I swear I don't do this on purpose, but once again the one session missed by Charles is the one where MUCH LOOT is found! Model spaceships which are even more valuable to the Amphitheatre-Museum in New Moondin. Good stuff!
To my surprise/dismay, Jasmine survives! Now lumbered with a curse that makes her a clumsy pariah, it remains to be seen whether she'll last through the next one.
While I initially I said there was going to be a Wild Hunt twice a month (on each New Moon) I'm retconning that for logistical reasons - not least because the fast-forwarded time gimmick clashes royally.
Ah well. We've nearly made it to the end of in-game summer so at least that's working!
This does mean that Jasmine's Sleipnir plan gets retconned too (since the Hunt didn't come in the back half of June) so watch this space to see if she uses that plan!
Carousing in July went off with significant issue. In Times of Mead, probably the only pub in the entire world right now, has been burnt down by a drunken barbarian! Alas!
Maybe we'll find out what went wrong next session...?
Maps:
New Snels Design:
Session 222 - The Hunt Begins
Date:
14 years after the End.
14 years after the End.
June - July
Characters:
Character Backstories:
- Jasmine: She did something very reckless and impressive due to being peer-pressured by others - eating Elf hearts . +1 Dexterity.
- Zulu: In her youth, Zulu foolishly charged a bull elephant. She survived because she managed to see its tusk coming just in time! +1 Awareness.
- Barrett: Helped put down a mutiny on his ship during the apocalypse, and saw a mutineer in the streets of New Moondin when he found his way there. The mutineer fled, Barrett’s still after him. Once per session, cause someone you’ve met before to flee from you for a round.
- Andromeda: Part of a secret society of POWERLAD-breeders who survived the Apocalypse. She had to leave for New Moondin when her “farm” was washed away, but she’s still a member. Once per session, find a trustworthy society contact in a city.
- Jasmine: She did something very reckless and impressive due to being peer-pressured by others - eating Elf hearts . +1 Dexterity.
- Zulu: In her youth, Zulu foolishly charged a bull elephant. She survived because she managed to see its tusk coming just in time! +1 Awareness.
- Barrett: Helped put down a mutiny on his ship during the apocalypse, and saw a mutineer in the streets of New Moondin when he found his way there. The mutineer fled, Barrett’s still after him. Once per session, cause someone you’ve met before to flee from you for a round.
- Andromeda: Part of a secret society of POWERLAD-breeders who survived the Apocalypse. She had to leave for New Moondin when her “farm” was washed away, but she’s still a member. Once per session, find a trustworthy society contact in a city.
Valuables:
- 5 silver rods (50 exp)
- A bunch of random valuable bits and pieces (500 exp)
- 5 intricate model spacecraft (50000 exp)
Total: 50550 exp
- A bunch of random valuable bits and pieces (500 exp)
- 5 intricate model spacecraft (50000 exp)
Total: 50550 exp
Dungeon Exploration:
- Explored 4 dungeon rooms (80 exp)
- Found 1 secret door (50 exp)
Total: 610 exp
- Found 1 secret door (50 exp)
Total: 610 exp
Events:
--- Main Party: Elf Attack!
- A moment of stillness! A Gad has zoomed off down the corridor of the strange dungeon, leaving the slumped figure of Damnation Snels behind. The party prepares for a further assault…
- In a flash, a shape blurs past! Its wings are razor-sharp, scything down the corridor towards its fallen friend. It’s gone in mere moments, the sheer speed of its passing damage anyone in the way and covering Damnation Snels with more cuts. The body of the slain Gad is gone.
- Privateer Barrett, caught in the corridor after last session’s mid-combat break, bolts for Damnation Snels and bundles him onto the skeleton horse. Damnation, for his part, sticks his hands into his wounds and calls upon the healing power of God - he’s fine!
- Zulu Snakebite bangs pots and pans while Sian makes a racket with her violin - hoping to counter the Gads’ echolocation. Andromeda, God-Hammer in hand, enters the corridor and faces her doom, ready to smash anyone who comes for her….
- In a flash, a shape blurs past! Its wings are razor-sharp, scything down the corridor towards its fallen friend. It’s gone in mere moments, the sheer speed of its passing damage anyone in the way and covering Damnation Snels with more cuts. The body of the slain Gad is gone.
- Privateer Barrett, caught in the corridor after last session’s mid-combat break, bolts for Damnation Snels and bundles him onto the skeleton horse. Damnation, for his part, sticks his hands into his wounds and calls upon the healing power of God - he’s fine!
- Zulu Snakebite bangs pots and pans while Sian makes a racket with her violin - hoping to counter the Gads’ echolocation. Andromeda, God-Hammer in hand, enters the corridor and faces her doom, ready to smash anyone who comes for her….
--- Elf Retreat
- This combination appears thoroughly demoralising to the Gads, and their battle-clicking fades. The way is clear! The party heads for the stairs down and out, lucky to have survived! Barrett tearfully leaves his skeletal horse behind, at a loss to explain how it even got in here in the first place.
- It’s a stinking hot day outside the cave, now flanked by disappointingly euclidean pillars. Sian and Barrett strip off despite the poisonous fumes - wearing heavier survival gear will be exhausting in the heat so maybe it’s better to just take the exposure damage?
- Andromeda peeks outside and sees Gads circling above, surrounded by riders on spectral horses. She puts two and two together quickly - they peer-pressured that kid into eating an Elf heart, it’s a new moon, the Gads must be preparing for a Wild Hunt! That means the Gads in the dungeon above must have fucked off!
- She turns around and tells the party the new plan - back up into the dungeon! Hit it while it’s unguarded!
--- Jasmine: the Hunted
- Jasmine, lugging Sophia’s corpse over her shoulder, reaches the Saviourbone Mine. The great Power-Dragon skeleton kneels on the hilltop, one wing tumbled to the ground to be “mined” for valuable Saviourbone. The usual miners and priests are not here.
- Instead, there’s a young lady wearing a fox fur sitting and waiting for Jasmine to arrive. She seems friendly, and asks if Jasmine’s ready for the hunt! The key question - Hunter or Hunted?
- After discovering that choosing Hunter means that Jasmine will join the Wild Hunt forever, she chooses being eternally hunted down instead. At least there’s a chance to get out of it! The woman is very pleased by this - she’d have had to be the replacement quarry otherwise!
- The Hunt will begin at midnight. She whistles, and a ghostly horse of mist and light emerges from the earth to bear her away into the sky. Her thanks echoes down from above.
--- Dig Them Holes
- It’s a bastard of a day. A real scorcher. It’s eerily quiet - few flying insects survived the End. Jasmine is digging in the shadow of the Power Skeleton. She looted the Mine for equipment, her shovel shuffing into the ground. She’s digging two graves.
- There’s a distant shout as the priest from before, Arnold, shouts something angrily at her. The miners are back. She yells back that she’s just digging graves and they leave off, the heat’s too oppressive to bother with going over there and stopping her.
- It’s long work. As it gets towards evening she sees Gads beginning to gather in the skies to the west. She suspends ropes around the graves and places bowls of oil at the head of each, then slowly lowers her dead friend’s corpse into her grave. It’s just a funeral for Sophia, see?
- There’s a distant shout as the priest from before, Arnold, shouts something angrily at her. The miners are back. She yells back that she’s just digging graves and they leave off, the heat’s too oppressive to bother with going over there and stopping her.
- It’s long work. As it gets towards evening she sees Gads beginning to gather in the skies to the west. She suspends ropes around the graves and places bowls of oil at the head of each, then slowly lowers her dead friend’s corpse into her grave. It’s just a funeral for Sophia, see?
--- Going to Ground
- Evening comes in and brings a cooler breeze. Sophia waits patiently, lighting candles around the graves. The new moon hangs ominously overhead. A mist rises, and on the edge of the darkness it almost looks like there are people riding giant snails out there…
- The sky begins to ripple with strange aurorae, and a distant bugle blows. The Hunt begins!
- Sophia hears an incoming shattering sound like breaking glass. The sky ripples, silhouetting flying figures and people on spectral horses. Sophia falls backwards into the grave… and disappears.
- Safely ensconced in her pocket Hammerspace dimension, Sophia waits out the Wild Hunt. It’s not like she can get out until then anyway - she’ll be stuck here until her mana refreshes and she’s unable to maintain the spell…
--- Main Party: Return to the Dungeon!
- Back inside it is! Barrett has a tearful reunion with his skeleton horse, who conveniently helps them work out which way is which. There are far fewer Gad calls echoing through the corridors. Damnation hears the those who remain are clearly a bit put out at not being allowed to join the Hunt.
- Back inside it is! Barrett has a tearful reunion with his skeleton horse, who conveniently helps them work out which way is which. There are far fewer Gad calls echoing through the corridors. Damnation hears the those who remain are clearly a bit put out at not being allowed to join the Hunt.
- The party goes back into the room from before. Snels witnesses someone’s shadow peel off from them and dart into a corridor. A warning of what’s down here.
- While Barrett and Snels carefully open the blocked-off door from last time. The door enters into a room filled with boxes - loot!
- Behind them, Andromeda rebuilds the henge. As she places the last stone a small pillar of bubbling black begins forming in the centre of the circle. She bum-puffs the last of the toke she nicked off of DJ and advances towards it, gun raised.
- To those outside the circle she seems to be heading further and further away, but to her it’s a few short steps until she has the tiny obelisk speared on the end of her musket. It seems fine. She wills it to go into her bag, and then onto her shoulder. It’s an odd thing, but apparently safe?
- It’s lucky that Snels is busy looting the room with Barrett and doesn’t see this clearly demonic artifact come into being. The room’s good looting though - some now-non-valuable silver rods amongst some now-very-valuable old world junk like pig iron and tin snips. Every junk room is a trove! They pass out silver rods to everyone in case of Elves, or more probably spooky shit that can only be hurt by silver.
- Among the crates and barrels is a clump of crates all empty and nailed together, easy to move as a unit and all empty. Of course this hides a secret door! The party piles through a short section of corridor and into the room beyond.
--- Model Rockets
- It’s a showroom of some sort. There’s a large rocket-propelled vehicle on a pedestal in the centre, surrounded by models of other vehicles. They are all very strange - wings and rockets abound. Spaceships, surely! Praise Galaxy Johnson!
- Barrett climbs into the full-size one-man rocket-propelled vehicle and finds a manual in the glovebox. Nice! It purports to be written by “Modunar” and has a Duvan’Ku symbol on the front, along with diagrams of flying to the moon.
- The others investigate the models and realise that they’re extremely valuable! Finely crafted and made of rare woods and metals, they’ll be worth even more to New Moondin’s museum.
- Snels and Zulu decide they’ve seen enough and head back out with their model spacecraft. They pause when they get into the junk room… the Gads have gone quiet.
- Andromeda peeps into the next room and finds a sort of lecture theatre. There’s an audience, but all but two are slumped over. They’re facing a large glowing tablet with text rippling on it, describing a spell called Elf Bane.
- They can always come back, so they decide to leave well enough alone. They head for the door and… the way out is gone! Andromeda’s strange non-euclidean pet has collapsed into a simple cylinder. Where there was a hallway is now nothing.
- After a while of increasingly frantic scraping at the pentagram on the floor, the cylinder reverts to bubbling tar and the door opposite has suddenly always been there. Phew! They exit into the junk room, and all is well.
- There is a brief moment of worry when they head back to the spiral stairs - the stairs are gone! The corridor just keeps going! But Andromeda wills the blob to go inert and the crossroads reappear. The skeleton horse has to be abandoned again, alas, and the party descends.
--- Reading Circle
- While Barrett and Snels carefully open the blocked-off door from last time. The door enters into a room filled with boxes - loot!
- Behind them, Andromeda rebuilds the henge. As she places the last stone a small pillar of bubbling black begins forming in the centre of the circle. She bum-puffs the last of the toke she nicked off of DJ and advances towards it, gun raised.
- To those outside the circle she seems to be heading further and further away, but to her it’s a few short steps until she has the tiny obelisk speared on the end of her musket. It seems fine. She wills it to go into her bag, and then onto her shoulder. It’s an odd thing, but apparently safe?
- It’s lucky that Snels is busy looting the room with Barrett and doesn’t see this clearly demonic artifact come into being. The room’s good looting though - some now-non-valuable silver rods amongst some now-very-valuable old world junk like pig iron and tin snips. Every junk room is a trove! They pass out silver rods to everyone in case of Elves, or more probably spooky shit that can only be hurt by silver.
- Among the crates and barrels is a clump of crates all empty and nailed together, easy to move as a unit and all empty. Of course this hides a secret door! The party piles through a short section of corridor and into the room beyond.
--- Model Rockets
- It’s a showroom of some sort. There’s a large rocket-propelled vehicle on a pedestal in the centre, surrounded by models of other vehicles. They are all very strange - wings and rockets abound. Spaceships, surely! Praise Galaxy Johnson!
- Barrett climbs into the full-size one-man rocket-propelled vehicle and finds a manual in the glovebox. Nice! It purports to be written by “Modunar” and has a Duvan’Ku symbol on the front, along with diagrams of flying to the moon.
- The others investigate the models and realise that they’re extremely valuable! Finely crafted and made of rare woods and metals, they’ll be worth even more to New Moondin’s museum.
- Snels and Zulu decide they’ve seen enough and head back out with their model spacecraft. They pause when they get into the junk room… the Gads have gone quiet.
- Andromeda peeps into the next room and finds a sort of lecture theatre. There’s an audience, but all but two are slumped over. They’re facing a large glowing tablet with text rippling on it, describing a spell called Elf Bane.
- They can always come back, so they decide to leave well enough alone. They head for the door and… the way out is gone! Andromeda’s strange non-euclidean pet has collapsed into a simple cylinder. Where there was a hallway is now nothing.
- After a while of increasingly frantic scraping at the pentagram on the floor, the cylinder reverts to bubbling tar and the door opposite has suddenly always been there. Phew! They exit into the junk room, and all is well.
- There is a brief moment of worry when they head back to the spiral stairs - the stairs are gone! The corridor just keeps going! But Andromeda wills the blob to go inert and the crossroads reappear. The skeleton horse has to be abandoned again, alas, and the party descends.
--- Reading Circle
- Getting home via the river is a good idea, but might be a struggle given the lack of protective gear among the party. Luckily there’s a bit of Traveller’s Stew left to help protect them from the elements, so they decide to have a siesta before setting off in the evening.
- While they relax, they take the opportunity to read some books. Snels grows angry after reading that Halflings were short even in Biblical times and chucks the book into the fire! It implies Jesus was a midget, nobody must have this knowledge! Somewhere on the edge of hearing one can almost hear a voice crying out in despair...
- While they relax, they take the opportunity to read some books. Snels grows angry after reading that Halflings were short even in Biblical times and chucks the book into the fire! It implies Jesus was a midget, nobody must have this knowledge! Somewhere on the edge of hearing one can almost hear a voice crying out in despair...
--- Going Home
- Evening comes and the party follows the water downstream. The smaller creeks, flowing out from the holes in the valley sides, merge into one large river that rushes south towards New Moondin.
- They pass a disturbed section of riverbank with triangular prints, and where the river turns towards the town they find skeleton roadworkers patiently building the road. Soon they’re back in New Moondin, safe and sound!
- Red goes to the Library with the party’s books. Deposit them here and they can buy copies in future. Good deal! She’s greeted by an impish young man who speaks long-windedly, the Librarians within seem to be at the tail end of a long party.
- After much chatter, Red deposits the books in exchange for debt tattoos. The transfer is strange - a deep demonic voice is heard from the room where the books are taken, and the man emerges with his arm black with tattoos before returning most of them. How odd.
- As a last thing before returning to the party, Red chucks a message in a bottle into the river, hoping that her dad will find it somehow one day...
- Evening comes and the party follows the water downstream. The smaller creeks, flowing out from the holes in the valley sides, merge into one large river that rushes south towards New Moondin.
- They pass a disturbed section of riverbank with triangular prints, and where the river turns towards the town they find skeleton roadworkers patiently building the road. Soon they’re back in New Moondin, safe and sound!
- Red goes to the Library with the party’s books. Deposit them here and they can buy copies in future. Good deal! She’s greeted by an impish young man who speaks long-windedly, the Librarians within seem to be at the tail end of a long party.
- After much chatter, Red deposits the books in exchange for debt tattoos. The transfer is strange - a deep demonic voice is heard from the room where the books are taken, and the man emerges with his arm black with tattoos before returning most of them. How odd.
- As a last thing before returning to the party, Red chucks a message in a bottle into the river, hoping that her dad will find it somehow one day...
--- Jasmine Survives
- After 24 hours have passed and Jasmine is unable to spend the Mana to keep up her Hammerspace spell, the extra-dimensional space collapses. Jasmine pops out of the grave and brushes herself off.
- The woman in the fox-fur, sitting on the pile of gravedirt nearby, claps. Avoiding the Wild Hunt is a hell of an accomplishment! However Jasmine is now cursed - all will hate her, and falls will kill her. That’s just how it goes.
- She mentions that it’s possible to shoot for moonhood by eating every kind of Elf heart, and she cautions Jasmine not to use the same trick twice. The Elves expect a show! Message delivered, she summons her mist-horse again and rides away into the sky. See you next month!
--- July: Carousing!
- Flush with cash after selling the model spacecraft to the Amphitheatre-Museum, the party carouses! They tear up the town. Literally.
- They awaken in the Spider Temple to the disapproving glare of the Spider-Priests. Andromeda wakes up with only her hammer and her armour on hand - where they fuck is her stuff?! And bizarrely she seems to have lost her actual groin?!
- Snels discovers to his dismay that he’s got a tattoo on his private parts. It says “I ♡ POWERLAD”.
- The town’s only inn - In Times of Mead - was burnt down. Zulu was seen fleeing the scene.
- After 24 hours have passed and Jasmine is unable to spend the Mana to keep up her Hammerspace spell, the extra-dimensional space collapses. Jasmine pops out of the grave and brushes herself off.
- The woman in the fox-fur, sitting on the pile of gravedirt nearby, claps. Avoiding the Wild Hunt is a hell of an accomplishment! However Jasmine is now cursed - all will hate her, and falls will kill her. That’s just how it goes.
- She mentions that it’s possible to shoot for moonhood by eating every kind of Elf heart, and she cautions Jasmine not to use the same trick twice. The Elves expect a show! Message delivered, she summons her mist-horse again and rides away into the sky. See you next month!
--- July: Carousing!
- Flush with cash after selling the model spacecraft to the Amphitheatre-Museum, the party carouses! They tear up the town. Literally.
- They awaken in the Spider Temple to the disapproving glare of the Spider-Priests. Andromeda wakes up with only her hammer and her armour on hand - where they fuck is her stuff?! And bizarrely she seems to have lost her actual groin?!
- Snels discovers to his dismay that he’s got a tattoo on his private parts. It says “I ♡ POWERLAD”.
- The town’s only inn - In Times of Mead - was burnt down. Zulu was seen fleeing the scene.
- Red manages to avoid consequences. Apparently she’s the only one who can hold her liquor!
- July: Jasmine Prepares for the Wild Hunt
- Jasmine is unfortunately unable to carouse due to the Elf curse. She skulks through the town to research a spell that will summon an eight-legged steed. The summoning is a success and she nets herself a permanent fungal horse pet. She’s sure to give the Elves a show...
Retcon Warning: We’ll play out the Sleipnir plan next session. Wild Hunt is back to once a month for logistical reasons!
Total: 2600 exp
Team Bonus:
- Better Part of Valour bonus
- Bookworm bonus
- Dramatic Escape bonus
- Enmity Inciter bonus
- Heresy bonus
- High as Fuck bonus
- Long Deliberation bonus
- Masterchef bonus
- Next to Godliness bonus
- Pundemonium bonus
- Split the Party bonus
Total: 1150 exp
- Better Part of Valour bonus
- Bookworm bonus
- Dramatic Escape bonus
- Enmity Inciter bonus
- Heresy bonus
- High as Fuck bonus
- Long Deliberation bonus
- Masterchef bonus
- Next to Godliness bonus
- Pundemonium bonus
- Split the Party bonus
Total: 1150 exp
Individual Bonus:
- Chronicler (Carter / Jasmine - 100 exp)
- Expedition Leader (Kitty / Andromeda - 100 exp)
- Cartographer (Carter / Jasmine - 100 exp)
- Paymaster (Tom / Barrett - 100 exp)
- Quartermaster (Ollie / Zulu - 100 exp)
- Vanguard (George / Snels - 100 exp)
- Triage (Carter / Jasmine - 100 exp)
- Chef (Ollie / Zulu - 100 exp)
- Art Attack bonus (Carter, Ollie, George, Tom - 100 exp ea.)
- Chippo Champion bonus (Tom*2 - 100 exp ea.)
- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Kitty - 500 exp ea.)
Experience Totals:
- Kitty / Andromeda, Level 5 Laddite Cleric: 16703 (Level up at 28000)
Level up: +1d6 HP! +1d6 Healing Pool! +1 Starting Faith! +Backstory!
- George / Praise-God-For-He-Gave-His-Only-Son-So-That-We-Might-Be-Saved-From-Damnation Snels, Level 5 Snelsman Cleric: 14503 (Level up at 28000)
Level up: +1d6 HP! +1d6 Healing Pool! +1 Starting Faith! +Backstory!
Level up: +1d6 HP! +1d6 Healing Pool! +1 Starting Faith! +Backstory!
- Timothy / Red, Level 4 Fighter: 14003 (Level up at 16000)
Level up: +1d8 HP! +1 to Hit! +1 to Crit/Fumble Table! +Backstory!
- Carter / Jasmine, Level 4 Elf (Flibbertigibbet): 11262 (Level up at 18000)
Level up: +1d6 HP! +1 Mana! +1 Free Spell! +Backstory!
Level up: +1d6 HP! +1 Mana! +1 Free Spell! +Backstory!
- Ollie / Zulu Snakebite, Level 4 Barbarian: 10826 (Level up at 16000)
Level up: +1d8 HP! +2 Barbarian Powers! +Backstory!
Level up: +1d8 HP! +2 Barbarian Powers! +Backstory!
- Tom / Privateer Barrett, Level 4 Specialist: 9806 (Level up at 12000)
- Tom / Privateer Barrett, Level 4 Specialist: 9806 (Level up at 12000)
Level up: +1d6 HP! +2 Skill Points! +Backstory!
Level up: +1d6 HP! +2 Skill Points! +Backstory!
- James / Siân Niamh Keeva Caiskán, Level 3 Necromancer: 8601 (Level up at 9000)
Level up: +1d4 HP! +1 Mana! +1 Free Spell! +Backstory!
Level up: +1d4 HP! +1 Mana! +1 Free Spell! +Backstory!
