was a juvenile (less than twenty feet) and not as potent nor tactical as an adult specimen. This obviously didn’t stop it from killing the team leaders but it did undermine really getting the job done. After two passes it should have realized that further fatalities would take some work especially after a volley of well-placed missile fire from the hobos. The fight in all reality was simply quick and brutal. Willy found the perfect shot, with Agolloch’s blessing, to bring the creature down. Three dead hobos (and a mole) and a shattered draconian. There was a mountain of coin and jewelry retrieved from the carcass but it was a high price to pay.

 

With the leadership team taking a dirt nap Camillus and Sasha took the reins and sent Nara back to camp to retrieve the squad. They were either taking the loot or the bodies without some help. Nara activated her cloak, transforming into a massive pair of bat-like wings and then she was gone. Returning with the mooks shortly after nightfall. The overnight was thankfully uneventful.

 

Day 850 (16.22 0704àSafety): How can we make this excursion better you ask. Well, the answer is more wandering baddies. The blue theme seems to be persisting. A giant and his pack dire wolves. Twenty feet tall with blueish tinged skin and wispy cloud-like hair, it was a cloud giant about 120 yards out. It really should have been somewhere else but this region just seems to be a magnet (I’m sure I suggested that before..). Oh ya, he was also in a foul mood to boot.

 

Camillus ordered the footman to retreat with the corpses and treasure. Nara activated an inertial barrier which would prove to be lifesaving versus the incoming boulder barrage. The giant would not figure things out in a timely manner thus likely preventing the death of the rest of Hobo Team ‘C’. The wolves circled the coward huddle which may actually have been to the gangs advantage limiting themselves from being overrun and taken to the ground. When cloudy did catch on to the hobos defence rather than retreating with a mostly obliterated wolf pack it charged in. An easy target presenting a free cycle of attacks before it would reach the melee. A bad tactical choice it got a single swing of its sword, that Camillus deflected like a boss, before succumbing to a litany of injuries. 

Once the squad was found and recalled they collected another mountain of coins before everyone went hard for their basecamp in the relatively safe homelands. 

Destination Caravanserai. 

 

The C (clearing)-Team was: Bimbles, Raul, Camillus, Sasha, Willy, Herbert, Skullcrusher, Nara & Azucar

 

àBonus buggering aboutß

 

Day 851 – 855 (Caravanserai): Mason’s pleasant spiritual endeavours came to a quick end as the company and corpses showed up. Over the next two and a half days he administers the most potent of his restorative abilities bringing both Bimbles and Herbert back from death while providing a rather relaxing pillow for Raul. The trio would be spending some time bed ridden. Ding-We was around but mostly busy doing some spell research. He did find enough time to suggest that Rhags should be recalled to lead the next hobo team iteration. This ‘new’ team would start clearing the old road hexes connecting Liwil to Dry Gulch once Rhagnar sobered up.

A few days later Team ‘R’ (roadwork) set out for Liwil by way of Gormandia: Rhagnar, Camillus, Skull-Crusher, Wendul, Willy, Nara, Sasha, Azucar and everyone’s number one buddy Felix! 

Smell you farts later.

 

Day 857 (Dry Gulch): Somewhat ahead in the time continuum other things were happening. With fifteen of so days to kill Carla and Boris sent a team over to Lord Thyber’s tower to take up the exploration and babysitting consideration. At the tower they met Grandeal the Grey one of the Archimage’s two most promising apprentices. The young apprentice would ready himself and the group would enter the forgotten passages on the following morn.

 

Day 858 (Dry Gulch): The new undercity ‘U’ exploration team assembled at the Tower of Wizardry shortly after breakfast. Down a set of spiral stairs they descended from the tower above: Biff, BoB, Dolec, Katre, Charles, Chung-Li, Gord and Grandeal. Reaching the bottom of the stairwell they found themselves in a circular chamber approximately 40’ in diameter. Five doors were set into the wall; two lead to service tunnels, two to the laboratory wings of the area, and the fifth, an iron door set into the south wall. ”That is the one we will be taking it leads to a more dangerous region where we will find adventure and hopefully useful alchemical components”, calmy stated the young wizardling.  Grandeal walked to the iron door, whispered something and then stepped back. A moment later there was an audible ‘ka-chunk’ and the door swung open revealing an ancient corridor that extended into unknown darkness. “Here we go again”, came from Charles as he lit his lantern and stepped forward. “Yup”, came from Dolec as he joined. 

 

ROLECALL 

DEAD - Bimbles the High Priest of GSS (C10) 349791 xp +5% <400001> CRT 1d12/III

            +2 save to poison and internal body things; Double eat (gotta feed my baybay)

            Creepy electrical eyes -2 to reactions with humanoids

DEAD - Raul the Voyager (MD9) 282123 xp +10% <360000> CRT 1d12/III

            Fezzi-Gig (Neut: XXXX) Sword

Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -4, 

Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -2,

Removed one of his own nostrils.

 

The Henchmen

Nara the Nearly Naked Purple Swami Girl (PS7) 122235 xp +5% <125000> CRT 1d16/II

Wraith Drained: -1 CON

Sasha Plasha the Warden (R7) 134877 xp +10% <150000> CRT 1d10/III

Missing three teeth

Camillus the Myrmidon (F6)  69519 <64001> +5% CRT 1d20/IV

Willy the Reformed Burglar (T6)  45726 <40000>10% CRT 1d14/II

            Agolloch the Eye of Purity (Lawful; XXXX) Sword

DEAD - Herbert the Master Gnome Trickster (G4) 17856 xp <30000> +5% CRT 1d8/III 

Skull-Crusher the Hellebardier of Crom (A4) 15589 xp <12000> +5% CRT 1d8/III

Azucar the Elven Myrmidon Warlock (E6) 88770 xp <120000> +5% CRT 1d8/II

 

RESERVES

Ramrod the Cloned Thief - Recovering from death (yet again) 846 start (876)

Bimbles of the now creepy electrical eyes (-2 reaction from humans/ demis) – Freshly not dead (881)

Raul of more facial scars (-2 CHA) – no longer mostly dead (866)

Herbert the Gnome - no longer dead on the outside but still on the inside due to the loss of Harry the Mole (867)

Elapsed Campaign Time

846 – C-Team (16.23- 0703 The Doom of Cthedrak)

857 – Carla-Team (at Dry Gulch)   

Domain Days

Gormandia: 8 (Start 838)

Bunnland:?

Join us for session Three-Hundred-and-Thirty-Eight when we ask the questions:

Is this hex a monster magnet, for some unknown reason?

Will the One-eyes clan actually move out and should we have suggested a preferred direction?

What about the demon especially now that we know it is free-range?

What evil lurks down the forgotten passage?

Is there really an ‘undercity’ down here?

What happens If the gang fail to protect the squishy little wizard?

Tale of the Tape

Young dragons can be really brutish now Bimbles, Herbert (along with Harry) and Raul are dead, well Raul is actually only mostly dead. I look forward to the item saves & the Death and Dismemberment table. 

Dicking around in the wilds is a dangerous proposition.

KILLS

Hornets Giant (6) 

The Fokkers Cyclops Clan (gentrified) 

Blue Dragon (sub-adult: young/juvenile) 

Cloud Giant 

Dire Wolves (26) 

LOOT

30,000 sp

10,000 ep

35,000 gp

Gems (4): 50,10,50,100 = 210 gp

Jewelry (4): 1100, 1300, 1100, 1000 = 4500 gp

Buzz Off (Session 336)

SESSION 336: Yeow that Stings!, Murderers meet Murder 

Day 843 Continued (Old CampàNew Camp 15.22): Bimbles has now strangely begun to think like our peg-legged wizard. He ordered the base camp to moved south so they could better clear the hex. Raul and Sasha took a couple of the guards to find just the right spot.

 

Day 844 (New Camp 15.22à16.22 0405/0305/0206/0205): Cloudy. They started the day with a visit to the cyclops. Aside from the goats and grapes it appeared no one was in. They, easily, cleared the adjacent sub-hexes of lairs and things. Yes, it was very easy. It seems nothing wants to live near a twenty foot goliath, something to do with filling its belly I would guess.

 

Day 845 (Campà16.22 0306/0407): Clear. Things were going well until they sighted the (a?) cyclops on the far side of the Kirkikit river and attempted to get its attention. Racing towards the river bank and shouting did not get the big goober’s attention but did rile a nest of giant hornets. As the goliath lumbered along we were swarmed and it turned out to be a messy engagement. Fortunately it was hornets rather than wasps whom have a deadly poison versus just extremely painful.

 

 
 

The hive was awakened and absolutely inclined towards murder. Nara quickly activated an inertial barrier to protected the main group but this left the fragile scout team exposed. Herbert and Willy were immediately in trouble. The gnome was able to make a dash and then disappear into the underbrush. Wily was not so lucky, he activated Agolloch’s teleport ability with insufficient spatial awareness. He was free of his two hornets but was now sixty feet in the air and falling fast. He quaffed a potion and hoped the trees below would break his fall rather than his body. He bounced off  couple of trees before hitting the dirt. Amazingly only mostly dead, he went invisible and then passed out for the duration. The hornets moved their attention to the main group. Raul took the risk of activating his special belt, releasing chaos! It was helpful except that it affected their tank Camillus and she immediately took a swing at Bimbles. 

Don’t worry little ones the tide did eventually change and our hobos gained the upper hand and then eradicated the nasty dog-sized blighters. The fight largely ruined the day other than the post battle looting. Not much beyond some gold teeth and an interesting black iron key, somewhere something is waiting to be opened. They limped back to camp.

 

Day 846 (Campà16.22): Clear. Today on their way deeper into the hex, for more clearing, they ran into their currently friendly cyclops acquaintance ‘Cyclopsy’, “Hey you guys!”. It seems that relations had maintained the giant was happy to talk. Bimbles and Raul told him that he had to move. He said he was not the boss and they really like the box canon. Flim-Flam was, along with Margot the ‘lady’ of the troupe. Raul tried some intimations of stuff to get Cyclopsy’s assistance but the brute was notably less sharp than our dummies Steve and Sloth. He did somehow negotiate the acquisition of the non-boulder and non-carcass materials in Cyclopsy’s sack. It ended with the giant continuing his return to the box canyon but also to petition his boss to comply with the hobos demand for vacating the premises. Our gang followed behind as best they could.

 

The C (clearing)-Team: Bimbles, Raul, Camillus, Sasha, Willy, Herbert, Skullcrusher, Nara & Azucar

 

ROLECALL 

Bimbles the High Priest of GSS (C10) 349007 xp +5% <400001> CRT 1d12/III

            +2 save to poison and internal body things; Double eat (gotta feed my baybay)

Raul the Voyager (MD9) 281339 xp +10% <360000> CRT 1d12/III

            Fezzi-Gig (Neut: XXXX) Sword

Serious wound: permanent loss of CHA -4, 

Removed one of his own nostrils.

 

The Henchmen

Sasha Plasha the Warden (R7) 130426 xp +10% <200000> CRT 1d10/III

Missing three teeth

Camillus the Myrmidon (F6)  62068 <64001> +5% CRT 1d20/IV

Willy the Reformed Burglar (T6)  37275 <40000>10% CRT 1d14/II

            Agolloch the Eye of Purity (Lawful; XXXX) Sword

Herbert the Master Gnome Trickster (G4) 17464 xp <30000> +5% CRT 1d8/III 

Skull-Crusher the Hellebardier of Crom (A4) 10438 xp <12000> +5% CRT 1d8/III

Azucar the Elven Myrmidon Warlock (E6) 84319 xp <120000> +5% CRT 1d8/II

 

RESERVES

Ramrod the Cloned Thief - Recovering from death (yet again) 846 start

Elapsed Campaign Time

843 – C-Team (16.23- 0703 The Doom of Cthedrak)

857 – Carla-Team (at Dry Gulch)   

Domain Days

Gormandia: 5 (Start 838)

Bunnland:?

Join us for session Three-Hundred-and-Thirty-Seven when we ask the questions:

With at least three Cyclops on the board will things play through as hoped?

How long can/will we ignore that demon?

Tale of the Tape

I’m sure we are building towards something.

KILLS

Giant Hornets (17) 

LOOT

Gold teeth (3) 5 gp each

3007 gp

6000 sp

3000 ep

Nice Garnett 110 gp

Gems (8): 10,100,50,100,50,50,10,500 = 870 gp

Large Black Iron Key