Sunday, May 15, 2016

DCCRPG - The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk - Part One


Great SCOT Returns!



The SCOT stands for "Sunken City Omnibus Tour," and what makes this series of events "Great" is that we plan on running through all four of +Jon Marr's amazing adventures one by one:

 The Sunken City Omnibus comes with four adventures:

Back in March we finished "Perils of the Sunken City", as The Free Company fled Madazkan's Dungeon with a hefty stash of loot and a surly, lying skull named Cedric.  It took our group two sessions to finish "Perils of the Sunken City":

We had a little player turnover this game, so I'm sharing rules for this attempt at a long term, but open door campaign:

  • Schedule five players for each event
  • Hold a sixth seat free for last minute additions
  • Players who complete an adventure have "dibs" on joining the next adventure
  • Players can bow out, and rejoin later with living or new characters so long as there is a open spot at the virtual table
Michael (Ramson the Dwarven Priest) had to bow out last night, so we were thrilled to have +Jarrett Crader join our merry band.

As always, Die Rodney!

The Free Company Roster



The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part One


The Free Company used the Sending Stones to travel to Slither's Edge, a strange little village located in a dark corner of the swamps.  The people of the village are mostly human, highly eccentric, worship an evil snake god known as Salissak, but are otherwise quite welcoming to the adventurers and take them on a tour.

After the tour, The Free Company takes part in a festival known as "All Fang's Friday."  The party takes part in a muck mellon eating contest and a foot race.  At the end of the footrace (in which Nicodemus wins), a local farmer named Grik comes to the festival covered in muck and blood.  He proclaims that Mist Demons have come to his pig farm, and are carrying away his prize hogs.  

The Free Company is contracted by Mayor Beechem to defend Grik's farm.  The Mist Demons appear to be dark and shadowy figures wearing strange technology that puffs out red and black smoke.  The demons are startled by The Free Company's arrival, and a battle ensues.  The Free Company wins, but the remaining Mist Demons drag their dead away under cover of mist before any prisoners can be taken.  Grik, a witch doctor and shaman of Salissak, offers up free snake cocktails to the victors.  

Once back at Slither's End the mayor hires the party to investigate a series of kidnappings affecting the town's children.  The Free Company takes on the job, and settles into the local inn for a few days rest to heal up.  Ssof Rethaf converts Grik to the worship of Aristemis to remove some of his disapproval, but fails to win over anyone else from the town.    

    Adventure Highlights


    • Nicodemus, the Thief with a 4 Intelligence, spent a lot of time speaking for Cedric the Skull. Carefully placing the skull on his shoulder, Nic kept mentioning things that Cedric was saying, even though the skull was silent.  Overjoyed by his new friend's interest, Cedric decided to make Nicodemus' shoulder his new home, growing spiny roots that drilled into the Thief's flesh.  As the Spice Girls say, "... tonight is the night when two become one."
    • During the brief tour of the village, The Free Company discovers an ominous cage on a boom in the center of the village, just above a blood filled pool.  The village welcoming committee states emphatically that the cage is just a speaker's lectern, and the water is rusty.  Apparently everyone in the village was in on the sham, because they all called the obvious "dunk tank cage" a "lectern."  
    • While talking with some of the common townsfolk, Jiminy Chrismas is mistaken as a child by a human child.  The kid says something pretty creepy, that only Jiminy hears:  "Thirty eyes for every day, thirty souls shall come his way.  Wrapping, wrapping, one by one.  Every year the feast will come."  In general, the children of this town are fairly joyless.
    • Hooray for demi-humans!  Bellows and Jiminy Chrismas were glorious gladiators during the battle with the Mist Demons.  Two attacks per round, even with a lower die-type, turned the tide of the battle very quickly.  In hindsight, since this was originally an adventure for 0-level character, I should've up'd the hitpoints on these baddies, but oh well!
    • During his attempt to convert the pig farmer Grik to Aristemis'ism, Ssof Rehtaf agreed to drink some of the snake tea.  His goddess was okay with the consumption, but the Cleric started growing scales on the back of his hand.  
    • Watson the Wizard meets a fellow magic-user, Vokas the Fire Mage.  The enigmatic spellcaster also went by "Vokas the Man Ape", and constantly apologized for his terrible bestial appearance, even though he just looked like some dude in a loincloth.  Clearly no Man Ape.  Vokas offered to sell Watson a "Potion of the Claw Hand," but Watson turned him down... poor choice.
    • New Magic Item - Potion of the Claw Hand
      • Turns the user's left hand into a claw, just like Wolverine, but bone not Adamantium.  So more X-Men Origins: Wolverine, not any of the good movies.
      • If not wielding a shield, the user gets an additional attack with a d16 Action Die for 10 minutes.
      • The claw does 2d5 damage.
      • The attack can be modified by Strength or Agility for attack and damage rolls.  Deed Die take effect for Warriors and Dwarves.    
    • Ssof Rehtaf may have made an enemy of the Little Sisters of Salissak at the end of the game, when he was going around town trying to convert other followers to Aristemis.  Even though the cleric had already taken care of his disapproval, Ssof wanted to help the town out by switching to a lawful deity.  The people of Slithers End weren't budging, and took note of Ssof's activities.    

    Quotes?


    "All butcher's have grappling hooks." - Andy comments on his character's starting occupation gear.

    "Who's this 'Salty Stack' guy?" - Nicodemus was taking an interest in the village's patron deity Salissak.

    "Does anyone else think this town is a sham, but not a Sham Wow?"  Bellows spent a lot of time watching late night infomercials in Mustertown.

    "Go get 'em, champ!" - Jiminy Chrismas' Halfling words of Luck to help get Ssof back in the action.

    "I used to be an adventurer, then I took a blow dart to the knee." - Marc, after his character Bellows took a critical hit to the knee.  I wonder how often this comment is used in other games, given the prevalence of this critical on the chart?

    "Well, you weren't a lot of help killing the bad guys, but you helped my friend out here, so... thank's for that."  - Ssof's prayer to the goddess Aristemis.  

    "I knee'd some justice!"  - Bellows' war cry.


    In Memoriam 

    • N/A - No kills!?!  What the heck!

    No comments:

    Post a Comment