more thracia! dcc part 6!

moving right along ...

Judge Claire: So! Did you guys decide whether to climb back across the rope to investigate that stone chest some more? Or tuck your tails between your legs and go back where the dwarves are mining out the trap-door that statue rose up through?
Ariel: Well on the one hand, Ruri just got to be a level 1 thief, so she might be able to pick that lock now. But on the other hand, she doesn't have any tools to do it with, so maybe not. And also on the other hand, it's scary over there! Short died and Vinnie almost did too.
Heddy: Don't forget that I lost Ham over there too. But we killed the centipede thing before it got away with Short's body, so if there are more of them crawling around looking for carrion to scavenge, we should be able to watch for them and shoot them from a distance before going over.
Ariel: Well ... that would make it safer, I guess.
Sasha: Just mining away over here.
Akane: Kindly also. But Pestra will participate in this scavenger hunting.
Judge Claire: How long are you going to wait and watch for it?
Heddy: At least until the dwarves make it all the way through that stone slab.
Judge Claire: That's another 20 minutes or so. Let me roll for wandering monsters ... nope, you're in the clear. Stubbly and Kindly clear an opening in the statue-door and there hasn't been any sign of another crawly thing.
Heddy: I say we go for it. By which I mean, Shemp says someone should go for it while he covers them with his sling.
Sasha: Stubbly is done mining and is still feeling pretty fatalistic from his sister dying, so he's willing to climb across if our new thief needs some back up.
Akane: This is true for Kindly also. In fact, with two such mining dwarvesters, is a thief needed for getting into a stone chest?
Ariel: Ruri is happy to hang back and shortbow anything that shows up while you guys mine the thing open, for sure.
Sasha: Let's do it, then. Stubbs climbs with a 14.
Akane: For Kindly, 11.
Judge Claire: You make it across with ease. Are you doing anything besides going straight to the chest to pick-axe it open?
Akane: No, we are business-like dwarves.
Judge Claire: Both of you can make mining skill checks using your strength, then. It's going to take you 20 minutes to get through the really hard stone of this chest, minus one minute for every point your rolls beat a DC of 10.
Sasha: 14 for Stubbly.
Akane: Sadly, it's 7 for Kindly.
Judge Claire: That's basically a wash, then. Two more wandering monster checks. Well, you're faring a lot better than back in the first session. Neither of them turns up a 6. Inside the chest, you find a map, a wooden box with two turquoise stones in it worth 50 gp each, a large, gem-encrusted statue of a female goddess that's super-heavy --
Heddy: Meaning the statue is heavy, not that the goddess is a chunky one?
Judge Claire: Right. You estimate it's about 500 pounds and worth several hundred gp.
Sasha: Is that value mostly from the statue, or mostly from the gems. 
Judge Claire: Hmm. I'll just roll percentile dice to find out what portion of the value is gems. Looks like only 3%. It's mostly valuable as an art piece.
Sasha: Dammit.
Judge Claire: There's also an engraved tablet with what looks like four lines of poetry in some unknown language.
MSG: Speaking out of character, I think we'd be fools to try to get this statue out with just rope and brute strength. If anyone's character has a profession that would logically use a block and tackle for something, I think it would be good for them to suggest we go back to town and buy some gear to help us move the thing.
Judge Claire: Anyone?
Akane: Wouldn't miners?
Judge Claire: I'd say so.
Sasha: Well, Stubbly's not in a state of mind to come up with that, so it's up to your guy, Akane.
Akane: Kindly makes this suggestion, but only to Stubbly for now. We are alone with the statue, so no sense exciting greediness of companions with the information. We can return with the smaller items.
Sasha: Stubbly shrugs and says whatever. He rolls a 20 on his climb back, though, so I guess knocking our way into the chest made him a little perkier.
Akane: 8 for the climbing of Kindly.
Judge Claire: Okay, you're both safely back. Now what?
Ariel: Oh no! Short's grappling hook! How do we get it back?
MSG: Can we try doing, like, a whip-crack motion to whip it loose?
Judge Claire: I'd call that a skill check related to climbing. Agility DC ... let's say 8. Anybody want to justify grappling-hook-assisted climbing based on your profession? Otherwise you'll be rolling a d10.
Ariel: Can I try it as a Thief? Like, I'm sort of undoing a trap of the hook being trapped over there, right?
Judge Claire: Sure. That makes sense to me.
Ariel: I get a 13!
Judge Claire: You manage to pop it loose, then.
Sasha: Let's head back and check out what we find under that slab concealing the statue.
Judge Claire: You find that the opening you created accesses a round shaft that descends into the darkness beyond the reach of your dwarves' infravision. The walls are slick and oily.
Elle: Sounds like time to play "Dangle the Dwarf." I don't think we want to send a human with a lamp down there by themselves.
Sasha: Stubbly volunteers to go.
MSG: Wow, he's really got a death wish, huh?
Sasha: More like he's testing fate? Like, "Here's your chance to get me too, damn it!" The more stuff he survives the more he'll figure it's just not his time yet.
Judge Claire: All right, then. When you lower Stubbly down the well, at about the 10' point, he can see the shaft open up into a room below. At 20', he can see the top of the statue and a floor beyond it.
Sasha: I'll quietly call up that they should lower me another 60', then. I'll try grabbing hold of the statue and maybe sitting on its shoulders to get at the eye gems once I'm there.
Judge Claire: You manage it without too much difficulty. You find yourself in an unlit, circular room. There's a hallway leading away to the east. Murals are painted into the plastered walls of the chamber, but they're so faded with time you can't really tell what they depict.
Sasha: Well, I'm not here for the art gallery tour. Once I'm settled in place I'll use my dagger to pry out the gems and pocket them.
Judge Claire: It takes some doing, but you manage it. Oooh. Unfortunately, while you guys are in the middle of this operation, I rolled another wandering monster encounter.
Heddy: What better time?
Judge Claire: Okay, how are you guys set up? I'm going to say you need at least 25 points of strength supporting Stubbly on the rope.
Ariel: Vinnie will be one of them because he sure doesn't want to be fighting anything after that creepy centipede thing whacked him. He's got a 13.
Elle: Mendi is very strong and also Lawful, so if something spooks her, she's less likely to drop the rope and run, I'd say. Her 15 takes us over 25, but she wouldn't mind another Lawful character giving even more support.
Hettie: That's exceptionally astute. Tandy volunteers.
Elle: Nora's going to stick close to Kindly, since he leveled up and is a little tougher.
Ariel: Ruri will be guarding with her shortbow keeping an eye on the direction from the chasm.
Akane: Kindly is here near the door of secrecy. Pestra is on the other side, also watching the chasm.
MSG: Carson hangs near Kindly and Nora.
Heddy: Shemp is on sling duty.
MSG: How about let's make sure we don't have anyone positioned where they'll run across that pressure plate between those two columns. We don't want our rope-holders cooked.
Judge Claire: Okay. Oozing its way up over the lip of the chasm to the southeast, you see another one of those primeval slimes. Roll initiative. 
Heddy: Yuck. And then double-yuck because I waste a natural 20 on initiative against a creature that we found out last time always goes last, right? 21 total. 
Hettie: At least you beat out the rest of us. I'll be holding this rope on 12.
Elle: Son of a ... that's a natural 20 for me too.
Ariel: Stinkerooni! I'm on 12 like Het.
Sasha: I'm gouging out demon eye-gems on 18.
Akane: 10 for my characters.
MSG: Carson gets an 18.
Judge Claire: You're up, Heddy.
Heddy: I'll try popping it with my sling ... oh, 19. I'll stop complaining about the die, then. And a 4 on my damage die for 6 points.
Elle: Nora's not about to rush up and club it. But it's slow, so I guess I'll move a little closer in case that becomes necessary.
MSG: Carson takes the same approach.
Hettie: Rope duty for me.
Ariel: Ruri shoots her shortbow at it! Twang! 17! 4 points!
Judge Claire: You seem to do less than that because it's piercing damage, and your arrowhead melts.
Akane: Pestra also arrows this slime. But as a warrior, she can perform Mighty Deeds. She aims to cause her arrow to pierce through slimy substance and hit a rock that can add bludgeoning damage. Ah! I roll a 3 on the die of Deeds and a 14 on attacking die, totaling 16 in all. 
Judge Claire: I'll let you do full damage instead of half damage, then.
Akane: That is 8.
Judge Claire: Slime's turn. It oozes forward one square.
Heddy: 12 on Shemp's next sling attack for 6 points of damage.
Judge Claire: The slime expires. No xp because it was such an easy battle. Once Stubbly gets the last gem loose, you haul him up none the wiser that there was ever even a fight. Under close inspection, you find that the gems are enormous, beautifully cut rubies worth at least 300 gp each.
Heddy: Okay, I say it's time to get back to town and cash in.
Hettie: No argument from Tandy.
Ariel: Ooh! We could always split the party again if anyone wants to stay!
Sasha: Spoken like somebody who still has two characters left alive in this party.
Akane: Wait, though. Before deciding, what appears on the map found by dwarves in a chest? Could be a shortcut for leaving, right?
Judge Claire: The map shows a complex of rooms. One of them appears to be the room you're in, complete with the chasm. It looks like there's an exit to the south that leads to an area with maybe seven more rooms, and two staircases that lead off the map. You can't tell if the staircases go up or down, though.
MSG: How many rooms between us and the staircases?
Judge Claire: If you count the unexplored southern half of this room, two as a minimum to get to the closer staircase, three to get to the farther one. Plus some hallways.
Heddy: Are there any traps marked on the map? Because my bet is, there are traps, so if the map doesn't show any, I really don't trust it.
Judge Claire: No indication of traps, but there is a section of hallway concealed by secret doors.
Elle: Of course, the whole damn map may be a trap, and when we get to that south "exit" we'll find out it's a dead end and all those bodies will animate and zombie-mob us.
Ariel: I for sure think we should keep the map, but also probably go back the way we came to get out.
Sasha: Sold! Let's do that.
Akane: My characters are agreeable.
MSG: Carson too.
Judge Claire: Anyone object? No? Then which direction will you take -- through the chapel where the lizardmen were, or along the hallway with the trap and plastered-over door?
Hettie: Considering we remain unaware of the other group disabling the trap, I'll favor the chapel.
Ariel: But there's like, twice as much bat-goo to walk through that way.
Sasha: Hey, nobody's washed their boots off, so I'm pretty sure we're used to the smell by now.
Ariel: Yeah, but the squishing is yucky too.
Sasha: There's going to be squishing either direction, though. It's just a question of how much.
MSG: Something to consider is the bat population and our much smaller number of infravision characters. If we do the shuttling back and forth through the dark again, our last two dwarves will have to cover that whole distance like, 10 times if we don't want to upset the bats with our lanterns.
Ariel: Plus Ruri's a thief now so she can check that trap to see if it's still working and then maybe break it if it is.
MSG: I'm leaning toward the trap hallway now.
Heddy: Sure. Let's just head that way.
Judge Claire: Rolling for wandering monsters again ... nope. You make it back to the hallway with the trap. Ruri can roll to check it out.
Ariel: Fooh. Only an 11.
Judge Claire: That's good enough now, because you've seen it before and Antwerp worked at it to disable it already, so it's pretty obvious where it is and that it's no longer functioning.
Ariel: Woohoo! Let's go!
Judge Claire: You reach the corner that leads back to the hall of bats. How are you going to go about things this time?
Elle: Lights on, full speed ahead, and fuck the bats, I say.
Ariel: I'm good with that.
Sasha: Doesn't matter to me. I've got infravision and am still in the who-cares-if-the-dungeon-kills-me stage of denial over Stumbly's death.
Akane: It's a suitable plan.
MSG: Yep, let's go.
Judge Claire: Okay then. Who's got the highest Luck stat now?
MSG: I think it's Carson with his 16. Our other lucky bastards have been spending Luck like there's no tomorrow.
Ariel: Vinnie had to or there definitely wouldn't have been a tomorrow for him!
MSG: Anyway, if I have to roll a Luck check, it's a 2.
Judge Claire: The bats swarm and swirl again, making vision impaired but otherwise causing no harm. You make it out into the sunlight once more.
Heddy: Shemp breathes a sigh of relief.
Hettie: I imagine we all do, with the possible mournful exception of Stubbly Stamps.
MSG: Let's get these wandering monster rolls out of the way then so we can pick up those polearms from our first encounter and head back to town.
Judge Claire: Three in the jungle ... no ... n-- whoop, that's a six. And the 12-sider follow-up is a 1, which is Gnoll Patrol A. What's your marching order?
Heddy: Level ones up front?
Akane: Agreeable to Kindly. Also, he has 3 kits of lizard medicine and our level one characters number 3 also. So each should take one, I think.
Sasha: Stubbly will go in the second row if we're doing two-by-two.
Akane: Kindly and Pestra accept first-row placement.
Judge Claire: Okay. After that we should go by your level 0 numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4 ... assuming there are any 1's and 2's left.
Heddy: Not for me.
Hettie: No.
Elle: Long gone.
Judge Claire: Kindly and Pestra need to roll Intelligence checks then, to see if they surprise the gnolls or vice versa.
Akane: Those rolls are 4 and 7.
Judge Claire: Gnolls come in at 7, so no surprise. I'll roll d4+2 and multiply by 10 for the distance you spot each other at ... 40' roll initiative.
Heddy: Yet another natural 20, which bumps to 21 with my Agility.
Hettie: 13.
Elle: A mediocre 10.
Ariel: 19!
Sasha: Trudging along on 2.
Akane: My characters on 3.
MSG: Carson's a 5.
Judge Claire: Heddy, you're up. 
Heddy: Shemp gets right at 40' and fires his sling for a 20 total. 3 points on whichever one is in the lead.
Judge Claire: Ariel?
Ariel: Ruri shoots her shortbow at that same one! Twang-o! 14!
Judge Claire: Hit.
Ariel: Only 2 points. Then she'll move off into the bushes to the side to hide so she can do a backstab next turn maybe! Hey, These guys don't have ranged weapons too, do they?
Judge Claire: It looks like they're carrying maces and longbows.
Ariel: Yikes! Vinnie will move forward some but then get in the bushes for cover. That way he can move up and attack next round if nobody sees him and shoots him.
Sasha: You're really strategizing the heck out of things lately, Aers.
Ariel: It's fun to!
Judge Claire: Hettie, Tandy is up.
Hettie: She'll follow Vinnie's cue and slink into the bushes at his side.
Elle: I'm next, right? Mendi throws a rock at the leader ... misses ... then takes cover in the bushes too. Nora ... hmm. She'll join Tandy and Vinnie.
Ariel: We're going to need a bigger bush!
Judge Claire: MSG, what's Carson's game?
MSG: He'll go in the bushes near Mendi. He's got that 40' movement from his lucky sign, but no way is he charging up alone against 4 gnolls this round.
Judge Claire: Gnolls' turn! Akane and Sasha, who's got the worst luck of your characters?
Akane: Pestra, 5. Kindly, 13.
Sasha: Stubbly is down to 8.
Judge Claire: The gnolls duck into the bushes too, and fire at Pestra from cover. There are two of them to either side of the path. Oof. Leader fumbles. Rolls a 1 on the d4 though and just embarrasses himself. Second gnoll on Pestra ... 11, for max damage, 6 points.
Akane: Pain, but not death.
MSG: Not death, yet. I'll cross my fingers for you. 
Judge Claire: Another hit, for 5 damage.
Akane: Now, it's death.
MSG: No, Pestra's level 1 now, so she's got one round for someone to patch her up with that lizard kit.
Judge Claire: Last gnoll on Stubbly. It's a hit, I'm afraid. But only 2 points of damage. The gnolls remain 40' away and now have cover. Akane is next. 
Akane: Kindly administers lizard aid to Pestra.
Judge Claire: She regains 3 hit points but remains unconscious. When she wakes up, she'll have a 1-point temporary Stamina loss.
Akane: Does time remain to drag her into the bushes?
Judge Claire: Well, you had to find the first aid kit on her, open it up, and use it, so I think no. Sasha's turn.
Sasha: Stubbly will charge up to the leader with a dwarven war cry. I think that takes my whole turn if we were still at 40' away.
Judge Claire: Yes. Now it goes back to Heddy.
Heddy: Cover or no cover, Shemp is firing at the leader. Another 20 to hit, this time for ... max damage of 6.
Judge Claire: He's not looking so good. Aers?
Ariel: Ruri's just sneaking this turn. I roll 18 to get around behind one of them. But not within reach yet, in case they notice me. If Vinnie's on the leader's side of the trail, he goes for him otherwise I guess he rushes one of the other dudes. That's only an 11 either way.
Judge Claire: The leader went to the opposite side from where he saw the three characters duck into the bushes, so you're now engaged with number 3. Het? That's the side Tandy is on too.
Hettie: She'll charge the same fellow. 18 to hit, battleaxe damage is 7.
Elle: Mendi heaves another rock at the leader. 17, minus 2 for range and minus 2 for his cover would be 13, right?
Judge Claire: Yes, and it's a hit. 
Elle: 4 points.
Judge Claire: That kills him.
Elle: Nora tries to finish off the injured one. 12.
Judge Claire: That's a miss.
Elle: I'll spend a point of Luck.
Judge Claire: He's down. MSG?
MSG: Carson rushes the one who was with the leader and hopes he doesn't regret it. Big miss.
Judge Claire: Gnolls' turn. One is unengaged, and he takes off running through the woods. The other one tries saying an oath to invoke his god, but fails, so he runs too, which means Carson gets a free swing on him. 
MSG: That's a 17 for 5 points of damage.
Judge Claire: He keeps running. Anyone want to pursue the gnolls into the forest?
Heddy: And risk running into a big encampment of them that those two ran off to? No thanks.
Hettie: I think we should make haste from this vicinity -- carrying Pestra if necessary.
Judge Claire: In that case, Pestra wakes up in a few minutes ... unfortunately, just in time for another random encounter.
Elle: Holy hell. If we live and decide to come back, can we for fuck's sake take a different route? 
Judge Claire: This time, you run across a band of uncivilized-looking peasants with makeshift clubs. They appear to be fleeing from someone or something, and are startled to come up face-to-face with you. What do you do?
Akane: Kindly attempts soothing them with a speech of, "What's wrong? Do you need help?"
Judge Claire: They don't understand your language, but roll a d20 and try to get under your Personality.
Akane: Kindly is very personable, and also rolls a 3.
Judge Claire: The leader of the group makes a series of quick gestures, pointing behind them and then at all of you as though indicating that the two groups should ambush their pursuers. You hear the noise of numerous figures rushing through the woods. They'll arrive very soon.
Heddy: I like the sound of an ambush better than trying to convince whoever it is that we're just passing innocently through.
Hettie: Especially if whoever it is turns out to be another batch of gnolls. Tandy hides in some bushes.
Elle: My characters do too.
Ariel: Well ... maybe these guys did something bad and whoever's chasing them are the good guys? Only I don't guess there's time to talk it over, so I hide too.
Sasha: Same.
Akane: Yes -- new allies are preferred to angry gnolls.
MSG: Yep, hiding.
Judge Claire: Luckiest character makes a Luck check.
MSG: Still me, I think. that's an 8.
Judge Claire: You hunker in the bushes while the peasants move across the ruined street to the far side, half in cover but still visible and looking over their shoulders. A troop of 6 gnolls rushes right between your ambush formation, and you get a free surprise round.
Akane: Pestra attacks shortbowingly. Her Deed attempt is to pierce one gnoll and have the arrow continue to the next. Sadly, her total is 11 only, though her Deed would have succeeded. Kindly attacks this number 4 gnoll, with a Deed attempting to knock him into number 5 and possibly entangle them together. It's a fist attack from him ... but only a 12 to hit.
Sasha: Stubbly clubs the hell out of this guy next to -- no, that's a fumble. ¡Híjole! 2 is that Reflex save or go prone, right? I make it. 
Ariel: Ruri gets in behind this number 3 dude and backstabs him! STAB! Boo, 6. Vinnie tries to smack the same guy ... nope.
Elle: Mendi throws a rock at number 6 -- what is wrong with us? Fumble. Reflex save or prone ... botch. Nora takes a club swing at the one Kindly attacked. Miss.
Heddy: Shemp tries to break our miss streak with his sling. Wow. This must be Karma for ambushing people without knowing the situation. I fumble too. What's a 3 do?
Judge Claire: You nearly lose hold of your weapon. -2 on your next attack.
Heddy: What happens if you fumble with a -2? Rhetorical question only.
MSG: Axe on number 6 ... miss.
Hettie: Tandy goes for number 6 too, but not with that die. Why in all of creation do we keep passing it around?
Ariel: It's our official DCC 20-sider!
Hettie: I'm getting a different one. Look: 15. For 7 points.
Judge Claire: Initiative, please. 
Heddy: 13.
Hettie: 6
Elle: 3. So much for the new die improving things.
Hettie: Next time I'll just keep it for myself.
Ariel: I'm using the DCC one! I believe in you, DCC die! Woohoo, 16!
Sasha: 6 for Stubbly.
Akane: 18!
MSG: And ... 2.
Judge Claire: 19 for gnolls, 5 for peasants. Gnolls first. The gnoll leader roars in fury and moves to attack Vinnie. Hit.
Ariel: He's dead. Unless I can do that dodge thing again with my last 7 luck.
Judge Claire: Spend 6 and if you roll a natural 1 you dodge.
Ariel: No, he's dead.
Judge Claire: Number 2 moves up to the peasants and tries to intimidate them into surrendering. He rolls a savage 13, which I think is not enough to overcome the seemingly greater numerical odds. 3 can reach Ruri or Stubbs, and I know Stubbs' luck is way lower, so ... 11 to hit. Damage is 4.
Sasha: Stubbly is reunited at last with his sister.
Judge Claire: Number 4 goes for Nora. Swing and miss. 5 goes for Ruri. 11.
Ariel: Just what he needed, boo!
Judge Claire: 5 points.
Ariel: Yow!
Judge Claire: That leaves number 6, and out of Tandy and Carson, I know Tandy's luck is worse. Het, you're hit for 4.
Hettie: Expired.
Elle: Here, you can play Nora if you like. 
Hettie: Thanks, although I don't have high hopes for it lasting long.
Judge Claire: Akane, it's your turn.
Akane: With a Deed of Might, Kindly attempts to punch through the skull of number 4. Deed die is only 1, but my roll for hitting, 19. Only a 4 for damage. Pestra attempts a bull's eye on a gnoll's eye, shooting at their leader. Success! 9 damage!
Judge Claire: Blood gets in his eyes, and he'll have a -2 on his next attack. Aers?
Ariel: I'm daggering number 5 like crazy! I only roll a 7, but I'll spend 4 luck to try and get a hit. My Luck dice add up to 7, so that's a hit, and I'll spend another 4 to try and kill him ... 9 damage!
Judge Claire: That takes him out.
Ariel: Now I'm running and hoping number 3 misses with his free attack.
Judge Claire: He does!
Ariel: Woohoo!
Judge Claire: Heddy?
Heddy: Shemp moves back out of easy reach of gnolls 1 and 3 and lets fly with his sling. This is at - 2 for that fumble. Miss.
Judge Claire: Hettie, I'll let Nora go on your initiative now that you're running her.
Hettie: Exceptional. She'll club the injured number 4. I'm spending 2 luck to turn this 11 into a hit. Damage is 3, I'll spend another luck to make it 4, because I don't think these hyena horrors have more than 8 except for the leaders.
Judge Claire: You're correct, and he is dead. Peasants go. The first one hits number 2 for 3. Second one also hits, for 2. Next guy misses ... next guy hits for 1 ... then another miss ... then another 1. Number 2 is on his feet, but barely. Elle, it's Mendi's turn.
Elle: Rock to the head for number 3. That's 10, and I'll spend 3 luck to make it 13, which hits, right? 3 points.
MSG: Carson's up, right? That's a 7. I hate spending 6 whole luck on a guy I'm pretty sure has only 1 hit point left, but if I don't hit him, he'll probably kill me on his round, so I do it anyway. There goes my beautiful 16 luck.
Judge Claire: You're right about his 1 hit point, though. He's now dead. You guys and the peasants now outnumber them 4 to 1, so the leader barks a command to retreat, and he and number 3 take off running. Number 2 tries it too, but that's 6 free hits on him, and he goes down. The peasants cheer and dance in celebration. 4 xp for the survivors. You recover 4 maces and 4 longbows as well. That's on top of 2 of each from the previous battle, which I forgot to give experience for, so add another 2. The peasants don't hang around to chat ... they seem to think more gnolls could appear at any moment, and dash off after their brief victory demonstration.
Heddy: As I think we should do also.
Judge Claire: Assuming no one disagrees, your characters make it back to town and can all level up to be available for future sessions. For now, though, I think we're overdue to switch back to the Death's Door party ...

continued next post!

and then there were twelve! and then there were ... ?

after splitting the party and going into scaryville with their first-level characters, the gang now switches back to the remaining 0-level ones ... who will survive?

Judge Claire: Back to the gnoll room! After your leveled-up guys hit the road, the rest of you find yourselves in or just outside a room that has clearly seen a lot of use housing gnolls ... or maybe smelled a lot of use, since it reeks of rotting meat and unwashed bodies. There are heaps of untanned animal hides used as bedding and a crude table with wood blocks for seats.
Heddy: I'm going to check to see if these gnolls have anything on them besides their weapons.
Judge Claire: Each one has 4 cp and 1 gp, including the guy in the hall.
Elle: Mendi will search the room for secret doors. 14 plus 3 is 17.
Judge Claire: You feel confident there are none.
Hettie: Shall we proceed along the hallway in the other direction?
Ariel: Yes!
Akane: Continuing our searches of walls and floors.
Judge Claire: The hallway extends around 100' north from the guardpost. Each character give me an Intelligence roll, DC12. Let me know who makes it.
Heddy: Not I.
Hettie: Nor I.
Elle: Mendi does. And Nora.
Ariel: And Short! And Ruri!
Sasha: Stubbly does.
Akane: Both of my characters, yes.
MSG: Carson, no.
Judge Claire: That's plenty of yeses for you to feel sure there's nothing along this hall. Around the corner, the corridor continues far off into the darkness. Everyone roll again, same deal.
Hettie: Tandy succeeds.
Elle: Mendi and Nora do too.
Judge Claire: That's enough, then. I just needed to know if anyone on the left side of the marching order made it. Nora finds a secret door on the south wall after you've gone about a hundred feet down the corridor. Up ahead, you see stairs leading down.
Heddy: Can we count one of those other successes as a successful search for traps?
Judge Claire: Sure. With 12 characters, the odds of no one succeeding are very low anyway. But you find no traps.
Heddy: Ham and Short are in the lead ... Ham would rather Short do the opening, even if we detected no traps.
Ariel: Short's cool with that. He's pretty hit-pointy for a 0-level. What do we see past the door?
Judge Claire: A narrow hallway that ends in another door about 30' away. If you keep searching as you have been, I just need whoever's up front to make 3 rolls, one every 10 feet.
Ariel: Um ... 4, 14, and 16. I hope the trap wasn't right up front!
Judge Claire: You don't find any traps, and none go off as the characters file into the hallway.
Ariel: Okaysies! I open the door, then.
Sasha: Wait --
Judge Claire: No trap on the door either, fortunately.
Ariel: Oh, oops!
Judge Claire: Another great, open space with columns supporting its high roof. It's wider and longer than the reach of your lantern's glow. The walls here are covered in stained and discolored decorative panel work. To your left is a broad semicircular alcove. The air hangs thick with the stench of decaying bodies.
Heddy: Any notable sounds to be heard?
Judge Claire: Your voices and footsteps result in quiet but strangely cavernous echoes.
Heddy: Well, I vote we either search around the outer perimeter as a group, or maybe split into two search groups and have one go in each direction from the door.
Elle: Didn't we already just split the party a little while ago?
Ariel: It's a huge-ongo room, though. It'll take us forever to search it all if we don't split up.
Sasha: But splitting in two would only take it down to half of forever, and isn't half of forever still forever?
Ariel: I don't like it when you do that. Fine, we can all search around in a big group.
Judge Claire: Tell me what your characters are specifically doing to search, then.
Heddy: Ham will keep an eye on the ground for trap-doors or pressure plates. Shemp imagines that this large alcove must have been there for a reason, meaning at some point it would have had an altar or a throne or dining table or something. So he'll look for any signs of something heavy having been there once and been moved.
Hettie: Tandy will just search along the decorative panels and see if any are concealing something.
Elle: Same for Mendi and Nora.
Ariel: Short is close to the ground already, so he'll look along with Ham and Shemp. Ruri will check out paneling. Vinnie ... uh ... I guess he'll look up at the ceiling for any spear traps like before? Oh, wait, that was the other group. Well, he'll still look up there in case of vampires or something crawling around up there getting ready to jump down on us.
Sasha: Stubbly will just go along by whoever is in the lead to be ready and fight if they need him to.
Akane: Pestra goes and closes the outside door of secrecy, then returns along the hall and stands guard with her bow. Kindly will accompany his fellow dwarf, Stubbly, and also search while going.
MSG: Carson will look up at the ceiling for any kinds of traps or deadfalls.
Judge Claire: All right, Intelligence checks for your searching, if you please.
Heddy: Ham rolls a 3. Shemp rolls an 8 that becomes a 10 with his bonus.
Hettie: 9 for Tandy's panel-searching.
Elle: 16 for Mendi, 7 for Nora.
Ariel: 6 for Short. 7 for Vinnie. 6 for Ruri. I think this may be a bad die.
Sasha: Oh yeah? Watch this: search! Natural 20! Wait. Stubbly wasn't searching. Damn.
Akane: 17 for Kindly. 14 for Carson.
Judge Claire: Shemp is the only one who finds anything, and it's only because he's specifically searching the floor closely. There are no signs of furnishings having been there ages ago, though the generally scuffed quality of the floor would make it hard to tell anyway. But every few feet, regularly spaced throughout the alcove, he finds small holes about a half-inch across bored into the stone. Make a second search as well.
Heddy: 17! 
Judge Claire: Near the very center of the alcove, you find a section of flooring with no holes that looks like it might move somehow. The section is circular, about 5' across, and has a seam down the middle as well as around its edge.
Heddy: Anybody have a crowbar?
Hettie: No.
Elle: Not here.
Ariel: No ... but us dwarven miners don't actually have clubs for weapons, we have picks that just work like clubs. Could we use a pick as a crowbar?
Judge Claire: When you try, the narrowness of the seam doesn't let you wedge the end of the pick into it enough to get any leverage.
Ariel: Dang.
Sasha: Stubbly asks, "What about just mining our way through it?" He figures doing some mining might take his mind off his sister dying.
Akane: Kindly is willing to attempt this. But does not wish to stand within the circle while doing so.
MSG: Probably a good move. 
Judge Claire: Even after just a couple of blows, you can tell this is going to be tough. It's hard stone, and the sound it makes while you're smashing at it isn't a nice hollow one as if there's a space just under there an inch or two. It is pretty darned loud, though, sending up echoes through the whole chamber.
Heddy: All right. While they're doing that, I'll keep searching along the walls.
Hettie: A superior and quieter alternative to watching dwarves hew rock.
Elle: I'll agree and go back to searching too.
Ariel: My other characters think that's a good idea.
Akane: Pestra remains at watch beside this door.
MSG: Carson keeps searching.
Judge Claire: As you reach the corner and turn along the next wall, up ahead you see that the floor of the chamber appears split by a great chasm. This is what's giving the room its strange echoes.
Heddy: How wide is it?
Judge Claire: About 10 to 12' where it splits through the wall and continues eastward into darkness. it gets wider toward the center of the room. Everyone can make search checks again as you search your way up to it.
Heddy: 12 and 21 for my characters.
Hettie: 16 for Tandy.
Judge Claire: Okay, no need to keep rolling. There isn't anything to find, so let's cut to the chase. The characters in the lead can see that across the chasm, near the wall of the chamber, stands a stone chest. It's about 25' past the chasm, which puts it 45' or so from your position.
Heddy: I'd rather not get too close to that chasm. But my interest is piqued by seeing a chest.
Judge Claire: By the way, the charnel smell of death gets heavier and more oppressive the closer you get to the chasm.
Heddy: Maybe my interest is a little less piqued.
Judge Claire: You can see now that what first looked like rubble on the ground across the way is in fact a massive arrangement of body after body after body, all rotting and arranged in orderly rows.
Ariel: I'm definitely not going over there.
Akane: Still, possible treasure in a box of stone.
MSG: Would it be possible to lasso the chest and drag it closer? Not so close that it falls off into the gap, obviously.
Ariel: Ruri has rope, but only 50'. So by the time we made a lasso it would be too short, right? Oh, but Short has a grappling hook! We could go back for it.
Akane: Also, Kindly has additional rope.
MSG: Do we want to go to the other side of the room and search that wall on our way back? The chest's not going anywhere, right? And maybe there's a secret door leading to a room with long wooden planks we could make a bridge out of.
Heddy: That seems smart.
Judge Claire: We'll just skip the rolling this time. There are no secret doors on the way back. It's probably 4 or 5 minutes of searching time plus the time you spent talking over what to do about the chest before you finish the whole circuit. The dwarves can each give me a mining skill check, adding strength bonus. On a crit, I'll say you hit a cleavage fracture in the stone and make a huge amount of progress. Otherwise you're probably looking at ... half an hour to hack away a decent portion of one of the two stone slabs?
Ariel: No crit.
Sasha: No crit.
Akane: None.
Judge Claire: Okay. You guys are back with your story of the stone chest.
Ariel: Hey, Short! Can we borrow your grappling hook?
Akane: And large amounts of rope, Kindly.
Sasha: Do you tell us about the stone chest and gobs of bodies?
MSG: Obviously.
Judge Claire: 
Sasha: Then Stubbly is okay taking a break from this, in case it ends up being a fight over there or we're needed to mine our way into the stone chest.
Akane: Kindly agrees.
Ariel: Short's good with that too. And also he'll get to see his grappling hook get used, which will be cool.
Judge Claire: What route do you guys take back to the chasm?
Heddy: The shortest distance between two points is a straight line -- which would also allow us to search around the middle of the room to see if there's anything else noteworthy that way.
Judge Claire: Single file, or two by two again?
Heddy: I'm becoming suspicious of the middle of the room now. 
Hettie: Single file puts the smallest number of characters at risk, but also means there's only one searcher to spot a pressure plate before it's stepped on.
Sasha: Personally, I don't have the patience for this single-file crap when there's two different places we might be finding treasure. Stubbly will go up front side by side with the leader if it helps speed things up.
Judge Claire: Okay. A search check from Stubbly and one from Ham, then. 
Heddy: 5 for Ham.
Sasha: A big fat 2 for Stubbs.
Judge Claire: As you pass between the first two columns, something clicks beneath your feet, and there's a loud whoosh and roar behind you along with a burst of fiery light and a wash of heat. When you turn, you see flames spurting up from all of those holes in the ground. The people at the back of the formation are still very close when it goes off. Tandy and Shemp need to make Luck checks, or you're close enough you'll have to do a Reflex Save.
Heddy: A 1 for Shemp.
Hettie: Natural 20 for Tandy. She may be about to demonstrate her flammability. What's the DC I'm shooting for?
Judge Claire: 12.
Hettie: I'm about to reverse the direction of that roll now. Watch. That's a 10 ... I think I'd better spend 2 points of luck to avoid roasting.
Judge Claire: You leap forward just in time and feel the hairs on the back of your neck get singed. There's now a wall of flames engulfing the area. After a couple of rounds, you see something rising up in the center of the flames.
Heddy: Great. A flaming demon trap?
Judge Claire: No -- although the shape does look demonic, it's clearly a statue. There's no motion to its limbs or body other than the vertical. A horrible, evil laughing echoes out from the statue. You notice that the three eyes of the demon sparkle and gleam in the firelight like gems.
Sasha: That thing better not sink back down after the flames are done spewing.
Judge Claire: Do you all just stand looking?
Elle: Hell, no. I'm hiding behind one of the pillars in case that demon starts spitting flames.
Ariel: Oh! Yeah, I'm doing that too now that I see Nora and Mendi do it.
Akane: Yes, hiding seems wise.
MSG: Carson takes the same approach.
Judge Claire: Anyone not scurrying for cover?
Sasha: Stubbs is standing mesmerized by those gems.
Judge Claire: After another round, flames pour out of the statue's mouth. Stubbly needs to make a reflex save.
Sasha: Uh-oh. Potentially not good. Whew, 13. Is that enough?
Judge Claire: Yes, you dodge out of the way unharmed. After two rounds of spitting fire, the demon statue descends again into the floor. When it disappears completely, the flames are all snuffed out.
Heddy: Wow. I'm glad we decided to circle the whole room or we'd have barbecued all three of our dwarves.
Elle: And, importantly, their rope.
Sasha: So, now the choice has gone from hard work maybe for nothing versus a chest probably full of loot, to hard work for three big fat shiny gems versus a chest that might be totally empty.
Akane: Kindly would be easy to convince back to mining.
Ariel: Short wants to see his grappling hook in action, so he'll still go with the others.
Sasha: Everybody stay away from those columns when we start work again!
Akane: Pestra remains guarding the door by shortbow.
MSG: So once we get back to the chasm, who's going to throw the grappling hook?
Judge Claire: Strength is the stat you use for throwing.
Heddy: I'm guessing no one beats Shemp in that department -- he's got a 17.
Hettie: Tandy Tunely bows to your mighty thews.
Elle: I'll skip the bowing, but have at it.
Ariel: Ruri draws a tarot card and predicts Shemp will do great!
MSG: Just to be clear, before you roll the throw, we've definitely tied a rope to the end of the grappling hook, Judge.
Judge Claire: I'm glad to hear it, but I probably wouldn't have been a stickler if you hadn't specified.
Heddy: Shemp only gets a 9 on his first attempt.
Judge Claire: That would make it, but I'm giving a -2 for range. If it's outside close range for a javelin, I think it's outside for a grappling hook too.
Heddy: My second try is a 14, or I suppose a 12 adjusted for range.
Judge Claire: Everyone who's present can make an Intelligence Roll for perception.
Heddy: 17 for Ham, 5 for Shemp.
Hettie: 2.
Elle: 13 and 18 for my characters.
Ariel: 8, 12, and yuck! 1.
Sasha: Mining.
Akane: Mining and also guarding.
MSG: 3 for Carson.
Judge Claire: Ham and whichever of Elle's characters got the 18 notice something when the hook catches against the chest.
Elle: That's Nora.
Judge Claire: You each see a small blue spark of electricity around the grappling hook, just for a moment.
Heddy: Hmm. Ham's a glovemaker. I doubt he has much of an idea what that might mean, but he asks if anyone else saw it.
Elle: Nora says yeah, but it seems to be gone now, so let's get hauling on this chest already.
Heddy: Shemp gives a heave at the rope. Assuming that's a Strength check, my total is 17.
Judge Claire: The chest is either fixed in place somehow, or has something really heavy in it. It doesn't budge.
Heddy: Shemp lets everyone know it's resisting his steely muscles.
Hettie: I suppose someone could climb across ... I think there are enough of us to keep the rope steady while they do.
Elle: Nora points out that there's a column right here we could tie this end of the rope around.
Ariel: We'd need to warn our miners first! Short is very concerned his fellow dwarves might get crispied. He calls out a warning to them.
Sasha: Stubbly moves well away from the blazing danger zone.
Akane: Kindly also.
Judge Claire: Nothing happens when you approach this column and tie the rope around it. Apparently, it was just that pressure plate between the first two columns that set the trap off.
Hettie: Then next we have the matter of who should climb across.
Elle: Meaning who wants to go alone over to an area heaped full of enough bodies for a whole graveyard?
Ariel: Short's not scared. Plus his grappling hook is over there. Ruri says she'll stay on this side and shoot arrows at any of them that turn out to be zombies.
Heddy: Shemp is happy to volunteer as Ruri's backup using his sling. Ham is willing to climb across.
Ariel: I guess Vinnie is too. We should definitely go one at a time, though!
MSG: Carson recommends leaving behind anything you probably won't need, to lighten your weight.
Elle: Nora assumes what Carson actually means is, to let the rest of us inherit your loot if you fall. She gives him a thumbs-up but doesn't say anything.
MSG: That's what Carson was thinking, all right. He nods at Nora.
Heddy: Ham leaves his extra rope, then. 
Ariel: Vinnie leaves his chest. It's probably pretty hard to climb across a rope while you're carrying a chest anyhow. Short will leave his lantern and spyglass.
Judge Claire: Then whoever's first should describe how they approach the climb.
Ariel: I feel like swinging along by your arms sounds really tiring and scary, so my characters would want to like, hang on beneath the rope by their hands and knees and kinda inchworm their way along.
Judge Claire: That's pretty slow, but relatively safe. Make a DC 5 Strength roll to avoid mishaps.
Heddy: Ham will let Ariel's characters go first to see if it ends well for them.
Ariel: Short makes it ... and Vinnie does too!
Heddy: Ham feels emboldened by your success and follows with an 11.
Ariel: Short has a look at his grappling hook. Does it still look nice and hooked in place? Is it sparking?
Judge Claire: You think it's secure. No sign of sparks.
Heddy: I guess Ham will see if it's locked.
Judge Claire: Unfortunately, it is.
Heddy: Which pretty much screws us out of getting into it since we don't have any thieves or tools with us.
Ariel: Short still has his pick! He'll try busting open the lock with it. Ruri is still watching carefully with her shortbow for any sign of zombies getting up to go after our guys.
Heddy: Shemp as well.
Judge Claire: Short can make an attack roll on the lock. Ruri and Shemp can make Intelligence rolls to see if they spot anything.
Ariel: Pick! That's only a 9.
Judge Claire: It's an immobile object, but it's very hard, so just landing a blow doesn't get through its AC. Ruri and Shemp?
Heddy: 13 for Shemp.
Ariel: 10 for Ruri.
Judge Claire: You both notice a creeping shape -- sort of like a centipede but as large as a person. It's about 25 feet from the chest and squiggling closer.
Ariel: Yikes! I yell and shoot it. Bleh. 6.
Heddy: Shemp rolls a 12.
Judge Claire: Both of you miss. Time for initiative.
Heddy: 19.
Hettie: 16. Not that Tandy is climbing across to help just yet.
Elle: 14.
Ariel: Boo, only an 8 for me.
Sasha: I'm assuming I haven't heard anything over the clanking sounds of our miners' picks.
Akane: 12 for Pestra. Because she is guarding, probably she notices the firing of weapons by allies.
MSG: Carson is on 18.
Judge Claire: Heddy is first.
Heddy: Another sling stone from Shemp. That's an 18.
Judge Claire: Hit!
Heddy: Damage is 5. There's lots of rubble around, right? Ham will pick up a rock and throw it, because he doesn't want to get any closer to this thing. Nice, 16.
Judge Claire: That's a miss, since it's outside of close range for rock throwing.
Heddy: So better than a 14 armor class. Not great.
Judge Claire: And it's the creature's turn. It rushes to the attack, first lashing at Short with one of its many tentacles, since I know his Luck is in the toilet right now. 16 to hit for 7 points of damage.
Ariel: Yipes! He probably doesn't even have time to holler in pain.
Judge Claire: Second attack is on Ham for a 12.
Heddy: Ham is history.
Judge Claire: That leaves Vinnie ...
Ariel: How many attacks does it have!
Judge Claire: Just 3, and this one hits too. Sorry, 6 points of damage.
Ariel: Vinnie! Can he make a Luck check to dodge it or something? He's got a 17 Luck.
Judge Claire: If you burn 7 of that I'll let you have a Luck check against the remaining 10.
Ariel: Eep! 10 exactly.
Judge Claire: Carson's turn, then.
MSG: I'll try Ham's rock-throwing trick, hopefully with more success ... 15 minus 2 is worse than other rolls that already missed, so it goes wide.
Judge Claire: Hettie?
Hettie: Looks like rocks are our only recourse, but I roll worse than MSG.
Elle: I'm next, right? A rock from Mendi is a 17. Does a 15 total hit?
Judge Claire: No.
Elle: Nora misses too.
Akane: If Pestra advances 30', she is 80' from this tentacling monster, yes? This makes her very unlikely to hit, but I roll anyway. My prediction was correct.
Judge Claire: Your turn, Aers.
Ariel: I guess I'd better run -- but if I do it gets to hit at me again for free, doesn't it?
Judge Claire: Yes.
Ariel: Ughhhh ... I guess I really better run. Otherwise everybody missing with bows and slings and rocks will probably hit me sooner or later.
Judge Claire: Thanks for reminding me of that ... I should have had everyone roll that this round. I'll skip it since I forgot, though. The creature hits you for 4 points and you need to make a Fortitude save if you're still up. 
Ariel: Natural 20 ... boo!
Sasha: Why do you say boo?
Ariel: Because if I'd've attacked it and rolled that it would have been a crit! Anyway, I run for the rope and start swinging along it as quick as I can ... only now I roll a 3. Plus 1 for Strength, right? And then I'll spend whatever much luck I have to so I don't fall!
Judge Claire: Let's call it 3 points. 
Ariel: Please tell me it doesn't climb out on the rope after me!
Judge Claire: Well, first it's Heddy's turn.
Heddy: Shemp fires his sling with a 19, doing 4 more points of damage.
Judge Claire: It's still up. It starts dragging Ham away into the darkness. Everyone can have one round of attacks before it disappears into the corpse piles.
MSG: Rock ... 17 goes down to 15 for range and misses.
Hettie: Tandy has even worse success.
Elle: Rocks going everywhere but at the centipede, it looks like. Both mine miss. 
Ariel: Ruri misses with her bow.
Akane: It's the same for Pestra.
MSG: I'm keeping my eyes peeled for it to come back. Maybe we can kill it when it tries to get Short.
Judge Claire: Does that go for everyone else? If so, then you can each have one attack as it approaches Short and one as it leaves with his body. 
Heddy: This is off to a good start. Shemp fumbles his first roll. The result is 2.
Judge Claire: DC10 Reflex or you trip and go prone and miss your second shot. 
Heddy: 11. My second shot is much better ... a 2.
MSG: Rock, rock ... two misses.
Hettie: The same.
Elle: Mendi's first roll is a crit, thank god! That's a 2 ... Jabbed in the eye for an extra d4. What's my rock do?
Judge Claire: I'll call it 1d3, same as an unarmed strike. 
Elle: That's an ungodly 9 points with a rock. Maximum on both dice plus my strength and lucky Hawkeye sign.
Judge Claire: Nice. It's still up.
Elle: Second roll is 19 minus 2 for range is 17. Is that a hit?
Sasha: Wow, Mendi's cooking!
Judge Claire: It's a hit, and with your damage bonuses, it will definitely be enough to kill it.
Elle: I'll gather some extra rocks, since I seem to be more effective with those than with my club.
Judge Claire: 3 xp for everyone but the two dwarves who kept mining. 8 survivors, right? Put them in order and I'll roll to see which two of them can level up.
Heddy: Two? Very generous.
Judge Claire: Ready? I roll 6 and 7. If those are the same player, I'll reroll the 7.
Ariel: 7 is Ruri!
Akane: 6 is Pestra.
Ariel: I think Ruri's going for Thief! She's got good Luck and Agility both and a bonus on finding traps from her birth sign. Hit points, hit points, hit points ... rats, I only roll a 2, so now I have 8.
Akane: This Pestra ... so poor with everything! I think only a Warrior is good for her. Her added hit points are 5, making her also 8.
Judge Claire: All right, I think this is a good place to wrap, and everybody can think until next session about whether you want to climb back across to investigate the chest some more, or cut your losses.
Ariel: Short still had 23 coppers on him we might get back!
Heddy: 4 well made pairs of gloves on Ham's body and 40 copper pieces. Definitely worth risking another centipede monster or zombie attack.
Sasha: Hey, that's all on you guys. Kindly and I are still going for those giant demon-statue gem eyes.
Judge Claire: Next time, then!

18 thanksgivings!

i haven't blogged for all of them, but this is my 18th thanksgiving since finding and intertwining my life with my soulmate.

wow.

i hope all of you out there have something equally thankful for, or will happen across it very, very soon!

happy thanksgiving, everyone!

xoxo,
claire

the party splits!

last session ended a little early because the gang decided to level up a character each to explore a scary area that may not be a good idea, but they're going for it anyway. their shaved down army of commoners will continue pressing ahead as they were.

Judge Claire: Okay, so what have we got with the leveling up?
Heddy: I leveled up Glynette because Ham kind of stinks. She leveled up as a halfling, because she's a halfling, and I guess that's the only choice halflings get in this game? Anyway, now she has 10 hit points and can fight two handed if she has two equal sized weapons ... which she doesn't. So if I could trade this staff in for a couple of somebody's hand axes or daggers, that would be great.
Hettie: Antwerp leveled up as a Thief, going all the way up to 7 hit points. Not too resilient, but as far as I can see, she's got pretty good Thief stats.
Elle: Imlero, Warrior, a nice 14 hit points. Heddy, if worse comes to worst, don't we have a crap-ton of clubs at this point as people inherited better weapons from our casualties? Just a thought if you can't scrounge those hand axes or daggers from anyone.
Ariel: I leveled up Granny. Now she has 8 hit points! Her lucky weapon is her spear.
Sasha: Everybody already knows Connie.
Akane: Nanda is now Magic Nanda the Magnificent! Or the Misfortuned, since her Luck remains terrible. She does have 9 for hit points, and gained spells, but some of questionable usage. Her hands can flame and she can read languages and magic now, though. Heddy, you can have her hand axe if she can have a staff.
Heddy: Deal.
Akane: Oh! Her magic reading causes entrancement. So if she says, "I'm going to read!" look away from her.
MSG: That could be handy for cutting down our number of active opponents in a big fight. Nice. Chopper became a Cleric, so he can now heal and cast some handy spells, particularly Detect Magic and Detect Evil.
Judge Claire: That Detect Evil is a badass spell. My very first character had it, and it rocks.
MSG: Yeah, if you roll halfway decent, it's pretty OP.
Judge Claire: So. What's up first? The Door of Death or onward for the level 0's?
Heddy: I'm still hoping for a second handaxe or a dagger.
MSG: I have a handaxe if someone has a dagger they could loan me.
Hettie: I have a dagger.
MSG: Thanks. Oh, and before we go anywhere, I should try healing anybody who needs it.
Sasha: Connie raises her hand.
MSG: Fail. Crud. Each time I fail, it raises my Deity Disapproval too. When it goes too high, bad stuff starts happening to me because my Deity is pissed. I'll try again. Ugh. Another fail. One more time and I'm concluding it's a bad omen and I'll give up. Whew. That's a 16 total. You can roll one of your hit dice.
Sasha: 8. I'm probably good now, since I'm guessing you're all, "Don't want to push my luck with my god."
MSG: Yeah, I'm not risking more disapproval if you're just a point or two away from max.
Heddy: If that part's done, I'll say my vote is for challenging the Doorway of Death with our newly improved characters. I'm interested to find out what's through there and see what it's like not expecting someone to die in every room we go into.
Ariel: That sounds good to me too!
Judge Claire: Then if we're sticking with the first levelers, how are you getting back to the door?
Hettie: Given that it's just around a few corners ahead, I'd like to take a shot at having Antwerp disarm that pressure plate we found earlier.
Elle: That would be a damn fine step up from sloshing our way back through the dark guano rooms.
Judge Claire: All right. As you said, it's literally just around the corner that you came upon the pressure plate, and since you know where it is, I'll give you a plus 4 on finding it.
Hettie: 21 total, then.
Judge Claire: Now for the tricky part. Roll your check for disabling it.
Heddy: I'm standing back around the corner for this part.
Ariel: Let's all do that, I think!
Akane: Nanda agrees.
Hettie: Oof. I roll a 2 with my bonus, that's a 7, which I assume misses.
Judge Claire: That it does. But it takes a natural 1 to trigger the trap by accident, so you're safe from that at least. The question is, do you want to spend some Luck to try to succeed?
Hettie: Do I get to know the DC first?
Judge Claire: What fun would that be? I will say that putting a highly intricate and diabolical trap in a standard run of hallway sounds a bit extreme, so it's probably within reach if you spend 2 or 3.
Hettie: Well, if MSG can burn his way through deity disapproval twice, I suppose I can spend a few Luck points now that I get them back every night. One of them, at least. All right, I'm spending 3 ... and my Luck die comes up 2, 3, and 2 for a total of 14 when I add in my original roll.
Judge Claire: You feel confident you succeeded in disarming it.
Heddy: I'm still going to try to jump across to the other side of the plate without stepping on it, when it's my turn.
Elle: Imlero just walks across.
Judge Claire: Nothing happens to him.
Sasha: Same for Connie.
Ariel: Granny is definitely not jumping around if no one is getting trap-whapped so far.
Heddy: Maybe it's overly cautious, but I still try the jump ... 17.
Judge Claire: Totally safe.
Heddy: And maybe a little red-faced.
Hettie: Antwerp will show confidence in her work and in the lack of any fireworks or sprays of poison or arrows. She walks across.
Akane: Nanda is clumsy and toeless, so leaping isn't suitable for her. She walks also.
MSG: Chopper too.
Judge Claire: You all make it safely to the far side and into the hallway where the plastered-over door is.
Sasha: Connie starts chipping at the plaster with her dagger right away.
Judge Claire: If others help, it's the work of a few minutes to chisel and shave away most of the concealment. When you do, you find an inscription etched into the door there, written in some archaic, unknown tongue.
Akane: Now is a time for wizarding, then! I have a spell of language comprehension. I cast it to see if I can read. No. A 6 means my spell is lost for this day.
Judge Claire: Well, your spell didn't succeed, but as a wizard, you do sense magical power emanating from beyond the door.
Hettie: Should I search it for traps? Sorry, a ridiculous question. Of course I should. My roll is well over 20 this time.
Ariel: You're rocking this thievery stuff, Het!
Judge Claire: No sign of any traps.
Elle: Imlero tells everyone to get ready, and then opens the door. What do we see?
MSG: Actually, hang on. Does this group of characters actually have one of the lanterns? Or any rope in case we need some?
Judge Claire: I was wondering if anyone would ask that.
Heddy: Not me.
Hettie: No.
Elle: Wow, we would have been fucked if we hadn't thought of that.
Ariel: Well obviously we did think of it because how else did we see once we got around the corner from our other guys? The only one who can see in the dark is Heddy's halfling, right?
Akane: It's true about lanterns, but still lucky to remember about rope.
Sasha: Stubbly's got a lantern to spare. Sniff. And a hundred feet of rope.
Elle: Imlero's pretty strong, so she'd volunteer to carry it, except that if there's a pit trap and she's first, she'll fall to her death and leave you with no rope to use to climb down to her.
Ariel: Granny can carry it!
MSG: Okay then, back to the door.
Judge Claire: Well, then. Once you're back to the Door of Death, what you see is a short stretch of hallway that becomes obscured by impenetrable darkness beyond 5'. Your lantern doesn't penetrate it, nor does Glynette's infravision.
Sasha: Spooky!
Elle: Anyone have a spear or something to poke ahead with?
Hettie: You can borrow one of my crutches, since I'm not using them for begging purposes anymore.
Elle: Thanks. Elle, Imlero will lean forward enough to tap the crutch against the floor in the dark area.
Judge Claire: As you lean in, you find that the darkness is not static. It prevents you from seeing more than 5' ahead of you, but that 5' seems to move forward with you.
Heddy: Even spookier, but I'll take it over not being able to see at all.
Elle: Imlero will move in, then.
Judge Claire: Everyone going to follow?
MSG: I do, but with an occasional backwards glance toward the door behind us. 
Judge Claire: After the occasion of you moving more than 5' from it, you can no longer see the door.
MSG: Well, I don't want to get left behind or increase the amount I'm creeped out by, so I'll just follow everyone else from then on.
Judge Claire: After about 30', the hallway opens up into a dismal eerily lit chamber where the walls are draped floor to ceiling in black curtains. Eight black marble benches are set in two rows from east to west. The light comes from four incense burners, one in each corner. They give off a thin green light and trails of sweet smelling vapor. Kneeling throughout the room are a number of black-robed figures.
MSG: This place weirds me out. I'm going to cast Detect Evil. 17. Unholy creatures are immediately detected, along with anything inherently dangerous. I'm Neutral, if you need that to check what's unholy to my deity.
Judge Claire: Got it. All right, you sense that the burners and smoke are inherently dangerous. There's also some inherently dangerous object in the southeast corner. Most of the figures give no impression at all, but one of them, toward that same corner, is definitely unholy.
MSG: I tell everyone the smoke may be poisonous, then I'll hold my breath and try to Turn Unholy. 15 total.
Judge Claire: It isn't turned, but it does rise and leap toward the group. Roll initiative.
Heddy: 17.
Hettie: 17 as well.
Elle: Mine has a 7 in it, but it's not 17.
Ariel: Mine is just 5.
Sasha: 9 for me.
Akane: A 16 for Nanda!
MSG: Miserable. 1.
Heddy: Not sure I like going first in this instance ... can I tell what the thing is?
Judge Claire: A malevolent figure in black robes. Bony claws jut from its sleeves That's about all.
Heddy: My movement is only 20, so I can't get all the way up to it anyway. I'll just position myself closer, near the north wall. How do I go about holding my breath in this game, to avoid breathing in the dangerous incense smoke?
Judge Claire: Holding your breath for 30 seconds or so is an easy task for any normal person, so I'd give it a DC5. You don't normally roll for DC5 tasks, but this one has a consequence for failure, so you can make a Fortitude save to hold your breath for 3 rounds. After that, or if you fail, you'll roll every round with the DC going up one per round.
Heddy: I almost said, "That seems easy enough." But I rolled a 4. Thankfully I've got good stamina and a save bonus for my level.
Hettie: If I'm up, I'll move in and fire my sling at it. 16, which hopefully hits, for 3 points.
Akane: Nanda bravely advances to a range for Flaming Hands! The roll is 19, becoming 22 after plussing! It's sad there is only 1 creature, or this result would allow me to flame several. Oh. But damage is only 1 points.
MSG: I am not at all sad that there is only 1 creature.
Judge Claire: Sash, it's your turn.
Sasha: Charge! I'm going to hack one of its arms off with a Mighty Deed! HACK! Nope, 2 on the Deed Die. But it's a hit, and for 6 points of damage.
Judge Claire: It's the creature's turn. It strikes at the obvious target, rolling only a 6 to hit. Elle?
Elle: Let's see if I can eff this guy up with my axe. If my Mighty Deed works, I'm knocking him back into that censer in the corner to see if it will fire him up. 18 to hit but no Deed. 12 points of damage for me.
Judge Claire: That is enough to kill it.
Elle: Oh, and I hold my breath. 7.
Sasha: Me too! And 7 too.
Akane: 14 for Nanda.
Hettie: Antwerp barely makes it with a 5.
Ariel: Granny rolls 6!
MSG: Waste of a crit for Chopper.
Judge Claire: Okay. You've got 2 rounds before you have to save again, then. What's everyone do?
Ariel: I didn't go yet though! Don't I get to do something?
Judge Claire: Sorry, you and MSG both.
Ariel: I'ma poke one of these kneeling dudes with my spear.
Judge Claire: It crumbles to dust at the merest touch, leaving nothing but cloth shreds, a few bones ... and a silver skull pendant with turquoise eyes, on a silver chain. It looks valuable.
Ariel: Ooh! I'll take that on my second turn.
MSG: My Detect Evil is still on ... I'll move to the door and see if I sense anything dangerous on it or emanations of evil intent from beyond.
Judge Claire: None within your 60' range.
Sasha: I'm just tearing down these black curtains to see what's behind them.
Elle: Imlero will help with that.
Judge Claire: You can each tear down one wall's worth of drapery in the first round.
Heddy: Glynette will push the drapes aside in the northwest corner and search along the walls toward the entrance we came in.
Hettie: Antwerp will do the same with the southwest corner.
Akane: Nanda will check the body of the robed attacker.
MSG: I'll try to open the north door on my second turn.
Judge Claire: Okay. Connie and Imlero reveal plastered walls behind the east and south drapes. They're painted with frescoes depicting a dark-robed, faceless being in scenes of conquest and subjugation over a variety of creatures and religions. There's a short phrase repeated over and over above and below the frescoes. Glynette and Antwerp can roll search checks. Nanda finds a double-headed skeleton key on the robed figure. It is large and heavy and has a skull on each end, but is still obviously a key. MSG, the north door is stone, bound with iron, and locked.
Heddy: 6 for my search.
Hettie: 19 for mine.
Judge Claire: Neither of you finds anything.
Heddy: I'll go a short way down the hall and see if I can breathe without getting a whiff of that incense.
Hettie: Great minds think alike. That was my plan as well.
Judge Claire: The air seems ancient and stale, but free of the smoke.
Elle: North wall curtains, I guess.
Ariel: Granny pokes another kneeling robed figure if one's close enough to poke once I pick up the silver pendant.
Sasha: East wall curtains for Connie.
Akane: Nanda moves back to the entrance hallway also.
MSG: Chopper too.
Judge Claire: The teardown of the curtains reveals more frescoes. Poking the next figure causes the same thing to happen to it; Granny finds another pendant.
Ariel: Yay!
Judge Claire: New round. Everyone make your next save. The three warriors are aiming for DC 6 this time.
Heddy: Safe.
Hettie: Oof. I fail.
Judge Claire: You cough or hiccup as you're returning to the room, and inhale a full breath of the stuff. It makes you feel slightly woozy, but no ill effects yet.
Hettie: I'll retreat back up the hallway.
Elle: Fail for Imlero also. Seriously? We can't hold our breaths for 40 seconds in a life-or-death situation? If I don't keel over, I follow Antwerp into the hallway. 
Ariel: Granny blows it too! She starts wheezing like she's really old, but that's probably because she is. She'll leave the room too.
Sasha: Connie needed a 6 and gets a 5, so I guess she's out too.
Akane: Nanda succeeds. This means a new 3 rounds of breath-holding?
Judge Claire: Right.
Akane: I will try my strange key in the lock of the north door.
MSG: Chopper sucks as bad at holding his breath as everybody else, so he stays in the hallway.
Heddy: Glynette pokes one of the remaining figures with her handaxe.
Ariel: Hey, that's my thing!
Heddy: Sorry, Granny.
Judge Claire: Poof, dust, and you see a silver skull pendant in the heap of ragged scraps and bone. Akane, the door's lock clicks at the turn of your key. New saves for everyone but Nanda and Glynette. Wow, you guys rolled bad.
Hettie: At least it wasn't in combat. I save easily this time. 
Elle: Same.
Ariel: Me too. OMG, that was a 19, which reminds me that Granny crits on a 19 or 20! Now it's even easier for me to crit ... or to waste a crit, I guess.
Sasha: Connie's still gasping over here in the hallway.
MSG: Chopper's good for another three rounds now.
Heddy: I poke the next figure. How many are left?
Judge Claire: Poof, dust, pendant. That was the last one. 
Hettie: I'll go search the southeast corner. Since there's more plaster in this room and we found the place behind a plastered-over door, I'm particularly looking for any sign of that sort of thing. My search is a 19.
Elle: I'll search the northeast corner. 4.
Ariel: I look for more figures to poof and call Glynette a whippersnapper when I see she did the last ones already.
MSG: I'll go over by Nanda and ask if we can open the door now, I guess.
Akane: Nanda says, "Yes, please do, if you wish."
MSG: I will if I have any of my turn left.
Judge Claire: The door opens to reveal a corridor leading off beyond the reach of your light or that from the incense burners. Hettie -- you find another plastered-over door! Elle, sorry, nothing for you. Next round. This is round 3 of your fresh breath for Nanda and Glynette, round 2 for everyone else but Sasha, and time for a new roll for Sash.
Heddy: I scurry back to the hallway with the fresh air.
Hettie: I let everyone know I've found a secret door over here.
Elle: I'll search any area that hasn't been searched yet. Big failure with a 1, though.
Ariel: I guess I'll go see what's going on at the open door to the north.
Sasha: Connie saves this time. "Did I hear someone say another secret door? Let me at it!" I head that direction.
Akane: I wait for Chopper to inform me of inherent dangers with his Evil Detecting.
MSG: I'll let her know what I sense down the hallway now that the door's open, and I'll also call out to everyone else, "Hey, remember that there's something dangerous in that corner!"
Judge Claire: You sense something else inherently dangerous 50' down the hallway, beyond the limit of your light. 
Akane: With this information, I step into the new hall for breathing.
Judge Claire: All right, if you are all going to keep taking breathers from the incense smoke every few rounds, we can stop rolling for that.
Hettie: Since I just searched the corner to find the door, I guess I'll look carefully at the floor and ceiling there to see if I can spot any sign of a trap. 5 plus 3 is 8.
Judge Claire: Because you know something is there, I'm giving you plus 2, which means you just barely spot a spear trap in the ceiling. No sign of what triggers it, though.
Heddy: Maybe something behind the plaster?
Hettie: I'll drag a bench over and see if I can disable the spear somehow. That's only a 7, though. I don't want to spend another extravagant amount of Luck improving that, so we'll have to figure something else out.
Elle: We could build an arch out of benches to hide under when we spring the trap.
Ariel: Ooh! Smart! Granny would never of thought of that.
Elle: Damn. Imlero probably wouldn't either. Sorry to speak out of turn.
Ariel: I'm sure somebody else would have thought of it.
Sasha: We've got some smart noggins around here, characters and us too.
Akane: Possibly by exploring northernly, we will find other things for building protection against ceiling spears.
MSG: Everybody okay focusing our attention that direction, then?
Heddy: Sure.
Hettie: Certainly.
Elle: Let's go.
Sasha: Actually, Connie's going to stay and chip away at the plaster on the door. You guys knock yourselves out.
Akane: Do not forget breathing breaks, Connie!
Judge Claire: Oh, I almost forgot experience for that wight fight. Did you guys expend any resources or get injured?
MSG: Did you actually almost forget, or are you just rubbing our nose in it? Nobody used any resources up or got hurt that I recall.
Judge Claire: It was a serious question. Anyone have a different answer? Maybe one that doesn't badmouth the Judge's sincerity?
Heddy: It wasn't damage per se, but didn't we come very close to getting poisoned by that smoke by failing Fortitude save?
Judge Claire: Bingo! That's what I was looking for so I could justify handing out an experience point each for dealing with that.
Ariel: Yes! Way to go, Heddy!
MSG: Sorry for snarking. I feel pretty dumb now.
Elle: Let's not diss on snarking. I'm pretty g.d. fond of it myself.
Ariel: The yamily that snarks together ... uh ... sparks together! Or something.
Judge Claire: Anyway, record your 1 xp and we'll switch back to the 0-level brigade.