Session 74: We’re All the Same on the Inside

 Session 74: We’re All the Same on the Inside

6/9/24-6/15/24, rest 6/16, active 6/17

PC: Valda, Zektel, Cracaryn, Baku

Hench: Arif, Nicky, Bazam

#ACKS

Coming off of the destruction of Korne’s Korrupted Akquila, Team B was ready for adventure. An assassin joined the party, Baku, who was twitchy and weird and immediately got some money from Zektel which he spent to buy a horse and poison.

The group made an appointment to meet with Issac, who wasn’t in town but would be in a few days, so they did some shopping and killed some time. Baku found one of the group’s wanted posters and had them autograph it but fortunately none of the guards recognized them. Zektel bought some snakes from Benny from The Mummy while Baku thoroughly terrified the poor guy.

Baku had heard of the sphinx Meowster Mittens the Magnificent near Riverstride and thought it would be swell to get a reward from Issac for killing or driving him off. When the party learned there were at least 3 of them known to lair there, they scrapped that plan as too dangerous. They did secure a mission to scout the Butzkrag and that became the session.

The group traveled first to Tamaris, a new settlement being established by Redcorn, where Zektel set up his Doctors without Orders tent to tend to the many workmen’s various foot ailments whether they had them or not. Cracaryn followed through with his intent to convert to Law and swear oaths to Ehlonna from last session. Valda vibed with the mercs guarding the location and Baku tried to get in a position to run a con on some of the workmens’ bosses, but they found him frightening and weird.

En route to the Butzkrag, the party came across a large trapdoor spider lair that they miraculously discovered before getting into combat range. Zektel summoned a bear, made it immune to piercing damage with a spell, and that was a pretty short fight. Baku crawled in the hole and came out with a fancy ramen bowl and chopsticks that might be worth something.

Valda stepped on an old trap laid by Volrag’s beastmen while patrolling during camp. Fortunately she didn’t set it off. A lot of conversation was had about how to disarm or disable the apparent pressure plate that was going to trigger some projectiles from a bunker nearby. Baku wanted to shield her with the horses but Zektel refused to risk their transportation, so instead the assassin planted a gem recovered from the spider lair in Cracaryn’s saddlebags during the distraction. Eventually the shaman cast a protection spell on Valda and the thief Arif went to work trying to disarm it.

Arif was humming a tune while he worked, which apparently was a grave mistake as he fumbled his roll and set off the trap. Valda was unharmed due to the spell but Arif was shot down by several ballista bolts. He recovered but was walking wounded the remainder of the session. Also our first genital casualty of the campaign. Poor eunuch.

The Butzkrag was an Aztec-style pyramid with some standing stones around the base and some buildings that had been used by first the occupying forces of Volrag the Fire Giant and then the troops and construction workers under Sebastian of Heironeous. It was abandoned now and the party made their entrance through the irregular staircase at the top.

It had been a long time since the players had been here and they were on different PCs at the time, so they were working on fuzzy memory (no maps) to get things done. Decent recollection of level 1 got them through that quickly but level 2 confused them. With little intel to go on, they wandered in a big loop and eventually stumbled on an Owlbeast lair. They killed the creature and animated it as a zombie with a first level mage spell (tf?) so had big beef in the front rank the remainder of the delve.

The zombie made them reckless, using it to bash down doors in their way rather than check for traps or attempt to open them like people. Attercops in a room full of webs ambushed the group, but it wasn’t much of a fight and after collecting a modest bit of loot they carried on.

Growing frustrated with the haphazard nature of the dungeon, the mapper repeatedly gave up and quit only to return 4 seconds later to call movement to a new room. They finally stumbled on stairs to the next level after a hunch call nearly giving up for good due to the approaching time limit on the session.

This next level was clearly different and jarred some memories from the players. They located an old lab and library that they remembered from their previous delve. The lab was fine but too heavy to carry out. The library was trashed by some hooved menace. Cracaryn was unable to track the creature very far.

After locating the target of their mission, the old sinkhole of evil location where a vampire was destroyed, the group decided that was good enough and left. They rested in the stairwell before continuing but heard hoofbeats approaching from the rear. Out of marching order there was some tension as the door opened behind them to reveal a minotaur. The group offered to chat with him, but he laughed and said, “Nah bruh, we’re good” and closed the door. When the party rushed after in the hopes of a score of treasure, they found two of the creatures discussing the adventurers in the next room. The minotaurs were overheard to sigh and say, “Of course they chased us. Adventurers, man, they’re the worst.”

The fight was on but the zombie owlbeast took a ton of punishment and the minotaurs were killed pretty quickly. I love those creatures but every time I roll them up in a dungeon they get wrecked. RIP Sharkotaurs.

This time Cracaryn’s tracking led the group to the minotaur lair where they discovered a good haul of loot. This was definitely all they wanted so after some math regarding who could carry what they bounced, leaving a shitload of copper behind because it’s copper they aren’t meth heads (yet).

Back to town, collect the reward, and the rest of the session was splitting cash and such.

Musings:

Been a while since Issac was visited by adventurers, it was cool to get him back in the mix. 

The sphinxes have been a pain in the ass the entire campaign and I’m happy to see they’ll remain that way for now. 

Cracaryn’s conversion to Lawful puts a wet blanket on Team B’s original mission statement of being the morally questionable group. I wonder how they’ll adjust. 

I was as lost going back to that dungeon as the players were. The first time, I had clear notions of what and why and where. This time it was restocking, which wasn’t too bad honestly, and just trying to set the right tone. Don’t think I did very well there.

Session 73: Your Face or Your Morals?

 Session 73: Your Face or Your Morals?

6/2/24-6/7/24, rest 6/8, active 6/9

PC: Gwendolyn, Alex, Legany, Aldric, Argon

Hench: Amadayo, Mahin, Madrof, Steve, Godfrey, Arthur, Sally

#ACKS

Riding high off of their victories in the Trials of the Scourge, Team A was snowed under with job offers and potential quests. Many old hooks from patrons Redcorn and Bigtoe were hanging out there but the group wasn’t happy with the travel that those would require. They chose to run something nearby which meant working for the perfectly hospitable Lord Tyring.

Argon (new dwarf Earthforger) joined the group late due to traffic but jumped right in, partying hard with Aldric at The Bender Inn where the paladin and Legany were both local celebrities. Gwendolyn played some tunes but otherwise there were no urban encounters. This bit of time allowed Alex to arrive from Bellport so they could jump off towards a mission.

To the north of Arete was an unknown wood rumored to be “cursed.” Peasants wouldn’t go near it. Lord Tyring wanted it investigated and threw in a treasure map leading to a modest score to sweeten the deal (for a cut of course). 

Travel to the forest was pretty uneventful. Once they entered, the party observed that it was very old and undisturbed. Aldric detected no evil or chaotic forces near them. After a while, they found themselves in a heavily obscured area with unfamiliar vines draping down. The Naturalists in the party quickly kept anyone from touching anything and investigated, discovering a weird strand of belladonna. After some time spent harvesting the dangerous plant, they moved on.

Two dead hill giants blocked the party’s path just shy of the location on their treasure map. They’d yet to see anything indicating the forest was cursed, but this was certainly alarming. They could tell that there had been a battle but couldn’t place any details other than the giants had been poked all over. With nothing else to go on, they sent their assassin hench Mahin and Legany to sneak up and inspect the clearing ahead.

A long crevasse ran from west to east across a long meadow. As the scouts crept closer, they could tell it was lined with sharp crystalline stones of an unfamiliar brown nature and had a ramp at one end that led into the ground. The group formed up and descended into the earth.

Mahin was sent again to scout ahead, this time at a large cavern at the end of the entry corridor. His Sneaking ability saved him from being discovered by two stone giants covered in the same crystalline features as the walls. He crept back and reported that they seemed to be lounging or guarding the way.

Dwarves speak giant so Argon hollered out to talk to them. Initial reaction wasn’t bad so the giants demanded the spokesman show himself so that they could speak face to face. Argon (wisely?) chose not to approach alone so the whole party cautiously entered the room. Some negotiation was attempted to bribe their way past, but that was declined out of hand by the giants, the initial amounts being much too low for the powerful creatures.

The group then attempted to back out of the room, claiming that they had left their wallets with the horses. The giants didn’t care for that and attacked. The fight was a tough one but not out of the party’s power level by any means. Legany led the charge to meet the giants while Aldric flanked out to provide a target for the known stone-tossers. Argon used his ceremonial magic to create some obstacles to hinder the thrown rocks and after a few rounds, the party emerged victorious with no casualties except to their healing magics.

There was a deep pool in the room that the dwarf was able to guess had some further underwater tunnel. Mahin scouted it out and confirmed the theory but suspected it was too long to swim through unaided. The adventurers carried on deeper into the cavern seeking treasure and glory.

The passage narrowed with larger crystalline structures growing sharper before finally letting out into another very large chamber. The group crept along the side to inspect it, revealing a waterfall into a wide pool and a large statue in the center. A flexing man, 12’ tall and made of apparently solid bedrock, stood on a wide platform of unknown metal. The figure was covered in slimy, hanging algae that the Naturalists identified as unpleasant but not particularly dangerous.

Lots of inspection and lore checks went into the statue, revealing it to be exquisitely crafted, standing on some kind of pressure plate or other mechanism, and very heavy. The Earthforger created a crude duplicate of it nearby, trying to mimic its craftsmanship. Argon was an art aficionado and was opposed to any plan suggesting that they damage it. Which was the plan, after Aldric detected evil from it.

They wrapped rope around the figure and gathered around to stab it with as many magic weapons as they could. 1 2 3 and stab, which elicited a flash of light and a warning burst of electrical damage for some measly amount. Scratching their heads, they opted then to use rope and the duplicate statue as a pivot point to topple the thing to the ground.

This released the pressure plate and an exploding trap that did a whole bunch of damage to the first few ranks of the team. Gwendolyn the Goat had her face melted off and everyone else was super hurt, but the figure was released from some kind of stasis. He was a bit condescending to the party but acknowledged their help. He had a particularly canine cast to his face, wore some suit of plate armor, and was clearly technologically advanced. 

After tapping on some thing on his wrist that emitted ghostly figures that hovered in front of his face, he let the party know that he was soon to be magically whisked away. They quickly requested a reward, which he pondered and asked what their primitive culture might consider rewarding. Naturally precious metals and gems were blurted out. When he disappeared in a blink, in his place was a bunch of wire and spare bits of this and that of silver, platinum, and gold.

Beat to hell and with a bag in hand, the group left. They didn’t find the target of their treasure map but they had some treasure to ease their pain. They fell back to a fortunately hidden little cave that they suspected would allow them to rest without interruption. Unfortunately, it chose now to cave in on them as they were preparing to camp, dealing a ton of damage to Alex and Amadayo and trapping some of the members inside. Quick work with healing skills and magic saved lives and they camped there.

Travel back to Arete was easy going, where the melted-faced Gwendolyn sought repairs to her mortal wounds. The Patriarch Halifax of Hextor would happily correct this misfortune, if the bard would agree to join Tyring’s household on terms that had already been offered by the Patron. Gwendolyn agreed and Aldric of Ehlonna groaned. The face was fixed, healing was passed out, and the party split the loot. Argon tried to offer tribute directly to Tyring’s castellan but was rebuffed as a subhuman monster due to a horrible reaction check. He was escorted off the property and may or may not be under surveillance by the authorities.

Musings:

Overland travel in ACKS II is interesting. One observation that I have right now is that unusual terrain results may be too common. 40% of the encounter table in Unsettled lands is a terrain encounter, 30% monster, 30% no encounter at all. These are sometimes challenges in their own right, so they can develop into interesting play, but it can also be a bit of a drag to generate repeatedly assuming you don’t already have all POIs and terrain features generated for every hex your party is traveling through.

We’ve only been playing for a few months, so we’ll see how it continues to go.

Session 72: Items May Shift During Transport

 Session 72: Items May Shift During Transport

5/27/24-6/1/24, rest 6/2, active 6/3

PC: Valda, Zektel, Cracaryn

Hench: Arif

#ACKS

Team B chose to try to offload the Chaotic Aquila axe this session. Teutch was happy to be rid of it and used magic to help them place it in a lead-lined chest. Off they went to find a buyer.

Joshy the Merchant led a caravan of several wagons and entertained their attempts to sell him the item but didn’t have the funds to purchase such a rare artifact. He did agree to try to sell it on their behalf for a 10% finder’s fee. The groups parted on good terms.

A heavy-set peasant waved the party to his small cottage where they discovered a corpulent family observing their approach. They learned that the wife was inside the cottage suffering terribly from swollen ankles or something. Zektel of Doctors without Orders and known foot-fetishist immediately sprang to action, entering the dark cottage eager to put eyes on her feet. He moved to throw the curtains for some light.

Around the same time, Cracaryn had noticed the male child of the family staring him down, so the elf gave him the evil eye, certain that something wasn’t right here. The fat kid licked his lips in a troubling, inhuman way, about the same time that Zektel revealed the interior of the cottage to be an abattoir, with human limbs hung aging like sides of beef.

The creatures sprang on the party who discovered pretty quickly that their assailants could only be harmed by magical weapons. Two of the monsters turned into massive swollen boars while the other two attempted to hypnotize Valda and Cracaryn with crazy spinning eyeball magic.

Valda got enslaved by the magic and turned on the party, all of Zektel’s carefully curated snake collection was slain, and Cracaryn had his foot chewed off before the adventurers bested the nasty creatures. Valda had to resort to wielding the Aquila axe but was fortunately exhausted from the long and brutal combat. This prevented her unbridled rage from being turned on her allies.

The party collected some treasure from the cottage that burned during the battle, some of it lost in the flames, and continued on. Everyone was careful to agree with everything Valda said so as not to set her off as the magical axe that she wielded was quite powerful and filled her with bloodlust.

On arrival in Newbridge, the group immediately sought out the cathedral to Heironeous. The high priest Sebastian was not present, but fortunately they were seen by another leveled Crusader. After some quick negotiation the church agreed to restore Cracaryn’s injury. Cracaryn used the opportunity to privately request aid with the cursed axe, using heavy language to describe just how dangerous it was, after Valda declined to have “some funny-hat lookin’ in my brain.”

The priest agreed with the understanding that they would take possession of the item and see it destroyed. Late in the night, several crusaders of Heironeous ambushed Valda and removed the curse before she could react. Zektel sprang forward and was able to put the axe in their lead box, but he had no knowledge of the agreement with the church. Tensions were high as they talked it out, with Zektel begrudgingly relenting and allowing the priests to take possession of the item. They took it away to be stowed securely.

Musings:

I don’t think anyone really knew what was gonna happen that session. I anticipated some shopping, maybe some urban shenanigans or another tee-ball patron quest. The ambush on the road was a low percentage chance for a wild encounter that had maximum danger with every roll of the dice. It probably would have been a TPK had I properly adjudicated the rules on poison and damage immunity.

Several of Zektel’s trained snakes had save or die poison bites but were too low HD to damage the enemy. The creatures were immune to mundane damage, but not to poison. Reviewing the rules at the time, I couldn’t figure a reason for the poison not to work so the group got an instant kill on a tough enemy at a critical point in the fight. Unfortunately, the bite should not have been able to inject the poison since the bite itself could not inflict damage. It’s obvious in hindsight and won’t happen again.