Game log 2 June 2024: Pineapple salad

Personae dramatis

Tonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfa
Felcanis, elven cleric
Grignok, handsome orc druid
Augustus, human cleric

Dénnos, human sage (NPC)

Quid occurrit

Grignok smells something to the south by south east, with his whiskers feeling the motion. He thinks the smell is a spider. So he quickly moves towards the smell and motion, and sees the outline of a spider coming around the corner. He growls, which baffles everyone, but they all think he's growling for a reason, and turn toward the spider. Tonfa Guy moves back and draws his tonfa, and Augustus steps and casts Haste 2 on Tonfa Guy. Felcanis casts Sunbolt 3d.

The spider crawls into the room, and now everyone can see it. Grignok pounces at the spider, but lands without hitting it. Tonfa Guy moves through the webbing. The spider tries to bite Grignok but misses. Augustus steps and pulls out his broadsword but gets stuck in the web, while Felcanis aims at the spider.

Grignok jumps over the spider and turns around. Tonfa Guy moves towards spider. The spider turns towards Grignok and again tries to bite him, again missing. Felcanis steps and the webbing sticks to her, but she still tries to throw her Sunbolt anyways, missing. Grignok tries to claw the spider's face but misses as well, and Tonfa Guy moves toward the side, still getting near the spider slowly.

Augustus tries to cut his way out of the webbing but can't get a good hack. The spider bites Grignok and Grignok claws it right back. Felcanis casts Sunbolt 3d again, while Tonfa Guy keeps moving towards the spider. Augustus casts Might 2 on Tonfa Guy.

The spider bites Grignok again, and this time Grignok cannot land a blow back. Felcanis lobs her Sunbolt and misses the spider as well as Grignok and Tonfa Guy. Tonfa Guy glares over his shoulder at Felcanis before stepping into a web, which sticks lightly to him, but doesn't stop him from whacking the spider over the head, knocking it out. Grignok then rends the spider to death.

Felcanis casts Major Healing on Grignok after Augustus fails, bringing the smell of rotting flesh with his failure. Then they go through the nest, burning any eggs they find, and looting any bodies in the sacs. They not only get a lot of money—2,000 copper farthings—but Felcanis finds a magic bronze brazier.

They leave the nest, getting the thanks of the village of Bóllā. Felcanis and Augustus each pay Dénnos 100 copper out of their share, and Felcanis takes the brazier to the wizard Praidīvós and pays for the identification out of her share once in town. Praidīvós finds the brazier can grab specified items within 5 miles of it that weigh 10 lbs. or less if you speak the item loudly and put a rock in the pot within a half-hour of sundown.

Dénnos goes back to being a sage. Felcanis goes to work in the Temple of Saundīvós, and casts Bless 2 on Augustus, Grignok, and Tonfa Guy. She says she can renew the spell for a donation of 50 copper if needed. 

Res aliae

As a memorial to our late friend John, Felcanis gets a nice retirement, offering them Blesses.

Game log 17 March 2024: Spikes and sacks

Personae dramatis

Tonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfa
Felcanis, elven cleric
Grignok, handsome orc druid
Augustus, human cleric

Dénnos, human sage (NPC)

Quid occurrit

Tonfa Guy steals a torch and they get out of Bóllā. Honsou sticks around to do something to the cows. Nobody asks what.

They set forth for the spider lair. The day is mostly uneventful, albeit oddly slow-going for such a pleasant day. Around midday, though, they find a big spike of animal horn embedded in a tree. Tonfa Guy gives the whole tree a wide birth. Grignok looks at the spike, seeing as a manticore spike. "They're big and have spiked tails and are depicted in artwork that accompanies the songs of the bards Emerson, Lake, and Palmer!"

Augustus looks for tracks, but finds none. Things are much too scuffled around there to tell for sure. Nobody messes with the manticore spike and they move on.

Felcanis sets up camp, and casts Create Food to help Grignok out. The night is uneventful.

The next day, storm clouds are above. Aside from the downpour at midmorning, the day is uneventful. They make it to the tree a bit after midday. They climb the tree, though Tonfa Guy fails to lift the gear on the first try.

Once up top, Grignok casts Shapeshifting (Panther) on himself. After Felcanis and Augustus cast Lend Energy and some wait, they go into the spider lair. The webs inside are rewoven, and the ettercap bodies are husks.

Dénnos and Augustus burn the webbing, and they go down the hallway, past one branching right. At another branch, they keep to the left, and go into a chamber. The chamber is packed with web-filled sacks of many sizes, between one to ten feet long. Each sack has hidden outlines of its trapped victims, shrouded in shadow.

Augustus looks for the fungus, and does not find it. The rotting of the already dead gives off a nasty reek, and there's another smell that he can't place, vaguely musky. Grignok's whiskers cannot detect any movement. Not even shallow breathing, as best he can tell. 

Res aliae

I haven't posted this because I'm lazy, even though I had the post pretty well written the day after the game. However, there's been another development: John Mathern, who played Felcanis, was found dead in his apartment on Good Friday, and we heard about it a week later. He was 56 or 57. John had a number of health issues, many of which were visibly apparent and many of which were underlying, but still, this came all of the sudden. We're gonna miss him and his upbeat attitude, and his humor. As Roman, who plays Tonfa Guy (and about fifteen other characters over the years—can you stick to one, man?), said, John is the only player he ever had who said, "I'm shooting the dragon in his butthole with my laser rifle." (This was one of Roman's many Rifts games, if I remember right.)

Rest in peace, John. I'm glad at least that you got to live to get to Con of the North in February one last time.

Game log 28 January and 18 February 2024: Out and down

Personae dramatis

Honsou, thief and item smasher
Tonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfa
Felcanis, elven cleric
Grignok, handsome orc druid
Augustus, human cleric

Dénnos, human sage (NPC)

Quid occurrit

The spider on Grignok passes out. The spider on Tonfa Guy bites him, dropping him, and his breathing gets shallow. Honsou shoots the spider on Tonfa Guy, taking it down. Augustus casts Stop Bleeding on Tonfa Guy, stabilizing him.

A truly big spider takes a bite out of Grignok, paralyzing him. Felcanis wiggles out a little but cannot get free. Dénnos steps and burns webbing again. Honsou pulls out an arrow and aims. Augustus burns the webbing in front of Honsou.

The spider rears up and grapples Grignok. Felcanis wiggles free and steps back. Dénnos and Augustus keep burning webbing, while Honsou keeps aiming.

The spider starts dragging off Grignok. Felcanis steps and casts Sunbolt. Dénnos and Augustus burn more webbing. Honsou takes a step and then shoots the spider.

Felcanis steps and throws her Sunbolt, but misses, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Dénnos and Augustus keep up burning webbing, and Honsou readies his bow. The spider crushes Grignok with its forearms, then steps back.

Augustus drops his torch and pulls out his bow, and Honsou aims. Dénnos keeps burning webbing, while Felcanis steps back. The spider keeps moving back, and Augustus takes a parting shot. Honsou instead grabs Grignok, and they all go towards the opening. Once they have the sun on their faces, they heal up.

They start climbing down. Augustus takes off his gear and they lower it to the ground, then Tonfa Guy ties the rope around Augustus. Augustus starts going down, but he slips with the knot doing the same, and he lands on the ground, awake but hurting. Grignok, as a panther, climbs down, turns back into an orc, turns Augustus into a big log, heals the log, then turns Augustus back into a person, bewildering Bill, grazing by the tree. Then Tonfa Guy lowers Felcanis, who makes it down after some small mishaps. Both the Tonfa Guy and Honsou make it down, and they make camp there. Grignok gathers food, and Felcanis feeds herself with Create Food.

They wake up on a chilly morning, but nothing awful. The sky looks a bit cloudy. The set out slowly through the thick woods near the spiders' lair, but move faster once they get out of the thick woods just after noon.

In the late afternoon, Grignok points to a tree with curved branches in a copse of trees. "That one there is not right." The branches look almost sword-like, so Tonfa Guy walks away, and everyone else follows.

Felcanis makes camp that night, the first quarter of the moon. Felcanis again feeds herself with Create Food and Grignok gathers food.

In the middle of the night, the rain and winds pick up. Grignok, who is on watch, wakes up everyone. "Run! It's a twister!" Felcanis and Augustus get hurt from the debris, with Felcanis deaf for many minutes afterwards. They set up camp again under a lean-to, and get some more sleep.

The next morning is still wet, crappy, and cloudy, and they make it back to Bóllā in the middle of the morning.

Game log 14 January 2024: Stuck in the middle with you

Personae dramatis

Honsou, thief and item smasher
Tonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfa
Felcanis, elven cleric
Grignok, handsome orc druid
Augustus, human cleric

Dénnos, human sage (NPC)

Quid occurrit

The cat hears something behind him and suddenly three spiders dart into the light. Tonfa Guy moves towards the nearest spider. Honsou lets loose an arrow that goes past two spiders. Augustus and Dénnos burn webbing. Grignok starts to move warily towards the battle, but gets stuck in webbing.

Two spiders step back, and the third at the fore runs behind them. Tonfa Guy moves towards them but gets stuck in the webbing. Augustus and Dénnos keep burning webbing, while Felcanis steps in webbing that ensnares her. Grignok, however, gets free.

Tonfa Guy wiggles out a little, but only a little, while Honsou steps backwards. Augustus burns the webbing where Honsou was, and Dénnos burns more webbing. Felcanis breaks free of webbing, only to step into more webbing that ensnares her. Grignok keeps prowling towards the spiders.

Tonfa Guy gets free of the webbing and steps. Augustus and Dénnos keep burning webbing. Grignok smells where the spiders are, while Felcanis gets free of the webbing tangling her and steps towards a burned spot.

Augustus and Dénnos burn even more webbing. Tonfa Guy runs forward, mostly through burnt webbing, then switches from his long knife to one of his throwing knives. Augustus steps and casts Might 1 on Tonfa Guy, and the night might of Nemmagós makes the spell even mightier than Augustus tried. Grignok moves along the wall towards the spiders, while Felcanis steps aside. This gives Honsou a clear shot and he takes it, but the spider steps away from his arrow.

Honsou pulls out another arrow while the Tonfa Guy moves forward. Dénnos burns more webbing while Augustus moves over burnt webbing to do the same. Felcanis steps, as does Grignok before he pounces on a spider. However, he misses and falls to the ground.

Two of the three spiders try to Grignok, though neither wounds him. The third moves towards him. Grignok claws through the spider that missed his body, killing it. Augustus and Dénnos keep burning webbing while Felcanis fires up a Sunbolt.

The two spiders still standing bite Grignok in the face, stunning him. Honsou moves up, while Augustus and Dénnos burn more webbing. Felcanis aims for one of the spiders biting the face of the cat.

The spiders step back. Tonfa Guy moves forward and gets stuck. Honsou aims at a spider while Felcanis lobs her Sunbolt at it, but misses. As always, Augustus and Dénnos burn webbing.

Again the spiders step back. Tonfa Guy wiggles out a web but gets stuck as he steps again. Honsou keeps aiming. Augustus and Dénnos burn more webbing. Grignok comes to his wits while Felcanis gets stuck as she moves forward.

The big spiders pounce on Tonfa Guy's face, wounding him. Honsou shoots at a spider, but misses everyone. Grignok starts to stand, Felcanis tries to wiggle out but cannot, while Dénnos and Augustus burn webbing. Tonfa Guy grabs at the leg of one of the spiders, but it wiggles free.

The other bites Tonfa Guy in the face, paralyzing him. Honsou drops his arrow as he tries to pull it out. Augustus casts Major Healing on Tonfa Guy from a short gap away. Grignok stands, steps back, and gets stuck, while Felcanis just stays stuck, unable to wiggle free. Dénnos, as always, burns some webbing.

One spider bites Tonfa Guy while the other tries to bite Grignok but cannot get through his fur. Honsou aims at the spider that tried to bite Grignok, while Grignok claws the spider that bit Tonfa Guy, wounding it greatly. Augustus steps and casts Might on Felcanis, who breaks free, steps, and gets stuck again. And Dénnos, yet again, burns webbing.

Game log 17 September, 3 December, 31 December 2023: Sticky fingers

Personae dramatis

Honsou, thief and item smasher
Tonfa Guy, doesn't speak or have a name but has a tonfa
Felcanis, elven cleric
Grignok, handsome orc druid
Augustus, human cleric

Quid occurrit

Nothing happens that evening. Grignok leads them through the woods, getting thicker with each step. After a couple of hours, they find a bunch of bones from some kind of big animal, bigger than Bill. Felcanis tries to figure out what killed it. She cannot, though she realizes it has been dead awhile, and can still see some dried blood on nearby rocks. The skeleton is still intact. Grignok has no idea what kind of animals these are. Big quadruped of some kind.

They make it to the tree about midday. Dénnos looks up. "So, is that the nest? Good gravy!"

Grignok nods. "We went up there before, we can get up there again."

Felcanis tries to climb, gets midway up, then gets back down, as falling is almost assuredly fatal at this level. She makes it down safely. All others slowly make it to the top.

Now, up there, there is a woven wall of webbing They see where Mateo had burned a hole, and it has been webbed-over. Grignok casts Shapeshifting (Panther), then they rest about a half-hour before Grignok's nose leads them to where the smell of weird spidery stuff is greatest. Two branches split here, showing a hidden gap about 3 yards wide in the solid walls of webbing around the tree. Unlike most of the woven wall, this spot of the web is not sticky; dust and leaves are on the floor, making a path. It narrows inside, and after a few yards, the floor starts to get sticky again.

Grignok-cat points out the floor. For all anyone can tell, the kitty is probing at the floor. It's all sticky ahead when they look for a dusty path. Grignok finds the walls sticky. Honsou can lights a torch and starts burning the webbing

The webbing burns slowly. After burning a few yards of webbing, Honsou is amazed to see an ogre-like being with a spider's head and two bulbous black eyes. It has two long, slender arms that end in claws.

Tonfa Guy shoots the ettercap but misses, and the ettercap shoots webbing at Honsou!

Grignok moves towards Honsou, and Dénnos moves behind Grignok. Tonfa Guy whips out his knife and moves into position, but gets stuck on the webbing. The ettercap lobs its web at the nearby Tonfa Guy, who dodges.

Grignok moves into the webbing but doesn't get stuck. Dénnos is for some reason being brave, at least a bit, and carries the rear. Tonfa Guy tries to break free, and wiggles out a little, but is still stuck. Honsou shoots the ettercap, but misses. The ettercap lobs a web at Grignok, who steps aside, and the webbing goes flying past Dénnos.

Grignok steps towards the ettercap, but gets stuck in the webbing. Dénnos pulls out a torch. Tonfa Guy gets himself out of the webbing and he steps back to stand next to Dénnos. Honsou whips out an arrow and shoots the ettercap, who steps aside. The ettercap lobs its web at Honsou and steps back, and the webbing binds Honsou.

The panther tries to break free but does not. Dénnos lights a torch. Tonfa Guy gets out his knife. Honsou tries to get out but does not get out. The ettercap lobs his web at the Grignok, who dodges before breaking free and stepping forward.

Dénnos burns some webbing. Tonfa Guy steps back. Honsou tries to break free but again fails. The ettercap throws a web at Grignok, but it hits the wall. Grignok pounces at the ettercap, but it steps aside, and he lands right beside it.

Dénnos burns more webbing. Honsou wiggles a little out of the webbing, but still has it on him. The ettercap steps back. Grignok swipes a claw at the ettercap, but just misses

The sage steps and burns yet another hex, and the Tonfa Guy steps. Honsou keeps struggling against the webbing. The ettercap steps back again. Grignok steps and tries to claw the ettercap, but cannot touch it.

Dénnos burns even more webbing. The Tonfa Guy sheathes his tonfa and whips out his knife. Honsou cannot get out of the webbing. The ettercap steps back. Grignok steps and again tries to claw the ettercap, but cannot touch it.

Dénnos keeps burning webbing. The Tonfa Guy gets his knife out and starts to cut the webbing on Honsou. The ettercap steps back. Grignok steps and again tries to claw the ettercap, but cannot touch it, and Dénnos steps and burns more webbing.

The Tonfa Guy cuts the webbing off Honsou, who readies his bow. The ettercap turns a little and moves farther.

Grignok steps, still doesn't see anything, and Dénnos burns more webbing. The Tonfa Guy steps up and points at Honsou's coin purse as soon as he is freed from the webbing. Everybody but Grignok can see the ettercap fleeing through the gloaming. Grignok's whiskers sense the ettercap and pounces on the ettercap's back, clawing it and grappling it.

Dénnos keeps burning webbing while the Tonfa Guy steps back and keeps looking at Honsou's pouches. The ettercap tries to break free. It wiggles a little but still grappled. Grignok claws the ettercap again, but it still struggles onward while Dénnos again burns webbing.

Honsou sees the Tonfa Guy making a move on his pouches. The ettercap wiggles out, but  Grignok keeps clawing it from behind, dropping it so it oozes fluid all over the place.

After this, they wait almost an hour and a half.

Augustus is wandering through the woods, trying to learn how to be an alchemist or herbalist. The priest/druid telling him to do this has told him that a rare fungus grows from the bodies of those killed by giant spiders and he has to gather it, so therefore he went to Bóllā, hit by giant spiders, and is wandering through the woods from there.

Augustus makes it to a spot in the woods where there are ropes of spider webbing. He makes it to a tree with a big throng of spider webs about a hundred feet up in it, and there is an elf woman, obviously a cleric of Saundīvós from her rainment, standing at the base of it, kinda looking up. This, of course, is Felcanis.

Augustus and Felcanis banter about the fungus and Felcanis's inability to climb.

Augustus asks, "Why do you wanna climb a tree into a hive of giant spiders?"

Felcanis says, "To kill them?"

Augustus grabs some sticky webbing and starts to try to climb the tree, and Felcanis tells Augustus not to go up there! Someone drops Felcanis's rope to bring her up. She ties the rope around her, and Grignok pulls her up with his teeth.

Honsou grabs the rope, then goes down to meet Augustus. Honsou ties the rope around Augustus before climbing up himself, then Grignok pulls up Augustus.

Augustus looks around the bones in the den and cannot find the fungus. He realizes these bones have bite marks on them. Weird bite marks, not human. It could be the ettercap or it could be a giant spider. Who knows? Maybe the ettercap shared a snack with the giant spider.

Grignok moves into the darkness to the left of where they came into the den, as they hear a little din from there. Honsou steps out, then gets stuck. Augustus readies a torch. Dénnos burns some webbing. Felcanis pulls out her mace, which speaks ettercap.

Honsou wiggles out a little, but is still grappled, while Grignok keeps waiting. Felcanis moves to the edge of the burnt webbing. Dénnos steps and burns more webbing. Honsou tries to get out of the webbing but cannot. Felcanis moves but gets stuck in the webbing. After a short struggle, Augustus burns away the webbing on Honsou as Dénnos burns the webbing on the ground.

Grignok moves, but gets stuck. Felcanis tries to get out, and Dénnos burns the webbing to free her. Honsou steps and readies his bow. The Tonfa Guy sees the creature at the edge of the light and swings, giving the ettercap a good whack, knocking it down.

Felcanis moves but again gets stuck in the webbing. Augustus moves towards Felcanis. Dénnos steps and burns more webbing. Honsou steps. The Tonfa Guy swings at the downed ettercap. It tries to stop the blow with its claws, but instead the blow lands, and the ettercap passes out.

Game log 2 July 2023: Along came an ettercap

Personae dramatis

Mateo de Leon Garcia, stylish red wizard

Grignok, orc druid often in panther shape
Felcanis, elf cleric
Honsou, larcenous bowman

Quid occurrit

The next day, they wake up, and Grignok tracks the giant spider. He points to the broken branches in the trees. "It came through the trees." At about mid-morning, they reach a thick patch of trees where the tracks stock. The trees have big slashing marks on the bark that go up. Grignok says the irregular slash marks are obviously from the giant spiders.

Grignok sticks his head the grove. "I don't see much. The trees here must be really thick up top."

Honsou climbs up the tree. After several minutes, he sees some webbing in the trees. He can stand on a branch up. He cuts a window into the webbing, and sees a passage inside. He calls down, and Grignok and Mateo make it up. Grignok points out the webbing is sticky and they will go through slowly unless he turns into slime.

Suddenly, a long, slender arm ending in a two-finger claw comes out and tries to grab Mateo but he gets out of the way. Honsou whips out his bow and quickly loads an arrow, and points it at the hole, while Mateo casts a small fireball. The claw comes out and just gets a grip on Mateo, and Honsou shoots it, but the arrow bounces off harmlessly. Grignok will try to grab the hand right back, but it pulls its claw away. Mateo lobs the Fireball inside, and the claw pulls back.

Mateo casts Ignite Fire and Shape Fire and starts burning a hole through the webbing. The look through and do not see the ettercap. Grignok asks, "Why are you trying to destroy Nature? We can kill the Ettercap, it is not Nature, but we do not want a forest fire."

The climb down, and Felcanis asks, "Did you take care of whatever was up there?" They rest, then start back to the village.

Along the way, they pass under some trees, and two man-sized spiders drop on Bill. Honsou and Mateo shoot but miss, while Grignok casts Beast Speech. "Do not harm the mule, for he did not harm you!" The spiders start to step back. Honsou shoots one of the spiders, and Mateo is drops his crossbow whips out his longsword. Grignok kicks the spider and it falls. The other one flees as Honsou shoots the foot of the hurt one, stapling it to the ground. Grignok kicks the spider again and it passes out. Felcanis casts healing spells on Bill while the others kill the spider.

That night, they eat on twigs from Felcanis's Create Food spell. The next day, there are storm clouds overhead. They set forth, then after some walking, they hear some growls behind them. They turn to look, and see a pack of six wolves. Grignok casts Beast Speech, and after some barking, finds the wolves want the heroes to stay away.

At the end of the day, they make it back to Bóllā. Nobody seems to care much about the heroes and Lady Savendótē lets them stay at her manor. Honsou tries to steal a cow for some reason, but it makes a loud moo when he tries. A serf calls Honsou, "Stupid like a shoe," and, "A ball-less imp."

After that, they walk for a day and make it back to town.

Game log 19 March 2023: Along came a spider

Personae dramatis

Mateo de Leon Garcia, stylish red wizard

Grignok, orc druid often in panther shape
Felcanis, elf cleric
Honsou, larcenous bowman

Quid occurrit

That morning, it's raining heavily. Grignok finds a trail to track the spiders. "Aye, they are coming from the east, but a bit south as well."

After a couple of hours, the rain starts to let up. The gang sees a tree that seems to be giving off a green glow coming from inside; it looks like a hollow tree about a yard wide. Mateo checks out the tree, and when his face is less than a foot from the tree, a rattlesnake springs out and tries to bite him! It misses his face and gets its fangs stuck on the armor on his shoulder, letting him back away. The snake hisses and rattles its tail, and the heroes back away and realize that the spiders are way too big to go inside this tree, so they keep going deeper into the woods.

A couple more hours later, a big branch falls from a tree onto them. Nobody gets away, but the branch doesn't hurt them too much and they can get it off. They keep following the spider tracks into the thickening woods.

After some more walking, they see a hill with a grove atop it. Honsou slowly makes his way up the hill, and sees that four trees look a little darker, its branches look twisted with few leaves, and each has a big scar on its trunk. In the middle of the trees is a hole that would be a tight fit for a man.

Honsou gets back and tells the others of what he saw. Grignok says that the trees look fine to him, and so he casts Plant Speech and walks up the hill. After walking a few feet, he tells the others that the trees say they're welcome to come up the hill and go into the hole, and that they haven't seen any spiders, but there are badgers down there. Mateo tells Grignok that they'll move on and to thank the trees.

When evening hits, Felcanis sets up camp in the thick woods. She heals everyone, and casts Watchdog, while Grignok casts Mystic Mist. In the middle of the night, Mateo hears rustling, and Felcanis wakes up. Mateo sees a spider bigger than a man poking around at the edge of the mist. The spider doesn't seem to know where it's going so it slowly moves around, giving them all time to wake up and get ready.

Honsou aims with his bow, while Mateo shoots it with his crossbow. The spider tries to move away, but the mist bewilders it. Grignok casts Beast Speech, and Felcanis casts Armor DR 2 on Mateo. All of this is moot when Honsou shoots it in the face, knocking it out.

Felcanis casts Minor Healing to heal it a little, and Grignok casts Beast Speech again. He asks the spider where it lairs, and it says that it lives nearby in then thick woods, towards the rising sun. With that, Mateo fires again, ending its life.

Game log 27 November 2022 and 22 January 2023: Ain't we lucky we got 'em?

Personae dramatis

Mateo de Leon Garcia, stylish red wizard

Grignok, orc druid often in panther shape
Felcanis, elf cleric
Honsou, larcenous bowman

Mēnévē, broken-nosed fighter (NPC)

Quid occurrit

Mateo de Leon Garcia is a red wizard from the city of Pumšássun in the Duchy of Suslópnis who is coming to the town of Mīstássun in the County of Mīsarkēnê to make a fortune in the boondocks. He was with a caravan, but bandits hit it as it passed by the Outpost of Swords, and he got off the road in the fight. He wound up in the woods, where he runs into some redneck murderhoboes.

Honsou, Felcanis, Grignok, and Mēnévē see a well-dressed man step out of the woods. After some pleasantries, Mateo agrees to link up with these redneck murderhoboes, and Honsou shows Mateo the sword. It shocks him, and Felcanis heals him. As it happens, Felcanis is the only one who can touch the sword without it it hurting her.

They go west towards Mīstássun. There are storm clouds on the horizon. Around midday, they wander into woods with some trees chopped down, and hear a craggy voice. "Hey, haven't you bothered me enough?"

They turn, and see a dwarf with no earlobes. Honsou asks what they have done to bother him, and the dwarf says that they took his treasure and wrecked his home. Honsou asks for more details. "I've done like five of those this week."

The dwarf sighs. "You and your nasty elf friend wrecked my home! Your orc was the most well-behaved of you!"

Honsou says, "Oh, yeah. Good times."

That night, not long after bed, the dwarf shows up at the mist around the camp while Honsou is on watch. "Hey! You all in there! I wanna talk to you!" After some banter, the dwarf, whose name is Zurâg, says he wants to get back to town to sell some lumber. "I wanna get back to town! I have some lumber I wanna sell. You all owe me! Can I come with you all?" Honsou tells him he needs to talk to the others, and the next morning, Zurâg shows up, dragging some logs in a makeshift truck. They agree to let him come along.

That night, they make it to the village of Káddrakos. Zurâg splits from the group. "Thank you, for once! Sorry about your friend. She must have opened her mouth one too many times!" He trades with the gnomes for supplies, and the group spends the night in the Winking Friar inn. Honsou picks some pockets and gets eight copper.

In mid-afternoon the next day, they are walking along the road, and should make it to Mīstássun that night. Honsou sees some movement in the trees. He looks, and sees some men, who somehow think they are hidden. A buck-toothed man steps out. "Hey, we've been robbed!"

Honsou asks, "Why are you staying in the bush?"

Bucky says, "We thought they were coming back for more! We were gonna get 'em on the rebound!"

Honsou eyes them, knowing fellow bullshitters. "Why would they come back for more if they already robbed you?"

Bucky says, "We still have our weapons!"

Mateo asks which way they went. Bucky thinks for a moment, then points to the west. "They went that-a-way!"

Honsou nods. "Let's go that direction. I'm the only one around here allowed to steal from people." So, they keep walking west as before, towards town, which they reach that evening.

In town, Mēnévē splits from them group. Honsou tries to sell a painting, and has trouble finding a buyer. Mateo finds someone in the market who is looking for a big but bland painting and buys it for 400 copper, of which Mateo takes a fifth. 

Next up is selling the longsword of hurts-everyone-but-Felcanis. They look around for someone who can identify it, and they find a older, stocky, out-of-shape man named Praidīvós. "I'll cut you a deal. I identify it and help you sell it, and you give me a thousand farthings out of the sale. You in?" Mateo says nothing upfront, and wheedles him down to 900 farthings, but with a cut of a tenth of the sale. They haggle more, and Honsou takes the first offer: a thousand farthings, payable upon sale.

Praidīvós takes the sword to a back room while his apprentice, a young woman with short hair and slightly crossed eyes named Kôštē, makes tea for Mateo. "Enjoy your fucking tea."

Praidīvós sticks his head out of the room. "Watch your language, Kôštē!"

An hour passes, and Praidīvós comes out, eyes wide. "I—I need to check my books. Kôštē, stay with them for a bit. Don't touch the sword. It will damage anyone who isn't pure of heart. Which describes none of us." He goes back into the other room, then comes out again after several minutes. "Well, I should use my connections on selling this. Give me another thousand out of it; trust me, it's worth it. And definitely don't touch the sword. I'm almost certain the sword is Seft, and I should be able to get a few hundred gold pieces for it. It won't like you. I won't like any of us. It likes people who give alms to the poor, and it makes sure you do so."

Honsou agrees, and Praidīvós says to give him a week. After a week, Praidīvós hands over 750 gold pieces. "Believe me, this was a pleasure doing business with you." Mateo takes 120 gold, while Honsou hands over 200 gold to each of Felcanis and Grignok.

The town gets the gold right back. Honsou buys a fine, balanced composite longbow, and Light, Impenetrable Fine Light Leather Armor of Warding. He swaps his old armor and bow for 96 arrows. Felcanis gets Light Elven Light Mail of Invulnerability (and Redundancy) and a Light Fine Medium Shield of Warding, selling her old armor and shield while doing so.

Over that week, they look for work. The talk of the Scarlet Harlot this week is that someone brought back some truffles from the woods in the southeast, and said the boars there gored his buddy to death. The guy who tells them this raves about the truffles. 

Mateo gets drunk with a guy from the village of Bóllā in the east, on the edge of the woods. Big spiders have been known to come to this village and have even taken away a couple of villagers now. The size of the spiders varies each time he tells it. He's pretty wasted.

Honsou is picking pockets, and overhears a guy complaining about losing all his loot while in the hills to the north. Some bandits hit him pretty good, and he barely managed to get away with his life. Since the guy looks beat up, Honsou chooses to pick a different pocket.

After some chatter, they choose to go to Bóllā. It sits on the edge of the Eldalîvā Woods, and they has passed through there many times on the way to Dībités Rock. They can make it to the market village of Ōndrûnks on the road, then walk to Bóllā from there, a trip of about thirty miles. The next day, the first of the month of Párūs, they set forth for Bóllā in nice May weather.

On the road to the Ōndrûnks area, a one-armed elf male waves at them. With his good hand, of course. "Greetings! What brings you fellows and lady this way?" Honsou asks to trade with him. "Well, good sir, I deal in masonry! You humans are always building homes out of mud and cow shit, but I have bricks!" He points to the wheelbarrow he is dragging behind him, a rope to it around his waist.

Honsou asks for a brick. "I want one brick, if I have to send a death threat through a window."

The elf chuckles. "I like the way you think, son! I'll let you have a brick for a farthing. Be sure to let everyone know where you got it unless you're dealing with one of those death threats! Then I didn't know you." And so he sells Honsou a brick for a farthing.

That night, they make it to Bóllā, and widow Dáklā puts them up for the night for twenty farthings. She squints and fidgets often. "Eh, don't get too close to the children. What brings you here this time?" Honsou says the giant spiders do, and she shuts up fast. "I don't know what's up with the spiders. Because there are no spiders."

Honsou scoffs. "I've been arrested plenty of times so I know you're lying straight to my face."

Dáklā says, "Well, did you get hit—what? Arrested? For what?"

Honsou says, "Let me see … It was robbing, more robbing, throwing a brick into someone's house, and defiling a church. But that one wasn't my fault."

Dáklā glares at Mateo. "You seem like a nice young man. Control your friend. And don't go looking for spiders. They carry off cattle. We don't want them coming back. Now, go to bed." She tells Mateo to go to Lady Savendótē the next morning if he wants a reward for killing the spiders.

Dáklā's oldest son, in his early teens, watches them all night. Especially Honsou. The next morning, Dáklā throws them out at first light. 

The manor house is pretty easy to find. Honsou knocks on the door. An attractive woman in traveling clothes opens the door. "Yes?" This is Lady Savendótē. Mateo brings up the spiders, and she gazes at him for a second before telling him, "They can get over the wall, and they come from the east, in the woods."

They walk out of the village, through the east gate. The watchman cackles as they pass. "They'll get you! They always get you!" Then he falls asleep.

Game notes for 17 March 2019, 14 April 2019, and 28 April 2019: The Trifecta

Dramatis personae

Xoran, fox-man ("rúskwē") swordsman
Mayhem, pint-sized barbarian
Josiah, a wandering minstrel he
Ash, knight
Nikotsu, mercenary
Caleb, wizard
Maquia, huntress cleric
Kôštē, NPC cleric

Quid occurrit

Maquia, a cleric, and Nikotsu, a swordswoman, chance upon Josiah’s farm, having heard about the ogre and his sword. Josiah doesn’t have any armor. Maquia recognizes the goo tree. There they go into the mine and down the lit-up tunnels and find the heroes. Ash hears them as he’s on point, turns off some torches, and he and Xóran get ready.

They go back to Fort Rénnutēs. Josiah has to ask his father if he can go and take his armor. His father says sure, but he isn’t his son. Instead, Josiah came to him as a baby, and his adoptive father has some old mail armor for him. Ash tries fitting the cheap heavy mail for Josiah. Then they set forth for town, and it takes seven days. Not much happened other than Caleb twisting his ankle, but Maquia sets his wounds.

They spend a week in town. Nikotsu sells their booty, leaving with enough to live well, while the others listen for leads on work. Josiah hears of a big dungeon in Dībités Rock in the woods, Ash hears of bandits and demons at the Abbey of the Respectful Warrior in the hills (not far from where they had fought the ogres, as it happens), and Mayhem hears of a dragon to the north of the woods who sits on a bow that never misses. The gang chooses to go for the dragon, with Maquia staying behind after slapping Xóran once she learns of his wariness towards blondes.

They set forth on the road both north and west, and run into seventeen giant bees, all of whom they either kill off or send flying away. Caleb gets a meal off a bee’s flesh, while Mayhem gets a dose of bee poison. Caleb talks about going after the bees instead of the dragon, but nobody else is interested. As Xóran says, they’re not going to try to kill the dragon, but instead want to take its hoard.

The next day, they go into the woods, after Maquia, having forgiven Xóran, shows up. They go into the woods, and see husks of white rope. Mayhem and Xóran, among others, know this to be the webbing of giant spiders, so stick to the north of there. The land slopes downward, and they reach a watery spot with caves and broken tree limbs on the ground. Xóran smells something odd, but they keep going, and Caleb doesn’t see anything in the caves.

That night, they make camp, and while on watch, Maquia spots two man-sized lizards that look like wingless dragons—tarakks. She slips behind a tree, and warns the others. Xóran slips into the night, and the heroes take on the tarakks. Aside from Nikotsu taking a breath of fire, they win unhurt, and Xóran takes their flesh for food.

Mayhem is easily able to find their tracks, and thus comes up with the idea of tracking them back to their lair. The heroes easily find the lair, a burrow on a hill, and again beat the tarakks, this time four of them. Xóran slips into their burrow after getting an Armor spell from Caleb, and finds the tarakks’ loot: copper, silver, and a gold button.

That night, they again talk about what to do next. Caleb keeps babbling on about the bees, and Maquia says that they should give in just so Caleb would shut up about them. Xóran, Mayhem, and Nikotsu want to go after the werewolf, and want to get back to town to get silvered weapons, as Caleb says that’s the only good way to hit them. Either way, they think that they don’t need to take on the dragon now, as they have loot and the dragon would be suicide.

They set forth back to town. They keep away from a herd of bison in the hilly land, but while camping, Xóran and Nikotsu see four jackals skulking around their camp. Again, they make short work of them, then keep going for town the next day, staying out of the woods after they see three giant spiders in there, watching them from their webs but not springing out for them.

That evening they make it to Ābûsun. While walking into the market village, the Town Watch stops them, and tells them that they must get sleeping space and drinks at the taverns or leave the village. Much of the village is in the trees, but they stay at the Feral Daughter, a tavern on the ground. There, they listen for chatter, and Xóran hears about goblins having an uprising at the mines, and Ash about kobolds hitting Kerváron.

Old news.

An elf smoking a nasty herb does beckon Xóran to him. He and Nikotsu come to listen to him. “We don’t see many rúskwi around here,” he tells Xóran, “though Ābûsun is a little more noble, a little more elvish.”

Nikotsu rolls her eyes. “Get to the point.”

The elf smiles at her. “Young lady, your race is always so impatient.” With that, Nikotsu walks away and gets a drink, and Xóran takes the chance and beckons Josiah to bring the white-haired elf, whose name is Alinéllo, a drink. “Anyways, there is an old village which a gang of orcs, the Vile Hand, now have. What you might want to know is that a sword that was well-known in my youth called Grân might be there, and strapping youths like you might want it. You’re better folks than those damn orcs, that’s for sure.” After finding out that Alinéllo is 408-years-young, Xóran gives him silver buckle for the information.

They make it to Mīštássun the next day, and now choose to go to the Abbey of the Respectful Warrior and fight the bandits there for their loot. They follow the river into the hills, and see another campfire to the northwest while camping. However, they stay near the river, and later the next day smoke out a bunch of rattlesnake swarms.

Res aliae

Three logs in one. I'm a lazy rotter, though I did have some school projects going on. Alright, most of that was in May. My excuses suck ass.

Nikotsu and Maquia are two new PCs whose players are not new to me: they're my daughters, aged 13 and 11. Sophie, my younger daughter, did have some issues with how Xóran didn't like blondes after his bad time with the lich (Maquia is a blonde), and stormed off for the last part of the first session, already bored to tears. Amazingly, she came back. She's also played Nikotsu a little bit in combat on 14 April (the tarakks) to cover for her sister Hannah, who was elsewhere, as she'll be this session (mom and grandpa want a fishing partner).

Josiah is the new character of Brandon, who played the late Uruk.

I do have some plans for blog posts besides game logs. Namely, now that some of the Kickstarter Backers have Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2, some of the monsters I had developed for possible publication now have Kromm versions, and if nothing else I'll share my own work.

Game log for 25 March 2018: Wandering shadows

Dramatis personae

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

Quid occurrit

The gang, weary from its fight with the grey pudding, rested in the room with the dwarf shrine. Luckily, nothing came while they were resting. Afterwards, Ash had the group go back through the maze, planning on taking a hallway later they had bypassed before.

However, back in the room where Kim had turned off the trap, they see a flash in the room. After taking a few seconds to gather themselves, Kim, Xóran, and Mayhem snuck into the room, where Kim and Xóran were able to see a big spider. Their sneakiness helped make short work of the spider.

From there, after a short rest for Caleb’s welfare, they pressed onward and went down one of the turns they didn’t take before. The walked from there into a room with many spider webs and no other ways out. Kim looked around and found 10 copper farthings (which nobody believed was all the loot, but thieving Kim had found loot first), while Mayhem torched the webs.

Afterwards, they wound through another hallway and found themselves at a stairs going up, as well as a hallway back to the big room with the little girl and the coffins. Rather than cut through the big room, they found their way back around and went down a hallway on the other side of the room through which they had yet to go. There, they found another stairs going up, and went up to check out the room, and, while this was the first time they had seen it, they did find some grey gunk that looked like it had come from the pudding.

They went back downstairs, and suddenly, the shadow struck. Áttikos was its target, and when it touched him, he started to feel faint. Still, he kept going, and a few seconds later, Mayhem, Ash, and Kim had beaten it back into the darkness.

From there, they went looking for the workdesk. Before stepping in a room with a big slab and a pickled lung in a jar, Kim saw a slit in the way inside. She prodded it with her torch, then a big axe swung down and smacked her in the chest, knocking her down. Mayhem bound her wounds and Grymálkus and Kôštē healed her, while they watched the axe swing like a pendulum every few seconds. Afterwards, they slipped past the swinging axe, and made their way down a few hallways until they found themselves in a room with

The desk.

It was a teak desk that somehow had not rotted away, and with some milky-white semi-precious  stone inlay to make it look nicer. It had to be a desk from Aikîā Dungeons, an order that somehow hadn’t made it to the jade idol that had made it in a bygone time.

So they took the desk. They made their way back to the stairs, and, after a turn, found one of their marks on the wall. Mayhem had a good idea how to get back, and they soon found themselves in the room with the jade idol. The idol bade them how to put the desk in a corner and to put it on the desk, and it them told them that they had fulfilled their end of the bargain, and their necks were still safe in the dungeon. Whatever that meant.

Still, finding themselves without loot, they thought hard about the cloak, and started looking for it. They made it downstairs again, and ran into a doomchild, which knifed Kim before Mayhem threw it. Afterwards, Caleb realized (or, the GM, amazed that they hadn’t put two and two together, rolled Hidden Lore (Magic Items) for Caleb, and gave him a hint) that little girls don’t belong in dungeons. Maybe it was wearing something?

Thus, they made their way back to the room with the teleportation circle, and stepped into it again, finding themselves again looking at a young girl crying for help under a rock. Caleb, however, was taking no chances, so rather than lift the rock off the girl, he cast Apportation from five yards away. The girl stood up and, once she did so, he dropped the rock on her.

Xóran and Mayhem quickly slew the girl, who, in death again, showed that she was a dwarf zombie in a cloak. As the gang could hear the lids start to come off the coffins, Mayhem grabbed the cloak and they ran to the stairs.

They had just made up the stairs when the shadow caught up with them again. Alone, the shadow tried to keep the gang from taking grave goods, but the grave robbers easily took it down. From there, they easily made their way back to the shining sky and the chilly air.

Res aliae

The first thing that I want to note is the rolls that went right for them.

I went back and counted that I made 39 wandering monster rolls. As well as making the dungeon alive, wandering monster rolls are the time keeper in the dungeon, keeping everyone away from the ten-minute adventuring day. When my players camp in the dungeon, they make sure they are in a room with few doors that monsters can open. Wandering monsters happen on a 6 or less on 3d—9.3% of the time—with clues happening on a 7 (6.9%) if they are moving. For 39 rolls, you’d expect 3.6 wandering monsters.

There were only two: the spider and the shadow warrior. The only clue was left out of the log since the players and the characters missed it in their haste to leave (it was the skittering of little claws after they had reached the first level again). This was amazing luck of the dice; doomchildren roam the second level. These have been painful in sufficient numbers.

As such, they had an easier time; the shadow warrior, while mostly indestructible, doesn't do much damage on its own, while the spider is much weaker while looking for loot than it is in its web.

By the way, +Peter V. Dell'Orto, Roman, who plays Xóran the fox-man, thinks shadow warriors are great monsters, telling me twice how cool it was. I told him he wouldn’t have felt that way had he fought it while the zombies were coming at him. That was smart of them, though who knows what loot they missed?

John thought the cloak was on Caleb’s doppelgänger, and I had to remind him that I had given out the inside poop about that doppelgänger when we went to see Chris for the last time. Nothing to do with a cloak, everything to do with Weirdness Magnet.

Grand total for the last few sessions is 12 points. Had they figured out the cloak without my hint, I might have given out a point or two more; had they not, it would surely have been a couple of points less since they didn't get much loot.