Session 416 - The Dad That Should Not Be

Date: 1st September 1625

Zenith Deity: The Scorned

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous

Moon Face: Clean Face

New Backstory:

- Manrat was the "audience" during the music of his ritual creation. When someone succeeds at a Music roll nearby, +2 to your next roll.

- Gryphon was washed away in a flood of goblin filth, which cemented his love of being in vehicles above such filth. +1 to Piloting.

- Sulphur was accused of consuming souls in the spirit realm... but it wasn't him that time! This forced his fusion soul into corporeality. Half damage from traps.

Events:

--- Faces New and Old

- Gryphon and Sulphur are huddled around a meagre fire in the night, camped on the fetid ground inside the crumbling curtain walls of a fallen fortress. Nieval the Good, recently healed and clutching his wounds after last session, will be left up here to recover and as such will not be appearing in this session.

- But hark! A sound! A pile of rats emerges and reveals Manrat hiding within! And skulking from the darkness, two Halflings! Gaius Julius Drusus, Roman Halfling Emperor, and Havarti Honeybun, a sweet Halfling lady with no such pretensions. Gaius rides upon Lurpak, a very strong manservant who has developed an odd couple relationship with his mind-master.

- Gryphon and Sulphur fill the crew in. This is a big ol' castle. Classic dungeon vibes. Lots of loot and lore about the mysterious goblin immotile Morning Light Mountain.

--- Spiders!

- They enter the castle, the Halflings loudly discussing how human flavour changes based on social class. Gryphon sorta remembers the way, and they come to a hall in which the high ceiling is covered in webs.
- Gaius spots it as it leaps - a pug-sized hunting spider! It hits him in the face, covering him with a thin layer of web as Lurpak tries to swat it away. Gaius fumbles with his torch and tries to light the web. Alas! It causes MORE spiders to leap out as they flee the flames!

- Gryphon swings his grappling hook and gambits to swing himself INTO a jumping spider! They hit midair and fall in a scrabbling heap. Havarti runs over to "befriend" the fallen spider but shock!!! the mental wrestle is LOCKED! They're in a MIND WAR!

- Gaius lays down covering fire. Sulphur gets bitten hard but ghost-punches it to death in retribution. Havarti loses the MIND WAR! She's stunned, overwhelmed with the spider's weaponised memories of webs and feasting.

- Manrat raises his arms and an outpouring of 40 rats surges forth! Gryphon pulls a spider into the swirling rodent vortex where it is consumed utterly.

- Havarti comes to and sees the devastation. The spiders are dead. Black smoke gutters on the ceiling as the slow fire consumes the grotty webs.
- Two daggers of strange design drop from the crackling webs - they are Sais, such as Raphael the Ninja Turtle might wield. Writing on the blades each read "long suffering". They keep them for Nieval, since their power increases with every lingering wound or disease the wielder is harbouring.

--- Father's Favourite Torture Sauna

- Gryphon leads them further into the castle and they come across what is clearly a torture chamber. Gryphon wonders why his father remodeled his favourite sauna into this!

- He finds a jar of eyeballs and tosses it to Sulphur. Useful reagents! Sulphur himself is pulling teeth out of a skeleton's mouth when SNAP! It bites his hand! Sulphur sucks out the lingering soul, deactivating the skull, then... keeps pulling teeth. It's a handful per cast, you see.

- They also find a couple of books. A racy POWERLAD novel (An Affair with POWERLAD) and a book on the Runic Wars. Sulphur reanimates a squad of skeletons for good measure. Waste not want not!

--- Coats and Prisons

- Gryphon leads them on and they find a chamber with a bed, wardrobe, and other bedroom accoutrements. Gryphon lifts a ring of keys and  a bag of coins from the dresser. Gaius gets a big cloak from the wardrobe and drapes it over himself and Lurpak for a two man "three kids in a coat" routine.

- In the back of the wardrobe is a magic lute! It's a Lute of Courage and causes all morale checks to succeed when played! Gaius plays it very well, a classic tune, then passes it on to Gryphon who promises to learn to play.

- The next area has a few prison cells. Searching the dank straw reveals cooking chorizo (tasty!) and a sachet of Beethoven Spice that grants +5 to Music when used in a meal.

--- I Am Your Father

- The next room is a study with has a body in it, slumped over a desk. Sulphur detects that there's life left in the body!

- They jostle the body and it wakes up, revealing that he is Gryphon's father! It transpires that it was he who hired the witch who cursed Gryphon to sleep for a hundred years and a day, and that he's been slurping Gryphon's blood the whole time to gain eternal life for himself!

- This is very much considered an evil act by all and sundry, and they subject him to summary execution. However his decapitated head rolls to the ground and keeps talking! He's an intelligent undead now!
- Gryphon attaches the head to his belt and chats with his dad while the others loot the corpse.
- They find a key (#12) and a spiked Wolf Choker which summons a spiritual hound!

- With the pub taking last orders, we finish on that bombshell. What will happen next time??

Total: 6000 exp

Treasures Looted: 

- Two Sais of Long-Suffering gain +1 die size per lingering injury and disease.

- Book #384 - An Affair with POWERLAD (100 exp)

- Book #150 - The Runic Wars (100 exp)

- Small bag of coins (300 exp)

- Ring of keys

- Lute of Courage negates morale checks when played

- Box of Cooking Chorizo (10 rations) (10 exp)
- Beethoven's Spice grants +5 to Music. Runs out on 1 in 6.

- Wolf Choker summons a HD4 Spirit Wolf to guard you in your sleep.

Total: 510 exp

Enemies Defeated:

- Some pug-sized hunting spiders (300 exp)

- Gryphon's Dad (20 exp)
Total: 320 exp

OOC: 

- Carter the Chronicler and Paymaster (200 exp/level)
- George the Expedition Leader (100 exp/level)

- Tim the Triage (100 exp/level)

Exp Totals:

- George / Manrat Snels, Level 8 Ratman: 114246 (Level up at 224000)

- Kitty / Sulphur, Level 5 Boo-gilist: 19440 (Level up at 36000)

- Timothy / Gaius Julius Drusus, Level 4 Halfling: 8854 (Level up at 16000)

*LEVEL UP!* +1d6 HP! +1 to Saves! +1 to Mind Control! +1 to Cooking! +Backstory!

- Carter / Gryphon, Level 3 Fighter: 4194 (Level up at 8000)

*LEVEL UP!* +1d8 HP! +1 to Saves! +1 to Hit! +1 to Crit/Fumble! +Backstory!

- Ollie / Havarti Honeybun, Level 2 Halfling: 2925 (Level up at 4000)

*LEVEL UP!* +1d6 HP! +1 to Saves! +1 to Mind Control! +1 to Cooking! +Backstory!

Session 415 - A Castle in the Wastes

 Date: 19th August 1625

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous

Moon Face: Dragon Face

Zenith Deity: The Lady

Retired:

- Maxwell has retired to concoct schemes that will keep Morning Light Mountain contained.
- Zeppelino has retired to lead the Drudgespar goblin remnants. Manrat also did this further to the south-west so we might be in a warring states period.

 

New Characters:

- Nieval the Good, Specialist and former "Rig Rider". Survived in the Wastes via a vaulting pole, an exploding javelin, and sheer fucking will. Latterly became a villein to our other newest member.
- Gryphon, bearer of ancient techniques of swordcraft. He was cursed to sleep for a hundred years and a day and woke up in the post-apocalypse. Made it out of his country pile alive and hired Nieval with baroque coins.

Events:

--- Crash Landing

- In a minor retcon I have drawn the following - 

- The landing site is up to the players, and they decide to go for the castle to the east.

- Given the recent retirements it's just Sulphur crash-landing in the balloon made out of a very large inflated pig, and thus he lands in the sludge a short walk from our new additions. Their names are Gryphon (long-lost lord of the nearby manor) and Nieval the Good (recently hired because he can speak the modern lingo). 

- In the usual way of things, everyone trusts each other.

- Gryphon informs the party that there is much treasure in his castle, or at least that was so in the last century, so they all head towards the collapsed fortification as it sinks into the stinking goo of the Drudge Wastes.

--- An Entry

- Before entering the dungeon proper, Gryphon clambers onto the roof and grabs some weaponry from the decayed bastion. He finds trinkets and a few knives.
- The stairs leading in are, for some reason, leading downwards from the surface level. Inspection reveals that they are hinged, overengineered, and would have otherwise have led upwards.

- The entry chamber is lined by pillars. On the right they are carved to represent noble bow-armed humans. On the left they are carved into snivelling goblins with shelf-fungus on the back of their necks.

- With no immediate danger they head into the dungeon, taking note of stone feathers that flake in the corners. They speculate that there's a cockatrice around here somewhere.

--- Falling Floor

- The corridor turns left and fans out into a multitude of doors. The floor is covered in ankle-height sludge.

- They go north and, hey! The door hasn't been opened for a while! The floor is untouched by sludge and has big chequerboard squares within a chalk rectangle that runs around the room.
- Sulphur tosses his POWERLAD novel onto a square and sees it rock downwards on a hinge. Taking a peek, he sees countless fungoid goblins on punji pit spikes. Honestly it wouldn't hurt to fall down there at this point due to the sheer number of corpses.

- Nieval walks around the chalk outline to the door and discovers that it is locked! Sulphur punches a handful of teeth into the keyhole and magically detonates them.

- KABOOM!
- The lock is destroyed, the door opens.

--- Falling Floor 2: The Lowering

- Behind the door is an annex with crossbows, spears and swords mounted on the walls. This is clearly a defense position. The lack of crossbow kills in the pits is a credit to the designer, the goblins just fell in there!

- Our heroes arm themselves. Waste not want not and all that.

- They continue on and discover a room in which the floor whirrs and lowers when stepped upon. The walls have awful paintings of dying goblins on them, such that as the floor lowers more horrific tortures are revealed.

- Gryphon and Sulphur tie themselves to a rope, run to different doors, and discover that the floor falls faster with more weight on it. Gryphon opens his door and hears goblin voices from within.

- Gryphon shouts to lure them out. These goblins have big ol' fly agaric mushroom heads, and their leaders' head is extremely plump and effulgent. 

- Their hobgoblin leader declares that he's a motile of Morning Light Mountain and is doing its bidding. He also declares that his mind will transfer to his minions if he's killed. Battle ensues!

--- Caught in a Trap, No Turning Back

- Gryphon attempts to throw the hobgoblin straight into the pit, fails, and is saved by Sulphur who somehow manages to whiplash himself into the pit. THEN Nieval exchanges himself with Sulphur. It's a hell of a time.

- The hobgoblin tears the mushroom straight off his head and frisbees it into combat where it starts spewing stun poison.

- Nieval slaps the hobgoblin's hand and feels some mycelial horror worming its way into his palm. He starts to feel it invade his brain. This is very much NOT GOOD.

- His fears begin to manifest in a very physical way. His shadow splits and splits and splits. The worst part is that the others can also see this happening.

- Sulphur dives down, hammer blazing with glyph-fire, smashing the hobgoblin on the shoulder. Alas, the follow-through shatters Nieval's nose.

- The burning hammer keeps the shadows away while Sulphur's return swing knocks the hobgoblin's head right off its shoulders. It's dead! Maybe!

--- His Saviours

- Gryphon fishes his allies out of the pit. Nieval is truly fucked at this point. They drag his barely-surviving body out of the castle and prop him up against a wall, then go searching for something to cook.

- They find a few bulbs. Better than nothing. It's the soft-glowing shallot called Glimmerjack that grows amongst tree roots.

- Gryphon cooks up "Gloam Stew", which honestly sounds really tasty from his description despite having only one ingredient.

- They basically pour it all down Nieval's throat until he feels better. He is now extremely full but otherwise surviving. He lives!

- Without any camping gear they peer up at the castle. Do they go back in? Only time will tell.

Total: 7000 exp

Murders:
- One mushroom-headed hobgoblin (100 exp)

Total: 100 exp

Treasures:

- Some weaponry

- 12 obols-worth of trinkets (12 exp)
Total: 12 exp

Exp Totals:

- Kitty / Sulphur, Level 5 Boo-gilist: 18017 (Level up at 36000)
*LEVEL UP! +1d4 HP! +1 to Saves! +1 Mana! +Free Spell! + Backstory!

- Carter / Gryphon, Level 2 Fighter: 2371 (Level up at 4000)
*LEVEL UP!* +1d8 HP! +1 to Saves! +1 to Hit! +1 to Crit/Fumble! +Backstory!

- Charles / Nieval the Good, Level 2 Specialist: 2371 (Level up at 3500)

*LEVEL UP!* +1d6 HP! +1 to Saves! +2 Skill Points! +Backstory!