A little more time off.

As you may have figured by now, I am taking some additional time away from the blog.

When I return there may also be a new writer joining the blog - CaptCorajus. I have offered him the opportunity to write occasionally. We often have different enough views on things or varied ideas, and that should lead to some good back and forth discussions.

Game on!

Well, That Was Exciting . . .

Between me being ill and the weather deciding the area needed a big dump of snow, the intended game on the weekend did not happen.

I suppose the snowfall should have been expected since it seems that we get at least one decent accumulation of snow every February, often around the second or third weekend. Hopefully this won't become a cycle of storms like Boston and the Northeast have been pummeled by recently.

At least the rain and warmer temps Sunday helped clear the roads. We even got to play in CaptCorajus' game Sunday afternoon. More on that later.

I Feel Funky

In the Sunday game run by CaptCorajus we completed the adventure against the slimy cult of Juiblex. Of course Torul ended up completely covered in the stuff, how else would you expect things to finish?

When last we left off, the Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG) and a handful of evil acolytes had come down a rope ladder and were blocking the party's way when we returned to cross the streams, I mean mix the slimes at the altar. See that green shield and sword drawn on the map between us and them? That was the spell Guardian of Faith. It does damage when you enter the 10' area surrounding it. That never seems to dissuade an angry half-orc. See the four acolytes surrounding the Evil High Priest (EHP)? Can you say cannon fodder? I thought you could.

Torul rushed past the Guardian of Faith and took 10 points of damage, but managed to get to the forward acolytes and immediately slay one. Roysen cast silence on Torul's shield so that he could cut off as much spell activity as possible from the enemies.

Another acolyte stepped in to take the first one's place and the EHP BBEG was able to get off a class ability engulfing the rest of the party in some sort of darkness in which they were also taking damage from unseen horrors. He then backed away and had one of his not-too-bright minions stand in front of him.

As the battle wore on it was becoming obvious that unless the party did something quickly, Torul was likely toast, soon to be followed by the others.

Mulva stepped out of the dark cloud and fired a crossbow bolt slaying the newest volunteer thus letting Torul to pursue the BBEG. She then confronted an acolyte who fled back up the rope ladder, wetting himself on the way, though already dripping with ooze who would know.

Sophia, our wizard, soon joined the fight and her barrage of the best combat spell in 5e failed when it reached the EHP (Brooch of Shielding).

Roysen kicked in the healing juice to keep Torul and the others on their feet.

 The BBEG was still proving resilient and resourceful, dropping another black cloud of unseen nasty on top of Torul, obscuring them both from the rest of the party. Despite taking a beating, Torul hung with the EHP hoping to tamp down spell casting and prevent the gooey jerk from getting to his altar of slime. Meanwhile Sophia cast web through the dark cloud of slimy misery, relying on memory of the hallway to pin it right on the BBEG (Morbion) and Torul. She ended up using inspiration to make it work. While Web normally doesn't require an attack roll to place it, Capt Corajus ruled (fairly I feel) to have her roll to place it with the amount missed from a taget DC affecting the distance off point and it would be a random direction. She initially rolled a 1 and the inspiration die fixed the problem.

Note the effort CaptCorajus put forth to make the evil slime altar/pool look presentable for company. He even got out the good candelabras.

Needless to say any time you think you have the BBEG cornered and nearly beat, they always have a trick up their sleeve. This one whipped out a lair power on our party and called forth from the pool/altar a slimy turd of enormous size to come save his wretched backside.

It didn't save him. He got cut all up and then finished off by Roysen with a cantrip. How embarrassing.

The party then did away with the giant sludgy brute and the looting commenced.

The party went on to find the missing 11 townsfolk and aid from a save place in the dungeon, managed to save them all. They even went exploring the rest of the dungeon, found the runaway acolyte (killed him when he refused to surrender). Discovered treasure that included a precious Elven Snowflake (minor? artifact) and the destroyed the rest of the slimy influence using the flake's power. Ta-Da!

Getting the people back to town, the party was praised, asked to become residents (they really need new DNA badly) since we would be able to protect them and all of their guards are dead. Instead the party opted to convert coins to gems, a mule, winter gear, a strong mule, and two kegs of ale.

Heading north they got into a very snowy area and eventually found a huge statue of Orcus amid some tall spires (obelisks?) with a magical crystal atop one, glowing a menacing red.  Of course the party would try to bypass as best they could based on the terrain impediments. That meant being with our backs to a tall cliff about a quarter mile from the statue, still within the glow's effective range.

We left off when undead all around, and under the party, started to rise and approach.

I think the evil immortals must have taken deli-counter numbers to see who faces us next. Set - CHECK! Juiblex - CHECK! Orcus - yup, sheesh! If they ever get back to the surface world, the only people that will believe their tales are the ones pissed off about being defeated!

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.

We found our errant halfling

Just over a week ago we continued playing in Captcorajus' D&D campaign. When last we left off, we were in the temple of the dead god Set, searching for the missing party member who possesses the artifact the cultists needed to restore Set to life.

To briefly recap:

The party had stumbled upon the artifact, one of Set's eyes, while earning bounties by clearing the Caves of Chaos (modified to have a shrine and cultists of Set instead of the original evil cult from Keep on the Borderlands).

In our travels we kept having trouble with Set worshippers, hmmmm, wonder why . . .

We got to Karameikos and got tangled in a murder mystery, set upon by, assassins, and took down the local cult to Set. We also had to once again track down the Eye of Set which somehow got into the Thief Lord's Vault.

We recovered the Eye, and while looking for the way out of the vault took time to loot, since we had not found an exit, and were unceremoniously pitched through a portal into the Hollow World.

We beat up the local Kuo Toa until they realized all we wanted was to get out with most of our and some of their treasure. They were very happy to see us leave.

We wandered through the swamp kicking the crap out of the local flora and fauna - Shambling Mounds, Crocodiles, T-Rex, etc.

We were again set upon by Setites. This is when our halfling bearer of the ring, er, I mean Eye, accompanies the snaky worshippers of Set via teleport and leaves the rest of us to have an "oh, crap" moment.

We tracked them to the gigantic temple built over the dead god's body and went in to get our halfling and the artifact.

We managed to bluff our way past the dangerous throne room by spouting some nightmarish pro-Set propaganda, and went hunting.

After slaughtering a room full of adepts and some capable priests, disguising two of the three of us as high priests, we worked our way deeper into the nastiness, eventually taking down a Death Knight.

And here is where things pick up with the most recent session . . .

After descending a very long stairway we came upon two of the big snaky spawns of Set. My character, the half-orc fighter disguised as a high priest, intimidated the two of them into going up to intercept the intruders that had slaughtered a room full of adepts and priests and we would take over guarding the "Chosen One".

That is when we found the halfling, as we expected, being feted with a smorgasbord of he most delectable foods and wines available, and doing nothing what-so-ever to escape. Yup, we KNEW she went willingly. (Protest all you want CaptCorajus, your daughter's character was content to sit there being catered to, typical halfling).  ;)

Coercing the halfling to come with us, and grabbing some food for ourselves (hey, we just spent two days without food trying to get to our hairy little sneak).

Suddenly our sneak vanished on us again, (teleport or dimension door, we weren't sure), and now we had to return to hunting in the vast temple complex.

Our choices became limited to going back up the stairs or risking an opaque black portal in the carved snake maw. We tested the black portal using a broken table leg tied to a length of rope. The leg and a portion of the rope did not come back. That had us convinced the long stairs back up were the only choice. We didn't need further convincing, but we were given additional reason soon enough as the vending machine formerly known as the black portal began spewing hundreds of venomous snakes. (Quite a return on investment - broken table leg and a short bit of rope for hundreds of snakes).

The party ran for the stairs and began the assent as the snakes formed up into a huge amalgamation of a monster.

Never give a dead serpent god an enema because this beast is what you get.

Remember, running away IS an option in D&D. Run we did. We were climbing the spiral stairs upward in a hurry and this thing was tall enough to intercept the party 20 feet up without effort.

Note: The dwarf is the ghostly figure. He was wearing an invisibility cloak and could still be seen by this thing.

We ended up having to fight this monstrosity and that meant the half-orc fighter with his amazing 28 AC vs evil, had to get in its face while on the stairs. It kept spitting caustic venom like that scene in Jurassic Park where the frilled dinosaur attacks Nedry. Three times it tried and three times my character saved. Got bit once, but is immune to poisons of all types thanks to a magic ring, and eventually the beast swept Torul off the stairs for a 20 foot drop.

While the beast had been occupied with Torul, the party combined for enough damage to destroy it.

The wizard is down to cantrips, the dwarf is conserving spells for when we find the halfling again, and the half-orc has chugged two healing potions and used his second wind. There was no time to rest so we decided to check the portal again - we had another table leg and more rope so why not, what's the worst that could happen, space herpes?

This time there was a normal cavernous tunnel where the black portal had been and we could hear combat and chanting somewhere within the tunnel. That settled it, it was up Set's colon we had to go.

In a larger better lit cavern we located our errant halfling, wreathed in glowing armor with a glowing sword, dancing about in some ceremonial display in which she kept swinging the sword, but never striking her dancing partner, as a room full of Set minions chanted.

The halfling was standing in the palm of Set and nearby, half encased by stone was the serpent god's face, with one eye socket empty, his glowing ruby eye on his palm at the halfling's feet.

Battle ensued, eventually resulting in Torul having to jam his sword into the dead god's eye socket to keep the eye from fully restoring him (The Sorceress the halfling ran off with originally had jammed the eye into the socket). Meanwhile the dwarf cleric uncorked the last of his more powerful spells to harm the remaining enemies each round.

Finally, the eye fell out and the halfling decided to again switch sides to be on the obvious winning team, and tossed the eye into the nearby volcano. She retains all ten fingers.

The temple began to collapse and we high-tailed it to safety.

The only loot was a single live cobra that Torul had captured and was carrying in a sack.

According to the DM, thus ends season 1.

Catching up a bit

Had I the inclination I would have had plenty of posts recently, alas, I lacked the motivation.

Here is a quick bit of what has been happening:

The Yearly Horror Game - CaptCorajus ran his annual Cthulhuesque horror game. This year it used the character creation method from Dread (the questionnaire) and resulted in some very 'colorful' characters. I plan to post more about it including posting the characters and some pictures soon. Just be warned, the players, myself included, are some seriously twisted individuals when it comes to creating characters.

The Sunday D&D campaign run by CaptCorajus - We completed the transition from C&C to D&D5E and the characters have managed to get into some serious trouble while traveling the wilds. That includes battling alligators, shambling mounds, a tyrannosaurus rex, some Yuan-ti and their cultists, and bunches of biting insects. The party has been split up due to our halfling willingly teleporting away with the Yuan-ti sorceress while carrying an artifact the Yuan-ti need to resurrect the evil god Set. The other three members are now inside the temple above where the body of set resides, battling and sneaking our way through while trying to locate the halfling so we can force her to leave (and bring the artifact) thus disrupting the Yuan-ti plans. We have not yet found our errant halfling rogue, however the remaining three members of the 5th level party have achieved some amazing things.

The gimped cleric, handicapped wizard, and certifiably insane fighter managed to take down a CR17 Death Knight without casualties. The wizard has never been able to get the 3rd level spells that a 5th level wizard should get, the cleric transitioned from C&C and lost physical combat capabilities and healing capabilities, but did gain some kick-ass spells, however being in a temple over the buried body of an evil god left the cleric unwilling to continue casting spells due to the very nasty negative side effects. That left the fighter as the only one in full combat shape.

Oh, and without a doubt, Magic Missile is the single best combat spell in D&D5E. It doesn't miss, moving it to higher slots pumps the damage, and it wrecks concentration somewhat reliably.

After this latest session, the party should now be 6th level (we netted at least 20,000 xp for three members), and the wizard will still not have 3rd level spells . . .

Note: we know the halfling went willingly since only willing creatures/people can be teleported, and we also know the Yuan-ti sorceress is at least a 13th level caster since the lower level teleport circle takes a full minute to cast and the teleport took only a single round. It is amazing the meta-game knowledge one can glean during play.  :)

And now some pictures.

D&D Reviews Video Blog

A life-long friend of mine has a video blog discussing and reviewing different D&D related things.

I highly recommend checking it out. Let him know where you found out about his vlog.