tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77836635179002584152024-03-27T02:37:00.518-04:00Below the Rusty LanternDown in the underground...Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.comBlogger162125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-49990992044370657472023-09-12T13:15:00.000-04:002023-09-12T13:15:00.069-04:00Idalium Game 118: The Great Wizard Quiquaequod<p>Session date: Monday, November 4, 2019<br />Game date: Monday, November 14, 211 to Sunday, November 27, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 74051/140000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 12678/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 12713/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 18334/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 4, hp 18, xp 6032/12000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2701/4000<br />Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 926/2000<br /><br />Unusually, we picked up the game just a couple days later in "game time", so that the adventurers could seek a cure for Caryatid, who had gazed upon the face of Atropos the medusa witch and been turned into a granite statue. But because we employed retainers in our game, Caryatid's player did not have to sit the session out, but instead she played the role of Caryatid's retainer, Father Chase Pike.<br /><br />Father Chase informed the group that no one in his church hierarchy had the power to restore a statue to living flesh, and none of the adventurers knew of a wizard powerful enough to do so. They decided to contact the highest level wizard they were aware of: Caryatid's former teacher and mentor, a Granny Weatherwax who lived near the town of Lancre, roughly 15 miles to the east of Idalium. (Yes, we have at least one Terry Pratchett fan in the group.) They sent a letter describing Caryatid's plight and asked for any advice or leads she could offer. On Saturday, November 19th, they received a reply from Granny Weatherwax. She wrote that such magic was beyond even her grasp, but she did know of a wizard in Idalium that possessed such power: the Great Quiquaequod. Years ago he had been an adventurer himself, but now, as a Wizard of the Twelfth Circle, he was a recluse secluded in his tower in a wealthy neighborhood of Idalium. She wrote that his tower was protected by strange magics that kept it hidden from view from neighboring streets, and that one would most likely need to be led there by one of the wizard's apprentices.<br /><br />The adventurers garbed themselves in their nicest clothes and combed their hair for a change, in hopes of receiving a good reception in the well-heeled craftsmen's quarter, and set out in search of the reclusive wizard. They made their way through the rougher quarters of the city, through the grand plaza that bordered the Great Cathedral of Idalium, and into a neighborhood they had very rarely visited before. It was a neighborhood of well-kept shops and businesses catering to the well-to-do with time and money to spare. The neatly swept streets were narrow and crooked, making navigation confusing enough even without an illusion-cloaked wizard's tower as their destination.<br /><br />They stopped into a few shops and cafes, asking discreetly about the wizard's tower without much success, until they found an antique shop whose proprietor said she occasionally sold various knickknacks to apprentices of the Great Quiquaequod. "Well, I don't think his tower can be that far away, although I've never seen it myself. Some kind of enchantment on it, I believe." Father Chase bought a little statuette of a winged monkey for 10 gold darics, to thank the owner for the information.<br /><br />Outside the shop, the group decided to take a different approach. Perhaps you could only find the tower if you weren't actively looking for it. They blindfolded Gulleck and she blundered around the streets aimlessly, but after a few collisions with irate passersby they abandoned this tactic. Then they decided to walk around abstractly while pointedly not thinking about the tower, but this proved impossible. They stood in the street debating the nature of the magic. Should they map the neighborhood? Is the tower hidden inside a block they can't get to? There was some metagame analysis about what kind of puzzle this was likely to be. In the end, they resumed asking around at nearby shops. They found a bookshop where the bookseller said, "Oh yes, I've only seen the wizard himself once or twice, but one of his apprentices was just in the other day to buy some very expensive paper and inks. The adventurers left a message with the bookseller for the apprentice, saying they were seeking help that only the most powerful wizard could provide. Then, having done all they could think of to find the tower, they returned to the humbler and grimier streets they were familiar with.<br /><br />Two days later, a messenger came to the Rusty Lantern tavern with a note instructing them to meet next Saturday at the bookshop where they had left their message. And so, on Saturday, November 26th, they returned to the bookshop to be greeted by two young men wearing green robes with the interrobang sigil embroidered on the front in white thread. The two apprentice wizards heard the party's case, and said that they would escort the group to the tower of the Shining One, Quiquaequod, where one of them would be granted an audience with the Shining One himself. The wizards led them through the streets of the craftsmen's quarter, taking them down back alleys that no one could remember noticing before, and suddenly emerging onto a street containing a tall and narrow tower that rose high above all the adjacent buildings.<br /><br />They were brought into the tower and into a simple sitting room, where another apprentice greeted them. They noticed that the whites of his eyes were "bloodshot" with bright green veins. He explained to them that the Shining One was deeply immersed in communion with the Essence of the Shining Chrysanthemum, and that one of the group would have to partake of the Essence and join the Shining One in the Communion, to prove his seriousness of purpose. Father Chase bravely stepped forward, his loyalty for his employer Caryatid triumphing over any anxiety he might have felt. The apprentice brought forth a small glass flask of bright green liquid and offered it to Father Chase. He drank it down, flinching at the overwhelming taste of licorice. His stomach twisted and shuddered at the unfamiliar and potent elixir, but Father Chase held it down, even as he felt an unusual light-headedness percolate through him. The apprentice told him that he needed to enter the Shining One's chamber empty-handed, and as Father Chase handed over his few belongings, the other adventurers noticed that the pupils of his eyes were completely dilated to the point where no iris was visible, and the whites were already shot through with veins of vivid green.<br /><br />Father Chase was escorted deeper into the tower by the apprentice. He grew more and more woozy as he was led through long halls and up and down flights of stairs. He became vaguely aware that none of these hallways seemed like they should fit into the tower as they had seen it from the outside, but then he got distracted by what seemed like great mystical significance of the interrobang sigil on the back of the wizard's robe. Finally, a door was opened and he was ushered into a darkened room. An elderly man with a long white beard reclined in a padded chair on the far side of the room, clad in simple white robes. A single prismatic skylight at the top of the arched ceiling scattered scintillating rainbows across the dark room. A brazier burned incense and herbs in the center of the room, in front of the man, and opposite the brazier was another, less ornate chair. The man gestured to the chair with a nod, and Father Chase took his seat. Things were getting very strange for Father Chase now, and he looked around as colorful flowers seemed to bloom and dissolve in the dark corners of the room.<br /><br />"We... I... need your help. I... this is... I don't understand what's happening," Father Chase stuttered, but the old man raised a finger. His lips did not move, but a voice filled Father Chase's head. "Don't speak. Let go of your fear. Find the center point in the chaos." Father Chase took a deep breath and managed to master his near-panic. The urgent whorls of coruscating color surrounding the Shining One subsided into a more subtle twinkling as Father Chase gazed into the black pools of his pupils.<br /><br />"Very good," echoed the voice of the wizard. "What brings you to seek audience with the Great Quiquaequod?" In the smoke rising from the brazier, Father Chase saw small interrobang glyphs form and rise lazily through the air before losing shape and dissolving back into the smoke.<br /><br />Having to focus to "speak" without speaking, Father Chase was surprised to hear his own voice echoing in the shared mental space between the two men. "My friends and I are adventurers. One of my friends was turned to stone by a monstrous witch deep below the city. Only the most powerful of wizards, such as yourself, can help her." Wisps of smoke drifted together to form the face of Caryatid, eyes staring blindly.<br /><br />"I was an adventurer once myself," the Shining One replied, his eyes narrowing. "I lost several friends in the course of that career. These things happen. Why should they concern me? The physical world is largely irrelevant to me today. All that is of interest is here, in the Communion. Here I commune with the servitors of the true consciousness that underlies all reality. Why should I distract myself to deal with your trivial setback?" Rainbowed chrysanthemums bloomed in the smoke, and in the darkness behind the wizard's chair.<br /><br />"Oh, Great Quiquaequod," flattered Father Chase, "Truly you operate on a different level from the rest of us mere mortals. But even you must need material wealth to pursue your research. We are prepared to pay well for your services."<br /><br />The wizard's mouth curved into a tiny smile. "Indeed, there is a need for coin to fund my researches and to procure my stock of the Shining Chrysanthemum. I will deign to help you, for 2,000 gold darics and your assistence in retrieving a small item for me from the home of a colleague who has left this plane of existence and has no further use for it."<br /><br />Father Chase agreed to the terms, and the Shining One reached down to a small table next to his chair and picked up a small glass flask of milky white liquid.<br /><br />"Drink this," his voice echoed.<br /><br />"What does it do?" asked Father Chase.<br /><br />"Nothing, so long as you are making progress on your work for me. It is merely insurance on my investment."<br /><br />Quiquaequod extended the potion and Father Chase reached out his hand to take it, and found himself holding the cold glass vial, even though he was dimly aware that there were at least 10 feet, plus a burning brazier, between them. He drank down the liquid and winced as he felt it squirming down his esophagus as though alive. Again his stomach twisted uncomfortably, as he felt the strange liquid settle in.<br /><br />The wizard told Father Chase to return to the tower tomorrow morning with the statue of Caryatid. Father Chase rose from the chair and stumbled out of the dark room, blinking in the bright light outside. He was escorted back to the rest of the adventurers. They left the tower and Father Chase had the strangest trip through the city of his life, making their way back to the Rusty Lantern.<br /><br />The next day, Sunday November 27th, the group reunited. Father Chase felt mostly back to normal now (the sky had stopped undulating, at least) but as they returned to the craftsmen's quarter he somehow knew how to retrace his steps to the tower of the Shining One. They wheeled Caryatid's statue along with them in a wheelbarrow, drawing stares from the passing crowds. In the tower, two apprentices took the wheelbarrow through a door while another apprentice escorted the party through many hallways and staircases. They eventually arrived in a simple dining room. Sunshine streamed through large windows on one wall (they could see the rooftops of the surrounding neighborhood below them) and the Great Quiquaequod sat at a long table, eating from a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. Father Chase marveled at the change in the wizard, who seemed like a perfectly ordinary man now, elderly yet oddly spritely. Only the green veins in the whites of his eyes belied the mundanity of the scene. That, and the statue of Caryatid, which had already been delivered to the room and was standing next to the now empty wheelbarrow.<br /><br />"Ah, there you are. And there's the unfortunate young lady!" smiled the wizard. "Let me just finish my breakfast and we'll have her sorted right out. You can just leave the coins on the table there, thank you."<br /><br />He stood up and placed a hand on the granite arm of Caryatid and murmured words of power. Underneath his hand, the stone gained color, the green of Caryatid's robes. The green spread from his hand across the statue, and then her hands returned to flesh, her backpack changed back to leather, and her head returned to flesh and hair. She gasped and averted her eyes, covering her face with her sleeve. Then, realizing that she was somewhere else, she looked around in wonder and confusion.<br /><br />Explanations were made, and then Quiquaequod spoke to them about the other part of his payment. "Not too far from here, just a few day's travel, is the tower of an old colleague of mine. A wizard named Castanamir. He has fled this realm of existence. I would like you to go to his tower and retrieve a certain manuscript of Castanamir's. He had been researching certain elemental spirits from another plane of reality, called gingwatzim. I would very much like to acquire this book. Castanamir will not be coming back to this world, so anything you wish to take from his tower for yourself is of no concern to me."<br /><br />He drew forth a large brass key and a strange wooden rod. "This is the key to Castanamir's tower. It is no ordinary lock, but it amused him to make it appear so. The tower has powerful charms that will prohibit the removal of any of Castanamir's possessions from it, but this rod will nullify those protections on any five items. One of them must be the book, but as to the other four, choose wisely."<br /><br />Quiquaequod took another bite of scrambled eggs. "Well, if you have no other questions, you'd best be on your way. Time is of the urgency, as I hope you in particular understand, Father Chase."<br /><br />The sinister undertones of that last comment were left hanging in the air as the party took their leave from the Shining One and left the tower with their empty wheelbarrow. The wizard has told them the tower was near the village of Oakhaven, several days travel to the east of Idalium. He said that Father Chase would know if they were heading in the right direction or not. And so, the adventurers began to make plans for an unexpected excursion away from Idalium, into the nearby wilderness...</p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-28594014562715650562023-07-30T15:28:00.004-04:002023-07-31T02:40:09.548-04:00 Idalium Game 117: I Turn to Stone When You Are Gone<p>Session date: Monday, October 21, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, November 12, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73588/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 23163/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 12070/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 12134/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 18044/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5727/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2411/4000<br />Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 1146/1200<br /><br />About a month had passed in both real time and within the game world, so the first order of business was to check in on Professor Zinn, and see if he had any information for the adventurers about the strange mushrooms they had brought back from the underground caverns. Professor Zinn was very excited to see them, and showed them three jars of the samples. The first jar was his "control group", just the mushrooms in a glass jar. They were dead and desiccated. The second jar held mushrooms that he had planted in soil and compost to see if they would draw nutrients from the soil and grow. These mushrooms were also dead and withered. He said they lasted a few days longer than the control batch but quickly died away. The third jar contained mushrooms he had planted in soil, but he was replenishing the soil with fresh compost daily. These mushrooms seemed barely alive, pale and sickly, struggling to hold on to life. Clearly, the Professor said, ordinary compost and soil itself was not sufficient to provide them with what they needed to thrive.<br /><br />Since they were already in The Steps, they went to the vacant house they had purchased, to use the wardrobe which was a magical portal to the second level of the dungeon. Pushing through the old fur coats and cloaks, they emerged into the dungeons below the city. They made their way back to the mushroom caverns at the shore of the underground lake, passing by a group of giant locusts in a hallway, fighting a pair of giant lizards in a cave, and placating another pair of lizards with a block of cheese that Simon had been carrying.<br /><br />When they arrived at the beach they decided to drink a potion they had been carrying around for ages that promised to indicate the direction of the largest nearby treasure. So sooner was it drunk but it gave the overwhelming impulse to head towards the cottage of Atropos, the potion-making witch on the island in the center of the underground lake. They left their retainers on the shore, and the other four climbed into the rowboat that lay on the beach and began to row towards the sensation of treasure. Their plan was to attack the witch from a distance, hopefully out of range from any spells she might be capable of. When they were about 20' from the shore, Simon loaded his crossbow and took a shot at the cottage door to get the witch's attention. THUD!<br /><br />"Who goes there?" came a stern voice. Simon shot another bolt at the door, but this went wide and snapped against the wall of the house. Then Gulleck and Caryatid noticed the shutters of the window to the left of the door open a crack. Caryatid began chanting the words of Fireball, and pointed a finger directly at the crack between the shutters. But Atropos the witch had drunk a potion of human control before opening the shutters, and Caryatid suddenly felt her arm jerk upwards. The glowing ember of the fireball shot high overhead, above the cottage, and blossomed into an aerial firework that illuminated the island and the black lake surrounding it.<br /><br />The shutters then opened all the way. Atropos was not wearing her veil, and the party recoiled at the sight of a woman with writhing snakes for hair and features indescribably hideous. Adrien, Gulleck, and Simon made their saving throws and shivered as the sight chilled their bodies to the bone, but Caryatid failed her save and within an instant was transformed into a granite statue.<br /><br />Gulleck and Adrien quickly ran to the window and attacked the medusa witch. (Gulleck's player rolled the Big Green d30 for 22 points of damage.) Atropos attempted to charm Adrien, but Adrien saved vs this spell as well. The door of the cottage burst open, and the witch's two strange stone-like dogs ran out barking and snapping at Gulleck and Adrien. Simon used his levitation boots to get out of melee range, and shot at the dogs from above with his crossbow. Atropos again failed to charm Adrien, but her snakes bit her. Adrien retaliated, swinging blindly at the medusa so as not to look at her, and struck a lucky blow that killed the witch! But then a dog bit Adrien as well, bringing her to -1 hit points and potentially dead! Her demonic giant ferret, Norman, went berserk at the apparent death of his mistress and attacked the dog, snarling and snapping. Gulleck managed to put down the two stone dogs.<br /><br />In this campaign, PCs could regain 1d4-1 hit points after catching their breath after a combat, and Adrien's player rolled a 1, bringing her back to exactly 0 hit points. Adrien was comatose, and Caryatid was a statue. Gulleck barged into the witch's cabin, prying open a large chest and filling three large sacks with hundreds of gold coins. Simon ferried Adrien back to the shore with the gold, where Father Chase laid his hands upon her wounds, restoring some measure of vitality to her. Back on the island, Gulleck also plundered the cottage of four vials of potions, a suit of finely made leather armor, and a polished bronze shield. Finally, Gulleck decapitated the witch (with some difficulty since she was averting her eyes), and put her head in a sack and brought it with her, just in case it retained its potency. She and Simon made the crossing again, having awkwardly maneuvered the statue of Caryatid into the rowboat.<br /><br />The party made the long and arduous journey carrying Caryatid through the caverns and ruins of Ancient Idalium, stopping for many rests but finally making it safely out via the cellar of the Rusty Lantern tavern.</p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-46693635359894925832022-12-30T16:19:00.005-05:002022-12-30T16:19:57.899-05:00Idalium Game 116: Field Mycology<p>Session date: Monday, September 23, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, October 15, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73511/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 23067/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11969/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 12038/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17996/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5677/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2363/4000<br />Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 96/1200<br /><br />With a mind to reduce the "mold problem" in the caverns below Idalium, the adventurers went shopping in the city for gardening tools. They bought a rake, and at "Crazy Harry" the alchemist's shop they bought two pints of Greek fire, which they carefully wrapped in cloth for cushioning. Descending into the dungeons, they had a number of minor encounters on the way to the caverns on the third level, but were able to quickly avoid or overcome the threats without much effort. When they arrived at the shore of the underground lake, they were alarmed to note that the "front line" of the mushroom growth had advanced somewhat since the last time they were here.<br /><br />The adventurers carefully took samples of the mushrooms and other varieties of fungal forms, placing them carefully in three glass jars they had brought with them. Then, Orin poured out a flask of oil on the ground and lit it with a torch, burning the mushrooms and fungus in a roughly four foot circle. It seemed to writhe and twist as it burned. The air filled with the aroma of sauteed mushrooms. They followed this up with one of the pints of Greek fire, which seemed to spread more effectively and burned a larger area of mushrooms. Caryatid got tired of this piecemeal approach, however, and just cast Fireball into the cave passage, incinerating the fungus coating the walls, floor, and ceiling. The mushrooms seemed to scream as they burned away, but perhaps it was just the sound of the rapidly escaping steam.<br /><br />On a whim, Simon tried to use his amulet of mindreading on the mushrooms, and his head was suddenly filled with an alarming voice, deep and monotone: "Join us... Come to us... There is nothing to fear... Join with us and be one..." At that moment, four bugbears staggered out of the cave passage, draped in fungal filaments like the seemingly mindless humans they had fought here before. The bugbears lurched stiffly forward. One gaped open its mouth in a croaking, hissing gasp, and they could see the mushrooms growing from its tongue and cheeks, clogging its mouth and spilling out onto its fur.<br /><br />Caryatid cast Fireball directly on the fungus-enshrouded bugbears. Orin cast Sleep and several of them collapsed, while the others charged forward to attack the remaining one. Chase's mace thumped solidly into the side of the last bugbear standing and it collapsed, but not before a dense cloud of spores erupted from the wound, leaving Chase choking and gasping for fresh air. The group knew that this was bad news, so they returned to the surface, helping the wheezing Father Chase along.<br /><br />Back in the city of Idalium, they returned to the shopfront chapel that Father Chase had been hired from. They waited anxiously in the drab waiting room while a Brother Todd examined Chase. He returned with the news that the fungal infection could be cured with the right prayers, but that the chapel would require a donation of 1,000 gold darics for the necessary oils and incense, etc. Caryatid paid the fee, and then arranged for her and Father Chase to stay at the chapel overnight (for an additional 5 gp donation apiece), in the event the infection worsened before it could be cured in the morning.<br /><br />Leaving Father Chase behind, the group made the trek to the Steps to pay a visit to Professor Zinn, the eccentric sage. Professor Zinn was fascinated by the mushroom samples they had brought with them, and offered them 500 silver shekels for each jar. Adrien scoffed at this offer quite rudely, and then Caryatid attempted to smooth the Professor's ruffled feathers with honeyed words and flattery. Simon hinted vaguely about the mysterious voice he had heard in his mind when trying to probe the "thoughts" of the fungus. Professor Zinn eventually offered them 3000 gp for everything, including all the information they knew about the stuff. Caryatid continued to drive a hard bargain, with Adrien chipping in about what a cheapskate the Professor was, and finally Zinn said, "Enough! I'll give you 3500 gold, on the condition that *she* [pointing at Adrien] stay outside from now on! And that she keeps that horrible mangy beast with her!" [referring to Norman, Adrien's pet demonic giant ferret]<br /><br />The deal being made, the group left their samples with the Professor and returned across the river to the city proper.<br /></p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-51465279702645479742022-07-14T10:30:00.004-04:002022-07-14T10:30:40.113-04:00Idalium Game 115: Like a Bad Penny<p>Session date: Monday, August 12, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, September 9, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73421/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22955/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11851/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11926/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17940/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5618/6000<br />Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2808/4000<br />Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 37/1200<br /><br />Heading down to the 3rd level again, the party had to deal with several restocked encounters on the way. In the Street of Temples, an swarm of bats had roosted on the ceiling, but the group was able to quietly sneak past. In the Temple of Hedonism, they stumbled upon a nest of four giant gecko lizards. Gulleck and Simon used their rings of animal control to immobilize them, but as they were giant animals they could only control one each. The other two lizards attacked angrily. One bit Simon savagely, breaking him out of his trance. Now there were three angry lizards attacking them, but Caryatid put a quick end to the combat with a sleep spell.<br /><br />They made their way through the caves on the 2nd level to the sloping passage that led down to the beach of the underground lake on the 3rd level. They were alarmed to discover that they had company on the beach: nine skeletons wielding swords and shields, led by a horrid, stitched-together creature wearing the tattered remains of a sack-like coat. They recognized this monstrosity. It was "Mister Beefcake", the cobbled-together horror that Caryatid's clone had created as a bodyguard. Last they had seen him, they thought they had killed him, but apparently he had not been as dead as he seemed. A red glow pulsed beneath the bared flesh of his barrel-like chest, accompanied by a deep throbbing heartbeat. The Beating Heart! They had always suspected that Caryatid the Green had stolen this foul relic, but now they understood that she had used it as part of the dread rituals that had given this creature its parody of life. And now it granted the monster the ability to command the undead!<br /><br />"Fireball," intoned Caryatid, and the air around the monster and his skeletons exploded with flame. The skeletons were instantly annihilated, scorched bones clattering to the ground. And then the battle was joined. The adventurers swarmed around the monstrous man, slashing and jabbing with their blades. Caryatid sent a magic missile into the fray. And then with a roar of frustration the hulking brute pushed Adrien to the ground and walked away from the battle, striding right into the underground lake. The black water submerged him and closed over his massive, lumpy head.<br /><br />The adventurers stood on the shore, breathing hard. Father Chase used his staff of healing to treat Adrien's wounds. Once they had caught their breath, they entered the caves of fungus to the north. Taking a mushroom-choked passage on the right, they came to a place where the way was blocked by a pair of giant mushrooms, livid violet in color, with dangerous looking tendrils growing from beneath their caps. They decided to retreat back to the first chamber, for fear of being poisoned or worse.<br /><br />Taking the left branch, they entered another passage where mushrooms and other fungi were growing densely. At the entrance to the passage, an enormous pale white puffball grew, quivering alarmingly. Gulleck jabbed it with her axe, and it exploded into a cloud of spores, sending Gulleck and several others into a deep sleep from which they could not be awakened. The others waited nervously, guarding against any wandering dangers, and after 20 minutes or so, the sleepers groggily awoke, speaking confusedly about bizarre fever dreams, in which tendrils of mycelium spread underground and alien fruiting bodies sprouted and proliferated.<br /><br />Once the others had recovered their wits, the group explored the next chamber, in which there was an odd area in the west corner of the cave where no mushrooms grew. The rock was a different color here and the mushrooms stopped growing where the color changed, forming a well-defined perimeter. Gulleck grabbed a chunk of a mushroom and chucked it into the "dead zone", but nothing too dramatic happened.<br /><br />Caryatid's magically enhanced nose got a sudden whiff of gold from a passage to the northeast, so they moved on from this chamber into a similar one where fungus covered all of the surfaces around them. In the eastern corner, they could see a skeleton, partially covered by a bright yellow fungus, next to a rotting backpack that spilled decayed adventuring gear along with hundreds of gold and silver coins. After their experience with the puffball spores, no one was too keen on disturbing the yellow mold, but Gulleck dared to grab a handful of coins that were farthest from the mold-covered skeleton. This was a tiny portion of the large pile of coins, but sufficed as a souvenir and to have obtained at least some treasure on this delve into the dungeon.<br /><br />Unwilling to press on further this day, the adventurers returned to the surface.</p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-22622182792178420392022-05-20T16:37:00.000-04:002022-05-20T16:37:47.872-04:00Monsters of Idalium: Stretchers<p>One of the more memorable new monsters that I created for the Idalium campaign was the stretcher. (I originally named them stretch ghouls, and then realized years later that this sounded too close to Kickstarter's stretch goals to take seriously.) My players were utterly horrified by these undead creatures, in vast disproportion to their actual statistics. They encountered them two or maybe three times, but the most memorable occasion was the first one, in the sealed <a href="https://belowtherustylantern.blogspot.com/2017/10/idalium-game-65-x-marks-spot.html">Hotel Lethia</a>. <br /></p><p>This encounter and monster arose directly from a nightmare I had a year or two before the party actually encountered them in the game. Mechanically, I considered them just a variety of ghoul, and based the stat block off of the ghoul, with just some specifics added to cover their unique attack and the way their stretching arms work. This stat block was designed for B/X D&D, but should work in any version of D&D or its retroclones derived from the original D&D lineage.<br /></p><p><b>Stretcher</b></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
Armor Class: 6<br />
Hit Dice: 2**<br />
Move: 90’ (30’)<br />
Attacks:
1 touch<br />
Damage: paralysis / 1d4 life drain<br />
No.
Appearing: 1-6 (2-16)<br />
Save As: Fighter:2<br />
Morale: 9<br />
Treasure
Type: B<br />
Alignment: Chaotic<br />
XP: 30</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US">S</span></span></span></span>tretchers
are undead creatures that live in a perpetual dream state, dimly
going through the motions of a parody of their former life. They have
pallid white (fish belly) flesh, and a vaguely female form, though
their bodily and facial features are rudimentary and vague, as if
they are only an imitation of a human being. They do not wear
clothes. They do not talk, nor do they exhibit any type of human-like
intelligence, having a bestial cunning only.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">They
prefer to live in enclosed rooms underground, and will spend much of
their time sleeping (if the undead can sleep) completely covered by a
sheet or blanket. They tend to try to avoid being uncovered.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">Stretchers
have an insatiable hunger for the human life force, and when they
encounter the living, they will reach out with a questing arm, which
unnaturally stretches up to 30’ feet, moving at a rate of 10’ per
round unerringly towards its target. The arm (and the rest of the
stretcher) can squeeze through the tiniest cracks, such as through
keyholes, under doors, etc. The touch of a stretcher will paralyze
any creature of ogre size or smaller (except elves) unless the victim
saves vs. Paralysis. Starting on the round after the victim is
paralyzed, the stretcher will begin to drain life force from the
victim. This causes the victim to lose consciousness (eyes
fluttering, gasping for breath), and does 1d4 points of damage per
round. The paralysis and unconsciousness induced by a stretcher lasts
2d4 turns, but can be reversed by a cure light wounds spell.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">If
an amount of damage equal to half the stretcher’s total hit points
is done to an arm, it will retract very quickly, though the stretcher
may try again with its other arm. If the other arm is “killed”,
it will also retract and the stretcher will flee. The stretcher can
only be killed by doing its total amount of hit points in damage to
its actual body. When killed, stretchers dissolve into a white,
rubbery liquid and drain away through cracks and crevices in the
ground.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">Any
creature whose life force is completely drained by a stretcher will
dissolve into the same liquid and drain away (raise dead is
impossible) and will reform as a new stretcher in 1d4 days.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;">As
undead, stretchers are immune to poison and mind-affecting spells
such as sleep and charm person. They can be turned as ghouls.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.14in;"> </p><p><b> </b><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-35749150208744364642022-05-12T17:20:00.000-04:002022-05-12T17:20:07.556-04:00Idalium Game 114: Strange Brew<p>Session date: Monday, August 5, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday August 27, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73405/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22935/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11830/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11906/16000<br />Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1377/4000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17930/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5608/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2353/4000<br />Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 27/1200<br />Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 96/1500<br /><br />We had a large party this time of five players and their retainers, so Gulleck bought another canoe and paid to have it awkwardly lowered down into the ruins of Idalium. On their way through the Temple of Hedonism, a random encounter had them running into a group of five hedonists on their way to an orgy. Another random encounter put 10 skeletons in the temple itself. The hedonists (who are in fact acolytes) turned the skeletons using their "holy symbols", of which the less said the better!<br /><br />The party paid a visit to the Judge, who was sad that they didn't bring him any tasty gemstones to eat. Then they retrieved their other canoe and rowed across the underground lake to the beach. They had previously noted that an iron rod was driven into the ground near the shore, and a rope tied to it led out into the lake. Pulling the rope taunt they could feel that it was secured on the other end. So they followed the rope in their canoes into the center of the lake, where they found an island. A rowboat was pulled up onto the shore near a similar iron pole where the other end of the rope was tied. A small house or cottage stood in the center of the island, and oddly colored smoke curled from the chimney. Strange stone rubble was strewn across the beach that looked oddly like fragments of granite statues, a forearm here, a booted foot there. Gulleck looked at the rubble with some misgivings.<br /><br />Simon used his amulet of ESP and sensed the presence of an intelligent mind within the house. Caryatid took off her invisibility and approached the house. Next to the front door a sign on a low post read, "Potions, elixirs, and concoctions sold and traded. Those who are serious about doing business, enter. Those of ill will and time wasters will not be tolerated." Caryatid knocked on the door, and Gulleck joined her.<br /><br />The door was opened by a strange figure that they realized they had met before. She wore a frayed black dress and a nearly opaque black veil hanging from a wide brimmed hat, such that her face was completely obscured. She greeted them in a businesslike fashion, and after ascertaining that they were here to possibly buy some potions, she invited them in to the cottage.<br /><br />The room inside was quite spartan. The veiled woman introduced herself as Atropos, and invited them to sit at a small circular table. A cauldron at the other end of the room bubbled away, and a "fume hood" above it whisked the strange vapors away up the chimney. Two very strange creatures were curled up near her feet. They looked like large dogs, but seemed to be made of living stone. Each was gnawing on a piece of granite, presumably from the shattered statues outside.<br /><br />Atropos showed them many different potions that could be theirs: potions of invisibility, healing, diminution and growth, and even deadly poison. While they were dithering on what to buy, and remembering the sign's admonition against time wasters, Atropos was making small talk and casually mentioned that her sister was the Queen of Nightmares. Caryatid and Gulleck replied neutrally to this, not mentioning that they had only just recently killed the Queen of Nightmares. In the end, they bought two potions of healing so as not to annoy Atropos.<br /><br />After paddling back across the lake, they took a side passage that sloped upwards and worked their way through natural caverns until they found themselves at the entrance to the Goblin King's palace. The guard room was empty, and the last entry in the guest book was for "Rugger's Raiders". Caryatid wrote "Appointment Canceled!" next to this entry. Then they retraced their steps and returned to the beach. They briefly explored the fungus-engulfed caves again. They found four giant striped beetles in one cavern, but Caryatid and Simon dealt with them quickly with a web spell and Simon's animal control ring. They started to proceed deeper into the caves, but Caryatid got a strong whiff of large animals and they decided it was too late in the evening to deal with that right now. Noting it for later, they paddled back across the lake and returned home.</p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-84396605861153342412022-04-13T12:46:00.001-04:002022-04-13T12:46:07.626-04:00Idalium Game 113: Change and Decay in All Around I See<p>Session date: Monday, July 1, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday July 23, 211 to Sunday, July 24, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73397/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22926/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11821/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11897/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17925/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5602/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2348/4000<br />Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 921/2000<br /><br />There was a notice on the bulletin board of the Rusty Lantern tavern that said that Professor Zinn would pay for evidence of giant ants mining nuggets of gold deep underground.<br /><br />The group took their usual path down below. On the way they met a quartet of gnomes, who told them that some of the gnomes from their clan had been recruited away to work on some kind of mining project three dungeon levels below here. (Planting plot hook seeds that were never to sprout, alas!)<br /><br />They visited the Judge, and Simon fed him a gemstone to ask about the "giants" in the garden area. The Judge told him that once their ancestors were the caretakers of the gardens, but left isolated and alone over the generations they reverted to brutish savagery.<br /><br />They headed east to the shore of the underground lake, getting their canoes out of their wizard-locked storeroom on the way, and paddled across to the north shore of the lake. A natural cave passage led into the rock to the north. A short ways in, it widened and split left and right. To the right, strange mushrooms and other types of fungus grew on the ground and the walls. Cautious and wary of that, the group chose to go left instead. They hadn't gone far before they came upon three people standing oddly in a widened area of the cave. They slouched awkwardly as if uncomfortable in their own bodies.<br /><br />"Er... howdy!" said Gulleck. One of the figures turned around, revealing a human face, but covered in mushrooms and fungus that grew in its hair and entwined its neck. It wheezed and coughed, and Gulleck could see that its mouth was choked full of small pale mushrooms. It falteringly extended a hand at Gulleck.<br /><br />The group turned and ran back to the big Y-intersection. Then they composed themselves and decided to charge them. I mean, it was 8 against 3, right? Caryatid started to cast the Web spell, and was confused to see the creature in the front imitating her, waving its hands as if casting a spell. Then the strands of sticky spider silk shot from her hands and entangled all three of the creatures. A cloud of spores erupted all around them. Caryatid coughed as the spores filled her lungs. Gulleck ran up to one of the creatures and hacked its arm off. It let out a horrible wheezing cry, as more spores filled the air (but Gulleck's dwarven constitution was up to the threat). They put the arm in a sack as a sample, and hightailed it back to their canoes.<br /><br />On the way out they visited the Judge again and fed him a piece of amber to ask about the fungus. "Bor was here to visit the other day, and he mentioned he saw a spreading fungus on the other side of the lake." But he had no useful advice, so they went home to seek a cure for Caryatid, who was looking green around the gills and wheezing.<br /><br />Back above ground, they made their way through the bustling streets and alleys of Idalium to Father Chase's "temporary clerical staffing" chapel and waited to be seen by High Elder Flimwitz. Caryatid balked at the "requested donation" of 1,000 gold darics for a Cure Disease spell, but after a restless night full of strange and alien dreams of mushrooms and mycelium and the unearthly beauty of decay, Caryatid scurried back to the chapel the next morning to cough up the cash and get healed of whatever the spores were that had lodged in her lungs.<br /><br /></p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-24037926280691312962022-04-13T12:00:00.007-04:002022-04-13T13:04:21.056-04:00Idalium Game 112: Lullaby to Nightmares<p>Session date: Monday, June 10, 2019<br />Game date: Sunday, July 3, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73282/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22782/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11670/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11753/16000<br />Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1226/4000<br />Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 1696/2000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17853/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5526/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2276/4000<br />Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 24/1500<br /><br />The COVID-19 lockdowns caused the Idalium campaign to fizzle out, sadly. We tried playing online via Discord and Roll20 for a few sessions, but it just wasn't the same. (And don't tell anyone, but I was reaching the end of the levels of the dungeon that I had mapped and keyed, and not feeling motivated to design the next level or two.) In an attempt to catch up on the campaign journals and, after writing 111 journal entries, get some proper closure on the campaign journal at least, I'm going to try to write these in a more abbreviated form. Hopefully, the lack of vivid description doesn't disappoint too much. (Also, it's been almost three years since these sessions and my memories are vague!)<br /><br />Unusually, we picked up the story one day after we had left off, for the Queen of Nightmares' curse had left the vast majority of the party unable to sleep! They tossed and turned all night, and felt a strange compulsion drawing them back to the palace of the Queen of Nightmares. Only Caryatid, Simon, Meat, and Frosty were unaffected. Even Marcel the monkey and Norman the giant demon ferret spent a miserable night awake!<br /><br />Caryatid experimented with the crystal ball they had taken from the Queen of Nightmares' treasure room. First she was able to remotely view her goose (that in theory lays golden eggs when provided with the right feed). Then she turned its gaze to the Queen of Nightmares' throne room. To her grim horror, she saw the Queen of Nightmares, reconstituted in human form, stalking her rooms in a rage.<br /><br />They descended below to finish the job and hopefully restore their ability to sleep. First they stopped in to see "The Judge". The talking stone face told them that a large group of tall lanky goblins (bugbears) had come this way yesterday, heading upstairs, but returned in the middle of the night talking about how they were unable to sleep. They made their way towards the palace of the Queen, stopping to speak with the bewildered and delirious hermit Bor through the door of his chambers. Bor was of little help to them and eventually told them to go away. They pulled out the crystal ball again and viewed the Queen of Nightmares' bedroom. Through the open door they could see her speaking to a group of her bugbear slaves.<br /><br />Making their way into the grand hall of the Queen's palace, they cleared away the piles of broken furniture that made a barricade in front of the door to the throne room. This snagged a tripwire that caused a portcullis to drop at either end of the hall, but other party members on the "good" side of the portcullis had previously found the crank to raise it, and quickly went round to do so.</p><p>The group entered the throne room of the Queen of Nightmares, which seemed empty until six bugbears stepped out from behind the stone columns that supported the ceiling and attacked! A bugbear snared Fritzenbürg with a garrotte and strangled him into unconsciousness. Gulleck and Adrien managed to kill a bugbear, and Orin cast a spell to put one to sleep. Boe fell to another bugbear's vicious strangulation. Caryatid cast sleep and another three bugbears dropped, and Gulleck put an axe in the chest of the last one.<br /><br />Fritzenbürg and Boe turned out to be still alive and able to continue, barely. The adventurers collected a few gold coins and two ears from each bugbear (the latter to sell as bounties to the dwarves upstairs). Then they carefully made their way beyond the throne room to confront the Queen of Nightmares herself.<br /><br />"How dare you intrude again in my domain!" The Queen of Nightmares stepped out of her room, dressed again in her tattered black robes. She began casting a spell. Caryatid slipped on her invisibility ring, and Frosty (who had borrowed Simon's) did the same. Stepping out from behind the Queen of Nightmares was the horrifying visage of a medusa. This turned out to be an illusion cast by the Queen, but Adrien and Meat failed their saving throws, and went rigid and still, believing themselves to have been turned to stone! Caryatid cast Magic Missile on the Queen of Nightmares, rolling the big green d30 for 17 points. Next round both I and Orehoe's player rolled the d30 for initiative, as it was important for both sides to get an attack off first. I won initiative, for once. The Queen cast Sleep at the party, and Orehoe, Orin, and Chase all fell to the ground in awkward heaps. That left only Gulleck, Caryatid, Simon, and Frosty to finish the fight. The Queen of Nightmares attempted to charm Caryatid, who made her saving throw, but only barely! Caryatid used her wand of fear and the Queen of Nightmares recoiled in panic and began to run away.<br /><br />At this point there was a long discussion of what to do. They assumed she would just get away again and they'd have to do this all over again, if they didn't decisively end things now. Caryatid seriously considered just fireballing the entire room. That would probably kill several of the party members with low hit points, but at least it would solve the problem. But then Frosty Beans (our newest player) ran up invisibly, and stabbed the Queen of Nightmares in the back with her own magical dagger!<br /><br />Almost shocked at their own victory, the adventurers cut the head off the Queen, burned her body with oil, and headed back to the surface for a well-deserved and long-deferred sleep!</p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-59383224528625087842022-04-12T12:26:00.000-04:002022-04-12T12:26:03.646-04:00From Out of the Darkness?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcDtm1FhRZo3_wEuS_IHG2Bio60M5DOJ-GXVi5ghpy3CNHK2Tk96g0Uq-HJMZ3egik7i8k4q-dk69k_kbcRzmS6dNMqAYQGjsx9JEKPr4BywbkAkuZHaxRHd8s-swL_HK9TKS-3njNBAp4B_fgEf5i3l2scbhbpADgl1NrdnbySIDxhZTJFStqDKrBQ/s321/zork.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="247" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcDtm1FhRZo3_wEuS_IHG2Bio60M5DOJ-GXVi5ghpy3CNHK2Tk96g0Uq-HJMZ3egik7i8k4q-dk69k_kbcRzmS6dNMqAYQGjsx9JEKPr4BywbkAkuZHaxRHd8s-swL_HK9TKS-3njNBAp4B_fgEf5i3l2scbhbpADgl1NrdnbySIDxhZTJFStqDKrBQ/s320/zork.png" width="246" /></a></div>It's been a while. The Idalium campaign fizzled out, a victim of the COVID-19 lockdowns. We tried playing online with Discord and Roll20.net for a few sessions, using scanned versions of my maps and scans of the character sheets, but it felt kind of awkward and clumsy. And truth be told, I was itching to start a D&D 5e campaign of "Curse of Strahd", which turned out to be much better suited to online play, with all of the maps, tokens, etc., provided for you.<p></p><p>But suddenly I felt the desire to reopen this creaky trapdoor. John Arendt (formerly known as Beedo) has been recently posting again on his <a href="https://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/">Dreams in the Lich House</a> blog. (Ironically, he has also moved from B/X to 5e.) And I figured, I have this blog and it doesn't have to be limited to the one campaign, so why not use it? I haven't stopped playing D&D and this blog was never meant to be solely a campaign journal.<br /></p><p>As my Curse of Strahd campaign nears the end (the party just hit level 9 and has one last area to explore before they tackle Castle Ravenloft and the vampire Count Strahd himself) my thoughts turn the next campaign. I'll probably offer the group a vote on a selection of the 5e hardcover adventures, but I've also been giving a lot of thought to running a very free-form, sandbox style campaign in the Forgotten Realms. Since we would be using the 5e rules, I'd probably set it in the "current" era of the Realms (1489+ DR) but increasingly, I've been attracted to the idea of leaning most heavily on the original AD&D (1e) Forgotten Realms Campaign Set as a baseline, and using later materials (including 5e material) on a pick-and-choose basis. One of my issues with the Forgotten Realms has always been the immense amount of materials available for it. It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, this is a major attraction of the Realms, that so much of the world building has been done for you and you can let your players just roam around and it is easy to just wing it using the existing materials. On the other hand, all this material (and the history of "Realms-shaking events") tends to pile up and become a tangible weight on the setting. With so many demigodlike NPCs walking around, is there really room for adventuring? So I like the idea of rolling back all that cruft and leaving it as a "what if" or a "maybe it happened that way, who knows?" Rather than have Elminster be an immortal and nearly omniscient demigod and the Chosen of Mystra, I'd rather have the players meet Elminster the eccentric sage who is more concerned with his project to comprehensively catalog the butterflies of the ruins of Myth Drannor than in saving the multiverse from the latest and greatest apocalypse.</p><p>But we'll see! Maybe I'll even find a place on the map of Faer<span class="module__title__link">ûn to plop down the city of Idalium. We never did explore too much of the world outside the city.</span></p><p><span class="module__title__link">If I end up going ahead with the sandbox campaign idea, I might use this blog to post some world-building ideas as I put together my version of the Realms. In the meantime, I'm planning on posting a couple of the new monsters I created for the Idalium campaign. And maybe (no promises) I might be able to catch up on some of the Idalium campaign journals. Writing full journals is a bit of a time sink, and I might do these (as well as any future journals) in a more abbreviated format. It would be nice to have closure of the campaign for the handful of loyal readers that I did have.</span></p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-21342760429939710752020-09-21T13:39:00.004-04:002020-09-21T13:45:36.231-04:00Idalium Game 111: Welcome to My Nightmare<p></p><p>Session date: Monday, May 20, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, July 2, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 72019/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21203/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 10012/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10174/16000<br />Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 38/2000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17063/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4696/6000<br />Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2018/4000<br />Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 131/2000<br /><br />In our last episode, the Infestation Managers had a skirmish with the Queen of Nightmares and her bugbear litter-bearers. Now, as the party descended into the undercity, they were confronted by a group of ten bugbears in the town square, next to the ruins of the fountain.<br /><br />"We mean you no harm. We have been waiting for you," hooted the bugbear at the front, as the adventurers reached for their weapons. As they cautiously returned to ease, the bugbear continued. "We have been enslaved by the Queen of Nightmares. We are forced to do her bidding, for she has stolen from us the ability to sleep. Only in her palace can we get relief, and only at her forbearance. We are not strong enough to defeat her ourselves, but you are very powerful. Please help free us, and we will leave this dungeon and not return."<br /><br />Gulleck reminded them that they were the adventurers who had slain the Goblin King, and no funny business! And so the adventurers took pity on these bugbears, and allowed the bugbears to escort them into the palace of the Queen of Nightmares.<br /><br />(Oh, it hardly seems sporting when they just walk into the trap!)<br /><br />On the way, in the Temple of Hedonism, they ran into Shorty "the Mouse" and her party of adventurers. Shorty was shocked to see her friend Gulleck consorting with monsters such as bugbears. <br /><br />"How can you trust them, Gulleck! They're leading you into a trap!" <br />"Well, that's as may be, but it does seem the quickest way to the Queen of Nightmares, and we have unfinished business with her."<br /><br />Shorty wished the adventurers good luck and watched nervously as they descended to the next level of the dungeon, led by the party of bugbears. They were led down to the third level, and then across to the west, where the bugbears unlocked a servant's entrance to the the walled palace. They brought them in through antechamber and then into a large audience hall lined with stone columns, and flanked by a railed balcony, in the center of which was a dark wooden throne. And sitting on the throne was the Queen of Nightmares in her frayed and ragged black robes.<br /><br />"Excellent work, my servants," she said to the bugbears. Addressing the adventurers, she said, "Allow me to explain your situation. By stepping into my domain, all of you have given over your lives to me. Your lives are forfeit, except in my service. You are free to leave if you wish, but you will find no rest, no succor except in my service. There are bunks prepared for you here, when you are ready to accept your servitude and return to me."<br /><br />"How about 'No'?" snapped Gulleck as she reached for her throwing axe.<br /><br />"Cease your resistance!" boomed the Queen, pointing a finger at Gulleck, who felt a wave of magic wash through her, attempting to lock her body rigid, but she made her saving throw easily.<br /><br />"Defend me, my slaves!" cried the Queen to the bugbears, and all of them attempted to grapple the adventurers into full nelson holds, but failed miserably except on Adrien.<br /><br />Caryatid cast Magic Missile at the Queen, and a golden arrow shot forth, but the Queen raised a hand and light flashed from a ring she wore. The arrow vanished and then reappeared, shooting back at Caryatid who twisted out of the way and was merely seared by its energy. Then Gulleck threw her hand axe and rolled the Big Green d30 for damage, hitting the Queen for a whopping 24 points. Adrien wriggled out of the bugbear's grasp, while Father Chase took the creative choice of using his sling to fling an ineffectual vial of holy water at the Queen.<br /><br />The Queen of Nightmare stumbled off her throne, one hand grasping the vicious wound in her side while the other hand reached into a pocket. She drew forth a twisted wand and pointed it at the adventurers. A wave of fearful magic swept over them, but it turned out to work mostly in their favor. Only Kevon, Frosty, and Marcel the monkey were affected by the magical fear, but ALL of the bugbears were. They all fled screaming out of the hall, while the Queen stumbled and limped her way through a door at the back of the balcony behind the throne.<br /><br />The adventurers had passed stairs in the antechamber that led up to the balcony, and Adrien quickly ran to them to pursue the Queen. Adrien sent Norman the giant ferret charging up the stairs but they turned out to be coated with grease, and he slipped roughly back down. Back in the throne room, Simon used his levitating boots to float up to the balcony, and Caryatid ordered her magical rope to slither up to the balcony and tie itself to the railing. Adrien slipped on the stairs as well, but eventually everyone made it up to the balcony.<br /><br />Beyond the balcony, stairs led back down into a large courtyard decorated with the heraldry of the Queen of Nightmares. Several slaves, some dwarves and some young children, were cowering the corners away from their work tables that contained partially sewn banners, clothing, etc. Across the courtyard was an open door. As Caryatid and Gulleck approached it, a strange, vaguely humanoid cloud of mist floated out of the door, over their heads, and out of the courtyard back towards the audience hall.<br /><br />Through the door was the Queen of Nightmare's bedroom. An austere four poster bed was draped in tattered shrouds of funeral black. On a nightstand lay a pair of white leather gloves. In an untidy heap on the ground in front of the bed were what appeared to be the Queen's black robes and other possessions. Two rings and a sheathed dagger lay on the floor near the robes, along with the twisted wand she had been holding. An empty glass vial lay on the floor, a cork stopper next to it.<br /><br />They gathered up these treasures, and then Caryatid picked up the gloves from the nightstand. Unfortunately, these were coated in poison and her strength vanished from her body and would not return for the next half hour. She used a burlap sack to carefully pick up the gloves the second time.<br /><br />There was a door on the west wall, and Gulleck opened it, discovered that the doorknob must have been coated with the same poison as the gloves. Luckily for Gulleck, dwarves are very resistent to poison and she (barely) made her saving throw. She decided to smash the door down with her axe instead.<br /><br />Past the splintered remains of the door was a small room. A door was on the opposite side, but between them and it was an enormous skeletal figure with four arms, each wielding a large curved sword. Frosty stepped towards it and it took a swipe at him that nearly took off his head. Caryatid cast Web, which fouled the creature's arms. While it struggled to free itself from the web, Gulleck and Simon rushed in and dispatched it. The room it was guarding turned out to be the treasure trove of the Queen of Nightmares. Chests of gleaming coins (1,400 electrum pieces in all) sat amidst many pieces of jewelry and artwork, as well a crystal ball wrapped in a black velvet cloth.<br /><br />The group bundled all of this treasure up, and retreated back to the surface, in fear that the Queen of Nightmares would return and nervous of the strange curse she had placed upon them all.<br /><br /></p>Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-24364494010103447282019-12-21T22:36:00.000-05:002019-12-29T22:06:09.842-05:00Idalium Game 110: Portage and PyromaniaSession date: Monday, May 13, 2019<br />
Game date: Saturday, June 25, 211<br />
<br />
<b>PCs:</b><br />
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71978/140000<br />
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21152/40000<br />
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9958/16000<br />
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10123/16000<br />
<br />
<b>Retainers:</b><br />
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17037/32000<br />
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4669/6000<br />
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2250/4000<br />
Miss Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 0/1200<br />
<br />
About a month had passed in game time (and real time), so Caryatid and Orin used the downtime to create four Sleep scrolls apiece. The party also purchased two more canoes, at 50 gp each, in order to continue their exploration of the caverns across the underground sea.<br />
<br />
Struck with a whim to have a thief for a retainer again, Adrien's player rolled up a new employee, whom she dubbed "Miss Vanjie". Sadly, Miss Vanjie came to the party with a single hit point. Well, at least thieves level up quickly!<br />
<br />
In the Rusty Lantern, they found Moonpetal's Marauders carousing at the bar. I quickly made three more saving throws for Moonpetal and found to everyone's amusement that even a month later he was still under the effect of Caryatid's Charm Person spell. Moonpetal obsequiously bought her a drink.<br />
<br />
They carried the two canoes down into the dungeon, paying a toll of 2 gp each to have them lowered down into the ruined city. It was awkward getting them down the stairs and through doorways, but they managed it, making their way to the Temple of Hedonism and its stairway down to the second level. In the large town square, they encountered a group of five acolytes of the Temple of Hedonism, who were not aggressive but nonetheless guarded and suspicious. They conversed briefly and then continued on their way.<br />
<br />
In the vestibule of the temple, Simon sniffed for gold and lo and behold found a sack behind one of the statues containing 700 silver and 10 gold coins. They put on their togas to pass the crystal statue guarding the stairs and descended to the second level.<br />
<br />
As was their tradition, the party took their new employee to the Temple of Fate to give her a spin on the wheel of fortune. The noise of the wheel attracted a group of stirges, but Gulleck slammed the door shut and they when they reopened it some time later, the stirges had moved on. Vanjie didn't feel any different after her trip on the wheel and it was unclear what boon or bane had been bestowed upon her.<br />
<br />
Down to the third level they proceeded, carrying the canoes awkwardly down the stairs. Gulleck unlocked the heavy stone door, and then they came upon a session-changing random dungeon restocking roll. As the door swung open, they saw a party of 10 bugbears crossing the room, carrying the palanquin of the Queen of Nightmares.<br />
<br />
Seizing the opportunity, Caryatid cast Fireball directly on the palanquin. Considering the room was only 20 feet square, this was a rather reckless decision. Everything went up in flame and heat, including the front half of the party. Three of the bugbears died screaming, completely exposed in the room with nothing to take cover behind, and most of the rest seemed badly injured as well. Gulleck and Simon gritted their teeth and withstood the worst of the blast, flames flickering around their shields. Caryatid found shelter behind the edge of the doorway, but Father Chase was caught in the full blast of the explosion, and fell to the ground with a wail and a heavy thump. Adrien and Miss Vanjie dropped to the ground and hid under their canoe.<br />
<br />
At the same time, Orin cast a Sleep spell, and three of the bugbears carrying the palanquin staggered to the floor, leaving it tilted at an uncomfortable angle. A frail shout of pain and indignity came from the litter. Then, before the adventurers could gather themselves to charge into the room and attack the survivors, the curtain of the palanquin drew open a few inches and a thin wooden stick emerged, pointing at the doorway. A wave of bone-chilling panic swept over the adventurers. Some of the bugbears who had standing between the palanquin and the party ran out of the room, hooting in panic, but Gulleck, Meat, and Orin were also overwhelmed by the unnatural fear. Their faces filled with irrational panic, and they backed away, stumbling over the canoe that Adrien and Vanjie were huddling beneath, and then ran back up the stairs shrieking in terror.<br />
<br />
Before the remaining adventurers could respond, a bony hand extended from the palanquin, finger pointing at the adventurers, and the chilling voice of the Queen of Nightmares spoke: "Do not move!" Simon and Adrien found themselves rooted to the spot, paralyzed by some fearful force that turned their bodies traitor against their own wills.<br />
<br />
Three of the surviving bugbears took up the poles of the palanquin from their slumbering or burned companions and hoisting the palanquin back to their shoulders, took off at a jog to the west, along with the other surviving bugbears. Caryatid and Miss Vanjie were the only adventurers left with their faculties, and had little choice but to let them flee into the darkness.<br />
<br />
Father Chase lay on the ground in unknown condition (the fireball had reduced him to -3 hit points). I let Caryatid's player roll the usual 1d4-1 to regain hit points at the end of a combat. She rolled a 4, bringing him back to exactly 0, meaning that he was alive and breathing, but unconscious and unresponsive.<br />
<br />
While Caryatid attempted to bandage the worst of Father Chase's burns, the voice of "the Judge" echoed out of the southern doorway.<br />
<br />
"Oh my! I'm so glad you weren't all killed by that terrible woman!"<br />
<br />
Caryatid thanked him for his concern but as there was little an immobile stone column could do for them right now, she wasn't in the mood to talk. Eventually, the paralysis wore off from Simon and Adrien, and around the same time, Gulleck, Meat, and Orin returned from the Temple of Hedonism where they had been hiding in terror.<br />
<br />
With all this waiting around, there was time for a few wandering monster rolls, one of which did come up as affirmative, which could have been really bad for the fractured and weakened party, but it turned out to be the addled cleric Bor, who lived on this level. He wore the tattered heraldry of the Great Cathedral of Idalium, but nowadays he seemed to worship other, more esoteric gods. Still, he was a friend to the adventurers, and when he saw that Father Chase was badly wounded and on the brink of death, he bent over him and murmured a prayer.<br />
<br />
"Deliver this lowly one from the darkness, O Great Ones! Let him continue to play his role in Your Great Purpose. Grant me, Your humble servant, this blessing..."<br />
<br />
Father Chase's eyes flickered open. He was weak and in great pain. Bor sat with him and spoke to him of the "Great Ones" and their magnanimity. Bor reached into a pouch and drew forth a crudely whittled wooden idol of a bizarre humanoid with flippers for arms and legs and a horrid, lamprey-like sucker for a mouth.<br />
<br />
"Take this, my son. Meditate upon it and you too may soon come to understand the truth of the Great Ones. They have saved you today for a greater cause."<br />
<br />
Caryatid politely shooed Bor away from proselytizing to her retainer in his moment of extreme vulnerability, and after thanking him, the group went on their way. They stashed the two canoes in the abandoned shrine with the other two that they had "rented" from Shorty, and then high-tailed it back upstairs. In the Temple of Hedonism they encountered the same five acolytes they had met in the town square, but for once there was no actual orgy going on, but just an unexpectedly wholesome picnic of bread, cheese. fruit, and wine. The adventurers apologized for interrupting as they crossed the room, scorched, burned, and ragged. They made it back to the Rusty Lantern with no further encounters.<br />
<br />
Later that day, Miss Vanjie received a message that a rich patron in town wanted to publish her memoirs and sent her an advance of 1000 gold coins. How lucky! (And in one fell swoop, Miss Vanjie made it almost to level 2.) Meat and Orin both failed morale checks and decided to take a week off from adventuring, and Miss Vanjie left for four weeks (to polish up her memoirs and spend her unexpected windfall).Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-75739274007166239192019-11-06T21:59:00.000-05:002019-11-06T21:59:03.502-05:00Idalium Game 109: The Wine-Dark SeaSession date: Monday, April 15, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, May 28, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71958/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21127/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9932/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10098/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17024/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4655/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000<br />Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 118/2000<br /><br />When the adventurers arrived in the Rusty Lantern, they entered to find a fellow adventuring party, "Shorty's Sirens", celebrating with a hearty meal and full flagons of wine. Shorty greeted Gulleck cheerily, and told her they had just come up from a rather successful delve. Gulleck tried to draw out where they had been, and Shorty said they had taken canoes across the underground sea on the third level. She also mentioned that on the far side of the underground sea, her party had found a partially flooded research laboratory of some sort, largely untouched since the day that Ancient Idalium fell. She told them that there was a door in the first room with a strange mechanical combination lock that they had been unable to figure out, so they had left it for now.<br /><br />Well, this sounded like an interesting lead, so the party asked Shorty whether she would be willing to loan them her canoes. The two parties were on good terms, and Shorty was willing to rent them for 10 gold darics, plus a "security deposit" of 100 darics to cover replacement costs in case something happened to the canoes. The deal was made and Shorty went with the adventurers down into the basement of the tavern to retrieve the canoes from her party's secure vault.<br /><br />The guards at the trapdoor seemed irritated to have to deal with the canoes twice in as many hours, and charged an additional toll of 2 gold darics per canoe for the hassle of lowering them down into the dungeon with the winch. Once down below, Chase and Orin hoisted one canoe onto their shoulders, and Adrien and Boe lifted the other one. It was somewhat awkward maneuvering the canoes around the corners of the underground streets and through the narrow tunnel dug by the gnomes, but with a little bit of extra time they made their way through to the Temple of Hedonism.<br /><br />As soon as they opened the doors to the temple, they were surprised to see yet another adventuring party: Moonpetal's Marauders. In fact, both parties were surprised and goggled at each other foolishly for a few seconds. Then, Moonpetal the elf waved his hands and murmured arcane words, and before the adventurers could react, he had cast a Charm Person spell on Simon!<br /><br />"Ah, Simon, my dear friend. Just the man I was looking for. We need those canoes! It's absolutely critical, so hurry up and hand them over."<br /><br />Simon said, "Sure thing, pal!" and ordered Orin to hand over his end of the canoe to Moonpetal's companions. But Caryatid knew what was up and cast her own Charm Person spell at Moonpetal, while Father Chase put down his end of the canoe, and drew forth a "spell of bondage" scroll he had obtained long ago in the "study room" of the Temple of Hedonism. Moonpetal whipped out a wand, but the adventurers won initiative, and Moonpetal's muscles locked up, completely paralyzed, while Caryatid's spell swept over his mind. Simon protested vocally at this treatment of his dearest friend.<br /><br />Gulleck stepped up to Moonpetal. "Now then, you're going to release Simon from your spell." Moonpetal would have nodded, but could do little more than blink, but he ended the charm and Simon scowled as he realized he had been magically swindled. Gulleck told Moonpetal's companions to carry him away, and then they moved further into the temple. <br /><br />No sooner had they passed from the vestibule into the main temple, they encountered yet another adventuring party from the Rusty Lantern tavern. This time it was St. Dwindum's Heroes, a group of clerics and their followers raiding the dungeon in order to fund the expansion of the tiny Cult of St. Dwindum. They chatted with the pious Brother Michael and the more worldly and gregarious Brother Randy, warning them about Moonpetal's crew, and then took their leave to proceed below.<br /><br />They passed through the empty basement den of the Temple of Hedonism, turned the corner and proceeded down to the third level. As they opened the great stone door at the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised by voices.<br /><br />"Is that you, Master Randy? Did you forget something? We... oh."<br /><br />The door swung open to reveal eight black-robed cultists, with goathead holy symbols hanging around their necks. The cultists seemed quite embarrassed and greeted the adventurers tersely and then took their own leave to the west, while the party went east. Finally the penny was beginning to drop, and Caryatid was putting two and two together as to why the leader of the cultists had such a familiar voice.<br /><br />They carried the canoes to the rocky beach at the end of the eastern corridor. The underground sea was dark and silent, and the gentle lapping of water on the rocky shore seemed muffled and distant. The canoes could each seat two people, so Simon and Gulleck took one, while Caryatid and Adrien (along with Norman the horrible giant ferret) boarded the other. The retainers were left to wait on the beach with a couple of torches and a tinderbox.<br /><br />The canoes were pushed out into the water and they paddled off to the left, following the cavern wall. The sounds of their retainers moving around on the gravel quickly faded, and everything seemed preternaturally quiet. Even the splash of their oars in the water sounded oddly muted, and the canoes did not seem to leave as much of a wake in the water as they expected. They followed the wall to the north and as it curved to the east and eventually they came to the waterfall from which they had rescued Caryatid, about a year ago in game time. They avoided the falling waters and continued following the cavern wall to the east, eventually coming to another rocky beach, somewhat larger than the one they had left from. There was a rowboat on the shore here, and to the north at the back of the cavern a passage led deeper into the caves.<br /><br />They beached the canoes on the shore and got out to inspect the rowboat. It seemed in decent enough shape, and they noticed that on the bow of the boat a thick rope ran through a metal eyelet. One end was tightly tied to an iron spike that was staked deeply into the rocky ground next to the rowboat and after passing through the eyelet, the rope trailed away into the dark water of the sea. Gulleck pulled on the rope and a portion of it near the boat lifted clear of the lake, water dripping quietly from it.<br /><br />Not wanting to take the time right now to investigate this further, with their retainers waiting for them back at the other beach, the adventurers instead chose to explore the tunnel to the north. This led them to a natural cavern where two passages led off to the left and the right. They chose to explore the right tunnel, and after about thirty or forty feet, they saw that the ground, walls, and even the roof of the tunnel were becoming overgrown with all sorts of mushrooms and fungi. There were pale white puffballs, grotesque elongated mushrooms, mosslike growths of mold of various colors, and strange filamentous hairs that wafted in the breeze as they passed by nervously. The fungus seemed to get denser as they moved through the tunnel until it covered almost all of the surfaces. They trod upon this living carpet nervously, but so far there seemed to be no ill effects as mushrooms collapsed under their boots.<br /><br />Turning a corner in the tunnel, they came upon the sight of five enormous ants milling about the cavern. They were easily six feet long each, and their black carapaces reflected the gleam of Simon's glowing sword. The ants didn't seem aggressive, as they chewed at the fungus on the walls and ground, but they were blocking further progress, and the party didn't feel up to risking a fight when they were outnumbered. They retreated back the way they had come, collecting some of the fungus in an empty wineskin for further examination.<br /><br />They took the canoes back to "Rocco Beach", reuniting with their retainers. (I had been rolling wandering monster checks for both groups, but fortunately for the retainers nothing had shown up while they were waiting.) Simon had the bright idea to just keep the canoes here for next time, so they wouldn't have to lug them back up through the dungeon. Shorty would surely understand! "We'll just pay her a little extra for the extra time we keep them for." There was an abandoned shrine off the hall not far from the beach and the adventurers dragged the canoes in, leaned them up against the walls, and then Caryatid cast Wizard Lock on the door.<br /><br />They returned to the Rusty Lantern, where they found Shorty waiting for them. She was not amused by the fact that they had returned emptyhanded, and very much did not understand why.<br /><br />"This was not the deal we had, Gulleck! I expected better treatment than this from you."<br /><br />Gulleck, who had kind of expected that this wasn't going to go the way Simon described, could only gesture apologetically. Shorty scowled at them all and stomped out into the street.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-16626802949005114312019-10-27T18:38:00.000-04:002019-10-27T18:38:05.921-04:00Idalium Game 108: In-A-Gadda-Da-VidaSession date: Monday, March 25, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, May 7, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71930/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21092/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9894/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10063/16000<br />Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 1/2000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000<br />Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2000/4000<br />Moonpetal, Elf 2, hp 12, xp 4676/8000<br /><br />Our new player came back again the next week (always a vote of confidence), and we had all the regulars. Simon had finally made his save vs spells and shook off the Charm Person that had persisted for months of game time. Down to the third level they went.<br /><br />On the way, they encountered a pair of fire beetles in the Street of Temples, light glands glowing eerily in the darkness as they approached. The beetles seemed to be minding their own business, but Adrien decided to unleash her mangy giant ferret Norman upon them. She rolled a 1 for Norman's attack, so he missed the beetles completely and slammed into the facade of a temple across the street. The beetles fell upon him in self defense, and he was bit for 5 points. Suddenly things got more serious. Gulleck and Simon scrambled for their rings of animal control, but before they could put them on, Norman was bit for another 9 points, and died gurgling horribly.<br /><br />Gulleck and Simon seized control of the beetles and they were swiftly killed, but Adrien was distraught at the death of her beloved demon ferret. She cradled his lifeless corpse in her arms and vowed vengeance upon the DM. Then someone had the idea to dip him in the resurrection pool. Hmm... did the pool even work on animals? Its magic was already a bit wonky, as it had a habit of creating magical duplicates of anyone who entered it while still alive. But the decision was made (over Caryatid's objections) to give it a try.<br /><br />They made it down to the chamber of the pool without incident, and dropped his limp body into the slippery liquid of the pool. Nothing happened for some time, and there was nervous chatter about just leaving his corpse in the pool since nobody wanted to risk getting duplicated by going in after it. But then there was splashing, and Norman's snout broke the surface. He swam to the edge, sputtering and sneezing, and clambered out.<br /><br />There was something different about him now. He was bulkier, stockier around the shoulders. He had always been mangy and scruffy, but now his patchy fur stood in matted tufts that persisted even after he shook off the liquid of the pool, and his oily skin exuded a faint but constant sickly smell of infection and decay. One eye was continually oozing and crusty.<br /><br />Nonetheless, Adrien crouched to embrace her pet happily, but Norman was in a foul mood. He snapped viciously at her face, and if not for her finely honed adventurer's instincts, he probably would have torn her throat open. (In other words, his bite did enough damage to kill an everyday human.)<br /><br />"OK, OK, he's a little grouchy. You would be too if you'd just been bitten to death by giant beetles."<br /><br />Nobody else in the party seemed enthused about this new "Pet Sematary" version of Norman.<br /><br />In any event, having taken care of Norman, the party descended to the third level. They briefly stopped in to visit "the Judge". He was horrified by Norman and called him "an abomination", much to Caryatid's satisfaction. They fed him a gemstone and asked him about the north shore of the underground sea. The Judge said that there were natural caverns there, although he had heard reports that a portion of the caves had become overgrown with strange subterranean fungus.<br /><br />After visiting the Judge, they headed west. They stopped at a nondescript door at the north end of the Queen of Nightmares' palace, and Simon used his mind-reading amulet. He sensed the presence of several bugbear guards. Not feeling up to a big fight just yet, they opted to move on, but Caryatid cast Wizard Lock on the door first, just to annoy the Queen.<br /><br />They headed north, farther than they had previously mapped, and at the end of a long hallway they found a massive wooden door. It was beautifully carved with motifs of vines and leaves, flowers and tree bark. This must be the door to the gardens they had often heard about!<br /><br />Frosty attempted to push the door open, but only succeeded in hurting his shoulder. The door was securely locked.<br /><br />"I take out my skeleton key," said Gulleck's player.<br /><br />"What skeleton key?" I said.<br /><br />"My axe."<br /><br />Gulleck began slamming her axe into the door, over and over again. It was thick and made of solid and sturdy hardwood, and it was slow going. The dull thuds of the axe echoed through the corridor. The beautiful engravings of the door were getting hacked away, and terrible gouges tore through them.<br /><br />Suddenly, there was shouting on the other side of the door.<br /><br />"STOP! STOP! What you doing?!!" <br /><br />Gulleck stopped chopping at the door.<br /><br />"Well, open up, then!" she yelled back.<br /><br />"OK, but no funny stuff," said the gruff voice. There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, and then the door was pulled open.<br /><br />The adventurers squinted as daylight streamed into the corridor. Beyond the door, lush green grass grew up to the threshold. A blue sky shimmered brightly overhead. Across the grassy lawn, they could see a building, apparently made mostly of glass. Standing near the door were a group of four very large men, at least eight feet tall. They looked brutish and stupid, with jutting brows and slack jaws. They wore nothing but crude leather loincloths and jerkins. One carried a cloth sack over its shoulder. They had seen a creature like this a long time ago, in the employ of the Goblin Prince.<br /><br />The one who had opened the door goggled at the damage Gulleck had inflicted.<br /><br />"Look what you done! Who's gonna fix that??"<br /><br />"Well, we had to get in, the door was locked," said Gulleck.<br /><br />"That's right," said Caryatid, warming to a good session of attempted baffling. "We're the Garden Inspectors. We can't allow anything to interfere with our duty."<br /><br />"Garden Inspectors?" said the confused creature slowly.<br /><br />"Yeah!" said Simon, "Let me just find my clipboard..."<br /><br />"But... but... you need to pay for this damage!"<br /><br />"Of course we will process any legitimate claim for accidental damages. How much would you assess that at?" said Caryatid soothingly.<br /><br />"Urrrrrgh... you give us five hundred gold coins."<br /><br />All of the adventurers laughed quite rudely at that, which made the giant men suspicious and irritated. The conversation went on and on, as everyone tried to befuddle the creatures. They did learn a few things from them. The giant men said they were the caretakers of the garden. When asked who they worked for, they said they didn't work for anyone, but they were the caretakers and they had always been the caretakers, as had their ancestors before them.<br /><br />Caryatid came up with a surefire plan. "Excuse me, where's the little ladies' room?" She hopped from foot to foot to make her point.<br /><br />The lead creature (who had said his name was Glurge) pointed to a small copse of trees to the east. The other party members thought he had an odd, crafty look on his face, but they continued their attempt to confuse these dimwitted brutes. Caryatid thanked him brightly and made her way into the woods, taking a moment to look around. This was truly a magical place. There was a high ivy-covered stone wall to the south where they had come in, and at the top of the wall some thirty feet up, she could see the right angle of the ceiling, but somehow the ceiling was also a blue sky pervaded with sunlight. To the north she could see glass greenhouses, and beyond that what looked like a formal flower garden.<br /><br />Once Caryatid was in the trees she slipped behind a tree and then carefully peered back around, watching the four monstrous men arguing with the rest of her party. The argument seemed to be getting more heated, and it looked like the giants were losing patience with these self-professed "Garden Inspectors". And then Caryatid cast a Sleep spell at the giants.<br /><br />Unfortunately, her roll was poor and only one of the men fell asleep. He swooned on his feet, said "Urgh" and then dropped to his knees before face planting into the turf. Caryatid made ready to cast another spell, but at that moment she heard a twig snap behind her. She whipped around to see another of the giant brutes reaching towards her and licking his lips.<br /><br />"Mmmm mmm mmm... you sure look mighty tasty," he murmured, before lunging at her. Caryatid quickly put on her invisibility ring and vanished, but the giant grabbed at the empty space where she had been and managed to find her. He pulled her close to his acrid smelling body, pinned her arms to her sides, and began dragging her invisible form through the trees back the way he had come from.<br /><br />Now, Caryatid's pet monkey Marcel had been riding on her shoulder invisibly, and in one hand he held the miniature magical spear they had found in the monastery in the mountains so long ago. He stabbed at the giant, and the spear expanded to its full 10' length. He missed, and I ruled that this attack ended the invisibility effect for both of them. Caryatid decided to play dead and went limp in the arms of the monster. Marcel hopped off of her, brandishing the tiny spear at the giant. The man squinted at the monkey, annoyed, and continued to drag Caryatid into a clearing. Caryatid opened her eyes a tiny bit to see a number of large thatched cottages surrounding a large iron cookpot. It was easily large enough to hold a human, and it was steaming from the fire that was crackling away beneath it.<br /><br />The giant dragged her towards the pot, but before he could do more, Marcel's spear jabbed him. This spear's magic was that its victims were filled with an uncontrollable panic, and the enormous man failed his saving throw, dropped Caryatid roughly on the grass, and fled at full speed past the cottages into the woods to the north. Unfortunately for Marcel and Caryatid, the spear snapped in half at this point.<br /><br />Caryatid retrieved Marcel and they jogged back to the group by the door. There was a vocal argument going on. The monstrous men were convinced that the adventurers had done something to their sleeping companion. Simon was babbling about how he must have fallen ill and as the "Proper Authorities" they would need to quarantine the garden so that the disease would not spread.<br /><br />The giant men seemed frustrated and impatient and when they saw Caryatid returning they looked disappointed.<br /><br />"Just go! You cause enough problems already. Get out!"<br /><br />And the adventurers took this opportunity to retreat back through the door. Caryatid was the last one through, and as the door was closing behind them she turned and cast Fireball back at the men.<br /><br />Well, since the door was already closing I made her roll an attack roll to see if she could acccurately target the glowing bead of the fireball through the rapidly narrowing crack. If the roll was too low, the fireball would erupt on the inside of the door, and that would be very bad for all the adventurers. But as it happened, she rolled quite well, and just as the door closed, there was an enormous explosion of light and heat on the other side. The wave of heat buffeted them momentarily before the door slammed shut. They could hear the giant men screaming in shock and pain.<br /><br />And then they all ran down the hallway, and got the heck out of the dungeon.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-14495901544535133732019-09-28T19:45:00.001-04:002019-09-28T19:45:56.780-04:00Idalium Game 107: Frosty the FighterSession date: Monday, March 18, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, April 30, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71929/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21091/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9893/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8762/16000<br />Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 0/2000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4655/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000<br />Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 118/2000<br /><br />It was a fairly short session this time. We had a brand-new player, who had never played any type of roleplaying game before, so I spent some time laying out the basic idea of the game and of the Idalium setting. Then we spent some time rolling up her character, a fighter named "Frosty Beans" (I really have absolutely no idea). So, by the time we all ready, there wasn't much time left for extensive adventuring.<br /><br />In the Rusty Lantern tavern, an alchemist was trying to interest people in a small assortment of magical potions. The party members considered the assortment but passed on making any purchases, and then they all descended in the buried city of Idalium.<br /><br />They made their way down to the second level via their usual route through the Temple of Hedonism. Simon paused in the temple to smell for gold (a very useful power bestowed by the Wheel of Fortune) and found a gilded goblet abandoned under one of the pews. He tucked this away with satisfaction (it would turn out to be the only treasure they recovered this evening).<br /><br />Down in the Temple of Fate, Adrien demonstrated the use of the Wheel of Fortune and stepped off feeling vaguely lucky. Frosty, however, was not so fortunate, and stepped down from the wheel sneezing uncontrollably and at the most inconvenient times.<br /><br />Adrien got back on the wheel with her pet ferret Norman this time, and although she made her saving throw, Norman now had colorful smoke trickling from his ears, just like Orin and Kevon.<br /><br />All of the clatter of the wheel attracted a group of urchins. The dungeon-dwelling children recognized the adventurers and told them that several of them had been kidnapped by the Queen of Nightmares.<br /><br />"What were their names?" demanded Caryatid, forcing me to come up with four names on the spot.<br /><br />"Jo, Polly, Ben, and Dorothy." (My urchins are all named after "Doctor Who" companions, just like the hippie berserkers are all named after 1960s rock stars.)<br /><br />Gulleck declared that the urgency of dealing with the Queen of Nightmares had just increased significantly. The adventurers gave the urchins a few gold pieces and then continued on their way. They made a brief stop in the chambers of "the Judge" on the third level, and talked to him about the Queen of Nightmares, but there wasn't enough time left in the evening to mount an attack on her palace, so at this point they all returned to the surface.<br /><br />Later that day, Adrien received a letter indicating that she had inherited a riverboat (worth 13,000 silver shekels) from another distant relative she didn't even know she had been related to. Such strange fortune!Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-58878588222587752932019-09-25T09:12:00.002-04:002019-09-25T09:12:11.375-04:00Idalium Game 106: Where She Stops Nobody KnowsSession date: Monday, February 11, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, March 26, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71740/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20855/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9645/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8526/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4531/6000<br />Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 248/2000<br />Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 0/2000<br /><br />The party members reunited two weeks later, but their retainers Meat and Orin were still unavailable. Simon brought along his backup retainer, Kevon, and Gulleck decided not to bother with a retainer for this delve. Adrien's retainer Jack had died gruesomely in the last session, and so she recruited a new retainer who curiously was the very spitting image of Jack, though a fighter instead of a thief. His name was "Boe, The Face of". (A "Doctor Who" in-joke.)<br /><br />Simon was still anxious about needing to obtain a live bugbear for his "best friend" down in the dungeon, and so they descended down into the undercity with vague plans to find a bugbear without alerting the entirety of the Queen of Nightmares' guards.<br /><br />While passing through the Temple of Hedonism on their way down to the second level, they encountered a party of oddly dressed men and women. They worn plate armor of a sort, but very old-fashioned compared to the style that Gulleck and Simon were wearing. They had strange amulets around their necks, and they all wore sinister half-masks with long bird-like beaks. There was an impasse where both groups sized each other up. Adrien piped up to say, "Let's just leave them alone," and the strange figures responded in a language that no one understood. Through displays of open hands and smiles, the adventurers passed by without incident and continued down to the second level.<br /><br />Adrien wanted to go to the Temple of Fate so her new employee Boe could have a spin on the magical wheel of fortune (this has become the usual hazing ritual for new party members). But in the room with the wheel there was also a tribe of eight fierce baboons, which hooted and shrieked as the adventurers approached them. Simon used his ring of animal control to seize control of what looked like the largest and most senior baboon, and made him leave the room, in hopes that the tribe would follow. Sadly, the tribe merely looked confused and did not follow the baboon into the hall, but continued to shriek and posture.<br /><br />Caryatid cast a Sleep spell and four of them staggered to the floor and fell unconscious. The other three stopped hooting and took on a submissive stance to Caryatid, bowing their heads and avoiding eye contact. For some reason, Caryatid told Father Chase to hit a baboon with his gnarled and twisted staff. I think she wanted to know what the staff did. Father Chase missed the baboon entirely, and it ran screaming out into the hallway. He brought the staff back around to bear on one of the other baboons, and when it impacted, the baboon's fur faded and grayed, and the flesh on its face grew tight and drawn. Whether it was the blow from the staff or the magical aging, Chase was not sure, but the baboon's eyes rolled back and it slumped to the floor, dead.<br /><br />The last baboon screamed and attacked Father Chase. Gulleck ran into the room to help, and Simon sent the controlled baboon in as well, but Father Chase needed no help. He struck the baboon with the staff and as before, it withered away and expired. Gulleck drew her axe and put the controlled baboon down like an executioner.<br /><br />They left the four sleeping baboons lie, and Boe was strapped onto the wheel of fortune, and Adrien spun the wheel. This made an enormous racket, which attracted four stirges in the hallway outside. It also woke the four baboons, who hastily ran out of the room only to meet the stirges. Gulleck closed the door as the angry hoots of the baboons turned into something much more panicked.<br /><br />Boe stepped down from the wheel feeling much wiser than before (a permanent +1 to his wisdom score!). Adrien then wanted Norman the ferret to go on the wheel, but since the straps were not sized for a giant ferret's limbs, she had to be strapped on to the wheel while Norman rode in the "Baby Bjorn" harness she had commissioned to carry him up and down ladders, etc. The wheel was spun and when it came to rest, Adrien felt the weight of some misfortune descending upon her. She made her saving throw, however, but Norman was not so fortunate, and when he was released from the harness and set on the floor he kept tripping over his own feet and bumping into things.<br /><br />Kevon took a spin on the wheel and found himself filled with confidence and prowess; he immediately leveled up!<br /><br />Not wishing to press their luck further, the party left the Temple of Fate and made their way to the stairs down to the third level. They headed west and north, in the general direction of where they had been last time. They came to a large open room, and it was only after they stepped out onto the dusty hardwood floor that they realized they had been here before. Torches magically flared to life, and a ghostly waltz began playing from no apparent source. From ten large wooden cabinets emerged ten life-sized cloth dolls, dressed in elegant ballroom clothes.<br /><br />"Oh no, not this again," muttered Gulleck, as she was swept up into a dance by one of the dolls. Everybody in the party (except for Norman the ferret and Marcel the monkey) was drawn into the dance. Simon grabbed the knees of the doll that was dancing with him and pulled with all his strength, tripping it and bringing it down into a heap of cloth limbs. Caryatid and Father Chase attempted to dance towards the edge of the ballroom in hopes of escaping the room, but their dolls guided them away from the edge and they were unable to escape. Gulleck managed to knock her partner to the ground as well, and Caryatid and Chase adopted this tactic as well. Simon and Caryatid ran off of the dance floor to the west, while Gulleck tore her doll open with her axe. Father Chase was struggling to pull Boe's doll away from him.<br /><br />While all this was going on, the music had attracted five of the black-robed cultists (the same ones who had charmed Simon). They stood at the south entrance to the ballroom and the leader, his face mostly covered by a large hood, raised his hands above his head.<br /><br />"SILENCE!" he boomed, and everything went still. The music stopped playing. The dolls stopped dancing, and, almost sheepishly, they disengaged from Adrien and Boe and returned to their cupboards, closing the doors behind them.<br /><br />Gulleck turned towards the new arrivals and tried to thank them, but no sound came out of her mouth. The cultists were smiling broadly and waving for the party members to join them. Caryatid and Simon had no desire to enter the ballroom again, however, and left to the west. Gulleck gave the cultists an apologetic look and followed her friends out to the west. They made their way back down several corridors and the gaudy, ornate "Hall of Pleasure" with its large paintings and carpet. Eventually they met up with the cultists at the southern entrance to the ballroom. They thanked the cultists for their assistance, and Simon apologized profusely at his complete lack of success at obtaining a bugbear for his friend Elfstar.<br /><br />"I certainly hope you do, little fellow," said the leader of the cultists in his deep, plummy voice. "I know Elfstar is putting all her faith in you, her very dearest friend."<br /><br />"I know," said Simon, "I feel really bad about it."<br /><br />"Well, keep trying, my boy," said the leader. "Elfstar can't complete her initiative into the mysteries of our order without one... or some other suitable creature."<br /><br />Unsettled by this talk, the party made their farewells and headed back up to the Rusty Lantern tavern above the dungeon. As they moved through the halls of the upper levels, Caryatid kept wondering where she had heard the cultist leader's voice before, and why he kept his face hidden behind a hood. She was sure his voice was very familiar to her, but from where...?Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-70710004358566991722019-08-11T18:58:00.002-04:002019-08-11T18:58:33.469-04:00Idalium Game 105: No Time For LosersSession date: Monday, January 28, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, March 12, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71740/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20855/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9645/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8526/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4531/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2913/4800<br /><br />Two weeks had passed since our last session, and Simon managed to fail both saving throws, remaining charmed by the cultist on the third level. This was really rather funny, as objectively it is an easy saving throw for a halfling. In the Rusty Lantern, the adventurers met a frail old antiquarian named Elberic who was going from table to table trying to interest adventurers and other regulars in a few magical scrolls he possessed. He had scrolls of Detect Magic, Shield, and Growth of Animals. He was asking 250 gold darics for the first two scrolls, and 750 darics for the Growth of Animals scroll. Adrien begged and pleaded with Caryatid to buy the Growth of Animals scroll so that Father Chase could cast it on her "pet" giant ferret Norman and double his size. Caryatid thought this was a horrifying idea, but somehow went along with the plan. Caryatid offered Elberic the rather offensively low amount of 100 darics for the scroll, turning on all of her charm to lowball him. She aced her reaction check, so what could I do? Elberic blushed furiously and explained that he couldn't possibly let the scroll go for such a low amount as he would be losing money on it, and that he was already heavily discounting the scroll from what it would cost to hire a priest to prepare one, but that he could possibly go down to 500 darics. Caryatid haggled further, and managed to sweet-talk him into taking 300 darics, plus she bought him a nice lunch and a bottle of wine. SOLD! Elberic sat down to his lunch, looking quite overwhelmed and unsure of who had got the better side of the deal.<br /><br />They went below, and headed down towards deeper levels. When they entered the hall with the living crystal statue that guarded the stairs down to level two, they found the hall crowded with more than a dozen giant rats. Norman strained against his leash, and Adrien let him go. He pounced on the nearest rat, snapping its neck instantly and worrying its head in his jaws ferociously. Adrien drew forth the "disco sword" and sliced another rat in half as multicolored lights streamed across the walls. Norman was attacked by two other rats and bit twice, and had to retreat, tail between his legs. The party quickly killed rats left and right and soon the survivors fled the hall through a hole gnawed in the bottom of one of the doors.<br /><br />Down to level three they went, and as they entered the first room on the third level, they were surprised by Elfstar and two other black-robed cultists! Elfstar murmured words and a strange feeling came over Gulleck for a moment but then passed. Elfstar smiled sheepishly and waved at Gulleck.<br /><br />"Now, sugar," said Gulleck primly, "you want to be real careful who you're casting spells on. Someone might take offense."<br /><br />Simon intervened to make excuses for the behavior of his "best friend". Yes, they were heading out to find a bugbear right now! Come on, everyone let's go!<br /><br />And as the adventurers marched down the dungeon halls in search of a bugbear, the table broke into song, disturbingly in unison:<br /><br />"Come on, vámonos! Everybody let's go!<br /> Come let's get to it, I know that we can do it!<br /> Where are the bugbears? *clap clap clap*<br /> Where are the bugbears? *clap clap clap*"<br /><br />Yep, it's that kind of D&D game.<br /><br />The funny thing was that even though they had just told the cultists they were off to find a bugbear, that pointed avoided the Queen of Nightmare's palace and went further north, along the wide "Halls of Pleasure" with its faded carpet and large ornate painting depicting the ultra-rich of Ancient Idalium feasting, dancing, watching arena fights, etc.<br /><br />They rounded a corner at the end of the hall and found themselves in a large, square room, larger than their light could illuminate. They walked carefully round, exploring in the light of Simon's sword. All around the perimeter of the room, a gallery balcony overlooked the room. Steep stairs led up to this gallery at intervals. In the center of the floor, a thirty foot square was marked off with a thick line of red paint. This square was dusted in old sawdust. The walls below the galleries were covered with racks of all sorts of weapons: swords, polearms, maces, nets, spears, bows, etc. At the eastern wall of the room they found, between two racks of weapons, three metallic sashes hanging on pegs. One was made of bronze, one was silver, and one was gold.<br /><br />Jack's eyes grew wide at the sight of the apparently solid gold sash, and he took it from the wall and placed it over his shoulders. Then he decided to walk across the room.<br /><br />"So, Jack is crossing the red line and walking across the square?"<br />"Yeah, why not?"<br />"Okay..."<br /><br />There was a sudden rush of wind and a brief flash of light and suddenly inside the square with Jack was a hideous lumpy black blob of indeterminate composition, rippling and bubbling. It seemed to sense Jack and surged forward, engulfing his feet with the edge of its pulpy mass. He screamed in pain as the meaty blob's acidic secretions burned into his legs. The blob was slowly creeping up Jack's legs as he thrashed his arms in panic.<br /><br />Caryatid made a cold and calculated decision. Jack had never been revived in the resurrection pool, so as long as they could retrieve his body, he could be restored. So she dropped a fireball on the blob. Jack saw what she was doing and with a look of sheer horror on his face attempted to cover himself with his cloak and avoid the worst of the inferno. Caryatid tried to target the spell so that it would hit the blob but not Jack, but this is a difficult thing to do in the heat of combat. I think I spitballed some odds of missing him, or perhaps had her make a dexterity check. Either way, her roll failed. Jack did make his saving throw for half damage, but even so he still died screaming as the flames erupted around him. The air was filled with the unmistakable smell of sausage frying as the black pudding sizzled and sputtered in the flame, large chunks of it melting away from the main mass. The blob was clearly significantly injured, but certainly not destroyed, and it started to creep further over Jack's burned and blistered body.<br /><br />Caryatid sent a Magic Missile at the pudding, which did nothing except chip a chunk of the blob off and it wriggled away with a life of its own! Gulleck crossed over the threshold of the arena square to engage the pudding in melee, but discovered to her dismay that neither her magical axe nor a mace tossed to her by Father Chase did any damage to it. In fact, like Caryatid's, Gulleck's attacks merely split smaller hunks of the pudding off from the main blob, which oozed around Gulleck's boots and burned at her shins, causing her severe damage.<br /><br />Adrien uncorked a flask of oil and splashed it over the pudding, with an aim to setting it aflame, but the party consensus quickly turned to simply retrieving Jack's body and abandoning the fight. Caryatid sent her magical animated silk rope into the arena to tie itself around Jack's body. Gulleck disengaged from the blobs and backed out of the arena, and she and Adrien heaved on the rope. Jack's body broke free of the engulfing blob with a horrible hollow sucking sound and they pulled him towards them. Alas, as his body touched the threshold of the square, it met with some invisible resistance and they could not pull him across it. Gulleck stepped back into the square and tried to push from within, but something was preventing Jack's body from leaving the square. Gulleck guessed that it must be the gold sash Jack had donned, and tried to take the sash off, but it would not lift off of Jack's shoulders no matter how hard she pulled at it. Meanwhile the lumpy black pudding was wrapping itself around Gulleck's legs, searing her with its toxic juices, to the point that she nearly passed out from pain. (Gulleck was actually down to only 2 hit points here!)<br /><br />Accepting defeat, Gulleck rolled the Big Green d30 to win initiative, and abandoned Jack's body, pulling herself free of the blob and backing away. Everyone fled the room, and the pudding went back to slowly digesting Jack's corpse in the darkness.<br /><br />It was a demoralizing episode, and the retainers did poorly on their morale checks, having witnessed Caryatid fireball one of their co-workers and then abandon his body. Meat left for two weeks, and Orin decided to take a full five weeks off.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-7445014233627642262019-07-26T21:38:00.002-04:002019-07-26T21:38:33.999-04:00Idalium Game 104: Orin(ge) MarmaladeSession date: Monday, January 14, 2019<br />Game date: Saturday, February 26, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20808/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9596/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8479/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4506/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2213/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2888/4800<br /><br />Unusually, Gulleck's player had to be absent, so we had a smaller than usual party. Three weeks had passed since the last delve, and as a hobbit of average intellect, Simon got to make a weekly saving throw to see if he snapped out of the Charm Person spell that had enchanted him. Amusingly, he failed all three saves, and thus Simon was quite racked by guilt at having let three weeks go by without finding a bugbear for his best friend in all the world.<br /><br />On their way down to the third level, the party encountered a group of friendly gnomes (their favorite entry on the level one wandering monsters table), and a rival adventuring party dubbed "Sallies Forth" that was composed of a deranged hobbit and three increasingly corrupted magical clones from the malfunctioning resurrection pool. The Sallies were aggressive and rude, but hostilities were narrowly avoided, and the adventurers proceeded below.<br /><br />They knew that the Queen of Nightmares kept bugbears as slaves, and they knew her palace was at the west end of the third level, so they made their way in that direction, hoping to find a single bugbear that they could trap or put to sleep. They followed the long, ornate palace wall that ran north and south until they found an ornate and grand door. Simon used his mindreading amulet, and sensed the presence of over half a dozen bugbears on the other side.<br /><br />Somehow they lost their courage here, and decided that this was too many bugbears to take on inside the Queen of Nightmare's palace, so they retreated south to find an alternate entrance, perhaps hoping to double back and catch the bugbears by surprise. To the south, they found another ornate door, and Simon used his amulet to "listen" there as well.<br /><br />Everyone was so eagerly awaiting the results of Simon's extrasensory perception that they didn't notice something very large and bizarre creeping up to them from the north: a giant ten-foot cube of some sort of glistening, transparent jelly-like substance. In fact, they only realized it was there when it bumped up against Simon and he yelped as he leaped backwards in shock. Where it had touched his bare flesh he felt numb and tingly.<br /><br />Father Chase quickly pulled the door open and they all hurled themselves into the room as fast as they could. Unfortunately, Orin was the last in line, and just wasn't nimble enough. The gelatinous cube moved inexorably towards him and engulfed him as he attempted to run to the door. The rest of the party members, inside the room, turned and watched in horror as the enormous cube slid past the door with Orin suspended inside it like a lump of orange peel in some horrible marmalade, his insensate face frozen in a look of perpetual shock.<br /><br />Caryatid thought fast and pulled out her magical rope of climbing. She ordered it to burrow right into the cube and tie itself around Orin. This was a rather unorthodox use of a rope of climbing, so I had Caryatid make an attack roll to see if the rope could successfully penetrate the cube. She rolled very well, and then Father Chase and Adrien rolled well on strength checks to heave on the rope and pull Orin out. With a grotesque slurping sound, Orin's limp body emerged from the gelatinous cube and slid across the stone floor. They quickly pulled him into the room, and slammed the door shut before the cube could reverse direction and retrieve him.<br /><br />Orin was covered in bits of transparent jelly and he was not breathing or showing any other signs of life. Father Chase channeled the power of his staff of healing through Orin, and miraculously, Orin's eyes fluttered and he began to draw trembling breaths. Orin had narrowly escaped death, but he could not be awakened. They debated over what to do, and decided to explore the palace a bit, since everyone else was still fine. To the west, a door led to the grand hall that they had explored last month. A passage to the north was decorated with unfamiliar heraldry, and led to a door that was barricaded with a heap of old furniture. Again they ignored this door, and explored another side room off of this hall. Simon used his amulet at a door and detected some sort of primitive animal mind whose thoughts were only of hunger. They passed on this door as well, and opened a different door to find a sort of supply closet filled with old brooms and mops and other maintenance and cleaning equipment. There was a large winch apparatus in the corner, with a chain that disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. There was also a large chest poorly hidden under a pile of rags. Jack tried to pick the lock but couldn't manage it, so Simon waved everyone back, and proceeded to smash in the lid with the pommel of his sword. There was the sound of breaking glass and a green gas hissed out of the box right in Simon's face. He felt woozy for a moment, but made his saving throw and managed to hold his breath and avoid the worst of the fumes. Inside the chest he found 300 silver coins, and these were dutifully packed away in their backpacks.<br /><br />At this point they decided to head back home (although Simon was getting increasingly antsy about not having found a bugbear for his friend). Father Chase carried Orin's comatose body, and they returned to the entrance of the third level, decided to stop in to visit "the Judge" on the way. It turns out the talking stone column had company, however: five black-robed cultists, including the young lady who had "befriended" Simon three weeks ago!<br /><br />"Oh, I've been looking all over for you, Simpson!" she said, somewhat tentatively.<br /><br />"Uh, it's Simon actually. And uh... I'm drawing a complete blank on your name right now, it's the strangest thing..."<br /><br />"Oh, it's Elfstar," she replied with a knowing smile.<br /><br />"Elfstar, of course! Stupid me, how could I forget? Don't worry, we're trying really hard to find that bugbear for you."<br /><br />"Good, good! You know it's very important to our... rituals that we find one."<br /><br />Meanwhile, Caryatid was casting a Charm Person spell of her very own. Elfstar realized what she was doing just before the enchantment hit her. A momentarily look of confusion passed over her face, but then she smirked.<br /><br />"Nice try, lady!" And Elfstar and her companions ran out of the room, snickering. The party declined to follow them but turned to the Judge.<br /><br />"I hope those people weren't disturbing you," said Caryatid.<br /><br />"Oh, not at all," said the Judge. "They are a bit unsavory, that's true, but they do bring me shiny stones every so often, in return for information about this place."<br /><br />They offered the Judge a gem from their own funds and asked if he knew where they could find a bugbear off on its own (I guess forgetting that they had asked basically the same thing last session).<br /><br />"Well," he replied, "there used to be many more bugbears, who were in the service of the Goblin King, but now it seems that only the slaves of the Queen of Nightmares remain."<br /><br />They fed him another gem and asked what he knew about bugbears and their weaknesses.<br /><br />"They are very nimble and quiet, and can creep up on the unaware. But they are as mortal as any other flesh creature, and can be killed like an ordinary man. And I know more about that than most."<br /><br />Spurred by this somewhat cryptic comment, the conversation turned to the Judge's past. He told them how he had been worshipped as a god by the Ancient Idalians, for no one could conceal the truth in his presence. The Idalians would bring those accused of the worst crimes before him and he would judge them, and those guilty he would deliver judgment upon.<br /><br />The stone column revolved to display a proud face. "Would you like me to demonstrate?"<br /><br />"Um, sure!" said Caryatid.<br /><br />The Judge turned to look at the lonely wooden chair in the corner of the room, the chair with the leather ankle, wrist, and head restraints and the curious scorch mark in the back of the chair. A strange glow began to build within his eyes, and a high-pitched crackling whine grew in volume. The hair on the backs of the adventurers' necks stood on end. Then there was a brilliant flash of light, and an enormous spark like a bolt of lightning cracked between the Judge's face and the chair. Their eyes swam with the afterimage, and when it faded the back of the chair was smoldering and smoking. The Judge rotated back to face them with a giddy, sated look on his face.<br /><br />"Oh, it's been a long, long time since I did that. Just like old times! Tell you what, if you find any ne'er-do-wells in this city, feel free to bring them to me for... judgment. Oh, I would like that!"<br /><br />"Uh... Okay, we'll definitely keep that in mind!" said Simon nervously. And they all made their polite goodbyes, and returned to the surface.<br /><br />Simon failed his saving throw for next week, and remained blissfully enchanted by his "best friend" Elfstar.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-7548942848095620022019-07-08T21:47:00.001-04:002019-07-08T21:47:38.383-04:00Idalium Game 103: Like a Moth Before a FlameSession date: Monday, December 17, 2018<br />
Game date: Saturday, January 29, 211<br />
<br />
<b>PCs:</b><br />
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71702/140000<br />
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20761/40000<br />
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9547/16000<br />
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1177/4000<br />
<br />
<b>Retainers:</b><br />
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16982/32000<br />
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2189/4000<br />
Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 0/1500<br />
Moonpetal, Elf 2, hp 12, xp 4652/8000<br />
<br />
Finally, some regained momentum; we managed to meet two weeks in a row for the first time in six months! Adrien's player was unable to attend, but Orehoe's player was able to join us, and rolled up a retainer for herself: a cleric named Fritzenbürg, to offset Father Chase's absence after the last session. Caryatid decided to temporarily replace her retainer by hiring Moonpetal, the naive and dimwitted elf, whom the adventurers had rescued from the party of the cutthroat dwarf Rugger.<br />
<br />
Down into the dungeon they went, seeking to explore more of the third level. In the big town square near the entrance from the new city, they encountered four stirges, perched on the rubble of the statues surrounding the dry fountain. Gulleck and Simon attempted to use their rings of animal control, but were disappointed to find that stirges don't qualify as normal animals. Moonpetal, full of unexpected bravery, charged in and dealt a massive blow to a stirge with his sword. Unfortunately, he was then bit by one of the other stirges and grew pale as it sucked away his blood.<br />
<br />
Caryatid cut the whole thing short with a Sleep spell, and after stabbing the slumbering stirges they proceeded on their way. In the Temple of Hedonism, they were surprised to find a pair of dwarves engaged in a fight at the far end of the room with several giant bees in the hallway beyond. Remembering how the dwarves had been content to watch their battle with the dancing dolls last week, only to sarcastically applaud them at the end, the party decided to stand and watch. Both dwarves were then promptly stung by bees and with terrible gurgling screams, fell to the ground dead. The bees then buzzed into the room towards the adventurers. Orin cast a Sleep spell, but before he could complete it, one of the two bees stung Moonpetal, who twitched spasmodically before collapsing in a crumpled heap, his face pale in death. Then the last bee fell asleep under the effect of Orin's spell.<br />
<br />
The adventurers weren't sure if Moonpetal had ever been revived in the pool of resurrection, but they figured it was worth a shot. Meat hoisted his spindly body over his shoulder, and they proceeded down to the second level, gingerly stepping over the two dead dwarves without a thought of bringing them to the resurrection pool. Cold!<br />
<br />
They quickly made their way to the resurrection pool, stripped off Moonpetal's plate armor, and dunked the elf waif into the slippery liquid of the pool. He came up a few moments later, sputtering and gasping, and thoroughly besotted with Caryatid for bringing him back from the doors of death. Once he had a moment to recover his composure and put his armor back on over his sodden undergarments, they moved on, heading down the mossy stairs to the third level.<br />
<br />
No sooner had they opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised by a group of black-robed men and women. One was murmuring words and tracing patterns in the air as they walked in, and before they could react, she finished her spell, and turned to Simon with a broad grin on her face.<br />
<br />
"I'm so glad you're here! We've been looking everywhere for you! I need your help!"<br />
<br />
"Uh, sure, what do you need? How can I help?" said Simon, who recognized this lady as one of his dearest friends in all the world (although he couldn't quite remember her name at the moment).<br />
<br />
"We really need you to catch us a bugbear! We need one for our... rituals... but we haven't been able to catch one unaware. But you and your friends are so strong, I just know you'll be able to catch us one!"<br />
<br />
"Absolutely, friend, I'm on it! I won't let you down!" promised Simon, while the rest of his party rolled their eyes and sighed audibly.<br />
<br />
The black-robed cultists reminded Simon to bring the bugbear alive to the Temple of Diana, just down the hall to the west, and then left with knowing smiles. The party then paid a brief visit to "the Judge", feeding him a gemstone and asking him if he had any suggestions about catching a bugbear.<br />
<br />
"Hmm... The Queen of Nightmares keeps an entourage of bugbears slaves, but I don't suggest making an enemy of her."<br />
<br />
Leaving the Judge behind, the group explored a new area to the west and then south, where they found a largely empty room that was eerily full of tiny white moths fluttering about. There were silken cobwebs draped throughout the room. Another doorway led west to another room, where the moths were even thicker in the air. The doorway was partially shrouded in strange curtains of silk threads. The group cautiously approached this room, to find it choked in silk webs. Scattered among the silk, the party could see a number of silver coins, a polished bit of ornamental stone, and what looked like a scroll case. On the ground were a number of what looked like enormous silk cocoons, pulsating grotesquely. The air was thick with moths here, and as the adventurers looked around, the small white moths suddenly gathered together, coalescing into eight giant moths, each with a four foot wingspan.<br />
<br />
The moths surged towards the adventurers, lunging at them with their rasping proboscises. Gulleck and Moonpetal were both bit by the enormous moths. Gulleck swung her axe at the nearest moth, but found to her dismay that the moth's body parted like water around the axe into hundreds of its constituent tiny moths, reforming immediately after the axe passed through.<br />
<br />
The party backed away into the main room, and the moths followed. There was a lot of arguing at the table around what to do. Orin read from a Sleep scroll, and managed to put three of the moths to sleep. As they fell to the ground, they lost their shape and dissolved into a mass of tiny moths again. Gulleck tried to swat a moth with the flat of her axe, and while this was very clumsy it did seem to do some damage, dozens of tiny moths dropping dead from the body of the giant moth.<br />
<br />
Then Caryatid decided to shortcut everything with a fireball. This was a tricky situation, because she was trying to carefully target the spell to erupt at an exact point where it would hit the moths but not her fellow party members, and also she needed to launch the fireball between several people who were in melee with the moths. I ruled that she would need to roll a d20, and on a 1-6 the outcome would be bad (the fireball would explode premature on Gulleck or Simon's back) and on 7-20 she would hit her intended target. Caryatid's player rolled the Big Green d30 for this, and successfully hit her target. A fiery bead glowed at the tip of her finger, like a glowing ember, and then streaked forward between Gulleck and Simon, impacting on the floor at the far end of the room. The western half of the room went up in roaring flames. Curtains and cobwebs of silk ignited instantly, and three of the five moths were instantly destroyed in the conflagration. The other two moths failed a morale check and fled back into their nest, dispersing into hundreds of small moths as they flew away.<br />
<br />
Cautiously, the adventurers crept past smoldering silk and charred moths to peer into the room. All seemed still, with the remaining moths clustered in the southern portion of the room. The coins and scroll case were quickly gathered up, Gulleck went around stomping the pulsating cocoons into a grisly pulp (hundreds of malformed, immature white moths oozed out as the cocoons were crushed), and the party made their return to the surface, with only a few coins to show for their disturbing experience.<br />
<br />
The scroll case later turned out to contain not a scroll, but a fragment of a map and a note. The map showed a columned room labeled "throne room hall" and several rooms off of this hall, with an X in one room. The note was from a man who had been enslaved by the Queen of Nightmares, and who had hidden a potion of invisibility in a barrel in a pantry of the Queen's Palace, and sketched out this map in hopes that someone might be able to use it to free him and his fellow slaves...Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-21183626748193630322019-06-29T22:04:00.002-04:002019-06-29T22:04:58.863-04:00Idalium Game 102: Let the Bodies Hit the FloorSession date: Monday, December 10, 2018<br />Game date: Saturday, January 22, 211<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71586/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20616/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9395/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8334/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16909/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4429/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2116/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2811/4800<br /><br />We seemed to have lost momentum. It had been eighteen weeks since our last session. As is our custom, as much time had passed in the campaign world as in real life. But now we (and thus, the adventurers) managed to all be available on the same day, and another delve beneath Idalium was made.<br /><br />In the Rusty Lantern tavern, the adventurers found that in their prolonged absence, the Brothers Fruthwood (a rival adventuring party composed of three hobbit brothers and a couple of hired hands) had leapfrogged ahead of them on the "scoreboard". Somewhat peeved to have lost their crown, the party descended and made their way through the Temple of Hedonism to the second level, where Adrien insisted they stop in the Temple of Chance and take a spin on the great wheel of fortune.<br /><br />Adrien spun, and suddenly felt very ill, but instant death was averted by a saving throw. Her retainer Jack also went for a spin, but apart from a vague feeling of good fortune it was unclear what boon or bane had been bestowed upon him.<br /><br />Down they went to the third level. In the Hall of Elder Gods, they were not greeted by "the Judge" as usual, but instead heard deep snores coming from the hallway leading to his chamber. Deciding not to wake him, they proceeded to explore the level and headed west.<br /><br />At a door with an engraved insignia of a pentagram surrounding a goat's head, Simon used his mind-reading amulet to sense the presence of several minds in the room beyond. Reaching deeper into one of the minds, his head was filled with thoughts of studying esoteric prayers and rituals. They moved on, further to the west, coming to a long wall that ran north and south into the darkness. The wall was decorated and painted to give the impression of a single long building, like a palace wall. At the intersection was a door, fairly ornate and grand.<br /><br />They listened and Simon used his amulet, and detected no one on the other side. Gulleck knocked, and received no response, so they entered, and found themselves in an empty antechamber. It had once been quite grand, with marble tiles on the floor and decorative plaster molding at the top of the walls. Now it was dusty and ragged, the tiles chipped and scratched and the plasterwork crumbling.<br /><br />Two doors led out of this room and the party chose a plainer door to the south. This led to a small room that was a sort of widening of a long hall that led west into the dark. Across from them was a large cabinet. It was found to be locked, so Jack put his thieves' tools to work and successfully picked the lock. Inside they found a few burlap sacks containing several hundred gold and silver coins, as well as a large stock of arrows. They took the coins, and Simon filled his quiver with as many arrows as it would hold.<br /><br />They went back into the antechamber and tried the other door. This led to a grand hall with several doors leading off it, and a wide passage leading north. This passage was decorated with old, faded banners and flags depicting some unfamiliar heraldry. It led to a door at the north end that was barricaded with numerous pieces of furniture: ornate chairs, cabinets, side tables, wardrobes, etc., all jumbled in a heap blocking the door.<br /><br />The group decided to ignore this door for now, and explored further to the west, through another door. This turned out to be a plain bedroom, with several old and rickety bunk beds against the walls, most likely a former servants' quarters. But dominating their immediate attention were four statue-like creatures, with demonic faces and bat-like wings - gargoyles!<br /><br />The adventurers were itching for a fight after so long, and uncharacteristically they charged into the room with weapons drawn, rather than bottlenecking the doorway as usual. Adrien drew the "disco sword" she had claimed from the Goblin King, and the room was filled with scintillating light of every color of the rainbow as she faced down one of the gargoyles.<br /><br />Caryatid attempted to cast a Sleep spell, but this had no effect on the magical creatures. Before Adrien could land a blow, she was viciously rent by claws and fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Another gargoyle pounced on Gulleck and managed to roll a 20 on two of its three attacks! Gulleck stumbled and fell on her side and the gargoyle leaped on top of her and its stony teeth tore open her forehead. Blood was streaming into her eyes, obscuring her vision.<br /><br />Father Chase rushed to Adrien's body and let the power of his Staff of Healing flow through her (rolling the Big Green d30 for extra hit points healed). Adrien gasped as she regained consciousness, finding all her wounds healed.<br /><br />A second gargoyle crouched over Gulleck and tore at her prone body, while she was struggling to wipe the blood from her eyes and clear her vision. Meanwhile the last of the four gargoyles ripped at Simon. Father Chase hurried over to heal Simon, while Gulleck, still struggling with two gargoyles pinning her to the ground, managed to swing her magical axe right into the side of one of them. Gray mud, like wet cement, poured out of the wound, and the gargoyle fell off her.<br /><br />Father Chase had healed Simon of some of his wounds, but alas, it was not enough to protect him from the onslaught of the gargoyle that was fighting him. With a scream, the hobbit fell beneath a flurry of claws and teeth. His plate armor hit the stone floor with a solid thump. And then Father Chase was facing the vicious claws of a gargoyle! He backed away, trying to defend himself, but he too was brought to his knees and then prone by the fangs and sharp claws of the cruel creature. With a gargling shriek, he fell still.<br /><br />But the tide was turning. Adrien had slain her gargoyle, and Gulleck, having regained her feet, made quick work of the remaining two with her magical axe and gauntlets of ogre strength. Soon, all was still, and the party looked round to take stock of their comrades.<br /><br />Simon and Father Chase lay still on the floor. Simon was feebly breathing but unconscious (at zero hit points) but Father Chase seemed worse off. I called for the customary 1d4-1 roll to regain hit points at the end of each battle, representing some portion of hit points that signify fatigue or combat luck. Simon did not roll a 1, and therefore gradually regained consciousness, feeling completely ragged and exhausted.<br /><br />Caryatid's player chose to roll the Big Green d30 for this, and rolling a 20, Father Chase was found to be in pristine condition: a miracle!! Perhaps he had only been struck a series of glancing blows, or perhaps some divine intervention had averted his death, but either way, he regained consciousness to find he had narrowly escaped serious injury.<br /><br />One of the gargoyles was found to have gemstones for its eyes: a round piece of carved jet and a deep blue spinel stone. They gouged out these "eyes" from the lifeless head, and pleased with this bit of treasure, the adventurers made their way back out of the dungeon and celebrated their success back in the Rusty Lantern with a round of drinks.<br /><br />Father Chase, badly demoralized by his close brush with death, decided to take four weeks off from adventuring.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-81329100577410179462019-06-24T22:39:00.001-04:002019-06-24T22:39:14.889-04:00Idalium Game 101: Or You'll Forever Tap Your FeetSession date: Monday, August 6, 2018<br />Game date: Saturday, September 18, 210<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71454/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20451/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9222/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8169/16000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16826/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4342/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2033/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2724/4800<br /><br />It had been a LONG time since our last delve below Idalium, both in real time and in game time. Seventeen weeks had passed, in fact. We took some time to explore the consequences of the adventurers' unexpected three month disappearance from Idalium. Those with "day jobs" had some explaining to do to get their old jobs back. Everyone who lived in an apartment had been evicted and their belongings had been stored or disposed of by various friends and relations. All of the adventurers were now living in the rickety old house they had purchased over a year ago, in The Steps, the rundown and neglected hillside neighborhood to the west of the river that ran through Idalium. Collectively they paid several hundred gold darics to replace the planks and boards with a proper front door and windows. Adrien and Simon bought several hundred darics worth of gems to feed to "The Judge" down on level 3, to learn what they could about recent events in the dungeon.<br /><br />Eventually, they arrived at the Rusty Lantern and descended to the streets of buried Ancient Idalium. Though it had been a long time indeed, the silent and cool air underneath the city was the same as ever. When they passed through the town square, they discovered the ominous sight of a recently deceased adventurer or bandit, lying on the cobblestones near the shattered fountain. They could not ascertain exactly what had killed him, but as they gingerly examined his body they heard jingling in his backpack, and discovered several hundred silver shekels and a few dozen gold darics. Grimly, they redistributed this wealth to themselves, and continued along the familiar streets deeper into the dungeon.<br /><br />There were half a dozen hedonists hanging out in the "den" of the Temple of Hedonism. Thankfully, it must not have been a scheduled orgy day, as they were just loafing around drinking wine and playing music. They were surprised to see the adventurers after so many months, and bid them success as the adventurers passed through the temple on their way to the third level.<br /><br />At the top of the stairs, the adventurers noticed something new: a small "sandwich-board" sign with writing in Common facing down the stairs. The writing said, "BEWARE: This level is protected!" The adventurers exchanged looks, wondering about these new benefactors of the second level that had arrived during their absence. Then they proceeded downstairs and entered the third level.<br /><br />The "Judge", the living stone column perpetually standing in a room adjacent to the entry hall, was very surprised and pleased to see the adventurers again after so many months. Gulleck fed the Judge a gemstone and asked for general news of the dungeon events in the last few months. The Judge told them that the Queen of Nightmares had increased her entourage of bugbear slaves by a significant number (in the aftermath of the destruction of the Goblin King). But the big news was that a strange party of dwarves had taken up in residence on the second level. They seemed to be searching the dungeon for something specific and occasionally gave the Judge "shiny stones" in return for information. They had marked the second level as their territory and warned the various factions of the third level to mind their manners if they traveled above.<br /><br />Caryatid gave the Judge a gem and asked about the garden that she remembered hearing about once or twice. She was still hoping to find the rumored beanstalk that was said to lead to the castle of the giant from whence her goose had come, in hopes of finding more of the special oats that would make it lay more golden eggs. Gulleck, on the other hand, felt that this rumor was too silly to possibly be true. The Judge did tell Caryatid that the door to the garden was through this level to the north. So that's where they set out for.<br /><br />They proceeded along a very long hallway past many side corridors, and eventually came to a wider, more ornate hall that ran west. The floor was covered in a once-grand carpet that was now tattered and worn. The walls were hung with huge, dusty paintings of wealthy Idalians engaged in various activities of the rich and idle. The party decided to bypass this hall for the moment, however, and continued along a smaller hallway to the north.<br /><br />This hallway soon opened up into a large open room with what once obviously once a very nice polished wooden floor. In the center of the room they could make out all sorts of debris and rubble, where the ceiling had collapsed, and among the rubble were the bones of enormous snakes, as well as the dessicated husks of dead giant spiders. The adventurers recognized this room as being directly below the hole in the floor of the apartment courtyard in which the orcs and later the Goblin Prince's group had resided.<br /><br />They moved further into the room, but as they stepped onto the wooden floor, torches set in wall sconces suddenly flared to life all around the perimeter of the room. The adventurers could see another doorway leaving the room to the west, and also saw that the perimeter of the room was lined with ten unusual cabinets or wardrobes. Before they had much time to take this in, the air was filled with music from no visible source, playing a stately dance. The ten cabinets suddenly opened, and from each emerged a life-sized cloth doll, stepping wobbily onto the ballroom floor. Five of them wore elegant men's attire, and the other five wore fancy white gowns. Their features were crudely stitched, and their heads and limbs were floppy and limp.<br /><br />The dolls gained speed as they emerged, and danced their way across the ballroom floor, dodging the rubble in the center as they approached the adventurers. Their arms were outstretched as they attempted to sweep the adventurers up into the dance. Meat, Caryatid, Father Chase, and Orin were all taken up by the embrace of a doll, and found their feet moving of their own volition to the rhythm of the music, dancing in graceful circles with the dolls. Gulleck and Simon attacked the dolls, weapons slicing into stuffed cloth. The doll that Simon hit thrashed around and released Orin. Meat, even in the midst of dancing, managed to draw his sword and carve his doll open entirely and it fell in a heap of cloth and spun flax and stopped moving. Caryatid struggled to get free of the strange magic that forced her to dance with her partner but she was unable to do so.<br /><br />The one-sided battle went on. The dolls never attacked with any physical force, but kept sweeping the adventurers up into an unwanted dance. The music was loud and I was rolling every round to see if wandering monsters would turn up. Eventually, the last of the ten dolls was hacked down and the music and torchlight faded.<br /><br />As the adventurers, breathing heavily, took stock of the situation, the silence was broken by a slow, ironic handclap. They turned to see a group of about half a dozen dwarves standing at the edge of the ballroom floor at the same hallway to the south that they had entered from. The lead dwarf was smirking and applauding with slow, deliberate claps. The adventurers sized them up and walked over to speak with them.<br /><br />"Well, thanks for the help," said Gulleck.<br /><br />"Ah, you seemed to have everything under control. Besides, we saw no reason for us to get caught up in that spell," said the lead dwarf. He spoke in a strange, unfamiliar accent. [My attempt at a cod Russian/Slavic accent. Yes, as a DM I am not at all averse to a bit of "amateur theatrics".] Their clothes as well were unusual for Idalium, and indicated an origin in a colder climate. The adventurers attempted to ask the dwarves about themselves, but the lead dwarf simply offered to take them to his leader.<br /><br />"How about you come with me and meet Tobar. Perhaps he will tell you what you ask."<br /><br />So they followed the dwarves back up to the second level, and were brought to the room directly above the ballroom floor: the courtyard of the apartments that used to house the orcs. Now it appeared to be the redoubt of a party of dwarves, who were busy preparing meals, moving supplies, etc. The adventurers were met by a pair of rather weathered-looking dwarves. Their clothes, like those of the others, were rugged and utilitarian. After being introduced by the dwarf who had escorted them, the senior of the pair spoke.<br /><br />"Well met, cousin," he said, nodding to Gulleck. "My name is Tobar. This is Yoska, my second-in-command."<br /><br />Pleasantries were exchanged. Tobar was guarded but pragmatic and seemed to be evaluating the character of the adventurers before revealing too much to them. He told them that his group had come from the north, from their ancestral homeland in the Balinok Mountains, and that they were on an expedition to search for a long lost dwarven artifact that fell into the hands of the Ancient Idalians hundreds of years ago. He was cagey about the exact nature of the artifact, but told the adventurers he would pay for any information they came across that helped them locate it. He also told them that their current obstacle was in dealing with the Queen of Nightmares on the third level. Her bugbear minions had already abducted several of their number, and they would be happy to see her eliminated. In fact, they would be willing to pay a bounty on any bugbears that the party killed, and offered to pay 10 gold darics for each left bugbear ear the adventurers brought back as evidence.<br /><br />The group was happy to shake on that offer, and though Tobar and Yoska seemed a bit aloof and cool to them, any enemy of the Queen of Nightmares was a friend of theirs. They parted with an exchange of mutual well wishes for future success, and the adventurers returned to the Rusty Lantern tavern, perhaps with only a few coins to show for it, but with a decent appraisal of what was new in the dungeon.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-23057326740763353352019-05-17T22:28:00.000-04:002019-05-17T22:28:18.195-04:00Idalium Game 100: An Unexpected PartySession date: Monday, June 25, 2018<br />Game date: Dreaming as the days go by<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71130/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20046/40000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 8797/16000<br />Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 7764/8000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16623/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4129/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1830/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2511/4800<br /><br />The party watched with some alarm as Humpty Dumpty tumbled from his perch, fell some fifty feet, and shattered at the base of the enormous brick wall. Then they scurried over to him. It was an awful sight; enormous shards of eggshell lied tangled in clothes in a pool of thick egg white and yolk. Curiously, there were a number of smaller egg-shaped objects lying in the puddle of yolk.<br /><br />"How dare you?" croaked Humpty Dumpty as they approached. "Just you wait until the King's horses and his men arrive and put me back together. Then you'll be sorry, I should think!"<br /><br />Ignoring his threats, Gulleck and Simon picked the strange eggs out of Humpty's remains.<br /><br />"I beg your pardon!" he squawked. "Put those back at once! Oh! I am slain!" And he breathed a last, melodramatic breath.<br /><br />The adventurers had little time to examine the eggs before an enormous hue and cry was raised. A hitherto unseen yet enormous gate opened in the brick wall and dozens of blue-skinned giants stomped forth. They were accompanied by two dozen giant rhinoceroses, and all were regally arrayed in red and white heraldic dress.<br /><br />The adventurers were swiftly surrounded by the giants, and one stepped forward and bellowed:<br /><br />"We come on the King's business to put Humpty Dumpty back together!" Then he spotted the small eggs that Simon and Gulleck were hastily trying to stow away, and shouted, "Stop! Put back those potions of the Exalted Eggcellency which you have taken! Get from this place immediately, or we shall slay you all!"<br /><br />Well, as usual, the adventurers attempted some sort of awkward parlay, which again as usual turned into insults being slung in both directions, and things went south quite quickly. Several party members decided to make themselves scarce: Simon used his levitation boots to float to the top of the wall away from the fray, Caryatid slipped on her ring of invisibility, and Jack scrambled up a tree and hid in the foliage.<br /><br />The giants ordered an attack, and it was over in mere seconds. The remaining adventurers were gored by the rhinos or slashed from neck to groin by the giants' enormous axes.<br /><br />Jack peeped through the leaves of the tree that he was hiding in, and saw his fellow party members sprawled on the grass. But then he realized that he saw no blood and their armor seemed undamaged. Simon descended from the sky and likewise saw that his comrades seemed curiously unharmed. Caryatid faded back into visibility as well and saw that the others were merely unconscious, and were breathing steadily.<br /><br />The rest of the party members were shaken awake. They were groggy at first and could hardly believe they still lived, but indeed they found themselves unharmed. After collecting themselves, they looked around for the giants and rhinos, but instead saw a gnome, who was in the midst of rolling away one of their barrels of gold coins!<br /><br />"Hey!" yelled Simon, but the gnome turned and murmured strange words and then gestured at him. A blast of dazzling colors shot from his hand, bowling Simon and Jack over, stunned by the magical lights. The gnome, cackling gleefully, rolled the barrel down the grassy field, back towards the river and the rowboat. Gulleck gave chase, but alas, she lost sight of the gnome and had to return empty-handed. But now the great gate was open and unguarded, and so the adventurers passed beyond the wall and into the forest beyond.<br /><br />They had not walked long along the forest path when they came to a small wooden sign pointing further along the path and bearing the initials "M.H." Following this sign led them to a clearing, in which unfolded a very odd sight.<br /><br />There was a strange house, built of all sorts of different materials (brick, wood, plaster, stone, etc.) with windows of all shapes and angles. The chimneys were shaped like rabbit ears, and the roof appeared to be thatched with brownish fur. But the oddest sight lay before the house, where a large table was set on the lawn. The white tablecloth was cluttered with teapots, platters, sugar bowls, pitchers, and many sets of teacups and saucers. There were over a dozen chairs of various mismatched types along the sides of the tables, and several strange creatures were seated at the table. There was a human wearing a tall hat and suit, a rabbit-like humanoid, and a large mouse-like creature that seemed half-asleep and drowsy. But most unexpected of all was the unmistakable visage of the Goblin King, leaning back in an ornate armchair with his boot-clad feet up on the table.<br /><br />The adventurers' eyes widened as they recognized the Goblin King, as did his as they approached the table.<br /><br />"No room! No room!" bellowed the Mad Hatter and the March Hare as they approached.<br /><br />"Nonsense, there's plenty of room," beamed the Goblin King. "These are friends of mine. Well, now, fancy meeting you here!"<br /><br />"I was about the say the same about you," said Gulleck, perplexed.<br /><br />"Oh, well, you know, I'm just passing through on my way to greater things. No thanks to you," he scowled. "Oh, I'm just kidding, no hard feelings. It was a bit unsporting, though, how you didn't even give me a chance to fight back. It was all rather embarrassing, frankly!"<br /><br />The two hobgoblins who had been accompanying the party spoke up at this point. "Your Majesty, we've brought you those children you asked us to guard. We were watching them like you said when the palace fell apart."<br /><br />"Ah well," said the Goblin King. "It's all a bit moot now. You should probably come with me when this is all over."<br /><br />He smiled again at the party. "Why don't you sit down and join us? We're celebrating, you know." And he gestured at an enormous cake, covered with frosting and candles. On the frosting was written, "Happy 100th!" [A rather serendipitous bit of fourth wall breakage here.]<br /><br />The Hatter and the Hare seemed a bit put out at the way the adventurers had been invited to their table but grudgingly gestured for them to sit.<br /><br />"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" asked the Hatter. While the adventurers attempted to puzzle this one out, the Hatter apparently got bored of his own question and decided to insult them instead.<br /><br />"What a horrible little creature," he sniffed, looking at Norman, Adrien's giant ferret. "I think a new hat would greatly improve its appearance."<br /><br />And with that he took his own hat off his head, rummaged within it, and pulled out a floppy woolen cap which he tossed onto Norman's head. In the blink of an eye, Norman stood on his hind legs, grew to six feet tall, and his fur faded away and suddenly he looked identical to Father Chase! He still had the mind of a demonic ferret, however, and when he opened his mouth, nothing but hissing and screeching came out.<br /><br />The Hatter grinned with mirth and tossed another hat from his own hat onto the head of the real Father Chase (who had mysteriously reappeared alive and well at the beginning of the session). "Here, try this on for size!" This hat suddenly blossomed into an enormous sack-like object that completely engulfed Father Chase, who promptly fell over, rolling on the grass struggling to free himself from the bag that entrapped him.<br /><br />The March Hare laughed hysterically, the Hatter's grin grew wider, and the sleepy Dormouse merely mumbled, "Could you keep it down, pleazzzzzz..."<br /><br />"How about you, my dear?" said the Mad Hatter to Caryatid, and before she could react, a black hood landed upon her head. It too suddenly grew larger and engulfed her head, cinching tightly at her neck and constricting her breathing. Caryatid scrabbled at her throat, trying to remove the black hood.<br /><br />"This feels entirely too familiar," remarked Caryatid's player dryly, still sore years later about the time Caryatid went invisible but still managed to get strangled to death by a berserk hippie.<br /><br />Yet another hat landed on one of the hobgoblins, and he suddenly stood up ramrod straight and started shouting orders. "Bow down before me, little people, for I am the rightful Goblin King now! And stop this silly business with the hats at once!"<br /><br />Caryatid's retainer, Jack attempted to sweet-talk the Mad Hatter into removing the hood that was quickly strangling his employer.<br /><br />"I get it, you like a laugh, I like a laugh, we all like a laugh. But she's much funnier if she's still alive. I'm sure you have an even funnier hat in there that would look better on her."<br /><br />Well, Caryatid's player rolled really well on a reaction check to see how Jack's attempt went over, so the Hatter paused and considered.<br /><br />"You do have a point," he said, and whipped the hood off of Caryatid, only to slap a jester's cap on her head. She immediately began to caper and dance, the bells on the cap jingling, and many of the people at the table found themselves doubling over with laughter that seemed to erupt uncontrollably from them.<br /><br />Orin could feel the situation spiralling out of control, and attempted to cast a Sleep spell on the Hatter, but this didn't work at all. Winking at him, the Mad Hatter leaned over and slapped a hat on the head of the Goblin King, who was busy arguing with his subject over who the true Goblin King was. This turned out to be the same kind of hat of delusional authority that the hobgoblin was wearing, so the argument only redoubled in volume.<br /><br />"I dare say you'll listen to me now!" exclaimed the Goblin King. "You may believe yourself to be the rightful Goblin King following my untimely death, but I am now the Immortal God Emperor of All Goblins! What do you have to say about that, eh? Ehhhhh!?"<br /><br />"Quiet, please, some of us are trying to sleep..." murmured the Dormouse, who had his head in the teapot. And the March Hare was simply whooping and hollering with hysterical laughter at the rapidly degenerating scene.<br /><br />In all the confusion, the adventurers slipped away into the woods to the east of the clearing. Jack pulled the jester's cap off of Caryatid's head and she stopped dancing uncontrollably. I honestly think Father Chase was just left behind again, wriggling helplessly on the ground like a giant cloth caterpillar. (Remarkably similar to his sad fate the prior session!)<br /><br />The noise of the tea party faded behind them as they moved through the woods. They had not gone very far when they heard the whinny of a horse, and they saw before them an enormous figure mounted on an equally enormous horse. Both man and horse were clad in reddish gold armor. A huge helmet shaped like a horse's head covered the man's head, and from it boomed a hollow voice.<br /><br />"Do you serve Whitfield or Rosewood? Speak quickly or prepare to withstand my onslaught!"<br /><br />"Uhhhh... Whitwood!" chirped Caryatid. "I mean, Rosefield!"<br /><br />The red knight stared down at her in puzzlement. "Speak plainly, wench! Whom do you serve!"<br /><br />"Rosefield! Er, Whitwood!" protested Caryatid.<br /><br />"I grow tired of your foolish larks," boomed the knight, and he moved to draw his sword.<br /><br />Caryatid drew forth the jingling jester's cap and put it on her head. She immediately began to dance a jig, with Marcel the flying monkey dancing along in midair beside her. The red knight stared for a moment, and then began to shake with laughter that boomed out from deep within his armor.<br /><br />Suddenly, another knight on another horse, both clad in silvery-white armor, came crashing out of the trees and an immense club came smashing down upon the red knight, knocking him off his horse and he lay still on the ground. Gulleck removed the jester's cap from Caryatid and she stopped dancing.<br /><br />"My lords and ladies," boomed the white knight. "Allow me to see you safe to the end of the wood. There you shall find the manor house in the Eighth Square and you shall be crowned kings and queens of the realm." The adventurers accepted this assistance, and the knight escorted them along the forest path until they emerged to see an elegant house on a small hill. There were livery-clad servants bustling around near the grand doors and signs of much activity within.<br /><br />As the group approached, they were met by two attractive, regally-adorned women, arrayed in robes of red and of white, respectively, and each wore a gold coronet.<br /><br />"You have achieved a great triumph in reaching the Eighth Square," said one of the queens. "Join us in the Great Feast Hall for a party in your honor."<br /><br />Entering the hall, the adventurers found an enormous table set with all sorts of foods and seated at the table were creatures of all sorts. The adventurers were bestowed with golden crowns and given the place of highest honor at the feast table.<br /><br />Well, the crowns, it turns out were "crowns of delusion" causing the wearers to believe completely in the complex illusion of the feast hall. I gave them all a save vs spells (which I'm not even sure is allowed in the original module) and EVERYONE FAILED! So...<br /><br />The great feast began, wine was poured, song and poems were recited. The roast joint and a large plum pudding were served. Gulleck and Adrien carved the roast joint (which turned out to be a mimic), and Caryatid and Simon cut the plum pudding (which turned out to be a black pudding), and then all hell broke loose. The adventurers were attacked by all of the "guests" at the party, but because of the delusionary crowns they believed the attacked to be merely the loving touches and kisses from the admiring crowd. They never even realized they were under threat and then they were all dead.<br /><br />TOTAL PARTY KILL.<br /><br />Well, not really.<br /><br />The adventurers awoke on the cold stone floor of a bedroom with stone walls and ceilings. There was a heavy layer of dust everywhere, and cobwebs hung in the corners. A rather gaudy four-poster bed was now moth-eaten and dusty. Scattered on various pieces of elegant furniture were what looked like pieces of "memorabilia" from the dungeon below Idalium: a Hotel Lethia room key, a handful of fake gold from the knockers in the mines, a book of naughty drawings from the Temple of Hedonism, etc. They found a small potion vial labeled "Drink Me" and a dried up cake with "Eat Me" spelled out in nuts. On one wall, a floor to ceiling mirror reflected a weirdly different version of this room, with ivy and vines encroaching the walls, and strange twinkly lights like fireflies drifting around. They puzzled at this mirror, but found no way to pass through it (nor did they want to at this point).<br /><br />They exited the bedroom and walked down a hall to find themselves in the very room in which they had slain the Goblin King. Here as well, everything was dusty and cobwebbed, and the once elegant furniture was now shabby and threadbare. It seemed that the Goblin Palace had been abandoned for years if not decades. How long had they been gone? They suddenly noticed they were all feeling extremely hungry.<br /><br />They made their way back to the goblins' treasure vault and found it as they had left it, except that the five barrels of coins were back in the vault as if they had never removed them! An eerie magical twinkling still shimmered around the threshold of the door to the vault. I don't know whether they forgot that they knew the password to deactivate the magic, or if Gulleck was just feeling extra confident in her saving throws, but she just walked into the vault, resisting the magical force that threatened to transform her very being. She pushed the barrels back across the threshold and then walked right back out, successfully resisting the magic once more.<br /><br />It was somewhat slow going, but they eventually found their way back to the entrance, rolling the barrels along in front of them. The palace halls were no longer lit by torches, but were now dark apart from Simon's magical sword light. Everything was cobwebbed and dusty. The arrow-studded and burnt stuffed ostrich was looking a bit worse for the wear, but they left it behind and passed out of the palace. In the guardroom, the heavy guestbook still lay open, and Caryatid took up her pen and wrote, "The Proper Authorities were here. This place is closed and condemned."<br /><br />They carefully maneuvered the barrels through the caverns and eventually found their way back to the worked stone of the dungeon halls. Then they escorted the four urchin children back to the urchins' secret hideout in the center of the level. The rest of the urchins were overjoyed to see their friends back after months and months, and even more overjoyed when the adventurers offered them one of the barrels of gold.<br /><br />And then the party made their way back out of the dungeon. Getting the barrels up the stairs was somewhat difficult, but they eventually made it back to the Rusty Lantern. The guards at the trap door were shocked when they heard the adventurers call up from below to have the rope ladder lowered and the barrels hoisted up. It turned out that they had been missing for almost three months and everyone assumed they had all perished in the dungeon. We joked about how the PCs had all been evicted from their apartments and had to retrieve all their stuff from their various friends (mostly we handwave the PCs' "normal lives" and treat the city as a safe home base but it is fun to joke about it).<br /><br />The treasure haul from the Goblin King was significant, over 8,000 gold pieces worth of coins and various art objects. Adrien went up to level 4 and Caryatid now had enough XP for level 5, and so 3rd level magic spells are now at her disposal.<br /><br />"What spell are you going to learn?"<br /><br />Caryatid's player, doing her best Pitbull impression: "FIREBALL."Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-13526470793310094422019-05-01T09:58:00.003-04:002019-05-01T09:58:36.253-04:00Idalium Game 99: And Shun the Frumious BandersnatchSession date: Monday, June 11, 2018<br />Game date: Dreaming as the days go by<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71030/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 19946/20000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16573/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4129/6000<br /><br />Gulleck, Caryatid, and their retainers found themselves walking on their own through the woods, Simon and Adrien strangely absent. Perhaps they had remained back with T. Diumm and T. Deeous? The dark trail led east through the forest for about 500 feet before splitting into three separate trails. The strange twin brothers had told them the crow had flown east, so after considering the three paths, the group decided to continue on the one that more or less continued to the east. They passed several more branches of the trail but continued on what seemed to be the main trail until they reached an open clearing a few hundred feet across. The grassy ground was littered with enormous feathers in many colors: black, yellow, green, red, and blue. As the adventurers looked around the clearing in search of the giant crow or its nest, a hideous shrieking and squawking came from the trees on the periphery of the clearing. An enormous and bizarre bird emerged from the woods. It was over 9 feet tall and brightly colored like a macaw (not that any of the PCs would recognize a macaw!).<br /><br />"AAAAAWK! WANNA SNACKER! JUBJUB!" the bird squawked as it flapped towards the adventurers. Caryatid made to cast a spell at it but it gave her a sideways glance. "AAAAWK! TAKE A KNEE! JUBJUB!" Caryatid found that her legs moved against her will and she was forced to bow to the ground.<br /><br />The beast descended upon Meat and battered him with claws and beak, but Meat drew his sword and slashed the bird viciously across the breast, knocking it off him. It recovered and flapped back into the air, readying for another strike.<br /><br />Gulleck drew her axe and ran forward to meet the Jubjub bird as it descended, but as it flew down for another attack on Meat, it rudely shrieked at her, "AAAAAWK! SIT AND SPIN! JUBJUB!" And Gulleck found her charge interrupted as she stumbled to a half and staggered dizzily.<br /><br />Meat struggled with the bird as it tore at him with its talons. Gulleck soon recovered her composure and charged the bird, embedding her magical axe into its lower back. It shrieked and fell out of the air and was still. Meat stumbled back, nursing his wounds. Caryatid wanted a trophy from this rude and horrible bird, so she walked up to it to pluck a feather from it. Sadly, however, it transpired that the beast was merely feigning death, and as Caryatid approached it lunged at her and bit her savagely in the side. Caryatid fell to the ground with exactly 0 hit points!<br /><br />Father Chase hit the bird with his staff of withered wood but nothing seemed to happen. Gulleck attempted to jump on the back of the bird and ride it, but rolled a 1 and managed to leap over it and faceplant on the ground. The bird in turn half ran, half flew shrieking into the woods to the west. Father Chase murmured a healing prayer over Caryatid's wounds and she regained consciousness and staggered to her feet.<br /><br />Collecting themselves, the adventurers attempted to track the wounded Jubjub bird into the woods. It was relatively easy to do so, as being so large it had broken many branches as it tore through the trees. Varicolored feathers lay scattered on the forest floor. Soon they emerged into another clearing, where the wounded bird stood hunched. When it saw the group it raised an unnerving keening that echoed off the trees that surrounded the clearing. The adventurers ran forward to attack the bird, but suddenly there was a flapping of wings and the clearing was momentarily shadowed by something huge that blocked the sun like a cloud. They looked up to see an enormous black crow, much bigger than the Jubjub bird, descending upon them, talons outstretched.<br /><br />Caryatid had the clever idea to scare away the crow with a Phantasmal Force spell in the form of a red dragon (which she had seen on their expedition into the mountains over a year ago). She began to cast the spell but the crow slammed into her, knocking her down and disrupting the spell. The rest of the party fell upon the enormous beast, hacking at it with swords and axes. Gulleck hit it for 10 hp, and then Caryatid, still sitting on the grass, cast Magic Missile and rolled the Big Green d30 to do 15 points of damage! Gulleck also rolled the d30 on her next attack and hit for 25, finishing the giant crow off.<br /><br />Then they turned their attention to the limping Jubjub bird, which glared at Gulleck and shrieked, "AAAAAWK! DO A LITTLE DANCE!" But Gulleck resisted the bird's magic control this time, and then Meat ran over and stabbed it over and over again, making absolutely sure it was dead.<br /><br />While the adventurers were catching their breaths, who should come huffing and puffing into the clearing but the brothers T. Diumm and T. Deeous! They had seen the giant crow flying over their cottage and heard the sounds of battle. They were delighted to see that their feared nemesis had been slain, and rewarded the party with an unusual magical device that they called a "buckler wand". It was a wooden wand with a sharp metal point on one end and a curved handle on the other end. Heavy pleated canvas was attached to a metal and wooden frame, and when a trigger on the handle was pulled, the canvas snapped open to create a unexpectedly rigid shield about two feet in diameter. Caryatid's pet monkey was the recipient of this clever device.<br /><br />The brothers asked if the adventurers had found their sword and bag yet. Learning that they had not, they suggested that perhaps the crow had taken them to the Jubjub bird and might be in its nest. The party bid the brothers farewell and returned to the clearing where they had first encountered the Jubjub bird. A bit of exploring and its nest was discovered, a tatty heap of sticks and leaves. Inside the nest was the red bag that T. Diumm had described, and it contained a golden ring, a fishing net, and a couple of embroidered silk cushions. They stowed these safely away and then headed southwest along another trail in search of the sword.<br /><br />This trail wound through the forest and eventually emerged into another clearing several hundred feet across. This clearing was dotted with a number a strange earthen mounds, each a few feet high and shaped something like the shell of a turtle. The adventurers made their way to the closest mound and saw that there was a sort of burrow leading below it. Before they could explore further, a bizarre and terrible creature emerged from behind one of the other mounds. It was vaguely insect-like, with six pairs of legs, and was perhaps eight feet long. Its head, however, was not like that of an insect, but rather simian in appearance. Sharp teeth glinted as it opened its mouth and spoke with a sibilant, hissing voice.<br /><br />"Whhhhat have we here?? Isss it lunch?"<br /><br />"No, I don't think so," said Caryatid. "We're looking for a very special sword. Have you seen it?"<br /><br />There was a suspicious pause.<br /><br />"Whoooo wants to know? It'ssss mine."<br /><br />"Oh, we're, ah, sword inspectors, just doing a census of local magical swords. Can we see your sword? To see if it's the very special one we're looking for?"<br /><br />"No, it'sss mine. It'sss none of your businessss."<br /><br />"Oh, well, it's probably not the sword we're looking for anyway," said Gulleck. "I'm sure your sword isn't special at all. Probably just some ordinary sword and not interesting at all."<br /><br />"You inssssolent creatures! I'll show you it'sss special!" And the strange centipede-like beast rummaged within one of the mounds and pulled out a vicious looking longsword.<br /><br />"You sssee! But it'sss mine. I stole it from the Jubjub bird fair and sssquare!"<br /><br />"Oh did you?" said Caryatid. "But we killed the Jubjub bird. So logically that makes it ours now, doesn't it?"<br /><br />The eyes of the creature narrowed. "I think that makessss you lunch," it snarled, and then it pounced on Father Chase, who fell beneath a horrible flurry of claws and fangs. He screamed and gurgled and then was silent. The creature grabbed him with several legs and held him fast while it exuded an awful sort of silk that bound Father Chase's corpse in bands of webs.<br /><br />"Father Chase has been snatched and banded," I deadpanned. (Gary Gygax's lame joke straight from the module, not mine!)<br /><br />"What did you just say?" asked Gulleck's player and then everyone groaned as the penny dropped.<br /><br />Well, they all leaped into battle with the creature. Meat was also "snatched and banded", although unlike Father Chase he survived the ordeal. He struggled but could not free himself from the cocoon of silk. Caryatid tried to cast a Sleep spell but it had no effect on the bandersnatch whatsoever. But then Gulleck dove to the ground to retrieve the magical sword they had tricked the bandersnatch into showing them.<br /><br />As soon as her hand closed on the hilt she felt a powerful mental presence emanating from the sword and overwhelming her own mind. A voice shouted out from the sword.<br /><br />"Snicker-snack! Snicker-snack! I'll cut off your heads if you don't take me back!"<br /><br />Gulleck could barely manage to speak, such was the overwhelming dominance of the sword within her mind, but she managed to make out, "That what we plan to do, but right now can you help us deal with this horrible abomination?"<br /><br />Gulleck's arm darted forward without her volition, dragging her stumbling towards the bandersnatch, and the sword flashed upwards and then down at the beast.<br /><br />Gulleck's player rolled a 19, which for a vorpal sword means an instant kill.<br /><br />"SNICKER-SNACK!" The bandersnatch's head rolled across the meadow.<br /><br />"Now take me back to my master," commanded the sword.<br /><br />"We will," said Gulleck, "but first... hey, you got a name?"<br /><br />"I am Laprov," said the sword.<br /><br />"Of course you are," said Gulleck's player, realizing the joke.<br /><br />"My purpose is to help my master smite chaos in all its forms, and you are wasting time. Return me to him now."<br /><br />"We'll take you back, but we need to free our employee first." She nodded at Meat. "He can help bring you back faster, if we run into any trouble."<br /><br />"Very well, but be quick about it. I tire of this conversation already."<br /><br />So Meat was freed from the webbing, and Father Chase was sadly left behind as the group headed back to the north. They passed a little stream and what looked like a small shop on the bank, but the sword tugged Gulleck's arm to the northeast and dragged her towards the cottage of T. Diumm and T. Deeous.<br /><br />When they arrived at the house, they were surprised to find two hobgoblins arguing with T. Diumm and T. Deeous. Next to the hobgoblins were four scruffy urchins, looking around with alarm and confusion.<br /><br />"It's not our fault we're here! We were just assigned to watch these annoying children and then everything went crazy. Something must have happened to the King."<br /><br />"Oh, it's the children!" piped Caryatid. "You can come with us!"<br /><br />The hobgoblins turned to look at the adventurers.<br /><br />"Well, you can have the brats, but you need to get us out of here as well. I'm sure this is all your fault."<br /><br />T. Deeous was delighted to have his magic sword back, and Gulleck was rather glad to get rid of it. They also returned T. Diumm's red bag of things. And then the now larger group headed back to the banks of the stream to investigate the shop. The hobgoblins grumbled as they went, but wanted to tag along in hopes of returning to their own world.<br /><br />The shop turned out to be full of all sorts of interesting things on shelves, but whenever they tried to focus on a particular item, it always seemed to be on the next shelf over. The shopkeeper, an oddly sheep-like woman, watched them with wry amusement.<br /><br />"May I help you?"<br /><br />"Well, do you have any maps?"<br /><br />The woman reached behind the counter and pulled out a map of an unfamiliar land, labeled "Scotland".<br /><br />"I actually meant a map of this area we're in right now."<br /><br />"I'm afraid not, my dear."<br /><br />They couldn't find anything useful in the shop, so they left and started walking downstream along the brook. Soon they came upon a large rowboat. Everyone piled in and the hobgoblins were persuaded to row ("Look, we'll do the fighting and you do the manual labor, all right?"). They traveled some ways between banks lined with rushes and eventually came to another grassy shore, where they pulled the boat up and disembarked. They were in another grassy field that led east, but very soon they came to an enormous brick wall, at least 50 feet high, and spanning the entire width of the meadow, over 100 yards. Atop the wall, peering down at them, was an enormous egg, but with arms, legs, and a haughty face!<br /><br />"That's the biggest egg I've ever seen," cried Meat.<br /><br />"It's very provoking," shouted Humpty Dumpty, "to be called an egg!"<br /><br />Like everyone else in this land, Humpty Dumpty was gratuitously rude to them. He told them the "way out" was to the east, beyond the wall, but would he let them pass? Absolutely not.<br /><br />Well, to make a long story short, Caryatid sent Marcel the flying capuchin monkey up to Humpty Dumpty, and Marcel gave him a big shove, causing him to lose his balance and topple forward, falling fifty feet and shattering into a jumbled pile of broken eggshell at the base of the wall. I think everyone felt a little guilty about that.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-67855858693326542322019-03-30T22:55:00.000-04:002019-03-30T22:55:02.264-04:00Idalium Game 98: T. Diumm and T. DeeousSession date: Monday, June 4, 2018<br />Game date: Dreaming as the days go by<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 70930/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 19846/20000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 8697/8000<br />Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 7664/8000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16523/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4079/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1780/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2461/4800<br /><br />"You have done well to get this far, travelers. Now you must face your final challenge. Defeat me in mortal combat and you will be victors of the game. But be forewarned, I do not intend to die easily."<br /><br />So spoke the lamia that was the white queen of this strange chess game, the sun gleaming on her silver crown and chainmail. The adventurers felt oddly refreshed and unhurt, although they also noticed that Orehoe was again absent from their party without anyone having noticed her leave.<br /><br />The battle began, and immediately turned ugly. The lamia cast an uncomfortable gaze upon Gulleck, and with a smirk said, "Come stand beside me and defend me, my dear." Gulleck totally failed her saving throw and her face went blank as she turned to face her own comrades, her magical axe glinting in the sun. And then everyone managed to roll 1s on their attacks, dropping their weapons and tripping over their own feet all over the place. The lamia's longsword slashed through the air while the adventurers scrambled to retrieve their weapons. Jack leaped up to a low hanging tree branch and scampered into the cover of the foliage.<br /><br />The battle was a bit dicey without Gulleck, but Adrien managed to deal some substantial damage with the Goblin King's scintillating "disco sword", and Orin finished off the lamia with a well-placed arrow. <br /><br />"Well fought," she acknowledged through gritted teeth. She slumped to the forest floor, and her body was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, all that remained was her silver crown and the ermine-lined cloak she had been wearing. This latter item proved to give a remarkable feeling of security and protection when worn, and pleased with their victory spoils, the group proceeded to the south, out of the strange chessboard landscape.<br /><br />An obvious trail led through the dense woods to the south and quickly turned to the left. Every couple of hundred feet or so, there was a signpost with two painted boards, one labeled "T. Diumm" and the other marked "T. Deeous". Both signs pointed in the same direction however, and continued to do so with each signpost. Soon they emerged into a wide clearing in the woods, where a little cottage stood beneath an immense tree. One last signpost pointed at this cottage, and in front of it stood two bizarre men, as still as waxworks. They were short and plump, and wore nearly identical outfits of short breeches and grubby shirts. They stared back at the party with a haughty gaze.<br /><br />Gulleck chanced a word. "Pardon me, gentlemen, but..."<br /><br />"Who do you suppose this rag-tag lot is?" interrupted the man on the left, looking at his twin.<br /><br />"Haven't the foggiest, old chum. Mayhap they'll bugger off."<br /><br />"Now, just a..." tried Gulleck.<br /><br />"Shall we speak to them?" interrupted the first man, still ignoring Gulleck.<br /><br />"Only if we must... they do appear a stupid lot!"<br /><br />"Now there's no need to be ru..." ventured Gulleck.<br /><br />"WHY DON'T YOU GO BOTHER THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER?" shouted the two men in unison, drowning out Gulleck. Both of them shot an arm up, pointing down a forest trail that left the clearing to the northeast.<br /><br />"Fine with us," said Simon. "Let's not waste our time with these jerks."<br /><br />"Rude!" chided Gulleck as the party left the two men alone in the clearing and headed down the trail.<br /><br />As they walked through the woods, they began to hear the familiar sound of ocean waves on a shore, and the smell of the sea became noticeable in the air. Soon they emerged from the woods onto a wide sandy beach. Ahead of them, the sea glittered brightly in the sunlight, stretching out to the horizon. Walking along the shore were a pair of strange creatures. One looked like a walrus (not that any of the adventurers knew what a walrus looked like!) that walked upright on its stubby, flipper-like feet! Walking next to him was a man dressed in denim overalls. The pair spotted the party, and began waving and calling to them to come down to the shore, seeming very friendly.<br /><br />The adventurers made their way down to join the odd creatures on the beach. The pair were effusively friendly in their greeting.<br /><br />"Welcome, friends! Are you travelers who have lost your way, or are you perhaps come to seek treasure from the sea?"<br /><br />"Well," considered Gulleck, "a bit of both, to tell you the truth. We're not at all sure how we got here. But we are always interested in treasure."<br /><br />The Walrus and the Carpenter exchanged glances with a smile.<br /><br />"Well then," said the Walrus in a rich, plummy voice. "I wonder if you'd be interested in helping us settle a grudge, and earning yourself a nice reward in the process?"<br /><br />"You see," explained the Carpenter, "my friend and I were diving for oysters in this very sea, and some senile old wizard showed up and told us they are *his* oyster beds! Cursed us, didn't he?"<br /><br />"And now the merest touch of ocean water is unbearable to us," mourned the Walrus, a large tear rolling down his whiskery cheek.<br /><br />"It's not even like he was using them!" blurted the Carpenter. "So if you'd be willing to head out there and bring us back some oysters, we could all have a nice lunch and get back at him all at once! And some of the oysters have pearls inside then, you know."<br /><br />"You'd be welcome to keep any pearls you find," offered the Walrus.<br /><br />"Well, we wouldn't be averse to one or two ourselves, if you could find it in your heart to share," said the Carpenter.<br /><br />"What about this wizard?" asked Simon. "Won't he curse us?"<br /><br />"Oh no," said the Carpenter. "He up and left. That's the worst part: cursed us and took off on holiday!"<br /><br />So the party agreed to swim out and fetch some oysters and were offered the use of a weathered but sturdy rowboat. Caryatid decided it was such a nice day that she decided to simply swim out into the bay by herself, after leaving her backpack and boots on the beach. Some distance from the shore, she peered into the water and could see that the ocean bed beneath her was littered with oysters in various sizes, from ordinary to almost a foot across. The seabed seemed to form a sort of underwater ridge, and the larger oysters seemed more numerous deeper down. She called back to shore, and Marcel her flying monkey was sent out to her carrying a burlap sack.<br /><br />Caryatid held her breath and dived down to the field of oysters, opening her eyes as much as she could underwater and reaching for any oyster she could grab. Her hand closed on a shell, and she rose back to the surface, handing the oyster to Marcel. She dove several more times, returning with a large oyster and then a giant oyster. At this point Marcel's bag was full, and they returned to the shore. The oysters were pried open and the largest one contained an enormous pearl! This roused everyone's interest and they discussed ways to make this more efficient.<br /><br />The Walrus and the Carpenter offered the use of a weathered but sturdy rowboat that was beached some ways up the shore. Gulleck removed her armor and she, Caryatid, and Orin took the rowboat out, bringing with them several ropes that were attached to sacks filled with sand from the beach. When they got to the oyster field, the boat was maneuvered above the deeper portion of the ridge, where the largest oysters were most numerous. The ropes were tied to the boat and the other ends with the sandbags were dropped down into the water. Orin stayed in the rowboat to make sure it didn't drift and that the ropes didn't come loose. Gulleck and Caryatid entered the water, held their breaths, and descended, using the ropes to pull themselves down as far as they could go, groping with their hands in the dim and blurry water for the largest oysters they could find. They surfaced with their oysters and Orin helped heave them into the rowboat.<br /><br />Twice more they repeated this, bringing back more giant oysters, but on the fourth dive Gulleck was feeling along the ridge for an oyster when suddenly an enormous clam opened its shell and clapped shut on her leg! Gulleck thrashed in the water, trying to pull her foot free. Caryatid, somewhat higher on her rope, heard the bubbles and disturbance of the water, and looked down through the water to see Gulleck struggling some depth below. She quickly shot back to the surface of the ocean, and held on to the rowboat with one hand while using the other hand to trace the mystical sigils of the Magic Missile spell. A glowing golden arrow appeared at her shoulder and she ducked her head back underwater, peering through the gloom for the clam in order to let the arrow fly. It shot down into the water, leaving a trail of golden light behind it and the clam rocked with the impact. Meanwhile, Gulleck (rapidly running out of air) took the direct approach and punched the clam inside its shell with her Gauntlets of Ogre Strength. The clam's grip on her foot immediately loosened and she was free. Gulleck pulled the giant clam up from the sea bed and soared back up to the rowboat, gasping for breath when she broke the surface.<br /><br />The trio returned to the shore, to the applause of the Walrus and the Carpenter, who had been busy started a small cooking fire on the beach and boiling some ocean water in an iron pot. The oysters were pried open, and two more large pearls were obtained. Then they all had a lovely lunchtime feast of boiled oyster and clam meat. There was bread and butter, pepper, and vinegar, and everyone enjoyed the feast.<br /><br />When everyone had eaten their fill, the adventurers asked the Walrus and the Carpenter if they knew of any way out of this strange land.<br /><br />"Hmm," mused the Walrus. "You should probably seek out the Red and White Queens, at the Manor House beyond the woods." And so the party bid their farewells to this odd pair, and headed back into the woods.<br /><br />[DM's note: I'm not quite sure the whole diving sequence was remotely plausible. I've been snorkeling before and found it quite difficult to dive any distance, even with fins and mask, and of course opening one's eyes in ocean water seems like it would be quite difficult too. Still, I would rather err on the side of an entertaining set piece rather than ruling that it's flat-out impossible, and besides, we *were* in a surreal dreamland here.<br /><br />It turns out the Carpenter (actually a high level thief) easily pickpocketed the pearls away from the adventurers during their picnic, replacing them with a bag of ordinary pebbles, but as luck would have it the players never thought to check on their pearls afterwards and never noticed the substitution!]<br /><br />The adventurers returned to the cottage of T. Diumm and T. Deeous, and the twins were still standing outside where they had left them.<br /><br />"Oh, it's you again," said T. Diumm, much more friendly than before.<br /><br />"How do you do?" nodded T. Deeous. "Any chance you're here to get our treasure back? Might be a reward in it for you!"<br /><br />He went on to explain that a hideous giant crow had stolen his favorite sword and a red bag with some of his brother's belongings, and flown east into the Tulgey Wood. The group agreed to retrieve the items, especially since they apparently needed to pass through the woods anyway.<br /><br />"Oh jolly good! But, beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!" warned T. Diumm.<br /><br />"The what?" asked Gulleck.<br /><br />"Oh, you don't want to tangle with them. Nohow!" said T. Deeous.<br /><br />"Contrariwise, if you do, just make sure you survive!" advised T. Diumm.<br /><br />And the adventurers turned away from the strange brothers and headed east into the dark Tulgey Wood.Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-88379566201008376892019-03-10T23:46:00.000-04:002019-03-10T23:46:24.475-04:00Idalium Game 97: The Garden of Live FlowersSession date: Monday, May 14, 2018<br />Game date: Dreaming as the days go by<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 70930/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 19846/20000<br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 8697/8000<br />Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 7664/8000<br />Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1177/4000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16523/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4079/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1780/4000<br />Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2461/4800<br /><br />The adventurers stood blinking in the unexpected daylight. Something very strange had happened indeed. Having slain the Goblin King, and fled the mazelike corridors of his palace, they now found themselves not in the subterranean caverns below Idalium, but outside on a neatly manicured lawn. And somehow, Orehoe was with them, as if she had been there all along, although everyone was sure she had not. The grass rolled gently to what they decided to call the east, for lack of any other orientation, where a well-tended flower garden was laid out. Something seemed odd about the perspective of the garden, as if it were either much closer than it seemed or perhaps the flowers were much larger than they ought to be. As they walked across the lawn towards the garden, rolling their plundered barrels of coins in front of them, it turned out to be the latter case.<br /><br />Tidy gravel paths were laid out in orderly rings between neatly-trimmed hedges, and in the center of the formal garden the paths came together where four flower beds contained a number of enormous flowers, taller than any of the party members. Upon closer examination, the adventurers saw that the petals of the flowers gleamed as though made of mother-of-pearl. In the center of the blooms, enormous gemstones glittered and sparkled in the sunlight. The leaves below the blossoms likewise glittered as though gilded with gold and silver. Even in these bizarre circumstances, the adventurers could not help but have their attention drawn to potential treasure.<br /><br />Suddenly, one of the flowers (a tiger-lily) twisted on its stem to turn towards the group.<br /><br />"Ugh, what are you doing in OUR garden? And what sort of horrid flowers are you, with your dull petals and drab leaves? Ugh, so wretched!"<br /><br />"Oh, and they smell terrible, too!" a rose chimed in. "They must be some sort of stinkweed! Or skunk cabbage perhaps?"<br /><br />Gulleck tried to ignore the abuse and talk politely with the flowers, trying to ascertain where they had found themselves. But the flowers were impertinent and seemed to stubbornly refuse any sort of proper conversation, continuing to heap abuse on the adventures while the rest of the flowers sent up a continuous stream of shrill giggles and cackles.<br /><br />"Why don't you just leave, already! Oh, you'd better not be thinking of planting yourselves here in OUR beds!"<br /><br />"Oh no!" wailed a violet. "I'd sooner be plucked than have to share a bed with that pale sickly flower! Look at that dreadful little weed!" It looked pointedly at Orin as it said this.<br /><br />Orin had by now had enough, and cast a Sleep spell on the irritating flowers. Three of them stopped giggling, and their blossoms drooped down.<br /><br />"What!? How dare you!" shrieked the tiger-lily. "Help! Help!" A cacophony of shrieks and rude noises erupted from the flowers. Moments later, a loud, low buzzing filled the area, and an enormous bumblebee bobbled through the air into the group. Before he could react, the bumblebee stung Orin in the arm and he fell to the ground, at first writhing in pain and then still and silent. The others drew weapons and attacked the bumblebee, but as they did another bumblebee clumsily flew in from behind a hedge. Gulleck and Simon were attacked by the bees but fortunately dodged both stingers, and quickly enough the party dispatched the two bumblebees.<br /><br />Orin was down to exactly 0 hit points, so I let his player make a 1d4-1 roll to see recover hit points during this lull in the combat. It turns out Orin had only briefly passed out due to shock and he grimly pulled himself to his feet, just as another bumblebee arrived, along with three enormous ants, each about three feet in length. Gulleck killed the bee, and Adrien injured one of the ants, but then yet another bumblebee and another three ants came in from the other side of the garden. This was clearly an untenable fight, and one that they hadn't really wanted in the first place, so they decided to run. As a parting shot, Gulleck swung her axe and hacked off a glittering leaf from the violet ("Oh how dare you! You awful, terrible, disgusting creature!") and then they all ran off to the south. Orehoe was overtaken by an ant and savagely bitten in the ankle, bringing her down to exactly 0 hit points, but Father Chase was quick to heal her with his sacred staff of healing, and they all ran away, pursued by giant ants and bumblebees. There were a few more ant bites, but none that prevented their escape, and the insects stopped pursuing them when they reached the edge of the formal garden. As they ran south across the grass, they could hear the howling laughter of the giant flowers growing fainter behind them.<br /><br />Now they found themselves at the top of a hill overlooking a great expanse of countryside. There were a number of tiny little brooks running straight across it from side to side, and the ground between was divided up into squares by a number of little green hedges, that reached from brook to brook. The squares seemed to alternate between open fields and dense wooded thickets in a way that gave the impression of an enormous green chessboard. A path led down the hill in front of them, zigzagging back and forth in switchbacks, and the party began to descend, but in the strangest way all their walking did not seem to advance them down the path at all. Something very strange was going on. Simon tried walking backwards but that only looked silly. Gulleck tried to leap down to where the path zigzagged back below them, but try as she might all she could manage was to jump in place. They tried running and that seemed to move them a little, albeit very slowly, and eventually they tried running as fast as they absolutely could. The world seemed to blur around them and when they stopped running they found that they were at the bottom of the hill, not far from the first little brook that marked the boundary of the great chessboard landscape.<br /><br />The party crossed the brook, and made their way across the first open field without event. Then they stepped over another brook and entered a dark thicket. Midway through the woods, they encountered a creature whose lower half was a horse, clad in full barding, painted red, and whose upper half was a man, likewise clad in red plate armor and helmet.<br /><br />"Halt, strangers!" commanded the centaur. "You are hereby challenged to mortal combat. Fight me, or return the way you came. Make your choice now."<br /><br />Well, they figured there were nine of them and only one of him, so retreating didn't seem like a serious option. Gulleck hefted her axe and stepped towards the centaur, when he reared up on his hind legs, whinnied, and leapt right over Gulleck, kicking her in the back before she could react. That was momentarily impressive, but then Adrien and Simon stabbed the centaur and he collapsed to the ground.<br /><br />"Well fought, friends. You may proceed." And he disappeared in a sudden cloud of white smoke.<br /><br />They moved on, emerging from the woods and crossing a stream into an open meadow, where they confronted a squat dwarf-like man in red chain mail, who issued a similar challenge and was dealt with almost as swiftly. He too vanished in a puff in smoke when vanquished. They crossed through another wooded square and another open field, where they fought another squat fighter, this one in gleaming white chain mail. In the wooded copse in the next square, they were picking their way through a swampy wet area when suddenly a mass of semi-decayed leaves and unidentifiable vegetative sludge rose from the bog. It seemed to be wearing a silver crown on its amorphous head.<br /><br />"Turn back," it hissed, "turn back or perish."<br /><br />And Gulleck attacked, slicing into the vines that made up its torso. The strange decaying mound swung a foul-smelling arm at Gulleck and it slammed into her, and then it did the same with the other arm. Gulleck found herself embraced by the horrible rotting creature, pulled deeper into its chest as vines entwined and entangled her.<br /><br />This was potentially a bad situation for Gulleck, but she resisted the suffocating embrace and managed to break free of the vines that held her. She took a few steps back and recovered her composure, while Simon shot an arrow into the monster, and then Gulleck's axe cut deep into it, and it slumped back into the bog beneath dissipating into a cloud of white mist.<br /><br />The adventurers moved on, across another open field and into one more copse of trees. This time they were confronted by a very strange creature, somewhat like the centaur. This one had the upper half of a woman, wearing silver chainmail and a crown, but her lower portion was a bizarre hybrid of a goat and a lion.<br /><br />"You have done well to get this far, travelers. Now you must face your final challenge. Defeat me in mortal combat and you will be victors of the game. But be forewarned, I do not intend to die easily."<br /><br />And that is where we had to stop for the evening!Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7783663517900258415.post-65556933968329051522018-12-27T09:50:00.003-05:002018-12-27T09:50:56.458-05:00Idalium Game 96: The Death of the Goblin KingSession date: Monday, April 9, 2018<br />Game date: Saturday, May 22, 210<br /><br /><b>PCs:</b><br />Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 70250/140000<br />Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 18996/20000 <br />Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 7804/8000<br />Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 6814/8000<br /><br /><b>Retainers:</b><br />Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16098/32000<br />Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 3633/6000<br />Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1355/4000<br />Jack, Thief 2, hp 8, xp 2015/2400<br /><br />The party came together once again, with an eye to finally ridding the underworld of the Goblin King. Adrien purchased shortbows for herself and her retainer Jack, after several awkward combats in which she yet again realized she had forgotten to ever acquire one. Orin wrote out another Sleep scroll. Adrien fed Norman the giant weasel another serving of blood from her bruised and constantly bandaged hand.<br /><br />They descended into the ruins of Idalium and made quick time to the second level, passing swiftly through the dungeon and into the caverns that led to the Goblin Palace. Curiously, the big double doors were unbarred, and the guardroom within seemed empty and still. The doors leading deeper into the palace stood open. The adventurers cautiously moved into the room and towards the inner doors. Suddenly, there was a whoosh of wind, and three small daggers clattered across the stone floor. A fourth dagger embedded itself in Jack's arm! Something in the air seemed to rush through the inner doors and down the hallway, an eerie tinkling of bells lingering after them.<br /><br />Unsure of what had just ambushed them, Gulleck and Simon nervously led the party into the hall. The normally brightly-lit hallway was dark now, the torches in the wall sconces all cold. Caryatid lit a torch and began to light the wall torches as she passed them, in order to mark where they had been. Likewise, Gulleck drew forth a stick of chalk and began periodically marking the walls. When they got to the intersection with the large stuffed flightless bird (still pincushioned with arrows), Simon pulled out a ball of twine and tied one end to the bird and started unwinding the ball as they moved on. But Caryatid decided to really leave her mark on this intersection, and set the bird on fire. The dessicated stuffed bird quickly went up in flames, and acrid smoke filled the hall.<br /><br />This triggered an immediate wandering monsters check, which came up as "yes" but turned out to be a small posse of intrepid dungeon urchins sneaking into the palace in search of their kidnapped friends. This was cause for some guilty grimaces from some of the players, as they've known about the abducted urchins for literally months and months but have never quite managed to do anything about it. But now Gulleck assured the urchins that the adventurers were taking care of it and this was no place for children and they would keep an eye out for their friends, and the adventurers hurriedly ushered the urchins back out the front door.<br /><br />Returning to the hallway and the smoldering remains of the stuffed ostrich, the group made their way to an empty kitchen and beyond that to the great banquet hall where they had fought the big battle in the last session. The hall was now deserted, and a long sideboard table had been pushed up against the main entrance doors that they had come through last time. They pulled the table aside in case they needed to beat a hasty retreat, and then moved on, deeper into the palace. They came to a locked door, decided that the direct approach was the simplest, and Gulleck began to systematically swing her magical axe into the door. Wood splintered and split, and the thumps of the axe echoed through the halls. This drew the attention of a half dozen goblins, who came scurrying down the hall with rusty swords drawn but Orin cast his Sleep spell, and they all fell in a heap before they even made it to the adventurers.<br /><br />Gulleck cleared enough of the door for the adventurers to step through into another hallway, and after a few turns they found themselves back at the still smoldering ostrich (which of course did not make any cartographic sense). They kicked open a door they hadn't been through yet, and suddenly again found themselves the target of small knives flew from somewhere above them. The same sinister tinkling of bells filled the air as several "somethings" flew above their heads and out the door. Gulleck followed the sound and was just able to make out a vague shimmer in the air like waves of heat in the summer, moving quickly down the hall into the darkness. Gulleck charged after the departing shimmers, followed by the rest of the party. The pursuit took them around several corners and eventually to a four way intersection, where they were attacked from multiple sides by four goblins and a hobgoblin, as well as the invisible flying beings, who dipped through the air and slashed at them with invisible daggers.<br /><br />The battle went well enough at first, although Adrien managed to fumble her sword and drop it on the stone floor. Two of the goblins and the hobgoblin were killed, but then two bugbears ran in from the hall to the north and another five hobgoblins arrived from the east to reinforce the battle. And standing in a luxuriously appointed room behind them was the Goblin King himself, resplendent in a high-necked brocade doublet and tight leather breeches. He was idly spinning several small crystal balls between his fingers. Four more bugbears stood guard around him, and further back in the room were four more hobgoblins.<br /><br />"Fear not, my subjects, your King stands with you!" he called, and the hobgoblins seemed emboldened and confident in their attack.<br /><br />And then Caryatid cast Sleep and the last of the goblins and hobgoblins all passed out. One of the creatures in the air fell asleep, and as it fell to the floor it turned visible, revealing itself to be some sort of faerie, no more than a couple of feet high, with pointed ears and elfin features. The other faeries lost morale at this point and scattered down the hallways, the tinkling bells receding into the darkness.<br /><br />The Goblin King's smirk turned to anger as his subjects slumped to the ground. He cast the crystal balls aside and drew his longsword, which burst into scintillating, multicolored light, casting moving prismatic patterns across the dungeon walls.<br /><br />"He's got a disco sword!" gasped Adrien's player. "I want that!"<br /><br />The actual fight was somewhat anti-climactic. (That's what happens when your players don't finish level 2 of the dungeon until many of the PCs are level 4 or above!) Orin cast his Sleep scroll, putting two of the bugbears and one of the hobgoblins to sleep. Caryatid cast Magic Missile and used the Big Green d30 to roll for damage. In rare cases like this I reserve the right to a Big Green d30 roll myself, and used it to win initiative, so that the Goblin King was at least able to dodge out of Caryatid's line of sight, forcing her to take out one of the other hobgoblins instead. But then Gulleck and Adrien stormed into the room and finished the Goblin King off in a single round.<br /><br />The two surviving hobgoblins turned out to be Margleton and Clabberpus, the very first hobgoblins the adventurers had ever met. Margleton surrendered, offering to leave Idalium for good if their lives were spared.<br /><br />"You know where the King kept his treasure?" asked Gulleck.<br /><br />"Oh yes, it's just around the corner, in the vault."<br /><br />"Is it locked? You got a key?" prompted Gulleck.<br /><br />"Fine, you can have the treasure; it's little use to us now," said Clabberpus, tossing a large key to Gulleck.<br /><br />"You had better be quick about it, though," advised Margleton. "The death of the Goblin King has surely caused a great magical disturbance. Who knows what you have unleashed by your reckless act?"<br /><br />Gulleck made them swear that they would never again return to Idalium and then let them go. Margleton and Clabberpus smiled slyly, thanked them for their mercy, and with one last affected laugh, strolled arm in arm down a hallway to the south. (Exeunt stage left.)<br /><br />The group turned their attention to the body of the Goblin King, but it was suddenly engulfed in a plume of thick green smoke, and when the air cleared the body was gone, leaving only the scintillating sword and a pile of clothes, including a necklace, behind. Adrien took the sword and Caryatid picked up the necklace, which held a polished moonstone within a gold pendant. Suddenly, the ground trembled and shook. Plaster crumbled from the ceiling.<br /><br />"Uh oh, he was a load-bearing boss," quipped Gulleck's player.<br /><br />They left the King's sitting room and headed up the northern hallway that several of the bugbears had come from. At the end of the hall was a very sturdy looking door with a large keyhole. Gulleck used the key from Clabberpus to unlock the heavy door, and pulled it open to reveal a small room containing several barrels brimming with gold and copper coins, in addition to several pieces of jewelry and artwork. The frame of the door seemed to twinkle with some strange magical light.<br /><br />Gulleck noted the twinkling with some anxiety, but decided to risk it and stepped over the threshold into the vault. As she did, she felt an immensely powerful force that seemed to press in on her, but she crossed the threshold into the vault without mishap (dwarves have excellent saving throws!). She picked up a finely crafted cuckoo clock and a golden goblet and walked back to the rest of the party, feeling the same powerful magic but she resisted it as before.<br /><br />Alarmed by this sensation, Gulleck went back to the intersection and grabbed one of the goblin corpses, dragging it back into the antechamber to the treasure vault. She picked it up and tossed it into the treasure vault, and as it passed the threshold of the doorway there was a flash and suddenly instead of the body of a goblin there was a small crystal ball like those the Goblin King had been juggling in his hand. The ball hit the ground and rolled into the far corner of the vault.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Caryatid was examining the pendant with the moonstone that they had retrieved from the Goblin King's remains. There was writing inscribed around the perimeter of the pendant, that read "Down in the Underground". Gulleck spoke these words aloud, and the twinkling faded from the door frame. The group entered the vault and took inventory of the contents. There was a rather nice painting of the Goblin King. The frame was bulky, but Gulleck stripped the painting from the frame, loosely rolled it up, and tucked it in her backpack. Father Chase pulled on a flamboyant fur robe, and Caryatid was pleased to recover the gold and emerald belt that the Goblin King has once taken from her as tribute. There were five large barrels full of coins. It was judged that each barrel would need at least two people to roll it through the halls, so they rolled out three barrels and left two behind, planning to return later to retrieve them.<br /><br />The tremors in the ground seemed to be increasing as they returned to the four way intersection, and more dust shook loose from the ceiling periodically. They made their way back to the entrance of the palace, using some now-familiar landmarks for navigation, and as they traveled they noticed a strange silvery mist starting to seep into the halls. Eventually it was as if they were walking through a cloud, although there was no dampness. Oddly, the mist almost seemed reflective. Finally they came to what they thought were the main doors of the Goblin Palace and they hurried through them.<br /><br />The mist cleared, and the adventurers looked around in amazement, for they were outside and it was daylight. They were standing on an unusually well-manicured grassy lawn. The bluest of skies hung above them. Some distance away they could see what looked like an ornate garden full of neatly trimmed hedges and colorful flowers.<br /><br />Clearly they had been magically transported following the death of the Goblin King, much as had happened when they had slain the Goblin Prince. But where and what was this place?Jesse Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10802754799848483493noreply@blogger.com0