Game log for 5 August 2018: Holding back from pumping them up

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

They investigated. And Ash and Kim tried and failed to live off the land.

After three days of nothing, Kim started trailing Néttōr. He did spot her looking once, but did nothing. They asked around the village about Néttōr, but only heard the tales about his gambling issues.

Áttikos chose to look into the sun to see the way, and saw that the graveyard shone lighter in the midday sun. There seemed little remarkable about the graveyard, other than that there was little grass growing there. Grym didn’t think there were many spirits.

The graveyard was the spot where the Áttikos held the funeral for Višsīvós, the servant who blew up. The gang spent 30 copper on a wooden box for Višsīvós’s little green globules. A day or so after the burial, they checked on the grave, but found nothing amiss about it.

The gang set itself up in the social structure, with the clerics tending to the serfs. Grym gave 25 copper to Krellévos, the village cleric, to pay for free healing, which healed an old lady after a mishap. Over the week, they spent 150 copper to help fix up the village.

The Winter Solstice, the day of the Love Feast, came. The gang went with the villagers to Rēláištiš, where they set up a kissing booth. Mayhem had fun with an orc slave woman, while Áttikos went to bed with the Lady Lummenólē, one of her many lovers that day. (He had a critical success on a default Sex Appeal roll.) Caleb, who had been bummed all week, not only did not partake in the merriment, but he also got a case of the runs, which Kôštē healed. Grymálkus pulled away a few of the boys who tried to go a little farther with the village women than the women wanted.

However, not everyone walked to Rēláištiš. Néttōr stayed behind, and there he met two big men, who gave him a small sack. After this, Néttōr left. The goons dug up the grave of Višsīvós, but only found some dust, some bone shards, and the little green globules. They shrugged, put back his coffin, and dug up the next grave. This time, they found a fresh dead body from a few weeks before, so they rolled it up in a rug and put it on a sack.

And Kim saw the whole thing.

Kim had been in the manor house, and found little of much worth, other than the gilded box wherein Lady Dīdótē kept her clothes. After finding nothing worth stealing (the box wasn’t light), she went outside and watched Néttōr, then the goons. She followed the goons as they walked for a few miles then, once they started walking around some thick woods, she went back to Rēláištiš to meet the others.

Once Xóran heard what Kim had seen, he gathered the others and they left town. Mayhem picked up the trail of the goons, and they followed all day. When they made it to the Sarkērrêne River, they found the wreck of a raft. Caleb Levitated Mayhem over the river, but Mayhem did bad work of fixing it and they lost ground. They pressed on, and after the sun had set, they saw the campfire of the goons. Weary, instead of striking, they set up camp. All night, they kept watch, but the goons did not leave.

The next day, both sets set forth, and the heroes caught up. Kim and Xóran snuck up on the goons, and got first strike. Kim’s did nothing, but Xóran crippled the leg of one. Mayhem and Ash got off bow shots and Mayhem wounded the goon Kim did not, though Ash’s arrow didn’t get through his armor.

Blindsided, the goon on the ground gave in, but the one still standing started to run. Grymálkus and Caleb cast Might 3 and Shield 2, respectively, on Áttikos, who lumbered to reach the others, as did Mayhem and Ash. Xóran and Kim rushed to get the goon who had run.

Kim reached the wounded goon and grabbed him, as did Xóran after dropping his swords. The wounded goon shook off Kim, and the crippled goon started to crawl away. Kim and Xóran kept trying to take down the wounded goon, however, while the others kept trying to reach the fight. Kim, frustrated, tried to kick the wounded goon in the nuts, but missed, while Xóran tried to get his teeth on his neck, but also failed.

Ash and Mayhem at last made it to the others. Ash grabbed the goons’ horse, while Mayhem grappled the goon on the ground. He said, “Man, don’t hurt me, little guy!” and, and like the other goon, was unable to break free. Kim again tried to kick the goon she held in the nuts but missed, while Xóran again was unable to take him down. Áttikos made it to the fight, and got in on the dogpile on the wounded goon. Kim tried to grab his nuts, and somehow, his nuts got away from her grasp.

Nobody had this trouble at the Love Feast!

Xóran roared, which stunned the wounded goon, and at last he brought him to the ground. The wounded goon snapped aware once on the ground and tried to get free but couldn’t, but the crippled goon wiggled away from Mayhem. Áttikos grabbed the leg of the wounded goon, and Kim pulled out a dagger and tried to stab him, but couldn’t get through the chinks in his armor. Xóran and Mayhem each punched the faces of the goons by them, while Áttikos tried to break the leg of the wounded goon.

Kim turned her heed to the crippled goon and leapt to stab him, but missed. Xóran again slugged the mug of the wounded goon, while Mayhem sat on the crippled goon, stopping him. They both cried, “Uncle!”

And Áttikos broke the leg of the wounded goon anyways, making them both crippled goons. This gets the goon talking, who, after Áttikos asked, said they brought the bodies to the Wolfman after paying Néttōr, who didn’t ever watch them or ask what they were doing. What does the Wolfman do with the bodies? “We don’t ask questions of the Wolfman!”

Xóran and Áttikos took the gear of the goons, each grabbing a broadsword, then killed the wounded one, named Praidīvós, by short-drop hanging. Xóran put a note on him that read: “Here lies the penalty for necromancy.”

They then made the other goon, named Soddīvós, tell them where they could find the Wolfman, who said he lived in a fortified cave to the south of the hobbit village of Kīkídzā, which was less than a day’s trip. After this, Xóran ran him through, too.

Res aliae

Names in my game are in a constructed language; couldn’t you tell? Most of the time, I roll on a table of real-world names and translate them based on their origins (I’m a dork), but these guys have real-world names that befit their job: Hans and Franz.

They died like girly-men.

The grappling rules got another workout, this time the ones in Hall of Judgment. They’re easier to handle than GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling, though obviously the same idea. The players thought they worked alright, though were miffed that they’re not as easy as killing right away. I’ll count that as a success, and told Douglas Cole as much.

Game log for 8 November 2015

The characters

Kim, thief (John)

Yémos, cleric (John, temporarily)

Mayhem, barbarian (Chris)

Caleb, wizard (Chris)

Anêr, swashbuckler (NPC)

Kúflaug, Orc slave (NPC)

The events

Getting back to the 4th of Párūs, Kim doesn't get the deal she wanted for the cult's items, as the merchant only offered her 40 silver pennies and 10 copper farthings ($130), but she did peddle the weird armor for 92 gold pieces ($1,840). The group chose to first spend that at the Wishing Well tavern over by the West Gate of town.

On that rainy night, they heard a well-coifed woman over at the next table babbling loudly how she didn't think the Lady Lummenólē was all that bad. Kim thought a bit, and remembered that Lummenólē was the Lady of the village and a cleric of Lutōdîvē, the goddess of love. Yémos let Kim know that the followers of Lutōdîvē were a bunch of perverts. Kim shrugged and went on to picking the pockets of the patrons, getting 15 farthings that night.

The next day, they awoke to Caleb coughing. Yémos tried to diagnose what it was, but only could dodge phlegm. They asked the barkeep, who said that there were two clerics in town: Ōrrášus, cleric of Bagóbros near the tavern, and Lady Lummenólē, who lived in Castle Rēláistis, in the southeastern corner of town. Lummenólē was the mightier cleric, but Ōrrášus was nearer and more likely to see Caleb.

So, they walked out into the rain to the Church of Bagóbros, god of crafts and wealth. There they saw Ōrrášus, a tall, pudgy man wearing a dark brown wig. Caleb asked him for help, but Ōrrášus only stared, blinked, then told Caleb not to cough on him. Caleb asked again, and Ōrrášus told him he'd take a look, for a donation, so Caleb handed over 10 farthings. Ōrrášus rolled his eyes, but did look at Caleb, asking him to cough and looking down his throat. Ōrrášus said that it wasn't deadly, but that Caleb should get a few days rest.

So they went back to the Wishing Well, though not after a wagon drove past them and splashed mud and water onto Kúflaug. Caleb rested at a table in the tavern, while Anêr watched Caleb. Mayhem and Kúflaug went fishing down by the docks, and Mayhem got one trout. Yémos and Kim went looking for nuts and berries outside town.

Caleb didn't get any better that night, and the barkeep asked Caleb to say he got his illness from the Pink Moose tavern, lest anyone think Caleb got his illness from the Wishing Well. Kim had seen enough, and he and Yémos take Caleb by the arm to see the Lady Lummenólē. Outside the tavern, a gaggle of pilgrims called loudly for help going to the church of Rōripermónē, the farming goddess, in Órkōn Wall, about five miles away. Kim and Yémos, however, kept dragging Caleb.

After about an hour's walk around the village, they reached Castle Rēláistis, decked out in flowers. Kim holds back a sneeze from the lovage among the flowers, and they ask the two guards before the gate to see the Lady Lummenólē. Again, their first try to get in didn't work, nor did Caleb's coughing, but the guards also opened the doors for 10 farthings. They bade Caleb, Kim, and Yémos to hand over their weapons, and told Caleb to keep away from them.

They walked upstairs as the guards also bade, and waited outside a door, hearing the grunts, screams, and moans of orcs and a woman. After many minutes, two orcs walked out, and asked the gang, "Are you next?" The heroes walked into the room, and met Lady Lummenólē, a slim middle-aged woman, beautiful albeit with silver-grey hair, and wearing little clothing.

She gave Caleb the same diagnosis as did Ōrrášus--more rest--then asked where Caleb had been. He told her he had been at the mines, and no, he had fought no zombies, only skeletons, hobgoblins, and lizard men. She perked up upon hearing about hobgoblins and lizard men, and asked if he had brought back any of the latter.

She had her cook give the heroes a meal of beef stew, then they went on their way back to the Wishing Well, to meet the others who had went fishing again. Caleb kept coughing, and by now his chest was hurting. Yémos cast a Detect Poison spell on Caleb to be sure, but found nothing. They went to bed on the tavern's cots with the rain pouring.

The next morning, Caleb still was in pain, so Yémos cast Major Healing to ease his pain. With that, the gang set out, keen on keeping Caleb away from the smelting in Rēláistis. They chose to head south, to the wooded village of Térrivīš.

In the woods, about midday, the gang met an arrow at each one of them, with both Anêr and Kúflaug taking one to their chests. From out of the trees came nine bandits, with three of them holding back to reload their bows. The archers fled after one of Caleb's Blast Balls, which downed two thieves, and Anêr's sword downed a third. The other three bandits held fast, and fell at the hands of the heroes. Yémos, feeling for them, bound the wounds of the downed bandits, though he couldn't save one. All stripped the six bandits of their goods and wealth, and kept going to Térrivīš.

In Térriviš, a wooded village with a statue at each corner, the heroes unloaded the gear of the bandits and got 957 farthings and 193 pennies ($1,729) for all of it. Then, they went to the Blind Arrow tavern for the night.

Notes

I had rolled for the bandits in the d30 Sandbox Companion, and came up with a number of bandits equal to the size of the party +3, with a level of average party level -2. I applied the latter to the skill levels on the templates in the back of Mirror of the Fire Demon, so wound up with many unskilled goons. I forgot to apply woods cover to their skill for their first shot, but that would have been cancelled out by their Accuracy bonus, which I also forgot to apply; big whoop.

But the real takeaway was just how much treasure they had. According to the d30 Sandbox Companion, I came up with 2,000 cp, 2,000 sp, 500 ep, 6,000 gp, 500 pp, and 12 gems. Even lobbing off a third for the guys who fled, it was still high. I think it's based on Treasure Type A, which is a lot (12,000 gp or so), but meant to be for a whole gang of bandits, which is 20d10 bandits in the Monster Manual. (I'm working on a bunch of posts that will touch on bandits in AD&D, incidentally, so for once, I can remember the Treasure Type of bandits and brigands off the top of my head.) So even lowered from there, the players were amazed, so we all agreed that the loot included what they would get from selling their gear, which I ruled Kim would make sure to do due to the last two blog posts becoming house rules.

That's the lesser issue from the session. The bigger one is that I gave a PC an illnesses. The players have had warning for the last three months or so that I want to try this out, so it was only a matter of enough game time passing before they found out who got sick. The players know what it is, too: histoplasmosis, aka spelunker's lung. It's a bother that someone can get if he goes into caves wherein dwell many bats that shit on the cave floor. Given that description, I'm amazed that I've never seen this in a gaming product before. I found it while researching a Pyramid article on illnesses, and picked it as a test case.

I'm pleased with how it went down. It took awhile for the players to realize that the weather was giving Caleb penalties, and after a few game days I broke down and told them I was applying Rēláistis's Hygiene modifier of -2 to Caleb's rolls since it was low owing to all the smelting that happened there. It led to exploring and roleplaying, but didn't give too much of a problem, since even Minor Healing can heal the HP loss. Caleb still needs to roll for a bit, however, but hopefully the fresh air will help now.