Retrospective 17 - Apocalypse Now

We're here! This is it! The end of days!
Angels fall from the sky. Shimmering beams of light pierce down through the clouds. Demons flee before the wrath of God.
And from below, the tentacles of Shub-Niggurath rise. Great fissures cracking the Earth as the great tendrils emerge.
And in between, a city starts to walk. An apocalypse dragon cracks its floating mountainous coccoon. Humanity's final army is crushed by the Dead. A deadly poison spreads across the land, killing a third of all trees and all green grass.

And amongst it all, my players are trying their absolute fucking best to cancel the apocalypse.

In broad strokes, the party's key goal has been to travel to Dwimmermount and find a source of Azoth to fuel a giant stone golem.

This neatly ties together a few things that wouldn't otherwise be related. The Slaughtergrid is a module they were stuck in for mooooonths, but they know it's a big fuck-off mech which would be massively helpful in the current apocalypse if they need to punch something big.
Azoth made its first appearance in the distant past of 2014, predating any of the current players. It's one of Dwimmermount's big deals. Azoth and Dwimmermount have cropped up a fair few times in the game, and by now I'm pretty sure everyone's guessed that this is the Holy Mountain that is central to the Termaxian faith.

The secondary goal - help a dragon cult to create a super-poison that will kill Shub-Niggurath.
This came up after some delves and a couple of tragic deaths due to spider venom. The first level of Dwimmermount is host to the Spider Queen Arach-Nacha whose bite is a a sort of hyper-powerful omnipoison and whose kiss is a hyper-powerful antivenom.
The plan is to capture her and take her to the Drakencult in Moondin so they can milk her for use in poison research. Not as easy as it sounds... and it doesn't sound easy.

This is only really possible because they managed to unite the various factions under Ninhursag late last year, allowing them to focus on poison research instead of fighting the Rebel Dead.
Stealing a horrible boss monster from a dungeon in order to drag it overland to somewhere else is just so great.

beep boop i am an angel

There's been a general theme of angels and demons these past few months, which is conveniently apocalyptic.

Angels have already gotten a rep as being dangerous and strange.
Because my idea of angels has been coloured forever by Evangelion, I wanted to make angels be more along the lines of weird eye-covered wheels and unfathomable plans as opposed to winged dudes with tortured souls.
They're sort of holy magic-immune robots with stasis beam weapons. They're all unfolded spheres and communicate in choir-like Angelic Binary.
I'm leaning hard on modrons for these guys, but with a few twists. Upgrade when a higher-tier angel is destroyed and all.

The anti-magic thing is the most worrying to my players. The Muscle Wizard's otherwise-unstoppable Magic Missile punch has no effect on them.
Luckily Sir Robyn the magic lawyer can understand their song-language, so that's led to lots of shenanigans.

-- boss angel online --

As for Demons, the party's travels through the mountainous demon territories have seen them run into a fair few.
What I call Demons are perhaps more rightly called Devils by D&D nomenclature, but fuck that. You've got smart demons and you've got dumb demons such as those dragged forth by the Summon spell. They're all demons. I think mine have ended up somewhere between Perdition and Kill Six Billion Demons in terms of influences.

Most importantly, demons feed on sin. The most powerful demons wear masks, a different colour depending on which Sin they eat. They tend to be quite friendly and try to persuade you to indulge in their sin in order to feed them.
I love chatty enemies. While initially unintended, the chatty demons vs the unfathomable angels creates a nice dichotomy.

I feel like there's a modern tendency to think of angels and demons as sort of evenly matched oppositional forces. Constantine, Supernatural, Diablo. Evenly matched inhuman entities locked in an eternal war for the souls of man.

But not here. Demons flee from the light of God, and a single strike from the lowest Angel will destroy the mightiest Demon.
The demons are scared.

HE BIG

Other than angels and demons, Dragons are the big force on everyone's radar right now.
I've been pleased with how the mechanics of becoming a dragon cultist have been working. This stuff is based directly on Patrons in Perdition, so anyone joining a cult has to obey their strictures and suffer an increasingly hefty experience tax.
My game has ended up with a sort of tacit level limit at Level 7. Nobody has ever managed to breach that limit to reach level 8.
That's meant that joining a drakencult has taken on a sort of alternate leveling system. Since you're not going to reach level 8 anyway, might as well just eat the exp drain. It's only an advantage!

We've got POWERLAD who has been the most active dragon worshipper, trying to convert everyone he meets and spreading the good word of Ninhursag.
He's been unsuccessful at converting the party at time of writing, but did manage to convert a whole town to worshipping the dragon, uniting warring factions under its aegis. Real cool.
He's high enough in the dragon's esteem to see heartbeats, gain subcutaneous green scales, and deciding to take the dragon's rune-aspect of Size has given him the ability to hulk out for +4 Strength mod. Pretty rad!

The other dragon worshipper in the party, Galaxy Johnson, has been too far away from his patron to really visit and level up. One of the fundamental issues with joining a drakencult is that you have to return to the dragon or a higher level drakencultist in order to level up your dragon powers, and Galaxy Johnson hasn't managed to get back to Ereshkigal since he was first inducted.

In other news we've had the arrival of Timothy, who immediately grokked the shenanigans.
He's playing a Magic-User lawyer, and is probably the first one to abuse cantrips to their intended extent.
It's fun having someone new to the game because it suddenly puts how bizarre the campaign is at the moment in perspective. To everyone else it's been a slow increase in stakes over time, to a new player you're suddenly explaining "yea so the world is cracking like an egg, there are angels, she's playing the son of her previous character, this guy's maybe an alien, and they're trying get dragons to start destroying the world but stop them before they've gone too far".
Shit's wacky.

We also had the return of Ollie who'd been away for a good long while due to life stuff. He back!
Unfortunately his long-running character Andromeda soon died to spider venom alongside other long-running character Nix. Poison is OP, man.
He's now playing the campaign's first Inheritor and becoming a real menace.

Speaking of Nix, shoutout to Fraser whose character Nix has been with us ever since the time skip. Long may she rest. He's playing a furtive Elf character now who's managed to get massive Stealth, so a big change from his previous Barbarian. He's really getting a lot out of the Evade / Combat Stealth rule which is nice to see.

New player Issy has juuuust arrived at time of writing. She's completely new to this, so I don't know what she's like in play yet. Strong start with calling her Dwarf character Sturdy though, A+!

oh shit yea and Ollie's got into 3D modelling and is looking at starting a miniature business!

Mini Reviews:

The Magma Lake of Ninhursag:

Some bullshit I made up. High level open air area made up of vine bridges hung between enormous crystal trees above a lake of magma. Lots of chatty enemies, LOTS of treasure.
Sort of intended as a heist or high level shenanigans area, currently it's been mostly POWERLAD coming here to pray before the great green head of Ninhursag which sightlessly dozes in the pool of magma at the centre of the area.
Maybe I will write this up one day.

Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine:

I like this module a lot. I ran it again because I was caught short one session, reskinned to be the abode of a Gluttony demon.
It was entered via a tavernkeeper so enormously fat that he was stuck behind his bar. He sobbed and whispered for Our Heroes to save him, and they obliged by crawling into his mouth and delving the interior dungeon.
Everything inside as written but reskinned (with very literal skin) to be a floor of rotting and mushy food, corridors of throat, pus, stomach linings, as much gross stuff as I could manage.
It's a pretty natural fit, actually.

Santa is Dead:

Once Christmas, one of the players murdered Santa Claus.
As per famous Tim Allen docudrama "The Santa Clause", Lulu Spiderbite became the new Santa.
Then the timeskip. Lulu's fate unknown.
A false Santa arose. A demon Santa. "Our" Santa. A demon of Greed, feeding on the greed of children come Christmas.
Lulu did not like this. She became the Krampus of Santa is Dead.
The 4-D art gallery was the main thing we saw, since the players didn't follow Lulu Claus's trail of destruction across the land.
A+ module and PWYW!

Dwimmermount:

Of this megadungeon, much has been said.
I like it.
So ok, real talk, that thing that megadungeons do where they start off normal wooden-doors-and-stone-corridors and get weirder as they go down?
I get why they do it. Megadungeons are meant to be campaign-spanning centrepieces so you want to start with the normal stuff before you get weirder as you go down, bringing across a sort of mythic underworld vibe.
It makes sense if your megadungeon is a tentpole, but for me it's just a very big dungeon that someone else already made for me.
Which is to say - I've amped up all the space-fantasy vibes and made the doors made of slide-back metal and various other bits iris open or have some blatant plastics and keycards and stuff thrown in.
Thematic innit.

Session 170 - Boss Rush

Plans go successfully! Angels are smashed up, the spider queen is captured, and everything goes pretty well!
Also, destruction of plant life on a massive scale. Uh oh.

Welcome to Issy who's playing our new Dwarf! Amazingly enough in these end times, her prior profession was as a false prophet.
I write these obnoxiously lengthy recaps every week. If you truly want to see everything that's ever happened it's up on this blog, but I really don't expect anyone to read all that.

So to get you up to speed here's all you really need to know:
- There is an enormous tentacle beast in the core of the Earth. It is rising and fracturing the planet. The world is ending. 

- The party's overarching goal seems to be to daisy-chain a solution to the apocalypse by using world-ending threats to kill other world-ending threats
- Current plan: help a dragon cult to make a virulent poison so powerful it will destroy the tentacle beast. Hopefully something that won't kill everything else at the same time.

- Timothy graces us with the chained up spider queen in his inaugural art attack!

- Make that TWO spidery art attacks!

- Charles continues the Galaxy Johnson meme train!

- I doodle the mountainside light show!

Session 170 - Boss Rush

Campaign Date:

Friday, 12 February, 1601

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent

Zodiac: Capricorn

New Characters:
- Sturdy, a Dwarf who left her homeland and basically blagged her way across the country as a False Prophet. Has a loyal lackey called Lofty, an extremely poorly crafted Inclusion that's as tall as a human.

New Backstory:

- As we all know, Randy's planned excursion into the Barrowmaze with his best friends and his lover went horribly wrong when they abandoned him down a hole. (+2 to AC and Saves for 10 minutes when a plan goes horribly awry)

Enemies Defeated:

- 2 boss angels (2000 exp)
- 2 upgraded angels (200 exp)
- 2 baby giant spiders (100 exp)
- Arach-Nacha the Spider Queen (100 exp)

Total: 2400 exp

Treasure and Equipment:

- 8 Azoth Coins (800 exp)
- Some bits of angel, including an arm
- The arm and hand of a Caretaker
- A spider statue set with malachite (500 exp)
- A spider statue set with zircon (5000 exp)
- A key card with a familiar symbol
- Sparking electric-blue spider babies
- Arach-Nacha the Spider Queen, in a bag

Total: 6300 exp

Exploration:

- Explored 10 or so dungeon rooms (200 exp)

Total: 200 exp

Events:

- POWERLAD heals astonishingly quickly, even sleeping rough in the party's rough campsite. The scales under his skin glow softly green when he sleeps. (50 exp)
- While he rests, others prepare for glorious battle against the angel at the red doors on the other side of the mountain by lowering a bucket down the hole into the Moon Pool. (50 exp)

- Mori sneaks off around the mountainside to scout out the angel situation. There's one big boss angel looking pretty rickety, a single mid-tier angel with its bottom hemisphere opened out into legs, and one normal spherical one just sitting there. (50 exp)
- This is relayed to the rest of the party, who hatch a plan. (50 exp)
- Some time later, the plan is ready. Everyone but POWERLAD is hiding up on the mountainside. Sir Robyn listens into the angel singing and hears the big one pinging the giant six-winged angel in the sky for reinforcements. (50 exp)

- POWERLAD, on the other side of the mountain, sings for backup then blasts up into the sky! It's too far for his voice to reach but it was a nice idea. (50 exp)
- Midair, he pulls out his great hammer, dramatically hulks out, and falls towards the boss angel! (50 exp)
- On the mountainside, the rest of the party see the falling figure crackling with lightning, plummeting towards the angel. They open fire! (50 exp)
- Mori's beam is a direct hit! The electricity arcs between the angel's spinning shards of sphere, heavily damaging it and throwing its spinning rings out of alignment. (50 exp)
- Sir Robyn blasts at it with dual pistols, and while Galaxy Johnson misses he does find that the crystal focus glove works great now! (50 exp)

- POWERLAD blasts down from the heavens moments later... but the ranged attacks has made the angel flinch and his orbital drop hammer blow juuuust misses, to his great chagrin (50 exp)
- The angel configures its wings into cannons and blasts POWERLAD, but it's too damaged and one of the cannons explodes! (50 exp)

- The blast throws off POWERLAD's hammer blow. Not again!! The smallest spherical angel rolls up close to him, but he doesn't care. (50 exp)
- Successive Explosion beams blast the second-tier angel back away from the cliffside, it staggers backwards returning fire, but Randy's cover is too good. (50 exp)
- Up on the mountainside Mori fucks up spectacularly, the errant lightning beam falters, trails across the inside of Randy's shield, reflects back and forth across the landscape, and somehow ends up zapping Mori himself! He spasms on the ground, paralyzed by his own lightning. (50 exp)

- POWERLAD hears the laughter from the mountainside and assumes they're laughing at him! Angrily, he smashes the shit out of the boss angel with the hammer, destroying it in one mighty blow! A low clear note like a bell rings out. "The bell tolls for THEE motherfucker!" he roars. (50 exp)
- Behind him, the blasted-back second tier angel freezes. Sir Robyn hears it sing out " -- hierarchy disrupted -- emergency upgrade --" on loop, a song picked up by the small angel near POWERLAD as both their singing voices drop down a couple of ranges. (50 exp)
- The second tier angel's upper hemisphere expands out into the spinning rings and sphere-fragments of a boss angel, while the other upgrades to take its place. "Kill the smaller one first!" POWERLAD yells. (50 exp)
- Just then, as if from nowhere, a stocky Dwarf riding a lanky Inclusion runs down the mountainside to attack the angel that's next to POWERLAD!... but they trip before getting close. (50 exp)
- The boss angel reconfigures its wings into a swirl of contra-rotating pieces, and the air around it starts going weird as a stasis field begins to form around it (50 exp)
- Beams and bullets are shot at the angel to no avail, creating strange and stuttering fractal patterns and afterimages where they touch the partially-formed field. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD's had enough of this. He gambits, grabbing the angel next to him and jumping high up into the air! The angel sings in alarm as they blast down towards the ground! (50 exp)
- It takes a massive amount of falling damage. There is a massive electrical explosion, framing POWERLAD inside a crater of blackened metal. (50 exp)

"IT DIES"

- The boss angel is the only one remaining, but it's inside the stasis field it seems invulnerable. Mori electric beams it to no avail, and rocks seem to slowly roll down the curve of the shield as it slowly simmers away. (50 exp)
- Everyone has a picnic and occasionally chucks stuff at the stasis shell. Not even bits of dead angel go through. It's slowly decreasing in size, but it's taking ages. (50 exp)
- Randy, meanwhile, has realised that this new Dwarf is a woman! Excessively rare, in their mutual Dwarven arcology of Ur-Kalladh the men have to craft their sons from rock and gems. He doesn't know the first thing about how to talk to Dwarf women. (50 exp)
- Distantly, then quickly closer, a deep deep braaaaammmm like a deep bass trumpet travels across the land. It's clearly being relayed by the six-winged angels high above. (50 exp)
- Sir Robyn hears a repeated " -- Prophecy Confirmed -- Trumpet Sounded -- ". This is ominous. Sir Robyn tries to remember his Revelations. (50 exp)
- Disturbed by the sounding of the trumpet and the potential rain of fire across the land, the party decide to head into Dwimmermount and capture the spider queen. (50 exp)
- A chain is inscribed with Enlarge runes, the idea being that they'll get the queen to step in it then turn off the runes, trapping her. Galaxy Johnson expresses his displeasure, but goes along with it. (50 exp)
- The entrance hall within is as it was. Headless statues of gods and goddesses, buckets on the floor, oil everywhere, a bunch of dead Inclusions. (50 exp)
- They call out, but there's no reply. Mori has the map, so he points the way forward into the main corridors. (50 exp)
- Part way down, they find wispy webs and hear quiet spidery voices. Sir Robyn, again, leads negotiations. The spiders are very small for giant spider and say they'll pay good coins for someone to kill the angels ahead. (50 exp)
- Galaxy Johnson shadow-warps past them and checks out where the angels are allegedly supposed to be... no angels. (50 exp)
- The spiders are surprised by this news. No angels?! So they can get out of here?! (50 exp)
- They give the party their 8 azoth coins, or "Zothcoins" as Galaxy Johnson insists on calling them. Score! One of the baby spiders comes with them to lead the party to mummy, the other scrambles for the exit. (50 exp)

- They reach the spider queen's cave without incident, other than a constant flow of azoth-enriched air making fires both mundane and magical burn clean and strong. (50 exp)
- Galaxy Johnson calls to his queen and she emerges. He asks for her blessing and she kisses him again, wriggling her long slick tongue down his throat. This time, her tongue scoops out countless eggs and tiny spiderlings. (50 exp)
- The rest of the party, especially those who received her "gifts" earlier in the week, look on in horror. (50 exp)
- At least his poison immunity is topped up for another week. (50 exp)
- Dreading the consequences, the rest of the party allow her to give them their "shots". The spiders emerging from POWERLAD's belly have a noticeably blue colour. (50 exp)
- Finally, the party present the spider queen the chain, alleging it to be a gift from Ninhursag itself. The queen gladly puts it on, marveling at the strange runes, before the rune is depowered and the chain shrinks around her! (50 exp)
- She screams betrayal at Galaxy Johnson as the party pull Santa's sack over the fat ensnared body of the spider queen. Galaxy Johnson hides his sadness and guilt poorly. (50 exp)

- Some of the spilled eggs are scooped up in the hopes of raising the demon spiders as pets. More importantly, the queen's lair is unguarded! (50 exp)
- Inside the lair they find a few valuable spider statues and, crucially, a rectangular device with a very familiar symbol! It's got to be a keycard for that big main door! (50 exp)

- Dragging the queen's body behind them, the party leave by the Dwarf door. Now to get to Moondin before all these eggs explode from their bellies... (50 exp)

Total: 2300 exp

Misc:

- Absolutely Disgusting bonus (50 exp)

- Antagonist Annihalator bonus (50 exp)

- Antagonist Antagoniser bonus (50 exp)

- Balls to the Wall bonus (50 exp)

- Best of Intentions 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)

- Enmity Inciter bonus (50 exp)

- Freudian bonus (50 exp)

- Hard Bargain bonus (50 exp)

- Henchman Abuse bonus (50 exp)

- Mad Inventor bonus (50 exp)

- Michael Bay bonus (50 exp)

- Mountaineer bonus (50 exp)

- Operator as Fuck bonus (50 exp)

- PETA bonus (50 exp)

- Poison is OP bonus (50 exp)

- Pundemonium bonus (50 exp)

- Ridiculously Bad Rolling bonus (50 exp)

- RSPCA bonus (50 exp)

- Shunga bonus (50 exp)

- Tactical Fighting bonus (50 exp)

- WWE bonus (50 exp)

Total: 1300 exp

Party Roles and Individual Exp:

- Remembrancer (Charles / Galaxy Johnson - 100 exp)

- Caller (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)

- Mapper (Fraser / Mori - 100 exp)
- Treasurer (Fraser / Mori - 100 exp)
- Quartermaster (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)

- Guard (Timothy / Sir Robyn - 100 exp)
- Tracker (Timothy / Sir Robyn - 100 exp)

- Art Attack bonus (Charles, Timothy - 100 exp ea.)
- Artapalooza bonus (Charles, Timothy - 100 exp)
- Chippo Man bonus (Timothy*2 - 200 exp)
- Office Supply Filcher bonus (Charles - 100 exp)
- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Fraser, Timothy, Issy - 500 exp ea.)

Active Businesses:

- Honey Healing. Safe. 1106sp. (Bertha)  Up 1%

- Knickers Gloves Bodices. Risky. 1030sp. (Ratimir)
- Blood Honey 4 U. Safe. 515sp. (Sir Robyn)  Up 2%! 

Rumours:

- -

Death Toll and Injuries:

- Not even one!

Exp Totals:

- Kitty / POWERLAD!, Level 7 Muscle Wizard: 82659 (Level up at 144000)-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 5 (-25% exp)
- Charles / Galaxy Johnson, Level 5 Elf (Alpdrucke): 34191 (Level up at 48000)-- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 2 (-10% exp)  

- Timothy / Sir Robyn, Level 5 Magic-User: 19970 (Level up at 36000)*DING!* +1d4 HP! +1 level 3 spell/day! +1 level 1 spell/day! +free spell! +backstory!

--- Randy, Level 4 Hench-Dwarf: 9884 (Level up at 17600)--- Gav, Level 0 Inclusion- Fraser / Mori, Level 4 Elf (Worriganger): 19438 (Level up at 24000)
- Issy / Sturdy, Level 2 Dwarf: 2773 (Level up at 4400)
*DING!* +1d10 HP! +optional lorebond! +backstory!

Absent or Retired:

- Ollie / Synthia, Level 4 Inheritor: 16935 (Level up at 18000) 
- James / Ratimir, Level 5 Ratman: 20944 (Level up at 24000) 

- 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)
- Andy / Carrie Meleste, Level 5 Cleric: 25557 (Level up at 28000)

- 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)

- Charles / Zena, Level 6 Fighter: 41566 (Level up at 64000)

- 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)

- Henry / Henry's Next Character: +2084 exp

- 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)

Session 169 - We Could Be Heroes

So the current party is pretty much the Electrical Hulk, space alien Nightcrawler, the Absorbing Woman, spooky teen Sam Fisher... and their lawyer.

I love it.

--

I'm hopefully done fucking around with rules now, so to summarise the big main change for those who haven't been keeping up with the thousand thousand chat messages:

- Overhauled Sneak Attack into Backstab. Triggers against enemies who are Flanked or Surprised. When you hit, roll Backstab to turn the hit into a crit.
- Stealth is also more useful in combat. Roll Stealth when you're in melee range of an enemy to make them unable to target you on their next turn, plus you get +4 to hit them next round. 

A Flanked enemy is just one who's in melee range of an ally and not attacking you, so it's now mostly a skill for ganging up on enemies. Much more useful!
Having good Stealth means it's easier to set up a Backstab (+to hit, won't attack you so you guarantee Flanking), but it's not crucial any more.

There's a bunch of other little tweaks like First Aid being more lenient and Sleight of Hand having a rapid reload function, but the Stealth/Backstab stuff was the biggest overhaul.
I'll do a proper game dev change log soon.

Also new ruling on books that came up this session - spend a day reading a book to bank a book question. You can use it later at any time.This will always be the maximum result you could have rolled for that number of books.

--

Oh yea and Ollie drew the SICKEST demon spider queen check this out! Intense!

Session 169 - We Could Be Heroes

Campaign Date:

Monday, 8 February, 1601

Moon Phase: Third Quarter

Zodiac: Capricorn

New Backstory:

- Randy was abandoned in the Barrowmaze by his first love. That poor poor Dwarf, no wonder he has trust issues. (Whenever you carouse you may gain a local contact of your sexual preference until you leave town)
- Synthia's recklessness and bravery in getting spiders to bite her has been very impressive to the rest of the party. (+1 Strength)
- Mori moved away from the city after he was betrayed by his "brothers" in his gang. He travelled for weeks, if not months, until he eventually fell in with the party on that fateful day. (+1 Constitution)

Enemies Defeated:

- 5 Caretakers and several Angels, drawn into conflict (400 exp)

- 3 demon spiders (225 exp)

Total: 625 exp

Treasure and Equipment:

- 67sp (67 exp)
- Potion #121
- Potion #226
- 10' chain
- Animated hand obeys commands
- Hand of Glory

Total: 67 exp

Exploration:

- Travelled 90 miles the other way (300 exp)
- Explored 5 dungeon rooms (100 exp)
- 1 random encounter (50 exp)

Total: 450 exp

Events:

--- Moondin
- POWERLAD wanders away from the lava and crystal trees in the centre of Moondin, soon learning that Bertha has been hanging around the library in recent weeks. (50 exp)
- He heads there and calls out to her, and she comes running! Though blind, she can recognise his shape and circulatory system with the Eyes of Ninhursag!

- The brutal poison can be seen glowing black throughout his body, and she believes him to be dying before he reassures her. They spend a sweet night together It is a happy reunion. (50 exp)
- She tells him a troubling secret even though Ninhursag frowns on secret-giving. She believes the Drakencult has given up on finding a poison that will kill only Shub-Niggurath. They're running out of time, so they're searching for a poison that will very very definitely kill the great creature at the core of the earth and damn the consequences. (50 exp)
- She shows POWERLAD her work - she's been casing the main hub of Drakencult HQ and has a map with guard posts marked and everything... and an all-seeing Hobbit?! (50 exp)

​

- Just then there is a rush of wings and sweet-smelling air. Sylvia Flora, lands in front of the library on her verdant wings (50 exp)
- Bertha quickly rolls up the map as POWERLAD goes out to talk to Sylvia. (50 exp)
- Sylvia tells POWERLAD that this poison he brought back is amazingly powerful! Come quick! (50 exp)
- He quickly goes in to say goodbye to Bertha. She gives him the map, and tells him to be careful. Also if he's going to see the poison, see if he can case the poison lab, people usually aren't in. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD follows Sylvia back across the vine bridges over the magma and through the trunks of the crystal trees, eventually reaching the poison laboratory of Isen Heisenberg the poison researcher. (50 exp)
- They're amazed at this poison POWERLAD brought back in his blood. It's amazing! It blows all their previous research out of the water! It's like it wants to kill! (50 exp)
- They show POWERLAD how they've already managed to combine it with their most promising poison. They have a small dish filled with flowers. When applied to a flower, the flower grows cancerously then shrivels up. But then it spreads one by one to each other flower! (50 exp)
- Isen is extremely pleased, this should mean that it will spread through the whole of Shub-Niggurath! (50 exp)
- They put a mouse into the poisoned garden and it survives! Although it does kill it when it's injected. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD promises to bring them a sample of tentacle and the source of the poison and takes his leave. But first, to pray to Ninhursag again! (50 exp)
- He prostrates herself before the great dragon and feels its favour washing over him... he gains the power of the Heart of Ninhursag and feels that he is presented with a choice. Which aspect of Ninhursag will he worship? (50 exp)

​

- Plants, Magma, Crystal, Size, or Ninhursag Undivided. POWERLAD considers, the great Earth rune floating in his mind, and decides... Size! (50 exp)
- He gains the power to become BIG at will! Growing a foot taller, shredding tight clothing, and gaining a +4 Strength modifier! Basically he can hulk out! (50 exp)
- He goes and buys a massive hammer. STRONG. Then he leaps into the air back towards Dwimmermount to rejoin the others. (50 exp)
- He lands down in Pembrooktonshire and stays the night in the same burnt out shack he stayed in last time, then flies off again the next morning. (50 exp)
- Soaring through the air, POWERLAD approaches Dwimmermount. He sees the angel leader in front of the red door entrance, all spinning rings and rotating sphere-fragments, and decides NOW IS THE TIME! (50 exp)
- He grabs his new great hammer, unleashes the Aspect of Size, and falls at terminal velocity towards the angel! (50 exp)
- It's a critical hit and the angel's low singing becomes suddenly discordant! It floats back, swirling rings off-kilter, before configuring its wings into beam cannon mode and firing straight at POWERLAD! (50 exp)

​

- POWERLAD rolls under the scathing beams and strikes in with his hammer... but he fumbles and fall! The beams pummel the earth around him and he barely evades, reaching exactly 0HP. (50 exp)
- Defeated, POWERLAD disengages and jumps back into the sky and out of sight of the angel, heading towards the encampment on the rear side of the mountain. (50 exp)
--- Several days earlier
- In the encampment on the rear side of Dwimmermount, the party is reading some books. They discover Sarpedon the Shaper is a vivimancer, and Atrahasis the Deluvial Dragon is not located to the north. (50 exp)

- After resting up overnight, they head back down into Dwimmermount and head towards the stairs Gav knows about. (50 exp)
- On the way they come across several skinned bodies floating in the centre of a cave. Maybe they got trapped in god beam stasis? (50 exp)
- Synthia carefully approaches the area with a pole outstretched, meeting a rubbery forcefield surface that slowly lets the pole in. (50 exp)
- Intrigued, she touches it with her hand... and gets slapped by a slimy psuedopod extruded from the central mass! It's some sort of mucilaginous platonic solid! (50 exp)

​

- Luckily for her, the jelly's stunning venom doesn't affect her due to the spider queen's blessing! It tries to envelop her, but as the psuedopods envelop her hands she activates Spider Venom! Fangs emerge from her wrists and inject thick black poison into its cuboid insides! (50 exp)
- Sir Robyn deploys a very comic booky Aim cantrip while Synthia withdraws away from the ooze, and Galaxy Johnson tries out his POWERLAD brand beam-focusing crystal to blast an instant-cast Explosion beam. (50 exp)
- It works! A great chunk is blown from the blob and it's blasted backwards! Mori follows up with an attempted surprise attack to no avail before Sir Robyn and Galaxy kill it with a combo gun/explosion attack! (50 exp)

​
- Synthia immediately pulls out a straw and greedily starts sucking up the jellified remains. Somehow the others manage to stomach eating rations as they watch the grisly sight.(50 exp)
- The corpses inside the thing are looted. Turns out they had a couple of potions and a length of chain on them. Sir Robyn checks out the potions and reckons one is a potion of demon control and the other is  potion of mind reading. (50 exp)
- Synthia assimilates the cube's near-invisible transparency and the party continue on. In the machine room, angels can be heard singing beyond the door to the central corridor. They are avoided. (50 exp)
- The party continues on towards the library... and run into some of the robo-skeletal caretakers! (50 exp)
- Everyone runs, Sir Robyn baiting them to follow. Galaxy Johnson reaches the machine room first and casts Spiderclimb on himself, Sir Robyn and the caretakers close behind (50 exp)
- Sir Robyn flings the door to the angels open and sings "Danger Sir Robynson! Attack detected request backup!". As the angels rush to assist, Galaxy Johnson grabs him from behind and they fall into shadow. (50 exp)
- A battle between angels and caretakers ensues. Galaxy Johnson drops Sir Robyn off with the main party then takes Randy through another shadow, ending up in front of the big iris door beyond the fighting. (50 exp)
- The holy finger bone is held up to the device beside the door but nothing happens. Oh well. They bamf past the battle again and the party move on. (50 exp)
- They head down an unexplored side passage and find an area covered in silky webs... dun dun duuuun. Sir Robyn calls out in spiderese and gets a reply! (50 exp)
- Apparently this is a spider who has defected from the queen! It wants to be left alone, and when Sir Robyn flings a false faerie fire cantrip at it the spider scurries away! (50 exp)
- Mori's infrared vision shows him three spiders within! Time to murder these traitors. Synthia and Mori stealth in to shank a spider and Galaxy Johnson dives through a shadow to attack it... but they all miss! (50 exp)

​

- Randy deploys his massive shield forward to act as portable cover, protecting Sir Robyn as he aims into battle with his Magic Missile targeting array. (50 exp)
- Two spiders gang up on Galaxy Johnson, biting at him with their huge fangs, but he is immune to poison due to the power of the queen! (50 exp)
- He disengages and throws himself back as Sir Robyn's pistol discharges, blowing one of the spiders into smithereens! (50 exp)
- The others beg for mercy, but Synthia uncloaks behind one and murders it. (50 exp)
- The other recoils, but before it can be similarly killed Sir Robyn offers it life in exchange for showing them the way down further into the mountain. (50 exp)
- They chain its legs and pick it up as a mobile guide, then loot the room! There's some silver here, and two very strange hand-themed items. One is a crawling hand which obeys the first person to pick it up, the other is a Hand of Glory.
- The spider looks back at his former friends longingly as they heft it towards the base camp at the back of the mountain. Might as well take it with them! (50 exp)
- Back at the camp, Sir Robyn persuades it to give the party a map of the area it knows, which it does under threat of death. (50 exp)
- Days of quietly reading books and healing up pass... until... (50 exp)
--- Several days later
- The campers are startled to hear deep angel singing and the screams of angel cannons on the other side of the mountain. What's going on?! (50 exp)
- They rush out of their scratch-built camp in time to see POWERLAD falling out of the sky! He hits the ground hard and staggers to his knees. The rest of the party run out to help him! (50 exp)

​
- He's helped into a makeshift tent.  Importantly, POWERLAD's connection to Ninhursag enables him to heal up real quick, even in the wilderness. They tell each other their stories. The timelines are realigned! (50 exp)

Total: 2800 exp

Misc:

- Absolutely Disgusting bonus (50 exp)
- Aggressive Negotiations bonus (50 exp)

- Balls to the Wall bonus (50 exp)

- Best of Intentions bonus (50 exp)
- Better Part of Valour bonus (50 exp)

- Bookworm bonus (50 exp)

- Breach and Clear bonus (50 exp)

- Brutal Kill bonus (50 exp)

- Coitus boners (50 exp)
- Classic Charles bonus (50 exp)

- Diplomancy bonus (50 exp)

- Doolittle bonus (50 exp)

- Dramatic Chase bonus (50 exp)

- Dramatic Escape bonus (50 exp)

- Enmity Inciter bonus (50 exp)

- Hard Bargain 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)

- Monster Infighting bonus (50 exp)

- Mountaineer bonus (50 exp)

- Operator as Fuck bonus (50 exp)

- PETA bonus (50 exp)

- Poison is OP bonus (50 exp)

- Pundemonium bonus (50 exp)

- Ridiculously Bad Rolling bonus (50 exp)

- Split the Party bonus (50 exp)

- Tactical Fighting bonus (50 exp)

- Vore bonus (50 exp)

- What the Fuck Guys bonus (50 exp)

- WWE bonus (50 exp)

Total: 1600 exp

Party Roles and Individual Exp:

- Remembrancer (Charles / Galaxy Johnson - 100 exp)

- Caller (Timothy / Sir Robyn - 100 exp)

- Mapper (Fraser / Mori - 100 exp)
- Treasurer (Fraser / Mori - 100 exp)
- Quartermaster (Ollie / Synthia - 100 exp)

- Guard (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)
- Tracker (Timothy / Sir Robyn - 100 exp)

- Art Attack bonus (Charles, Ollie - 100 exp ea.)
- Artapalooza bonus (Charles - 100 exp)
- Attacco d'Arte bonus (Ollie - 100 exp)
- Chippo Man bonus (Ollie - 200 exp)
- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Charles, Ollie, Kitty - 500 exp ea.)

Active Businesses:

- Honey Healing. Safe. 1095sp. (Bertha)

- Knickers Gloves Bodices. Risky. 1030sp. (Ratimir)
- Blood Honey 4 U. Safe. 505sp. (Sir Robyn)

Rumours:

- -

Death Toll and Injuries:

- Not even one!

Exp Totals:

- Kitty / POWERLAD!, Level 7 Muscle Wizard: 80754 (Level up at 144000)-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 5 (-25% exp)
- Charles / Galaxy Johnson, Level 5 Elf (Alpdrucke): 31745 (Level up at 48000)-- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 2 (-10% exp)  

- Timothy / Sir Robyn, Level 4 Magic-User: 16597 (Level up at 18000)

--- Randy, Level 4 Hench-Dwarf: 8747 (Level up at 17600)--- Gav, Level 0 Inclusion
- Ollie / Synthia, Level 4 Inheritor: 16935 (Level up at 18000) - Fraser / Mori, Level 4 Elf (Worriganger): 16465 (Level up at 24000) 

Absent or Retired:

- James / Ratimir, Level 5 Ratman: 20944 (Level up at 24000) 

- 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)
- Andy / Carrie Meleste, Level 5 Cleric: 25557 (Level up at 28000)

- 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)

- Charles / Zena, Level 6 Fighter: 41566 (Level up at 64000)

- 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)

- Henry / Henry's Next Character: +2084 exp

- 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)

Session 168 - We're Not Here to Fuck Spiders

It's a lot of debating the merits of murdering or obeying the queen of the demon spiders this session!
POWERLAD flies off to Moondin to deliver poison and see Bertha after a whole month or so apart.
Galaxy Johnson falls for the beautifully hideous demon spider queen.

Books are found, Mori gets sneaky, and Synthia absorbs an OP poison bite!

And also, Randy levelled up again?!

- Charles draws Galaxy's new lover​

Session 168 - We're Not Here to Fuck Spiders (Unless you're Galaxy Johnson)

Campaign Date:

Thursday, 4 February, 1601

Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous

Zodiac: Capricorn

New Backstory:

- After hanging out and trading spells that morning, Sir Robyn has been looking at POWERLAD as a sort of mentor. We also discover POWERLAD's spellbook is actually a comic book, which is just the best. (At the start of each session, pick one of their skills. You can use their skill value for rolls as long as you can see and hear them)
- Mori had once saved the life of the gang member who betrayed him, making the betrayal twice as devastating. (Once per session, stumble across someone who ran away from you this session)
- Synthia has absorbed some of Andromeda's memories, specifically the pain of POWERLAD marrying another. Her revenge was, as we all know, to commit the brutal terrorist attack on the Moondin Arena. (Deal an automatic crit against the creature that first takes you below 0HP in a session)

Enemies Defeated:

- A demon spider (50 exp)
- A high-bond POWERLAD of Ereshkigal (75 exp)

Total: 170 exp

Treasure and Equipment:

- A damaged scroll - Ward Against Magic
- A chess book dogeared to a page marked "Assan's Gambit"
- A book on strategy and tactics, useful to Fighters
- Book #293 - Law (100 exp)
- Book #123 - Far Qelong (100 exp)
- Book #169 - Mushroom Men (100 exp)
- Book #202 - The Nature of Goblins (100 exp)
- Book #292 - Linguistics (100 exp)
- Book #290 - Philosophy (100 exp)
- Book #238 - Moondin (100 exp)
- Book #164 - Sarpedon the Shaper (100 exp)
- Book #190 - Atrahasis, Deluvial Dragon (100 exp)
- Book #138 - Ratmen of the Underworld (100 exp)

Total: 1000 exp

Exploration:

- Explored 6 dungeon areas (120 exp)
- Travelled nearly 90 miles (300 exp)

Total: 420 exp

Events:

- It is the midst of combat! Mori, on fire, has leapt onto one of the second-tier angels with the wing cannons, jamming his knife into its leg joints! POWERLAD slides towards the other with hammers! (50 exp)
- The angel batters away at Mori with its arms to little effect. POWERLAD stumbles just before hitting the other and they go down in a tangle of limbs and brass. (50 exp)

- Mori jumps clear as Synthia swings in with her mighty axe, cleaving the the angel in two! Mori stops, drops, and rolls to get the fire off. (50 exp)
- Sir Robyn yells at the watching spiders to help, and one of them drops from the ceiling to batter at an angel with its fangs. It's not very effective. (50 exp)

- Randy, however, grows BIG due to Galaxy Johnson's sick enlarge beam. It is time for THE PAIN TRAIN! And holy shit the Pain Train is real! He plows into the remaining angel, jumping at the last second to avoid hitting POWERLAD, and crushes it against the opposite wall! (50 exp)
- The holy white glow fades and the flattened fragments of angel clatter to the ground. Randy is a beast! (50 exp)
- The great spider queen Arach-Nacha is incredibly grateful. She smiles with the bright lips behind her mandibles, and Galaxy Johnson feels that he must, MUST! Worship his queen. (50 exp)
- She promised immunity to poison and she delivers... via spreading her mandibles and smooching Galaxy's strangely alien lips with hers. A long long tongue snakes down Galaxy's throat and he chokes as it writhes down into his belly. He can faintly taste his own vomit as it withdraws. (50 exp)
- It was yuck but it worked! She says that this immunity will last a week... which means that he'll have to keep doing favours for her if he wants to keep his shots up. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD also goes for it to the queen's delight. As he experiences the weirdest kiss of his life... back in Moondin Bertha feels another pang of strange jealousy. (50 exp)
- Synthia meanwhile is pretty stoked to kill and eat this spider queen. Imagine! Unlimited poison immunity! It's fingers to temples all round the table as the party engages in intense team chat debate. Presumably the characters are exchanging hyper-meaningful glances. (50 exp)
- The party is pretty well split as to whether they save the queen or kill her. Galaxy Johnson is enamoured with his new queen, but Synthia doesn't trust her at all. Most accept the poison immunity though. (50 exp)
- During the conversation, POWERLAD tries to convert the demon spider to the worship of Ninhursag. Poison spider, poison dragon. A perfect match, surely! She declines to worship him, but does wish to ally with him! (50 exp)
- She asks POWERLAD to take a message to Ninhursag for her, who says "uh yea sure..." since Ninhursag doesn't really traditionally speak as such. Nevertheless, he agrees to take a message. (50 exp)
- He also decides to get a sample of the queen's poison to assist with Ninhursag's poison research. Unfortunately the queen refuses to be milked... she only bites flesh. (50 exp)
- Not really a problem since POWERLAD's got a week of poison resistance. He lets her bite him and pump a ton of poison into his veins. He can feel the poison burning through his system, but it doesn't affect him as it should. Nice! (50 exp)

- POWERLAD decides to take his leave after further deliberation, hoping to Fly and walk back to Moondin over the next few days. (50 exp)
- Synthia and Mori go with him. Before they leave, Synthia asks the queen if a spider escort can assist them in their trip. The queen agrees, and one of the spiders heads off with them. (50 exp)
- Galaxy Johnson and Sir Robyn stay to chat with the queen, keeping her distracted. The others reach the moon pool. POWERLAD keeps going, and when he's out of sight Synthia punches the spider escort in the mouth!! (50 exp)
- It's a one hit KO, unfortunately for her. She needs the spider to bite her in order to Inherit its powers. Luckily she just knocked it out, so she ties it up and waits for it to wake up (50 exp)
- POWERLAD shoots up into the sky outside! He flies over silent Muntburg and off towards Moondin with a single huge leap. (50 exp)

--- Team Spider
- Synthia slaps the spider awake and forces it to bite her. The poison rushes into her veins, but of course she's immune! Take that, spider! That crucial part over, she murders it and morphs over the body to digest it. (50 exp)

​

- Galaxy Johnson and Sir Robyn arrive just in time to see this gruesome sight, flesh and mud and organs wrapped around a spider's corpse. (50 exp)
- It's alright though. Soon enough Synthia has reformed back into her normal self... albeit with more of a spidery look about her. She stole both its venomous bite and its wall-crawling ability. Neat! (50 exp)
- There is yet more deliberation. Synthia really wants to eat that spider queen, but Galaxy Johnson says no not my queen! (50 exp)
- Persuading Synthia to leave it for now, they head towards that impregnable iris door to try to open it with this holy fingerbone they picked up. (50 exp)
- Angelic voices can be heard as they approach the room with those mysterious steam-spewing machines. An angel can be seen through the steam within, testing all the levers. (50 exp)
- Sir Robyn sings out an order to disengage. It works! (50 exp)
- The party head through the steamy machine room and emerge into the aftermath of a battle. It was a bloodbath. Inclusions, spiders, and even a destroyed angel. (50 exp)
- Looting the bodies turns up a partial map and some sort of chloroform-like substance. Neat! (50 exp)
- Further exploration turns up some people with weirdly exaggerated features and, holy of holies, a library! Many books are found and, subsequently, nicked. (50 exp)

- Reading ensues. Galaxy Johnson goes back to the queen and enters her den... she offers to make him her broodmate... (50 exp)

--- Team POWERLAD
- POWERLAD touches down in the mountain pass outside Pembrooktonshire. Unlike eerily silent Muntberg, Pembrooktonshire is a burnt-out wreck. POWERLAD turns away from the view and and heads to Oshregaal's place to see what's going on with him. (50 exp)
- He talks to one of the butlers at the door but is warned on the down-low that Oshregaal's feeling lonely at the moment and probably wouldn't let POWERLAD leave if he goes in to talk to him. (50 exp)
- Oh well. POWERLAD heads down into the wreckage of Pembrooktonshire and finds a fairly sturdy house to stay in overnight. (50 exp)
- The next morning he leaps up and away again towards Moondin. He has a great view over Loegria from up there. (50 exp)

- Shimmering stasis beams over Gush. The mobile city of Fate obscured by steam, a giant tentacle rising from where it once stood. Campfires on the fields around Mt Death Frost. And soon enough, the orange magma glow of Moondin. (50 exp)
- He lands outside the walls of Moondin and calls out. The first person to reply is another POWERLAD with great black dragon wings! (50 exp)
- He approaches with a winged Andromeda. POWERLAD speaks with POWERLAD, and the death of the anomalous Andromeda is revealed, to the dismay of the POWERLAD. (50 exp)
- They try to get our POWERLAD to join Ereshkigal's dragon cult, who will kill Shub-Niggurath before flying off into space with all his followers on his back. (50 exp)
-  This is too much for our POWERLAD. He stands with the living! This world will be saved! The draconic POWERLAD doesn't see the Magic Missile punch coming. (50 exp)
- The Andromeda watches this with horror and awe. She's not upset at the POWERLAD's death... she seems more relieved. She says that not all Andromedas are meant to be with POWERLADs. Bertha and POWERLAD prove that. (50 exp)
- With that, POWERLAD enters the city. He heads straight for the head of Ninhursag and the dragon priests. Ninhursag has pulled more of its massive body from the magma pool. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD lays down in worship of the great dragon. It is pleased with his devotion. POWERLAD's skin ripples as scales grow just under his skin, their green tint mixing with his natural faint electric blue. (50 exp)
- The Scales of Ninhursag grant him +1 AC, +2 to saves, and improved overnight healing rates. Hail Ninhursag! (50 exp)
- The poison has abated a little, but it still flows through his veins. POWERLAD goes to the Plant Priestess Sylvia Flora and tells her he's contributing demon spider blood to the great cause of poisoning Shub-Niggurath. (50 exp)
- She grabs out a bowl and POWERLAD drains some of his blood into it. It hisses as it hits the bowl, proof of its intense efficacy, and Sylvia is suitably impressed. (50 exp)

- Job done, POWERLAD wraps the wound on his wrist and goes off to find Bertha. They've been apart too long! He takes his leave of the dragon priests and heads into the town proper to find his true love. (50 exp)

Total: 2500 exp

Misc:

- Absolutely Disgusting bonus (50 exp)

- Aggressive Negotiations bonus (50 exp)

- Balls to the Wall bonus (50 exp)

- Best of Intentions bonus (50 exp)

- Bookworm 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)

- Freudian bonus (50 exp)

- Heresy bonus (50 exp)

- Long Deliberation bonus (50 exp)

- Ludicrous Gore bonus (50 exp)

- Mountaineer bonus (50 exp)

- Operator as Fuck bonus (50 exp)

- PETA bonus (50 exp)

- Poison is... not OP!!?!?!? bonus (50 exp)

- Pundemonium bonus (50 exp)

- Split the Party bonus (50 exp)

- Tactical Fighting bonus (50 exp)

- Vore bonus (50 exp)

- WWE bonus (50 exp)

Total: 1150 exp

Party Roles and Individual Exp:

- Remembrancer (Charles / Galaxy Johnson - 100 exp)

- Caller (Timothy / Sir Robyn - 100 exp)

- Mapper (Fraser / Mori - 100 exp)
- Treasurer (Fraser / Mori - 100 exp)
- Quartermaster (Ollie / Synthia - 100 exp)

- Guard (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)
- Tracker (Timothy / Sir Robyn - 100 exp)

- Art Attack bonus (Charles - 100 exp)
- Artapalooza bonus (Charles - 100 exp)
- Attacco d'Arte bonus (Charles - 100 exp)
- Chippo Man bonus (Ollie - 200 exp)
- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Fraser, Tim - 500 exp ea.)

Active Businesses:

- Honey Healing. Safe. 1095sp. (Bertha)

- Knickers Gloves Bodices. Risky. 1030sp. (Ratimir)
- Blood Honey 4 U. Safe. 505sp. (Sir Robyn)

Rumours:

- 

Death Toll and Injuries:

- Not even one!

Exp Totals:

- Kitty / POWERLAD!, Level 7 Muscle Wizard: 79389 (Level up at 144000)-- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 4 (-20% exp)
- Charles / Galaxy Johnson, Level 5 Elf (Alpdrucke): 30038 (Level up at 48000)-- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 2 (-10% exp)  

- Timothy / Sir Robyn, Level 4 Magic-User: 15389 (Level up at 18000)

--- Randy, Level 4 Hench-Dwarf: 8243 (Level up at 17600)
*DING!* +1d10 HP! +saves! +lorebond! +backstory!--- Gav, Level 0 Inclusion- Fraser / Mori, Level 4 Elf (Worriganger): 15257 (Level up at 24000)
- Ollie / Synthia, Level 4 Inheritor: 15027 (Level up at 18000)

Absent or Retired:

- James / Ratimir, Level 5 Ratman: 20944 (Level up at 24000) 

- 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)
- Andy / Carrie Meleste, Level 5 Cleric: 25557 (Level up at 28000)

- 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)

- Charles / Zena, Level 6 Fighter: 41566 (Level up at 64000)

- 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)

- Henry / Henry's Next Character: +2084 exp

- 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)