Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I always wanted to play the Star Wars D6 RPG but never got the chance, so when +Adam Muszkiewicz announced this game, I immediately jumped in. I didn't know what EotE was, so I walked into the hangout convinced I was going to play SW D6. Really. :)

Then when the mechanics were explained I thought/said, "Hey, this is much like _Hollowpoint_!" which I guess was the first thing I played via hangout ever. I liked it so much that I even bought the rules. 

Now back to SW. And then, when everyone got their characters ready, the intro was played. I was like "Geez, I'm gonna be in Star Wars movie!" 

From the available pre-gen characters I chose to play Oskara, a Twi'lek bounty hunter. The shooting-piloting-sneakiness combo was too good to miss. I got the chance to do a lot of shooting with a blaster carbine (killing gamorreans and storm troopers) and a laser canon from a YT-1300 (destroying TIE fighters). Also some sneaking guiding the group through the alleys of Mos Shuuta. Hope to do some piloting next time.

The rest of the group escaping from "Mouse Shita" like Bear said were:

+Bear Wojtek  - Pash, Human Smuggler

+Wayne Snyder - Lowhhrick, Wookie Hired Gun (Gladiator)

+Nathaniel Hull - 41-VEX, Droid Colonist (Medic)

+Larry Moore  - Mathus, Human Technician

Thanks to Adam and the rest of the guys, it was a great game. I'm looking forward the next session!

Attack of the Frawgs - Session #2

Last Monday we played the second and final session of the DCC module Attack of the Frawgs. 

The characters spent the night in the brewery at the shores of the Dead Goblin Lake. They had to restrain the intoxicated ones, including the brewer, to prevent them from running into the woods haunted by horrible hallucinations. The night passed without any incident, though nobody really had much rest. In the morning they questioned the brewer about what happened, but the poor man couldn't say much. For him it was only a bad night with worse dreams, product of having too many samples from his newest brew. He asked the party to keep this to themselves, since he had a reputation to keep, and shared what food and good beer he had.

Since +Bear Wojtek couldn't make it, we decided his funnel would return to the town of Sagewood, with the bodies of the dwarven rat-catcher and dead trapper. After they left, the rest gathered to decide the next step. The elven navigator climbed to the second floor of the brewery and, with his spyglass, checked the northern shore of the lake. Meanwhile the minstrel recalled a tale about a cave behind the waterfall, but the noble and the barrister argued it was not a tale. The barrister said that the previous owner of those lands, a quarrelsome one according to the noble, was sued by someone who had an accident there, for not having that area properly signposted about its dangers.

That settled the matter and the party decided to explore that area. They took the long route following the trappers' path around the lake. The short route, through dense wooded hills, was discarded when the elven forester spoke of dangerous creatures from the Black Corruption lands wandering the area. On their way, they came across three fiendish crabs feeding on the corpse of a trapped gicastor, but stayed away from them. Upon reaching the northern shore, thanks to the elven forester, they managed to avoid a couple of gicastor's traps. Now the party had 4 traps!

Then they found an inlet where the water stank, and dead fish and birds floated on the sludge, along with the corpse of some kind of humanoid. The radish farmer tried to use one of the traps, attached to a a length of chain, to fish the corpse from the viscous mire. He failed and the sludge splashed on him burning his skin. The  poor thing was already dead when he fell on the trap. It sprung and closed its mandibles on his corpse, spilling his guts in the water. Gruesome sight.

After that, the elven forester picked up a trail of large webbed footprints in the muddy shore. They led to the waterfall and the cave beyond. The elf tied a rope around his waist and started climbing the slippery rocks. His eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, when a croaking sound came from the cave and a big humanoid figured, wielding a seashell mace, towered over him. Meanwhile the parsnip farmer started to climb but slipped, couldn't keep his balance and fell, splitting his head on the rocks. The rest of the party make it to the top while a smaller frawg a makeshift spear joined the fight. This scrimmage ended with the big frawg fleeing into the cave badly wounded and the smaller one and the urchin dead.

+Adam Muszkiewicz summed what followed very well:

"I'm playing through +Stephen Newton's module Attack of the Frawgs and up until this moment, the weirdest thing was giant beavers. Then, all of the sudden, things got really strange, and very DCC!"

The party lit some torches and pushed into the cave where they we attacked by two hopping frawgs, while the wounded one stood by a female creature that was laying mucous covered eggs in the back of the cavern. When she saw the attackers, she bleated a deafening screech and started to lay the eggs into a stream. The party split with some fighting the hoppers and some closing on the spawning creature and her guard. Some even dived into the stream to prevent the eggs reach the lake. After a bloody fight all the foul creatures were defeated , but the dwarven miner, the noble and the rope maker died in the fight.

The survivors make it back to Sagewood without further incidents, where they were received as heroes and spent the night in the local tavern telling the curious about their recent adventure.

As treasure they found, "a leather satchel ornately decorated with the embroidery of a kraken raising from the sea. It was designed with loops to carefully carry  3 long thin objects about the size and shape of candles.", a pouch with an iron key (brewery), a periapt, another scales and several eggs. They sold the scales, the periapt and the eggs to a cleric and sage, and the traps to a dealer.

Every surviving characters got enough XP to make it to 1st level:

+Adam Muszkiewicz (Dwarven miner, Parsnip farmer, Elven Forrester, Minstrel)

+Justin Williams (Dwarven herder, Elven Navigator, Noble, Radish farmer)

+Tim Mulry (Elven Barrister, Urchin (f), Ostler, Rope maker)

Oh, and btw I've also got The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk to run!

Metal Gods of Ur-Haddad - Last Session

+Wayne Snyder summed up last night session pretty well:

"I was feeling pretty kick ass last night when I maxed out the rolls for Jerkal the Blazin's Flaming hands spell last night. Twice! Dude was a virtual walking flame thrower. Awesome. Only to be completely side lined later in the same turn when The Wizard Formerly Known As Ian cast Sleep and his mighty dice had him sleep every enemy in the room (5) who wasn't already asleep from his previous Sleep spells. The blood fueled sci-fi and sorcery birthing chamber of the hideous serpent men was looking like serpent man sorcerer sleep over party and we calmly walked through poking holes in the sleeping snake men like it was nothing. Ian is the sleep master. When it's good, it's so good, and when it's bad, he's in a magical coma for a week."

The Wizard Formerly Known As Ian cast 5 Sleep spells in a row, sending into a deep slumber between 2 and 4 serpent men each time. And grew five inches of hair too! That streak granted him the nickname of "The Sandman".

Having defeated the serpent men and destroyed their wicked breeding machine, the party, instead of leaving the place (Chuck and Jerkal were paralyzed, and Vayne badly wounded), decided to keep exploring for more treasure. That's when Wizard Formerly Known As Ian ran out of luck or lost the favour of the Metal Gods. He fumbled a Sleep spell and fell into a coma. With the serpent men closing in the group grabbed their out-of-action comrades and ran the hell out of the Mysterious Temple of the Serpent God. 

We sailed all the way back from Samsara to Ur-Haddad avoiding a huge storm. Upon arrival, we handed the Eyes of the Serpent to Amor Ba'Gish, the wizard who employed (and poisoned) us, along with the chest  full of platinum bars we were supposed to give Balas Forktongue (who we found dead, tortured and killed by the Serpent kin) as payment for the Eyes. After receiving the antidote and a succulent reward we headed to celebrate, with the promise of more jobs from the wizard.

Attack of the Frawgs - Session #1

Last year I won the DCC module Attack of the Frawgs on a contest by Tenkar's Tavern and I promised to DM it on a G+ hangout sometime. And that time came yesterday. Since some guys from the Metal Gods of Ur-Haddad game were on Spring Break, and didn't want to wait a whole week to play again, I jumped in and put this game up. It's been some time since I last ran a game and it was my first time running a DCC one, so I must confess I was a bit nervous.

"Your day began with typical banality and after twelve hours of hard labour you were settling in for a quiet dinner of stewed pork and ale at The Brave Trapper Inn. Many locals were enjoying each other's company as well as their meals [when] Torfist crashed through the door and everything changed. "We've been attacked!" Torfist cried as he staggered in bloody and disheveled."

And so an "angry mob with torches and pitchforks" went into the night to find what happened.

+Adam Muszkiewicz (Dwarven miner, Parsnip farmer, Elven Forrester, Minstrel)

+Bear Wojtek (Elven forrester (f), Dwarven rat-catcher (f), Beadle, Weaver (f))

+Justin Williams (Dwarven herder, Elven Navigator, Noble, Radish farmer)

 +Tim Mulry (Elven Barrister, Urchin (f), Stablehand, Rope maker)

The group was a balanced mix of experienced DCC players (Adam and Bear), and completely new ones to the rules (Justin and Tim).

After about 3 hours of gaming we did almost 2/3 of the adventure with only the dwarven rat-catcher killed by a gicastor (bear-sized beaver), the dwarven herder limping after stepping into a gicastor trap and the weaver tripping balls after drinking tainted water.

So far they killed a gicastor and two freshwater crab fiends. They found a coil 50' of of rope ("Loot by the foot!"), two gicastor traps (someone suggested to join them with a chain and make a crazy nunchaku), a pair of climbing boots, 6 clubs, 4 daggers, 2 hand axes and a sling. Also found the body of a dead trapper, the local brewer hallucinating in the brewery and a strange scale hidden there.

Thanks guys for joining the game and see you next Monday for the grand finale!

P.S. Thanks to +Stephen Newton for writing the adventure.

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad - Session 3

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad is a campaign played every Thursday on G+ Hangouts by Edgar Johnson and Adam Muszkiewicz using Dungeon Crawl Classics. We played our third sessions and finished exploring the Crypt of the Lizard King.

From my four original 0-level characters, a corn farmer, a dwarven miner, an urchin and a minstrel, only the minstrel survived and advanced to be a 1st level wizard.. The urchin died on the first session killed fighting against some bandits, the corn farmer died on the second session killed by a trap, and the dwarven miner died on the last session.

Helm of The Lizard King

Type: Helmet; AL C; Powers: (see below).

• If someone puts on this helm, it will bond closely and permanently to the person's head. The helm may be removed by magical means, but no mundane means short of decapitation will do so. 

• Wearer gains a 3 point bonus to for any task involving influence, leadership, or persuasion. 

• Grants the wearer the ability to find his or her way while afloat on water, and to detect currents and hazards like rocks, reefs, whirlpools or storms. 

• Unless the wearer is of chaotic alignment, he or she will lose 1 hit point per day unless the helm is removed. 

He was killed after trying the Helm of the Lizard King on since he was of lawful alignment and had only 1 hp left. Death by treasure! That was a first one. :)

And that's how my chaotic minstrel now become wizard inherited all the belongings of the dead 0-level characters, including the Helm, he's now wearing.

Session 3 - http://revdoctoredj.blogspot.com/2012/11/session-3-recap-metal-gods-of-ur-hadad.html

Castle Amber - FLAILSNAILS

A long due session recap. On October 20th I played in the gran finale of Castle Amber game by Shawn Sanford. 

The party:

Sol Irthosian, Fighter level 6

Kellan, Illusionist level 8

Zingaro, Cleric level 3

Grogar Nox, Fighter level 1

Sir the Fist, Cleric/Fighter/Magic User levels 5/5/5

Grimpaw, Cleric level 3

Malice, Assassin level 5

After killing the blue dragon and a wyvern last session, the group continued exploring the tomb in search of Stephen Amber. Gimli kicked a door open only to find a 14' tall stone giant not happy at all to be interrupted in such a way. Kellan used his Wand of Wonders and to our fortune the giant was slowed. Everyone closed to attack it and rapidly it fell under the blows of the groups. 

He had a chest that Gimli opened with a crowbar and inside we found 5000 gp, a magical sword, an ivory scroll case and two vials. Sir the Fist rushed to read the content of the scroll case, but alas it was cursed and he turned into fly inside an amber stone. Luckily one of the clerics had a Remove Curse memorized and he was back to normal. Grogar went for the long sword and felt something when he held it. It was a sentient sword! It was a +1/+2 vs. spell users sword, but also could detect traps and invisibility at will. Meanwhile Grimpaw couldn't decide which vial taste first, and so he checked the vials for marks or tags, the he smelled them, checked their colors and consistencies, but still was undecided. Sir helped him by grabbing one and drink it. One was a Potion of Clairaudience and the other a Potion of Invisibility.

Then we found a manticore in another room and Kellan used again his Wand of Wonders, this time engulfing the whole room in darkness. Then Sir the Fist threw a Fireball into the darkened room. One of the clerics dispelled the darkness with a Light spell and everyone threw missiles at the manticore that retaliated with its dangerous spikes. After killing it we found its treasure, about 3000 gp, all melted. We cut it into nuggets and distributed it among us.

There were two doors in that room. One led to a room with fiery walls and an ember-covered floor, that we decided not to explore. The other has a small beach beyond the door and was full of water. Sir the Fist and Sol (or Grogar?) flew in the carpet and spotted a huge Great White. Someone suggested to start chumming the waters with the manticore and so we did. That lured the shark close enough to fire missiles at it while shooting at it with guns from above. We also chummed the water more with manticore poisonous spikes inside the entrails. The shark ate them and died.

Across the room another door led to a room occupied by a 5-headed hydra! Several intents to attack it from the carpet went wrong. Kellan suggested to go invisible. He cast Greater Invisibilty on Gimli and Sir flew it to the hydra. While Gimli battled single-handed the hydra, Sir flew Grimpaw, then Sol, and the Sir himself descended. The hydra was soon dead.

From there a single door led to the tomb of Stephen Amber. A tapestry hung behind the coffin and Sol prompted us to burn it. We did so and a robed man with a golden crown appeared. We had saved the king!
Everything vanished in a mist and we were all back to the castle, where the king tanked us all and produced from his robes valued gifts for everyone.

Gimli got a ring worth 10000 gp and Malice the Elf Assassin with his gift was able to pay his debt to the dwarf. 

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad - Sessions 1 & 2

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad is a campaign played every Thursday on G+ Hangouts by Edgar Johnson and Adam Muszkiewicz using Dungeon Crawl Classics. We played two sessions and so far it's been a blast!

This is my first time playing DCC and beginning with four 0-level characters is really fun, since the variety lets you do things that couldn't be done with only one character. It's a simple game system and the game fast-paced. I begun with a corn farmer, a dwarven miner, an urchin and a minstrel. The urchin died on the first session and the corn farmer on the second.

Session 1: http://revdoctoredj.blogspot.com/2012/10/metal-gods-of-ur-hadad-session-1.html

Session 2: http://revdoctoredj.blogspot.com/2012/11/metal-gods-of-ur-hadadcrypt-of-lizard.html

Hidden Temple of the Five - FLAILSNALS

Last week along with +Gerardo Tasistro, we took up +James Aulds offer to enter the "Hidden Temple of the Five" for a quick one shot. James wanted to test it before showing it to his group.

A mudslide on the side of a hill known as "The Pit Hill" which revealed a flight of steps going down into the depths. Morgan the Barbarian, Antii the Specialist and his follower Lutka the Fighter explored the place. I came with this map but seriuoslyI doubt it is accurate:

This was James' feedback after the session (my comments between brackets):

"general dunegeneering common sense, spiking doors, probing with poles (100xp)

using brazier boats and not becoming giant catfish food (100xp) [It was a cool idea I guess, and we were lucky in our rolls too.]

[Regarding the brazier boats Gerardo said later on a post: "I did not take my armor off while crossing an underground river on a bronze disk for a boat. I mean, my character was an INT 7 barbarian so OK, maybe I was playing character, but to be honest it didn't spring in my mind to warn the other player."]

defeating sake para elemental (375xp) [It rose from mouldy rice and water!]

gemstones (8) in 4 pairs (total 315 gp) [We found this in the garbage after killing the sake elemental.]

• red pair (80gp)
• green pair (70gp)
• yellow pair (120gp)
• small blue pair (45 gp)

trying to talk to/taunt a ghoul (10xp) [It emerged from one of five leather covered pits and after trying that, we fled. Luckly because there were five of them!]

fleeing bettles (25xp) [They were under the sand guarding six stone statues, and appeared when Antii went to try to put the gems back into the statues' eyes. He tried several times and when he failed. James said: "You know, they might not be magical gems..." :)]

burning the mold room (150xp)

totals 430xp for each player and 215 xp for the henchmen

yall were not really in much danger at anytime with your levels since i did it for a 1st level group but thank you for popping it open

the towns folk are raising a group to try to kill the five armed ghoul now, they will most likely meet the goblins that are being sent in after yall tomorrow night, and a catfish and some irritated beetles"

We had a great time and would definitely like to play with the guys again.

Awesome FLAILSNAILS games (long post)

Pathfinder 

(Sept. 28th; GM: Reece Carter)

Kellan the illusionist, Garreth the fighter, Sir the cleric/fighter/magic-user and Verreck the wizard, we were exploring a cavern complex searching for Jolie Squarefoot's hydra. For some reason a barbarian king of the North wanted the lich's pet dead. For Gimli it all begun with him trapped up to shoulder level by ice at the bottom of a pit. Kellan used his magical kettle to pour hot water on and around the dwarf to melt the ice.

Once free Gimli climbed up a Rope of Climbing and the party continued exploring. The group came to a huge cavern full of dead bodies that came after us. Kellan used his Wand of Wonders, and almost all the cavern was engulfed with darkness. We quickly retreated and crossed the pit to make a stand. Various missiles and a rolling Flaming Sphere spell were enough to kill the undead. All of them bore in their tattered and burnt leather armors the symbol of the lich, a 7-point star.

Back in the big cavern the darkness was almost gone and we found an exit, and an altar with hydra heads. when the darkness disappeared, it revealed the rests of an hydra chained to a pillar in the middle of the cavern. I don't know if it animated when the altar was disturbed or when someone got too near. The thing is that it begun biting and shooting ice rays. Kellan used again his wand with various results, being the best a giant frog double force gust of wind that dropped a stalactite on the hydra, impaling it. Garreth, Sir and Gimli (who drank a Potion of Speed) closed to attack, while Verreck cast spells summoned a giant frog. Even if some heads grew back we managed to defeat the undead beast, and return to the barbarian king to claim our reward.

Wampus Country

(Oct. 5th; GM: Erik Jensen)

"During a break in the action between delves to Crumbledown, two of the usual suspects - the Rat-Bastards Ornibus and Abel - entertain several visitors to Wampus Country by means of a picturesque picnic on a hillside. Very quickly, Abel asks if the newcomers want to see what he has in his pocket - a deck of many things .

Elsjinn, egged on by Sir the Fist, draws a single card, the Comet , and she feels her potential short-term destiny shift. Not to be outdone, Sir the Fist draws two cards - the Gem followed by the Moon . Jewelry tumbles out of nothingness, which he quickly collects (save the bits stolen by Elsjinn and her chipmunk); further, Sir the Fist has a wish to make - and soon, before it expires.

[Gimli did indeed pull from the deck the Flames and earned the enmity of the devil. Gimli later talked to the Stump-Witch about that, but that's on another post.]

While chuckling over their good fortune regarding the deck , the picnickers are startled by a monstrous roar, and a forty-foot rooster lumbers over the horizon, headed for the sleepy frontier town of Thistlemarch (which the Rat-Bastards call home at the moment). Concerned that the giant chanticleer might destroy the town, the adventurers spring into action, attempting to steer the beast by frightening it, and warning the townsfolk.

In the end, Elsjinn uses her ability to speak with animals to convince the rooster to steer clear of the town and return to the picnic, where it is fed stalks of corn and some magically-enhanced grasshoppers. Yet that feast is insufficient, for the rooster has many wives who also require sustenance. Calling up on the powers of the Serpent God Sethet, Reverend Jones also speaks with animals and warns the rooster that Ornibus' brother-snakes may be en route. Panicked, the rooster runs back to its home farm - with the adventurers in hot pursuit.

Back at the farm - belonging to Ernie Pyewackett, the guy who trains goats - the view is dominated by a half-dozen thirty-foot hens. Our heroes witness I giant hungry hen swallow a horse in a single peck. Abel uses hypnosis to calm the hens while Ornibus commands the rooster to sleep; Gimli checks on the frightened farmer and assists him in gathering flammables for a potential terminal barbecue.

Meanwhile, Sir the Fist investigates the intact chicken-coop, and finds that the seed corn in the trough has been magically altered, perhaps by someone pouring a potion of some sort overtop of it. Obviously, in such a situation, the right thing for a cleric of the God of Magic to do is to eat the rest of the corn as quickly as possible in hopes of becoming a giant.

Growing to a good thirty-five foot height, the now-naked Sir the Fist suggests using the black lotus powder in his kit to put all the chickens to sleep; through the use of some euphoric mushrooms to gather the hens together, and a potion of flying so Gimli can bomb them from above, this is accomplished, and all the giant chickens are subdued.

There is, however, one problem. Thanks to his detect magic spell, Sir the Fist can see that there is still a transformative process going on inside the chickens - just as there is within himself. He uproots a tree and crushes the heads of the hens, lest they grow larger or wake; simultaneously, Elsjinn steps into the rooster's beak and drives a weapon into its brainpan. The flesh beneath the feathers is roiling and bubbling even though the rooster is dead, and in mere moments the rooster explodes in a poultrytechnic display which scatters raw chicken meat across the barnyard; thankfully, Elsjinn tumbles to safety.

The hens, of course, are due to blow, so the adventurers hide in and behind the barn, and soon six giant chickens explode in sequence like a string of Chinese firecrackers; it takes several minutes for all the chicken chunks to come to earth, but when the thunderous sound of wet slapping noises ends, our heroes are hale and hearty. Or are they? It quickly dawns on Sir the Fist that he will be the next to explode in due time...

The adventurers high-tail it to the Stump-Witch, who has previously assisted Ornibus with curse removal (see also: The Platypus Incident). Sir the Fist trades a book of necromancy from the HMS Apollyon to the Stump-Witch in exchange for the cure, and he shrinks back down to normal size without exploding. He then utters the wish he gained from the deck and summons to his side a flying carpet."

Gimli took 10 iron rations of "barbecue chicken pemmican" for free from Mr. Pyewackett, and also bought a guard-goats. They were on a 50% discount for those who saved his life, just 15 gp! They have stats as a guard dog. Read more about the guard goats here.

Castle Amber (X2)

(Oct. 6th; GM: Shawn Sanford )

Sol, Noggin Threeteeth, Gustav the Beligerant, Sir the Fist, Grimepaw, Kellan and Gimli had all but one artifact, a mirror, needed to find the tomb of the lost Amber. They needed to take out a magic user and his 100' tall flesh golem and the village magistrates would give it to the group. A magic powder must be sniffed by the golem in order to be defeated. Five doses of this were given to the group. With his flying carpet and  spyglass Sir the Fist quickly spotted the creature, and along with Noggin they flew to intercept it. The rest followed on horse at a safe distance.

In his first pass Sir the Fist managed to hit the golem square in the face, and it collapsed to the ground. From a basket that was hanging from the golem's back emerged the magic user who threw some Magic Missiles to the attackers. Meanwhile Sol and Gimli charged at the wizard, who promptly fell dead. Back in the village the last artifact was given to the group along with a 10.000 gp reward..

The ring touched the mirror and melted into it, the potion was poured on the blade of the sword which absorbed it, and finally the sword hit the mirror, and both artifacts exploded into pieces. An amber mist surrounded the party and when it dissipated, they were in front of a roughly square construction of amber wit no other entrances that a huge pair of doors inlaid with the crest of a phoenix and a crown.

Grimclaw cast Prayer, while Sol and Gimli pushed the doors inwards and in the middle of a very large room, and a blueish reptilian figure could be seen laying atop a pile of silver and gems. The first bolt of lightning  hit Gustav the Beligerant right in the chest almost killing him. Noggin tried to hide in the shadows. Gimli gave him a Potion of Extra Healing before closing into melee. Kellan cast Mirror Image on himself. Sol and Sir charged. The combined attacks of the group were no match to the wyrm, whose head was chopped by Gimli, honoring his nickname: "The Dragonslayer".

Continuing the exploration of the tomb the group found several rooms matching the Elements of Nature: a room with fiery walls and embers on the floor, a room with stone walls and mud on the floor and a vast room  with a trail of clouds. In this last one, Sir and Noggin flew in on the carpet to explore. The were soon attacked by a wyvern that managed to hit Noggin with its sting. The poor thief failed his save vs. poison and begun slowly to die, convulsing. Sir was also hit, but managed to resist the effects. He evaded more attacks and flew near the entrance where the rest threw missiles and spells at the flying creature killing it. After joining the group, Kellan gave Noggin to drink an Elixir of Life, stealing the thief from the grasp of Death.

HMS Apollyon 

(Oct. 7th.; Gustie LaRieu)

"The above brave flailsnails took a dubious commission from the Monastic ancient technology hoarding marines of the HMS Apollyon, to "deal" with a troublesome Batezu lord named Mhalchris. After trying to sneak into the back of the monster's domain to deliver a letter, and being singed by a set of exploding runes - the band decided to meet with the bug eyed devil and his court of bug eyed diabolical friends. Refusing the Devil's drinks the party discovered that a threatened "storming" of Sterntown was only an alternative to fulfilling the terms of a contract Mhalchris made with one of the passenger class families. The only way to meet the contract was to bring the last surviving member of the Haldivar family. The scion proved to be a small bug eyed child, rotting away guarded by an elderly servant and several large constructs that cracked with electricity. Despite the boy's good manners the band discover he was a terrible bloodthirsty twit and his caretaker open to bribery. They took the boy back to Mhalcris and were only somewhat surprised that the child was his own grandson and that the Devil wanted him out of family loyalty to protect the boy from the enemies that had wiped out the rest of his family."

Gimli got this Black Onyx Band, which is in act a Ring of Protection from Earth (20 Charges). The ring keeps Earth Elementals and such from attacking up. Expend one charge to drive an Earth Elemental off as if with a fear spell (they get a save). Spend charges of 1 per HD of elemental to dominate and control an Earth Elemental for 1 year (it also gets a save).

LotFP - Thelian Islands Campaign wrap up

Well, I thought that after the end of the Caste Zagyg campaign, we'll still be playing this one but, since Joe's face to face campaign (which he's been running for about 15 months) has wrapped up, so has ours.

Although there were only a few sessions, it was a great time and, I make Joe's words mine, everyone enjoyed it, learned a lot and, most of all, had fun. I hope to game again with you guys soon. Joe, Chris, Frotz and Sarah you rock.

Game on!

Castle Zagyg - The End

"This Friday [September 21st], my Castle Zagyg crew finished up the dungeon I had been running every other Friday night, and all involved in the final ending were rewarded with a T-shirt that reads "I beat Castle Zagyg and all I got was this goddamned T-shirt" as a gift from Zagyg himself. It gives plus 1 to AC when worn under any armor, stacks with anything, and as befits a gift from Zagyg, the writing on the T-shirt glows through any armor and is clearly visible to all."

Thanks Joe!

Castle Zagyg - sessions 11 & 12

Sessions #11 (September 7th) and #12 (September 14th)

The various members of the adventurous party between the two sessions:

"Nathaniel" (human thief)*
Gogax (halfling thief)
Thidrek (sleestak)
Maragon (human fighter?)**
Norfolk (halfling thief)
Darf (dwarven fighter)
Nick the Pike (human fighter)
Hairy and Stinky (Darf's Bugbear henchmen)
Kellan (human illusionist)

Kip (human fighter, Kellan's follower)

Gimli of Geoff (dwarven fighter)
Morgan (human barbarian, Gimli's follower)***

* couldn't remember the chracter's name
** later chaged his name to Biff (Joe kept mingling between Maragon and Morgan)
*** later changed his name to Conan (Joe kept mingling between Morgan and Maragon)

Previously on Castle Zagyg (in Joe's words): 

"Your castle is getting flooded with refugees from both the elven forest and human cities and towns nearby. Apparently they have been invaded by dragon armies, and many people fled to the castle that was so powerful that apparently they withstood a dragon army assault lead by 6 dragons.

They also tell you that the dragon army is in the march this way again, but they're not worried since you all held them off last time with such ease. They have full faith in Gimli and his crew."

Into the Fortress

We took the same route than last time through the dungeons below until the dwarven chapel and then all the way up into a large dining room. There, ghosts wandered about and offered real food & drinks to the party. Most were wary about them until some dared to try it. Not all the effects were good, Conan got turned into a bumblebee, Gogax's skin turned green and Norfolk stank like fish and grew boar tusks.

Continuing exploring the level found that bandits have made their hideout here. We killed two dogs and a guard, and captured another guard that, tied and gagged, we used to open all doors. He was known as "The Gimp". More bandits were found and killed, until only the leader and his plump mistress remained.

We then found a large room full of piles of refuse, which we decided to search for hidden treasure. Kellan turned his Robe of Scintillating Colors mesmerizing the giant rats and black centipedes that moved to attack us as soon as be begun disturbing the piles. Once killed the vermin we continued searching and found invisible spriggans in the fireplace, which were also killed. Among other things we found  a magic pipe that could be the key to control the castle.

Paraphrasing Chris Hales post on G+ about the second session:

"On the second foray into the castle we found and killed:  some [more] spriggans, a ghost, a couple of skeletons and their skeletal children. Sadly we lost Conan (Gimli's barbarian follower) to the ghost, and a dozen goblins and a couple of War Dogs  due to various traps. Also one of the fighters, recruited among the refugees, lost all his hair due to a spriggan trick.

We found a lot of coin and several magic items: a trapped keg that releases poison gas, a ring of protection, a broom of flying that only works on the 3 levels of the fortress), an ever burning exquisite quality cigar, some "insanity apples" (save vs Poison or eater goes insane for 48 hours and then dies).

On the funny side, Nathaniel's thief decided to use one of the bathrooms we found. He triggered a poison gas trap that left him blinded for an hour. It might have been permanent but for the ready water-source he used to flush out his eyes. [Gimli fell into a double pit trap.]

In the final room we cleared, Kellan used his Robe of Scintillating Colors to stun the remaining goblins and Nathaniel's thief. While they were incapacitated, the valuables they hoarded during the clearing of the level were taken from them and fairly distributed among the party."

Back from the castle, Conan was given a proper burial, burning him in a funeral pyre with all his possessions.

The end draws near

Before leaving for another foray into the fortress, the town blacksmith, also a dwarf, gave Gimli an armor made of red dragon scales. It gives the same protection as a platemal (+1) and provides extra protection against fire damage (+5 on saves).

Paraphrasing another Chris Hales post on G+:

"Castle Zagyg is wrapping up soon. The next session may be the last for that setting.

An army of Dragonmen [draconians] & Dragons is marching towards Castle Zagyg. It arrives in 30 hours, although the PCs do not know when they will arrive.

[Meanwhile] some additional Castle Zagyg defense/contingency plans [are being made].

We've already got the cave entrances closed off. Behind those entrances are passages filled with as many traps as the refugees have managed to construct in the week or so they've been down there working.

There are functioning defensive siege weapons on the walls, as well as a functioning ballista on one of the inner walls. Additionally there is a magically powered siege weapon in the inner courtyard capable of firing anything, smaller than 3 feet diameter, up to hundreds of yards over the walls. Each of these weapons have stores of ammo from previous preparations. 

Kellan has been cultivating 3 varieties of mushrooms at Castle Zagyg for quite a while, several caves, long cleared, are filled with the different types. Entry in to these caves, without proper preparations could be hazardous. Since we can, Kellan will send refugees outside the walls to scatter spores of two types of mushrooms every night we can after the refugees begin arriving. The hope is that these will germinate and create clouds of spores as they are trampled by the approaching army.

The varieties that will be spread were never given specific names by +Joe Dimech, but both were acquired in Castle Zagyg. The first, which I call the Sleep Shrooms, are yellow and upon ingestion of the flesh or inhalation of the spores cause "deep sleep for 7-12 hours". The second [type], which I call Pacification Mushrooms, maintain an aura of spores about themselves and upon inhalation of those spores calm the target to a non-violent state.

Additionally there are "Shrieker Mushrooms" which emit an amazingly loud shriek when a creature moves in to their range (I do not know what the range is). These can be spread as well, but I would suggest less liberally. They could act as alarms to warn us of approach from the forested areas or by invisible or stealthy enemies, like their scouts.

The Ghosts [from the Fortress, who] we were able to convince to join the defense of the castle, might make excellent assassins to dispatch enemies, should they succumb to the sleep/pacification spores.

Perhaps this is a minor point, but we should collect whatever gold/silver/cash we can from the refugees so we can afford to buy whatever magic items the Zagyg merchants have for sale. There are items they've had previously that I would have liked to have now, that we just couldn't afford. We should be able to send them to scavenge whatever money they can from the nearby town. Fighting the merchants seems a bad idea as they are very tough and numerous.

It isn't ideal, but the refugees can plan to escape through the Mars Gate if the Castle is lost. Castle Zagyg supposedly has various doors to other worlds, we've only found one, which leads to a John Carter of Mars-type world. Heavily barricading the cave entrance leading to this area should be a priority to avoid access to the gate from being lost.

We should talk to Cobbler Eggler, if only to make sure he gets out alive. Although he only makes shoes, we should check him to see if he has anything interesting for sale. 

We should talk to the Merchants every time we suspect they may have something for sale. Roll random items is fun, and often very helpful."

The defense plans look solid to Gimli and he wholly agrees on collecting whatever valuables the refugees have to buy from the Merchants and/or EGGler. Also, Kellan could make illusions of treasure around the statues in front of the chapel, so that any dragon approaching would be attacked by them.

Gimli will organize groups of refugees to make any repairs that the walls/ramparts/towers may need .

"That's it for now. This is going to be rough..."

LotFP - Thelian Islands Campaign

On August 31th we gathered for our #6 LotFP game on G+ hangout.

Having one last day before the fleet that would raid Blood Island was prepared to sail, Antii decided to try his luck once again, this time in a fancy place. He spent plenty of silver on women, lodging, food and beer. He also told all his tales once again trying to impress the ladies. By the end of the night he not only managed to get laid, but the girl became his follower!

First, I named her Lutka which is the Finnish word for trollop (since that's what the NPC was), and then rolled pretty decent abilities (Cha 17, Con 14, Dex 11, Int 12, Str 7, Wis 12). I just couldn't resist placing the 17 on Charisma, and made her a redhead. So I guess now I have my own Flame Princess! ;)

The next day we started the 32-day sea trip to Blood Island. The first ten days passes uneventfully, until a giant squid crossed our path. A week later we encountered a merchant ship from our own clan, with whom we traded some goods and news. Three days later we got scared to death when a giant sea turtle rocked the ship! We were lucky it didn't continue to attack. Four days after that, we encountered more friendly creatures, half horse and half fish, that curiously stared at us. Hrok threw some apples at them, which they gladly ate. The next day hundreds of sea creatures, named locathah, mounted on giant eels passed us by, and then six days later, without encountering any other creatures, we arrived to the island.

It's a rocky island spotted here and there with thick forests. There's a village and a dock, everything in ruins and no one to be seen. Kelbar, who leads the expedition and came to find his father's body and sword, says the villagers fled because the constant attacks of sea zombies and clawed men. We anchored the ship and went ashore in two boats. One group would go to explore a nearby quarry and we would go to the village. The ship would wait for us til the next day and then go back.

The village has a keep in the center and four large buildings around it, a couple of barracks, a warehouse and a common area, all in bad shape. Everything was surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earth rampart, that ended in a pair of also ruined towers.. We explored one of the barracks and found nothing, so we moved to the other barrack and discovered a trap door under all the debris. Chain mail suits, swords and shields were hidden down there. We went back to the first one and looked in the same place, finding another trapdoor and a couple of kegs of lantern in the room below. We found nothing of value in the common area or the warehouse, so we moved to the towers. While approaching one of them, three sea zombies emerged from the sea and attacked us. We killed them but in the fight Kelbar fell. All the noise attracted four more that were inside one of the towers, so we fired some missiles at them and ran to the keep, where we climbed a ruined wall. From above we managed to kill them before they engaged into melee. In the keep we found a serviceable catapult that was loaded into the magic boat and folded again.

Then, we decided to find the other group that went to the quarry. A river and a densely forested area had to be crossed before reaching the place. We used the magic boat as a bridge to cross the stream and ventured into the woods. In a clear area we came across a couple of sheep, which we found odd. And we were right to suspect, because they turned into worgs and attacked! After killing the foul creatures we found some ruins; a set of five 12' tall marble statues with inscriptions in an ancient script of our language. We didn't know yet but they were of the Old Gods. Inspecting one of them (a screaming warrior with a sword) we found it descended into the ground and into a subterranean complex. Each statue lowered into a different 60'x60'  room and there were two other round rooms, one full of rooms for Hrok's delight and the other with 6 paintings different scenes about a column totem, a battle, a demon spitting lightning at the totem, war against the hobgoblins, some ships at sea, the totem in the hands of the hobgoblins and the Old Gods ooking at the ships. We decided to spend the night underground and make it to the coast at first light.

The next day we rushed through the woods and were surprised by three troblins. Hrok summoned a giant ice toad and we managed to kill two while one fell asleep, and we put the creatures to the flame. Annar fell but Signy managed to heal him enough to find our way back to the coast and to the ship. The other didn't showed on time so we left. Although Hrok asked not to mention the complex we found, Antii couldn't keep his mouth shut and bragged about how he made it with Lutka on every room!

Our journey back was no less exciting. On the second day we came by a horde of more that 100 koalinth (marine hobgoblins) but nothing happened. A couple of days later some friendly sea lions crossed our path and Hrok killed one of them, which the sailor found a bad omen. Almost a week after that we saw a carnivorous whale. We decided to go after it and kill it, and so we did. We cut and salted some of it and tied the rest to the rail. Unfortunately, the next day a dragon turtle attacked us and we only managed to escape by cutting the whale carcass loose. After that, several days later, we saw sea gargoyles and sahuagines who kept their distance. When we were about to reach our destination, we found some tritons on sea horses who left after Hrok threw some apples at them.

The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk

Wheee! I won The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk  from Purple Sorcerer Games (click on the image to get it from RPGnow) in Tenkar's Tavern "DCC RPG Corruption Contest" with this entry.

Thanks again to Erik for putting up another cool contest!

Once I have it and read it, I'm going to GM it in a Google+ Hangout. Yes, I know I said the same when I won Attack of the Frawgs, and still haven't GMed it. But I will, promise!

LotFP - Thelian Islands Campaign

On August 24th we got together again on G+ for our #5 game. It was a game in which the dices didn't favored me, but I had a lot of fun anyway.

We got back to the village in  our new longboat, baptized "The Fanged Glacier". Everyone was shocked to see us in such a wonderful ship, and Signy said it was "a gift from the Polar Bear", which caused the envy of her, now, former mentor. 

Antii, with after some beers and trying to attract some followers, told what they've found, and how they've fought the ghouls, skeletons and rats, making him the main character of the tale. He also talked about the luminous fungi and the spinning statue. With a +4 bonus I had to roll under my Charisma score (11), but rolled an 18, so no followers for Antii. I guess he went over the top with his tale. Annar and Signy, on the contrary, managed to have attracted a follower each, a young boy and a girl respectively.

The next day everyone said goodbye to their loved ones before leaving the island. Antii's dad gave him his "lucky coin", a worn out gold coin like the ones the group had found the previous days. With a leather chord he tied it around his neck. Many of the survivors from the merchant ship, attacked by the hobgoblin raiders, joined the party as crew for the longboat. Supplies and goods for sale were loaded on the ship, and we set sail to Bear Island, 800 miles away to the SW.

The Fanged Glacier

The first ten day of the voyage were uneventful, until we sighted a merchant ship. We approached and exchanged some good and information before continuing. Four days later we were attacked by four giant eels. We managed to kill three of them (Antii missed every swing at the creatures) and drove away the remaining badly wounded, losing only two crewmen. Two of the dead eels were brought on board, cut into pieces and salted. Before reaching our destination we came across some tritons, who kept their distance, and also dolphins and a giant manta-ray.

After 30 days at sea Antii and Annar went to find a place with good booze and bad women, while Signy went to try speak with the authorities of the city, and Hrok sought someone to sell his mushrooms. Everyone also sold his share of the salted eels for 75 sp + 1d20 sp (I rolled a 19!). At the tavern, having plenty of beer, Antii bragged about he repelled the hobgoblin raid and the giant eels.

- "OK", said JoetheDM, "roll 1d20, only on a 19 or 20 you fail to get laid."

- "Oh no! I rolled a 20!", I said to my dismay.

(laughs)

- "Well, if you roll low you vomit on the girl, if you roll high you fall asleep fail to get a boner."

- "I rolled low..."

(more laughs)

Meanwhile, Signy was received by the shamans of the Bear Clan in the best part of the city, where she warned them of the hobgoblin plans to attack the trade routes, and Hrok, who had found that he needed to go to some caves to sell his mushrooms, drank all he could without being bothered. Signy introduced  her acolyte to the shamans and an initiation ritual was performed.

Signy (right) and her acolyte after the ritual.

The group has now several places to go: continue West to Cowl Island, explore Bear Island, joins a raid against the hobgoblins, or go to the contested Blood Island with its thick forests and a fabled pyramid. To Blood Island it'll be. Antii bought a suit of chain mail and a sword, just in case.

"The Caves of Chaos" - FLAILSNAILS game on G+

The party:

Walt Thisslefoot - Halfling thief
Padre Bob - Dwarf cleric
Finloss - Half-elf fighter/thief

The group was part of a caravan that arrived at night to the Keep. When asked to be let in, it was told that the doors were closed and no one was allowed inside. The group insisted and finally offered a warehouse to spend the night, but no wandering around was allowed. Some kind of illness have befallen on the people of the Keep, they were told. When they offered their help, they were taken to see the Castellan of the Keep. He told them that some witch that lived in some caves up North, had put a curse upon the Keep. Now with almost half of the garrison ill, he couldn't go after her. If the group was willing to help, he would offer a generous reward, plus a 50% discount for a month in everything the group purchased from the keep. He also offered to take what we needed from the armory. After a bit of discussion, the party agreed and left to rest and prepare.

The next day the party set off to find these cave, which they did without getting lost or coming across any trouble on the way. After waiting some moments at the mouth of the canyon, they decided to explore the first visible cavern entrance at ground level to the South. Walt and Finloss moved as quietly as possible, followed at some distance by Padre Bob. They entered the cave unhindered and proceeded South until an intersection, then turned right (as suggested by Padre Bob to keep right). They turned right again at a T-intersection and surprised 6 goblins in a room. They decided to get some information about the witch without fighting, but the goblins drew their crude swords and one of them started banging the NW corner of the room calling for someone. Padre Bob entered the room and tried to stop the goblin, but they attacked. Two went after Walt, two after Padre Bob and one charged at Finloss. At that moment the NW corner of the wall opened and an ogre emerged.

Finloss taking advantage of his spear impaled the goblin and then kicked the dead body from his weapon, then moved to help the dwarf, who had managed to kill one goblin. Walt was hit but also killed one. The remaining goblins retreated (the dwarf smashing one dead) to the walls giving room to the brute, who smashed Padre Bob with his club. Finloss backstabbed the ogre with his magic spear, said the command word "DOWNBOY!", and the creature fell to the ground pinned under the tip of the weapon. Walt took advantage of that, and wounded the fallen ogre. Padre Bob healed himself.

Before the brute could get up, Finloss drew his magic sabre and slashed at its throat, killing the ogre and almost severing his head. Seeing his backup dead, one goblin surrendered and the other tried to flee. Finloss threw his spear at it, wounding but not killing it. The half-elf panicked as the skewered goblin was running away with his magic spear. Padre Bob threw his war hammer at the goblin, killing it. "Have you lost something elf?", mocked the dwarf.

We tied the remaining goblin up, and Walt intimidated him to tell all he knew about the witch. He vaguely spoke about some "dark robed ones to the west", but tried to buy his freedom by offering the goblin's treasure hidden at the bottom of a barrel of water. We also searched the ogre and found more coins on his bag (some of them were counterfeit; gold painted lead coins), and also a keg of brandy the dwarf claimed.  We then explored the ogres' cave, that led to the canyon outside, the opening hidden by some bushes. Buried under some bones we found 6 magic arrows (arrows +1), a small glass jar with a clear liquid (Potion of Invisibility) and a scroll case (2 clerical scrolls).

The party left with the treasure, planted the ogre's head on a spear at the entrance, freed the goblin (probably Padre Bob killed it latr) and went back to the Keep.

LotFP - Thelian Islands Campaign

On July 27th we had our 3rd LotFP game via G+ hangout.

Having defeated the hobgoblin raiders, we found among them a waterproof scroll case containing a map with all the human trade routes. The hobgoblins certainly had spied in the major human cities. Fearing they might return to get back such precious information, sentries were to be alert throughout the day.

Meanwhile went back to further explore the ruins we discovered last session. Hrok was delighted with his new pet, a perfect man-sized d20, summoned from the Plane of Geometry.

In what once were the bedchambers of the mage that supposedly lived here, we found a chest containing a magic backpack (a Hewards Handy Haversack) and a satchel with more gold and silver old coins than we've seen before (100 g.p. bearing a head in the obverse and a crown in the reverse; 200 s.p. with a hammer and a crown). We came to a collapsed passage and decided to go back to the village, and get some people to clear it. We also talked with Grako, the village elder, and Sleven, the village shaman, about performing a ritual in the sweat lodge to try to foresee what will happen in the near future. It was some crazy stuff about a tree and leaves with bear form scattered by the wind across the oceans, and reaching new lands.

The day after the ritual we returned to the ruins, in which the cave in was already cleared. We discovered a large room with 10 sarcophagi, 4 of them opened (probably the 4 skeletons we encountered here). We opened the others one by one finding: a pair of earrings and necklace, two rings and a circlet, a jewelled dagger, a blue book with symbols, a dagger with winged hilt (it was lost into the night), a suit of chainmail and a sword (screaming man), a scimitar and a poison trap.

On August 10th we gathered for our 4th LotFP game via G+ hangout.

Joe told us he was going to use the sample dungeon (The Tower of Zenopus) on the Holmes Blue Book, which I found really awesome because I never had the chance to play that classic. Sarah suggested we used a shared Google Drawing so we all could see the map. Great idea!

I thought the encounter with the ghouls was our end. Signy got paralyzed, as was the hobgoblin summoned by Hrok, and then Antii, who was trying to sneak attack one ghoul from behind Hrok's large d20, but Hrok moved it ruining his attempt, got paralyzed too! Hrok fled with his dice chased by the remaining ghoul who followed him to the village, where it was hacked to pieces. By the time he went back we were already free. We found a couple of gems and some gold pieces.

We then killed some giant rats (silver pieces and silver dagger), discovered a robed skeleton with its skull crushed (bone scroll case with a scroll of Levitate) , killed 4 skeletons hidden in web covered niches, found a trap door to a collapsed tower (bone wand), a bronze sun dial and a mask we didn't dared to touch and ended in a cave with a fresh water stream and phosphorous fungi. Hrok sent his dice downstream but it failed to return. Giving it up as lost we continued to the NE and found a similar cave. We were about to go back when the dice appeared behind us. Hrok asked it several questions about where it went and seen, but all answers were negative. When asked by Antii  if he had seen anything we were carrying, it answered yes. The dice began rolling to the NW when asked where and we followed.

We entered a big cave with a sandy beach in where there was a strange clarity, even though there was no light coming into it. We could also hear the sea, but couldn't see it. On the beach there were several bodies (we assumed they were pirates), two ruined boats, three wooden chests all rotten and a small wooden box in perfect conditions. The chests contained a huge treasure of silver pieces and gems. The small box had three words carved on it: jolly, dragonship and batten, that when spoken transformed it into a rowboat, a longship and back the box. We got our own ship to get out of the island! An island we always lived in but no one remembered a cave like this. It was then that Signy took everything off and swam out to sea through the cavern wall. It was an illusion! Clever pirates...

After gathering all the treasure, we continued exploring the place and discovered  some hobgoblin skeletons. They were not as old as what we've found so far, so they must know of the place. Then we busted open a door and found a spinning statue. You spin the statue and the door it points automatically opens. Even though he couldn't understand why somebody would do something like that, Antii tinkered with the mechanism enough to understand it.

And with all that the group returned to the village.

Castle Zagyg - sessions 9&10

Double ration of Castle Zagyg! :)

Session #9 (August 3rd)

The party:

Bobo (flying monkey)
Nipun (human fighter)

Einharr Thorshammer (human cleric)
Kellan (human illusionist)
Kip (human fighter, Kellan's follower)

Gimli of Geoff (dwarven fighter)

The Dragonlance heroes returned weary and wounded from their foray into the castle, after fighting against rats, bandits and undead, and retreating from a gray ooze. Anyway, Flint and Caramon were happy carrying a huge cask of dwarven ale which they generously shared with the party. Raistlin found a treaty about herbs, which Kellan was interested to read. 

After the Dragonlance  heroes left we set to explore a tower flanked by two giant ibis statues. Bobo flew over it and discovered a trapdoor on top. Ropes were secured and thrown down for everyone to climb up.  We entered the tower through the trap door and went all the way down until we found a couple of crypts, each with three sarcophagi. The first three were ghouls and the other were zombies. In the bottom of one of the zombies' sarcophagus Gimli found a secret passage going down. It was a trap! The steps were just an illusion and everyone was sucked down a chute.

We were on an uncharted part of the dungeons, but soon found our way and decided to pay the elves and half-orcs a visit before going up. We bought from them a Potion of Dragon Control, an Elven Chaimail and a Platemail (+1).

When we reached the surface, the surprise was huge, for the tree town and surroundings were under attack by an army of at leas 2000 draconians and human mercenaries led by 6 red dragons! We quickly let the people into the castle and devised a plan to lure the dragons. Kellan created an illusion of a huge treasure hoard in the courtyard. When the dragons came Gimli drank the potion and managed to control 4 of the 6 red dragons. The controlled dragon killed their kin and were ordered to start attacking the draconians. When the draconians attacked the castle Gimli sensed he could also control them, and so they were ordered to attack the dragons. The battle ended with half the dragons dead and most of the army dead or scattered.

After that Einharr left and Gustav the Beligerant came. Also Morgan the barbarian became Gimli's follower. The Dragonlance heroes went on their quest to find a staff that restored the healing powers of cleric in their realm.

The party:

Bobo (flying monkey)
Nipun (human fighter)

Gustav the Beligerant (human fighter)

Kellan (human illusionist)
Kip (human fighter, Kellan's follower)

Gimli of Geoff (dwarven fighter)

Morgan (human barbarian, Gimli's follower)

The new party set to explore another tower manned by bandits. Kellan cast Invisibility 10' radius on the party before reaching the tower. Bobo entered by one of the windows and set alight the bandits' bedrolls creating chaos among them. When one of the three guards on top of the tower came down, Bobo went up and pushed one down to his death and managed to kill another with his sword. He the secured and threw ropes for the rest to climb up. Still invisible the party commanded the bandits to surrender, which they did fearing we were ghosts. They were ordered to leave all valuables, armor and weapons, then take all the food to the recently attacked town and help to rebuilt it. If they failed to do so we will haunt them forever. They quickly obeyed and left, and we continued to explore the tower.

Going down we encountered a pair of orc shamans performing a ritual around a corpse. We took advantage of being invisible to kill one and badly wound another. Interrogated he said the ritual was to regain lost powers, and also that he controlled a dozen of undead that were below. We killed him and instantly heard the undead began to move below. We opened a door and let them came one by one until they were all dead, again.

Below, in the undead room, there was a metal box in the room but it was locked. We searched the room until we found the key under a round rock. It was a catapult missile that had breached the tower long ago. The box contained a book and a pearl, which we knew were cursed when Kellan took them.

Before proceeding below we rolled the rock down the stairs. When we descended we found a trapdoor in the floor with a big rock on top. Not ours, but another. We moved the rock and opened the trap. A shackled skeleton with green flaming eyes appeared. He asked to free him and threw his bones into the river. We just threw both rocks at him but missed, and he grew in size and a trident appeared in his bony hand. We threw flaming oil at him until it became a pile of ashes.

And with that we completed the towers of the second wall. Next time we were going to the towers flanking the Castle Zagyg itself.

---

Session #10 (August 4th)

The party:

Ahab (human fighter)
Einharr Thorshammer (human cleric)
Jerek (half-elven mountebank) played by fellow Greyhawker Joseph Bloch.
Gustav the Beligerant (human fighter)

Kellan (human illusionist)
Kip (human fighter, Kellan's follower)

Gimli of Geoff (dwarven fighter)

Morgan (human barbarian, Gimli's follower)

We entered the tower through the dwarven god chapel where we fought some dwarves and gnomes. We ran into a filthy mad druid who told us mice were his friends. When asked if he minded us looking around he just excused himself and went to his chambers upstairs. When some retching noises came from above most of the group went up after Kellan cats Invisibility 10' radius, except Kellan, Kip, Gimli and Morgan. The druid turned to be a were-rat and giant rats and rats attacked the group. Below, Gimli and Morgan also were attacked by the same kind of creatures after opening a door. Gustav managed to push the were-rat downstairs while Gimli drank a Potion of Animal Control.  He commanded the giants and common rats to attack the were-rat while Kip hacked at it.

The were-rat had two coffers and they were locked. Lacking a thief in the group, Morgan hacked at one of them breaking the lock. Whe he opened it a hidden blade wounded him. The now enraged barbarian, began hacking the other one, only to release a cloud of poisonous gas that weakened everyone in the room. In his hoard the were-rat had a magical spear (+1/+3 vs. lycans), a symbol of Celestian and a rusty platemail.

Going up the tower, we came across a room that had a huge wasps nest. Gimli drank another potion, this time a Potion of Bug Repelling, and the wasps just flew away from him. We hacked the nest apart but found nothing. But, behind a door, hanging from the wall,  there was a bejeweled scabbard with a dagger. The blade had dwarven runes on it, that Gimli read as "Greenflame". When spoken the blade of the magical dagger (+2) became covered with green flames that made 1d6 of extra damage. Gustav claimed the dagger for himself, as did Jerek the mountebank. Dice were rolled and Jerek won the dagger. Having lost the dagger Gustav claimed the magical spear, and so did Gimli. Dice were rolled again, and this time Gustav won the spear.

Continuing up the tower some storage rooms were found and centipedes emerged from the rotten supplies. Since the Potion of Bug Repelling was still working, they retreated from Gimli, but Kellan used his Robe of Scintillating Colors to dazzle the creatures. And so the centipedes were hacked to pieces. Reaching the top of the tower, an angry griffon met the party which returned the attack. In the battle Jerek fell and was saved by Gimli's Potion of Healing (I couldn't let a fellow Greyhawker lose his character!). The creature was dismembered since someone said its various parts were useful for making potions.

Until next session!

Attack of the Frawgs

Wheee! I won Attack of the Frawgs from Thick Skull Adventures (click on the image to get it from RPGnow) in Tenkar's Tavern "Post a 0-Level Occupation for the DCC RPG" contest with this entry.

It was a random prize, but it's very welcome. Thanks to Erik for putting up this original contest, the publishers who donated the prizes and, last but not least, the dices for rolling my number!

Once I have it and read it, I'm going to GM it in a Google+ Hangout.

LotFP - Theilan Islands Campaign

Last Friday on G+ hangout, we begun JoetheLawyer's Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign set in a harsh and gritty world.

"You live on an island in the northern ocean. The island is divided in two, with the ocean flowing between the two halves. Most of the island rises from the ocean with no beach. The only sections of the island that actually has a beach is the area where the island is split in half. That gap between islands is perhaps 20-40 feet wide, and is full of jagged rocks. At high tide, the fishing boats are sent out, and at low tide nets are set to trap fish. At high tide again, the fishing boats come back in what whatever haul they were able to land. The island itself is in the far north, between the main island of your clan, and the islands of the hobgoblins. Still, it has some level of protection from long ship raids because no long ship is ever able to navigate the rocks or high cliffs to land. They have to anchor and send in shallow boats at high tide in that narrow strip of land between the islands to even begin to attack you. And there are lookouts to prevent such a thing. Also of note, there are several hot springs on the island. One large one in the village, a common meeting place for villagers after a hard days work, and two others across the island. Other than occasional seals, walrus, and birds of various type, there is no wildlife on the island.
 

Your culture is best described as Viking/Scandinavian in style. Your religious worship is defined by the clan you live in. Your clan is the Clan of the Polar Bear. The other two clans are the Winter Wolf and the Snow Leopard. You fight each other of the typical stuff- wine, women and possessions. Most often though you fight your ancestral enemies, the hobgoblins. Sometimes with other clans, sometimes alone. The hobgoblins occupy the largest island in the area, and always have, since before the time of the old gods betrayal. They are typically stronger, better sailors, and build better ships than your people. Typical ships are long ships.
 

The only other thing your island produces are strong clay pots and jugs. They aren't ornamental or anything, but they are strong due to the rich veins of earth from which such items can be made. The only problem is that the island has to import much wood, as it is small, and mostly deforested. Driftwood is often used. Sometimes you are able to get coal in trade."

The characters (all human) are:

Annar Svearson, a male Fighter played by Frotz.
Signy Bjornsdottr, a female Shaman of the Polar Bear played by Sarah.
Hrok, a male Magic User and "Shitty" his summoned shit monster played by Chris.
Antii Durniksson, a male Specialist played by me.

On the fist session, we finished up the characters and got acquainted with the rules and each other. There was an attack by the hobgoblins to a merchant ship arriving to the village, in which we had the chance to test the combat mechanics. Signy's roar imbued everyone in battle with the spirit of the polar bear, and so, Annar made his name as a fighter by killing several hobs, but Antti almost died in the struggle. Even though both ships were lost, we saved many from the merchant ship, defeated the hobgoblins and captured several, for future sacrifices in the hands of the shaman and magic-user.

Then we explored some ruins that were exposed after an earthquake, in which we found what was left of a magic users's laboratory, bedchambers and library. We encountered some flame-eyed skeletons in what looked like a summoning chamber (lead-covered ). "Shitty" died here so Hrok had to summon another being. I thought this would be the end of our characters, but the dices aligned and he managed to control the creature. We survived the first session.