Game log 12 September 2021, 26 September 2021, 10 October 2021: Long way out

Dramatis personae

Angelista, slayer
Poklov, Town Watchdwarf
Felcanis, cleric
Honsou, bowman watched by the Town Watchdwarf

Quid occurrit

They take off their armor, and wrap a rope around Honsou. Felcanis casts Light on Honsou's gear, then Honsou goes into the water.

Honsou moves through the hall and takes a turn to the right, into another room. The room isn't big, with the only things in it being a rusty spittoon stuck on the floor to the left and a big hole to the right. Honsou thinks the flow of the water at the hole triggers some kind of trap, and when he looks, he thinks sticking something into the hole will bring about something shooting or stabbing the fool who does this.

After about 30 seconds, Honsou comes back and tells the others about the room and the hole; Poklov thinks it could be a drain. Angelista tries to get Poklov to leave behind his armor and swim through the maze of rooms, but he balks.

They send Honsou back into the room again, this time to see if the hole is a drain. He sticks his hand into the hole, and a big spear sticks into him. Poklov feels the rope go limp, and he pulls Honsou back to dry land. There, Poklov bandages him, and Felcanis casts Stop Bleeding on him, then Major Healing.
Angelista again tries to talk Poklov to swimming through the tunnels, but again Poklov balks. Felcanis agrees with Poklov once she learns that would mean leaving Bill to die. So, they rest, and Felcanis casts Lend Energy twice to bring the wind back to Honsou.

They go back into the room with the upward-dangling rope, and all of the sudden something rushes out of the darkness to stab Poklov—a hellshot. Poklov steps out of the way, and after a few seconds of trading blows and parries and Honsou dropping his knife, Poklov knocks down the hellshot with his shield. Angelista cuts its neck, Poklov smashes its skull, then Angelista runs it through.

Honsou checks the door on the side opposite the stairs, and finds it safe and unlocked. Beyond it is a hallway with a big curtain to the right. They walk past the curtain, then to a fork in the hall, and take a left. They make it to a door, then bash it open.

Beyond the door is a room with no other ways out and three shocked folks, two women and a man. After Poklov says hello, a short, stocky woman near the door picks up her staff and asks who just now burst into the room. After some testy words with Angelista, the heroes learn the woman is Alligên, a cleric of Saundīvós, who was resting with two acolytes of Saundīvós, Puménē and Vaíkkolos.

As it happens, Alligên is a mighty cleric, at least as far as casting spells, and she heals Poklov's eye for a donation. Alligên lets the heroes know that she and her acolytes did not come through Dībités Rock and instead through a cave, so there is another way out of the dungeon.

Alligên tells the heroes that they have to walk a bit to get to the way out, and that the only thing that has saved the cleric is the Bless spells Alligên has cast on them. The heroes agree to let Alligên show them the way out.

They wind their way back to the room with the upward-dangling rope, then walk into the hallway where the werewolves had turned themselves into beasts. From there, they go around a corner and into another room with leftovers of old crates and barrels, and points at a wall to the right. "Right about here is a doorway," she says. It looks like a normal wall, so Honsou looks and finds the cracks and a rock at the bottom right corner he can wiggle to open the wall. Before he gets the door open, Alligên lets them know there are ghouls on the other side, so the clerics will have their holy symbols ready.

When Honsou gets the door open, they can see a small room with a way out to the far right, an old pipe organ on the far wall with fluid dripping from the ceiling before it, and rotting pews in between. Between the pews and the organ are four ghouls, which Angelista knows to have a hunger for bodies and a paralyzing touch. "Do not let them touch you!"

Honsou gets out a broadhead arrow and aims at a ghoul, while the ghouls wait for the heroes to come to them. Alligên raises her holy symbol, and two of the ghouls scream and hold back. Angelista lobs her spear at a ghoul at where she thinks their vitals are, then pulls out her sword. The spear goes straight into the innards of the ghoul, but doesn't drop it. Poklov moves to the fore of the others. Felcanis points her mace and tries to cast Armor on Angelista, but fails. The acolytes both concentrate, and the ghouls cower from them.

The broadhead arrow flies from Honsou's bow and into Alligên's right leg as Honsou loses his balance. She keeps concentrating through the pain. "I hope your friend doesn't kill me before the ghouls do, Felcanis!" Still up, she steps towards Poklov. Angelista runs up to the ghoul with her spear still in it and swings her sword, but misses. Poklov jumps onto a pew. Felcanis tries to cast Turn Zombie, but again her spell does not go off right. The acolytes, like their master, keep concentrating.

Honsou pulls out another arrow and aims. The ghoul with the spear in it passes out from its wounds. Angelista steps to strike another nearby ghoul, and it claws at Angelista. However, she gets her shield before its claws, and swings her sword so hard into its neck that its head almost comes off, though the ghoul, already being dead, stays up. Poklov slams a ghoul with his shield and also flicks aside its claw with his axe. Felcanis steps and casts Turn Zombie, this time wounding the ghouls. The acolytes keep concentrating, much as Alligên is.

Honsou changes his aim to another ghoul after a step and telling Vaíkkolos to move. The ghoul near Angelista lands a hit on her with its claw, weakening her, though it doesn't paralyze her. A ghoul near Poklov claws at him, but he steps back, while another rushes to claw him but misses. Alligên casts Lend Energy 3 on Angelista, and Saundīvós smiles so much at this that He heals all of Angelista's weakened nerves. Angelista swings for its neck, but its claw pushes aside the sword. Poklov tries to cut off the hand of a ghoul but misses, and Felcanis casts Sunbolt. The acolytes step back.

The thief keeps aiming, bothered since there are two folks between him and the ghoul. The ghoul swings for Angelista, who pushes her shield in the way in time. Another ghoul backs up, and the last one swings for Poklov and hits, claw stopping at the armor. Alligên swings her staff at a ghoul and hits, and it falls apart

Honsou keeps aiming. Angelista swings at a ghoul and misses, and Poklov swings at a ghoul and it steps back. Felcanis lobs her Sunbolt at a ghoul, burning it. The acolytes step to get out of the way of Honsou's shot. The ghouls step back from the crowd, the acolytes' turning them back.

At last Honsou gets off his shot, hitting the ghoul in the neck, weakening it. Another ghoul moves back, while another misses Angelista with her claw. Angelista rushes at the back-most ghoul and swings but misses. Alligên steps and casts Major Healing on herself. Poklov slams his shield into a ghoul. Felcanis goes over the pew, and the acolytes step forward.

Honsou gets out another arrow and aims. A ghoul takes a swing at Angelista, who gets her shield in the way. When another ghoul swings for Poklov, Poklov's axe catches its arm and cuts it. Alligên climbs on the pew. Angelista swings at the ghoul that tried to hit him, but it stepped back in time. Poklov puts his axe in skull of the ghoul near him, taking it out. Felcanis leaps over the pew, and stands before a slightly-raised stone daïs. Puménē steps and concentrates, while Vaíkkolos moves, dropping concentration.

Trying to save arrows, Honsou hides. Alligên moves to the daïs. The last ghoul claws at Angelista. She catches the claw on the rim of her shield then gives the ghoul a sword blow to its neck, sending it staggering backwards. Poklov moves up, and Felcanis goes back around the pew to get Bill. Puménē steps and concentrates, while Vaíkkolos goes around the pew. The ghoul and Angelista trade blows, with neither hitting at first, then Angelista takes off its head.

Among the ghouls' rubble is a ceramic jar. Even though they hear the jingle of coins inside, they hold off on opening it, instead putting it in Bill's saddlebags.

After beating the ghouls, Alligên casts Stop Bleeding on Angelista and the acolytes each cast Minor Healing on her.  After some waiting, Alligên casts Major Healing on Felcanis, and the acolytes cast Lend Energy on Felcanis to bring her back up faster. Alligên casts Stop Bleeding and Minor Healing on Honsou, then they rest some more.

They walk around the corner to the left, but Honsou says there's something happening in the hallway to the right. Since Alligên says the way out is to the left, they go that way, but the din to the right gets louder, becoming the din of growls and claws on stone. Honsou moves to the back in time to see the werewolves burst out from the hallway.

The werewolves rush into the room. Angelista gets out her sword and moves towards them, and Poklov also moves towards them.  Alligên and the acolytes start digging in their pouches for wolfsbane. Felcanis casts Armor on Angelista, and Honsou pulls out an arrow and aims.

The werewolves rush towards Poklov and Angelista but miss. Poklov tries to slam the werewolf before Angelista but misses. Felcanis casts Sunbolt, while Honsou keeps aiming.

One werewolf tries to claw Angelista, but she parries, while the other whacks Poklov in the back of the skull, but his helmet takes the blow. Felcanis lobs her Sunbolt, but hits Vaíkkolos the acolyte instead. "Yow!" he yelps, but steps back and keeps digging in his pouch.

The werewolves try to claw Angelista and Poklov, but sword and armor take the blows. Poklov misses, while Felcanis casts another Sunbolt. The werewolves still cannot get through Angelista's and Poklov's defenses, and Poklov's axe misses a werewolf's skull. Alligên gets out the wolfsbane and steps towards the fray, while Felcanis again misses with a Sunbolt, though doesn't hit anyone by mistake this time.

Honsou likewise shoots at a werewolf, but he misses. The werewolves again cannot get through to claw Angelista and Poklov, while Poklov's axe cannot get through the skull of a werewolf. Alligên steps forward, holding up the wolfsbane, while the acolytes get out their bundles.

As Honsou gets out another arrow and aims, the werewolves swing for Angelista; one gets a scratch through her armor. Poklov slams that werewolf from behind, knocking it down.

Now that the werewolves smell the wolfsbane and having only landed one scratch in many seconds of fighting, they go back down the hallway, though Poklov gets off one last useless blow on the werewolf on the ground, who doesn't care.

Alligên says, "Don't tell me you went into a dungeon without some of this stuff."

Angelista says, "Yeah, we did."

Alligên says, "Were you just thinking, 'Let's go down and kill that balrog! It will be easy!'?"

The heroes, no fully around the corner, make it into a room that looks like an old laboratory. There is an old table with a mortar and pestle on it along with a jar. There is a suit of rusty plate armor with a rusty halberd near the door. Honsou thinks the armor might be trapped, but doesn't care, and goes for the door. Doing so, he foolishly steps on the tripwire of the trapped armor before this. He hears it swing, but it can't get out of the way, so it hurts him good. Alligên casts Major Healing on Honsou, who then unhooks the tripwire.

Honsou opens the door; it is not trapped and unlocked. Beyond the door, this old storeroom is just a bunch of barrels whose wine has long turned to vinegar, with two big centipedes who see the heroes open the door. They try to bite Angelista, who is right by Honsou, but neither hits, with one putting its teeth in her shield. Honsou pulls out an arrow and steps back. Poklov throws his axe into a centipede, and pulls out another one. Angelista tries to stab the innards of a centipede, but she can't hit it.

Both centipedes again try to bite Angelista, but cannot get through her armor. As neither she nor Poklov can get through their shells, it's only fair. They bite back at Poklov and Angelista, but they bite armor and shield. That's more than Poklov and Angelista can do back. Felcanis casts Armor on Angelista. Honsou tries to shoot a centipede but misses.

Poklov, having now stepped behind the centipedes, hits one in the skull from behind, while Angelista pokes on in the innards. The centipedes keep trying to bite Angelista and Poklov, whose armor is too touch for their bites. Poklov takes one down, while Angelista can't get through the shell of the other one. It tries to bite her, but instead bites the floor. Honsou, arrow out again, aims at the centipede, while Poklov tries to play a game he calls "Diablo" and breaks a barrel. Angelista misses the centipede, which bites her armor, and Poklov stops playing Diablo and takes down the last centipede with a blow to the skull.

The gang gets into the barrel room, and blocks the door with some of them. They rest, with the acolytes casting Lend Energy on Felcanis and Poklov. Ten minutes later, Felcanis does the same on Poklov, and after a few more minutes, they're fully rested.

They follow a path to the right out of the room, up a short rise, then reach a fork. Between the fork, there is a metal trunk with a chain and collar linked to it. There is a dead body of a big lizard in that collar, and the chest is open and empty. Alligên says, "It was like that when we came in. That lizard has been dead awhile." After this, she leads them to the left, past some hollow tubes of stone that look like they are growing from the ceiling, then up another short rise. There is a tunnel going left, and Alligên says, "We came from there."

They go through the tunnel, and after about an hour, they come out by a tree with ravens and a lake. Dībités Rock is along the shoreline; it's late afternoon. After telling the clerics they need to get home, Alligên nods at the heroes and says, "We need to get back, too. We're from Blossētétiš"—a town well to the north the north—"so we have a loooong trek. We obviously weren't up to this. We'll be sure to welcome you if you ever come, Felcanis." Poklov gives her a donation of 100 copper, then they start to the north.

They hunt that night (other than Felcanis, who casts Create Food for herself) and pitch camp. They spend the next three days going back to Mīstássun, with Honsou using his last arrows to hunt.

Game log 29 August 2021: There's silver in … somewhere else

 

Dramatis personae

Angelista, slayer
Poklov, Town Watchdwarf
Felcanis, cleric
Honsou, bowman watched by the Town Watchdwarf

Quid occurrit

The horde pygmies run away. The heroes loot the bodies of the horde pygmies and the hellshots and find nothing, but do find 120 coins in the fake bottom of a trunk in the back of the room. Felcanis checks the walls, and finds them true walls, not fake.

They wait in the room for a bit, then see some light to the southwest. After seeing that the light comes from some horde pygmies poking the bodies of their dead, Poklov runs at them, screaming.

Angelista throws a javelin at a horde pygmy, but misses. Poklov shield-slams into the same horde pygmy, killing it. Honsou aims. Poklov puts his axe into another horde pygmy's neck, almost cutting off its head, but somehow it stays up. He turns towards another, and gives it an axe blow to its chest. He swings for a third one, but misses. Angelista steps and readies another javelin.

In light of how much they can do to the gang of murderhobes, the horde pygmies turn and run. Honsou shoots the horde pygmy with the big wound in its neck, and not only does the arrow kill it, but it goes through and hits the horde pygmy in front of it, killing that horde pygmy. Poklov runs forward and goes for the throat of the nearest standing horde pygmy, taking off its head, and takes out another with a swing to its chest. 

They let the other horde pygmies run away; they're too tired to chase. After about an hour of resting, Lend Energy spells, and a Major Healing spell on Poklov, they're ready to go again. They make it back to the great hall where they came onto this level, and this time take the stairs down. Honsou brings the chest.

They find themselves in a room that is only about twenty feet to the other wall, which has a door on the other side, but goes about thirty feet to the left and the right. To the left, they see a frayed rope tied to an iron ring in the floor going straight up, halfway to the ceiling. Poklov tugs at the iron ring, which does nothing.

They spend a few minutes checking out the rope. Honsou goes near it, and learns that there are straight cracks in the floor, coming from the left wall and stopping about ten feet from that door. He finds that the rope dangling upwards; gravity is going the wrong way for it. Honsou shrugs, and throws the chest at the door, which does nothing. He finds the unharmed door locked with a poison needle inset in the lock, and sees its hinges a little too flush with the wall for his liking. He unsets the poison needle, then cuts the floating rope about midway through. The rope he has does nothing, but the rest of the rope still dangles upwards. Honsou tries putting the chest on the ring, but it falls, then checks the cracks of the door and thinks that opening the door triggers whatever the floor does. There's the musty smell of water beyond the door, though the door is neither wet nor warped.

At the other end of the room, Felcanis can make out two man-sized beings. She tells the others, and with that, the beings walk towards. Poklov starts chopping open the door, and Angelista goes to meet the two beings, whom he sees are a man with a pointed beard and a woman with wet hair. Both have broadswords and shields, but neither wears armor. 

Angelista tells them to halt, and the man asks her who they are. When neither the man nor Angelista says who he or she is, the woman asks, in a nasal voice, "Blah, blah, blah, where is the man with the half-shaved head?" Angelista says that she doesn't know, and the woman says, "Oh? So he's not up there? He's kind of wild-looking and had a bad date with a razor on his scalp." Since Angelista doesn't know who this is and neither group wants to say who it is, the two walk back and turn a corner.

After a few seconds, they hear dog-like roars around that corner. Then, two furry beings rush at them. They are bipedal yet canine, with big claws and thick fur. One has wet hair, and the hair on the underside of the snout of the other somehow makes a forked beard.

Honsou takes a shot, but his arrow doesn't get past the beast's fur. Both step towards Angelista and swat at her with their claws, but her shield and sword push them back. Felcanis yells, "They're werewolves! We need silver weapons and wolfsbane!" Sure enough, Poklov tries to put his axe in one, and he doesn't take heed at all.

As it dawns upon them that they cannot harm the werewolves, they run through the broken door, with Poklov holding them off until Felcanis casts Sunlight. The werewolves stop and look to the sky, letting Poklov get out; they do not run after them.

Res aliae

Nobody has the Swimming skill, which should make the unseen water even more fun.

Game logs for 31 August and 14 September 2018: Run to the hills

Dramatis Personae

Xóran, fox-man scout
Kim, thief
Mayhem, short barbarian
Ash, squire
Grymálkus, whiny cleric of the war god
Caleb, wizard
Áttikos, holy warrior of the sun god
Kôštē, cleric of the farming goddess

Quid occurrit

Knowing they may be fighting a werewolf, Mayhem harvested three bundles of wolfsbane.

Then the gang went south to Mīštássun. There, Kim stole a silver-coated large knife at Mayhem’s behest.

After the short pit stop, the heroes set out to find the wolf man, but instead wandered to the hobbit village of Kīkídzā. The hobbits in Kīkídzā were frightened of everything. The wolf man struck there many years ago and has been coming back every so often ever since.

While in Kīkídzā, Áttikos looked to the sun for foresight, and had a sight of the wolf man and someone the size of a hand flying around him.

The gang spent the night in the village and left at dawn. This time, they made it to the sinkhole and saw a wolf below. The wolf watched them. Xóran shot it, and the arrow hit the wolf but did not hurt hum. Mayhem dropped a bundle of wolfsbane down the cliff wall, and the wolf backed off before kicking dirt onto it.

After chatting among themselves to see what to do next, they came to an insight: against a werewolf, with almost no silver weapons, they could do nothing. As such, they chose to go north into the hills to find the ogre and his sword.

First, they went back to Mīštássun, where they spent the night. Áttikos woke up with the flu, but Kôštē cured him, and the gang set forth for Rēláištiš. On the way, two men warily walked toward them, and said, “Can I help you with anything, friend?” Xóran said they were headed up north, and the men passed. In Rēláištiš, Kim sold some captured armor and weapons. The day after that, the gang went to the Dragon Claw Clan's winter grounds, and bought winter clothes for half off.

The next morning, they set forth for the Áos Hills. Mayhem, wanting to make quick time going north, led the gang east for the Sarkērrêne River, as walking along it would be easier than walking through the hills. They made it to the river near the end of the day, then started up it the next morning.

Late the second afternoon, they fought two wolpertinger—a flying hare with antlers and big teeth—and beat them easily, though Kim did shoot Xóran in the back. However, as soon as nobody was looking, the bodies of the wolpertingers’ vanished.

On the third day, having gone as far north along the river as they cared, they turned back west, hoping to stop at the Zúbrās Mining Company where Caleb, Mayhem, and Kim had worked in the summer. On the way, they stumbled on a gutted deer carcass. That night, they saw a campfire a few miles back to the east, not far off the path they had taken inland.

The next day they reached the mining camp, and found the outskirts empty. Áttikos tried to look to the sun for answers, fails. Meanwhile Mayhem, Kim, and Xóran snuck towards middle of camp and saw armed orc and goblin patrols, lacking slave collars.

Looking for answers instead of trouble, Mayhem chose to try to find the campfire they had seen the night before. They made it within sight of where they had camped the night before when a husky man with an unkempt mustache and a spear stopped them. “Who are you?”

Caleb smirked. “Who are YOU?”

The hunter snorted. “I asked you first.” After an awkward silence, he kept going. “Are you guys hunters?”

Mayhem grinned. “We can be.”

The hunter raised an eyebrow. “You’re not from the mines, are you?”

Caleb shook his head. “No, but we were there this summer.”

Áttikos stepped forward. “Are you from the mines?”

The hunter shook his head. “I wouldn’t go there. I think there’s a slave uprising.” He went on to say that the uprising had been going on for a few days, as he had heard the din when he was hunting near the mining camp. The hunter and the heroes then let each other know that both had seen each other’s campfires the night before.

Now wanting to know more, Kim, Xóran, Áttikos, and Grymálkus went back to mining camp, with Kim and Xóran hanging behind the other two by a safe gap. Áttikos and Grymálkus watched what the orcs and goblins were doing, which was arming themselves with crummy weapons that the kobold batmen were handing out. The thought that the slaves would send a raiding party somewhere for more gear.

It was right about then that three orcs spotted them. As the heroes backed off, the orcs turned and fled. Áttikos got off a parting shot, but it didn't get through the orc's armor.

The heroes made it back to where the others were waiting. The hunter told them that the slaves would either make for the Sarkērrêne River and head south along it, or maybe hit Fort Rénnutēs first, which was only about five miles to the south. Then he left to make his camp elsewhere.

The gang didn't want to fight about 70 armed slaves, so they chose to go back on their quest, but first went south to Fort Rénnutēs. A short old man opened the gate, and Xóran asked him if they could come inside. The man instead told Xóran to get lost. Mayhem and Ash said that there was a slave uprising at the mines and that they might head south, and the old man slammed the door in their face. "Then get away from here!"

The camped near the fort. Nobody came out to tell them they couldn't.

Res aliae

This is two session reports together, 31 August and 14 September. As you can see, there wasn't much fighting, but instead some world exploring. John, who plays Kim and Ash, was in the hospital on 31 August with a pesky cellulitis infection; he played on 14 September, and we came to the aftercare facility to do so. After our experience gaming with Chris at Walker Methodist ("They're playing Dragons and Dungeons. It's hilarious! They keep going to all these motels."), we're happy John will only be there a few weeks, and, best of all, checking out on his own two feet.

And, thanks to Roman posting game info on a Facebook group for information about maces and warhammers, we might have another player the next time we play, which should be some time in October. (Looking at an orc archer.) We'll be playing Rifts on the 30th; Steph (Mayhem) wants to GM a one-off scenario he's had in mind for some time. I understand I'm playing a rogue scholar, not my crazy, which I'm sure will be to the relief of some others at the table. (He's crazy in, ah, uncomfortable ways. I'm sure I'll blog about it some time. It's much more interesting to me than the powers he has, something I'll have to check.)

Game log for 19 October 2014

Dramatis personae:

Yémos, a cleric
Anêr, a swashbuckler
Mayhem, a barbarian
Caleb, a wizard

Quid occurrit:

Oh, they've been through the forest with a pony with no name,
And they're about to step into the rain.

Name the fucking horse! — Richard Jeni

The pony got the name of either "Greymare" or "Bill" when the group found him, wandering outside on the afternoon of 3 Blôs. They chose to head northeast to Káddrakos.

After a few hours of walking, though still before nightfall, six wolves suddenly set upon them. The pony, whatever her name is, stepped back, while the wolves rushed to the two fighters afore the others, and got little nips at them before they could gather their wits about them. Anêr and Mayhem started taking swings, while Yémos cast Shield on Mayhem, and Caleb cast Explosive Fireball. The wolves started biting at their legs, and one ran around towards Yémos. Mayhem got a killing blow, and as it died, the wolf turned into a hairy man.

Uh-oh.

Not quite.

Caleb threw his Explosive Fireball, but it didn't make the werewolves panic, as it would true wolves. Still, it killed another wolf, but the living wolves cripple the legs of both Anêr and Mayhem, Anêr dropping his sword while trying to parry the blow. Another took a bite out of Yémos's chest, and he falls down.

Now, the wolves tried to drag off the three heroes. They bit on the heroes and started to pull them off. Anêr grabbed his sword and stabbed at the wolf. The wolf must let go of Anêr to get away, but did and then bit on him again. Mayhem swung his axe into the wolf dragging Yémos, while Caleb tried to lob a Fireball at the last wolf, who had run after the now-spooked pony, but he missed.

After a few more seconds, Mayhem and Caleb, who had run up to the others, killed the wolf on Yémos, while the others howled and fled. After a few minutes, Caleb caught up with their pony, then brought her back and did some first aid on the others. Both Anêr and Mayhem found they can walk on their legs, so Mayhem set up camp and shelter.

The night went without issue, though Yémos didn't sleep well. He healed Anêr and Mayhem, then the others loaded him onto the back of the pony, and grabbed their gear. Early that morning, a beetle almost as big as the pony set on them while they walked to Káddrakos. As they tried to kill the beetle, Anêr ran around to the back of the beetle, and it let out a cloud of harmful mist, which makes both Anêr and Caleb, who had run up to the beetle to stick his sword between its plates. Anêr, however, stayed in the mist, and put his sword through the plates in the back of the beetle, killing it.

Yémos healed both Anêr and Caleb, though his spells didn't work well on the latter. Mayhem went hunting while Yémos healed, but didn't catch anything. Yémos cast Create Food on the bug, which gave them both two meals and the farts, much like the bug, though not deadly farts.

They didn't make good time due to the wounds to both spellcasters, so they set up camp that night, still a few miles from Káddrakos. Mayhem set up the camp well, but he couldn't make a good shelter from the reeds and sticks in the grasslands. The next day, Yémos healed Caleb, and that afternoon, they found the body of an orc in leather and bearing a shield and axe. Yémos figured out the burnt Celtic cross on the shield of the orc marked him as one of the Vile Brand band, and they found eight silver pennies on his body. They easily found his cause of death: vines covered him, and had strangled him.

That night, they made it to Káddrakos, storm clouds overhead. Anêr and Yémos went to the Church of Bagóbros, and there, a plump gnome woman named Dīrónē leaned up from her cobbling and healed them for a few pennies. They asked Dīrónē of any quests. She told them that she had heard of a dragon in a ruin in the hills to the northwest, and told them the tale of Atilíā, a thin gnome woman from Dīrónē's youth. She was a peddler who had sold a stone statue of a baby, who, when dipped in water, turned into the lost son of the Duke of Magápos. A few months after this, the other gnomes found Atilíā's body in the middle of the road, stakes nailed in her hands and feet.

Meanwhile, in the Winking Friar, Vískōl, the barkeep, was glad to see them. Allikolía, the one-armed gnome ranger, was not there. In the small crowd of drinkers was a hobbit with deep-set eyes, who talked loudly about going to sell leather to the army in a keep in a land filled with dead trees. When they figured out about whom the hobbit was talking, Mayhem went up to him, and the hobbit mocked Mayhem for being a barbarian, then let him know that, if the wizard in the keep had money, he'd be happy to do business with him.

That night, it rained, which made the roads bad. Mayhem, however, thought he knew how to get to Ōndrûnks without going through too many puddles, and so they set out. However, that morning …

Extra ludum

This ends on a cliffhanger since it was five minutes to four, and we were going to go at four-ish. I gave out two character points since I let the werewolves fail their second morale check, which was a gimme. The next encounter is five bandits, and I have some time to roll them up: 9 November.

It's hard for me to believe it had been so long since they had started a walk and set up a camp that I had trouble remembering the rules in Dungeon Fantasy 16. It took a minute or two to get through that again.

The most creative idea that happened was that, while the wolf was dragging Yémos, Eric wanted to cast Create Food on the wolf. After all, the spell doesn't say you can't cast it on still-living matter. It seemed so wrong but so clever that I wanted to find a way to let it work, but I couldn't. The Butcher spell in GURPS Magic: Death Spells is Very Hard and needs Magery 3 to work. Prerequisites aren't a big balancer, but this is a guideline that says you just can't do this. Still, it was a great idea.

And what do werewolf bites do, anyways? Do they turn the victim into a werewolf? Or into a furry?