DOOM TO YOUR WALLET!

Dwarven Forge Kickstarter number 3 is underway. More preview pics below.

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!

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.

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.