My Kingdom for a Stone Bucket

Ever have one of those game sessions where you wish you'd thought to bring that single most indispensable item - the stone bucket?

So Sunday's game (no, not that one) was an exercise in near futility.

The party went to the caves indicated on the map which are what remains of a gold mine where things went very, very wrong. The atmosphere within the mines became tainted, bringing upon those venturing within, a mighty sickness.

Yes, they did simply walk in, after slaying the contingent of slime dominated goblins guarding the entrance. Keeping one alive at the request of the Dwarf cleric so he could test a curative spell, which worked, and for questioning, the party learned that the BBEG was named Mordian and that this goon was bringing people to the caves for forced conversions to the service of Juiblex the mucus gawd. Keeping this cured goblin with them, inward went the party.

They party and their goblin guide were protected from the illness inducing miasma of the mine by some dwarven "sick stones", crystals that have a property counter to the slimy atmosphere within.

Inside the mines we encountered lots of slime (who couldn't guess that?) and plenty of obstacles. We nearly lost our guide when a section of the ground gave way over a pit filled with green slime.

We located the evil slime idol, a pit of black tar, a polluted river, and a large pool of olive green sline with a narrow stone bridge crossing it. (Torul remarked to Royson that this just goes to show the problems with unregulated industry).

It was while having our guide go have a look across the bridge that we got attacked by humanoid shaped slime creatures, and one round later were minus one goblin guide.

The party was forced to retreat while slowly whittling away at the mucus mercenaries. It was during this retreat we discovered quite by accident, that the two types of green slime do not play well with each other. Put one into the other and it has somewhat explosive results with the greener of the two slimes surviving and the olive being vanquished.

NEW PLAN! If we had a bucket that wouldn't corrode away to nothing, we could pour this greener slime on the idol/altar and make the BBEG cry uncle. Sadly the best we could do was take the iron kettle the goblins had been using to cook with, and grab some slime in hopes it would last till we could get back to the evil altar.

No new plan survives contact with the BBEG. On our way back to the altar, who should show up between us and it, but the BBEG and some acolytes.

And that is where things left off for the evening.

The party is now 1,000 points shy of 7th level (except the dwarf who hit 7th) and our wizard still lacks third level spells. Magic Missile - still the best combat spell in 5E.

A Wicked Cool Journey

Idle, grumbling, waiting
Growling, lurching into motion
With a rising roar, away through
The precipitous, cold weather
Precious cargo upon its back,
Enshrouded from the elements
Closer, slowly closer to home,
Wicked, it brings
To awe those gathered
Warmly sharing laughter and fun
Shining, a phoenix
Further brightening joyful play
Soon at the doorstep
Soon through the portal
Soon, the clatter of dice

Something Wicked Cool - Final Clue

Four clues down, and this final clue to go. I have commissioned something awesome for myself and my gaming group. The four clues so far in order are:

SWING THE HAMMER

DARK WALNUT

PHOENIX

RANDOM LIST

And the final clue for those that have not yet guessed what it is that was commissioned:

NO CHIC FOR THIS GEEK

Tasting Torul

Yesterday we dove back into CaptCorajus' D&D game, where we had just defeated the cult of Set. Now we have managed to find our path crossing with a different cult. What is it with the Hollow World and evil cults?

The party made our way back to the city of the Ascans who gave us a mule, some supplies, and a tablet saying we were their friends. Then they kicked us out of the city and explained that the tablet would be useless since other Ascans would attack first and read later. Gee, thanks for the souvenir!

We were heading for an elven city some distance off and had to cross a clearing that even large predatory dinosaurs would not cross. So of course we made a bee line right across the center. We found out why the predators avoided the clearing.

This World Has Worms

Oh, and everything seems to want to eat Torul. On the question of whether the halfling rogue would get sneak attack damage for having an ally within 5 feet of the creature? The answer is YES . . . within the first 5 feet of the creature!

The huge worm tried valiantly to swallow and chew on the half-orc fighter for a number of rounds and when it realized it was perilously close to death it spat out the fighter and dove back into its tunnel and ran away. 

We continued on and eventually met a villager who was seeking help for a strange affliction affecting his normally peaceful village. People were acting strange, old friends not acknowledging each other, people going missing, no services at Odin's temple, no concern by the town guards about the missing people, etc. We needed rest so we agree to go to his village.

During our time there we investigated the problems and very quickly determined that the root cause was hidden somewhere within the jail and the temple. We started our more in-depth inquiry at the jail.

Darion the guardsman was looking a bit slimy was being rude and uncooperative so Torul decided he needed to learn some manners. As expected, a fight broke out when Torul revealed the guy was part slime, not just in reputation, but fact.

The order went out to release the creature and the other guards went tearing out of the jail. Then came the creature. It looked something like a shambling mound, but a lot slimier and somewhat meaner.

In the ensuing combat the wizard put the guards to sleep, and everyone focused on the snot monster. Darion of course ran away in the confusion, later to return from behind the party with cultist allies, one quite powerful.

The monster did incredible harm to the jail before being defeated and melting down into a puddle of lumpy mucus. That is when Darion and the spell casters came at us from the direction of the temple.

Fortunately our wizard easily outgunned the row of cannon-fodder adepts easily while their errant spells brought down the jail completely.

Their priest however (converted from worship of Odin to worship of Juiblex, lord of boogers) was a different matter. Torul was having an uncharacteristic amount of difficulty hitting this well armored and spell buffed foe. The priest was also tearing Torul apart with spells while Darion interposed himself between them (Insect Plague hurts, especially when cast from a higher spell slot).

Eventually the half-orc risked an attack in order to reach and slay the slime priest, and the party chased Darion beneath the temple, ending his pitiful existence.

That's where the game left off until next session.

TDAAL Quest - New Campaign

Getting back behind the screen for some more 5e

It is about time. It looks like the group will be getting back together February 21st to complete the Isle of the Abbey adventure we began in October.

There will be some changes in both the cast of characters and the players. I'm trying my best to drag the same people back to the table and maybe a couple more.

The previous player of the Paladin will be playing a thief. The Paladin will be played by the player formerly playing the wizard. There is no confirmation yet if the player of the Ranger is returning, though most of the group hopes this will happen. A player that could not make it last time due to a family emergency is likely to make it this time and may bring a plus one (both have never played D&D and want to learn). Someone will inherit the wizard, and someone will get to choose from the starter set pre-gen characters.

When we last played, the characters had crossed the island, braved attacks by undead and pirates, met some goats and other pirates, made their way up a cliff to get to the abbey, ambushed some evil cultists, got inside the surviving underground portion of the ruins, fought a bunch more cultists, and earned more than enough experience points to become level 2 which they will be at the start of the upcoming session.

There will be exploring, combat, more exploring and combat, etc. Mostly dungeon crawling this time around. They have already discovered there are some factions at play, so far mostly of the get me off the island and I won't interrupt this adventure for a Pound type. They have not yet decided how or if they should do anything with the factions and individuals that are roaming the island and the ruins.

I am definitely looking forward to the game, especially since I will be able to break out lots of props and some surprises for the group.

Stay tuned!

Gygax Magazine Issue #5

I contacted the publisher a while back asking about the expected release date for the 5th issue.

Michelle Weidman was kind enough to get back to me on December 15th and let me know that they are still working out production kinks. She stated that issue #5 was getting close to completion and that they hoped to have it out shortly after Christmas.

Michelle,
Thanks for letting me know this information. I'm hoping it will be arriving this week, because Christmas has slipped on by and January is over halfway gone.

I think it is important to state that I am a supporter of the magazine effort and have twice subscribed for a full year (issues 1-4, and 5-8).

Let's hope things will speed up during 2015.

Sincerely,
OSRbaron