Into the Pit

Our fourth session of DDC picked up with the party headed east on the urging of the Ymae the witch. A terrible threat was being wakened by mysterious grey cloaked figures in or about The Great Stinking Fissure of Gorm (no relation to Grom the Wizard). These figures had been seen around Lemsby, just before the events of the Sailors on the Starless Sea and had urged thieves from Hirot to break into an ancient tomb releasing an imprisoned demon hound to afflict the town.

The Company;

Jeremy

• Brand the dirty sneaky Thief
• Draug the Warrior

Sebastien - I keep forgetting to write done Seb's character's names! Sorry man...

• Ryan the no nonsense Cleric of Aristemis
• Thorkell the Warrior - left at the top of the pit

John

• Chez the "How do we start fighting here?" Warrior
• Bezal the halfling - left at the top of the pit

Todd

• Daniloth the "my spells kill me" Elf
• Chester the thief - left at the top of the pit

Trevor

• Grom "I'm a Wizard!!"
• Jenson the Warrior - left at the top of the pit

The action opened with with the crew coming over a rise and glimpsing the village of Lusates and the infamous Great Stinking Fissure of Gorm a few miles beyond. There were dark clouds emerging from the fissure which was many miles wide and many more long. There was a sulfer smell on the wind and a minor earth tremor shook the ground. 

A farmer, with his family and pigs in cart, stopped to chat and the gang learned that people were leaving the town. It was a very rich and fertile area, but the tremors and the stink had been getting much worse in the last few months, ever since the hollow star had turned up and the grey cloaks had been spotted. The final straw had been in the last few weeks when a few lone farmsteads had been smashed, the inhabitants missing. In one instance the family of a farm had managed to fight off a group of grey cloaks directing a massive worm. After that people started packing up. Thanking the farmer the party moved on, but not before Chaz bought a pig.

The town was obviously very affluent. Even the simple houses were solid and well kept, painted with bright colours, orange being predominant. The fields around the town were very verdant, and roads were well cobbled. At the Inn they found the innkeeper in the process of packing things up, and charging exorbitant prices. He was happy enough to answer questions for free though, confirming what the farmer had said. He gave a patronizing little laugh when the crew told him that they would deal with the underground threat. There had been a previous group of adventurers, he told them, that said the same thing a couple of weeks ago before they marched off to save the town. They had never returned from the crevice. 

A visit to the small temple was next and the party discovered from the priest that legend had it that a great beast lived beneath the earth and in ages past sacrifices had been given to quell its hunger, but no such sacrifice had been made in living memory. He also spoke about the appearance of the grey cloaks and that they must be members of some cult dedicated to chaos. He directed the group to an ancient pit north of the town, just before the great fissure where sacrifices were supposedly made, but no one had visited it due to its evil reputation. Ryan the cleric and Daniloth the elf both noticed that the temple was built on much more ancient foundations, into which were carved an obscure wavy script that they were not able to make heads or tales of. 

After a night at the expensive inn the crew set off at first light and soon came to the pit referred to by the priest. It was a hundred feet wide and many hundreds of yards before the edge of The Great Stinking Fissure of Gorm. Worn stone stairs spiralled down its inner surface meeting a layer of

Who's throwing pigs at me...?

obscuring and frightfully smelly mist about forty feet down. Someone tossed a rock in and they listened to it clatter for a while. Then Grom and Chaz decided that they would send the pig that Chaz had bought down first. A dubious plan, made more so by the fact that the pig had no intention of going near the pit. Grom managed to man handle the poor struggling thing and partially roll it down the first few steps, where it promptly fell off the edge and went plummeting, thumping and squealing for long moments. There was a collective faceplant as everyone now realized that whoever was down there now knew that someone was up here. 

After some squabbling the crew began a nervous decent down the perilous stairs. It was not lost on them that a single misstep could result in a very long fall. Unfortunately, Grom's spiderclimb spell wasn't nearly as effective as in the serpent mound near Hirot. As they approached the mist layer, Daniloth's keen eyes spied figures moving slowly up the stairs toward them. The party paused and a grey robed head poked partially above the mist, its face hidden. "Have you come to join us?" Came a sibilant whisper, "to worship the great Palimdybis?" 

The party looked at one another for a moment. "Why yes" said Chaz, "Yes we have". 

"Excellent" replied the whisperer. "Put down your weapons and come to us". 

"We'd actually like to hang on to our weapons if that's alright with you." This was met with seething hisses and muttering. 

"Put them down! Join us! Join us!" This seemed to signal the end of formal negotiations as Grom yelled  "Colour Spray!" and immediately forgot how to cast the spell. The rest of the crew leapt into action and arrows were loosened and forward party members charged, carefully mind you, down the steps. It was a relatively quick fight as one of the cloaked figures attempted to block the charge and the others started a hideous chanting call. They never got to successfully complete whatever magic they were attempting as they were violently kicked and hammered off the stairs. One cultist, however, didn't fall when struck down and a horrendous pulpy mass exploded from its chest and continued the attack before it was dealt with. Poking at the cultist's body, they discovered that it had no face so to speak of. Just a slit mouth and a blank rubbery visage with limp fleshy feelers ringing the outer edge. Suitably grossed out, the party continued its downward progress. 

Below the mist layer they found it to be humid and shadowy. The stairs continued to spiral down a short way but crumbled off perhaps fifty feet further on. Three doors in the pit's stoney side were seen, two easily accessible and the third further down passed a break in the stairs. The pit itself dropped alarmingly into a deep darkness, with the unsettling sense that something massive squirmed in the depths below. 

Heaving aside the first door they were greeted by a cultists rising groggily from kneeling before some sort of alter. He was dispatched forthwith and the crew set about searching the little prayer room. Ryan the cleric noticed the same curious swirly script from the town's temple on the door frame of the room, and Brand poked at some heavy egged shaped stones trying to estimate their value to weight ratio. Daniloth's secret door sense pinged and they found a little hidden passage behind the alter. 

Always willing to risk it for the chance at treasure, Brand crept in and discovered a cramped dusty old passage, crawling with little pale spiders which had painful bites. After disarming a trap, the rest of the crew squeezed in and made their way along. They discover a couple of other passages leading down from this one but kept creeping along until they found themselves emerging into a second prayer room similar to the first. Deciding to go back to the two passages they passed by, the party discovered the first one lead down an odd winding corridor to a small cavern. The cavern had an weird other worldly feel to it, a sense that was compounded by an pool of water on the ceiling, complete with a stalagmite dripping water up into the pool. The crew prepared itself for all sorts of reverse gravity situations and cautiously entered the room to find it pretty normal. Well except for the dripping up water. 

Brand decided it was time to investigate the upside down pool. He was lofted up on Chaz's shoulders and rammed head first into the pool and couple of times. Spluttering and choking he still managed to grope about and clamp his hands around a massive gold colored ring. Pulling it out, they found it had and odd script on it that no one recognized. It was also enormous, easily fitting over someone's arm almost like a torc. After a few more experiments where they found the water seemed to always fall up, the crew collected some in a couple of water skins and departed. 

They then checked out the second tunnel leading off the secret passage. This tunnel also lead down, more like a chute really, so they tied rope at the top so they could climb back up. Brand, as almost always, went first. Before he got to the bottom he heard scraping sounds of something massive and tugged on the rope to be hauled back up. Not wanting to alert whatever was down there, Daniloth, with his see in the dark elvish eyes, was sent down next. Daniloth managed to peer out the end of the tunnel and see a massive worm like creature undulating about a circular room. The length of the worm appeared to disappear down a hole in the center of the room, and bizarrely had a rope ladder affixed to it. Daniloth cautiously got down and found the worm thing didn't seem to react to his presence. He spotted another rough passage leading away from this one and quietly called the others down to investitsge. One by one they slid down the chute and all made their way past the worm and into the rough side tunnel. A few speculated about what the worm was. Grom seemed to think it was the very beast they'd been sent to kill, while Brand was of the mind it was some sort of transportation system. 

Like this. Only scarier.

The side tunnel opened into a natural cave which the gang figured must be more or less directly under the first worship room. Oddly there were a number of very old statues in the cave, worn and broken and one very new statue near the centre of a young man, dressed as a swordsman. The statue's expression was one of terror. "Wait a minute...." said Ryan the cleric as the crew heard the hiss of a beast lowering itself down the rocks toward them. It was a large lizard like creature with metallic scales, a golden horn and glowing red eyes. "Basilisk!" cried Ryan and the fight was on.

It was a tough one, made tougher by Ryan's goddess becoming fickle and denying healing and imposing disfavour. A second basilisk joined the first and things looked dire. It was down to a couple of lucky rolls but the band managed to scrape though, battered and bruised. The golden horns were hacked off and the party returned to the giant worm room. Here the group had to convince Grom, being somewhat convinced that this was the beast they were here to kill, not to start an attack. They decided to go back up to the second worship room and take a look at the third door along the stair well.

Concocting an elaborate rope system the band crossed the gap of collapsed stair to the third door. They also noticed a small cave entrance just a few yards further down the side of the pit. Grom spell burned to remember spiderclimb but just ended up summoning a swarm of little evil biting spiders when he cast it, narrowly avoiding corruption with another spell burn. It was the first time Grom had suffered something worse than a misfire, which was quite amazing considering the number of casts he makes.

So standing before the third door the crew prepared to enter, and that folks is were we left it til next time.

Doom Averted; Villagers Cheer

It's been a crazy couple of weeks so I haven't had a chance to update the actual play. We've had two sessions since my last post.

Our second session of the Doom of the Savage Kings, and third DCC session, was excellent - plenty of energy from the players, everyone was full of character, playing smart and fun.

The Company;

Jeremy

• Brand the dirty sneaky Thief
• Rubin the Warrior

Sebastien

• Ryan the no nonsense Cleric of Aristemis
• Thorkell the Warrior

John

• Chez the "How do we start fighting here?" Warrior
• Adel & Bezal - 0 level halflings

Todd

• Daniloth the "my spells kill me" Elf
• Chester and Lester - 0 level radish farmers

Trevor

• Grom "I'm a Wizard!!"
• Jenson the Warrior

We picked up the action right where we left off. With Ryan the Cleric having just crawled out of the secret passage above the door in the great chamber of Ulfheonar's tomb. He was carrying a mighty wolf spear (the real one) and a magical drinking horn which his divinely inspired intuition told him had some very useful healing properties.

With their super spider powers from Grom's spectacular spider climb still good for another 23 hours, the party continued to investigate the rest of the tomb, mainly by walking on the ceiling. Brand performed admirably as a scout, with his very keen, elephantine ears. At one point he went ahead into a side tomb and received a bit of a shock when something scuttled out of the dark toward him. There followed an intense half-lit battle along the tomb's ceiling between our spider heroes and some snake filled tomb ghouls. After numerous sticky webs were shot, the death of a couple of 0 level side kicks, and the near death of a couple of 1st levelers, the band managed to defeat the ghouls and recover some magical berserker hide armour.

Searching the rest of the tomb they came across a nasty open pit filled with spears, but couldn't figure how it could be an effective trap unless one were to be somehow driven madly down its connecting corridor. At the end of that corridor was found the massive stone entrance door that they had initially avoided when arriving at the tomb earlier. Deciding to open it now, they heaved at it and were rewarded with fresh air, sunlight and sparkly water in the pond that had formed at the entrance to the tomb. Brand decided to see if there was anything to that sparkle effect and went sloshing forward. Everyone else stood back and pulled out snacks to watch the inevitable disaster unfold. Brand turned back to let everyone know that the water was harmless, nice even, but just found them all staring in horror at something behind him. He turned and and noticed two things. A couple of figures at the edge of the forest ducking back under the cover of the trees and, perhaps more jarringly, a massive animated column of water with gapping snakelike head.

Now, Brand is an very entertaining character. He is constantly stuffing treasure down his pants. His

Om nom nom nom

greed outweighs his sense of self preservation. He's petulant, cocky and petty. He's also almost died about four times. But this fifth time seemed like the final one for Brand. Despite a few brave attempts, by Ryan the Cleric especially, Brand was smashed, swallowed, drowned and shot out onto the pond's edge beyond the reach of the rest of the group, apparently very dead. The massive water snake chased the remaining party members down the entrance corridor, and they suddenly realized how dangerous that spear trap would have been if they hadn't been all spidered up. The beasty crashed into the spear pit chamber and washed away as the crew stuck to the roof.

Deciding to take one last crack at the big bronze doors in the far chamber before they left to recover Brand's body (he may be an entertaining character, but there's little love lost between the party's characters...). After another 20 minutes of hammering at that big door, they finally decided that it must be a fake and packed up to leave by the same crumbled hole in the wall they'd come in by. Outside they found that their donkey, supplies, remaining 0 level tag alongs and Brand's body were all gone.

Puzzling over this the party heard a shout from the woods above and saw a disreputable sort of woodsman holding a knife to Brand's throat, who seemed water logged and disoriented, but alive (Brand had made his "Turned Over" roll when the bandit had come to check his corpse..!). There were four other woodsmen with bows trained on the crew. The bandits demanded the wolfspear in exchange for the lives of their captives (they had the 0 levels and donkey as well). Offering up the fake wolfspear instead, Chez the warrior brought it forward and jabbed it in the ground near the pond. Two of the bowmen came forward and just as they reached the spear, Brand made a wild (and lucky) attempt to get out of the knife hold and managed not only escape but ended up holding the knife. The woodsmen were slow on the draw as the party used the distraction to act. Most went rushing up the hill to get at the leader and the two bowmen behind him. Chez however threw his pack into the pond beside the spear and the two woodsmen next to it. The water immediately erupted as the giant water snake reared up again and came slamming down on the two bandits.

The fight was brutish and a couple of the bowmen tried to run off but were quickly spider web stickied in place. After some brief questioning ascertained that they'd been sent by the Jarl, they were unceremoniously dispatched. The band recovered their goods, a few extra coins from a huntsman's coin purse and several bows, which they were very happy about as they hadn't been able to get a hold of any ranged weapons up until this point. The group was torn between returning to Hirot to deal with the Jarl and pressing forward to confront the demon hound in the fens to the west now that they had the spear. They finally decided to go after the Demon Hound and set up camp for the night.

They were not visited by the hound that night (which was off ravaging Hirot presumably) and woke mostly refreshed early the next morning. The journey took a few hours before they reached the outskirts of the fens. Foul mists, mysterious shrouded shapes and treacherous paths greeted them in the bogs as they slowly made their way to its dark heart. When they came to the edge of a great sinkhole, with stinking black clouds billowing out, they knew they had found the demon hound's lair. For a moment the mists cleared and they spied a grey cloaked figure watching them from the other side of the sinkhole. Could this be one of the grey cloaks that had encouraged the no good brothers Kej, Stien and Illham to raid the tomb of Ulfeonor in the first place? Or one of the ones that had come sniffing around the village of Lemsby shortly before the demon in the Starless Sea was awakened?

The mists quickly obscured the mysterious figure and a quick look about turned up no trace. The crew decided to forge ahead and using ropes, descended into the pit. At the bottom they found a charnel of animal, human and not so human remains scattered about, with a foreboding pool of utter blackness in the centre. Daniloth the elf sensed a place of great magical power, Ryan the cleric sensed pure evil and potent chaos. Grom understanding that the black substance was likely full of magic announced that he was going to plunge his hands into the pool and pour a gout of it down his throat. Grom's pretty wild about magic like that. He's constantly firing off color spray and he's not got close to ever rolling any corruption. However this time he was quickly deterred as his hands were scorched by the strange liquid. Daniloth took a more prudent approach and tipped some into a steel vile he had been carrying about since the starless sea adventure.

Woof! Now I'm mad!

The party soon realized that they would have to wait for darkness to confront the demon hound, a prospect that they were not looking forward too. It was then that Ryan decided to invoke his deity's aid in bringing an end to this chaotic menace. Turns out that the deity Aristemis thought that was a bloody good idea (a natural 20...) and blew away all the dark cloud, allowing light to filter down into the sinkhole, filling everyone one with a +2 attack bonus of confidence for the next five rounds and calling the hound unwillingly forward to make battle.

It was a fine and desperate fight, with characters dropping and being saved by lucky rolls and quick healing from the Cleric. Finally the demon wolf was pinned with the great spear and Chez the warrior chopped the thing's head off with a mighty blow. It exploded in an almighty spray of back mist with a definite sense of finality. The black ooze dried up considerably into a small spring like trickle. Bloodied but triumphant the crew slapped each other on the back and then set about searching the pit for treasure.  A few interesting trinkets were found, included a fearsome dragon helm adopted by Jenson.

Now it was time to return to Hirot and confront the Jarl.

The guards at the town's gate knew something was up when the battered crew returned with grim smiles that evening. The guards informed them that the hound had attacked the night before, killing more villagers and the Jarl was going draw for the sacrificial lot that day. "Fear not!" cried our heroes, "for we have slain the beast for good!" 

They retired to the Wolf and Spear, and a crowd quickly gathered. It didn't take long for most of the village to show up including many of the Jarl's Thane's, some of whom looked on with clear admiration, some less so. The heroes were peppered with questions, which they answered factually or bombastically depending on who was speaking, the townsfolk growing more jubilant as they realized that their woes may be over. It was then that the doors to the tavern were smashed opened and in stalked a seething Jarl, his weaselly wizard and a couple of sour looking thanes. "Where are the defilers that have raided my ancestor's tomb and taken what is rightfully mine!" He demanded. The crowd became backed up as the Jarl and our heroes took center stage and faced off. 

There was a furious debate where the Jarl insisted the magic Wolf Spear was his as Ulfeonor was an ancestor and that it had been stolen from him, denying his right to defeat the demon wolf. The heroes pointed out that the Jarl could have claimed the spear at anytime, and they had been forced to do the Jarl's job for him, and that his lottery seemed rather suspicious. It was clear that the villagers were siding with the party, and many of the thanes too for that matter. Sensing that his very rulership was in  jeopardy, the Jarl advanced menacingly, a few of his most loyal thanes putting their hands to their swords. Chez the warrior loosened his weapons and it looked like things where about to get bloody. 

"Color Spray!" yelled Grom the wizard surprising everyone. Everyone that is except Syllus Ru the Jarl's wizard who attempted to counter Grom's spell. There followed a brief magical test of wills, but Grom's spell won the day and knocked out three targets of his choosing. "The Jarl, the weasel wizard, and that totally hot farmer's daughter over there... What!?! She looked tired! I'll come back and tend to her!"

The crowd was silent, the thanes - now obviously split into two camps, one loyal, one not - eyed each other and the party wearily. The Jarl, his wizard and a very attractive farmer lay unconscious on the tavern floor. The time was ripe! Grom leaped forward "The Jarl has been lying to you!" He was backed up by Bran, Daniloth and Ryan "The lotto is rigged!" Grabbing torches they lead the villagers and a number of thanes to the lottery box in the town square. Brand made short work of the lock and they found the secret box inside. The name on about twenty peices of paper in the secret box was "Brogeon", the popular proprietor of the Wolf and Spear. This set the villagers into a fury and whatever doubts the thanes had about their Jarl's leadership were sealed. 

"To Meadhold!" Cried Brand, thinking it would be a good opportunity to scoop up some treasure. However the thanes, though no longer loyal to the Jarl, kept an eye on the few valuable items in the great hall as the crowd stomped through. "The weasel wizard probably knew more than he was letting on - we should search his quarters!" yelled Daniloth. The thanes appeared far less concerned about Silus Ru's property and Brand and Daniloth raided his shelves and hastily stuffed important looking scrolls down their pants. "Nothing much here - back to the inn!"

Back at the Inn, the few loyal thanes left stopped a lynching and were allowed to take the stumbling Jarl and his wizard out of the town, banished in a pelting of overripe vegetables. Will we see these now bitter folk again...? 

Brogeon opened the bar to all and celebrations ran long into the night. 

Ymae's looking pretty good for an old crone...

However, at one point Brand, Ryan and Daniloth thought to check in on the old witch, Ymae. Curiously the sounds of revelry faded to a distant echo as they approached her hut and a beautiful maiden emerged. It was Ymae transformed, and suddenly Brand was regretting not taking her up on that marriage deal.

"You were successful. Good. However a greater menace grows. Under the Hollow Star, the grey
cloaks have been seeking out and waking old things, things that have slept for a very long time". Everybody felt a tremor in the ground, faint yet ominous. "Now they wake a very old power to the east, a powerful spirit of the earth. It moves underneath us all..." Another tremor. "If fully revived, it will be very hungry and all in the land will be in danger..."

And that is where we left it!

The Spidermen that Came to Hirot

Our second session went well. Not quite the furious pace of the first one, but we had to take care of levelling up which slowed us down.

The Company;

Jeremy

• Brand the dirty sneaky Thief
• Rubin the warrior

Sebastien - I keep forgetting to write done Seb's character's names! Sorry man...

• A very tactical and pragmatic Cleric
• A Warrior

John

• Chez the "How do we start fighting here?" Warrior
• Adel & Bezal - 0 level halflings

Todd

• Daniloth the "my spells kill me" Elf
• Chester and Lester - 0 level radish farmer

Trevor

• Grom "I'm a Wizard!!"
• Jenson the Warrior

We crunched through levelling and got semi-familiar with some of the class specific rules. Unfortunately no less than three PC's rolled 1 for additional hit points. Two of these were Jeremy's meaning Ruben the warrior had a grand total of 2! Although disappointing the players sucked it up and valiantly played on. We've since made a house rule that a player can spend a point of permanent luck to re-roll a hit die. I think I'll make it retroactive...

The action started several months after the events of Sailors on the Starless Sea. The adventurers had been honing skills and learning spells from the local priest and the chaotic carvings on the dragon boat. The local blacksmith, used to making only horseshoes and shovels, had been hard pressed to make a half decent weapon for each of the adventurers. The group also had some treasure from the last adventure but no place to spend it in such a small village.

That's when a trope of Halfling traders, the Sonorous Fermentators of Milk and Barely, brought news of the far village (several days to the north west - further than anyone had ever been) of Hirot suffering from attacks by a savage beast. Seeing this as an opportunity for further adventure and treasure, the band gathered its gear and headed up the old king's road. A few days later, as they neared Hirot, they encountered a group of peasants and warriors dragging a bound woman to a set of standing stones.

There was a terse exchange where the players attempted to inquire as to the nature of the situation. The leader of the group, an immense warrior deferred to as the Jarl, made it clear that no help was required, that they were on their own business and that they were seeing to the safety of the village. A few of the villagers didn't seem so convinced and shouted out that they were leaving the woman as an offering to placate an evil beast that was plaguing the town.

This of course cued the adventurers and there followed many loud brags that they could rid the town of any monster, that they were the heroes of Lemsby and had killed a chaos demon and they could do it again, especially if gold were involved. The Jarl was unimpressed, his warriors looked on in interest,

I'd thank you to all piss off.

acknowledging the apparent capabilities of the band, but unsure if the situation was going to turn ugly.

That was when Jenson the Warrior lit up the chaos flail he had acquired from Sailors of the Starless sea. The villagers cowered, the Jarl stood impassive and his warriors observed in measured states, hands on swords. Things were tense for a few moments, but calmer heads prevailed and the Jarl simply picked up the woman and rode to the nearby standing stones and bound her to a stake. With a warning not to interfere he led his people back, presumably, to Hirot.

The adventurers waited a few moments then went and freed to woman (whose named turned out to be Morgan), who was grateful but obviously nervous. They learned that the beast had been attacking at night for several months and though it had been slain once, it simply returned the next night more vicious than ever. The Jarl's advisor, one Sillus Ru had come up with the idea of a lottery sacrifice, which had been done every three days which seemed to sate the monster. After a bit of quick math, it was realized that this was not a sustainable situation. It was also discovered that none of the Jarl's men had been picked in the lottery, which immediately set off the rigged lottery alarm.

The adventurers decided to wait for the beast at the stones and were not disappointed when it appeared in the dark of night just beyond the light of the campfire. Brand, with his extra sensitive elephant ears heard it first and a couple left the safety of the firelight to flush it out. A fierce melee ensured and they managed to kill the beast, without casualties, though there was a quick heal when one of the PCs was brought to 0hp.

The band then departed for the village of Hirot, arriving in the early morning. They were greeted by a horn blast and cautious guards at the gate where they discovered that the rumours of great heroes come to save the village had already spread. Urging them to come to her father's Tavern Morgan lead them to the Wolf and Spear as early rising farmers looked on with a mixture of hope and fear.

Broegan was the tavern owners name and was very grateful to see his daughter. He readily offered room, board and gossip. Much was learned. There were ancient myths of a wolf demon, that had been slain or tamed by a champion named Ulfheonar with a great spear. They also learned the trouble started when those no good brothers Kej, Stien and Illham, got the weird idea to go treasure seeking (they'd been bragging) in an old tomb to the north. They also learned that that old Ymae the witch woman had been living in her hut before the village had been founded and knew much of the old stories.

After a meal and a sleep the gang headed out that afternoon to speak with Ymae. Villagers were popping up to check them out. They encountered and had a shouting match with the local cleric of Justica, Father Beacom who loudly proclaimed they were all going to die from their vague and various sins. Reasoning with a looney zealot is seldom satisfying and the band moved on. Ymae's hut stood in the shadow of the promontory on which the Jarl's hall was built, and appeared ancient and unassuming. A knock at it's wobbly old door elicited a crone's voice "You've come at last. Please come in"

Amazingly everyone seems to fit comfortably in the tiny hut which was stuffed with shelves and trunks and bottles and cases filled with an endless assortment of strange and mysterious items. The old lady herself sat by the fire that seemed to crackle and spit as if it were talking, handing the crone wisps of flame which she spun on a spindle. All very impressive. The conversation ranged but the group was able to learn that a great wolf demon plague these parts in ages past but was defeated by a great chief known as Ulfheonar. Ymae give the impression that she had known Ulfheonar personally and said that he had bound the demon to his tomb in the north. The party quickly surmised that the brothers Kej, Stien and Illham had somehow set the wolf spirit free. The witch informed them that a spear capable of destroying the wolf lay in the tomb. She also offered a deal - she would construct a rope that could bind the demon if the party brought her the hair of a dead man and one of their number agreed to marry her. No one committed to this deal, but they thanked her and left. 

The party then proceeded to seek out the remaining no good brothers lead by a certain Master Jenks. These they found in their residence, a filthy flophouse of the other side of town. On their way there the caught the eye of one of the Jarl's men who greeted them with a smile and a caution that the Jarl was none to happy that they were interfering. Strangely, the warrior didn't seem too upset about the situation...

Master Jenks and company were uncooperative at first but after some threatening agreed (it wasn't like they had a choice actually) to lead the group to the tomb and show them where the missing brothers crawled in (they had run away once they heard screams from within the tomb so have no idea what happened to the brothers). 

The adventurers took Master Jenks with them back to the Wolf and spear and tucked him in a closet for the night and got some rest themselves, planning to get up after dark knowing that the demon wolf would likely attack that night. 

Of course it did. Again Brand with his odd elephant ears was the first to hear the howls. The adventurers spread out along the walls, joining the night guards and a few of the Jarl's men. The mood was grim and the friendly comradery was gone. The attack occurred on a little hut and the they arrived too late to save the elderly couple within. A ferocious fight ended with the wolf demon vanquished once more but with the death of Rubin "I only have 2hp" the Warrior. Seeing that one of their number had fallen in defence of the village, the guards were more accepting, but one of the Jarls men made it clear that more villagers would die unless something was done, and at least the Jarls plan was keeping the bloodshed to a minimum. 

Suitably admonished, the party slept the remainder of the night and headed out first thing in the morning with Master Jenks in tow. They came upon the tomb a few hours later in the dense forest to the north. Shaped like a massive serpent, the earthen mound was surrounded by a stream that formed a pond at the serpents's head. Wary of that obvious entrance, the group pushed Jenks to show them how the missing brothers got in and he lead them to a crumbled opening in the mound where a collapse had made an unintended way in. 

The band crawled in and discovered a partially collapsed room with ancient murals and writing on the walls, apparently praising the exploites of a tribe that had taken the wildcat as it's motif but paid tribute to a more powerful tribe whose symbol was the snake. Not finding much beyond rubble, they crept out to find a larger corridor beyond. One direction lead into darkness, the other had a golden glint. Eagerly choosing golden glint over the darkness they discovered themselves in a large, impressive room decorated with murals depicting the snake tribe and a great chief, presumably Ulfheonar, striking down a demon wolf with great spear. There were Two great bronze doors that reflected the light (and not a giant pile of gold as had been speculated) which refused to open. Unnervingly the floor was covered in thousands of cast off snake skins.

It was Daniloth the elf sniffing about for secret doors that came upon the pile of pile of dried twigs and roots by the entrance to the hallway and looked above it to see a secret passage. Brand the thief, sensing  the opportunity to be the first to find the "real hoard" volunteered to go in and scout it out. "Wait!" cried  Grom the wizard "I'll cast a spell!". Everyone groaned.

It should be noted that Grom had been casting spells left right and centre since learning how to do so. Quite a few spells had failed but he had miraculously avoided corruption. Spider climb was the spell he choose to cast this time, with the mercurial effect of Whimsical Patron. This gives a random action die type. In this case, Grom rolled and got a d30 as his action die. He then proceeded to roll a natural 30, a critical. Which means he adds his caster bonus twice for a total of 34. With this result Spider Climb 

Oh Yeah Baby!

essentially turns all friendlies within 20 feet into Spiderman for the next 24 hours. Everyone can climb walls, does extra damage in melee and CAN SHOOT WEBS. Yes they all gained the ability to shoot super strong, sticky webbing...

Bastards.

Chortling over this incredible new ability, Brand leaps up the wall and scuttles into the secret passage with a web rope around his waist so the others can pull him out if something goes wrong. Unfortunately, the Super Spider Powers did not include a spider sense and he was set upon by some sort of zombie in that cramped space and apparently killed. Chez the warrior quickly went in to help and destroyed the zombie and turned Brand over to discover that he was not in fact dead, but just very very hurt. Brand crawled out and Chez crawled forward. Chez soon discovered a chamber with a stone and wood pillar with a very grand looking spear and shield hanging from it halfway up. The pillar looked suspicious and was apparently holding the ceiling up. Chez covered the ceiling with a series of supportive web strands to stop it collapsing (at least immediately) and then scuttled across on a web rope snatched the spear and shield and scuttled back as the room rumbled. He watched it collapse from the relative safety of the secret passage and returned triumphant to the others.

It seemed like they had found the famous wolfspear, but Sebastien's very tactical and pragmatic Cleric wasn't convinced. Were did that zombie come from? He climbed up and searched for a second secret passage in the secret passage. He was rewarded quickly enough by finding an upward tunnel which led to a far less ornate room within which sat a mummified corpse on a simple throne. There was a wolfspear and drinking horn on the corpses lap. Gently lifting these away the Cleric side back down to meet his comrades.

And that is where we ended it for the night!

Modules, sandboxes and things in between...

For my DCC game, I'm planning on using a mix of the Goodman Games modules and third party adventures from Brave Halfling, Purple Sorcerer and Purple Duck games (hmm... purple) among others. There's three reasons for this;

1) I think they're excellent
2) I have to be realistic about what I can reasonably prep in the limited time I have
3) I think they're excellent

That's right! I have the shirt!

There's a couple of challenges however. First, there is a big focus on dungeon crawling. That may sound like a silly complaint given that the name of the game is Dungeon Crawl Classics, but simple room clearing gets old fast. Fortunately, although the setting for most of these are "dungeons" (that is self contained locations with encounters in each) I think they are non-standard enough and have enough character that they won't feel like kill the orcs, take their stuff, repeat.

Secondly, there's no overall story or campaign arc, which is something my group seems to be used too. It's really just a series of adventures. I'm going to add a few themes that will tie them together, but there's no concept of campaign goal other than adventuring. I'm hoping that the "story" such as it is, will emerge from the evolution of the characters (and their deaths of course - this is DCC). One of my gang, Mr. Todd over at Beacon, is a big advocate of emergent story, and I'm hoping the others in the group will see it that way too.

The final consideration, which is both positive and negative, is that by using modules, this won't be a sandbox game. I love sandbox games and I think they have the greatest potential for a truly rewarding game experience. Sandbox campaigns were the norm in the glorious high school and university years when we had oodles of time to explore, discover and build.

But that was then and these days our group (not the same group as in uni of course) seems to lose its way in sandbox games - we tend to wander about aimlessly until the GM gets mad and throws something nasty at us. I'm not sure why this is exactly, but I think it's because sandbox games require a lot of proactive energy from the players. As players we need to be as creative as the GM and look for ways to build longer term goals, strategies and stories into the setting's framework. This is a long process and requires patience, effort and lots of investment but pays off in epic proportions.

But the reality is most of us don't have this sort of time or energy anymore (some of us do, but they're rare and lucky bastards, each and very one of them) - we've got jobs and kids and a million other things demanding our attention. When we get together on a Friday night we're brain dead from a week in the real world and I think we're lacking that vital creative capacity. We need to react, as it were, rather than proact. We also only have about four hours of gaming every two weeks - which makes it hard to sustain that (wonderful) meandering, discovering the world and our role in it approach that typifies sandbox gaming. We need to get into a game quickly and start seeing results. If a game world is just too big or complex, it tends to overwhelm us into a state of paralysis and we chase after the easiest, nearest thing like a pack of ADHD crazed camp kids with axes and fireball spells. In short we arrive at the table and we're craving immediate action. We need a goal we can quickly understand and work toward solving in a session or two. If things are too open ended (which would be a feature in the sandbox style) we can get frustrated (and frustrating for the GM).

I'll use my own Trail of Cthulhu Armitage Files game from last summer as an example. I had multiple secrets, personalities and stories sketched out with multiple approaches, an open world where multiple leads and hooks meant the investigators were free to chart their own course to uncover deadly conspiracies and deal with them however they would. Their actions would have ramifications that would reverberate in many directions and shape the future of many nascent plots. It was fucking magnificent and perfect if we gamed eight hours every week for the next two years (with lots of secret notes and e-mails between sessions) and the players had the time to invest in thinking and planning for the long haul. I was very proud and excited about it (and was the reason I started this blog in fact). But it closed after three sessions. I certainly don't blame my players - they had the best of intentions. It was simply too much, too long term, too involved and required far more effort than most players could give (there were other factors too, such as it being the summer when attendance gets spotty, but you get my drift).

Now before anyone gets too yanked up over this, I'm talking about my experience, which will obviously differ from yours. But it comes down to this; for better or worse, our group seems to need something to focus us for our sessions. Something's gotta kick in the door and give us a reason to get out there or we'll just sit around and talk in funny voices for an hour or four. It's one of the reasons board games go over really well with us - jump right in, clear objectives, not a lot of rev up time.

Modules are also great for this. There's a clear set up and a feeling of accomplishment in one or two sessions rather than the slow group build to an epic arc over say, five, ten or more sessions. So, that's the way I'm going to go. Our first session with Sailors on The Starless Sea was a lot of fun so hopefully that becomes the trend.

Unfortunately this removes that treasured freedom to explore, at least at a macro big world map kinda level. It can feel a bit railroady and "monster of the week" too, so there's a definite trade off. The question is, will we be content with these limitations of the module approach in exchange for the benefit of having highly focused games, or will we eventually get frustrated and start trying to break out of that box? I have seven or so more sessions in the GM chair before it passes over to the next game, so this will be my experiment to find out.

Sailing the Starless Sea part 2

Incredibly we completed the entire module in one four and a half hour session. I say incredibly because our game group loves to take its time. We like in-character stuff, we like making jokes, we like getting side tracked and often forget what were doing and end up harassing completely innocent bystanders. For some reason I always have an image of a us as a group of slightly befuddled, cranky, bickering old geezers with ADHD. And weapons.

Anyway I digress. We ripped through Sailors on the Starless Sea in record time, surprisingly the players missed little. They just seemed to be very very focused. Might have been the character death...


Spoiler warning for those that haven't played this!

The players, each with four 0-level funnel characters generated at Purple Sorcerer;

• Todd - Nerista the mercenary, Smint the blacksmith, Daniloth the elven sage, Lance the noble
• Jeremy - Draug the beekeeper, Rubin the rutabaga farmer, Ester the hunter, Bran the barber
• Trevor - Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling, Corren the trapper, Grom the indentured servent , Jenson the squire (Grom and Jenson were Lance's retinue it was determined)
• Sebastien - Four as yet to be named; a parsnip farmer, a dwarven blacksmith, a blacksmith, and an orphan
• John - Daley the incredibly strong orphan, D'tali the elven falconer, Arvin the rat catcher, Chez the gravedigger

So we left off in the last post with the party descending the stairs into the tunnels beneath the ancient keeps mound. They'd had four or five fatalities by this point (poor old Todd had lost three of his four characters, through no fault of his own), so were starting to get more cautious.

The stairs led down, down, down into a dark and dank corridor. Lighting up torches the party stood on the steps none too eager to proceed (visions of traps dancing in their heads). That is until Brand the barber (who was shaping up to be a magnificent bastard) once again saw the glint of gold in the darkness ahead. With a cry of "Worry not! I'll scout ahead!" he scrambled further down the stairs and found a couple of gold coins up against the stairwell wall. Searching about he found a not very well hidden door that opened easily to a small room beyond.

Shining the torch in he spied three upended chest and sprinkling of coins. "Don't come in! Still checking to see it's safe!" he shouted back. The rest of the group, beginning to see a pattern in Brand's behaviour, filed in anyway and dispassionately watched Brand discover a hidden compartment in a chest and then almost immediately loose a couple of fingers when he activated the associated trap. He still managed to stuff a few coins down his pants while wrapping cloth around his hand.

There followed a touching moment when Brand (whose pockets and shirt were now filled with more coin and goodies than he'd ever seen in his life) tried to convince the rest of the group that maybe they should turn back, because, you know, they'd tried their best, and what good was coin if you weren't around to spend it. It was Chez the gravedigger that reminded Brand that they were in fact here to rescue kidnapped villagers, one of whom was Brand's very own son. "Oh yeah..." replied Brand, eyes shifting about.

That doesn't look spooky at all.

Back in the stairwell it was noticed that a draft was coming through from the wall opposite the emptied treasure room. Pushing at the wall opened a second not very well hidden door leading into a rough chill passage. Not liking the look of it but still wanting to investigate, some one distracted Bran as another tossed a few coppers in and announced "Look - are those coins in there?". Bran immediately took the lead and the party soon found itself in front of massive stone door bearing symbols of Chaos that glowed with a faint
magic. Daniloth the Elven sage attempted to read the runes and came away with the impression that it was some sort of limerick involving cold and heat and bad weather. Chez the grave digger took a look and came away with "Fire, Ice, Hate and Storm". The group decided to go ahead and try to force the door. Amazingly no one was killed in the ensuing blast of magical fire triggered by their efforts.

Behind the door was unnaturally chill tomb containing a corpse with savage looking hide armour and a brutal looking waraxe. One of the nameless four run by Sebastien managed to get to the corpse and after much exertion tore the axe away along with a couple of frozen corpse arms and get out of the tomb without freezing to badly. They didn't fancy going after the armour and decided to get back to the main corridor.

Descending the rest of the stairs the party found itself in a curious long room dominated by a central rectangular pool. Of course Brand gazed into its depths and was initially filled with hope as a several golden points glowed back at him. Hope turn to trepidation however as the golden glowing started moving and then surfaced as four ancient and algae covered skulls, eye sockets shining with undead energy. Several tense moments past while the party stood pressed against the wall ready for battle, but the heads seemed content to bob there watching benignly. Growing bold, a few the adventurers threw stones at the skulls, cracking one which sank.

Not entirely convinced that the skulls were harmless the group turned its attention to the rest of the room and examined pair of murals depicting two mighty chaos lords and battles going on around them and some sort of sacrificial ritual on an island with tentacles rising from the waters. Neither filled the party with optimism. Also discovered were four mouldy robes with chaos markings on them, which were bundled into a back pack.

With a last nervous look at the floating skulls, whose gaze turned to follow them, the group departed through the other side of the room and followed the stairs down even further. Eventually the stairwell ended opening up on a wide dark beach overlooking an immense underground lake. At the edge of the beach was a tall 30 foot rock spire with stairs chiseled about it. Out 30 feet or so into the water was a dragon prow boat and in the far distance, near the centre of the great lake, was a sinister glow and the echo of drums and howls.

Brand decided to check out the rock spire and while climbing the stairs noticed some very intriguing chaotic writing that circled around with the stairs. By the time he reached the summit and discovered a partially melted black candle at the flattened top, he had decided that it would be a very good idea to savagely murder Daniloth the elven sage. He wasn't exactly clear on why this was a good idea, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He ran back down and called the sage over indicating that there was something very interesting at the top that only a sage of his prowess could figure out. Halfway back up Brand gave himself a good shake and realized slaughtering a companion wasn't such a good idea.

Meanwhile the others were trying to figure out how to get the dragon boat to shore. Wading out toward it seemed to prompt something to start swimming about in the water. They beat a quick retreat. Then Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling threw a rope with a hook (not exactly sure where they got this, but oh well) which caught on the boat. They couldn't pull it in but they tied it about the rock spire and tried to cross above the water. Unfortunately the thing in the water figured them out and a radish farmer was torn into tiny little shreds by a violent frenzy of tentacles.

With nothing to loose, Thursby decided to light the black candle at the top of the spire. On his way up he too, after staring at the carved runes, became enamored with the idea of stabbing a compatriot. After a bit of a frantic chase about, he managed to recover himself and get to the top and light the candle. The dragon boat slide gracefully over to shore.

Light the incense!  Light the godamn incense!!

They all jumped on board and the boat immediately set off toward the island in the lake's center. Gearing up to what they figured was the big showdown, the adventurers were horrified when the boat stopped halfway over and those same tentacles emerged from the water and waved expectantly. Suddenly remembering the mural depicting the sacrifice and the tentacles, the party started eying each other. The tentacles were not satisfied with the shoes and other bits of junk tossed at it and it was with sinking dread that they realized that the beast was waiting for someone to be tossed overboard.


Just as mob violence was about to break out it was Jenson the squire that had a sudden flash of insight and figured out that maybe burning the chaos censer found in the temple would placate it. The rushed to do so, and to everyone's relief the tentacles swayed back beneath the waves, apparently satiated. The boat then continued towards the island and the hellish glow and sounds of unholy rites.

As boat beached itself the adventurers saw that a massive ziggurat dominated most of the island. A great number of the beast men where hauling groups of wailing villages up the zagging stairway to the pinnacle where they were being hurled into a pit by a high beast priest. A great and terrifying figure, hard to discern in the waving heat, seemed to preside over the ghastly ritual. They party had lost six members and where greatly outnumbered by the beast men - a frontal assault seemed like suicide. The squire thinking quick again, suggested that four of them don the four chaos robes and pretend to take the rest of the gang up as prisoners. They felt it was their best bet, especially as they didn't have a lot of time to figure out something better.

With mounting incredulity they found their ruse working, passing beast men who were transfixed with the ceremony at the top and who seemed to ignore the robed villagers. They slowly made their way closer to the top, and were nearly there when one beast man turned and focused on them. Suddenly realizing the presence of interlopers it raised the alarm hooting out a warning. The boatmen were galvanized, but spread all the the way along the ziggurat ramp, only a couple were with striking range. As they began to move in, the party made a heroic effort to get to the top of the structure, where it was was relatively empty. They saw a high priest and two beast men chucking villagers and treasure (treasure! cried out Brand)

The following battle was intense and there were many near misses. The giant figure turned out to be an effigy which Thursby cut down. Unfortunately the brilliant plan of cutting it down only resulted in it falling into the giant lava pit in the the center of the ziggurat and seemed to accelerate whatever evil process the beastmen had started. Just as the adventurers seemed to gain the upper hand a towering lava encrusted figure erupted

Crap!

from the pit. The party concentrated their attacks on this new threat but succeeded only in shattering the lava cooled to stone outer layer and a chaos demon emerged from within. Hideous and beastial, with a skull head and single burning eye the monstrosity waved a fearsome flail. D'tali the elven falconeer and Arvin the rat catcher met their doom, but the demon was beaten back and finally felled with mighty blows from Thursby, Rubin and Ester. Lying in a pool of burning remains were the beast's hide armor and terrible flail. Thursby strode forward to claim the flail but the demon had one last surge which engulfed the brave halfling abruptly ending his short but brilliant adventuring career.

With the final destruction of the demon the came a massive shuddering, shaking and roaring as the immense underground cavern began to collapse. The remaining beastmen were in disarray, howling in confusion and frustration. The surviving characters freed the villagers and raced down towards the dragon boat. Brand stopped to scoop up some fallen gems, but even his greed could not hold him as great chunks of rock began falling and crashing about.

The Squire Jenson however, risked his life to run forward and take the fallen holy symbol of Law and cast it as a curse into the evil chaos pit. For this act the Lords of Order took notice and he regained luck spent during battle.

With bare moments to spare the party managed to get themselves and the remaining terrified villagers past the panicked beastmen and into the dragon boat. An enormous wave crashed down and drove the boat out past the island and down a dark cave. After what seemed like an eternity of dark crashing and thundering the boat was shot out into daylight landing in a calm and sun drenched lake.

20 went in. 11 came out...

And so ended our first session!

Next session: Leveling up and Doom of the Savage Kings. Can't wait.

Sailing the Starless Sea, Part 1

You're no hero.

You're a ditch digger, a beekeeper, a turnip farmer, maybe a barber, baker or candlestick maker. You've been eking out a living, saving a penny here or there for the occasional pint down at the pub. The land has been generally peaceful, life mostly uneventful, and everything is, well... kinda dull.

But now there's a big, strange new star in the sky. Old man Roberts says it's a sign, an omen. The ancient cycle of order and chaos is turning and the world just started getting wilder. For the brave, greedy, or simply not too bright, this means adventure.

Most of you will die. Or become hideously corrupted. Being sucked into some hellish outer dimension is also a distinct possibility. But some of you will survive, by hook, by crook and by sheer dumb luck. And if you survive, you'll get better, you'll get stronger, richer, and be able to afford cooler clothes. You'll become an adventurer; a warrior, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. Yes, maybe even a hero.

You'll seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the monstrous, the dark, the demons, and more than a few of your vanquished companions. There are treasures to be won and secrets uncovered, and you shall have them.

Mostly though, you'll still die.

With this we kicked off our DCC mini campaign, starting with Harley Stroh's excellent funnel, Sailors of the Starless Sea. Unbelievably we managed to finish the entire adventure in one night, but I'll break the play report into two pieces. Spoiler warning for those that haven't played this!

The players, each with four 0-level funnel characters generated at Purple Sorcerer;

• Todd - Nerista the mercenary, Smint the blacksmith, Daniloth the elven sage, Lance the noble
• Jeremy - Draug the beekeeper, Rubin the rutabaga farmer, Ester the hunter, Bran the barber
• Trevor - Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling, Corren the trapper, Grom the indentured servent , Jenson the squire (Grom and Jenson were Lance's retinue it was determined)
• Sebastien - Four as yet to be named; a parsnip farmer, a dwarven blacksmith, a blacksmith, and an orphan
• John - Daley the incredibly strong orphan, D'tali the elven falconer, Arvin the rat catcher, Chez the gravedigger

We opened with a group of 20 pitch fork and torch bearing villagers approaching an ancient ruined keep south of the drowsy village of Lemsby. Many homesteads had been discovered empty that morning, their inhabitants taken in the night. The trail had led to these old ruins and smoke had been seen above its crumbled towers.

"Anyone bring a snack?"

On the dusty road before them stood a macabre sight of two corpses bound to a pole with spiky vines.  To everyone's horror, the corpses detached themselves and stumbled forward tendrils waving. Sensing that his great moment had arrived, Lance Darkrouge (one of Todd's characters), the only noble in the village, boldly stepped up with his grandfather's broadsword and with a rousing "Follow me peasants!" to lead the charge. His almost immediate death by throttling certainly inspired the villagers as they proceeded to pummel the vine horrors. Everyone was then rewarded with an explosive covering of pungent corpse mucus as the defeated corpses burst and spread their foul seeds.

There was a moment of reflection as Jenson the squire took his master's signet ring and with trembling lip bid them move on. They spied the silhouette of some beastly creature on the ruined wall, and hung there flapping in the breeze was a crude banner with a red flaming skull. They pressed forward and had rock and other debris flung down on them below the main gate. Uncowed they started crawling under the partially raised portcullis which was promptly dropped on them when half their number were through. Amazingly no one died, and with the aid of the unnaturally strong halfling Thursby, they pulled the old rusted gate off their companions and moved cautiously into the courtyard.

A few titterings and hootings could be heard above, but there were no more attacks. The courtyard presented a few intriguing areas. There was a massive collapsed hole in the ground that no one wanted to go near, a well with a complex looking winch system attached, a burnt out chapel of some sort barred from the outside, and a stout recently repaired door leading into the only tower still standing.

Brand the barber (who had heard that loot was often found in these sort of expeditions) decided to investigate that well, as obviously someone was using the winch to store stuff down there. He looked over the edge and a profound blackness stared right back. No loot down there he thought. Why yes there is! said a sudden thought that just popped into his head. Lots of treasure and and women too! "We must investigate the well! I'll go first!" He stated aloud and one of his companions obligingly cranked on the winch pulling a terrifying leather harness up from the depths. "This is going to go well" remarked another as Brand strapped himself in and was lowered down.

Brand's disappointment that jewels and vivacious woman were not immediately thrust upon him quickly turned to consternation as an alien wind from some far and terrifying realm of chaos began to moan about him. "Up! Up!" he yelled, and he was cranked up out of the well but not before that alien wind got in his ears. The others were dismayed to see him appear with massive elephantine ears instead of the tasteful regular ones and there were muttered comments about dropping him back in.

Pulling Brand out the others spent a few moments prodding him until more rocks were chucked down from the old battlements. Daley, an incredibly strong orphan picked up a rock and chucked it back. Against all odds his stone not only found his target crouched behind a crenellation, but killed it stone dead. Encouraged, he picked up and threw two more stones and repeated the performance twice (he rolled 3 natural 20s in a row...!). With three dead beastmen, lying crumpled in the courtyard, the emboldened would-be adventurers decided to try their luck with the barred chapel.

Bizarre chaotic inscriptions, leering gargoyles, burned out and barred from the outside, the chapel seemed to beckon the party forward. Straining as a group they hoisted the massive door bar and

"Hmm.. I'm sure it's safe in there now.."

cranked open the double doors to be met with the sight of burned ruin and charred bones beyond. All hesitated, except Brand who thought he could see a hint of gold buried in the ashes. He stepped in and was greeted by ghostly screams and a phantom blast of heat, echoing from the past. Greed quickly overrode fear however and Brand pushed forward digging in the detritus discovering a few partly melted gold coins.

The rest of the group quickly pushed their way in and discovered a few more coins, a few old maces and bits of armour which they distributed. Brand quickly proving himself to be quite the treasure hound, pulled out a solid gold brazer with runes inscribed around it. He quickly hid it under his shirt and turned to find the party peering at him and the new "growth" bulging out his side. He laughed a little laugh and pretended not to notice their stares. Also found was a box containing incense cones obviously for the brazer.

It was the glitter of gems that drew Brand's attention to the toad statue with the burning black tar oozing out its mouth into a stone bowl. He approached even though the heat became intense. A few feet away the black ooze suddenly leap from the statue's mouth and the party rushed forward to engage. Brandon's barber scissors did little other than get his fingers burnt, but Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling and Draug the beekeeper waded in with their recently found maces smacking the ooze about, sending great burning chunks off in all directions. Unfortunately Neristina the mercenary and Smint the blacksmith just happened to be in some of those directions and both were horribly burned to death (Todd's second and third funnel character - he was now down to one). Thursby and Draug felt slightly bad and the band beat a hasty exit from the chapel.

Out in the courtyard their eyes fell upon that recently repaired door to the still standing tower. There was some discussion as to who would be the one to open the door. Daninoth the not so sage elven sage (Todd's only remaining character) flatly refused to go anywhere near the door. Finally a few of the stronger types kicked it down and hurtled inside. Immediate roaring, croaking and bleating battle ensued as beast men and peasants hacked and stabbed at each other, and a towering beastman master came swinging into the fray.

The beastmen were defeated but the peasants took casualties as well. A quick check of the repellant chamber (no one was much interested in scrounging through the rotting hides strung across the floor) revealed little other than a few captives taken the previous night from the village. They were quickly released and most fled after a quick thank you. A pair of radish farmer brothers, Chester and Lester, decided to join the adventurers and seek revenge. They would accompany the party but were not yet recovered enough to fight or help out in any meaningful way. After a quick scout onto the battlements turned up nothing, the party decided to head down the stairs leading into the hill from the beastman room.

To be continued in part 2...

...and I'm back!

So I haven't written in this blog since last summer. The Trail of Cthulhu game came to a close in August and I never got around to writing up the last session. I can't recall the details, but it involved the usual antics. Kidnapping an army major in his bathrobe, infiltrating a small military base posing as evil psychologists, being discovered by terrifying experiments, and wild shooting and screaming in the middle of the night. It was only three table top sessions in all, and combined with a couple G+ Hangouts we made lots of story progress, but the group never really warmed to the gumshoe ruleset.

Ubiquitous "I'm back!" type image.

Since that time we played more Beacon run by the illustrious Mr.Todd and tried out FATE with Diaspora run by the indomitable Mr. Jeremy, both of which I enjoyed. Jeremy was especially brave to run Diaspora as it involved a lot of plot control from "the table" and I think we kinda destroyed what was probably a very interesting and intriguing plot by lighting pillows on fire and and de-orbiting space stations. Also by creating non-violent hippy worlds. Non-violent hippy worlds are the most boring places to go in an rpg by the way. Great in concept, but lead balloonish in play. Sorry about that Jeremy. I also got to run a one shot of Ashen Stars, which was lots of fun - it was an expansion of the Stowaway intro adventure. Interestingly the group liked the Gumshoe implementation in Ashen Stars. Fickle bastards.

But this past Friday I had the pleasure of starting up a Dungeon Crawl Classics game. This campaign will run for about eight sessions. So I'll summarize here for my group and anyone else that happens by.