Castle Whiterock log 25 July 2022: Instant sashimi

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer
Thrognar, half-orc holy warrior

What they did

Back in Cillamar, I hear tales of an aquatic gargoyle that lives on the wall, and of seakittens that can stab people at great speed. Chauntessa herds the whole group off to Whiterock while the townsfolk fix Cillamar after we spend the week there.

We go back to where we fought the eels, and check out the wall where I felt some tingling and Logan smelled something good. The wall looks like a way into tunnels. The narrow passage winds its way into the cliff side before going into a natural cavern. The walls are rough and jagged, and the uneven floor is strewn with rocks and boulders. I put on my ring and check it out. Once I walk in, I get a tingling and Logan smells something. I see a black pudding in a crag to my left attached to the ceiling waiting above the rotting corpse of an electric eel. I gather it's laying in wait for someone to come nearer so it can drop on him. Since there's no bling in sight, I step out, take off my ring, and signal "Danger" to the others.

Garreth swims to the surface of the water, and we all follow. He asks me what I saw, and I tell him about the black pudding. He asks Bleu about the black pudding, and she says, "It is akin to Inky Lord, but much smaller. They are most susceptible to cutting damage, but they are known to dissolve or stick to weapons. One suggested method is to carry a bunch of weapons so you can trade off. They have been known to collect treasure to lure prey. You can of course use bows or magic as well."

Garreth asks how smart they are. Bleu says, "Animal intelligence, like a wolf." Garreth asks if it has loot, and Bleu says, "It's possible, yes. Puddings are known to be very affectionate and quite willing to embrace people as well. The Great Naturalist Erwin Stephens did many studies of them until constant resurrections proved to exceed his grant money."

Polly says, "This is boring. We should go kill it or go past it, or kill it and go past it."

I say, "Everything Blah talks about is boring. Let's check to see if it has treasure without prodding it. If it does, we kill it. If not, we ignore it." We all agree to ignore it and go back down. 

Once down, we spot a bunch of sailfish coming out of the blabberwort forest and streaking through the water towards us. Garreth readies his trident, Thrognar focuses his chi, Logan steps and waits in the mouth of the tunnel, and I put on the ring.

The sailfish charge at us. One fish comes towards me and I stab it in the eyes, killing it. Four of them miss Garreth, of which one also misses me and Thrognar parries it. Then another two charge Garreth, missing him, and one also goes past Polly. Polly gets out of the way of another fish, while one almost hits me were it not for the dwarven beer can that hits its tusk first.

Polly pulls out her rapier and waits. Garreth grumbles and steps, dropping the trident and fast drawing Scalemar. Then he focuses, getting his sword to cast Great Haste on him. I step into the tunnel and start putting on my ring again. Logan waits for a fish to come into reach. Thrognar steps and waits for a fish to come near. One does, and Thrognar swings twice. His blade parts the sailfish like the Red Sea, half a fish fillet on each side. Polly cleaves a skull in with her rapier. A sailfish swims at Bleu, but Garreth gets his sword in the way. Another one goes for Polly, but Garreth parries that one, too, and parries the next one that tries the same to Polly as well. Thrognar parries one coming towards him, while Logan tries to gouge out the eyes of a sailfish going for him. Another fish goes for Polly, but she dodges, while Garreth has to parry a fish that goes after him. A last fish misses Garreth wholly.

Polly hits the confused fish in the skull, splitting it open, then steps. Garreth chops up five fish, making instant sashimi in a second.

Castle Whiterock 11 October 2021: Inky, Inky, Inky, no Clyde

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
    Bleu, droning elf wizard
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
    Logan, wolverine
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer

(Thrognar, half-orc holy warrior)

(Stonemaul, half-orc holy warrior)
(Mikal, human holy warrior)

What happened

Now that we've checked out the area with the inferno cats, we're ready to look around elsewhere. After some chatting, we walk right, beyond where we fought the cats, and when it branches, we keep to the left. However, something about ten yards down the tunnel stops my darkvision. "Garreth, can you ask Droning Booty what's making my darkvision to fade there?"

Garreth asks Bleu, who says, "Might be more spellruin ivy."

After some chatter, we learn from Blah that smoking it ruins magical aptitude and likely won't get us high, and it would dull non-orichalcum blades trying to cut it. This means that spellruin ivy sucks, so we choose to go another way.

I lean down to Logan and ask, "Hey, boy, smell anything?" He makes honking sounds and looks down a hallway to the right of the one with the spellruin ivy. We hear unhappy honking sounds coming from there, and I put on my ring. "Not more of these guys."

Bleu also hears the sound. "Ah, it sounds like destrachans, and also a certain squishy sound that reminds me of the Myrtatum Maximum Nigrum from the cafeteria. The destrachans sound rather frightened." We step a little farther down, and find four destrachans and the biggest black pudding I've ever seen.

Polly, as always, starts shooting, taking down two destrachans with head shots. Garreth starts trying to speed himself up, and asks Bleu about this black pudding. Bleu says this is like a normal black pudding, but it's as big as a big dragon, and thus has a hunger at least as big as a big dragon's. Its acid could eat up our weapons, and, if we hit it hard enough, it will bud off smaller puddings. The last two destrachans flee, honking at Polly and Logan, who get away from their cone of sound. Logan slams into the one by him, knocking it back.

That's the best thing to happen to that destrachan today, since right after that, the black pudding's pseudopods reach out at the destrachans, Polly, and Logan. Polly and Logan get out of the way, but the pudding slurps back the destrachans into its body after the destrachan that Logan hurt bursts.

I yell at Garreth, "Garreth, something tells me this is the wrong way!"

Garreth yells back, "I've been telling you this isn't the way."

Bleu casts Great Haste on herself, and Polly shoots three arrows at the big pudding, which does nothing other than making the pudding drop a few destrachan bits. "So, uh, back to the start?"

Garreth nods, then lets out a roar. The pudding stops, stunned.

We fly away. Bleu says, "With us flying it probably can't actually track us, the Myrtatum Maximum Nigrum hunts by taste of the ground when it cannot directly sense its prey."

As we fly away, we chat about now needed it is to kill the pudding. Bleu and I say that it likely has no treasure, which makes Polly sad, and deem it truly evil. Garreth agrees with Polly: "Loot destruction is evil."

I say we have to find other ways of killing it besides hitting it with weapons. Bleu says it can see, that slime-affecting spells work on it but are tiring to cast because it's so big, and it has magic resistance. I suggest luring it into lava, and Bleu says it's as smart as a wolf, so won't fall for that trick. We all do think that getting it into a pit would slow it a little, letting us drop big things onto it.

I look down the other tunnels to the right. One has more spellruin ivy, but another leads us to a statue of a broad-shouldered, tiger-like creature stands in the middle. It has top-notch craftsmanship, and looks ready to pounce. This worries me greatly, so I ask Blah about it. She says that it looks like an inferno cat under the effects of a Flesh to Stone spell or something like that, which is pretty much what made me worried.

Garreth says I need to check this out. I shake my head. "Logan, keep Garreth and Polly company. Pee on Bleu's robes if I don't come back." With that, I put on my ring, and fly a little farther.

Rising like an ill mist from the floor are three shapes of what I think are big men made of shadow. I fly backwards, and take off my ring. I'm pretty sure they saw me even with it on. "Looks like Nazgûl."

Other stuff

"Myrtatum Maximum Nigrum" is indeed Latin for "biggest black pudding." Kalzazz didn't do a bad job picking words, getting the last two right. I checked and found that "pudding" in Latin is "myrtatum" or "murtatum" (it's an obvious Greek loanword); "nigrum" might be redundant, since myrtatum is already a sausage with myrtle berries.

Castle Whiterock log 1 February 2021: Pudding is nasty

The murderhoboes

Garreth, half-orc swordsman
Zaber, suave and debonaire man
Polly, cute and deadly elf archer
Thrognar, half-orc holy warrior

What happened

After Garreth smashes the wall, I step and wait for one to rush up to me. Logan moves into sight and growls; I yell at him to not rush ahead. Thrognar steps and calls upon his god.

Polly asks, "Hey Thrognar, are there any places to target on these things?" She fires three bodkin arrows at one of the bone demons, and it does not shift away so one hits. Maybe I have had too much to drink, but I swear that I see the arrow slow before it hit the bone demon, though it does take it down.

Thrognar thinks about Polly's question, and yells, "Their innards are a touch low and to the left of ours! Their tails are poisonous and holy weapons work best against them!" Polly instead shoots the bone demon in its twice other eye, which kills it. She turns and shoots another one, but it dodges.

I run up and get out my knife, and Garreth runs behind me. We can now see more bone demons to the right, at the edge of the cave. I yell at Logan to stick near Polly, and he follows her.  Thrognar runs forward and tries to stab a bone demon in the chest, but misses. Polly shoots at one of the bone demons to the right, but her arrows only mildly hurt it, and she drops her bow.

I stab at the bone demon before me where Thrognar said it would hurt and hit, knocking it down. Logan tries to grab its foot but cannot. The bone demons start to come towards us, and one throws a boulder at Thrognar. It hits him, and he falls, dropping his weapon.

Thrognar stands up and Polly grabs her bow. Logan bites for the downed bone demon's foot, but his teeth cannot get through the bone. It kneels and I stab it, knocking it down again.

One of the bone demons waves its hands and chants something demonic, and a wall of ice comes between us, splitting Garreth and Thrognar from Polly, Logan, and me. Another bone demon steps and tries to rend me, but I step back and dodge, and it loses its balance.

Garreth, behind the wall of ice, yells out in Orcish and Undercommon. I know enough Undercommon to know that he sees a black pudding coming around the corner. He smashes a hole in the wall right next to me, then puts Scalemar into the demon on the ground, hurting it more. He calls out, "Thrognar, once Zaber clears a path, let's get through the wall! I want us not pressed on both sides." Thrognar gets his weapon.

Polly thinks about what she should do, then shoots the off-balance bone demon in the eye thrice. Only the last shot hits, but that one knocks it senseless and greatly scars it. She steps back, and Logan steps back with her. A bone demon tries to slam her side, but she steps away. Another one tries to do the same to me, and I get it in the chest before it gets nearer. I use my knife to flick it out of the way; luckily, it doesn't snap, and hurts it more. The wall of ice blinks out of sight. A third one comes nearer. I feel a wave of heavyheartedness on me, but it passes fast; it must have been gas.

The pudding oozes closer.

Garreth steps and lops both legs off a bone demon. "I bet you are pudding bait now," he chuckles.

"You cannot defeat all of us!" it yells at him.

I call back, "Are you allied with the pudding or something?"

It hisses at me, "We are Lawful. he Black Pudding is a lesser lifeform. We use it. We do not ally with it."

I raise my hand, my fingers in a malocchio. "Breakin' the law, breakin' the law!"

Garreth lops the legs off two other bone demons. "It's about to lesser all over your face. It'll be fun."

Thrognar steps and tries to throw the downed and stunned bone demon into the pudding's path, but cannot. Polly flies around another bone demon and peppers its skull with arrows, dropping it. Logan runs after Polly, and I try to take out two stunned bone demons, but only take out one.

Right after taking one down, a feeling tells me to step back and shift my body. I do, and get out of the way of the then-invisible bone demon. One on the ground tries to take down Garreth, as do two others who rush forward to fight him, but Garreth dodges them with ungodly speed.

At last I get a good look at the pudding. "Damn, did the hobbit's lunch come to life?"

Garreth takes the legs off another bone demon, then he turns and takes the tail off the one on the ground I missed in my haste a second earlier. Thrognar grabs a downed bone demon, and Polly steps and takes out two more bone demons with arrows. I step down with open bag towards Logan. "Inside or NO beer for you!" Logan growls, but jumps in the bag.

One downed bone demon lifts its hand to strike, but passes out trying. The one without its tail tries take down Garreth, who parries and takes off its arms. Then he kicks the bone demon, stunning it and pushing it towards the pudding.

As he does this, the pudding flickers and stops moving.

I pick up a bone demon leg and lob it at the pudding. It falls harmlessly through the pudding, landing on the floor with a thud.

"Damn, it's an illusion," says Garreth. On a far wall, I see there is a wall of ice, which is melting away. As Polly and Garreth loot the bodies, I push on the wall, then bang on it. Behind me, I hear Polly cry out that she found a magic rock.

I pick up a skull and clear out its demon gunk. I pour some beer into it, and open the bag for Logan. "Treat for you!" 

Game log for 13 April 2014

Present:

Yémos, human male cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of magic (Eric)
Mayhem, human male midget barbarian (Chris)

As NPCs:

Anêr, human male swashbuckler (Rett, Eric handled him)
Caleb, human male wizard (mostly held up a torch of Continual Light)

Log:

They started in the room with the shackles and found out that none of the shackles were worth keeping. Yémos tried looking for a tunnel that a man in bonds would have dug, but they found none.

They walked back to the small room with the five hallways out, and saw that the black pudding was slowly slinking down the hallway that led to the great hall. The pudding felt their air and started to turn towards them, and they chose to walk down the hallway to the right of the one that led to the chief's bedrooms whence they came.

Louis Farrakhan's favorite
D&D monster.

The door lacked a lock, so they pushed it open and walked down the hallway to a room which had some old broken chairs around a big dais. Atop the dais was a big nest, and before they could turn to run, five striges came out of the nest to fight. Luckily, the striges could never get through their armor with their stingers, so the fight was short. In the hive were 40 silver pennies and 3 gold pieces. After looking at the pillars along the side of the room, which were mostly carvings of the gods, they went out the other hallway, which was on the other side of the room from the one through which they came into the room.

This room was a court, and there was a spot where a throne had been. In its stead was a stack of books. Yémos took the first book, which bore the name Walk with Me, My Friends by one Feoílklis of Erstókkīs, an island land well to the west that once ruled the mainland. The book was about the worship of a god of whom Yémos had not heard named Glanéťūr, who seemed to like putting men through his tricks. Yémos put the book in his backpack, and they took a look at the torches in sconces on the wall. Someone had hand-lit the torches, and not all were lit.

Pushover.

To the right of the way through which they came into the room was another door, which they pushed open. They walked through the hallway into a crypt, in the middle of which were two skeletons. In the short fight, Mayhem took a hit, which Yémos healed with Major Healing after the battle. Yémos saw what looked like a door with no knob or hinges, and after some prodding, pushed it to yield a glowing dark teal light. They threw a rock through the light and heard nothing, and when trying to touch the stone door again, Yémos found he could not. Mayhem pushed one of the skeletons through the light as well. After some chatting, the gang chose to turn back, though Anêr thought he could handle going through.

Pushes over PCs.

Back in the old court room, they chose to go through the next hallway to the right of the last one. The walls and roof of hallway and the caves to which it led had a sticky amber resin all over them. In the back of one of the caves, they saw four men in shadows, and Yémos called out to them. They shambled towards the gang, moaning the one word all zombies can moan: "Braaaaaiiiin." The fight with the zombies was nasty, and swords were breaking or flying all over the cave. Mayhem fell unconscious at one point, but Yémos healed him back right away with Minor Healing.

For he served the
Dungeon Master.

After the last zombie fell, the gang could hear and see a red demon with horns and a big scythe, and a man in leather armor walking on the roof of the cave. Caleb said the wall behind where the zombies were standing was odd, and Yémos stuck his head through it, and saw a pile of gold coins. Alas, living was worth more than gold at this time, so the gang ran back the way it had come, and the man on the roof jumped to the floor when they went back to the court room. Once there, they outran the man and the demon, and the man yelled back at them, "Go to your goblin friends!"

Once outside, the gang went over the hill and set up camp. From there, they could see a bunch of withered trees, which they guessed to be around Dībités Rock.

Notes:

A lesson one of the players learnt was that your Dodge is almost always your worst active defense. A worthy lesson.

The long and short of this short session (Eric had to go after about two hours) was that the players got their asses handed to them. The zombies were hardly fodder, and Anêr kept fighting, being Overconfident and all.

We gave the chase rules in GURPS Action 2 a workout at the end. I let them get away when they won one of the Quick Contests; we were short on time and they were trying to keep from a total party kill. Besides, the evil cleric didn't care much about them.

I can't remember if I gave them two or three character points. No big deal.

Game log for 2 March 2014

Present:

Mayhem, 125-point dwa-er, human male barbarian (Chris)
Yémos, 125-point human male cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of magic and wisdom (Eric)

Absent:

Anêr, 125-point human male swashbuckler (Rett)

Retired:

Caleb, 125-point human male wizard (Nate, run for this session as an NPC)

Notes about the above: Nate quit the game, so I ran Caleb as an NPC until we get a chance to drop him off somewhere. Or he dies, I suppose.

The game starts on 12 Žnēâns 2852, right after the death of the manticore. In a flashback to the 9th, Mayhem woke up in the tavern. Praidīvós realized he forgot to give Yémos the letter of introduction to get the blood from Dībités Rock, so he hired Mayhem to do bring that letter, with a payment of 10 gold pieces, payable when Praidīvós gets his demon blood. Mayhem makes it to hex 2216, and hears the gang fight the manticore. He comes up to the others and and they talk about slicing apart the manticore. Anêr tried cutting off the stinger, but stings himself, which crippled his left hand. Yémos casts Minor Healing gives Anêr back most of what he lost. They choose to move on.

No Emerson, Lake and Palmer springs to mind.

A mile or so eastward, they hear some whimpering coming from a cave, and see some tracks nearby. They try to sneak up to the cave, and they hear a howl. Mayhem fails his Fright Check, taking going ashen and and stunned for 3 seconds. An elf-like feline (a caterwaul) comes out of its cave and charges Caleb, but doesn't hit him. Anêr gets near the caterwaul but doesn't swing; Yémos casts Shield 2 on Anêr. Caleb takes a step back to ready Fireball. Anêr makes a mighty swing, but the caterwaul dodges. The caterwaul tries to claw the wizard again, but the wizard dodges, but loses his spell. Yémos then whacks the caterwaul with its staff, but the great cat stays and fights. Anêr swings again at the caterwaul, but the it swats away his claws. The caterwaul steps back tries to put those claws in Anêr, but the Shield spell helps Anêr shun the blow. Yémos takes a swing, and the caterwaul doesn't dodge. The caterwaul parries Anêr again, then starts to withdraw, running towards its cave. Yémos steps in front of the wizard, who tries to cast Fireball, but he misses. Anêr moves back to defend as well. The caterwaul gets into its cave when Mayhem awakes from his stun.

The gang chose to go eastward and leave the poor cat alone. After some more travel, they hear growls, which Yémos identifies as wolves. Since the wolves are not bothering them, and looking for prey, the gang instead goes onward.

Add a little more snivel, and some self-soiling.

About an hour later, they see a cave, to which they go and see four goblins cooking a rat. Our gang sneak up on the goblins, and Mayhem shoots the nearest one with an arrow. The goblin pulls out his bow and ducks behind another goblin, who gather their wits to fight the gang. Caleb tries to cast Fireball, but fails. Anêr waits, Mayhem moves nearer, and one goblin steps towards Mayhem and draws his axe. The one with his bow takes a shot at Mayhem, who does not dodge, but his armor stops it. The other goblins draw their bows. Yémos and Anêr near, and Caleb gets Fireball ready. Mayhem, sword out, takes a swing, and the goblin falls to the ground, groaning in pain  The other goblins run off. 

The gang ties the goblin, named Kuflaug, who had six copper farthings on him. They ask him what's in the cave, and after a bit, he asks if they will kill the wizard and his "red man." He doesn't want to go into the cave, so Yémos wants to take him inside, and Anêr leads him in at sword point.

A little bigger and much more badass than a goblin.

They go into a big round room, about 50 foot diameter, and see the rotten tapestries on the walls, and listen at the door at the far end. They hear nothing. They push it open and go down the hall into a smaller round room, with four doors as well as the short hallway going into the room. They ask Kuflaug about traps in the rooms beyond the door to their right, and he says he doesn't know. They listen at the door and hear nothing. They walk inside, and see five orcs in a big barracks, which scares hell out of Kuflaug. The orcs ask what the goblin is doing inside the caves with the men, since the goblins are paying them to kill the wizard. As they parley about how much money the orcs should get (all of it, as they say), a black pudding seeps into the room from under the door through which they had just come. Man, orc and goblin all run to the one other door on the other side of the room, and find the door is locked. The orcs start to hack at the door, while the gang talks about what to do about the black pudding. After some mishaps, Caleb gets the Fireball spell going, and singes it. The orcs spot an opening, and run around the pudding instead of going through the door, which they have now hacked open.

Not for eating.

The gang goes into the room beyond the broken door. The room has fewer beds, and bigger, with a big statue of a humanoid with an oversized head. Mayhem goes first, behind the trap finder, and spots the loose tile, but the goblin wasn't so quick and stepped on the tile anyways and died from the bolt that shot out of the statue's mouth. Caleb and Anêr both took a shot, while Mayhem and Yémos get out of the way of two more shots. Everyone looks back, and see the pudding trying feebly to chase after the orcs. All choose to look through the room and go into the next one. After pushing in the stuck door, they go into the room, which is even smaller than the last one, and has oily rags and empty tin vials are in a corner. A lone big workbench, missing a leg, is against the far wall, which has some phosphorescent fungus on it. Random broken tools lie scattered on the bench. Caleb advises against shutting both doors after smelling the trap that comes out of a bottle in the middle of the room. They go to the other door and find the old prison, with rusted manacles and chains and some bits of little bones.

And we break here. The two characters whose players were there, Mayhem and Yémos, each got two points.

Notes: We gamed in Chris's apartment. Chris, can you clean up the place a bit if you're going to offer? And maybe show off some of the four decades of gaming material that you've accumulated? I know your foot is bum. Hopefully, the weather will let us do better in two weeks, either make your trek to Universe Games easier, or make it easier to get your excess stuff out.

I think I have the random encounters down, at least when they should happen. Now to worry about lead in for those.

Our barbarian is lacking in wilderness skills. Those will help the gang to get through the woods. Namely, a guide should have Hiking, Navigation (Land) and Weather Sense and some Survival (in these lands, mostly Plains, Swampland and Woodlands). The other characters can soak up whatever Survival skills the guide does not have.

Speaking of Mayhem, he lived up to his name by shooting a goblin before I could even get in a Reaction roll. Who knows how they would have handled someone talking to them? The orcs didn't take it too badly.