Session 299 - A Hell of Pure Imagination

Date: July 9th, 14 p.p.
Moon: Waxing Crescent
Zenith: Alaunus

New Backstory

- Iskander had his first water-based battle and was washed away, thankfully he washed up in a big pile of treasure and now loves the waves! +1 Piloting

Events:

--- Hellworld

- After Iskander put a ring on a corpse's finger and opened a portal to hell, our heroes gaze into the screaming portal and wonder wtf they should do.

- Celebus ties a skeleton to a string and sends it in there. Most ominously the skeleton is somehow walking towards the party, but away. The landscape within is pitted and scarred with craters, ending at a cliff edge with a metal gazebo built onto and over it. 

- When Celebus pulls the skeleton back it's cold, but unharmed.

- Swan is first to walk through the portal and is similarly backwards-turned despite intending to move forward. In the background behind the portal is a vast crumbling yellow city. 

- Battleflies - twitching curling gossamer butterfly creatures - appear in the air and approach chattering. These are real somehow, not the papier mache constructs fought in the house they've just left.

- The rest of the party follow on, talking to the battleflies who will show them the master of this place.

--- The Dread Gazebo
- They backwards-forwards walk towards the gazebo on the cliff edge, warned in advance by the battleflies that the craters are full of slugs. Iskander offers Swan the Swift a swig of his chaos-resistance tequila and Swanny chugs the lot. Swannyyy!

- Inside the gazebo is a man whose skin is stretched across a metal machine and whose brain is being drilled into, sucked out, and recirculated. He's in pain... but it's worth it because this machine allows him to make his thoughts into reality! At least in this reality. This is indeed Bashir the painter who abandoned his home for this one, using his wife as a grim catalyst.
- He asks about whether the party has met the Bone Lord, and when asked what the Bone Lord looks like he conjures a giant skeleton from Celebus' skeleton. Bits of brain-stuff clearly evaporate as he does so.
- Swan requests a magic sword, using his sword as a vessel, and gains a legendary sword! It looks rad as hell.
- The party notice that the portal is clearly flickering as Bashir's brain evaporates from their requests. Time to go!
- They reverse-walk back to the portal, and in one last act Celebus reanimates the corpse of Bashir's wife and sends it into the portal to be with Bashir one last time. The portal flickers shut... but they hear Bashir's imagined version of his wife yelling at him shrilly.

--- I'm Seeing Double Here!
- They leave and the creepy skull spider guy marking their tests reveals that they passed it! They're clearly heroes! Or at the very least pretty well versed in weird shit. His name is Terrence Skull, and he leads them through the black market to meet the Bone Lord...

- Also the black market looks pretty awesome as they pass through. They'll come back for admin for sure.

- They are led through to a spooky cathedral filled with bones! It's like the Paris catacombs in there. And amongst the bones, sitting on a bone throne, is none other than Guido! Yes, fan favourite giant skeleton friend has returned as the Bone Lord! The exact opposite of the Meat Lord!

- Also here is... another giant skeleton? It's easy to ascertain his name of GORATH because he yells it at every opportunity! And finally, the Flayed King! Once protected by GORATH, now taken to the Meatlands to help fix his flayed condition. He still looks like his skin is kind of droopy and buttoned on, but it's better with Meatland Magic to help stick him back together.
- It was useful for GORATH to turn up, because it means that Guido in his guise as the Bone Lord can do seditious anti-Meat Lord activities in one area while having a perfect alibi in another area. After all, there wouldn't be two giant skeletons right? The Flayed King is more on the admin side.

- Guido reveals that he's feuding with the Meat Lord, who hoards clean meat for his most favoured subjects and lets everyone else mutate on random meaty morsels they find in the greater meatlands. It's not right! The Meat Lord must be stopped!

--- Heist Planning

- Going by the Bone Lord's plan, there are several places that can be struck by a small committed team in order to destabilise the Meat Lord and make an eventual assault on the Meat Lord's massive T-bone steak palace more likely to succeed.

- The plan currently seems to be a three part process. Infiltrate and steal a Meat Mech from the Meat Mech Hangar. Use the Meat Mech to catch a Chaos Worm out in the meatlands. Use the Chaos Worm to dig under the Bank (which is a huge pig) and do a heist from the inside, stealing the Meat Lord's clean meat stash and making the populace turn against him.

- Since this is a lot of DM prep, they decide to head out into the black market and see what they can get there.

--- Black Market

- The stalls of the black market are many, but several stick out. The soul seller - great for Necromancers. The seed bank, which piques Swan the Swift's interest. Clean Meat sellers, ever important and extortionate. And an Illmonger, who sells sicknesses. The party loads up on various bits and pieces, Swan the Swift especially getting some wheat seeds so he can begin his Meatlands-to-Wheatlands plan.

--- The Mad Scientist
- Finally they head over to the Mad Scientist who they briefly met last session, who has a variety of increasingly bizarre guns. They ask him to create a bag gun that can capture a Chaos Worm and, intrigued by the challenge, he gets to work!

Total: 7000 exp

Treasure:

- A vial of purified Azoth (100 exp)
- Various bits and bobs from the black market
Total: 100 exp

Exp Totals:

- George / Swan the Swift, Level 5 Barbarian: 30323 (Level up at 32000)

- Ollie / Iskander Fullbeard, Level 5 Fighter: 20127 (Level up at 32000)

- Charles / Celebus Uppytus, Level 4 Necromancer: 17848 (Level up at 18000)

- Kitty / Amanta, Level 5 Mantis Specialist: 15106 (Level up at 28000)

Level up! +1d6 HP! +2 Skill Points! +Improved Saves! +Backstory!

Session 298 - Tested by the Bone Lord

Date: July 7th, 14 p.p.
Moon: Waning Crescent
Zenith: The Dead God

New Backstory:
- Astro Moon ensured that her anime enemies suffered... through her long and clearly reused transformation sequences. Once per session, threaten someone to make them tell you the truth.

Events:

--- Breakfast in Salivasburger
- Down a cobbled alley flowing with sweat, nestled between half-timbered Tudor style houses fixed up with chunks of flesh and pasted-on skin, our heroes wake up in the Steak and Ale inn that they paid good meat-money for and head down to breakfast.
- Iskander checks out the buffet with an expert eye and identifies the Beefy Haunch as a better and less mutagenic option than the Chubby Beak. He's also got a ring of sausages around his neck - clean meat! - so he's living large.
- And lo, Swanny is here! Walking down the street into Salivasburger! Iskander runs to meet him jubilantly, throwing his arms around his rival and sticking a "kick me" sign to his back. It transpires that in the night, a head on spiderlegs with skull facepaint tapped on the window and left a note saying to follow it in the morning because they "must be tested".

- An old lady sees Iskander's sausages and begs for one. Some guards see this and wander over. The talker is Medium Baz, different to Big Baz, Boss Baz, Big Boss Baz, Small Baz, and several other Bazzes who live in the town and work as guards. He won't take bribes, but he will of course take gifts for his family.
- They chat for a while, and Astro Moon spots the white skull on a nearby awning. They decide to follow, though on the way they briefly meet some mad scientist type who's going out of the city to test out his cool new arm-mounted gun.

--- By the Black Pudding Market
- They follow the white skull to an abandoned painters' studio. They also see the entrance to the black (pudding) market, with furtive people heading into a nearby door that leads down somewhere sinister.
- Iskander trades some sausages for a gold necklace a lady wanted to pawn off in the market below, so he's saved her a trip!
- The white skull-spider whispers that this was not a heroic act, and their current hero test grade is F. Iskander tries to argue the contrary to no avail.
- Swan tries to tell her that she can grow plants in poop, but she isn't buying it.

--- Into the Painter's House
- Astro Moon has now arrived, so the three go into the house where they will be tested. Inside it is smoky and barbeque-y. Unfinished paintings are in the hall.
- The paintings come alive! Luckily Swan was due to destroy someone with his bare hands and the paintings will do. The northern barbarian themed paintings go down fighting, Swan smashing two over a convenient banister while another shlurps into Astro Moon and damages her brain.
- There is a fizzing electric sound as the paintings are smashed, which soon shuts off. The white skull-spider observing tells them that they're currently rated D.

--- Dining Orb
- They head into the next area - a kitchen diner. Placemats with various names (including Bashir, the mysterious painter) are set around the place. An orb is suspended over the table, glass and gold. Iskander looks under the cloche in front of Bashir's seat and finds a smaller version of the same - it's some kind of electro landmine.
- Through some doors is a small lounge. There's a persian rug which Astro Moon immediately sits on in the hopes that it's a magic carpet. Alas, but probably worth a few sausages. Also in here is a silver engagement ring dedicated to "Mina".

--- Battleflies
- They go up the stairs and into the painters' studio. The smoke is thicker here, and colours weave in the mist. The colours resolve into big gauzy insects! The battleflies engage with claws and stingers!

- They are defeated with some effort.
- As they fall to the floor, puppet strings cut and papier-mache stingers destroyed, there is a roar! A huge skeleton with a big rusty sword emerges from a stairway and announces that HE IS GUIDO!
- It's another fake. Iskander rolls the electro landmine towards it and pulls the trigger on his control orb. False Guido the Bone Lord falls over in a raggedy heap.
- They check out the bathroom and find an arcane bath bomb that allows a spellcaster to recover their Mana with a good soak. Neat!

--- Welcome to Hell

- It's getting late, so they decide to rest in a cupboard. But what a cupboard! Inside there are two dessicated heads in the middle of some sort of ritual pentacle with wax candles and everything.
- Iskar puts the engagement ring on a corpse... and a portal opens above the pentacle! Within is a vision of HELL!!!

- Dun dun duuuuunnnnnnnnn!

Total: 7000 exp

Treasure:
- An unmagical carpet (50 exp)
- An engagement ring (100 exp)
- An arcane bath bomb
Total: 150 exp

Foes Defeated:

- Living Paintings (300 exp)
- Battleflies (500 exp)
- False Guido (250 exp)
Total: 1050 exp

OOC:
- Chronicler / Chef - Izzy
- Expedition Leader / Vanguard - George
- Paymaster / Quartermaster - Ollie

Exp Totals:

- George / Swan the Swift, Level 5 Barbarian: 26498 (Level up at 32000)

- Ollie / Iskander Fullbeard, Level 5 Fighter: 16302 (Level up at 32000)
DING! +1d8 HP! +1 to hit! +1 to crits and fumbles! +backstory!

- Izzy / Astro Moon, Level 4 Muscle Wizard: 12262 (Level up at 18000)

Session 297 - Welcome to Salivasburger

Date: July 3rd, 14 p.p
Moon: Waning Gibbous
Zenith: The Dead God

New Characters:
Tinker Rat, a diminutive fairy-like Ratman.

New Backstory:
- Amanta fell out forever with her husband - a male underground mantis. Naturally, she ate his head. It turns out somebody here is a long-lost friend - "wait... John?!" - up to you whether you've forgiven each other by now. One use.

Events:

--- In Pursuit of the Zombies
- In the massive bicep, surrounded by buff greased-up muscle men, the party discusses what to do about the Ravenous Zombies they previously accidentally unleashed.
- Iskander tries to lift the giant bone... and fails. He swears to everyone not to tell Swanny.
- The party head off into the giant right hand that thrusts up from the sweaty Meatland ground, climbs up the inside, and make their way across the tendon bridge into the giant left hand.

- They find a sort of defensive chamber that was obviously not enough to protect the massive-brained people of XANAX from the brain-seeking zombies. They grab some globes filled with a horrible substance that makes teeth grow over you, and a dead XANAX cultist with their brain scooped out.
- They go upwards, finding themselves between the huge fingers of the left hand. Strange sigils are tattooed onto the giant fingers, and a couple of XANAXes are up there trying to discern if there's a prophecy about these zombies on there.
- Iskander reads it and learns how to discern good meat forage from bad meat forage! Useful! Tinker Rat learns some music.
- They head down into the hand again and see some of the inside of the hand has been barricaded against zombies. No sign of said zombies though.
- Tinker-Rat peeks down a hole into the meat of the palm and nearly gets jumped! Quick thinking lets her evade, and Amanta chucks a tooth grenade down the hole! It hits the spaniard zombie, and teeth start boring into his skull and growing claw-like over his face.

- The Liber Quint zombie flees, jumping out of one of the hands' massive pores and sprinting off into the Meatlands. A last crossbow bolt gets her in the back, but she rolls and keeps going out of range!

--- The Lens Machine
- Ravenous Zombie away, the party check out the room they're in. There's a big meaty machine with a big bony box, and a place in between where one of the several types of lens formed from aqueous humour in a transparent skin.

- Experiments, naturally, ensue. It's all fun and games making diamonds double in size or spellbooks change colour until it is discovered that doing this makes the object unstable and eventually turn to sludge.
- Astro Moon suddenly realises that her spellbook, now a nice shade of blue, is on borrowed time. It's even getting squishy in her hands.
- They return to XANAX and are thanked profusely for saving them from the zombies! They are rewarded by being allowed to suckle from the horrible phallic milk-teats that grow from a cyst on the wall, and also given 100 precious iron rations that they'd been saving in case something happened to the teats.
- Everyone suckles on the teats in more and more overtly sexual ways, except for Amanta who just squeezes it into one of the bowls provided and drinks it from there. Nutritious, though!

--- To Salivasburger
- It's time to head on to the main city of the Meatlands, formerly Salisburgh and now naturally known as Salivasburger, its stone walls emerging from fatty deposits that look like they're trying to suck it down into the meat.
- It's an uneventful trip other than the smell of sweat pouring from the skin-ground. It's very hot, so the skin is slippery and sweaty.
- After a few hours they're at the gates of Salivasburger - a pair of massive gnashing teeth turned sideways, defending a long throat that leads through the wall and into the town proper. A mutated guard, looking from above, inspects the party and orders the gates opened to let them in.

--- A Mysterious Murder
- The city of Salivasburger, once walled by stone and packed with half-timbered buildings, is now packed also with meat, bone, and various bodily fluids. The gutters run with pale red liquid, repairs to buildings are completed with stretched-out skin canvases and lumps of cancerous meat, and the people are a motley crowd of mutated people and beasts.
- Somehow Iskander and Celebus are the weirdest people here. Nobody bats an eyelid at a giant mantis-woman or a fairy rat, but they give a wide berth to the unmutated strangers in their midst.
- They look around, somewhat overwhelmed, and hear a scream from down an alleyway! They see a shadowy hooded figure murder someone with a long dagger and give chase!
- The drool-slick cobbles slow their movements and the figure looks like it's going to escape... but suddenly its head falls off and rolls down the drain! Or did it scurry off on lots of horrible little legs?? The body falls to its knees... and starts sniffing around like a dog before noticing the party and running off on all fours.
- Tinker Rat flies down into the sewer to chase the head and meets several other rats down there. They explain that it's a fairly common type of creature around here, but they don't know much more. They offer Tinker Rat some unclean meat to be hospitable, and Tinker Rat partakes to be social.
- Tinker Rat's face slides off.
- She dies.

- Up in the alleyway the rest of the party is none the wiser and, after waiting around for half an hour, decide that Tinker Rat probably returned to her own kind. They exit the alleyway and head out into the city, while a mere half a metre beneath their feet Tinker Rat's body is devoured by her new friends.

--- Spellbooks and Sausages
- Astro Moon needs to get a new spellbook made... and fast! Hers is denaturing rapidly, and carrying it around really isn't helping. To that end she asks around until she finds a library, and as is tradition all libraries are curated by Necromancers.
- It transpires that nobody will take Obols here - that's fake demon money you see. Here all trade is done in clean meat - from thin slivers of prosciutto up to big haunches of salted meat when you really want to splash the cash.
- After some bad haggling, the Necromancers agree to copy Astro Moon's spellbook for her. Despite her  protestations the party pay for the service out of their shared coffers. It'll take a few days, but that's better than having to start from scratch!

Total: 6000 exp

Treasure:
- Tooth grenades
- 100 iron rations (1000 exp)
Total: 1000 exp

Foes Defeated:
- 2 Ravenous Zombies, though one escaped... (100 exp)
Total: 100 exp

OOC:
- Chronicler / Chef - Charles (200 exp)
- Expedition Leader / Vanguard - Kitty (200 exp)
- Paymaster - Izzy (100 exp)
- Quartermaster - Ollie (100 exp)

Dead:

James G / Tinker Rat - Face fell off after eating some suspicious meat

Exp Totals:

- Charles / Celebus Uppytus, Level 4 Necromancer: 14023 (Level up at 18000)

- Ollie / Iskander Fullbeard, Level 4 Fighter: 13368 (Level up at 16000)

- Kitty / Amanta, Level 4 Mantis Specialist: 11281 (Level up at 14000)

- Izzy / Astro Moon, Level 4 Muscle Wizard: 9328 (Level up at 18000)
Level Up! +1d4 HP! +1 Mana! +Free Spell! +Backstory!
- James G - Tinker Rat - DECEASED

Session 296 - Brains and Brawn

 Date: July 1st, 14 p.p.

Moon: Full Moon - Clear Face
Zenith: The Dead God

New Backstory:
- Amanta, in her pre-anthropomorphic days deep in the cold depths of the Earth, ate her mantis "husband" to survive. Can eat 2 rations at a time when you eat to heal.
- Celebus was known for carrying pockets full of stinky rotisserie chicken. +1 AC when covered in filth.
- Swan saved his sick mother by arcane means, descending to hell and plucking out his own eye to save her life. The legends say she cannot die. +1 Arcana

- Astro Moon was gravely insulted by some of the stock space baddies she always fought against. She took them out easily with a flashy ultimate move. +1 Strength

Events:

--- Samuel's Hot Buns
- Celebus returns! And he's got a massive zombie sausage steed. You read that right!
- Since the meat in the Meatlands is demonstrably mutagenic, the plan is to bring some non-mutating meat in there with them. Since they're close to Samuel's tavern, they head there. Unfortunately all he has are suspicious "slut buns" that allegedly turn you into a slut if you eat them.
- They buy some anyway and head off towards the Meatlands. On the way they see some stoneshell crab moults. Celebus puts one on a zombie for fun.

--- Meatgate
- They come to the town on the edge of the Meatlands and see they strange mutant people who live there. One of them offers a fat marrow - the vegetable not the bone juice - and they swap it for a slut bun.
- It's raining a bit, so the quivering skin of the Meatlands shivers slightly and has goosebumps. A road is scarred into the meaty ground. In the middle distance, on either side of the road, two giant hands thrust skywards. There's a long tendon between them. Swan asks "surely that's the actual Meatgate?" and the natives look embarrassed that they didn't think of that.

--- Sweaty Oily Muscle Men
- Our heroes set off and approach the giant hands. There's a giant bicep bulging from the sweaty ground too, and a massively muscular man standing nearby waving his massive arm. He yells to them that they should join his gym!
- Swan's interested, so they go inside the bicep and see a whole load of extremely nude and extremely muscular men doing workouts. In the middle of the room is a massive bone pillar. The muscle guy shows them what happens if you lift the bone - a scorpion tail nips out from the space beneath it and injects you! It does, in fact, do so, and the muscle man immediately challenges another to a wrestle.
- Swan demands Eegor lift the bone, and he duly does so. He also demands a wrestling match, and he and Swan get into several compromising positions (ooooh master!) before Swan lets Eegor win. Eegor's muscles swell - he's gotten stronger!
- Astro Moon lifts the bone and must kill someone with her bare fists! Small potatoes for a muscle wizard! However she's forbidden from murdering the muscle men. They tell her to go beat up one of the "thinky people" who live in one of the hands outside. She's got until sundown.

--- The Thinky People
- Amanta climbs up the side of a hand and has a peek in through a large pore. Inside there are people with massive heads slurping fluid from tentacles growing from the muscle within the hand. A man spots her! His name is XANAX and she offers him a slut bun. Oh no, he's somehow changed into a slut! His name is now XANSEX and he no longer craves knowledge... he craves XANSEX!

- Amanta climbs down as chaos begins within the hand. XANAX vs XANSEX - the ultimate battle of the brains.
- Since nobody can climb as good as Amanta, it looks like the way for most people to get into the left hand is to go through the right hand and over the tendon bridge,.

--- Neuron Monsters
- They go into the big suppurating pore in the right hand, which naturally forms a dungeon-like environment. Flies and maggots crawl around the entrance, feasting on the shuddering flesh of the hand. It's yuck in here.
- They climb a bone ladder and once they reach the wrist they are attacked by some horrible mutant meat monsters! Big salivating jaws with horrible square teeth, eyes beneath the jaws, and massive neuron arms that they use to swing across the ceiling!
- The big limitation is how few people can get out of the ladder in time! Amanta manages to throttle one with its own ganglia, while Astro Moon after some effort does indeed manage to beat the other to death with her bare fists. The magic is complete and she grows both stronger and heartier!
- In the lair of the monsters they find some cool treasure - 3 nasty mottled creature embyros and some "bone" china.

--- Brainwaves
- The team continues up the ladder one by one. Amanta, in the lead, sees a man look down the shaft with his fingers to his temples. It's XANAX! He shoots mind beams at her and she collapses limp! Swan catches her as she slips back down the ladder.
- Celebus has a solution! He casts Fast Zombie on one of his zombies (the corpse of ex-PC Liber Quint) and the zombie goes Ravenous! It's way fast, talkative, and smart! It scrambles up the ladder towards XANAX and there is an echoing scream!
- The zombie Liber Quint looks down the ladder at her former owner and laughs menacingly. There's more than enough brain in the head of these XANAX guys... She mockingly drops some brain from above.
- Somewhat scared, the party leaves the hand and heads back to the muscle men's bicep gym. The zombie spaniard is carrying Amanta's limp body.
- A bit of brain splats to the ground in front of the zombie, which it eats unthinkingly. Suddenly its eyes go wide too! The Ravening is spreading! Amanta wakes up just in time to jump out if its grasp, and it sprints into the hand to join the other zombie! Celebus is absolutely fucking shocked at this turn of events.

- As they head for the bicep, they see the two zombies shambling slowly across the tendon bridge, towards the other big-brained members of XANAX...
- At the bicep, Swan attempts to lift the bone and gets jabbed by the stinger. He, too, is compelled to fight someone to the death...

Total: 7000 exp

Treasure:
- 3 dark mottled embryos (900 exp)
- 6 bone china plates (480 exp)
Total: 1380 exp

Defeated Foes:

- Two ganglion meat monsters (150 exp)
- A member of XANAX (25 exp)

Total: 175 exp

Exp Totals:

- George / Swan the Swift, Level 5 Barbarian: 23564 (Level up at 32000)

- Charles / Celebus Uppytus, Level 4 Necromancer: 12403 (Level up at 18000)

- Kitty / Amanta, Level 4 Mantis Specialist: 9661 (Level up at 14000)

- Izzy / Astro Moon, Level 3 Muscle Wizard: 7808 (Level up at 9000)

Session 295 - Down with the Veins, Rise Up the Servants

Date: June 24, 21 p.p.
Moon:  First Quarter

Zenith: Vorn

New Backstory:
- Amanta chased a theatre troupe, lost below the earth, from her cave back when she was just a translucent cave mantis.

Events:

-- Deep beneath the Earth
- Swan the Swift and Eegor come across Amanta in the city of the knotsmen. Despite never having met before, trust is immediately established. Two player gang initiated.
- Eegor, being an underground guy, countermands the intended "ha ha you cannot escape" vibe and leads them towards the surface.
- Many caves are gone through. Much climbing and squeezing.
- After some time, they come out into a vast low-ceilinged limestone cavern with a citadel cut into the side of a deep abyss.

--- The Citadel
- Eegor declares that this is where his masters first set out from on their attempt to find the surface.
- Our heroes investigate the fortress in the hopes that food is available. Instead they find a bunch of largely eaten corpses, and ahead a fair number of Knotsmen and their slaves. These guys are peering down the chasm, chattering about the massive horrible bear golem that killed the others.
- Oh fuck oh no IT'S HERE! An ancient prehistoric golem carved by human hands and surmounted by an ancient bear skull! It fucking demolishes a Knotsman and throws the bleeding corpse back down the chasm!
- Swan lobs a rock to judge how strong the clay bear's HP is, but accidentally hits a Knotsman. Somehow they assume that Swan and Amanta are in league with the bear. Our heroes rapidly abscond.

--- Exit the Veins
- Moving swiftly on, screams in the distance, our small group follows Eegor as he tries to find the way back out of this underground hell. As per his little sheet, he's good at finding his way, so after some time they find themselves at the cheesewired worm tunnel where they originally entered the Veins.
- The wounded Knotsmen are gone, or gnawed to the bone, and the cheesewires are mostly slack. Easy to traverse. There is evidence of the Olm, subterranean salamander people, but this is stated offhand by Eegor so not gone into particularly thoroughly. They live down here, basically.
- The route up is extremely difficult for Swan, but easy for Amanta and Eegor. Together they help him up, out, and onto the glorious surface.
- High risk high reward underworld remains an option, but for now - fuck no.
- They lie on the ground and stare at the sky for a while.
- Also it's still a fucking heatwave. Last week. Can you imagine.

--- Meatgate
- They go north, considering there's a dragon along the road back to Kink, and come to a strange little town beyond a crossroads.
- The shattered Dino-Dome and the flailing flesh-tree called the Dharga frame a town mostly made of meat. Leathery flesh tents, houses built with bones, the occasional shrub-based roof. That sort of thing.
- A veiny man with a small extra head that repeats his vowels stumbles out from under a skin canopy and welcomes the pair, and Eegor, to Meatgate.
- This is the last town before the Meatlands, apparently, and crawls to the east over time because the Meatlands are expanding. Rebuild the close houses at the back, and if you can't find food you can always gather mutagenic flesh from the meaty meadows beyond..
- If you go north there's a lake of horrid juices, so the best way into the dome, and Mt Death Frost, is via Salisburgh. It's called Salisburger or Salivasburgh now, depending on who you ask.

-- Samuel's Saloon
- I legit cannot find content for this area despite my searching, so our heroes travel back to Samuel's pub to do a bit of cheeky carousing with some of the gems they received in the depths of the earth. A demon pub is safer than meat town!
- Swan holds his liquor impossibly well, while Amanta who has never drunk alcohol before gets extremely fucking drunk. Samuel creates a male mirror of Amanta in an attempt to drain her charisma, as is his way, but she bites off his fucking head and eats it. That's how mantis do.
- Swan and Samuel, horrified, have a drink-off. Swan actually wins against the demon! Absolute barbarian style!

Total: 6000 exp

Carousing:
- Swan - 4000 exp
- Amanta - 1600exp


OOC:
Three each -
Kitty x3
George x3



Exp totals:

- George / Swan the Swift, Level 5 Barbarian: 21425 (Level up at 32000)
Level up! +1d8 HP! +2 barbarian roll! +backstory!

- Kitty / Amanta, Level 4 Mantis Specialist: 7522 (Level up at 14000)

Level up! +1d6 HP! +2 skill points! +backstory!
Level up! +1d6 HP! +2 skill points! +saves improve! +backstory!

Session 294 - Tapping the Veins

 

Date: June 21, 21 p.p.
Moon: Waning Crescent
Zenith: Minerva

New Backstory: 

- Iskander's town was beset by football hooligans in the pub, and helped Zulu chase them out before they burnt the place down! +1 Strength

Events:

--- The Dark Descent

- Down a long thin tear in the Earth, hanging by fingertips and squeezing through thin and claustrophobic cracks, our heroes descend down the twisting throat of the world. The liquid darkness oozes away from their light.

- They scrape through a tight squeeze and find themselves climbing up and out into a larger cavern that seems to have been eaten through by some great worm. There are whispers. Zulu dims the light.
- Bodies lie in the gloom. Fresh blood, so recently dead. Some have bites taken out of them. A cautious look reveals the ground has been set with thin wires, hammered into the broken rock and pulled taut. They try to lassoo a body and pull it towards them to investigate, but the corpse is cut to ribbons by the razor wire as it's dragged along the ground.
- It seems impassable, unless they climb the walls. Not going to happen.

--- The Legless Man and the Man-Legged Mantis
- They try to find a different way and soon find one. The Earth is riddled with caves, it seems. Crawling sometimes on their bellies, sometimes curling through cracks. It is in one of these long thin crawls that they hear a voice!
- They approach and see a man with a pith helmet and one leg trying to fish something out of a hole. It's his own leg! They ask him how he got here, and he tells them he was exploring an ancient temple, went through a crack on the lowest level, and never found his way out. His name is Huswan and he has been cursed by a witch! His leg is fetched from the hole, for which he is grateful, and he reattaches it. Witch curse, you see.
- Suddenly there is movement from the dark! Liber Quint is grabbed from behind by great mantis claws! It's almost invisible, entirely translucent. In the cramped space tactics are extremely limited. Celebus tries to stun it, but gets stunned himself.
- Liber shuts her eyes, reaches for the magic, and lets it run wild. Pure chaos surges through the dark, briefly lighting the walls with rippling energies. Both she and the mantis fall to the floor of the thin cave, unmoving.
- The corpses tremble and burst! Clawing their way from their former bodies, each being claws from its meat chrysalis and stares. One was reincarnated as a Halfling, panics, and immediately knocks itself out on a rock. The other was reincarnated as a human-shaped mantis being, calling herself Amanta. She seems, while confused, friendly enough to join the party with her Specialist mantis climbing skills.

- They talk to Huswar and find that he's a conquistador from Spain, who investigated a stepped temple in the search for the mythical city of El Dorito. 

- Celebus kills the Halfling and reanimates it as a zombie.
- Meanwhile Huswar's arms and legs are going absolutely haywire as the result of a trigger word. He asks to die too, and tells them to avoid the Deep Witch. Celebus kills him and reanimates him as a zombie.

--- Knotsmen City
- They follow their current tight squeeze of a corridor for hours or days, time is meaningless underground. The way opens up sometimes, or requires short climbs, but leads ever on.
- They crawl under a shelf of stone and suddenly find themselves in a vast underground cavern! A grand citadel is built into great edifice of stone, and a queue of dim glimmering lights snake up to a gate lit by lanterns.
- The queue is a queue of Knotsmen! They are waiting to get into the great tiered city and are not immediately hostile. Celebus spots a tradesman's entrance and investigates. The guard is bribed with Ferfect Fried Chicken and they sneak in.
- Guards are all over the place, unfortunately. They are stopped and asked for their permits, which they clearly don't have. More chicken is a sufficient bribe, and permits are hurriedly signed.
-A Knotsman with so many bulging knots of veins forcing him to bow over sees the commotion and comes to look. He casts a spell on Iskander that makes him own Iskander's very bones. A bribe is sufficient to reverse the curse.
- They continue on up to a market. Food is good currency here, and they trade some for a picture of a dead castle with an ominous look to it.
- Further up, only Knotsmen may go. They offer some of the last of their chicken to some Knotsmen up there, getting handfuls of precious gems in return. They're hooked on the chicken and wish to know the way to the surface where they might find more. The party looks in confusion at the gems - these would make them rich on the surface world, but down here they're being thrown at them like cheap beads.
- As we close the session for the day one question remains... how the fuck do experience points work when somethings' value is perceived so wildly differently?? Find out below!

Total: 5000 exp

Valuables:
- A daguerreotype of a city in motion, blurred people walking through the long exposure. Some still figures must not have moved. In fact, one seems to be looking straight at you... (1000 exp)
- A string of flawless diamonds, worth 5000 obols on the surface. (500 exp)

- A single perfect emerald, worth 1000 obols on the surface (100 exp)
- Two handfuls of loose diamonds, worth 10000 obols on the surface (1000 exp)
Total: 2600 exp

Defeated Foes:
- A mantis shrimp, reincarnated. (250 exp)
- A recently reincarnated Halfling, murdered. (10 exp)
- An 'armless spanish conquistador (5 exp)
Total: 265 exp

Exp Totals:

- Ollie / Iskander Fullbeard, Level 4 Fighter: 11848 (Level up at 16000)

- Charles / Celebus Uppytus, Level 4 Necromancer: 10264 (Level up at 18000)

Level Up! +1d4 HP! +1 Mana! +free spell! +backstory!
- Kitty / Liber Quint, Level 3 Bibliognost
*REBORN*

- Kitty / Amanta, Level 2 Mantis Specialist: 2622 (Level up at 3500)

Level Up! +1d6 HP! +2 skill points! +backstory(?)

Session 293 - Eegor is Sexy Now

Eegor is Sexy Now

Date: June 21, 21 P.P.

Moon: Waning Crescent

Zenith: Minerva

New Backstory:
- Celebus Uppytus was the devoted follower of a bully, and ensured he was essential by drawing up a series of schedules for who they should beat up next. +1 to an action at least two others have succeeded at.

Events:

--- Wait Come Back I've Got a Quest For You!

- Our heroes leave the vicinity of the crashed angel petal, fog swirling around their feet. They pass by the three statues of Necromancer-Generals... and one speaks! 
- He declares himself to be Bezonaught the Boogeyking and offers his paralysing ectoplasmic gifts and treasure in exchange for the party killing off the Cyrus-worshipping Necromancers back there.
- The party duly writes the quest into their quest log and head off. Mount Death-Frost here they come! Why kill the Cyrus-worshippers when they can just go see the man himself?

--- Back Through Kink
- It's still a Heatwave but it's somehow even more heatwavey. Is it the humidity? Whatever it is, everyone's quickly absolutely exhausted. Celebus ejects his skeleton to escape the oppressive heat of his mortal shell and carries his sweaty meat over his skeleton shoulder. Everyone else just has to sweat it out.
- They barely make it to Kink and see that even the crabs are going red. They head straight for the river, upstream of the eggs obviously, and have a relieving dip. Swan spots some Swarm Minnows - streams of minnows that leap out of the water in big groups so they look like one big fish - and catches them in Celebus' skinbag body.
- Celebus himself catches a lobster! While everyone admires it, Swan sneakily nicks some crab eggs.
- They take their delicious spoils to the now-empty house of convicted murderer Barry d'Louse. He has a remarkably well equipped kitchen, so they cook up their new meal!

- It's called "Deliciously Fleasin' Lobster", using a combination of corpse flea meat, lobster, crab eggs, and minnows. It's not that tasty, but Swan really manages to make it work! Conveniently, the bonus is that it protects from weather effects! Heatwave begone!

--- Distant Dragon
- They set off north in the direction of Mt Death Frost. The road goes through the now infamous territory of a Crystal Dragon! They crunch across sharp crystal pieces, wary for dragonsign.
- They spot it in the sky! Floating crystal structure wings, sharp angular body, tough crystalline core... it's a dragon alright!
- They duck like chickens when a hawk passes overhead and thankfully it doesn't spot them, winging its way somewhere more interesting.

--- Samuel's Saloon

- They continue on and notice a strange cave with a neon glow. At first they think it might be the crystal dragon's lair, but they left the crunchy crystal behind about half an hour ago.
- They investigate and find themselves in... a saloon? The music stops, and some grizzled but surprisingly handsome cowboy-types turn to glare. The bartender nods and the fiddlers start playing again. The bartender himself is a beautiful man with soft bouncy locks and very kissable lips. It's Samuel! Known to the players as a lust demon and so presumably known to the characters by reputation.
- He offers love potions or to make people into handsome versions of themselves. Nobody takes him up on the offer until Swan offers Eegor!
- An extremely hot version of Eegor is here now. The original Eegor falls down in supplication. Handsome Eegor is somehow... more creepy?
- They stay in a tent just outside that night, and wake up to find that it's tipping down. Good thing Swan the Swift has a bunch of tupperware full of the weather resistance Lobster dish!

--- Ooga Booga
- The gang sets off, still heading north along the road. The rain abates into more of a light sprinkle, and through the rain they spot a fissure in the earth. There are Knotsmen there, poking around after crawling out of the fissure.
- There's a scuttling sound from over a nearby hill, and some crabs crest it and charge down the slope! Their stone shells are daubed with woad and one clutches a big wooden club in one pincer! Those who speak crab hear their words - "OOGGAAA BOOOOGAAAA!"
- The Knotsmen duck back into their fissure and the crabs charge over them, scuttling sideways towards the party! Swan the Swift swiftly tosses them some of the remaining rations and the crabs stop to inspect it. They are clearly caveman crabs, all "hmm... food... hmm... hmm.... good... hmm".
- Now they see the party as friends, one of them goes to investigate the fissure. He looks down and... SHUNK! A crossbow bolt nails it in the head! The poor crab slumps while the other crabs scuttle about madly!
- Celebus casts Death Rattle on the dead crab, spooking the Knotsmen down the hole! The rest of the party runs over and joins battle, raining bolts down on the Knotsmen hiding in their hole! Iskander manages to keep the stun going by echoing his noisemaker bolts off the walls.
- Liber gambits down the hole to attack one of them and gets the first ONE MORE! since the new gambit stuff came in! Swan the Swift joins the gambit and together they spin down the hole and behead a couple of Knotsmen!
- Celebus skids down the slope so he can catch a Last Breath! His first! Finally!

--- Into the Veins
- One Knotsman remains - they've got a crossbow, heavy armour, and every time they move they hiss with pain as the armour presses against their knotted flesh. He declares that he must kill the party now but won't say why.
- Liber slides up smooth and flickers her Bibliognost threads across his skin. They scrawl up under his armour and into his ears and she finds out a dark secret of the Knotsmen. Their ancestors faced destruction and so sold future generations to a forgotten god. The Knotsman hisses as another tight knot of veins clenches on his body - this is information that must never be known by outsiders.
- Celebus takes pity on the guy and ejects his skeleton. The Knotsman thanks him profusely, he's finally free of constant torment!
- The party notice that there's a way deeper down into the depths and decide that they might as well see how far down it goes... into the Veins of the Earth.

Total: 7000 exp

Valuables:
- Mostly food (20 exp)
- Handsome Eegor (priceless)

Total: 20 exp

Defeated Foes:
- 5 Knotsmen of various stripes (250 exp)
Total: 250 exp

OOC:
- Charles: Chronicler & Paymaster
- George: Expedition Leader & Chef

- Kitty: Cartographer & Vanguard
- Ollie: Quartermaster & Nacho Libre

Exp Totals:

- George / Swan the Swift, Level 4 Barbarian: 14125 (Level up at 16000)

- Ollie / Iskander Fullbeard, Level 4 Fighter: 9226 (Level up at 16000)
DING! +1d8 HP! +1 to hit! +1 to crit/fumble! +backstory!

- Kitty / Liber Quint, Level 3 Bibliognost: 8128 (Level up at 9000)

- Charles / Celebus Uppytus, Level 3 Necromancer: 7642 (Level up at 9000)