10 January 2021 game log: Whoa, have you ever seen a door like that before?

Dramatis personae

Angelista, undead hunter

Poklov, dwarf bounty hunter

Felcanis, elf cleric (run as NPC)

Quid occurrit

Angelista picks up her javelin, after which Felcanis heals her. They get an hour of rest in the back room, and Angelista says, "I think the cleric is ready. We should not stay here." They leave the room and go back down the hallway, this room being a dead end as best they can tell.

When they get to a corner, they see some light and stop. Angelista holds up her hand and peers around the corner. From there, she can see that there are some frogmen and a bald man just up the short flight of stairs, looking at a door. The bald man bears a sword and shield, wearing mail, with patch on a tear in its shoulder.

Angelista realizes that she has seen him before. He's Šanzbašar.

Šanzbašar points at the door. "Whoa, guys, ever seen a door like that before?" His voice isn't as gruff as it was when Angelista sparred with him, but more spaced out. The frogmen are puzzled, shaking their heads.

Poklov also looks around the corner. Angelista whispers, "Wait," to him. She points at the patch in his mail. "He will be the most dangerous foe. You want him alive, correct?"

Poklov looks up at Angelista. "Is he the shapechanger?" he asks.

Angelista nods. "Yes. I have a score to settle with him."

The heroes get ready. Felcanis casts Armor on Angelista, then picks up the crossbow. She aims, as does Angelista with her spear and Poklov with his axe.

Angelista gets off the first strike, lobbing a javelin at the one frogman with a bow. It doesn't even look up to see the javelin hit it, and slumps to the ground. Felcanis shoots the frogman with the torch. The bolt hits, but the frogman stays standing. Poklov rushes one of the two khopesh-and-shield frogmen, but it gets its shield in the way.

Angelista grabs her spear, and Felcanis readies her shield. Poklov swings his torch at the frogman before him. It lamely tries putting its shield in the way but is still too witless to do so, so Poklov's blow lands.

Angelista digs into the hard earth with the balls of her feet. Bolting ahead with her shield leading, she snarls as she tries to slam the shapeshifter. Šanzbašar is unable to get his sword in the way, so Angelista slams into him, knocking him down. The torchbearer frogman passes out from its wounds. The frogman before Poklov steps back and holds up its shield, while the last one starts running to the east.

Angelista smiles as she says to the shape shifter, "Such loyal servants you have. I hope they weren't too expensive."

Šanzbašar says, "Wha, man? They're not servants, they're like frogs, man!"

Felcanis pulls out her mace, and Šanzbašar kneels, dropping his sword and shield. Poklov tries slamming his shield into the frogman but misses, while Angelista lets her shield fly wide, trying to knock Šanzbašar back down. He cannot get his shield in the way, so he again goes down to the ground. "Yeah, lady, I'm totally down for going down!" The last frogman starts running eastward after its fellow.

Šanzbašar tries to grab Angelista's leg but misses. "Whoa baby!" He giggles as his face hits Angelista's boot.

Felcanis moves towards the fray. Poklov turns to her. "Felcanis, bring Bill over here. He has something I need for this gentleman." He turns to look at Šanzbašar. "Give up. We have you surrounded."

Šanzbašar looks up. "Hey, I'm not into little guys, leave me to the ladies!" Poklov moves behind him. Šanzbašar doesn't look back. "Nope, no dwarf orgies!"

Angelista grabs Šanzbašar's arm and gets him to his knees. He looks up at her with a leer. "Once you go boar you want more! I knew you were fun when we met back at the gate!"

Angelista snarls. "Yeah, I'm a barrel of laughs." Šanzbašar tries to kiss her, but he plants his face on her spear and kisses the shaft by mistake. Angelista rolls her eyes. "Poklov, whatever your gonna do do it quickly before he gets himself killed."

Šanzbašar tries to grab Angelista's leg and misses. "C'mon, babe, I heard you like me!" Poklov dashes behind Šanzbašar, unreadies his shield, and studies him. Angelista tries to punch Šanzbašar in the face, but misses. Again, Šanzbašar tries to grab Angelista's leg and again misses. Poklov, having had enough, punches Šanzbašar in the back of the head, but his coif takes the blow.

Angelista punches Šanzbašar in the gut, but doesn't get a hard blow. "You're pissing me off. If you don't get on your feet, I'm gonna do something painful that you WON'T like." Felcanis leads the mule towards them while Šanzbašar stands with a dumb grin on his face. Poklov and Angelista both punch him, but his armor takes the blow. Angelista says, "This pig is a pain freak. Let's just get him restrained. We're wasting energy. Deny him that which he seeks most. That will cause true pain. Take him to the Donkey Show"

Šanzbašar looks at them, puzzled. "Nah, no horsies!"

He lurches for Angelista, but she steps aside. She yells, "How dare you put your filthy claws on me!"
Still puzzled, he says, "No, no fifty gauze here!" before giggling.

Angelista rolls her eyes and knocks him over with her shield. "Are you still having fun?"

Felcanis gets shackles off Bill. Well to the east, they hear a door open. Angelista grabs her spear and asks Poklov to check out the din, but instead he punches Šanzbašar again, this time knocking him out. Again, Angelista says to Poklov that someone is coming from the east.

Angelista and Poklov throw Šanzbašar's body over the mule and lead him to the way out. They hear a door shut, then nothing more. Poklov shackles Šanzbašar, then they go up the stairs to the outside. They try to stay away from the slime, but some drips onto Šanzbašar and, worse, on Felcanis. She passes out from the pain, and Angelista drags her upstairs as well.

Once outside, they find that the trees are once again calm. Since the trees don't seem to see them, they push past their branches. The trees aren't not quite smart enough to realize the gang is darting out until it is too late. "Hey, get back here so we can throw you!" One of the trees sticks out its middle twig at the gang.

As soon as they are safely out of reach of the trees' branches, Angelista cleans Felcanis's head wound and wraps a bandage on it. After treating her for shock, Felcanis is still out, so Poklov pours two Minor Healing Potions down her throat, waking her up.

After remarking how much her brain hurts, Felcanis bandages Šanzbašar, but doesn't unbind him. Poklov takes his loot, and finds 12 copper, an electrum bracelet, an unidentified potion, mail armor, a small shield, a regular bow, and a thrusting broadsword. Angelista lifts the broadsword, and Felcanis tells her that the sword is magical, though she's not skilled enough to know what the magic is.

Res aliae

3 CP.

Why was Šanzbašar such a pushover? Boy, wouldn't the players like to know, too!

The players are going to have to find a way to spread out the healing. The cleric randomly taking 11 corrosive damage to the Skull doesn't make things easy, even with a helmet and a resistance roll to cut into that. I suggest that one of them (likely the cleric) learn Alchemy to brew Minor Healing Potions at $60 a pop.

John, who plays Felcanis, was out, so she got passed around as an NPC.

Castle Whiterock game log 4 January 2021: Bri and Lake Bowl

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman and creator of demon bowling
Zaber, the suave and debonaire man who is going to make a killing off demon bowling
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer who didn't bowl
Stonemaul, half-orc holy warrior who also didn't bowl
Korlos, wizard who really should take up demon bowling to pump up his muscles

What happened

So, after going to town and getting more Gaseous Form potions and other fabulous things and chilling, we have come back to Castle Whiterock. We are now at the entrance to the Demonhold, near the path to the bugs.

Before we drink the potions, Garreth lights his vial, Korlos casts Flight on all of us as well as Haste and Darkvision on himself, and Polly casts Keen Vision and Keen Hearing.

Korlos hesitates, clearly watching for others to go first, and asks, "Is it safe to come in there?"

Garreth shrugs. "It's a dungeon, not supposed to be safe."

I chuckle. "Now, let's get our mascot."

We down the potions and float through the tunnels. Once we get out, we spot Voracious and four other vespertiliacs. They look bored, chattering with each other. Every so often they slash each other up, though their wounds heal right afterwards.

The vespertiliacs see our clouds. Well, not my cloud; I put on my ring before drinking the potion. One says, "Oh hey, clouds! Think it's gonna rain?"

Voracious cackles, "We can REND the rain!"

A third chimes, "Oh neat! I love acid rain."

Garreth floats towards them, holding himself together near their flapping wings. The vespertiliacs follow. Garreth's cloud is clearly the most exciting thing they've seen in a while. One says, "Do you wonder why it's green?"

Another yells, "Obviously it's SUPER ACID!"

A third says, "Or maybe it's chlorine gas like a green dragon?"

The first one scowls, thinking about his demonic chemistry class. "Isn't chlorine a base?"

I start to take shape again, and a few seconds later, I see that Garreth and Polly are doing the same. As Garreth starts to become a half-orc again, his droplets move to-and-fro faster: he has brought forth his flurry. This shocks Voracious and one of the other verspertiliacs, who says, "Like, the CLOUD turned into an IRON GOLEM, dudes!"

Garreth grins wickedly at them. "Hey, buddy!"

The stunned vespertiliac stares at Garreth, agape. "Dudes, the HALF-ORC is going to HIT me?"

The half-orc does indeed hit it. In a split second, Garreth has cut off its arm and leg. He also tries to cut off the head of another vespertiliac and stick his sword in the chest of a third but misses both times. However, he does hit the fourth one. "You guys are out of your league," he says. Polly shoots the last one in the skull three times, her bow already out. Her arrows drop it.

I yawn. I've seen all this before. I watch Polly fire at another vespertiliac, and I step and wait for Voracious to back into my reach.

One of the vespertiliacs drops from its wounds, and another shrieks. I think it was trying to scare us or something, but we yawn at it. It then pounces at Garreth with its claws, teeth, and tail. The tail hits Garreth, wounding him, but Stonemaul, having taken shape again, uses his Rune of Protection, and his wounds magically heal. It asks him, "Hey, why aren't you wracked by horrible tremors?"

Garreth smirks. "I drink myself into a stupor with poison nightly." With that, he swings first for its chest, then, having wounded it, cuts off its head. He turns to Voracious. "Hey, Voracious, you gonna stand down or shall I take your head off, too?"

Voracious cackles, "Call off the elf and I shall defeat you one on one, half-orc, for I am Voracious Von Vespertiliac the 7th!" He seems so proud of his remark that his mind boggles at it.

Garreth shrugs and cuts off its head. "Suit yourself." He looks down at his sword. "Hey, Scalemar, you're pretty good at killing demons."

Stonemaul comes over and looks at Voracious's headless body. "Thought we were going to keep the wretch as a pet or some'uch?"

Garreth says, "I thought about it but he was annoying me. I gave him a chance to stand down and everything."

Stonemaul nods. "Gotcha. It was a demon, needed vanquishing anyway."

Garreth says, "Do you know how many creatures died for a lack of such an opportunity?"

I pick up Voracious's head. "Hey, Voracious, is it true that the decapitated can react after decapitation?" Voracious does not respond, so I lift up its ear and speak into it. "Hey, Voracious, I think your head would be great for a baseball game. What do you think?" I take a couple of steps back and get into a set position. "C'mon, Garreth, batting practice."

Garreth shrugs. "We've got more interesting foes to murder."

Polly says, "I only got to shoot two of them. Maybe next time we can find more to slay."

Stonemaul says, "Aye. So, anyone know how to extract useful bits from dead demons?" I lift the head, which seems to float since I'm invisible, and start getting out poison. Afterwards, I open my sack and let out Logan to let him use the head as a chew toy. This lasts about three seconds. But hey, it was a cheap chew toy.

Garreth looks at the wall, then he picks up the body of a vespertiliac. He takes a moment to focus, then pops around the corner and throws the demon's body. The osyluths on the other side are stunned as their wall burst before them.

I'm more impressed with Garreth's perfect strike. We have a new sport as well as demonic foes.

Bowling league notes

We got 3 CP because demon bowling is cool.

Kyle (Garreth) and I (Zaber) chat on voice during the game, and when Garreth resisted the poison, we joked that Garreth likely really drinks the poison, given his absurdly high resistance to it.

Game log of 27 December 2020: Croaked

Dramatis personae

Felcanis, elven cleric of the sun god
Poklov, dwarven gumshoe
Angelista, undead hunter

Quid occurrit

Felcanis has passed out from her spellcasting. Poklov peeks in the next room. Inside he sees a bunch of old barrels and a rotted crate. No buzzing, and no hellwasps. It's 10 feet by 30 feet, and he sees no other exits. The barrels are empty. There's a weird, dried slime here and there. Poklov says, "Let's get in here and hunker down for a while. Lick our wounds and naughty bits a bit."

Angelista says, "This is as good a spot as any, I guess." She looks around the room. "There's something strange about the circumstances as of our last encounter."

Poklov nods. "Giant stingy bugs suck."

Angelista shakes her head. "But look at the size of the room. How long were they in here, and how did they get in if the door was shut?"

Poklov shrugs. "I don’t know. Maybe someone left the door open, and then closed them in."

Angelista nods. "Possibly. But let's search the room and watch where you put your hands." The two look around, finding neither traps nor treasure, then bring in the unconscious Felcanis. Angelista says, "Listen, someone had to shut them in here, unless they can teleport. Other than to get them out of their hair, what other reason would there be except to guard something?" Poklov shuts the door.

Angelista says, "Well, rest for now, I guess. Watch where you sit. Something doesn't feel right." After a few minutes, Felcanis wakes up, and after a few more minutes, she casts Lend Energy on herself to speed her upswing.

After about an hour, they hear a rattle at the door. They pull out their weapons. Angelista whispers, "We'll be cornered if we're forced to fight in here. Get ready."

A frog-like humanoid opens the door, holding a hooked blade. Poklov rushes a frogman with his shield, but the frogman lifts its shield and blocks him. Angelista snarls as she takes a step gouging her spear into its vitals. The frogman tries to parry with its khopesh, but it cannot. It slumps down, having passed out from the shock and sudden blood loss. Poklov grins at her. "Nice one, lass!"

Angelista laughs. "The brightest light on the tree just got extinguished. We’re not through yet. Get ready to push back!"

They look outside the door and see three more frogmen. One frogman rushes towards Angelista, but misses, while another rushes towards Poklov, who swats away its blade with his axe. The third moves forward, holding a torch in its left hand while the others hold spears.

Felcanis hangs back, and Poklov yells at her, "Crossbow lock and loaded on Bill, get it and squeeze her tight!" Poklov tries to swing his axe around the frogman's shield, but it pushes the shield into the axe anyways. Angelista jabs at the next target right in front of her, but that frogman likewise blocks her jab with its shield.

The frogman by Angelista gets a swing through her armor with its khopesh that she was unable to block, but it's just a little nick. The one by Poklov is unable to get its swing past Poklov's axe.

Felcanis grabs the crossbow. Poklov swings down for the leg of the frogman, and as the frogman is unable to bring its shield to stop the sudden change of the swing, Poklov chops off its leg. As it falls, Angelista yells, "I hear frog legs are delicious!" bringing a smile to Poklov's face. Angelista again tries to stab the frogman before her, but it gets its shield in the way.

The frogman in back holds its spot, while the one before Angelista tries to slash her again. However, Angelista gets her shield in the way. Felcanis steps and aims. Poklov rushes the frogman in the back with his shield, knocking it down. Angelista raises her shield and holds the spear on top of its edge, stabbing and jabbing again and again in many directions making it hard for the frog man to see from where the attack is coming.

The frogman before Angelista again slashes past her shield and gets another small wound near the first. The legless frogman swings at Poklov's back but cannot get through his armor. The frogman on the ground before Poklov holds up its khopesh, waiting for his next swing.

Felcanis keeps aiming. Poklov chops past the khopesh of the downed torch-bearing frogman and wounds it further, though it stays awake. Angelista's frantic stabbing comes to naught as she fails to see the frog sees through the trick. Her jabs miss the mark. The frogmen on the floor try to gather their wits and grab their weapons, while the one before Angelista tries to hook her with its weapon but can't reach her leg.

Felcanis again steps and aims. Poklov turns and swings at the frogman behind him, and this time cuts it open. Its eyes shut as its wound bleeds out. Angelista Morgan smiles as she sizes up her opponent. "This worthy foe is mine." She tries to jab her worthy foe, but it blocks. The worthy foe jabs back and she blocks its blow while its buddy moves to a kneel.

Felcanis at last gets off a shot at the torchbearer, but misses, going over his head as he's kneeling on the ground. Poklov likewise goes after the torchbearer and misses, while Angelista leans in with another stab, which it blocks. The torchbearer screeches and tries to hook Poklov's leg, but he pulls it out of the way, while the one before Angelista gets yet another nick past her shield.

The cleric drops the crossbow and pulls out her mace. Poklov and Angelista, bothered by the shields, try to take out the arms of the frogmen before them, but both miss. Angelista easily blocks the frogman's blow, but the torchbearer shifts on its knees to get near Felcanis, whose mace can't snag its khopesh. She falls, stunned, and drops her mace. 

She comes to her wits fast, and Poklov takes care of the frogman who hit with her with a blow to its skull, knocking it out. Angelista again tries to stab the shield arm of the frogman before her and it gets its shield in the way. She lunged forth so hard that it had no trouble landing a blow back on her, but again it was only a nick.

Felcanis grabs her mace menacingly, while Poklov steps towards the last frogman. He swings and misses. Angelista drops her spear and slides in nearer to punch the frogman in the gut. She misses, but the frogman loosens its shield. It kicks her, but she stops its leg with the shaft of her spear.

Felcanis kneels, and Poklov swings at the last frogman. This time, his blow lands, taking down the frogman. "I was going to strangle it!" cries Angelista. She backs off of it and then stands herself between it and Poklov. "They can't fight us anymore," she says. "Let's disarm them and send them away, licking their wounds."

Poklov gathers their weapons and shields, and riffles through their pockets. He says, "Lass, it's hard to lick an open head wound. I mean you got your code and stuff, but at this point it's mercy finishing them." He bears the living frogmen's bodies into the storage room, then piles the dead ones in a corner of the bigger room. Angelista bandages Felcanis, who then casts Stop Bleeding on herself before trying Major Healing. It works, so she does another one on Angelista, which also works.

After a few minutes, three more frogmen walk into the room, looking to see what the hubbub was. The lead one, with a khopesh and shield, croaks in surprise when it sees the heroes, who saw the light of their torch down the hallway. Poklov readies Ole Blackie, his crossbow, and whispers to Angelista, "Young lass, I'm going to get the bow," pointing to one in the back, next to the torchbearer. Angelista shakes her head, and points to the bowman with her javelin with a grin on her face, but Poklov is already staring down the sights of what looks like charred wood on his crossbow.

The frogman with the bow shoots Poklov. It hits his armor and doesn't hurt him, but the shock makes him drop his crossbow. The others move nearer. Felcanis ducks behind her shield, Angelista aims with her javelin, and Poklov whips out his axe … and drops it.

The bowman pulls out another arrow, while the other two get nearer to the heroes. Angelista lobs her javelin at the bowman, but the frogman with the khopesh and shield steps into the way and the javelin goes into its flank instead. Poklov grabs his crossbow off the floor.

The frogmen again draw nearer, albeit a little slower. Poklov again starts aiming with his crossbow, while Angelista runs towards the bowman. The bowman shoots, and Angelista takes the arrow on her shield. The torchbearer steps and slashes Angelista, giving her a nasty wound. The khopesh-and-shield frogman hits Poklov with its khopesh, but the blow doesn't get through Poklov's heavy armor.

Angelista lines up her shield and slams the bowman frogman and knocks it down. Poklov shoots the torchbearer frogman from behind, but somehow it stays up. The khopesh-and-shield frogman again hits Poklov but cannot get through his armor. The torchbearer moves towards Angelista, and the bowman drops its bow and pulls out its khopesh.

Felcanis gets out from behind her shield and rushes towards the torchbearer.  As Angelista sees the sword come out and acknowledges that the frogman wants to see this through, she brings down the edge of her shield onto its chest, but it only scratches the side. 

Poklov drops his crossbow and wraps his arms around the frogman before him, getting it in a grapple. The frogman wiggles a little but can't break out of the grapple. The torchbearer at last passes out from its wounds. Felcanis tries to bash it as it falls but cannot. Angelista's shield doesn't hit the frogman at her feet, and Poklov gets a better grip on the frogman in his arms before it passes out.

The frogman at Angelista's feet tries to hook her leg, but she gets her shield on the hook of the khopesh. Felcanis smashes the downed torchbearer, and Poklov pulls out an axe and starts to go towards Angelista to help her kill the frogman who keeps trying to hook her. She first tries to smash its windpipe, then shifts it down the chest and onto the rib cage. She calls out, "Stop resisting!" but Poklov lets her know that he's the one who is supposed to do the cop jokes.

Felcanis keeps wailing on the downed torchbearer while Angelista at last puts her shield into the frogman's lungs, killing it.

Res aliae

2 CPs each this time. No loot found, no exploration.

Angelista's player wants to keep the gear from the last frogman. I think he wants them as spoils of battle, since those khopeshes are cheap. At least he can try the hook technique a few times.