Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Thirteen

Under a Weirdling Sun

Peril on the Purple Planet is an epic DCCRPG box set devised by +Harley Stroh. The adventure is a hex crawl, so player characters get to explore a completely open and lush world. Characters must discover artifacts, make alliances, battle terrifying worms, and sustain the deadly sun's rays if they are to ever make their way back home.

Care to hear about this week's banishment? Read on!

Previous Tales of the Banished

• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part One
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Two
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Three
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Four
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Five
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Six
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Seven
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Eight
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Nine
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Ten
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Eleven
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Twelve

The Banished

• Marc
• Floyd Pink, Warrior
• Andy
• Ssof Rehtaf, Cleric
• Craig
• Watson, Wizard
• Jonata
• Screaming Otto, Warrior
• Alex
• Nicodemus, Thief 

Banished to the Purple Planet - Thirteen

Day 45 

• Battle with the Great Worm Mother!
• Nicodemus and Otto go into melee while Floyd Pink fires off his silver ray rifle, causing some serious initial damage. 
• Watson spends a greenstone and spellburns for an epic casting of Magic Missile, summoning all the eagles. 10 bursts of eagles go on the attack, pulling apart segments of the Great Worm Mother. 
• Ssof Rehtaf goes into melee as well with a greenstone shard imbued magic skull mace. 
• Screaming Otto and 26 Kith caught in a roll. Dead...
• The Kith horde continues to attack, even against impossible odds.c
• Watson calls upon more eagles appear, turning themselves into more lawn darts, striking the Great Mother with great pain. 
• Ssof attempts to paralyze the Great Orm Mother... and succeeds! An amazing prayer to Aristemis summons all the deities might, causing the Orm to fall into slumber. 
• The party beats against the side of the creature causing little damage, while investigating the greenstone attached to the beast's head. 
• Watson levitates up to the stone and attempts to cut it away. He removes it partly, but also takes magic damage from the stone. 
• After Watson hacks the stone away, Ssof takes it upon himself to pound the gem hole with his skull hammer. He pounds so hard, that he kills the Great Orm Mother. 
• Proud of their achievements, the party starts carving into the Great Orm Mother, unleashing 11 Death Orms on the party. 
• Nicodemus runs as fast as he can, screaming like a little girl. The rest of the party follows as Floyd sounds the retreat. 74 more Kith die. 
• Floyd's Lieutenant Bakkrrang is told to take the remaining Kith back to the Castellum 
• The party takes the Skiff back to the Ziggurat to return home. 

Day 46

• The party returns to the Ziggurat to return home. 
• Floyd flips off the Purple Planet while Nicodemus moons the wastes. With that, the party returns to the Great City. 

Conclusion

• While Nicodemus makes up crap, the rest of the party tells their tale of the Purple Planet. 
• Offer of letting the PC's travel off on their own, or possibly go into the heavens with the power of his Greenstone shards. 
• Pods are brought out for the PC's so that they can travel into the heavens. 
• Party is loaded into the pods and prepared to travel into the stars

Party Updates

• A Kith is added as Jonata's next character
• Cedric added to the party as a Sentinel 
• Next adventure: "Finding the Pods" on the GSS Razoul

Quotes

"Pardon me while I whip this out!" - Nicodemus pulls out the Rod of Chains.

"Love you!" - Nicodemus to Screaming Otto, as the Warrior dies. 

"It's OUR warband, jackasses!" - Floyd Pink to the retreating party members. 

"We're just that good!" - Watson shows the Greenstone to the God Emperor Razoul. 

"Pretty much all of that was made up." - Floyd Pink comments on Nicodemus' tale. 

In Memoriam 

• Screaming Otto, crushed by the Great Orm Mother

Legends of the Great SCOT 

The Free Company successfully completed the Great Sunken City Omnibus Tour. Care to find out about their previous quests? Follow the links below to greatness...

• Perils of the Sunken City, Part One
• Perils of the Sunken City, Part Two
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part One
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Two
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Three
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Four
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Five
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Six
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Seven
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part One
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part Two
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part Three
• Return to Slither's End
• Lair of the Mist Men, Part One
• Lair of the Mist Men, Part Two

As always, Die Rodney!

Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Twelve

Under a Weirdling Sun

Peril on the Purple Planet is an epic DCCRPG box set devised by +Harley Stroh. The adventure is a hex crawl, so player characters get to explore a completely open and lush world. Characters must discover artifacts, make alliances, battle terrifying worms, and sustain the deadly sun's rays if they are to ever make their way back home.

Care to hear about this week's banishment? Read on!

Previous Tales of the Banished

• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part One
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Two
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Three
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Four
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Five
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Six
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Seven
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Eight
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Nine
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Ten
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Eleven

The Banished

• Marc
• Floyd Pink, Warrior
• Andy
• Ssof Rehtaf, Cleric
• Craig
• Watson, Wizard
• Frank
• Walter, Elf

Banished to the Purple Planet - Twelve

Day 12

• The adventuring party spends the day exploring Castellum Cotcyst.
• So that they can rest later, Walter the Elf calls dibs on an extra tent.
• Floyd Pink finally figures out how to speak Kith. 
• Floyd Pink takes an interest in the big, stone building to the south. He makes friends with the guard outside and learns the following:
• The building is called "The Strong House," a cache of special weapons and gear for outgoing Warbands.
• The local Kith refer to the PC's as "Oofler," which essentially means "Non-Kith Members of a Kith community."
• Without belonging to a sanctioned warband, the PC's can't access the Strong House.
• There are no whole Greenstones in the Strong House, but there is one located in the Castellum's Tower. 
• The party goes to the Tower and tries to speak with one of the Masters. They are turned away, and told that they can't gain an audience without having something to trade. Something of worth or value. 
• Floyd brought the party back to the Wingleader's tent. The Wingleader reveals a bit more information about the Kith, the Purple Planet, and the Greenstones:
• There are 3 known intact Greenstones on the Purple Planet. The one located in Castellum Cotcyst, one located within the Ziggurat of House Reagan'tor, and one held by the Great Worth Mother Vatya-Ibdid. 
• The Wingleader tells the party that they can't gain access to the Masters unless they gain more glory. 
• The idea pops up about running their own Warband. 
• The Wingleader agrees to give the PC's one hundred Kith to form their own Warband. 
• Queue the Rocky training  montage.

Days 12-26

• The PC's train their warband, under Warlord Floyd Pink. Ssof, Watson, and Walter act as Champions. 

Days 27-46

• I broke out the Warlords of the Purple Planet playtest rules and ran the PC's through a single-player version for the remainder of the session.
• In the first few days raiding the western edges of the Purple Planet's plateau, Floyd's Warband successfully doubled their size. They raided several exile forts and unaligned Kith camps. After defeating each in combat, the warband added to their number. 
• Along the way the warband also picked up more greenstone shards, discovered some fun beast-mounts to make themselves faster, and even pressed more exiles into service.
• Eventually, after 19 days exploring the wastes, the Great Orm Mother Vatya-Ibdid attacked! It must've sensed all the greenstone shards on the party. But after three days of battle, the party's warband started winning!
• Vatya-Ibdid started to turn and flee her attackers, when the individual PC's decided to make a play for the greenstone within the creature's brow. 

Quotes

Didn't capture any this session! Sorry!

In Memoriam 

• None this session

Legends of the Great SCOT 

The Free Company successfully completed the Great Sunken City Omnibus Tour. Care to find out about their previous quests? Follow the links below to greatness...

• Perils of the Sunken City, Part One
• Perils of the Sunken City, Part Two
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part One
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Two
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Three
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Four
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Five
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Six
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Seven
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part One
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part Two
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part Three
• Return to Slither's End
• Lair of the Mist Men, Part One
• Lair of the Mist Men, Part Two

As always, Die Rodney!

Road Crew Event - Blood for the Serpent King - Part 1

Lars the Dwarf, drawn by his player Rob

I made two deals with myself prior to this event:

1. Finally start Moon-Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom after months of attempts.
2. No more blogging of post game recaps because they take too long.

Okay, I broke both of these deals. Instead of visiting the Cannibal Kingdom, I thought we'd give Blood for the Serpent King a go first. I'm working hard on finishing all the modules I've purchased, and I thought we could knock out the Serpent King in one session. I was wrong, although we should wrap it with the next session.

As to the post game recaps, this is the best way I have of keeping the game details organized. 

Prior Sessions

• Session 1: Beyond the Silver Scream
• Session 2: Sky ov Crimson Flame, Part 1
• Session 3: Sky ov Crimson Flame, Part 2
• Session 4: Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Part 1
• Session 5: Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Part 2
• Session 6: The [Redacted] at the [Redacted]

Adventure Overview

(Judge's Note: Only the most basic of details this time)

• The PC's follow the treasure map they discovered at the Inn of Five Points to the swamps south of Five Points. They find a submerged temple within the mire.
• Marco the Thief investigates the door to the ruin, aided by allowing Door (the spirit of doors living within his mind) and learns that a sacrifice is necessary to open the portal.
• A flock of flying serpents is disturbed, and starts attacking Marco. Not long after, eight serpentfolk hunters appear and attack. The party dispatches the flying lizards, kills half the serpentfolk hunters, and scares off the other half. 
• After using one of the serpentfolk corpses for a blood offering, the party opens the doorway into the ruins. Descending down a staircase Marco discovers a trap door. The party quickly gets to work barring the door to the outside, planting marbles all about, and setting an alarm rune just in case someone followed behind them. 
• The next chamber has an altar with a case on top. Tonya pushes off the lid to the case, and is immediately stabbed by two guard statues (nearly dying). Inside the case are a trio of orbs: white, black, and green, each with a chip removed.
• All about the chamber are murals and pictures. Behind the altar, serpentfolk writing adorns the walls. The party finds secret passages to the north and south. The one to the north holds all kinds of treasure. The one to the south reveals five skeletal serpentfolk on raised platforms, in addition to a dead dwarven explorer on the floor. The dead explorer is holding a case full of lenses that allow for different languages to be deciphered.
• The party finds a secret door behind the altar, following it to a room largely occupied by a great chasm. The gap to the other side of the room is over thirty feet wide. When the party steps towards the edge, they are carried to the other side. But they can't be carried back, so they fashion a rope bridge so that they can return when they want. 
• Moving into the next chamber, the party finds a white platform watched by a great serpent statue. The party discusses fleeing the dungeon with the treasure they've already found, when the alarm rune goes off.
• A team of serpentfolk led by a cobra headed shaman make their way into the temple. The party lays a trap, with two members (Tonya and Marco) waiting to ambush the serpentfolk. They are able to kill off the cobra shaman quickly, but the remaining serpent folk are more than a match, considering their healthy usage of fatal poison.
• After Larkin and Steve James find themselves poisoned by serpentfolk arrows, Marco locks out the asp headed humanoids while the party cooks up a plan. They resist the oncoming serpentfolk by barring the door just long enough to put marbles all over the floor by the ledge. When the serpentfolk are finally allowed to push through, they all slip on the marbles and fall down the well. 
• Turd heals his poisoned teammates. 

What's Next?

Gotta finish the Serpent King!

Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Eleven

Under a Weirdling Sun

Peril on the Purple Planet is an epic DCCRPG box set devised by +Harley Stroh. The adventure is a hex crawl, so player characters get to explore a completely open and lush world. Characters must discover artifacts, make alliances, battle terrifying worms, and sustain the deadly sun's rays if they are to ever make their way back home.

Care to hear about this week's banishment? Read on!

Previous Tales of the Banished

• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part One
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Two
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Three
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Four
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Five
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Six
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Seven
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Eight
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Nine
• Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Ten

The Banished

• Marc
• Floyd Pink, Warrior
• Andy
• Ssof Rehtaf, Cleric
• Jonata
• Screaming Otto, Jonata
• Frank
• Walter, Elf

Banished to the Purple Planet - Eleven

Day 10

• The party begins the evening at 10:30pm, with 3 1/2 hours of power left on the skiff. 
• 10:45pm, the party discovers Walter the elf, trying to hitch a ride.
• Walter the Elf, spent several days in the Mushroom forests after being cast out by the King of Elfland from his home world. 
• The party also met Walter's sexy cricket familiar. 
• 11pm, the party spots 13 Kith refugees slowly making their way across the desert.
• Party approaches, but communication is challenging.
• Ssof offers healing magic, imbued with Aristemis' glory. 
• The wounded Kith are healed! 
• Ssof is offered the opportunity to make a banner for the refugees, which he does with the symbol of Aristemis. 
• The 13 Kith of Aristemis point to the jungles to the East. 
• 11:15pm, the party continues south along the edge of the mushroom forest. They come to the scene of a great battle!
• 145 Kith on the side of House Cotcyst 
• 124 Kith Raiders
• Charge! The party dives down into battle on board their skiff. They head towards the Raiders' right flank, currently under the command of a Silver Armor Champion.
• Highlights were Screaming Otto using his Axe of Pure Scream to scare off the largest champion, and then Ssof took control of the second largest champion through a binding prayer. Also Walter's Enlarge spell manifests as the target becoming a baby and then growing back into a larger full form. Some great driving by Floyd as well, as he takes out four of the raiders by drifting into them. 
• In the end, House Cotcyst is victorious with 122 remaining warriors, while the Raiders run off with only 74 left in their numbers. 
• The Wingleader, Warlord of House Cotcyst calls upon the party. 
• 12am, camp with the Wingleader. 
• Speaks common! Learned from a small party of dwarves that he kept for a while as walking meat storage... he ate them eventually. 
• Offered spoils, including a great deal of Greenstone Shards. 
• Agree to take the party back to Castellum Cotcyst. 
• 12pm, the party arrives at Castellum Cotcyst. 
• The Wingleader tells the PC's that they must be branded with the symbol of House Cotcyst to enter. 
• The PC's take on the Brands of House Cotcyst, and enter Castellum Cotcyst as members of the Wingleader's Warband. 

Quotes

"The idea was fully Alex." - The party describes Gastronomix's death in the last session. 

"Considering he got eaten as his means of death, it's actually pretty fitting." - Marc continues beating up Gastronomix, this time over his name. And Alex wasn't even playing. 

"Only one screamer in the party!" - Screaming Otto doesn't want Walter or the Sexy Cricket on board the skiff if either is a screamer. 

In Memoriam 

• None this session

Legends of the Great SCOT 

The Free Company successfully completed the Great Sunken City Omnibus Tour. Care to find out about their previous quests? Follow the links below to greatness...

• Perils of the Sunken City, Part One
• Perils of the Sunken City, Part Two
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part One
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Two
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Three
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Four
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Five
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Six
• The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk, Part Seven
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part One
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part Two
• A Gathering of the Marked, Part Three
• Return to Slither's End
• Lair of the Mist Men, Part One
• Lair of the Mist Men, Part Two

As always, Die Rodney!

Road Crew Event - The [REDACTED] at [REDACTED]

I really can't share much about today's game at the Games Keep in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Not because I don't want to, but because we took part in a playtest of Brendan LaSalle's adventure The Inn at Five Points. Hell, I think that even sharing that much may be too much.

We'll see if I get struck down by the Dark Master. 

Anyway, here's what I can say. The adventure started off at Black Sand Port, with the party invited by Princess Kaeko of Fu Lamia to join on a quest for the Explorer's Guild. The team would need to travel to the Great City, however, which mean a week or so on the road headed west. 

That's where the adventure took place... on the road. 

I guess that's really all I can share, this being a super-secret playtest, and all. 

But there were a lot of quotes!

Quotes

"It's a good thing our second cleric isn't here." - Will, missing Bueno's healing abilities with a TPK nearly in process.

"I have no healing magic. I only have fish." - Will only speaks the truth.

Sound's fishy to me." - Now we've got Ryan joining in the fish talkin'. 

"You never know when you need a sack of dead minnows." - Steve James the Ichtyomancer (played by Will, obviously.) 

"I have a nine foot and eleven inch pole." - Because Steve James lost an inch.

Ryan: "TPK!"
Cody: "That should be the name of the adventure." 

I wonder if the Black Crows could help with this." - Rob meant his book of Black Crows, not the band.

Will: "Why walk when we can summon an eel escalator?"
Cody: "Because it's slower." 

Open Story Points

• Who was the mysterious thief that took Marco's cursed Necromancer's Dagger, and why did she want it?

Cast of Characters

• Larkin, Elf, played by Shannon
• Glassblower by trade, whose magic is derived through careful use of lenses, crystals, and light. 
• Native of the Eastern Forest.
• Owns a prized hen.
• Seeks the Great Pumpkin as a patron
• Turd Fergeson, played by Ryan
• Faithful servant of Amon-Tor, goddess of mysteries.
• Originally from Earth. 
• Has possession of an endless suite of one-liners to fit every occasion.
• Marco, Thief, played by Cody
• Born and raised in Black Sand Port.
• Tried to join the Thieves Guild, but was too rebellious. 
• Learned several alien alphabets from his former Guildmaster's secret library. 
• Partially possessed by the soul of a magic door named... Door. Door can grant Marco aid in dealing with other doors, at a cost. 
• Had a cursed necromancer's dagger, but it was stolen by a thief at the Inn at Five Points.
• Steve James, Wizard, played by Will
• Earth native who left home, joined the French Foreign Legion, fell into the DCC Planet, and became a great wizard.
• Father of Steve James II (evil Cult Wizard, RIP) and grandfather of Steve James III (lost teen who wanted to discover his family, RIP)
• Specializes in all-fish magic (Ichthyomancer).
• Tonya, Warrior, played by Robert
• Badass figure skater from Earth. 
• Wields a big-ass sword, and not afraid to cut you with it. 
• Lars, Dwarf, played by Rob
• Human from Earth who was transformed into a Dwarf after traveling to the DCC Planet.
• Seeks entrance into the CCPR (Card Carrying Punk Rockers) but needs to complete three acts of legendary vandalism.
• Wielder of the Demon's Claw, an enchanted scimitar from Fu-Lamia. 
• Bueno, Cleric, played by Evie
• Gender-shifting villager from Reed who was a simple hireling trying to save some of their friends from the Crimson Flame before gaining Clerical powers. 
• Twisted worshipper of the froglike Bobugbubulz.
• Extremely chaotic.

Character Crematorium 

• None this game!

What's Next?

Either Moon Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom or Blood for the Serpent King.

Prior Sessions

• Session 1: Beyond the Silver Scream
• Session 2: Sky ov Crimson Flame, Part 1
• Session 3: Sky ov Crimson Flame, Part 2
• Session 4: Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Part 1
• Session 5: Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Part 2

Road Crew Event - Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Part 2

"We fight the fish with the fish." - Steve James

This quote from our player Will is so very, very important. Embedded in those words are the heart and soul of our Road Crew campaign (that is increasingly becoming NOT a Road Crew campaign but just a regular store game... which is totally fine with me.) If that quote doesn't seem to make sense don't worry. It doesn't make sense to me either, and yet it totally does. 

During today's session of Jon Hook's Shadow Under Devil's Reef, our party finally completed the adventure using a combination of quick thinking, fishy spell-casting, froggy clerical magic, and high die rolling. A very well cast Paralysis spell from Turd Fergeson essentially one-shotted the boss encounter. That was the kind of day I was having as a Judge. 

At the end of the session, I made a comment that the party beat me quickly with the high rolling. All the players seemed surprised that I would take an adversarial tone against the them in my games.

Sorry guys, I'm here to roll dice and kill characters. Unfortunately I didn't kill any characters today, but I came close a few times.

And there's always next time. 

As an added bonus, Robert brought a whole mess of Dwarven Forge for us to use for the game. I had SO MUCH fun with the caverns and dungeons, and can't wait for my own swag to come next year! I've gotta wait a long time, but after seeing the stuff in play, it's gonna be worth it. 

Prior Sessions

• Session 1: Beyond the Silver Scream
• Session 2: Sky ov Crimson Flame, Part 1
• Session 3: Sky ov Crimson Flame, Part 2
• Session 4: Shadow Under Devil's Reef, Part 1

Cast of Characters

• Larkin, Elf, played by Shannon
• Glassblower by trade, whose magic is derived through careful use of lenses, crystals, and light. 
• Native of the Eastern Forest.
• Owns a prized hen.
• Seeks the Great Pumpkin as a patron
• Turd Fergeson, played by Ryan
• Faithful servant of Amon-Tor, goddess of mysteries.
• Originally from Earth. 
• Has possession of an endless suite of one-liners to fit every occasion.
• Marco, Thief, played by Cody
• Born and raised in Black Sand Port.
• Tried to join the Thieves Guild, but was too rebellious. 
• Learned several alien alphabets from his former Guildmaster's secret library. 
• Partially possessed by the soul of a magic door named... Door. Door can grant Marco aid in dealing with other doors, at a cost. 
• Steve James, Wizard, played by Will
• Earth native who left home, joined the French Foreign Legion, fell into the DCC Planet, and became a great wizard.
• Father of Steve James II (evil Cult Wizard, RIP) and grandfather of Steve James III (lost teen who wanted to discover his family, RIP)
• Specializes in all-fish magic (Ichthyomancer).
• Tonya, Warrior, played by Robert
• Badass figure skater from Earth. 
• Wields a big-ass sword, and not afraid to cut you with it. 
• Lars, Dwarf, played by Rob
• Human from Earth who was transformed into a Dwarf after traveling to the DCC Planet.
• Seeks entrance into the CCPR (Card Carrying Punk Rockers) but needs to complete three acts of legendary vandalism.
• Wielder of the Demon's Claw, an enchanted scimitar from Fu-Lamia. 
• Bueno, Cleric, played by Evie
• Gender-shifting villager from Reed who was a simple hireling trying to save some of their friends from the Crimson Flame before gaining Clerical powers. 
• Twisted worshipper of the froglike Bobugbubulz.
• Extremely chaotic.

Adventure Overview

(Judge's Note: I'm going to take full advantage of the Dwarven Forge, and use the pictures to illustrate this tale of danger.)

The party opened the great onyx door leading down into the depths of Devil's Horn Island. Time was of the essence, because the more time the party spent on Devil's Horn Island, the more they mutated into fish/amphibian beasts. 

The sloping passage was super cramped. Halfway down there was a four foot gap spanning a pit. Seemed easy to cross! Marco played scout throughout the adventure, and during this first segment he easily crossed the gap. Unfortunately, the tentacle beast at the bottom of the crevasse wasn't thrilled to see a meal get away. 

As the rest of the party tried crossing, he beast would try to devour Lars and Turd Fergeson. To distract the horror, Bueno summoned forth a feast of food, and dumped it atop the creature. While the thing ate the food of Bobugbubulz, Tonya charged forward and skewered. 

One shot. One kill. 

Moving into the next chamber, the party discovered six mutated Fu-Lamians. Five of them were only slightly mutated, much like some of the party members. But one was huge, much further along than his associates. The lead mutated Fu-Lamian didn't want to let the non-mutated party members past. Tonya wasn't about to be told what to do. 

The two troupes threw down. Before too much blood was spilled, Steve James cast Sleep on all the mutants. What a peaceful way to end the combat!

That's when Tonya walked up and lopped the head off of the lead mutant. 

The next chamber featured a small portal leading further down, with a rather large pool to the right. Each party member who entered the chamber was psychically "called" by something in the water. Marco and Larkin easily resisted the call of this unknown evil, but Bueno and Tonya were not so fortunate. As soon as they entered the chamber, they dropped their weapons and headed for the pool. 

Realizing that it could be dark magic at work, Turd Fergeson ran into the room while casting Protection from Evil. The spell worked, breaking the hold on both Tonya and Bueno. That's when the evil arose from the water. The massive shambling mound of tentacles, eyes, and human mouths was truly terrible to behold. The slap of its limbs caused terrible acid burns, as Larkin realized when she was attacked. 

Tonya collected the party, and had them evacuate from the chamber, while Steve James cast a Sleep spell in retreat. The spell worked! The monster collapsed into the water. Earlier, Marco had chucked a dagger at the beast, so he tried to collect it from the pool. Unfortunately, there was enough acid in the water that he burned his hands when he tried.

Ouch!

Thirty feet down the corridor, the party came to a door. A magic door. The Judge revealed that the locked door was "humming." The players made fun of the humming, and mocked the Judge. They made sounds as if the "humming" was musical in nature. So the Judge complied.

"Door" was a jovial sort, very eager to see the rest of the dungeon. Door offered Marco a means to open him. If Marco agreed to take Door with him, Door would open up. 

Marco agreed.

Door then possessed Marco.

At first Marco didn't realize that his soul fused with that of an intelligent magical door, but after a while he caught on. Fortunately, Marco was mostly in control of his own body...

... that'll change with time.

Even though it cost the party's thief part of his soul, the team let Marco lead the way down a long hall to another door. Door made Marco wave at his "friend." This was when the party realized that the possession had taken place. 

The next hallway was bizarre. A series of chambers, some holding tentacles, others holding imprisoned Fu-Lamians that were being transformed into tentacles. 

There were a few open chambers, and the most mutated of the bunch - Steve James - had to struggle to not throw himself into the vacant room. Actually Tonya did the struggling, as she wrestled the party's wizard away from an attempted suicide. 

Once at the end of the hallway, there was a locked door. Marco tried unlocking the portal but failed. That's when Door offered to help. Marco agreed to let Door take control of his arms. This unlocked the door, but again... at a cost.

I should point out that the mechanic I used for this was a simple percentile system. At the beginning of their arrangement, Marco was in control of 80% of his body while Door was in control of 20%. Every time Marco gives in to Door he will trade 2d10% of control. This act cost him 19%. 

The current scoreboard is now 61% to 39%. 

As the party moved into the chamber, they found a pair of Elder Things working a control panel. Three great, glass chambers were attached to the central room, each holding weird creatures floating in water. One held a large, injured starfish thing. The other held a dead starfish thing. The final chamber held a fully transformed, amphibian Princess Kaeko, along with her attendants.

The Elder Things weren't about to let the party rescue the princess! The two aliens charged the party, met quickly by Tonya.

But Turd Fergeson wasn't in the mood for a long, drawn out battle. He cast Paralysis (and got a 25) and both aliens were immediately stunned and on the ground. 

Rather than a great, magnificent clash of blades and spells, the boss battle was finished like a bar room brawl. The party encircled the aliens and bludgeoned them to death with fists, pole-arms, and Tonya's crowbar. Because blades didn't work that well. 

With the Elder Things dead, the party used the central console to release the princess. Unfortunately her mind was not her own, and the same went for her attendants. Steve James cast Sleep on two of her attendants while Lars slew the other two. The princess's precious PsiSpider, carried by Larkin, then freed the mind of her mistress.

Together, the party fled the dungeon before anything else terrible could give chase. Once back in Black Sand Port, the team received their reward with a healthy dash of glory!

Quotes

"They're not fish! They're cephalopods!" - For some reason this made a different to Lars.

"We fight the fish with the fish." - Steve James being the Steve James. 

"Run!" - Tonya grabs the party, and pulls them out of the dungeon before more eldritch terrors could ruin her day. 

Open Story Points

• With Princess Kaeko saved, would the party's good standing in Black Sand Port be of any benefit?
• Now that he was possessed by Door, was it only a matter of time before Marco lost his own soul? 

Character Crematorium 

• None this game!

What's Next?

I think our adventuring party will be headed back to sea for Moon Slaves of the Cannibal Kingdom!