Tuesday 25 June 2024

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 75 (Machodor #39); The Return of King Vultan?

 

Delve map

Timekeeping


This session took place on 20/06/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present


Slippery Pete (Level 7 Thief, wearer of the Hat of Disguise and wielder of the Black Dagger
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength)
Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles
Bumblebore (Level 4 Magic User with his Familiar O'Malfoy)  
Treefingers (Level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor) 
Gurt the Green (Level 3 Paladin and entrepreneur of Machodor)  
Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence
Bump (Level 1 Magic-User with one hit point)


Session Report

After other options were briefly tabled and then rejected, the party set off again to push on into the quadrant of the crashed Sky City known as the Pizza Slice of Doom. However, once again, when they reached the room where the maintenance elevator brought them, things had changed. 

They knew to expect some response from the bizarre intelligence that opposed them. It turned out to be a floating head-sized robotic sentinel hovering near the ceiling just outside the broken western exit to the entry room. It descended, spoke in a robotic voice, then disintegrated the lift platform they had just used; before using the remainder of its surprise segments to paralyse first Giuseppe, then Treefingers, with beams from its glassy eyes. After this it floated back up out of the reach of melee weapons before the party could respond. 

Once they did respond their accurate bow fire and well placed Macho Mandalf Flying Elbows managed to destroy the thing before it got another chance to use its deadly beams, there was a very real chance the entire party could have been paralysed if rolls had gone slightly differently. During that same round Slippery Pete had rushed to fashion a lasso from his climbing rope, this proved unnecessary at the time but also prompted a short discussion on the admissibility of the Unearthed Arcana rules for a lasso. This foreshadowed what would happen later. Bumblebore then claimed the destroyed sentry unit and spent most of the rest of the session with his hands in the thing like a puppeteer, trying to get it do something. Perhaps he will have better luck in downtime?

Heedless of the warning, or rather threat, the sentry had given them of approaching reinforcements, aka the "clean up squad", the party focussed on the strange vine monster they had encountered nearby last session, and began methodically removing vines from the area that might allow them to approach its lair. Shortly after they had some success in clearing a path, Gurt reported the approach of flying creatures from the corridor to the west. The clean up squad had arrived.

10 Hawkmen and a like number of Kenku, led by King Voltan and (later) Lord Inferno respectively, were flying towards them. Of course the latter were Kenku in disguise, and this ruse had the players scrambling to react appropriately. The Hawkmen kept their altitude advantage and threw spears down into the party's formation, with a series of hot attack rolls, the damage of which was augmented by an electrical 'Zap' attack. Fortunately for the players, the spears mostly hit the tougher characters while Bump wisely hid in the side passage they had cleared of vines.

Bumblebore sprang into action and cast Sleep. This effected many of the Kenku, causing them to fall 20' to the floor, take 2d6 damage, and wake up again. Though they were no longer asleep the creatures couldn't attack until the next round, where Bumblebore followed up with a breath weapon attack from O'Malfoy that wiped them (and some of Sever's and Giuseppe's hit points) out. Slippery Pete unwound his makeshift lasso and swung it up at King Vultan, the thief's ample dexterity plus a good roll making up for his lack of weapon proficiency and he brought their enemy down into the middle of their formation (later I read in UA that thieves can't use a lasso...). Giuseppe then pummelled the "Hawkman King" into oblivion, where upon the body shifted back into the form of a Kenku.

This battle was fun and chaotic but also slooow to adjudicate with so many on each side. It was not until the last of the Hawkmen had fled and the Kenku were destroyed that the session really got into gear. The Rangers, with the generous indoor tracking rules, managed to track the flying creatures west; the direction they have reason to be believe live the Eldritch Horror(s) at the top of the food chain in this place, back into an area they had started mapping last week and then...

into a Toxic waste room

The new area was a huge, roughly rectangular room which featured a large metal platform with gantries leading to it from several exits elsewhere in the room; some of these had fallen into a pool of green toxic sludge 10' below, and of unknown depth, that covered the entire floor. In the centre of the metal platform was a tall, tapering cylinder; the top of which was hidden in the shadows near the ceiling. More of the green ooze could be seen leaking out of vents in various locations, dropping through the metal grating, and adding to the pool below. In places the green of the pool held a mustardy coloured blob, and the occasional waft of a matching scent drifted their way as they looked in through the doorway.

Much discussion happened at this point, and Bump lamented that he had used his Unseen Servant in the previous battle and surely the duration had expired by now.  However, with my painstaking application of the timing/mapping rules I was able to tell him exactly how long he had left (a few turns) on that spell and so he now used it to scoop up some of the toxic goo and try some experiments. All this while the rest of the party moved a discrete distance away around a corner.

I use "spindown" dice to track rounds and turns in the dungeon

When this endeavour failed to prove useful they returned to the toxic waste room and resumed their problem solving. Eventually I realised that my description of the area had left the players confused over where the connecting gantries were; so I had to clear this up and I once again reflected on how the true sense of three dimensional areas can be very tricky to impart with theatre of to the mind.

I think also what happened here was that while I was happily looking at my map, thinking the players had internalised what I saw there, Sever's player had made a wip map displayed on the discord screen share that didn't show a connection to the central area from where they stood, and so they held the view that there was no easy way across when in fact there was a metal walkway right in front of them. Once this was sorted out the dam broke and there was a rush of characters who suddenly wanted to do various semi-contradictory things at the same time and in the same space. 

I announced that I would roll to determine who got to do something first, and the 'winner' was Slippery Pete. He ran out across the metal causeway towards the central platform with the intention of reaching the control panel looking thing and pressing some buttons. Sadly he only got as far as a few steps before the trapped causeway collapsed under him, sending him for a dip in the toxic greenish-blackish-in-some-places-somewhat-mustardy soup and he soon disappeared.

Pete was welcomed back with open arms

Various actions were declared that would, hopefully, add up to saving Pete with the lasso; and then I rolled. Tied initiative! I lamented that I could easily see how to evaluate a win or a loss for either side, but a tie!? So, the Mustard Jelly in the toxic sludge surged forward and attacked Slippery Pete as he bobbed to the surface gasping for air, and Bump's Unseen Servant dropped the lasso around him. I thought Pete was done for here because it's a tough monster and one hit would probably be all it would take to kill him. The mere approach of the creature caused Pete to be effected by its toxic vapor, which has the effect of a Slow spell; but the pseudopods it attacked him with missed by 1 on the die! Treefingers hauled up the hapless thief and the party figured they were safe for the moment; and that was when the two Hawkmen, stationed in the shadows at the top of the metal cylinder, opened up with a squad manned automatic blaster weapon! 

Six shots rained down on the party, who were pretty much sitting ducks, resulting in several hits. One had Bump's name on it, the 1 hit point magic-user said his goodbyes; but the energy blast went wide! The party lurched out of the line of fire and retreated. They weren't going to risk getting back in front the weapon in their current condition. Instead they withdrew to the side-ways elevator trap they had found a few sessions ago; used it to return to the maintenance level, and from there back to the thruster tube room and (after dodging the giant sundews that had been placed there several weeks ago) escaped the PSoD once again.


Dungeon stats: 

Mapped area traversed: 780 feet

New corridor mapped: 10 feet

New rooms mapped: 1

Combats: 3

Combat rounds: 8

Total time in the dungeon (approx): 12 turns


Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 75 (Machodor #39)

Treasure & Items
9 "Zap" Spears 1800 XP
4 "Zap" Sword 600 XP 1 Sold for 400gp
4 Suits of Hawkman Armour 150gp each sold for 600gp

Total 3400 xp

Monsters
1 Autonomous Sentry Sphere 2000 XP
8 2HD Kenku 400 XP
2 3HD Kenku 360 XP
4 Hawkmen 440XP


Total  3200 XP


6600 XP &  1000 GP Assignment weighted by level

Slippery Pete (Level 7, E)  1212 XP & 222 GP
Sever (Level 6, E)  1018 XP & 181 GP
Giuseppe (Level 6, E) 1018  XP & 181 GP
Bumblebore (Level 4, E)  812 XP & 120 GP
Treefingers (Level 4, E) 812 XP & 120 GP
Gurt the Green (Level 3, E) 709 XP & 90 GP
Comfort Rod (Level 2, E)  606 XP & 60 GP
Bump (Level 1, E)  503  XP & 30 GP



Graveyard


Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72

Red (Paladin Level 1) always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2) , Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Friday 14 June 2024

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 74 (Machodor #38); Thorks and Rangers and Achaierai in the PSoD

Player map built live in session
 

Timekeeping


This session took place on 13/06/2024, and the PCs adventured for 3 days.

Player Characters Present


Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength)
Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer) with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3)
Bumblebore (Level 4 Magic User with his Familiar O'Malfoy)  
Treefingers (Level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor) 
Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence
Louie the Presto-tater (Level 1 Illusionist) 
Dead-eye Donny (Level 1 Monk)


Session Report

The party set off in the rain to, once again, explore the quadrant of the Sky City known as the Pizza Slice of Doom. However, once again, when they reached the room where the maintenance elevator brought them, things had changed. All of the dirt and plants that attacked them last week had been cleared out, to be replaced by a strange contraption of wires and cabled and helmet like metal hemispheres. The wires ran to the ceiling and then were connected to each of the four doors that led out of the room.

They turned to McScales; but, without Sheamus, who had other business, no one could communicate with him. The Irish fighter had sent his lizardman anyway to aid the party with his knowledge of the place, he mimed that putting on the helmets would open the doors, and also that he wouldn't put one on himself. 

Guess who put the metal cap on his head?

This stymied the party for a while, finally Louie declared he would put on one of the helmets, but nothing happened. Clearly, whatever was going to happen was going to happen when both helmets had been put on. No one else volunteered. 

Sever, with his new girdle of giant strength, decided to just break the door instead.

Free of the cunning mechanism, they travelled back up past the elevator trap to the west and down new corridors.

They entered a chamber with three exits and that was filled with steaming water leaking from some place and which trailed away down a corridor to the south, two Thorks in the pool looked dangerous enough for Sever to attack them, but they were ready and sprayed boiling water over the party. Fortunately for the party it takes one full round for these creatures to reload and they were dead by then.

Treefingers ate two hot water streams

In the pool they found many electrum pieces of the kind used by the Hawkmen, but are perfectly acceptable in the mountains as well. Also, a potion. Donny tried this with a small sip, even though he was a bit worried it was poisoned. Which it was! He failed his save and "died" on the spot. Various PCs tried first aid to revive him and Comfort Rod found that his vital signs appeared to be stable. What was going on? Eventually they slapped the monk around until he regained consciousness, at which point he was sure he had been raised from the dead. Yet, he had enough energy to continue on. Comfort Rod took the potion (of delusion) bottle and smashed it against the metal floor. That was fun, for me anyway.

The party were very much the worse for wear and there was ooc discussion of whether it would be cheesy to pull out of the dungeon and hold up at the Irish Camp outside until Godleve (who was out there) and Comfort Rod could heal them up. The rules are clear that you apply the normal chances of encounters and time is a resource to be used, so I don't see any problem with players using this to their benefit. It is not cost free as they used two days that could have been later used for downtime activities.

While resting up, Treefingers had a problem with McScales, on the surface because he felt the former slave should run off and enjoy his freedom, but more likely just because he hates non-humans. We played out this distraction and of course when push came to shove the Ranger left the hapless Lizardman in a pool of his own blood on the ground; but he did not stick around the finish the job as Donny objected and the Monk threatened to come to blows.


I'm sure this won't have any repercussions when Sheamus finds out. 

On the third day Giuseppe arrived with his henchmen, fresh from downtime activities that I hadn't caught up with yet. Now with the doughty Paladin who can take damage, and two guys who can deal it out, Sever as caller was prepared to give up pushing to the west in search of the Old One(s), and instead take on the nest of Achaierai they had mapped last session. In short, the plan was to use his super human strength to rip out pieces of metal and make a barrier at one of the corridors leading to the lair, while the party attacked from the other. Simple, but effective.

The problem was that the noise of this work attracted a wandering monster, a giant constrictor snake, which snuck up on the main party from behind (Bumblebore noted that the snake came from the vine chocked corridor to the west) and would have surprised them if it were not for the abilities of Treefingers. These didn't stop him getting wrapped up in the creature's coils, and this commotion caught the attention of the Achaierai who immediately attacked. 

Giuseppe was ready with his shield and his Hawkman hand-crossbow, he held the later out and... nothing happened when he pulled the trigger. Like Connor McGregor's Rocket Cycle, it must have been effected by the machine built by the Eldritch Horror that rules this place. He switched to his sword and readied to face the assault.


Bumblebore had prepositioned O'Malfoy in the room and now the Firedrake swept in and breathed over the giant bird creatures. This first attack was quite effective, but his next one was not so good and three of the creatures ran for the other exit and were soon bashing away at the barrier Sever had built there.

Giuseppe held off the first Achaierai until it was wounded enough to release its toxic gas cloud that reduced his brain power to that of a moronic child. Spells and missile weapons sent into the cloud managed to finish off one and knock down another creature, while Louie and then Donny ran around to try and hold the barrier together.

This proved to be a long and drawn out battle of attrition, but that was simply the nature of the encounter that the party had sought out, and finally they prevailed. 

After a very thorough search of the lair there was no treasure to be found, just mounds of mud and "guano" with some shiny things like broken glass stuck in it; but nothing of value. This led them in frustration to examine the huge vine that Bumblebore had noticed earlier. When its long vines prepared to grasp Sever and pull him in, vines obviously backed by a vast body within the cavity it was growing in, the party managed to win initiative and retreat. 


Dungeon stats: 

Mapped area traversed:  360 feet

New corridor mapped: 230 feet

New rooms mapped: 2

Combats: 2 (3 if you count the giant snake separately, 4 if you count running from the vine creature, 5 if you count Treefingers trying to kill McScales)

Combat rounds: 16

Total time in the dungeon (approx): Delve #1 20 turns, Delve #2 6 turns.


Treasure and XP

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 74 (Machodor #38)

Treasure & Items
5250ep
20pp

Total 2725xp & 2725gp

Monsters
2 Thorks 322
7 Achaierai 14,000
1 Giant constrictor snake 425

Total 14,747 XP


17,472 XP &  2725 GP Assignment weighted by level

Sever (Level 6, E) 1856 XP & 0 GP
Giuseppe (Level 6, E)  1803 & 0 GP
 with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3)  901 & 0 GP
Bumblebore (Level 4, E)  1856 XP & 604 GP
Treefingers (Level 4, S, killing innocent NPCs not a good look for a Ranger)  1856 XP & 604 GP
Comfort Rod (Level 2, E)   2159 XP & 302 GP
Louie the Preto-tater (Level 1, E) 2007 XP & 602 GP
Dead-eye Donny (Level 1, E) 2007 XP & 602 GP



Graveyard


Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72

Red (Paladin Level 1) always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2) , Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Thursday 13 June 2024

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 73 (Machodor #37); McScales Returns to the Pizza Slice of Doom

Mesa your humble servant.

Timekeeping


This session took place on 06/06/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present


Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane)
Gurt the Green  (Level 3 Paladin, E ) 
Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence
Louie the Preto-tater (Level 1 Magic User) 


Introduction 


A depleted party of only five sets off once again for the Pizza Slice of Doom.


Session Report

Thanks to McScales the lizardman and former slave, last session the players had jammed in iron spikes to stop the maintenance lift from being able to retract back into the Sky City, and this precaution meant they were able to use it as another means of entry to the huge facility. However, once again, when they reached the room where the lift stopped, something had changed. The 30' square room was filled with dirt and growing lumps and fronds of plants, they completely surrounded the platform the party stood on and would have to be navigated in some way before they could reach any of the four exits from the room.

There was some attempt to set fire to oil and burn a path to the western door, but it was not terribly successful; one of the oil flasks failed to break. However, this was enough to draw the attention of two Giant Sundew plants, one to the north and one to the south of the lift platform.

cute, until they're in your face

The plants were quite a threat, anything within 5 feet of them was exposed to 6 attacks from their sticky fronds, successful hits cause 1hp damage per round until broken, and with a roll of 20 indicating a suffocating blow to the target that results in death in 2-4 rounds. The party put Sever on one and Sheamus on the other, with Gurt doing his best to contribute with his Spetum. 

Battle commence, and although the front line were getting struck steadily with fronds, which penalised their own return attacks, the hit point losses were looking to be sustainable; until Sever caught two in the face. This happened just as Louie came up with the idea of dumping a wine skin over Sever, and although technically the party had won initiative and this action would have been resolved just before the two fronds started suffocated the Ranger, I had declared with a flourish that enough had been poured out that Sever was spitting out wine, so I had to follow through and say that this prevented the suffocating effect.

At almost same time Sheamus was also hit in the mouth, but the fearless Irishman calmly reached for his bottle of whisky and poured it over his head, freeing himself. After his the plants soon took a dirt nap.

To help set the scene I describe the room as just like the CHAZ garden,
a lot of dirt had been shipped in from somewhere.

Once they were ready the party left by the western most door, back into a 20' wide corridor running north-south. There was a chamber nearby to the south that was empty; but impressions on the floor showed that heavy equipment that was once there had been removed, perhaps to the north. Questions were levelled at the lizardman and he answered as best as he could. By now I'd figured that McScales sounded like Jar Jar Binks, so there was a lot of "Mesa knowing mesa be big help" and such for the rest of the night.

They set off north again and the long corridor eventually lead to a chamber with 4 branching exits, one was blocked by vines, one lead into a vast open area, one widened to 40' and had large water filled metal columns running down its length, and the last was pretty normal looking and heading directly east.

Cautiously they proceeded down the wide corridor with the pillars, the party got about halfway down before were attacked from behind by an Achaierai; one of the demonic bird-headed creatures that had caused them so much trouble last week. This week they had much better tactics, Sheamus with his high AC held its attention; while the others used missile weapons to target its low AC head from far enough back not to risk getting caught in the toxic cloud the thing could emit. That part worked well, but the bird-thing was still able to release its gas and use it to escape before they could finish it off. They tracked it back to the open area they had glimpsed earlier. This was a huge cavernous chamber, with its floor 10' below the corridor where they stood. This was covered with organic matter and had a high ceiling choked with trees from the forest level. After careful probing they could see that within this area was a lair of seven of the creatures.

As much as the party wanted to go on the attack, they decided they didn't have the fire power to win and simply marked it down on the map for another time. 

They rested back in the branching chamber they had passed through earlier, and here something unusual happened. The next little while became the Comfort Rod show. First, a psionic encounter!

"You have a sudden strange feeling and an image of a weird many-tentacled creature with flappy wings. It is working on some kind of machine. You see something like a sphere of light, clearly not part of the sky city structure, it fluctuates and vanishes; but not before you see many other like creatures moving around inside. If pushed, you guess its location is to the west."

Once he had passed on this vision to the rest of the party they tried to interpret its meaning. The prospect of a full on battle against the Old Ones who ruled this dungeon was again something they decided they didn't have the firepower for, but the urge to map out some more of this level spurred them on. 

When they reached the eastern most point so far, Comfort Rod called a stop and place his ear against the wall, all he could hear was the background hum of machines, technology beyond his ken, and the strain of metal under great pressure. However, this action proved crucial as around the next corner was a wandering monster, a Chimera! I put things together and realised that Comfort Rod's successful hearing roll meant he would have heard the "clomp clomp, clack clack" sound of the creature's approach. They proceeded to ambush it and got one segment of surprise. The melee guys got hits in in this segment but Comfort Rod again did something, this time wildly successful; he cast Command and ordered the creature to flee. I was thinking this wouldn't work on a creature over 6HD, but a quick check showed that such creatures must make a saving thrown, and the Chimera failed by 1, meaning it fled away from the three melee characters and prompted three more successful hits as the thing flew off. By the time they had cornered it in the next room the beast was down to very few hit points, and a bad initiative roll saw the party finish it off without taking any damage at all from the fearsome creature.

What was more, the room the Chimera retreated to held many thousands of electrum pieces just scattered around; and something more besides, a big heavy metal-reinforced belt. While searching through the loose sea of coins they were again attacked, this time by a giant slug. Sadly for Comfort Rod his run ended here as his hammer bounced off its blubbery hide to no effect. The thing spat a gob full of its acid at Gurt and the paladin was lucky to get away with his armour intact. His weapons were another matter, all were destroyed except for his hand axe; and this he used to finish off the creature after Shaemus and Sever chopped it to pieces.

Sheamus tested the belt and found it was great for opening doors.

They went back to the lift platform via another route, exited the PSoD safely, and then went back to Castle Irish. Here they competed for the prized girdle and Sever won it.


Dungeon stats: 

Mapped area traversed: 200 feet

New corridor mapped: 510 feet

New rooms mapped: 4

Combats: 4

Total time in the dungeon: I will start recording this in future.


Treasure and XP


Treasure & Items
Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength 200xp
5250ep

Total 2825xp  & 2625gp

Monsters
2 Giant Sundew 3000
1 Chimera 1744
1 Giant Slug 3152

Total 7896 xp


 XP &   GP Assignment weighted by level

Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, F)  2521XP & 876 GP
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E ) 2521XP & 876 GP
Gurt the Green  (Level 3 Paladin, E ) 2050 XP & 438 GP
Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, E ) 1893 XP & 292 GP
Louie (Level 1 Illusionist, E ) 1736 XP &146  GP


Graveyard


Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72

Red (Paladin Level 1) always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2) , Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Wednesday 12 June 2024

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 72 (Machodor #36); The Doom that came to the Pizza Slice

 

Sky City West Quadrant, Maintenance Level room 7
 

Timekeeping


This session took place on 30/05/2024, and the PCs adventured for 3 days.


Player Characters Present


Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer) with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3)
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane)
Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief of unknown origins, wearer of the Hat of Disguise
Treefingers (Level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor) 
Bumblebore (Level 4 Magic User with his Familiar O'Malfoy)  
Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence
Hawkern (Level 1 part elfin Fighter/Cleric)
Petrov the Prestidigitator (Level 1 Magic User) 


Introduction 


This session is the story of a Ranger's (temporary?) descent into madness, after one provocation too many.


Downtime


Not far from Castle Irish, Connor McGregor crashed his Rocket Cycle while inspecting the Irish position at the top of the extinct volcano. An inspection by Sheamus and his henchmen Lizardman, McScales, concluded foul play; the eldritch horrors inhabiting the Pizza Slice of Doom must be to blame.


Session Report

The party was a big one, 8 PCs, including a special appearance by Treefingers the Ranger and three henchmen. Slippery Pete had gone off on his own during downtime to raise funding and awareness for the orphanage he was planning, and in his stead was new magic-user, Petrov the Prestidigitator.

Setting off once again for the Pizza Slice of Doom, they travelled with the Rocket Cycle scooting along at ground level, not trusting to go any faster or higher with the risk it might also drop out of the sky without warning. They took the Elevator up to the Irish position at the top of the Volcano and peered down into the PSoD level 1 access shaft; it was still filled with water as I had been last session, and was unpassable. No problem, with two Pegasus riders to help, they ferried the party to the area where there was a gap between the wall of the volcano and the metal floor of the sky city quadrant. This lead in some six hundred feet before passing under the city thruster cone they had used to egress last session after being trapped by water.

Everything looked the same as they had left it; even the rope still hung usefully from the top of the cone where they had left it, so they began to climb back into the city.

Immediately upon reaching the interior of thruster tube room, long ropey tendons lashed out at them before the party had got properly into formation, two of these latched on to Sheamus, causing him to loose half of his strength, and started pulling him towards the gaping maw of a huge stalagmite-like creature standing right between the party and the secret door out of the room. Others of its six arms locked onto different PCs and it was looking pretty touch and go for a while there. However, the party defeated the roper thanks to a combination of swords, spells, and Bumblebore's familiar O'Malfoy. Then they discovered that the guardian creature had apparently been deployed here via some sort of glass tube which was now broken into a million shards. This party is not squeamish about cutting up monsters for useful parts, and now this habit yielded a dividend as Bumblebore discovered 12 gems and some platinum pieces in the gullet.

At about the same time this was happening in game
my daughter sent me this picture from her work.
The spider is about 3 inches wide. I was receiving 
constant updates on it for the rest of the session.
The party chose not to explore back past the beetle lair they had reached last session, figuring that the acquisitive creatures had gathered all the treasure that could be had in that area. Instead they explored nearby corridors to the north and discovered a pit trap which claimed the hapless Sheamus; but in a stroke of good fortune the damage was minimal. In several places the floor had dropped out into debris filled areas below the passages, or, in some cases, the ceiling had fallen in and was choked with organic matter from the forest level. One of these places was filled with a strange mold that emitted a fear gas. I adjudicated that this became effective the instant the front rank entered the area; but in hindsight I think it should have applied to the whole group instead. Something for next time. 

In any case, Giuseppe failed his save and ran away in the opposite direction, which would have seen him run straight over one of the collapsed floor sections. This was a cunning combo trap that had come about through random chance, but those who were not effected by the gas were able to grab the Paladin before he fell into the depths below.

Now warned, they could have avoided the area with the mold altogether, but decided to use fire arrows (supplied by O'Malfoy) and Treefingers lit it up from a distance. Eventually they way was clear for them to continue. The room beyond connected back with a corridor they had already traversed, and, other than a harmless section of organic matter, being apparently empty, they carefully passed around the dangerous looking section and left the room. However, not before "something" had bumped into Bumblebore, and, not yet perceived by him, had relieved him of the pouch of gems he had gathered from the disgusting guts of the Roper. One great thing about discord is that you can let individuals know such things as they happen without the rest of the players finding out what their characters don't yet know. It does mean you have to be on your toes as a player though and be looking in your character channel.

This incident had come about entirely through a random encounter and my rechecking the abilities of certain creatures in the Fiend Folio before this session. Little did I know what it would soon prompt...

The misaligned and battered corridors lead west into another chamber with several exits. Through the north door was a corridor, at the end of which was wall of interconnected metal shards; like a grate with nasty looking barbs sticking out at all angles, beyond this was a dead end. However, just before the dead end, in a pile debris on the floor, could be seen the tell tale glint of gems. Bumblebore avoided any possible issues retrieving the gems by sending O'Malfoy, who was small enough to fit through the metal bars, to collect them up three at a time; one in each claw and one in its mouth (this detail became important later). However, when the magic user went to pocket the gems, he noticed the theft that had occurred a few rooms back; the gems from the Roper were gone!

When the distraught Theurgist reported this to the party, there was a great deal of dismay, and suspicions were aroused! The fact that both sets of gems happened to number the same, 12, added to this feeling (but it was just a co-incidence).

I can't be sure exactly what everyone was thinking at this point (or ever really, but this time certainly), but Giuseppe at least suspected this incident wasn't enemy action; while Sever left no doubt that he considered the new level 1 magic-user, who was yet to cast any spells so far this session, to be the culprit. It must be recalled that in session #25 Slippery Pete had used his Hat of Disguise to appear as a normal level 1 fighter, and now Sever suspected that "Petrov" - a name that suddenly seemed to be dripping with hidden import - was actually Slippery Pete in disguise. 

When Bumblebore protested that something invisible had stolen the gems, and not Petrov, this only increased suspicions; since Pete was known to possess a potion of invisibility. In any case, Sever had been suspicious that the thief was skimming off the top for a while now, and he had had enough.

Giuseppe, I think trying to forestall the anger of Sever, asked to inspect the gems they had just acquired thanks to O'Malfoy, and found nothing amiss. The question arose, how would they know if there had been some double switch-a-roo with the gems; maybe there was only ever one set of 12 gems!? Someone came up with the brilliant idea of asking what the gems tasted like, figuring that the ones from the Roper, which of course they had no time to thoroughly clean, would taste different from the others. And it was unanimously agree that while he carried them in his mouth O'Malfoy, and, via his familiar connection, Bumblebore, would have tasted these recently acquired gems and so could make this call. They tasted more of dirt than anything like the Roper, according to Bumblebore.

Well, let's just say that this left things not entirely to Sever's satisfaction. He decided he was going to do something about this internal menace to the party, and called out that "Petrov" had no proof that he was a magic-user. To this Petrov produced a spell book with four spells, which Sever promptly had Were'shbane read and determine was the genuine article. "So, you got a spell book from somewhere," the Ranger was unconvinced. 

Things simmered for a bit as Petrov pleaded his case and went through his spell list to prove he could not have been responsible. But when he read out the spell name Unseen Servant it had anything but a calming effect. Finally, Sever decided to take matters into his own hands, literally.

I forget his exact wording, but Sever's player decided to give Petrov a good shake to try and... I don't know, get him to come clean? I announced I would interpret this as a grapple, we both thought this would be a demonstrative but ultimately non-lethal action. 

However, 25% of grappling damage is real, and when you are a 2hp magic-user, that's a big problem. Petrov lost 3 hit points, and was dead. This left a bit of a pall over the party (although the opposite was going on in discord), particularly Sever's Ranger buddy Treefingers.

Now, I don't know how "pause time" "story gaming" "theatre kids" with "dice fudging" and "rule zero" would handle this situation, and I don't really care. I went back over the rules to be sure I hadn't made an error. Sever in his armour had a middling chance of catching Petrov, but once he got him he did 8 damage plus 5 for the Ranger's strength. With 25% of 13 points being 3, he had killed the innocent young magic user on his first adventure. RAW, this wasn't a good look for the Ranger and he started to feel some pain in his alignment, for Rangers can loose their class abilities permanently with an evil deed.

After a short discussion they gathered up Petrov's body and started to retreat. However, all of this activity had attracted other dungeon denizens. Two Boobries (as per session #35) confronted the party from the direction they wanted to go. Unlike last week, however, these had recently been fed and were not immediately hostile. They took one look at the glowering Sever and his grizzly cargo, and backed away down the corridor.

Having returned the way they had come without further incident, Sever resolved to fly to the white city of Minas Mandalf and seek a Raise Dead spell from one of of the clerics there in order to revive the dead adventurer. There was time available to achieve a bit more in this session if people could pull themselves together, so the party decamped to Castle Irish while Sever and Treefingers flew off on their mission of mercy. I didn't belabour this side-quest; but if we were playing a 6 hour session I certainly would have had some fun with it. 

"What happened to this poor fellow? He looks like he ran into Macho Mandalf's elbow!"

So, a day later the the Rangers (one 7000gp lighter) and Petrov returned from Minas Mandalf and the delve resumed. They retraced their steps and encountered the pair of Boobries again in the same room as before.  They seemed to look at the dried blood on the floor and back to Petrov a few times before again deciding it would be better not to mess with the party and leaving through the door to the North. Moving on they found a twisted section of corridor that lead to an "elevator trap", except, with the damage in this area, the elevator room went sideways instead of up or down, and left them in what was part of level 2 of the sky city before it crashed. The level now appeared to be a hodgepodge of the technical level and the forest level.

After some continuous exploration they found a room with what McScales identified as a maintenance lift platform that could be used to descend, probably all the way to the outside if the way wasn't obstructed. 

With a possible exit secured, the party chose to push on for a bit more and ran into an Achaierai, one of the 15' tall bird headed creatures they had previous encountered on the forest level. The legs of the creature proved very difficult to damage, but when they concentrated on its head they soon had the better of the creature.

But whoever bred the Achaierai was a real son of a gun:

The whole party took 2d6 damage from the black toxic smoke. Sadly, this meant death for Petrov, again. Sever shouldered the weight of the magic-user's lifeless body once more. Not only that, half the party were now 'moronic children' as per the spell description, although I goofed and let them know this was temporary a bit too soon.  Fortunately the other half of the party were able to shepherd the morons back to the lift platform and stop them wandering off long enough to get it working. The lift did indeed lead to another exit from the sky city and the surviving party members lived to fight another day.

Dungeon stats: 

Mapped area traversed: 320 feet

New corridor mapped: 520 feet

New rooms mapped: 5

Combats: 3

Total time in the dungeon: I will start recording this in future.


Treasure and XP


Treasure & Items
12 Gems sold for 2390gp

Total 2390 xp  & 2390gp

Monsters

1 Roper 3536xp
1 Aichaeirai 2700xp

Total  6236xp


8626 XP &  2390 GP Assignment weighted by level

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) 1234 XP & 455 GP
  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3, E)  923XP & 114 GP
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E ) 1234 XP & 455 GP
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, F)  1234 XP & 455 GP
Comfort Rod (Level 2 Cleric, E ) 990 XP & 154 GP
Hawkern (Level 1 Fighter/Cleric, E ) 854 XP & 75 GP
Petrov (Level 1 Magic User, E ) XP & 0 GP
Bumblebore (Level 4 Magic User, E )  1082 XP & 303 GP
Treefingers (level 4 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E) 1082  XP & 303 GP

Graveyard


Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1) killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72

Red (Paladin Level 1) always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2) , Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 71 (Machodor #35); Songs of the Pizza Slice of Doom

           



Timekeeping


This session took place on 23/05/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present


Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer
  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3) 
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade
Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief, wearer of the Hat of Disguise
Deltacron (Level 1/2 Dwarf Fighter Thief) 
Hawkern (Level 1 Half Elf  Fighter/Cleric)
D Donny (Level 1 Monk) 

Introduction 


Fresh from a massive haul in the previous session, the party wanted more of the same. Would it work out that way?

Session Report

Once again the party made their way into the PSoD via the usual method of the access tunnel on the maintenance level. Having hardly got through the front door, they set off a trap that filled the access tunnel with water. In moments the water would have flooded the compartment they were in and probably killed them by water pressure alone forcing them into the sharp metal barriers at each of the room's exists. With moments to spare they managed enough open doors checks to shut the door and keep the water at bay. They would need to find another way out, but they weren't worried.

The party explored south and soon hit a pit trap, luckily the weakest jumped clear and avoided 2d6 damage. Beyond the trap was a door which really seemed to have the party stumped after spending round after round trying to open it. Extra random encounter rolls were made to no effect (dang) and someone suggested maybe the area beyond was also filled with water and that was prevent it from opening. But no, it was a fake door and it wasted significant time before they gave up.

To the west they found an access tube leading up to level 2. It was guarded by two Henku (egg laying Kenku, think Harpies). They were singing and I threw it to the players to suggest what a Kenku would sing. In any event most of the PCs were effected by their singing and came forward in a trance.  Sever had made his save and feigned to be effected and then chopped them down when he got in range. The Henku were really out of luck as all of the PCs they then touched made their saves versus charm and, before they could escape, they had taken too much damage to continue to fly and were soon finished off.

With the Henku out of the way the party were able to ascend one level and found the area there familiar, it was actually quite similar to the area of this level they had been too last year. Their exploration was fruitless before entering an elevator which, against their will, took them back down one level. This lead to a great deal of mapping confusion (and not just on my part), but eventually the party managed to confirm that this area connected with the other area of the maintenance level they had been to before. 

Just as they had made certain their position on the map they opened a door and ran into two giant and hungry bird creatures that decided the party would make a passable lunch.

The party was not the breakfast they were looking for.

After dealing with the Boobries and backtracking to the main door, the party kept going north and mapped yet more unexplored areas. They surprised and killed another Henku, this one was admiring itself in a floor to ceiling mirror at the end of one corridor. Their progress continued until they ran across a leathery man-like creature which tried to hide from them. It turned out to be one of the lizard man slaves used by the Hawkmen, and Sheamus, who had worked hard over the last year to learn their language while working with them on maintaining his Rocket Cycle, prevented Slippery Pete from slaughtering the poor creature.

This turned out to be a good idea as the Lizardman, soon dubbed McScales, reacted warmly to the Irishman speaking its language and immediately threw in with the party. He reported having escaped from a "flappy, tentacle-y creature" that was able to command Kenku and Hawkmen with its mind. McScales was searching for an exit to get away, and was hoping to find a means to reach one of the many thruster cones at the bottom of the sky city.

There was a secret door nearby, the lizardman had been very close to what he was seeking, and once it was open there was just one more random encounter to overcome. I rolled excitedly to see what dread guardian stood in their way: and I got Kenku hatchlings. So this was where they had been hiding from local predators. There were over 60 hatchlings and dozens of eggs with them. With three characters attacking the sub 1HD creatures six times a round, the result was a rout, the horrible creatures fled down a series of tubes that ran from the ceiling above into the floor below. The party followed and from there were able to drop down into the huge thruster cone that was pressed up against the volcano wall outside. From here they could see daylight light to the south, and from here it was possible to make their way out and then return to Castle Irish.

Dungeon stats: 

(This is a new session report feature where I summarise the delve)

Mapped area traversed: 320 feet

New corridor mapped: 400 feet

New rooms mapped: 10

Combats: 4

Total time in the dungeon: I will start recording this in future.


Treasure and XP


Trollopulous Adjusted Session 71 (Machodor #35)

Treasure & Items
Total XP 0 & 0gp

Monsters
3 Henku
2 Boobrie
63 Kenku Hatchlings

Total  3675xp

3675 XP &  0 GP Assignment weighted by level

Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) 459 XP & 0 GP
  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3) 229 XP & 0 GP
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E)  459 XP & 0 GP
Deltacron (Level 1/2 Fighter Thief, S ) 459 XP & 0 GP
Hawkern (Level 1 Fighter/Cleric, E ) 459 XP & 0 GP
Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief, E ) 459 XP & 0 GP
D Donny (Level 1 Monk, E ) 459 XP & 0 GP
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E )  459 XP & 0 GP


Graveyard


Red (Human Paladin Level 1) always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2) , Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Wednesday 5 June 2024

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 70 (Machodor #34); Beetle Mania in the Pizza Slice of Doom

          

Not so boring after all


Timekeeping


This session took place on 16/05/2024, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present


Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of a Dragonslayer, E) with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3)
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane, E)
Comfort Rod (Level 1 Cleric, wielder of the Hammer of Giant Influence, E ) 
Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief of unknown origins, wearer of the Hat of Disguise, E ) 
Gurt the Green (Level 2 Paladin of Machodor, E )
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter of Brovenloft, wielder of the Drewblade, E ) 


Introduction 


Rumours circulated of silver beasts eating farmers' fields far to the north, and to the east a certain crazed Elf claiming the throne of Trollopulous; but, having gotten a taste for a new/old dungeon last session, the party went back for more.

Session Report


Augmented by Sheamus, much the same party as last session set off back to the Pizza Slice of Doom. There was a bit of digression to describe the exact capacity of the Rocket Cycle, since the party was now too large for them all to travel on it while Sever flew on his Pegasus. There was much nodding at the presence of sacks of fungus, somehow well preserved long after they had been absent mindedly stashed in the one of the two storage sections, and then they set off for the extinct volcano.

Last time, while gathering up the loot, they noted a bored entrance hole in the far end of the room which must have been made by the beetles the had defeated there. The prospect of a lair of the creatures was foremost in everyone's minds and the party made a b-line for it. First, however, they were cautious enough to carefully examine the entrance door. This was just as well, as Slippery Pete found a strange light-emitting device wedged between the door and the door-frame. Once removed the door opened without further issue.

Now inside, the players decided to explore a few corridors to extend their map before heading back to the area of interest hidden behind a secret door. Once inside they found the decaying corpses of the beetles they had defeated last session, their metallic carapaces had dissolved into mush, and no one was prepared to mess with that. 

The hole in the wall lead to a narrow passage, so they continued on in single file. Giuseppe took the lead and made heavy use of Detect Evil, which usually guarantees no evil will be found and today was no different. The meandering passage was cut right through the guts of the sky city maintenance level, leaving exposed sharp pieces of metal, some of which glowed with what might be dangerous energy.

They followed the passage until it terminated in a hexagonal room 30' across, in the center of which, below a low ceiling of sod and fungus and such, were a dozen of the metallic boring beetles like those they had handily defeated last session. The creatures were in a circle surrounding a big pile of coins and other items and the party pretty much stumbled right into them (I think they were surprised for 1 segment). However, I got a 98% reaction roll from the beetles! I figured that, not knowing that the party killed three of their number previously, they would simply observe them in some sort of bug eyed fascination. The MM entry says that when in large numbers the intelligence of the group approaches that of an average human, so I had to put myself in those shoes (claws?).

Giuseppe slowly pulled out some silver pieces and threw them across the room. One beetle responded and collected them one by one, then returned to the circle. By now the PCs had noted the tell tale shine of platinum pieces in the treasure pile, and their blood was up.

They retreated to the secret room and made a plan. Unknown to them, the beetles had also made a plan, although it turned out to be countered by what the party did next; which was to cover the floor of a section of the narrow tunnel with oil, and then strategically place gold pieces on the floor every few feet, in the hopes of luring the beetles into it were they could then set them alight.

When the first beetle appeared around the corner it soon found an arrow embedded in its shell. This was an attempt to draw it to them across the oil. Rather than attack, the beetle returned to its friends (with the gold coin) and they discussed the matter amongst themselves. I again rolled a 98 reaction, so they didn't regard the arrow as a threat as such, they were more confused than upset, and were more interested in gaining additional gold pieces from these strange outsiders. They sent out another beetle, and when the cycle repeated itself and it too came back with a gold piece and an arrow in its side, finally, they decided to attack.

The next thing the party saw was yet another beetle, but this one was carrying a load of mould (brown) which it proceeded to dump into the oil on the ground, soon another appeared and did the same, and before long they had covered the area leading into the room the party was in. It was time for fight or flight, and the party's strongest moved to hold the entrance, and did so; but a round later scratching and scraping noises could be heard behind the other walls; the bugs were making another way in to attack! 

they were coming out of the walls


Before long the beetles had made two new entrances into the room and the party was busy holding on to two of them with Sever and Sheamus while three beetles ran amok in the middle of their ranks. It was touch and go but the dice favoured the players; when a beetle did hit it hit hard, but they did not hit often enough to seriously threaten the higher level characters (or Slippery Pete who chose this opportunity to swig the last portion of his invisibility potion) and the lower level ones managed to stay just in the realm of positive hit points.

Slippery Pete went forward via one of the newly dug tunnels and found it lead right back to the beetle's lair, where three of them were still guarding their treasure. He explored further from there and did nothing the could not be mentioned in a session report.

Giuseppe, at the fall of a beetle, noted the absence of Pete, and pushed forward with his henchmen to investigate, but he found the brown mould in that tunnel actually radiated freezing waves of cold, which froze him and nearly killed his henchmen, and he had to retreat back into the room. If the beetles had better deployed that mould the battle could have gone their way, however, as their numbers dropped so did their combined intelligence, and in the end the party pushed on into their lair and killed the remaining three there, nearly losing Gurt the Green to a last, desperate bite from the remaining boring beetle while Slippery Pete backstabbed a beetle trying to escape with treasure. 

Prologue


This was a long battle and, following a vigorous debriefing of Slippery Pete, the party was in the mood to collect the (vast amount of) treasure and run; but, while they were doing so, they uncovered a broadsword with a large gem embedded in its hilt. Not being so foolish as to experiment with it in the dungeon, they wrapped the sheathed blade in a cloak and then retreated back all the way to Castle Irish without further encounters; but, once there, Gurt announced he was going to draw the sword and see what it did! And that was going to be a problem for the Paladin, since it was an intelligent sword of a different alignment to his.

DMG page 167

Had he escaped death at the mandibles of giant beetles only to fall in the courtyard of Castle Irish?
This sent me scurrying to calculate the ego of the sword which, with it being drawn from Unearthed Arcana for reasons I now regretted, was not that easy to do. In the end the Ego was exactly the same number as Gurt's current hit points, so he collapsed unconscious and the party carefully covered the sword again after Sever kicked it away (which notably did no harm to him). Being back in town meant that this was not life threatening for Gurt, but it did mean that he forfeited a week of downtime activity while he recovered, which in my book is getting off lightly! 


Treasure and XP


Trollopulous Adjusted Session 69 (Machodor #34)

Treasure & Items
Potion of Levitation 250xp 
Potion of Invisibility 250xp 
Potion of Longevity sold for 1000gp
Potion of Healing 200xp
Potion of Invulnerability 350xp
Potion of Water Breathing 400xp

3800pp
11 Gems: Total Value 11,780gp
Intelligent Broadsword "Dunker" sold for 15,000gp

Total XP 48,230 & 46,780gp

Monsters

12 Boring Beetles 2400xp

Total  2400xp


50,630 XP &  46,780 GP Assignment weighted by level


Giuseppe (Level 6 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, E) 10,469 XP & 9,356 GP
  with henchmen Bishoy & Tawadros (F3) 1702 XP & 2339 GP
Sever (Level 6 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, E)  10,469 XP & 9,356 GP
Comfort Rod (Level 1 Cleric, E ) 2031 XP & 1559 GP
Slippery Pete (Level 6 Thief, E ) 10,469 XP & 9,356 GP
Gurt the Green (Level 2 Paladin, E ) 3718 XP & 3119 GP
Sheamus (Level 6 Irish Fighter, E )  10,469 XP & 9,356 GP


Graveyard


Red (Human Paladin Level 1) always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Level 1 Magic User), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2) , Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39

Trollopulous Adjusted Session 82 (Machodor #43); From Saint Raul to the Dungeon

     The Machodorian City of Saint Raul Timekeeping This session took place on 15/08/2024, and the PCs adventured for 5 days. Player Charact...