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| Da Crusher |
Introduction
In the last session, the player characters learned of a possible route through the Pizza Slice of Doom to approach the enemy-occupied Castle Irish — a path that would bypass the Firenewt forward base in the lava tunnel below. They were also warned that the PSoD was now the home of three giant mutant purple worms. This week, they continued to explore the radically altered dungeon — which, of course, I had continued to flesh out as my powers of abduction flowed. If they were to progress with their plans, the worms would have to be dealt with.
Timekeeping
This session began on April 16th, 2026. The party waited out a bad storm in Minas Mandalf, then adventured all day on the 17th and returned to the city by nightfall. Downtime for these characters begins on the 18th.
Player Characters Present
Sever the Wrathful (Level 10 Pegasus Corps Ranger Lord of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and the Rod of Lordly Might, wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength, rider of Mustang) with henchman Rabbit (FMT556) and Poindexter (M7) and Thomas (C7)Giuseppe (Level 9 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of Sanctus Draconis Interfector and the Shield of Protection from Missiles, rider of Bonecrusher) with henchman Rhoikos (M8) and Steelvein (F7)Sheamus (Level 9 Irish Fighter Lord from Brovenloft, rider of the Rocket Cycle and wielder of the Drewblade) with henchmen McScales (Lizardman F7), Colin Farel (F3)
Downtime
Session Report
Encounter #1: Dragonne
Highlights: It was flying on undersized wings and was clearly not going to catch them, even if it saw them, and it had given no indication that it could see through their invisibility. Nevertheless, the party took the bait to try and find if it had a lair, but the monster soon landed in unfamiliar territory, where it began hunting whatever prey it was after on foot. After some more observation, it became clear that the stupid beast was no threat and not worth engaging with. That is the luck of the dice for you.
The heroes landed at the edge of the crack in the volcano where the entrance to the Pizza Slice of Doom lay and hid the Rocket Cycle nearby. They shimmied down the access tunnel into the maintenance level and retraced their path from last week until reaching Level 2. There, they consulted with the lizardman Cloppen Dapnab (whom they met in session 104) before continuing on to reach the new area where the giant worms made their home, explaining to Sever's player along the way what they thought they were doing. The Ranger was no stranger to the PSoD, however, and he soon had his bearings (though no one chose to remind him of the room where he had killed Petrov the Prestidigitator).
Rabbit went forward and checked down the first few side passages as the rest of the party trailed behind him. Down one of the passages, he saw what looked to be a lost baby lizardman—perhaps they could win some favour from the local inhabitants by bringing him back with them? As he went forward, suddenly the whole floor of the passage came to life and swallowed up the half-elf.
Combat #1: Trapper
Rounds: 2
Result: Party win
Highlights: At Rabbit's muffled, incomplete shout of 'Help!', Sever sprang forward and immediately sized up the situation: his henchman was trapped in a trapper and would be hard to save if he didn't act fast. That help came in the form of a precious charge from the Ranger's Rod of Lordly Might. A winning initiative roll and a failed saving throw saw the trapper paralysed and easily dispatched. The freed Rabbit was hardly the worse for wear.
Having defeated the trapper, the party advanced down the side corridor—they're thorough like that. At the end of the corridor was a room that harked back to earlier times, with signs of toxic goop everywhere. Generous hints were given, yet they still tried to force open a door on the far side of the room. Only a good initiative roll saved them from being inundated with the roomful of goop that the door was holding back. They backtracked hurriedly to the outer area and proceeded on. Beyond was an even greater area that was a putrid combination of former Hawkman spaceship, Forest level organic matter, and—again—the goop.
Having passed the side passages and moved into the vast central area where their prey presumably hunted, the party was loath to move far from the wall. They edged south, only making inroads as the terrain dictated, keeping their eyes peeled for anything. Then, in the middle distance, they saw what they hoped was a friendly.
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| Rugo Bimbam was his name. |
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| Outstanding standy action |
Combat #2: Da Crusher (Mutant Purple Worm)
Rounds: 3
Result: Party win
Highlights: The huge monster dropped among the heroes as they tried to clear its landing zone. That achieved, the party fanned out and took advantage of the size of the enormous target by attacking it from the front and flanks. The casters, in particular, were in no mood to go toe-to-toe with the thing, standing off and firing the trusty combination of slow, prayer, and magic missile. The worm had several crazy mutant abilities, rolled from the Gamma World tables, that I deployed at the time but have subsequently lost track of — they have apparently been lost like tears in rain. The fighters then switched to the flanks, and Rhoikos was going to fireball the head before a psychic attack (I just remembered!) from the monster ruined his spell. Its incredible bag of hit points was depleted by the end of round 3, and the monster collapsed in a putrid pile of putrescence.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a swarm of metallic beetles was attracted to the corpse. The party let them get on with their grisly business and retreated a ways to discuss their plans with Rugor.
The heroes decided to follow Da Crusher's trail in the hopes of reaching its lair. With the creature having attacked from above, this meant getting up into the worm-hewn passage and following it back to its source. This accomplished, they found in its terrible lair the smashed remains of countless bones — bones belonging to lizardmen. There was also another, narrower tunnel in the lair going down into the structure; it seemed likely that the worm had originally arrived this way but was now too large to keep using it. A third tunnel led back to the main cavern. Unlike the one the worm had attacked from, this was at ground level, spilling out into an open area with little cover and the hint of possible shambling mounds nearby. So instead of going after more worms for now, they returned to the lair and explored downwards. Rugor stayed behind in the lair.
The tunnel bored down, past metal and through organic matter, into a relatively intact sub-level that was part of the original middle-layer support area of the Hawkmen who had built this place. Methodically, the heroes explored, finding a control room with dead Hawkmen and a locked door. Of course, they had to open it.
Result: Party win
Highlights: The 'normal' worm had obviously worked its way up from below and somehow got itself trapped in this room — fortunate, otherwise there might have been four mutants to deal with. It was only too happy to eat its erstwhile rescuers. However, with the party prepared, they destroyed the powerful creature in just one round.
Having now spent seven hours in the dungeon, the heroes were ready for a rest. Once again they returned via a route that allowed them to inform Clopper Dapnab (see last session). And he was very impressed at their feat of killing one of the mutant worms "Yousa heroes!" He looked forward to their return, but warned them that the two remaining worms would react in some fashion the the death of "Da Crusher".
Session Statistics:
Approximate time in the Dungeon: 42 Turns
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