Game log for 26 April 2015

Dramatis personae:

Mayhem, pint-sized human barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (Chris)
Caleb, human wizard of the Order of the Sun (Chris)
Yémos, human cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic (Eric)
Anêr, human swashbuckler (Eric)

Introducenda:

Kipóssibēl, aka Kim, human thief (John)

Comitans:

Kúflaug, orc slave (NPC)

Quid occurrit:

The night of the 24th saw the death of Gáddurub, the orc slave who pulled up the rope and fled, on the pendulum. The weather was bad for two days, so the gang stayed back and helped Likháfrikh with his scaffolding. On the morning of the 27th of Blôs of 2852, while a morning rain shower was happening, Kipóssibēl, aka Kim, a skinny woman from Mīstássun, showed up. She said the company had hired her to help the gang look in the mines.

No, nobody knew how the folks at Mīstássun knew about the dungeon, four days after finding it. It took about that much time to get to the mines.

Regardless, the gang, now with Kim, went went down into the dungeon again, taking along Kúflaug. Kim checked for hidden doors in the rooms filled with bat guano. She also checked down the dead-end hallway. While she thought the wall might be thinner at the end than along the sides, she didn't find a hidden door. They also ran into the lizard men again in the same room, who hissed them away. Were they the same lizard men? Nobody knew.

When the gang came back to the main room, it found four hobgoblins with morning stars and longbows ready to fight. The two hobgoblins, one with a mole on his face and another bigger than the others, let loose arrows at Mayhem, but missed him wholly. The other two, one shorter than the others and one with dark rings under his eyes, started to move towards the heroes. He moved slowly, lest he slip on the bat shit on the floor.

Yémos cast Shield 3 on Anêr, who then slowly moved towards the oncoming hobgoblins. Mayhem also moved nearer, while both Kúflaug and Kim stood stunned. The hobgoblin archers reloaded while the other two came nearer.

Caleb stepped forward and cast a Sunbolt, while Anêr kept moving nearer. Mayhem got near the short hobgoblin, and planted his axe in the hobgoblin's side. The hobgoblin fell down, bleeding to death, and his blood mixed with the bat shit on the floor. Kim came to her wits and started to go near the hobgoblins, who turned around and moved towards the door. Caleb let loose his Sunbolt at a fleeing hobgoblin, but he missed, and the hobgoblins ran down the hall.

Anêr took the limb armor from the fallen hobgoblin while Kim took the longbow and eight arrows. Other than armor and weapons, the hobgoblin had a whopping 3 copper farthings. After getting used to the smell of bat shit on Anêr's new armor, the gang went down the hall.

Kim found that someone had reset the spear trap in the corner, then she listened at the door where the others had fought the hobgoblins with Likháfrikh. She heard nothing, so they opened the door, and found the hobgoblins who had fled a few minutes before. The gang offered to let the hobgoblins surrender; the hobgoblins, with Kúflaug as interpreter, said they didn't want to go back into slavery. As none wanted hobgoblins at their back, Caleb cast Blast Ball at the hobgoblins in the corner. They lived, but now they joined the battle.

Yémos cast Shield 3 on Anêr, and Anêr, Kúflaug, and Mayhem stepped into the room. Kipóssibēl looked down the hall, and saw four big flying birds: striges. She started knocking an arrow and aiming, while the two hobgoblin archers let arrows fly at Kúflaug, one hitting him in the shoulder. The third crept forward towards the heroes.

Yémos cast Shield 3 again, this time on Kim, while Caleb got a Sunbolt ready. Anêr stepped forward, ready for the hobgoblin, while Kúflaug, stung, stepped back. Both sides moved towards each other and got their arrows ready, while Kim watched the striges come nearer. Caleb let his Sunbolt at one of the archers, who reeled from the hit, but still stood.

Kim at last let loose her arrow, but missed the strix.

Back in the room, Mayhem made it into striking range of the hobgoblin with dark rings under his eyes, and swung, but the hobgoblin flicked away Mayhem's axe with his morningstar. Caleb conjured up a Fireball, while Anêr let loose two pokes at the hobgoblin. The hobgoblin swatted away Anêr's first thrust, but not his second, and slouched to the ground, dead.

Now the striges flew at Kim's chest, but either missed, or her armor stopped their over-big noses. Kim  dropped her bow and started to grab her shortsword, while Mayhem rushed the two hobgoblin archers. He missed, but they dropped their weapons. Going back to slavery was better than death.

The gang did nothing to bind the hobgoblins, but instead bade them to go into the hallway. There, the striges were turning around for another pass at Kim, who got her sword on the body of one of the striges. Caleb lobbed his Fireball at a strix, but he missed, and three striges tried to get through Kim's armor again, and failed.

Kim missed one of the striges right before her, while the hobgoblins made it out into the hall. There, the four striges flew towards the faces of Kim, Yémos, and the two hobgoblins. (While not intelligent, the striges found out that the fleshy faces might be nearer to the blood than the flesh of the dead cows that stopped their stingers.) Kim and one of the hobgoblins swatted away the striges, while the other two stung Yémos and big hobgoblin in the face and started sucking.

Yémos tried to knock the strix off him with his staff, but couldn't get it off, but the big hobgoblin smacked the strix in his cheek with his hand. Anêr deftly poked his rapier into the strix on the hobgoblin, killing it, while Kim slashed one of the striges flying free, killing it. (It was the one she had hit before.)

The last free strix flew away, while Yémos at last jabbed the end of his staff into the strix in his face. Anêr gave it a poke, killing it.

Now, it was Yémos's turn to take the armor of a dead hobgoblin, and this one didn't smell like bat shit. (It did smell like a hobgoblin, however.) The gang started down the hall, and before the left turn, Kim found the hidden door in the left side. They opened it, and saw the lizard men. Before the stunned lizard men could do anything, the gang jammed the door shut.

Res aliae:

I had to take off about an hour early since my wife was texting me to come meet her and our daughters at Southdale, a big mall in Minneapolis, though (obviously) not the biggest one.

John is a veteran of Pathfinder and pre-3rd D&D, but had some questions about the GURPS character sheet. So Kim isn't quite done, but we know she's a cat burglar who likes to tip the bottle. Incidentally, her introduction to the others brought out a lack of physical descriptions, other than for Mayhem.

I gave out three character points. I decided to use Basic Roleplaying-style advancement for Kúflaug, who didn't hit anything and had a rotten morale check (17) after taking an arrow. Luckily, they didn't need him much.

Current hex crawl procedures

This is as much for my players as for anyone else, though right now they're in a big dungeon. But these are my daily steps at the moment:

1. GM determines weather (Nasty Weather, DF 16, p. 30) and disasters (Disasters, DF 16, p. 32).
2. Wake up. Handle effects of sleep. This includes docking FP for not getting enough or sleeping in a bad spot, as well as any HT rolls for healing overnight. In extreme temperatures, make the daily HT roll to see if anyone is down FP for the day (Harsh Climates, DF 16, p. 30).
3. Breakfast. Dock one meal.
4. Determine time intended to be spent traveling.
5. Determine movement rate (Trudging, Trotting, and Trundling, DF 16, p. 21; Covering Ground, DF 16, p. 23; Nasty Weather, DF 16, p. 30). Be sure to make rolls for way of travel (i.e., Hiking, Riding, Teamster), Navigation, and Weather Sense.
6. Determine the time (6+1d6) of the morning encounter roll.
7. Set forth. Make an encounter roll for each hex as the group goes into each one, as well as the extra one for the morning. Handle each encounter as it happens, then move on.
8. Lunch. Dock one meal.
9. Determine the time (12+1d6) for the afternoon encounter roll.
10. Set forth. Make an encounter roll for each hex as the group goes into each one, as well as the extra one for the afternoon. Handle each encounter as it happens, then move on.
11. Gather food (Food and Water, DF 16, p. 42). Make all rolls for hunting and foraging along the way after ending movement.
12. Make camp (Camping, DF 16, p. 24). This needs a Survival roll to set up the camp, and another to handle shelter if the group lacks a tent.
13. Dinner. Dock one meal.
14. Determine the time (6+1d6) for the evening encounter roll.
15. Camp. Make the evening encounter roll. Resolve each encounter as it happens, then move on.
16. Determine the time (12+1d6) for the night encounter roll.
17. Sleep. Make the evening encounter roll. Resolve each encounter as it happens, then move on.
18. Wake up ...

A quick shot from yesterday

I had meant to include this with the log. It's a picture of the gaming table, right after Caleb got off his Blast Ball but before Anêr dropped the hobgoblin.

Chris, who plays Caleb and Mayhem, has his hands in the shot. The minis are his. For a guy who has well over a thousand minis, he sure likes those Wizards of the Coast plastic ones.

Game log for 15 March 2015

Dramatis personae:

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

wik

Kúflaug, orc slave

also wik

Likháfrikh, dwarf engineer

Quid occurrit

The battle started (in room #38 for those who own the original adventure and are keeping track at home). Three hobgoblins with greatswords came through the double doors make a wall, and a fourth followed them with a longbow and an axe. The bowman, a hobgoblin with thin lips (if anyone knows how hobgoblin lips look, of course), nocked an arrow. The heroes also made a wall, with the spellcasters behind, and both moved slowly past the trash pile to meet. Yémos cast Shield 3 on Anêr, while Caleb tried to cast Blast Ball, but instead it made a big flash of light.

The two groups moved slowly towards a corner to meet. The hobgoblin bowman let loose an arrow that hit Likháfrikh. Still, all crept forward, and Yémos cast another Shield 3 on Mayhem, while Caleb started to cast Sunbolt. After another second, Caleb lobbed his Sunbolt at the bowman, wounding him. Then the hobgoblins moved to the corner, and the heroes met them there. Another hobgoblin, with a metal tooth and a morningstar, stepped through the door.

In the corner, one hobgoblin with unkempt hair swung at Anêr, who got out of the way. Then another hobgoblin with a circle shaved into his head swung at Likháfrikh, who could not swat away his blow. Likháfrikh staggered while the hobgoblin with the morningstar moved to behind the line and the bowman kept aiming.

Yémos got out his paut, and Caleb cast Blast Ball. Anêr stepped forward and swung his rapier, but could not hit the hobgoblin before him, much as Kúflaug did with his axe. Mayhem planted his axe into the chest of hobgoblin with the shaved pattern in his hair, while Likháfrikh passed out from his wounds.

The hobgoblin having a bad hair day smote Kúflaug, who could not parry his blow, but stayed standing. The guard, another hobgoblin with thin lips, swung his sword at Mayhem, but Mayhem got out of the way. The bowman let his arrow fly at Anêr, who stepped aside, and yet another hobgoblin, this one with an axe and a bad shave (well, maybe he plucked his facial hairs badly) stepped into the room.

Yémos drank his paut and Caleb got off his Blast Ball afore the hobgoblin by the door, singing him, the bowman, and the one with the morningstar. Anêr twitched his rapier past the sword of the hobgoblin with the wild hair and into his side, dropping him to the ground. Kúflaug stepped back but otherwise stood pat, and Mayhem smashed his axe into the side of the thin-lipped guard. However, the guard stayed standing.

The hobgoblin with the wild hair started to stand, while the one with the circle in his hair barely missed Mayhem with his sword. The one with the axe came forward, and the bowman nocked an arrow while the others held their ground.

Yémos stepped forward and cast Major Healing on Kúflaug, and Caleb fired up a Sunbolt, luckily a mighty one. Anêr stuck his rapier in the neck of the hobgoblin on all fours, killing him. Kúflaug heeded the words of Yémos and picked up one of the big swords. Mayhem swung at the thin-lipped guard, landing his blow and killing him.

The hobgoblins slowly took two steps backward, while the bowman aimed his bow. Yémos pulled out an alchemist's fire flask, planning on handing it to Anêr, who put his rapier in his left hand. Caleb took a step and let loose his Sunbolt, which was so nasty that it killed the unwitting bowman. (Aside: Chris rolled a critical success to get the spell off, which I ruled meant automatic maximum damage. Then he rolled a critical success to throw the spell, and got double damage on the critical success table. After DR, it was 18 HP of damage to the bowman. Pretty good for a 1d Sunbolt.) Anêr reached for the flask, while Kúflaug got the big sword. Mayhem rushed forward and swung at the hobgoblin with the odd circle shaved in his hair. He landed his blow, killing the hobgoblin.

Now the hobgoblins still alive broke for the door. The spellcasters sat down to rest, while Mayhem and Anêr ran to the door. They peeked through, and saw the hobgoblins pushing a man in tattered clothes to the door, whom they pushed to the other side before shutting the door. Caleb yelled out to the man, who understood nothing. Anêr listened at the door, hearing nothing, before Yémos got up and handed a mallet to him. Anêr started hammering a spike into the door when the man in the tattered clothes started babbling wildly at him. Kúflaug said that the man wanted to be with the hobgoblins—the man was speaking Goblin.

Hearing the pounding, the hobgoblins pushed the door. Anêr and Mayhem tried to hold it shut, while the hobgoblins pushed them aside. They burst through, and both Anêr and Kúflaug missed blows at them. Mayhem smashed the metal-toothed hobgoblin with his axe, knocking him to the ground. The hobgoblin with the axe and the bad shave missed Anêr, while another hobgoblin with a cleft lip missed Mayhem. Caleb's Sunbolt did nothing to the hobgoblin with the bad shave, and Kúflaug missed with his sword, but both Anêr and Mayhem landed blows on the hobgoblins with the bad shave and the cleft lip, killing both. Behind them was another hobgoblin with long earlobes and a big sword, who turned and ran to a door on the other side of the room.

The metal-toothed hobgoblin stood, but Anêr stabbed his weapon hand, making him drop his morningstar. Anêr held the hobgoblin at sword point, and bade Kúflaug to interpret for him.

• "Who is the man?" "He's our bitch! We've had him his whole life." (No, not THAT kind of bitch.)
• "Who is your leader?" "Grotch, the mightiest of warriors!"
• "What do you do down here?" The hobgoblin chatted with Kúflaug, who said something back. Anêr asked Kúflaug what he said, and Kúflaug told him that the hobgoblin asked Kúflaug why he was helping the heroes. Kúflaug said they were better than goblins.
• "What do you do down here?" The hobgoblin laughed.
• "What's on the other side of the door?" "Our mighty leader, Grotch!"

Mayhem checked the bodies for slave brands, and three did have them, as well as the hobgoblin still alive. They looted the bodies for their 33 copper farthings, and then looked at the room the hobgoblins rushed out. There was a bunch of trash on the floor, but not as much as the first room. On the wall to the right, they saw a hole in the wall. They peered through, and saw stairs going down.

Caleb and Yémos waited for their strength to come back. As they waited, they could hear some scuffling, clanking, and shouting behind them—the din of battle. Yémos at last got his strength back, and healed Likháfrikh, whose eyes fluttered open. Anêr killed the last hobgoblin, while the man in the tattered clothes wailed and babbled in Goblin.

Anêr, Kúflaug, and Mayhem moved out to the cavern, and saw the fight between six lizard men and six men, whom Mayhem thought to be warriors of a small hill tribe. As they watched, one of the men stuck his spear through the eye of a lizard man, which led the others to break and run up the stairs. The barbarians ran after them.

The heroes rested in the hallway between the room where they fought the hobgoblins and the cavern. Likháfrikh looked through the trash and found another four farthings, and after about a half hour, they heard the door in the guardroom open. The gang moved around the corner into the cavern, and saw five hobgoblins and two lizard men walk into the room. Four of the hobgoblins had greatswords, while the fifth had a broadsword and shield.

The foes made it into the hallway and spotted the heroes. Anêr lobbed the alchemist's fire before the foes, who had the lizard men in the fore, and the hallway burst into fire. The heroes ran, though Kúflaug didn't want to drag the man. None of the foes followed, and they made it out of the dungeon.

Back at the camp, Péllē offered Kúflaug to the heroes to make up for some of the money she had promised earlier.

Notes

Do hirelings get mightier as they adventure? I haven't chosen if and how. It seems like they should. It makes a difference in whether or not the take a slave as payment.

I gave out 7 character points for the last few sessions. There was some discussion of what skills will help, and whether or not there are secret spots of the dungeon they've missed (well, duh!). Forced Entry was the skill I recommended. Why? On a successful Forced Entry door, I let them open a stuck door without a check for random encounters. Without it or failing the roll, I make the check. The striges came on such a check.

Murder-hobos bumming around town

A short post, especially since we couldn't game last week since one of the players had to go to a tea party. No, not the political kind, rather the equally dumb but more boring kind that have old ladies. For his sake, I hope they were MILFs.

As I said last time, I have been working on an urban crawl in my sandbox. It becomes a fight between my wont to add all kinds of details and hooks and the need to keep things loose for improvisation. One detail I did add was that each tavern and inn now has a chance that someone robs the PCs while sleeping, and the truly scummy taverns and inns also have a chance that the PCs get a disease.

How this works is that if the PCs stay in a tavern at night (which they usually do), I roll three dice and compare to a number, like a frequency of appearance, with 6 being normal. Inns, which have rooms, might be a 3; scummy taverns a 9; sleeping on the street a 12. That's why inns are pricier for a stay. If one shows up, a cutpurse (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 10: Taverns, p. 6) picks a PC at random to target first. He gets +10 against a sleeping target, but is going for money, which is presumably in an inner pocket or something, so -5 there, making his effective Pickpocket skill 17 vs. the higher of the PC's Perception or Streetwise skill. Success on the Quick Contest means he gets the PC's money; critical success means he also gets his gems, if any, which are presumably better guarded and less expected. Critical failure wakes the PC. The cutpurse moves from PC to PC until he loots them all or he wakes one. They're not going to go for big items like magic swords, which are harder to steal and lug off without someone seeing it, so some PC items are safe.

In a truly scummy tavern, the bedbugs might bite. The chance for this in a scummy tavern 3 or less on 3d, or 6 or less on the street. If one bites, it might spread the Aching Ague or an akin disease if the PC fails his HT roll. Remember to apply the Hygiene modifier of the settlement (GURPS City Stats, p. 6) to the HT roll. If you don't know it, set it to 0 in a village or to -1 in a bigger settlement, like a town or a city.

Aching Ague

Bedbugs spread it, or rats and fleas on the street.

Statistics: Blood Agent (Bedbug bites); HT to resist; 1d-2 day delay; 1d-4 HT damage; 12-hour cycle with 6 cycles. Symptoms produce stomach problems, which is the Nauseated condition (p. B428) after losing 1/3 HT; after losing 2/3 HT, doing anything stressful like combat or moving more than 1 yard a second means a Retching (p. B429) spell for 2d seconds; resist HT to keep from retching. Not contagious.

Slumming it a longer layoff gives a flat chance of robbery. While GURPS Dungeon Fantasy murder-hobos are specifically mentioned as not being able to have Status lower than 0 (Pyramid #3/58: Urban Fantasy II, p. 13), they can try to live like hobos who do not murder anyone. Living at Status -1 gives a robbery on 12 or less on 3d, and a disease a 6 or less, but costs only $75 a week. Living at Status -2 gives a robbery on a 15 or less on 3d, and a disease on 9 or less, but costs only $30 a week. Living at Status 0 or better gives plot immunity from robbery or disease during layoffs. Think of it as making enough extra money to cover any robberies. If someone suffers the aching ague during downtime, just rule he starts the game down 1d HT.

Oddly enough, the murder-hobos at our table won't come into contact with these rules unless something truly bad happens, as Yémos always casts the Watchdog spell before going to bed.

Game log for 15 February 2015

Dramatis personae:

Anêr, a human swashbuckler
Caleb, a human wizard of the Order of the Sun
Mayhem, a short human barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan
Yémos, a cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic

With them is Kúflaug, an orc slave to whom they have given a halberd

Quid occurrit:

24th Blôs, Mid-afternoon

Down in the dungeon, the gang told Kúflaug to chop open the stuck door, which he did As he did so, they could hear drums pounding from afar, away and maybe down. Once the door was chopped, they stepped into the room, and no sooner did they do so then saw a mass of writhing red centipedes. Anêr told Caleb to burn them, but everyone got his whacks on the centipedes before Caleb could get his spell off, with Yémos ending the last one with a stomp. Then they looked around the room, and saw the blood splotches and the dead centipedes that had already been there.

After checking the rubble in the room, which also looked like it had been a statue, they walked over to the door on the other side. This door opened easily, and behind it were four lizard men were there. Two were standing guard and watching the heroes open the door, and one was healing the wounds of a fourth. Taken aback, Yémos said, “Hail and well met.” The lizard men hissed and made some odd noises at the heroes. Taking a hint, Yémos shut the door. As they walked away, Mayhem listened, and could still hear some faint drumming from afar, down a bit.

They went down a hallway, and turned a few corners before seeing a hobgoblin sleeping in yet another corner. Yémos cast Silence on the guard, then they turned the corner and found a door. They easily opened the door, and Yémos, Mayhem, and Kuflaug were surprised at the six surprised hobgoblins.

Anêr, however, was not surprised, and he stepped into the room and poked a hobgoblin, giving him pain. Caleb lobbed Blast Ball into a corner, and burnt all the hobgoblins, dropping one to the floor in pain, as well as singing himself. Anêr got out of the way, and stabbed the hobgoblin in front of him twice.

No, not THAT Hobgoblin.

Kúflaug stood agape, while Mayhem rushed into the room and took a mad swing at one of the hobgoblins. It was a good blow, as it killed the hobgoblin. One of the hobgoblins snapped aware. He moved and held his ground near Mayhem. Yémos then woke up, and moved in to try to cast Shield on Mayhem, but his spell fizzled. Caleb, still smarting from his own spell, stood his ground. 

Anêr took another two quick stabs at the hobgoblin nearest him, killing him, while Kúflaug snapped aware and rushed into the room. Mayhem swung at the hobgoblin standing tough near him, but the hobgoblin’s axe caught Mayhem’s. The hobgoblin then put his axe in Mayhem’s body. Ouch! Another hobgoblin sprang to battle, and stepped and missed Mayhem, while the hobgoblin down in the corner started to stand.

The spellcasters did their work this time, as Yémos cast Shield on Mayhem, while Caleb shot a Sunbolt at a stunned hobgoblin, killing him. Anêr and Kúflaug missed their blows, while Mayhem swung and dropped his axe. 

Dropping one’s axe was catchy. The hobgoblins threw down their axes and said, “No kill!"

Yémos asked for whom they worked. One said, “Minotaur King.” Yémos asked if the Minotaur King was leading the slave rebellion. The hobgoblin said, “The Minotaur King is our leader!” The gang looted 50 copper farthings off the hobgoblins, both dead and alive, but could not find any rope. Yémos asked the hobgoblin if there were another way out, and he said no. The gang woke the sleeping guard and bade him to drop his morningstar and go with them. He did so.

They went back to the well. After Anêr had a short fall, he made it to the top, found the old rope, tied it to the stake, and threw it down. Everyone made it up after two hours down. The gang tried to learn whether the hobgoblins were slaves, and Kúflaug pointed to the slave brands on the backs of their hands.

They brought the hobgoblins to Péllē and asked for a bounty. First, Péllē said they had to disarm Kúflaug. Now that he was free of arms, she tried to give them 25 silver pennies for the four, and asked the heroes to keep things quiet. Yémos asked for more. Péllē then said 500 silver pennies, but would have to clear it with her higher-ups in Mīstássun, and it would take two moon phases (16 days) to hear from there. Yémos agreed. Péllē agreed to ladder by the pit, but it had to be a rope ladder, and said she would have the whole area cordoned off and have one guard by the pit.

They took the halberd to Likháfrikh, the dwarf engineer, who was in the mess shack. He said it looked from an older time before bragging about making the scaffolding in the fore-room of the mine four years ago, and said it had made it through two slave rebellions. He also said that the overseers were going to execute Gáddurub, the orc who had fled. Then the camp baker set out some food. Yémos thought she was eavesdropping. Likháfrikh said he wanted to go into the mines and see the architecture for himself to see how old it was.

That night, there was a big storm at midnight. The weather the next day was otherwise pleasant. Likháfrikh and Kúflaug were going with them. Both had axes, and the baker gave everyone a meal’s rations. Likháfrikh showed off the scaffolding, and jumped on it. He installed the rope ladder by the hole, which had no guard, and showed them how to use it and how to get it down with a grappling hook. They went down.

These weren't quite so blocky.

They walked through the big hall and past the columns. Likháfrikh said the architecture was older than he was. When they got to end of the main hall with the wrecked statue, they saw the lizard men afore that statue. Kúflaug said these were the same lizard men as the day before. Yémos gestured that the heroes wanted to go into room where the lizard men had been the day before, but the lizard men hissed at him and waved their clubs.

The gang went down the dead end hallway and Likháfrikh found no secret doors. So they went down the other hallway, but as they turned the corner on the other side from where they saw the sleeping guard, two spears shot out of the wall. Anêr dodged, but Likháfrikh took a spear to his back. Yémos cast Minor Healing on Likháfrikh, who then disabled the trap tied to a tile next to some old lizard man scales in the dust.

The gang went down the hallway which, after a turn, Likháfrikh said it was getting lower. After a long stretch of about 150 to 200 ft., the hallway turned, then went downstairs. Going down the stairs, they found themselves in a big cavern with a big pile of rubble in the middle of the floor. In the ceiling was there was a big chasm. They looked in the rubble, and found rats who screeched.

They went down hallway in the wall opposite the stairs, and found themselves in a room with a lot of rubble. At the other end of the room, there were double doors, which a hobgoblin guarded. The guard yelled at the gang to go back, then barked something in Goblin and opened the door.

End of session.

Res aliae:

Time kept us from a big fight with many hobgoblins.

I'm updating my documents to handle an urban crawl as well. Since they won't be back at civilization for months of real time, I'm in no rush, Justin Alexander's series inspired me.

Game log for 1 February 2015

Dramatis personae

Anêr, a swashbuckler
Yémos, a cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic
Mayhem, a barbarian who is vertically challenged
Caleb, a wizard of the Order of the Sun

Quid occurrit

So the gang went back to Péllē, who batted her eyes at them as they told her about the kobold-sized tunnel. She agreed to their call for kobolds to help them, though she told them that they don't work well with orcs. "We keep them all at odds so they don't get together and hold an uprising," she said. So Kuflaug and Gaddurub, the orc slaves with them, went back to work, and two kobolds, one with a blunt nose and another with broad shoulders and pointier horns.

The gang brought the kobolds down to the room with the dirt mound, which they found easily. Yémos asked the kobolds where the tunnel went, and the broad-shouldered one said, "It seems to go up." Then they sent the kobolds down the tunnel, with Mayhem behind them, and the others behind them on all fours. They followed the kobolds up the tunnel, and, after the kobolds pushed aside a rock blocking the top, found themselves near the opening of the mine.

Amazed, they went back to the room with the dirt. They told the kobolds to tell them about the dirt, and they agreed it came from the lands above. Why? Neither of them said they knew. Unshaken, they asked the kobolds about the mines. The kobold with the blunt nose told them in his nasal voice that they found odd wrought things in the mines, both metallic and stone, with more curves than wont, mostly dishes. The kobold thought they came from the hobgoblins. When Yémos pressed, the kobold said that there were no hobgoblins in the camp as they kept disappearing, falling down shafts or getting into fights to the death. Hobgoblins, he said, were "bad luck."

The heroes brought the kobolds back to camp, then went to lunch. In the dining hall, they chatted with Likháfrikh, a dwarf with a bushy mustache. Likháfrikh said he was an engineer, and had been there four years. Some slaves had knocked out four of his teeth in an uprising some time ago. Likháfrikh said that what the kobold said was true: there were odd curvy items in the mines, as he had found a a few krises. Likháfrikh didn't find this as noteworthy as the heroes, since mines in his home land of Mōr-Nembe also yield artifacts of a bygone time, albeit ones unlike the ones found in the Áos Hills. It was also true that there were no hobgoblins, and no one could find where they went. Did they flee? Unlikely, as a year ago, the overseers sent the orcs to look for holes through which the hobgoblins could flee, and told them the overseers would reward the orcs with more meat if they found hobgoblins. After looking for hobgoblins, the orcs murdered the last hobgoblin still living at camp, and fed his body to the ogres. The overseers chose to give the orcs some more meat anyways. After telling the baker, who was standing nearby, that they did enjoy their meal, they went to Péllē and had her send along the two orcs from earlier.

They went down into the mines again, then walked past some of the workers, down a tunnel, to a chamber with a hole in the middle. The hole was about 6 feet athwart, and looked like a natural well. Yémos threw a penny down the shaft and watched it fall, then move out of sight. After a short chat with Kuflaug, the orc with the nose ring, about the gods (Kuflaug said he worshipped Kasnotok, the goddess of the earth, whom Yémos knew to be Rōripermónē, the farming goddess of men, and seemed happy to find that Yémos worshipped Dōsaútōr, or Laganok, as Kuflaug called her in Goblin), the chose to go down the shaft. Gaddurub  the other orc with the wet hair, said he wouldn't do it, but went along after Yémos and Mayhem told him that they could bring him back to Péllē, who would kill him for not heeding them.

They started with first lowering Kuflaug, with Anêr and Mayhem as belays. After getting him down, they lowered Caleb, but could not keep him from slipping and hurting his belly. After Caleb went Yémos, who cast Minor Healing on Caleb to heal some of his wounds. Then they lowered Gaddurub, who looked at Yémos and Caleb with an evil glare, but did nothing. At last, Mayhem and Anêr, the skilled climbers, went down the rope, which they left hanging at the hole. They waited an hour for Yémos to get back some of his holy might, then went down the tunnel.

The tunnel turned into a wide stair that first went up to a small landing, then down again. Once at the top of the landing, the orcs afore made it no farther than the edge when a flurry of arrows greeted them. The arrows missed, but the heroes sprang into battle.

Yémos cast Shield on Mayhem, then Anêr drew his sword and waited for whatever was down there, which turned out to be four hobgoblins. (Is anyone surprised?) Mayhem pulled out his axe and rushed to the edge, while the orcs, taken aback, stood slack-jawed at the edge. The two hobgoblins afore pulled out their halberds, while the two behind them drew arrows.

Yémos again tried to cast Shield, this time on himself, and all of the sudden had a big stone shield in his hands. He felt that he had upset some holy emissary, who was punishing him with a mockery of his spell. Caleb started casting Blast Ball. Anêr moved to before the orcs, while Mayhem waited for the hobgoblins.

The two hobgoblins at the fore swung at Anêr and Mayhem with they halberds, but could not strike them. Then the two bowmen shot at the orcs, one striking Kuflaug in the chest. Kuflaug, however, still stood, dumbfounded. Gaddurub, however, snapped aware then turned and ran. Yémos stepped aside, dropped the stone shield, and ran after Gaddurub, lest he pull up the rope. Caleb tried to get off his Blast Ball spell, but it fizzled. Anêr made a wild swing at the hobgoblin nearest him, but missed, but Mayhem put his hobgoblin with the halberd. Kuflaug still stood agape, while Yémos dropped the stone shield and ran after Gaddurub.

The two hobgoblins at the fore switched grips on their halberds, while the two bowmen drew arrows. Caleb started casting another Blast Ball, while Anêr stepped and put his rapier into the hobgoblin nearest him. Mayhem also hit home for a big hit on a hobgoblin, but the hobgoblin stayed standing. Kuflaug still stood dumbstruck (or even more dumbstruck), while the hobgoblins in the fore stood their ground, and the ones in the back loosed arrows. One missed Anêr, while the other arrow didn't make it to Mayhem, because it hit the hobgoblin he just hit in the back. Needless to say, the hobgoblin didn't know it was coming, and went down.

Caleb got his Blast Ball ready to throw, while Anêr made a nasty strike (Defensive Attack 4, Mighty Blows). He struck the hobgoblin, but the hobgoblin still stood. Mayhem rushed one of the bowmen, and struck him with a wild swing, knocking him down but not out. Kuflaug at last came aware, and turned and ran. 

The hobgoblin before Anêr, hurt but not out, stood fast, but the one bowman left standing turned and ran. Caleb threw his Blast Ball, which ended the life of the hobgoblin on the ground while singing the other. Anêr made another fierce strike, but the hobgoblin, waiting for the blow, knocked it away with his halberd. His success was short-lived, however, much as he was: Mayhem stepped and smote him dead with his axe.

Meanwhile, Gaddurub and Yémos made it to the rope. Gaddurub started climbing, while Yémos grabbed the bottom of the rope. As Gaddurub climbed, Kuflaug made it to the rope and told Yémos that he took an arrow and was going. Yémos offered healing to Kuflaug, but Kuflaug started climbing anyways. Gaddurub started to pull the rope, and Kuflaug fell off and passed out once he hit the ground. Yémos tried to keep the rope down, but after Gaddurub lifted Yémos a few feet into the air, Yémos kept down.

On the ground, he poured a minor healing potion down Kuflaug's throat, while the others dressed him in the armor of one of the hobgoblins. Over the next hour, the group talked about their lack of rations, and Yémos said that casting Create Food on the hobgoblin bodies was the best bet. Collective squick followed. Once the hour was up, Yémos cast a Minor Healing spell on Kuflaug, and they set forth down the stairs.

They found themselves in a big chamber filled with bat guano. They looked up to see a ceiling full of bats, squawking at their light (they had cast Continual Light earlier). There were three ways out. The first was a dead end, while the second led to a room with columns and more bat shit. At the end of the room was an alcove with a door to each side and a broken statue, while bats flew near their heads. The door to the right was ajar, while the one to the left was stuck shut. They chose to keep left, and both Mayhem and Kuflaug tried to shove the door open. After a couple of failed tries to open the door, four striges flew from out of the bats and at them, but the gang made short work of them.

Res aliae

Does Jennell Jaquays have a serious thing for halberds? When I rolled that the hobgoblins had halberds and longbows, the players were a little surprised. Then I told them that the gnolls—er, hobgoblins—had a 50/50 chance of having halberds, which brought a few giggles.

Now that they've armed Kuflaug, it seems I have an orc to fully stat out. I never thought they'd give him a halberd, much less a weapon.

The halberd wasn't good for the hobgoblins. They spent a lot of time changing grips as the heroes moved nearer to them, though it did frustrate Chris (Mayhem's player) that they had longer Reach than he had. The hobgoblins had a lot of HP for mooks—17—but didn't have much in the way of other defenses, nor skill. If they had hit, it would have hurt.

This wasn't in the log, but a good bunch of time we passed by talking about world things, mostly about humanoid slavery but a bit about the political situation too. There hasn't been much in the way of non-human NPCs until now, so Likháfrikh, the dwarf, brought out a few world details.

Game log for 18 January 2015

Dramatis personae

Anêr, a swashbuckler who shares a name with an NPC bargeman

Yémos, a cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic

Mayhem, a barbarian who is vertically challenged

Caleb, a wizard of the Order of the Sun

Quid occurrit

Anêr the bearded man set them forth on a fair spring day. He had four mules, which dragged the barge on the left side of the river. He steered and his two orc slaves pushed with poles from the barge. He knew of a few ideal camping sites, and wanted to reach them.

They passed by the village of Órkōn Wall. After this, they ran into ten soldiers wearing khaki tabards over their armor. They were leading an orc in chains towards Órkōn Wall and Rēlaístis. Yémos looked to Anêr the bargeman, and Anêr chuckled. The orc slaves cringed.

Yémos asked the soldiers what they are doing, and they told him, “We think he’s the leader of a slave insurrection. The others are all dead.” Both went on their merry way.

That evening, a man in mail and a shield showed up, and watched them from afar. Yémos asked Anêr the bargeman about him, and Anêr scoffed. “We’ve seen him before. We’re armed. He won’t do anything. Just ignore him.”

That evening, there is a light rain. The night passed with no issue.

21 Blôs went without issue. It again was a fair day with a light rain in the evening. In the middle of the night, a rainstorm hit, making the banks of the river muddy.

On the morning of 22 Blôs, the group spotted a hippogriff flying low. Anêr the bargeman says, “Oh shit! If it gets one of the mules, it’s coming out of your pay!” The hippogriff dove to claw the mule, then flew around for another pass as Yémos and Mayhem miss with their bows while Caleb misses with Sunbolt. It came around, and right after it got another swipe at the panicking mule, Yémos hit it with an arrow, then Caleb felled it with Sunbolt. Yémos healed the mule after Anêr the bargeman calmed her.

They made it to the landing of the river, and passed the night there after dining on hippogriff. The morning of the 23rd, Anêr the bargeman loaded the mules and the orcs with the grain, and they trekked until they came in sight of the mining camp. Once there, ogres took the grain, and other ogres went back to the barge to get the rest.

Pellê, the head slaver, greeted them. Thickset and craggy-mugged, she lisped as she gleefully met the new, strong men who came, especially Anêr the swordsman. A burly woman brought cinnamon buns and cookies to the newcomers while overseers passed out grain to the humanoid camps: orcs, goblins, kobolds, and ogres. Many chickens ran free in the sunny weather.

The next morning was also sunny. Pellê gave the heroes two orc slaves: Kuflaug, who had a big ring in his septum, Gaddurub, who had wet hair.

Kuflaug and Gaddurub led the gang into the mines. They walked past some miners, then a flock of bats flew into their hair before Caleb blasted them. After a few twists and turns, they came to a fork where the body of a man had started to crystalize. Some more bats flew out, and Kuflaug called the body a “landmark.”

After winding down a bit farther, they find another dead body, this one of a kobold. His lips still bore his last grin, and there was a big wound from a spear or a pick in his chest. As they were looking at the body, the baker and a kobold slave came from behind them, and offered breadstuffs. The kobold slave cringed upon seeing the body, which was only a few weeks or so old. The baker and her slave then left.

After going through a room with a small patch of small bell-shaped mushrooms, glowing emerald green that Kuflaug said they were edible, another passage came from above and back. This one was smaller, more kobold size. There is a mound of dirt against the wall opposite the passage, clearly from the surface. The dirt was not new. They marked the room and went back after Mayhem heard hubbub up the small tunnel.

Trivia

The gang wants a kobold slave for traps and small tunnels. No word if they’re going to put a red shirt on him.

I have an adventure I want to run in the mines: Caverns of Thracia. I’m adapting it to GURPS and my game world, which does mean no Dog Brothers. (Awww.) I’m putting it under some working mines, so I rolled up each encounter on the Location Crafter, since I have no yen to draw a bunch of mines that have lots of nooks and crannies and are mostly only dirt and slaves. I need to learn to use this thing better to get my three dollars worth.

I gave out three character points for the session before and two for this one.

Alia

I’m working on a few blog posts. One might wind up at the GURPS Repository, since it’s D&D dragon converted to GURPS. Right now, this is an Excel spreadsheet of the evil dragons, since there are loads of tables. Another has to do with dynamic lairs and lair detail in general. I might move that to April and make a series of lairs for the April blogging challenge. No, not A-to-Z monsters, but 26 from the original Monster Manual that I’ll convert to GURPS (or use existing GURPS stats), and write up a lair with notes for both D&D and GURPS.

Game log for 4 January 2015

Dramatis personae

Caleb, a wizard

Mayhem, a barbarian

Yémos, a cleric

Anêr, a swashbuckler

Quid occurrit

The gang started the game on the night of the 8th of Blôs. Over the next seven days, they trained. Caleb studied the craft of the Order of the Sun. Yémos worked out. Anêr learned the ins and outs of his rapier. Mayhem learned how to live up to his name better.

After almost a full moon quarter of training, they set forth on the 15th. Mayhem told the others that the weather was always bad this time of year, so they needed to be careful and not get wet. After all, rain had fallen on six of the seven days they trained. Mayhem was wrong, as the only blight to the weather was a little rain in the early evening. They were too careful, so they moved only about 10 miles, about halfway to Rēlaístis.

On the way, they passed through the village of Drūkûros, where the villagers sighed as they saw more wayfarers pass through. A few miles afterwards, they happened upon a marker of a pyre that someone made but a few days before. Whatever body had been in it was as much ash as everything else, and the rain had made it mud.

For the night, Mayhem led the group in making camp. That night, on his watch, five goons struck the camp as they slept. They caught Mayhem unaware, and one, a burly man with wood sticks in his beard, smashed Caleb while Caleb was poking his head out of the tent. To be fair, Caleb had zapped him with a Sunbolt. The bearded man and a scrawny one dealt hurt to both Anêr and Mayhem, while Yémos could not heal Caleb as his Major Healing spell fizzled. Two bandits tried taking the gear off the pony, and an archer shot arrows at Mayhem in the night.

At long last, Anêr beat down the bearded man’s defenses with two quick strikes (Rapid Strike), and he went down. The scrawny man, whom Mayhem could not harm, bolted, as did the archer and the two thieves trying to get the gear off their pony. The heroes looted the body of the bearded man, and they bound each other’s wounds before going back to bed.

The next day, Mayhem’s warnings about the rain rang true, and their care helped them get to Rēlaístis after the rain early in the morning. Late in the morning, they found a rune stone, but nobody knew what the runes meant. They passed through Térrivīš, a big but run-down village, but nobody bothered them. Pity nobody bothered them the night before.

At last, they made it to Rēlaístis, while the market was still open. Yémos sold the gear of the bearded bandit for 60 silver pennies, and then bought four healing salves. After checking in with the agents of the Zúbrēs Mining Company down at the docks, Yémos, Anêr, and Mayhem check in at the Chessman Inn for the next three days. There, Yémos chatted with Séttora, a gnome with long earlobes who owned the Chessman. After showing Yémos a bit about chess, she told him a few things about the mining company and the town.

• Those agents who have to tend slaves stay at the Hellgate tavern on the docks. The town is paranoid about slaves.
• Agents have brought weird carved items from the mines and asked around town for help identifying them. Nobody, not even the Lady Lummenólē, knew what they were, though Séttora added with a smirk, "That really isn't her area." They then brought the items down to Mīstássun.
• Speaking of Mīstássun, that's where most ore goes for smelting. Rēláistis has such an inferiority complex that its dockhands spit on the ore going south. Séttora herself cursed the Count but praised the Queen.
• The ore comes on a barge from the mines, and some of it stays in Rēláistis for local smelting. The ore barge goes then to Mīstássun, where slaves unload the ore for smelters. They then but some supplies on the barge, and send it back north to Rēlaístis. There, on market day, which happens every fourth day, they load grain and other farm goods onto the barge, and send it north to the mines. Thus, the company always has four barges on the Sarkērrêne River.

Caleb, however, stayed with Magós, an old lady with the Order of the Sun. She spoke little, but let Caleb learn spells from her books.

They stayed for three nights, and it rained often. On the 20th, the gang went down to the docks in the morning, and met with Anêr, a man with a braided beard coming from the camp. After a few remarks about there being two men named Anêr and Mayhem taking umbrage about a short remark, they all agreed they would go north that day.

Triuia

Eric asked about using Extra Effort in combat. I told him sure, but then we have to be more careful to note FP lost after ten seconds of combat.

We spent a bunch of time going over level ups for Yémos. Chris and I took care of Mayhem and Caleb before Christmas, while Anêr was easy, since it was mostly Weapon Master, which paid off right away with that Rapid Strike. He mostly bought ST; DX or IQ would also have paid off fast.

I did roll "tween" stories for while they trained. This is from Mythic Variations, since I wanted to move fast through training but have a chance of something happening. Both times I rolled, I got a 12, so whatever they were doing went quite well.

I told them I'm adapting Caverns of Thracia for the mine dungeon, and we all praised Jennell Jaquays's adventures. Eric is running Dark Tower for a bunch of kids.

Game log for 23 November 2014

The characters

Anêr, human swashbuckler
Yémos, human cleric
Mayhem, short human barbarian
Caleb, human wizard

As they walked over a hill, they heard a shrill voice scream out, "Kill them!" They looked down, and it struck them that they knew that voice. It was the voice of the woman whom Anêr crippled a few days before.

Sure enough, she was standing on her crutches, and her four friends were coming for the heroes. Two of them started charging up the hill, and two more nocked arrows. Caleb and Mayhem got ready to fire back, while Yémos cast Shield on both Mayhem and Anêr. As the two sides came to meet each other, and one missed Mayhem, while the other felled Yémos. Mayhem missed his shot, but Caleb singed one and Yémos gave one a cut on his face. Mayhem pulled out his axe.

After a few seconds, both the fighters in front had fallen to Mayhem, and he charged down the hill, Anêr after him, while Caleb fell to an arrow. One of the archers ran, while Mayhem and Anêr took down the bigger one. They nabbed the woman on crutches, who spat in their face. Thus, they bound her face as well as her limbs, and took her latest haul: 250 copper farthings, 25 silver pennies, and 9 gold pieces. Then they awoke their fallen spellcasters, stopped the bleeding of the bandits, and brought the whole lot to Ōndrûnks.

There, they sold the equipment of the bandits for 900 copper farthings, and bought some rations. The guards took the bandits, and Yémos looked for a new tent, but there was none for sale. They spent the night in Magog, smelling the apples. The next morning, they checked out the peasant hovel of Bîs, the bandit leader on crutches (which they heard from Bîs, the owner of Magog, and as gainsaid to Bîs, the big archer among the bandits), but there was no booty there, only a few crops in the garden.

They passed through Lúrās, where folks gave them dirty looks, went through a short rain shower, passed a man pushing a lumber cart on the road, tried to buy a tent in Lûtē Downs but again could not, then made it to Mīstássun. There, they went to Caravan Outfitters, a shop with incense burning in the Market Ward near the West Gate, and there bought a tent, some Minor Healing potions, and paut.

Having made it into town still early, they ate dinner at The Pantry, looking for Nabbrášus, hoping she would work as a new patron. There Arrūnús, the owner, told them that Nabbrášus hasn't been there since she met them, so after dinner, they followed Arrūnús's directions and went to her home in the Merchants Ward. On the way there, a humming man with only two teeth bumped into them, and Anêr grabbed his hand when it was near his coin purse. After some chatter, where the man said that he was not trying to rob them, they let him go. They made it to Nabbrášus's home, where an orc with a tattooed lip and a slave collar told them to come back the next day, as it was late.

That night, they went to crash on the floor of the Scarlet Harlot. Yémos was casting Watchdog on their belongings when Praidīvós came into the tavern, and asked for his demon blood. After some shouting and Yémos telling Praidīvós about their plight at Dībités Rock, Praidīvós stormed off, saying he was going for the guard. Thus, the gang went outside the gates, and Mayhem found a good spot for a camp where they spent the night.

The next day was 8 Blôs, and they went to the home of Nabbrášus the next morning, and signed a contract with her to help out for three months at her mines in the Áos Hills. She paid them the first week's pay, 25 silver pennies each, right away, and from there, they went to go train.

Notes

When all was said and done, they had 20 character points each to spend, so we talked for about an hour about how to spend them. Caleb looks like he's becoming a member of the Order of the Sun to help with his blasting skills. He needed to spend only six points: two on skills, three on spells, and one on the style's perk. Mayhem will goose up his Weather Sense and Outdoorsman, and learn Fast-Draw (Axe). Anêr is learning Weapon Master (Rapier), which will give him two more points of damage. Eric couldn't figure out what Yémos would do, and truthfully, I didn't have good suggestions. I didn't charge them training costs since it seemed mean at this power level to make them spend money to be able to spend their character points.

I'll find out what they're doing over the next few days with a few die rolls. Once they get to the mines,  they'll go down into them, which will become a more traditional dungeon game for a bit. I'm going to think of old school elements over the next few weeks. In three weeks, they'll set forth, and likely in the next session or two, they'll go into the mines. I know I want to look at intelligent swords. I don't know if I want to go the megadungeon route. Mines lend themselves well to this, but also to many small dungeons. And they have so much invested into traveling gear and skills at this point that spending too much time in a dungeon seems like a waste.