Session 191 - Into the Breach!

The tables have turned! Now it's Team Chaos who seem fairly safe in their dungeon bunker, while Team Law prepares for an assault on the angels at the top of the elevator shaft. At least you've made ratman friends!

Oh, and the Third Trumpet has blown so that's going to be fun...


POWERLAD gets into Vine.
Andromeda locks a door.
Zena presses all the buttons in the elevator.
Styx creates Iron Man armour for his son.
Ratimir sends his rats to their doom.
Flaming Fury headbutts an angel at ramming speed.

So many illustrations this week! Check these out!



- Ollie draws a throwback - Lulu escaping Mt Death Frost all those years ago





- And also does this amazing pixel POWERLAD!



Session 191 - Into the Breach!

Campaign Date:
Saturday, 28 April, 1601
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Zodiac: Aries

New Backstory:
- Flaming Fury came across that big ol’ penis alien thing from a few sessions ago before anyone else did. It spoke inside her mind, offering companionship and safety… and awoke a strange power within her. (Once per session, cast a random spell)
- Andromeda fell out with the evil alternate timeline POWERLAD because she was being forced to marry him against her will. Why shouldn’t she be allowed to choose the POWERLAD she was to marry? That was the very day that our POWERLAD killed him and made Andromeda that not all POWERLADs were unworthy of her love… (One time: It turns out someone you don’t know here is your estranged buddy - “Wait, JOHN!?”. Up to you whether you’ve forgiven each other yet)

Treasure and Equipment:
-
Total: 0 exp

Enemies Defeated:
- 6 Angels, variously smashed and shattered (300 exp)
Total: 300 exp

Exploration:
- Explored 2 new dungeon areas (40 exp)
Total: 40 exp

Events:
- We begin with the players split into two teams as they were at the end of last session. Team Law is on the elevator, considering whether they should go up or down. Team Chaos is stuck under the big room full of angels. There are a few mysterious character disappearances due to missing players. (50 exp)
--- Team Law
- Zena, Flaming Fury, three surviving Dwarfs and Ratimir decide that they’ll follow the original plan and head up in the elevator to meet up with the others. (50 exp)
- The elevator ascends upwards, the singing of angels getting louder, until it stops in an open room! The room is larger than the elevator shaft and there are angels all over the place! Also noticed before shit gets real - some moss-covered corpses, one in the shape of a spider. (50 exp)
- There are two four-legged wing-cannon angels, a boss angel, and three of the normal spherical angels. Luckily Flaming Fury knows Angel so she steps forward… (50 exp)
- “ -- WE ARE HERE WITH A PRISONER FOR PROCESSING -- “ she sings… badly. Fuck. (50 exp)
- Stasis beams blast out from the angels’ wing-cannons, coring out the heart of one of the Dwarfs and sizzling as his whole body slumps forward onto the beam and sizzles it away! (50 exp)



- The other Dwarfs’ looks of shock are frozen to their faces as the beams lance straight through their skulls! (50 exp)
- Zena spams the Down button on the elevator control unit! Fuck! The Dwarf corpses drop down with them, their blood dripping through the platform energy field. Also on the elevator as it lowers - 3 basic Angels! (5 exp)



- Desperate battle ensues as the elevator quickly descends. Ratimir engages Rat Armour and his rats cover him. Zena manages to chop an Angel’s arm off. Above, the cannon angels move to fire down the shaft…
--- Team Chaos
- Down in the rocket exhaust pit, Styx has a zany idea he wants to try out. Using Turn-Light-Cold glyphs to change the metal pipes in the walls to water, then pouring that into moulds, he’ll be able to construct a suit of armour for Break. (50 exp)



- POWERLAD begrudgingly agrees to shape stone to Styx’s specifications, then leaves the goblins to it. (50 exp)
- Andromeda, meanwhile, has shimmied up the vent to scope out the situation in the hall above. (50 exp)
- The angels are singing up there, some of them have begun working on fixing the shattered launch apparatus while others guard the doors. Against the back wall is the undamaged metal vessel covered in strange greenery. (50 exp)
- She slides back down the hole and POWERLAD catches her at the bottom! He’s just worried in case she hurts herself… right? (50 exp)
- They look over at Styx and Break… and see a marvellous sight. Break is climbing inside a quadrupedal metal suit made of thick metal plate! It’s like Iron Man up in here. (50 exp)
- After fastening all the pieces together and ensconcing Break within… it’s ready to be activated! (50 exp)
- Break powers the Turn-Light-Mass glyph within - Turn Life - and the armoured suit comes to life! It says some strange words before falling silent - “Speed one terahertz. Memory one zettabyte.” Break now has power armour! (50 exp)



- POWERLAD and Andromeda look on in shock and then… (50 exp)
--- A Vision
- Your great head rising, long neck stretching, lava dripping from your flanks as you stretch your great wings and cast a shadow over the town below. Everything living is within your sight - a vast world of pulsing green. (50 exp)
- Under the soil, under the rock, pulsing far down below, the great tendrils of the great beast in the core of the earth. It is hurt, growing unchecked, infested with parasites. And yet it lives. (50 exp)
- In the distance, the vast shape of Ereshkigal, tearing at the vast thick shape of a vast prime tentacle. You awoke near-instantly, and yet the devourer of worlds has grown so strong so soon. (50 exp)
- Your great head turns to the north, to a black sun that burns in the northern sky. An unnatural sun, dim in your life-seeking senses. (50 exp)
- An impact! A streak of bright light from the sky. A spear from the horizon, impaling the sun, the spear hits and… (50 exp)



--- Team Law
- In the elevator, Zena thrusts her spear through one of the angels, yanks it out in a shower of sparks, and jabs it past Ratimir’s rat armour to knock the next angel off balance. Flaming Fury looks up and sees the beam cannons charging above. If there was any time for things to go to shit, it would be now. (50 exp)
- Something strange happens. At the same time as POWERLAD has his vision elsewhere in the dungeon, the angels above abruptly change their song. The angels in the elevator stop fighting in order to join the chorus. (50 exp)
- Flaming Fury hears: “ -- REPORT: STRIKE ON TARGET. TARGET DOWN. -- CAVEAT: TARGET REMAINS FUNCTIONAL. -- UNEXPECTED OUTCOME: PROPHECY CONFIRMED. TRUMPET SOUNDED -- “ (50 exp)
- This gives them the chance they need to finish off the Angels! Zena spams the down button before the doors can open, sending them back down to the terrarium level! (50 exp)
- Flaming Fury rams the head of her pickaxe into the elevator wall as it descends, lets the elevator drop a way, then wrenches it out and falls head-first towards an Angel! It looks up to track her and she smashes into its central eyes at ramming speed! The angel collapses as she stands, rubbing her iron-hard noggin. A “Dwarven Goodnight Kiss”. Fuck yea. (50 exp)
- Ratimir chucks a dog pelt at the last angel to blind it… but his rats have already chewed the shit out of that thing and it’s ineffective… or so it seems. The angel gets caught up in the holes, leaving it vulnerable! (50 exp)



- Zena smashes it with her spear and Ratimir takes his chance - wrapping a red flag around the end of the spear then helping Zena plant the spear into a weak point. As the angel falls back, the Red Flag of Ratssia is raised aloft!! (50 exp)
- Panting, the team looks up from the destroyed angels just in time to see that the elevator has reached the bottom level. Thank goodness! The door irises open. (50 exp)
- The door opens, flickering terrarium lights frame two Ratmen carrying a third between them. Around their feet, their rats swarm. “Oh thank goodness!” one says, “Our leader is hurt!” (50 exp)
--- Team Chaos
- POWERLAD pokes his head out of the vent, confirming Andromeda’s information. Two boss angels with their associated minions. One group guards the west side of the hall, the group to the east is coordinating the salvage of the launch apparatus. (50 exp)
- He slips out of the hole and sneaks towards the overgrown ship on the north wall. In his hand is a Plant glyph. If he can just stay out of sight… (50 exp)
- But no! An angel spots him, and the choir’s song changes! The beams begin to charge and his dives into the greenery, fast-casting the runes with dragon-given powers! (50 exp)
- The plants come to life around him, cocooning him in a wall of unfamiliar but rapidly-growing plantlife. Vines reach out towards the angels, flailing at them and distracting them as the angels form axe-limbs to chop their way through to him (50 exp)



- The rest of Team Chaos make a run for the exit! One of the doors on the east side of the room is unguarded due to the salvage operation, and they bumrush towards it! (50 exp)
- The angels are too distracted by POWERLAD to notice, especially since the runners are taking no evasive action! Styx slaps a hand to the door and it swishes open, letting mecha-Break and Andromeda pile through. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD takes his chance, expanding the greenery to form an escape hatch. He beats his powerful wings and bursts from amidst the plants! (50 exp)
- The angels barely have any time to react! POWERLAD blasts upwards, arcs across the huge room, folds his wings into a dive, and rockets straight towards the open door! (50 exp)
- Andromeda is there to catch POWERLAD as the door slides closed! They skid along the floor of the corridor beyond. He opens his eyes and looks into… the eyes of Styx. Oh. (50 exp)
- Over at the door itself, Andromeda has just punched it with her new Wizard Lock spell. Chains wrap around the door, grown from blackness, and hold it firm! (50 exp)
- POWERLAD picks himself up from Styx’s embrace, somewhat embarrassed. They take stock. (50 exp)
- There’s a another door in the side of this small stretch of corridor, ending at a T-intersection. A sort of wet slurping swishing sound can be heard from somewhere ahead. (50 exp)
- Other door it is. The metal panel of the door swishes to the side at a touch, and the calm singing of angels can be heard within. A door across the room opens and an angel carrying a cable walks in, humming to itself. (50 exp)
- It tries to connect the cable to a table in the middle of the room which is projecting a holographic sphere. It’s wrong the first way round, but somehow also the second way round. POWERLAD hefts his huge hammer… (50 exp)



--- Team Law
- The Ratmen are surprised and relieved to discover that the party has a fellow Ratman! Their rats chat to Ratimir’s, exchanging news from the front, while he talks to them. For once someone to talk to that doesn’t hate him on sight! (50 exp)
- They say their leader is hurt, bitten by a really big tick, and they’d heard the elevator is back in action! What a relief! They’re hoping to bring him to the surface and find help. (50 exp)
- They also ask about the spread of communism, since they’ve only been reborn from vats recently. Ratimir is evasive. The red tide of Ratssia moves… slowly. (50 exp)
- The unicorn people are their sworn enemies on this level, but they are powerful. Ratman goals are shifting from “defend this level” to “maybe just escape this dungeon”. The elevator would be perfect! (50 exp)
- Flaming Fury and Zena poke their heads into the elevator shaft to see if those angels are still up there… and have to pull their heads in quick as stasis beams blast down! (50 exp)
- Going up in the elevator is going to be a fish in a barrel situation. How are they going to get up there now? (50 exp)



- A zany plan is concocted. One of the destroyed angels is hooked out of the elevator shaft and sprung open. Ratimirs rats pile inside, and Flaming Fury sings up the shaft, “ -- SUSTAINED DAMAGE -- REQUEST SUPPORT -- “ (50 exp)
- Zena presses the elevator up button and the trojan angel ascends towards the angels above… (50 exp)
--- Team Chaos
- POWERLAD rushes towards the angel attempting to plug a cable into the hologram table! The angel happens to choose that moment to look at the end of the USB in confusion and the hammer smashes down right in front of it! The angel looks up in alarm! (50 exp)
- There are two more angels in the room. Break canters in with his mobile armour, jumps over the hologram table at the second angel... and beefs it. One of the rear legs gets caught and he stumbles embarrassingly. (50 exp)
- Styx follows after, leaps off the armour’s back, and flies towards the angel! Andromeda engages the third with her mighty fists. (50 exp)
- Break recovers and hammers at the angel with his hammer fists! POWERLAD finally manages to crush the angel he was fighting with his hammer, inflicting massive blows with enhanced strength. (50 exp)
- Andromeda’s in trouble, so POWERLAD leaps over the table and smashes it to pieces! As it falls apart he turns to her and winks, “hey babe”, sending her heart aflutter. (50 exp)
- Styx is in even more trouble, a swipe from the angel hits dead on and smashes him off his feet! He’s down, moaning, and Break stands astride him to protect him and smashes the angel’s eye in. (50 exp)
- With the angels dead, Styx pulls himself up and sits back against the edge of the hologram table. The hologram in the centre shows angels - rotating as they move in place. From the look of it, they’re live projections. (50 exp)
- As Styx recovers, POWERLAD pulls a layer of rock across the doors in case of angel attack. The team fiddles with various controls. Screens on the walls turn on - apparently surveillance images of this level of the dungeon! (50 exp)
- One of them shows an intriguing room. A pedestal connected to many cables… with a world map projected above it. Maybe it’s the control room! (50 exp)



--- Team Chaos
- The elevator reaches the top of the shaft. A defeated angel rocks lightly in the middle of the energy platform. The angels look at it confused. (50 exp)



- Suddenly swarms of rats burst out! They attack one of the beam angels, swarming over it, as the other angels open fire! (50 exp)
- One of the shots hits the very angel the rats are attacking, but the beam splits and scatters on impact leaving the angel unharmed! (50 exp)
- One of the swarms bites into an important component and the angel responds by spinning its upper hemisphere. The whole swarm is thrown at another angel and attacks! Rats fly through the air, teeth bared! (50 exp)
- The boss angel is taking a heavy toll. Countless rats are suspended in the air, held by the rapidly thinning stasis beams, tiny rat body parts raining down on the elevator disk. (50 exp)
- A final attempt at glory - the rats gambit to destroy or damage the angels. One swarm dives into the boss angel and is ground up within the swirling armour. Another swarm manages to disable a beam cannon wing. The last angel is left with severe bite damage. (50 exp)
- At the bottom of the elevator shaft there is a sombre mood. Blood and bits of rat rain down from above. The Ratmen look on in horror - so much bloodshed, and for what? (50 exp)



- We end with the party still split, but in a better position than they were previously. Team Law is still in the elevator, but the angels above are weakened and damaged. Team Chaos is still somewhere in the facility, but they’re in a defensible position. Things are looking up! (50 exp)
Total: 3750 exp

Misc:
- Absolutely Disgusting bonus (50 exp)
- Balls to the Wall bonus (50 exp)
- Best of Intentions bonus (50 exp)
- Better Part of Valour bonus (50 exp)
- Brutal kill bonus (50 exp)
- Classic Charles bonus (50 exp)
- Diplomancy bonus (50 exp)
- Doolittle bonus (50 exp)
- Dramatic battle bonus (50 exp)
- Dramatic Escape bonus (50 exp)
- Enmity Inciter bonus (50 exp)
- Henchman Abuse bonus (50 exp)
- Heresy bonus (50 exp)
- Long Deliberation bonus (50 exp)
- Ludicrous Gore bonus (50 exp)
- Mad Inventor bonus (50 exp)
- Master of Disguise bonus (50 exp)
- PETA bonus (50 exp)
- Pundemonium bonus (50 exp)
- Ridiculously Bad Rolling bonus (50 exp)
- Split the Party bonus (50 exp)
- Tactical Fighting bonus (50 exp)
- Trapsetter bonus (50 exp)
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong bonus (50 exp)
- Why Did You Say That bonus (50 exp)
Total: 1250 exp

Party Roles and Individual Exp:
- Remembrancer (Charles / Zena & Carter / Styx - 100 exp ea)
- Caller (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)
- Mapper (Carter / Styx - 100 exp)
- Treasurer (Charles / Zena - 100 exp)
- Quartermaster (Ollie / Flaming Fury - 100 exp)
- Guard (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)
- Tracker (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)

- Art Attack bonus (Carter, Ollie, Charles - 100 exp ea.) 

- Attacco d'Arte bonus (Ollie - 100 exp) 

- Attacco di Panico dell'Arte (Ollie - 100 exp) 

- Artapalooza bonus (Charles - 100 exp)

- Chippo Man bonus (Ollie*2 - 100 exp ea.)
- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Charles, Ollie - 500 exp ea.)

Active Businesses:
- Knickers Gloves Bodices. Risky. 1020sp. (Ratimir)
- Blood Honey Healing 4 U (Co-dependent businesses)
--- Honey Healing. Safe. 1084sp. (Bertha)
--- Blood Honey 4 U. Safe. 10410sp. (Sir Robyn)

Rumours:
-

Death Toll and Injuries:
- Many many brave rats.

Exp Totals:
- Kitty / High Priest POWERLAD!, Level 7 Muscle Wizard: 124090 (Level up at 144000)
-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 10 (-50% exp)
--- Andromeda, Level 4 Muscle Wizard: 9595 (Level up at 18000)
---- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 3 (-20% exp) 

---- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 3 (-10% exp)
- Charles / Zena, Level 6 Fighter: 54303 (Level up at 64000)
- Carter / Styx, Level 6 Goblin: 52429 (Level up at 64000)
--- Break, Robo-Armoured Goblin Buddy 

- James / Ratimir, Level 6 Ratman: 33352 (Level up at 48000)
- Ollie / Flaming Fury, Level 5 Dwarf: 20579 (Level up at 35200)
-- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 3 (-15% exp)

Absent or Retired:
- Suzie / Dumbledorris2, Level 4 Inheritor: 11739 (Level up at 18000)
- Henry / Witchfinder-Sergeant, Level 3 Cleric (Unorthodox): 6620 (Level up at 7000)
- Ollie / Synthia, Level 5 Inheritor: 24639 (Level up at 36000)
-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 2 (-10% exp)
- Andy / Carrie Meleste, Level 6 Termaxian Cleric: 52811 (Level up at 56000)
--- 4 Henchmen Undeserving of Names, Level 0 Bootlickers
- Timothy / Spider Squad, Level 4 Spider Extras: 7366 (Level up at 12000)
- Timothy / Sir Robyn, Level 6 Magic-User: 60599 (Level up at 72000)
- Elias / Raivo, Level 1 Barbarian: 938 (Level up at 2000)
- Tom / Hacker's Halberdiers, Level 3 Extras: 5598 (Level up at 6000)
- Andrea / Marjorie, Level 1 Halfling: 1111 (Level up at 2000)
- Fraser / Mori, Level 5 Elf (Worriganger): 24025 (Level up at 48000)
- Issy / Sturdy, Level 2 Dwarf: 3596 (Level up at 4400)
- Tom / Clarence Eclair, Level 3 Specialist: 3040 (Level up at 6000)
- Tom / Aces Fontaine, Level 1 Specialist: 869 (Level up at 1500)
- Kitty / Bertha, Level 4 Necromancer: 9931 (Level up at 18000)
- Imran / Friar, Level 1 Magic User: 1040 (Level up at 2250)
- Yuri / Bjorn Gunnerson, Level 2 Barbarian: 2278 (Level up at 4000)
- Sunni / Larry's Legends, Level 1 Extras: 758 (Level up at 1500)
- Fraser / Tippin, Level 1 Ratman: 1458 (Level up at 1500)
- Tom / Meteor Power Shower, Level 2 Barbarian: 3061 (Level up at 4000)
- Nix's Retainer
--- Huz, Level 0 Hireling
- Tom / Spicy Mac, Level 2 Halfling: 3457 (Level up at 4000)
- Eleanor / Mugg, Level 2 Fighter: 2357 (Level up at 4000)
- Kyle / Gimlass the Brave, Level 2 Dwarf: 2257 (Level up at 4400)
- Amar / Amar's Cleric, Level 1 Cleric: 1413 (Level up at 1750)
- Ollie / Tremendo Picante, Level 2 Ratman: 2654 (Level up at 3000)
- James / Raaf van Held, Level 4 Fighter: 14838 (Level up at 16000)
- Eglė / Bob, Level 1 Dwarf: 434 (Level up at 2200)
- Will / Cecil Fulbright, Level 5 Cleric (Termaxian): 15063 (Level up at 28000)
- James / William Fox-Shitt, Level 3 Cleric (Zeanist): 4571 (Level up at 7000)

Retrospective 19 - Onwards to Dwimmermount!

In the last ten sessions we've gone from dinner parties with demons to battles with angels!

On the shape of the game:

I do enjoy how much the general focus and gameplay of the campaign change over time.

We've gone from tying off Moondin's complex and interweaving socially-focused multi-plot, to overland travel, to delving back into Dwimmermount for some traditional goal-focused dungeoneering.

There's almost a rhythm to it. Last time we had a bunch of sessions dealing with a complicated political situation, that also ended with some palette-cleansing megadungeon play.
That happened in Moondin too, I guess that's just what happened when the party gets a reputation somewhere!


On Moondin: 

So by the time of the last Retrospective, the party was deeply enmeshed in the Moondin situation.
The Boat Festival was still going, Isen Heisenberg and Arach-Nacha were still researching the ultimate poison, and the Cult of Ninhursag was tearing itself apart.

By the time the party left, the Boat Festival was cancelled, Isen Heisenberg and Arach-Nacha were dead, and the Cult of Ninhursag was united once more.
Not bad for a few week's work!

They managed to solve the Boat Festival and the Demons who were running it by, essentially, inviting some power players to a nice sit-down dinner and hashing out a solution.
Sir Robyn, the party's wizard Lawyer, got to actually do some legal stuff by finding a breach in the contract that allowed the demons to organise the Boat Festival. More fun than it sounds!
And even better, they left enforcement of the legal consequences to a bigger and more capable organisation instead of going from Demon house to Demon house turfing them out!

Very social and political and exactly the opposite of how you normally sort out a situation in modern D&D.
Instead of murdering the source of the problem themselves, they found a legal solution and had the proper authorities sort it out! I was chuffed, especially since this is the sort of getting-people-to-work-together-in-the-face-of-disaster thing I was so enamoured by in my article last year on how my world is ending.


On Demons:

The demons in Moondin were real fun, based on the Flower Liches in the module I'll link below (and do a proper review of soon).

I've said this before, but I really like how demons have turned out. They're powerful enemies (and so players have never attacked them) but they're awfully chatty and, best of all, they've got recognisable desires.
Once you know what Sin the demon consumes (identified by the colour of their mask), you know what they want and generally how they're going to act. That's leverage! You can talk!
I don't know if anyone's twigged that demons embody the Virtue that's opposite the Sin they consume, but it makes demons generally very nice people to talk to.

I like them a lot, especially Japhet & Hirsch who were a two-headed demon I played like a very effete gay couple. They were a lot of fun, and still alive!


On Galaxy Johnson's Death:

Tragically, Galaxy Johnson the "Alien" Elf died, pursued by demons.
He was notably Charles' first character with a personality, even if that personality was based on being a meme alien.
Galaxy Johnson getting his shit wrecked by an old man was truly one of my favourite moments in the game to date. He will be missed.

Considering he died mostly because he decided to have a snack in the middle of a hot pursuit, rather than using the opportunity to activate Elf-boosted Spiderclimb and teleport through shadows to escape, his death is firmly on Charles rather than blind chance,
Still sad though


On heroism:

To my delight, POWERLAD's player has been playing him as a proper out-and-out heroic character.
Considering the general deadliness and moral grey of my game, choosing to be a hero is a legitimately risky decision. But then heroism without risk isn't really heroism at all, is it?

So there he goes, POWERLAD, the most purely good character I've had in the game in a long time... maybe ever.
On the other hand there does seem to be some lingering risk of adultery. POWERLAD's got a girl who's really into him right here, and his wife Bertha is so very far away in Moondin...


On flight:

The impact of flight on the game is interesting. POWERLAD has dragon wings, the casters have access to the classic Fly spell, and Styx the Goblin has been inventing some wild stuff with runes.

All of this together means that flight has become a fairly common thing in my game.

The biggest surprise to me was that it doesn't totally break everything. Overland travel is much easier, naturally, but dungeoncrawling isn't affected so much. Maybe some extra options are available in the case of large pits or multi-level holes, but other than that it's fine!


On angels:

I've said this before mainly, but angels are great.
Immune to magic, communicate through song, quasi-robotic entities with a hierarchical connection to God, all that stuff.
The most pressing thing is that they automatically target Chaotic entities and many in the party are Chaotic, so they have a much easier time treating with demons than they do with angels.
Very fitting.


On food shortage:

Since we're on the Third Trumpet of Revelation at the moment, we've got a third of all plants dead, a third of all the oceans turned to blood, and now a third of all drinking water is tainted.
This means, naturally, that there's going to be a struggle to get food!
At the moment the party's got a big stock of Iron Rations that they grabbed from the stockpiles of a dead town, but in the weeks to come this might become more difficult to do...

I've got a whole food subsystem ready building on Throne of Salt's Unified Food Theory post.
Should be fun I hope!

Mini-Reviews

Flower Liches of the Dragonboat Festival

I talked about this last time, and now it's complete!
The events were impacted and interwoven with a bunch of other stuff and translated from Wuxia East to my setting so it wasn't a "pure" playthrough, but it was good content!
The lich house "dungeons" are poorly keyed in that they're just sort of described out of order in a long explanatory page-long ramble, but once they're expanded out the content is good.

Full review to come, but long story short it's worth a purchase!


Throne of the Toad King

Man, I've got a fuckload of use out of this dungeon. They're still going back occasionally, and now they've trapped a crystal dragon down there.
Real good, easily reskinned, used it a ton.


The Magma Lake of Ninhursag

Still going to write this up one day.
Big magma lake, crystal trees, vines, guards, the works.


Fuck For Satan

A fun little module despite the edgy name!
Raggi loves the player expectation inversion dungeon. In this case there's a generic dnd problem (kids gone missing) and a generic dnd solution (local dungeon).
Surprise! The dungeon doesn't solve the problem and is unrelated to literally everything else in the module. There is a note out the front that tells players as much though.

Only thing is I don't run generic dnd, so it wasn't quiiiite such a wacky expectation inversion for my group.

Anyway, this was fun.
I changed the kid-stealing problem from an intelligent child-eating bear to some campaign-specific child necromancer twins, which led to some craziness.
I kept the giant walking psychic alien cock monster though, and the resultant surrounding gay orgy.


Dwimmermount

I like Dwimmermount. Unfortunately I can't recommend buying it because it's published by Alexander Macris who is a fascist and/or supporter of fascists.
It's wordy and has fun impacts on my campaign's historical timeline, but don't give the man your money.

Session 190 - Terminal Velocity

Alas, after many sessions of trying to cheat the system by getting goblins to worship dragons instead of him... Styx's goblins are dead.

Worse, half the party is trapped in a hole with angels ready to blast them as soon as they try to leave. At least Dumbledorris can make drugs now.

POWERLAD and Andromeda high-five a mushroom to death. Zena cleave OP. Styx drops his kids off.

Ratimir fishes for angels.

Flaming Fury meets a childhood friend. Dumbledorris learns how to make drugs. The Witchfinder-Sergeant makes angel sushi.

Session 190 - Terminal Velocity

Campaign Date:

Friday, 27 April, 1601

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

Zodiac: Aries

New Backstory:
- Flaming Fury was attacked by violent Dwarf men when she left the mountain, they shaved off her beard with a rusty blade. Her patchy beard still hides the scars on her chin. (+1 to hit people who’ve taken something from you)
- The Witchfinder-Corporal (now Sergeant) was so totally adored by all the people in his religious order that they sent him away on a holy mission never to return. So so adored. Definitely. He’d been waiting in Dwimmermount ever since. (Henchmen standing next to you always pass morale checks)

- Dumbledorris had a beautiful garden… fertilised by her own weird Inheritor juices. Delicious. (+2 to reaction rolls with elves and other fae)

Treasure and Equipment:

- Standard ration - Cheese
- 12sp (12 exp)

Total: 12 exp

Enemies Defeated:

- A boss angel and its whole choir, crushed by massive boulder (2200 exp)
- Two four-legged beam angels (200 exp)
- Eight normal sphere-angels (400 exp)

Total: 2800 exp

Exploration:

- First party to enter Level 0 of Dwimmermount (500 exp)
- Alternate entry to Dwimmermount found (500 exp)
- Explored 1 unknown dungeon room (20 exp)
- 1 Wandering Monster group rolled (50 exp)

Total: 1070 exp

Events:

--- Impact Imminent

- The Witchfinder-Corporal, feeling more holy and powerful by the day, declares that he must now be addressed as the Witchfinder-Sergeant. Flaming Fury lets him out to go pray in the woods. (50 exp)
- Outside, muffled by the rock, the angel’s song has changed to the spine-chilling rising-falling air raid siren sound of imminent doom. “ -- INCOMING -- INCOMING -- ” repeats endlessly from the huge six-winged angels above. (50 exp)
- Shit’s getting real out here. There’s a constant rushing wind and a clear day. A beam of light glows from the top of the huge angel that landed on the peak of the mountain. The slopes are clear of angels. (50 exp)
- Styx concocts a plan to get a proper look at what’s going on - get POWERLAD to create a crystal sphere then use various goblins and runes to hover around the skies. (50 exp)
- It works! The crystal sphere is ungainly but works great. Rising up from the slopes of Dwimmermount, Styx gets a good look from the skies. No angelic air defences to be seen, it looks like they’ve all returned to their giant angel motherships. (50 exp)

- To the north, the mountains keep going until they descend into whatever the midlands look like from above. To the east, the cracked Black Sun drips black ichor into the river Lethe. Beyond, shrouded in mist, the great angular silhouette of Apocalypse Dragon Mardük can be seen stomping ponderously through the wastes. (50 exp)
- To the south he can see almost to the sea. Towering on the horizon to the south-east he can see the truly immense tentacle that emerged below Fortress-City Fate. Another towering Apocalypse Dragon silhouette can be seen tearing into it. (50 exp)

- While Styx zips around in his bubble ship, POWERLAD is trying his best to bolt angel wings to Zena’s armour. It looks like they’ll be cool but non-functional… until one of the bolts comes loose and a wing falls off. Great. (50 exp)
- About an hour after the angel siren began, it stops. The great beam of light from the top of the mountain surges, and there’s a great teeth-shaking rumble within the mountain itself. (50 exp)
- Styx sees it clearly - a great pointed silver shape like a spear-tip emerges from the top of the mountain, blasting through the centre of the huge angel, and blasts towards the sky on a plume of blue-white fire! It curves towards the horizon as it ascends. (50 exp)
- Styx tries his anti-supernatural glasses and can’t see the rocket at all. “It’s a magic missile”. Ho ho. (50 exp)
- Ratimir, standing outside the Dwarf door with anyone else watching, salutes Galaxy Johnson’s memory. (50 exp)
- Styx lands the orb back near the door and the party decides what to do. Considering the lack of angels on the slopes right now, they’ve got a good opportunity to investigate the top of the mountain and the landed mother-angel. (50 exp)
- The plan is to split into two teams. One team will go through the dungeon, nobody Chaotic so that they don’t immediately set off the angels. The rest will fly up to investigate the huge angel and the rocket launch site. (50 exp)
- Team “Law” is the Witchfinder-Sergeant, Zena, Ratimir, and Flaming Fury. All either Lawful or comfortably Neutral. Team Chaos has the demon, the spellcasters, and… Styx, who complains about being lumped into Team Chaos even though he’s not. He does have the flying ball though and the plan is to fly. (50 exp)
--- Team Law
- The dungeon squad makes their way through now-familiar caves, avoiding the musty mushrooms and the green slime that’s spread to digest more of the corpses in the moon pool cave. (50 exp)
- The WItchfinder-Sergeant is given a crash course in rune use and manages a shaky Make Light glyph after being assured that it’s an entirely Neutral form of magic. (50 exp)
- Zena flame-beams a path through the green slime corridor, and as they turn the corner towards the first sliding door they see light ahead! (50 exp)

-- The Dwarfs
- A bunch of Dwarfs are here, in the middle of cutting open Fire Beetles for their glowing nodules. And wouldn’t you know it, they’re from Ur-Kalladh like Flaming Fury! (50 exp)

- They’re stoked to see Flaming Fury and they’re less shitty about Dwarf women that Randy was. Flaming Fury manages to get her hands on some good Dwarven moonshine! Someone’s getting blind drunk tonight! (50 exp)

- They chat for a while. They were sent here fairly recently to work out what’s going on with Dwimmermount and see if it can be turned back into an Arcology. (50 exp)
- What’s an Arcology? The proper name for the halls of the Dwarfs of course! It seems that each of the Dwarf clans has been living in a mountain designed to survive the destruction of the world, built by Dwarven ancestors long long ago. (50 exp)
- Also the Dwarfs hate Ratmen. But doesn’t everyone? (50 exp)
- The Witchfinder-Sergeant asks about their gods and is scoffed at. The Dwarf’s accent slides from bad Scottish to a sort of Bad Northern Melange. Didn’t ye know that the Dwarfs made your gods, laddie? That sort of thing. (50 exp)

- They also complain that the angels were leaving them alone up until yesterday. They’ve been here like a week and the angels left them alone up until now. (50 exp)
- The Dwarfs agree to tag along with the party if they’ll help them get down deeper where they can investigate rumours of a lost Dwarf clan who might know what’s going on, maybe see if there’s a way to expel undesirables from the mountain or whatever. Five Dwarfs join the crew! (50 exp)

-- Feral Angels
- They open the door to the room with all the strange machines and find a couple of angels interfacing with them again. All seems normal. They enter… (50 exp)
- And the angels’ singing changes! Seems they aren’t taking their chances with Neutral creatures any more. Flaming Fury hears them singing “ -- INTRUDERS DETECTED -- BATTLE STATIONS -- “. Battlestations it is! (50 exp)
-   The fight starts auspiciously - one of the Angels fails to disconnect from the terminal properly and explodes in front of Flaming Fury. She’s blasted by shards of metal. (50 exp)
- She moves into the room with Zena, and it seems the angels were ready for them! A four-legged beam angel, down a connecting corridor, charges its stasis beams! (50 exp)
- Just before it fires, Ratimir flings a rat on the end of a fishing pole towards it, wrapping one of its beam turrets up and making it fire wide into the ceiling! (50 exp)
- The Witchfinder-Sergeant piles in, smashing an angel back with powerful but morally suspect attacks on the holy being! (50 exp)
- The Dwarfs trundle down the corridor towards the four-legged angel en masse while the party finishes off the low-level angels. The Witchfinder-Sergeant slides in with a sword and chops one of the hollow angels into three separate pieces with a monster crit! Can’t risk one of them upgrading! (50 exp)
- Ratimir’s rat swarms scuttle under the Dwarfs’ feet, swarming over one of the angels and chewing it with their sharp teeth. (50 exp)
- The Dwarfs are holding their own but aren’t making much of a dent. The Witchfinder-Sergeant chucks his charcoal scoop into the midst of the swirling combat… and the Three Good Gods are with him! (50 exp)

- Against the odds, the scoop spins between Dwarfs and rat swarms and thwacks scoop-first into the angel’s central eye! It shatters and the angel clatters to pieces for a Scoop de gras, SCOOP DA WOOP! (50 exp)
- Flaming Fury swaps her axe for one of the Dwarfs’ war picks. They’re better at piercing angel armour, so good to have if there’s more angel fighting in the future. (50 exp)
-- Feral Angels 2: Upgraded
- The Witchfinder-Sergeant searches around the machine room while everyone else heads out into the main corridor and the elevator. Unfortunately there are more angels out here - 4 spherical ones, a second-tier four-legged one, and a third tier boss angel hovering in the shaft past the open elevator door! (50 exp)
- They don’t hesitate. The Dwarfs bear the brunt of the initial beam barrage and the angels move in to attack the interlopers… but luckily Flaming Fury is here and things always completely go to shit when she’s around. (50 exp)
- There’s a massive sound of stone hitting stone from somewhere above and everyone falls to the floor! The angel’s song-connection is disrupted yet again! (50 exp)
- The fragmented boss angel ascends up the shaft to regain connection. At least that one’s out of the way! In the other direction from the elevator doors, a whole other squad of angels is coming to help their beleaguered friends. (50 exp)
- The angel interfacing with the elevator door panel disengages to attack the party… but explodes like the last one to stop interfacing. What the hell. I guess this just happens now. (50 exp)

- With the boss angel out of the way, Flaming Fury leads with scattershots before the team descend on the remaining angels! (50 exp)
- The Witchfinder-Sergeant, having finally finished searching the room, pokes his head out to find that the angels have been destroyed. Just his luck. (50 exp)
- Zena calls the lift and the doors open. The circular plane of force materialises in the shaft. The choice is now - upwards to meet up with Team Chaos? Or downwards to find the source of the Azoth? The choice is theirs… (50 exp)

--- Team Chaos
- POWERLAD, Andromeda, Styx, and Dumbledorris watch Team Law head into the mountain. It’s time for them to fly up to investigate the giant angel that landed on Dwimmermount! (50 exp)

- Styx and his minions, naturally, take the floating crystal sphere. POWERLAD lifts Andromeda and Dumbledorris in his muscular arms and flies up alongside. Andromeda swears she’s not jealous. (50 exp)
- The six-winged Angel shines in the sun, cradling the peak of Dwimmermount with its unfurled petal-wings. There are still no smaller angels to be seen. (50 exp)
- They glide towards the place where the rocket must have emerged and discover that there’s a hole in the very top of the angel, leading to a long smooth vertical launch tube that reaches all the way into the mountain. There is a soft glow at the bottom, choral angel music, and lots of movement. (50 exp)
- Styx and his minions begin to descend in their crystal sphere, but as they pass the threshold and begin descending through the angel proper Break fearfully tells him that the rune is about to turn off! (50 exp)
- Bugging out before it fades completely, the sphere rises back up. Looks like the whole interior of the kilometre-wide angel is anti-magic. (50 exp)
- Considering those are probably angels down there, they come up with a plan! POWERLAD will draw a real big Make-Earth-Earth glyph to create an enormous ball of rock. Styx gets Break to power a Turn-Mass glyphs on it to make it super heavy. Then they’ll drop it down the shaft. (50 exp)

- Before the boulder is dropped, Styx goes to inspect one the the enormous wings that cradles the mountain. Where the wing isn’t flush with the mountain, spherical angels can be seen lining the underside like thousands of eyes. (50 exp)

-- Boulder Drop

- The boulder is hefted into the hole. The Mass glyph fades when the boulder passes through the anti-magic field, which only serves to accelerate the boulder! It drops down the shaft, gaining momentum, until it slams into the angels below with an almighty crash! (50 exp)
- The angel’s singing becomes faster and simpler, the great wing that Styx is inspecting lifts up and hundreds, even thousands, of angels begin to rapidly deploy! (50 exp)
- Styx sprints back to the crystal sphere, telling his minions to get in! We’re leaving! POWERLAD grabs Dumbledorris and Andromeda and dives into the hole! (50 exp)
- Partway down both POWERLAD and Andromeda lose muscle mass - their Muscle Wizard powers suspended by the anti-magic field. Dumbledorris goes a bit sludgy. POWERLAD’s wings still work though, and as they pass through the angel they see that the launch tube go from brassy gold to grey stone that continues through the rock of the mountain. (50 exp)

- As they get closer to the chamber below, they can see that the giant boulder has smashed into the launch apparatus down here, crushing a whole host of angels. Unfortunately there are a whole heap of uncrushed angels singing down here too… (50 exp)
- POWERLAD spreads his massive wings wide to slow their fall as the ground approaches, turns mid-air, and fires a Web spell into the shaft behind him! Why, you ask? (50 exp)
- He swoops to get out from under the shaft and a giant crystal ball full of water and goblins rips through the web at terminal velocity, smashes into the dropped boulder and shatters dramatically! (50 exp)
- It sounds like somebody dropped the world’s biggest glass of wine. The angels struggle to process what just happened, as do we all. (50 exp)
- Styx had dropped down the shaft in the crystal sphere. Seeing as hitting the ground inside a crystal shell is basically like hitting the ground covered in glass, he took steps to mitigate the impact. (50 exp)
- He got himself and his goblins to fill the sphere with water, hoping that it would take the brunt of the impact. POWERLAD shot web to catch or slow the ball as it fell. Break the Mass Goblin used his control of internal inertia to slow the ball further… (50 exp)

- All told, it turned the fall from instant death to a survivable fall… unless you’re a poor little Goblin buddy with 1d6 HP. (50 exp)
- Styx has survived. Amidst the shards of broken crystal and spreading water, he looks upon his works and weeps. These poor beautiful goblins, each carefully corralled and trained into the worship of a different dragon, brought low by a long fall. (50 exp)
- Bones, goblin scion of Marduk, breathes his last words into Styx’s ear. “I… love….”. Styx takes his angel arm with great sorrow. (50 exp)
- There is one goblin survivor - Break the Mass Goblin. His Gravity Dragon powers allowed him - just - to survive. He reaches Styx… and the angels finally recover! Their song begins again and their cannons aim at the survivors. It’s time to move! (50 exp)
-- Rocket refuge
- There’s nowhere to go. Nowhere except the vents! The centre of the room dips into a hemisphere, man-sized vents to take the rocket exhaust. Even with the shattered launch apparatus in the way there’s a way in! (50 exp)
- Before the angels can fire, Team Chaos runs for the vents! They slide down a short way into a circular room, freezing cold. The walls and floor are covered in small holes, and on the ceiling there’s a sort of many-stalked upside-down mushroom. (50 exp)

- The group try to catch their breath… and come over with a weird feeling. There’s something in the air, a subtle powder that brings insight and awareness but also coccoons you in slow warmth. (50 exp)
- It’s that god damn mushroom. Dumbledorris jumps up to grab it and eat it… but the whole mushroom cap slams into her and smacks her into the ground! (50 exp)
- Red growths emerge all across the flat surface of the upturned cap and fire out at everyone in the room! Even the last goblin survives though, everybody avoiding the worst of it. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD and Andromeda nod at each other, charge their super-punches, and leap at the mushroom from opposite sides! They high-five in the middle of the mushroom, the impact splashing bits of fungi across the walls! Instant kill! (50 exp)
- Dumbledorris collapses into flesh-sludge and begins to digest the mushroom, taking the power to make drug spores. Between this and the frog lady pheremones she’s becoming a real maneater…

- With Team Chaos trapped in angel central and Team Law deciding what to do in the elevator, we’re in a classic split party situation. Will Team Law rescue Team Chaos or leave them to their own devices? Guess we’ll find out next time!

Total: 3750 exp

Misc:

- AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa bonus (50 exp)
- Balls to the Wall bonus (50 exp)
- Best of Intentions bonus (50 exp)
- Better Part of Valour bonus (50 exp)
- Brutal Kill bonus (50 exp)
- Classic Charles bonus (50 exp)
- Dramatic Battle bonus (50 exp)
- Dramatic Escape bonus (50 exp)
- Henchman Abuse bonus (50 exp)
- Heresy bonus (50 exp)
- High as Fuck bonus (50 exp)
- I Immediately Regret This Decision bonus (50 exp)
- Long Deliberation bonus (50 exp)
- Mad Inventor bonus (50 exp)
- Michael Bay bonus (50 exp)
- Mountaineer bonus (50 exp)
- Pundemonium bonus (50 exp)
- Pyrrhic Victory bonus (50 exp)
- Split the Party bonus (50 exp)
- Tactical Fighting bonus (50 exp)
- This! Is! Sparta! bonus (50 exp)
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong bonus (50 exp)

Total: 1100 exp

Party Roles and Individual Exp:

- Remembrancer (Carter / Styx - 100 exp)

- Caller (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)
- Mapper (Charles / Zena - 100 exp)

- Treasurer (Charles / Zena - 100 exp)

- Quartermaster (Ollie / Flaming Fury - 100 exp)

- Guard (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)

- Tracker (Henry / Witchfinder-Corporal - 100 exp)

- Chippo Man bonus (Carter*2, Henry*2, Suzie - 100 exp ea.)
- Sossidje Saviour bonus (Carter - 100 exp)
- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Kitty, Henry, Suzie, Charles - 500 exp ea.) - Art Attack bonus (Ollie, Charles - 100 exp ea) - Attacco d'Arte bonus (Ollie, Charles - 100 exp ea)

Active Businesses:

- Knickers Gloves Bodices. Risky. 1020sp. (Ratimir)

- Blood Honey Healing 4 U (Co-dependent businesses)

--- Honey Healing. Safe. 1084sp. (Bertha)

--- Blood Honey 4 U. Safe. 10410sp. (Sir Robyn)

Rumours:

-

Death Toll and Injuries:

- Every goblin buddy but Break, died in a long fall within a crystal ball.

Exp Totals:

- Kitty / High Priest POWERLAD!, Level 7 Muscle Wizard: 123304 (Level up at 144000)

-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 10 (-50% exp)

--- Andromeda, Level 4 Muscle Wizard: 9255 (Level up at 18000) *DING!* +1d4 HP! +1 level 2 spell/day! +free spell! +backstory!

---- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 4 (-25% exp) ---- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 3 (-10% exp)

- Charles / Zena, Level 6 Fighter: 52332 (Level up at 64000)

- Carter / Styx, Level 6 Goblin: 51258 (Level up at 64000)

--- Break, Goblin Buddy

- James / Ratimir, Level 6 Ratman: 32381 (Level up at 48000)

- Ollie / Flaming Fury, Level 5 Dwarf: 18605 (Level up at 35200)*DING!* +1d10 HP! +backstory!

---- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 3 (-15% exp)

- Suzie / Dumbledorris2, Level 4 Inheritor: 11739 (Level up at 18000)

- Henry / Witchfinder-Sergeant, Level 3 Cleric (Unorthodox): 6620 (Level up at 7000)

Absent or Retired:

- Ollie / Synthia, Level 5 Inheritor: 24639 (Level up at 36000)

-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 2 (-10% exp)

- Andy / Carrie Meleste, Level 6 Termaxian Cleric: 52811 (Level up at 56000)

--- 4 Henchmen Undeserving of Names, Level 0 Bootlickers

- Timothy / Spider Squad, Level 4 Spider Extras: 7366 (Level up at 12000)

- Timothy / Sir Robyn, Level 6 Magic-User: 60599 (Level up at 72000)

- Elias / Raivo, Level 1 Barbarian: 938 (Level up at 2000)

- Tom / Hacker's Halberdiers, Level 3 Extras: 5598 (Level up at 6000)

- Andrea / Marjorie, Level 1 Halfling: 1111 (Level up at 2000)

- Fraser / Mori, Level 5 Elf (Worriganger): 24025 (Level up at 48000)

- Issy / Sturdy, Level 2 Dwarf: 3596 (Level up at 4400)   

- Tom / Clarence Eclair, Level 3 Specialist: 3040 (Level up at 6000)

- Tom / Aces Fontaine, Level 1 Specialist: 869 (Level up at 1500)

- Kitty / Bertha, Level 4 Necromancer: 9931 (Level up at 18000)

- Imran / Friar, Level 1 Magic User: 1040 (Level up at 2250)

- Yuri / Bjorn Gunnerson, Level 2 Barbarian: 2278 (Level up at 4000)

- Sunni / Larry's Legends, Level 1 Extras: 758 (Level up at 1500)

- Fraser / Tippin, Level 1 Ratman: 1458 (Level up at 1500)

- Tom / Meteor Power Shower, Level 2 Barbarian: 3061 (Level up at 4000)

- Nix's Retainer

--- Huz, Level 0 Hireling

- Tom / Spicy Mac, Level 2 Halfling: 3457 (Level up at 4000)

- Eleanor / Mugg, Level 2 Fighter: 2357 (Level up at 4000)

- Kyle / Gimlass the Brave, Level 2 Dwarf: 2257 (Level up at 4400)

- Amar / Amar's Cleric, Level 1 Cleric: 1413 (Level up at 1750)

- Ollie / Tremendo Picante, Level 2 Ratman: 2654 (Level up at 3000)

- James / Raaf van Held, Level 4 Fighter: 14838 (Level up at 16000)

- Eglė / Bob, Level 1 Dwarf: 434 (Level up at 2200)

- Will / Cecil Fulbright, Level 5 Cleric (Termaxian): 15063 (Level up at 28000)

- James / William Fox-Shitt, Level 3 Cleric (Zeanist): 4571 (Level up at 7000)