ASE: Session Five, Group B

Date: Lapin 7th
Weather: Drizzling rain

Party:
Jace (Expert)
Kla'ir (Warrior)
Sebastian (High Mage)

Cohorts:
Alucard (Warrior / Vowed)
Melzgar (High Mage)
Gil (Axebeak)

Summary:

 

The party flees the hydra as it attempts to murder them with high-velocity jets of water. They decide it best not to return to the cavern and double back to the gardens, trying another way. Ignoring the obvious bridge and trudging through the small river, they head another path and investigate the halls surrounding the garden. Jace discovers more large crustaceans, following them to a barren room. There the party discovers a balcony overlooking the cavern, to which they climb up with their grappling hook. 

They meet the rest of the expedition team, a not-so-friendly looking professor and his own party of students, who had seemed to be on friendly enough terms with the goblins. Jace and the expedition leader exchange some barbed words but it escalates little more. They head north and discover a secret passage in a fountain, following the tunnel to a small beach area full of crabs. The party spends some time combing the beach for treasure, with a particularly scuttley crab wearing a jeweled helm proving to be very difficult to catch. After another close run-in with the hydra, they head back.

Sebastian, being tired, decides to rest with the expedition team while the others explore further. Jace, Alucard, and Kla'ir check around the winding corridors, beating back some goblins who wanted to eat them before running into some automatons. After some door shenanigans, they manage to scrap one of the robots before heading in further.

They look cute, but they'd still take a bite out of your arm.

Heading deeper in, they come across a flurry of activity as automatons were cleaning a room until it shined, even going so far as to clean the party as they tried to move in. It was funny until the robots began to glitch out and replace scrubbers and mops with buzzsaws and dangerous implements. They manage to push several robots away and run, deciding to regroup with Sebastian before heading in any further.

Treasure:
-Jewel-encrusted helm (worth 140 sp)
-100 silver coins

Experience:
Jace (lv 2, 5 xp)
Kla'ir (lv 1, 1 xp)
Sebastian (lv 2, 5 xp)

My Thoughts: I find it really hard to bring enemies to be actively hostile. I'm not sure if it's my inexperience with running these sorts of games or what. Regardless, I feel I'll have to shake things up for further adventures.

ASE: Session Five, Group A

Date: Lapin 7th
Weather: Drizzle

Party:
Aria (Priest / Duelist)
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Celica (Necromancer / Skinshifter)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)
Smith (Warrior)

Cohorts:
Raymond (Axebeak)
Rex (Wolf)

Summary:
The party began to investigate further into the anomalous subsurface environment. Not wanting to run into any more freakish abominations, they wandered into a cross-shaped room and immediately ran into freakish abominations.

"What in the fresh hell is THAT?!"

As these screaming humanoids were alerted, more of them came running in. The party started to make a break for it but were cut off by two zombies shuffling in, attracted by the noise. They were forced to fight, with Francis discarding his disguise to reveal their true form. After a bloody battle, the party decided it prudent to retreat before more of those screaming creatures caught up with them. Along the way they ran into a hunting party of morlocks who were surprisingly friendly despite their gruff mannerisms. They managed to pass through without much incident and head up the stairs back to the gatehouse.

Knife to meet you!

Once in a relatively safe position, the party began to question the being formerly known as Francis. Celica introduced herself and explained her reasoning for disguising herself as a merchant. They figured as long as she was still willing to fight alongside the party, she'd be handy to have around.

Who put this chuuni edgelord into my gritty gonzo swords & sorcery game?

As the party was still cautious about the abomination up above reviving itself, Laguna set about disassembling the corpse of the creature into constituent parts.  Afterwards, Cedar experimented with a lever, discovering a hatch that led deep down back into the dungeon. They then retreated to the entrance cave, relieved that the animals were still there, though concern was raised as Laguna's axebeak showed signs of stirges feeding on it. They also see pillars of light rising up the mountain, illuminating even in the midday sky. As a precaution, Smith was left to guard the animals while the party decided to explore more of the gatehouse.

Everyone heads up to the second foyer, going into a door that was marked with "Authorized Personnel Only". Aria went first, discovering a potential pit trap. She then walked over and stood on the pressure plate, seeing it swing open behind her. Easily defeating the pit trap, the party crossed one at a time to try prying open the door at the end of the corridor. Several unsuccessful attempts later, they then decide that heading back was a better idea, especially as Rex was getting harassed by the wandering automatons.

They then realize the problem of the pressure plate for the pit trap being right in front of the pit with no other way out.

What followed was an extremely convoluted sequence of events where the party had to pass a rope around, tying it around their waist and attempting to hop over the pressure plate, hoping the pit trap doors would hold their weight. The doors buckled underneath Laguna's weight, but the party still managed to slowly make their way across without incident.

Heading north, several filing cabinets were discovered, full of papers of scientific jargon and blueprints of the Gatehouse facility. They cross-checked it with the map Cedar was drawing and finding it to be quite accurate, along with discovering areas they did not investigate yet. Flickering lights signaled the arrival of ghosts surrounding the party in a whirl of electrostatic ectoplasm. Cedar is revealed to possibly have phasmophobia, while Celica manages to banish the spirits from whence they came.

Thoroughly shaken, everyone decides it best to retreat to Chlemsfordshire. They load up onto the wagons and head down the mountain, only to be greeted by the town being abuzz with activity and patrols of the Unyielding Fist setting up in the streets. With people talking about exploring the mountain that came alive, everyone decides it best to lay low for a while and possibly head to Denethix instead...

Treasure:
-Several papers full of strange scientific jargon (Possibly worth 150 sp to someone interested in that sort of thing)

Experience:
Aria (lv 3, 6 xp)
Cedar (lv 3, 7 xp)
Celica (lv 1, 2 xp)
Laguna (lv 3, 7 xp)
Smith (left the party)

My Current Thoughts: I believe I may have made the dungeon more horror-oriented than the silly gonzo flavor it was originally going for. The terrifying abominations immediately made the characters (and possibly players) want to escape, despite the fragility of the monsters.
With Smith's player leaving the group, it's interesting that group A is now entirely made up of mages and partial mages. I feel it's more due to Worlds Without Number having very interesting partial mage traditions rather than feeling like one needs to be magical to get anywhere like in later editions of D&D, as the various traditions impart a lot of interesting flavor when combined with other classes and magical traditions.
Aria's player continues to have extremely poor luck. At level 3 her hit points rival that of a first level warrior's at 7. She also managed to roll a 1 for initiative for each and every combat encounter, a statistical improbability! Thankfully shock damage has saved her bacon more than once.

ASE: Session Four, Group B

Date: Lapin 5th through 7th
Weather: Overcast, then sunny, before beginning to drizzle on the 7th day.

Party:
Jace (Expert)
Kla'ir (Warrior)
Sebastian (High Mage)

Cohorts:
Alucard (Warrior / Vowed)
Melzgar (High Mage)
Gil (Axebeak)

Summary:
(Slight retcon, as a new player had joined, one player opted to drop his hireling to bring on Kla'ir)
As Jace and Sebastian discussed their next plan, they bump into another mercenary looking for work. She introduces herself as Kla'ir, a barbarian from far-off lands. They quickly reach an agreement following the inn's requests to immediately vacate from the premises.

Despite wielding that branch like a club, she prefers to chop first, axe questions later.

The party travels past Lugosi to the shanty town of Tarryfield, resting for the night before traveling through the forest in search of the Molybdenum Tombs. With the forest being oddly quiet save for some errant wildlife, they make camp and decide to explore the tombs in the morning.

Looking around the domed buildings, they spot two entrances with a river between them flowing into a grate leading into the tombs . Immediately wishing to go in the more difficult route, the party latches onto this watery entrance, getting themselves wet in knee-deep water as Kla'ir spent time bending the bars of the grate open. Everyone save for Sebastian, whose wizardly grandeur allowed him some protection from the elements.

Inside, they discover a strange peaceful garden with crystalline plantlife. Sebastian elects to check under the bridge for anything hidden, only to find old graffiti of a troll, to which he leaves an offering of a silver piece. Kla'ir wanders around the garden, taking in the strange iridescent sights. As they lingered in the room, a thrumming noise began to reverberate in their head, Sebastian seeing ethereal tendrils probing at their heads and causing a sensation not unlike a migraine. Jace goes to open a door and the party immediately goes through to escape the strange head-pounding sensations.

There was also a crab, just hanging out.

 

A cursory examination of the rooms reveals they're in some sort of art gallery. Jace leaves everyone behind to inspect a statue of a woman, shattering the priceless art to take the shiny necklace that was around her neck. The party catches up to him and they head into a room labeled "Historical Works". There, Jace and Kla'ir see an image of a white-clad warrior holding a banner in the middle of a starry wasteland and a painting a man standing in a boat as others row across an icy river. Sebastian, however, sees the images for what they actually are: the Apollo moon landing and Washington crossing the Delaware. He ends up having a breakdown due to this, much to the confusion of his compatriots.

While Sebastian tries to figure out why this fantasy world has imagery of historical events, the rest of the party moves on. There they discover a lost group of explorers from the Academy of Thought who explain their situation. They were exploring the tombs when a monster appeared and scattered them all, now they're holed up in the art gallery figuring out their next move. Jace doesn't seem to care much about their plight, moving on as the party finds imagery of a more idyllic future of the time Sebastian came from.

The party soon comes to a massive dimly-lit underground lake. They see the river from the garden terminates here. Inspecting large grooves made into the walls of the cavern, they deliberate on what could have done such a thing. As Sebastian finally catches up, the creature that made those grooves shows up, and it is hungry.

It even came with its own combat theme.

Treasure:
Ruby-inlaid necklace (worth 150 gp to a collector)

Experience:
Jace (lv 2, 4 xp)
Kla'ir (lv 1, 0 xp)
Sebastian (lv 2, 4 xp)

My Current Thoughts: This is the first dungeon larger than ten rooms that I've actually stocked. It turned out to be an enjoyable experience and didn't take me much longer than 2 hours to actually make. I'm finding that the majority of my preparation time is in drawing those postage stamp-sized tokens. This slips me into a habit of laziness as I constantly look to the tokens I've already drawn to find monsters that could fit, but I only have so much time and energy to prep from week to week.
I find it interesting that my playerbase tends to bring in OCs from their other games or RPs. This is honestly a new concept for me, as I've always just made new characters for new campaigns instead of holding onto a stable of character ideas. I'm not sure how to feel about it. Perhaps I should try bringing back a character from an unfinished campaign if I ever get the chance? I suppose I already am doing that in my solo game, as Daichi is a fighter from a D&D 5e campaign I was a player in that fizzled out and died.
As one of the players had to leave early, I took two of the players and ran them through a combat scenario to get used to the combat. Kla'ir and Alucard are scarily potent in combat, taking on four Dober-Men and two wolves before succumbing to a single frenzied survivor. My players seemed to be satisfied by Worlds Without Number's combat system, as the mechanics of Shock, Screening, Snap Attacks, and Delays seemed to provide that bit of tactical depth they enjoy.

ASE: Session Four, Group A

Date: Lapin 6th and 7th
Weather: Sunny, then a downpour of drizzle

Party:
Aria (Priest / Duelist)
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Francis (Warrior / Expert)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)
Smith (Warrior)

Cohorts:
Raymond (Axebeak)
Rex (Wolf)

Summary:
As rumors start to spread about some sort of treasure on Mount Rendon, the party plans their next move. They pay Niberius for his work and he leaves, but as soon as he walks out they soon begin to smell a rat. A merchant named Francis del Grok, sixth son of the Grok family, offers his services in exchange for a share of the loot. Seeing as they need all the help he can get, they allow him and his 'zard to join.

The journey up Mount Rendon was relatively uneventful, save for the next day when it began to rain. As they got to the cave, they deliberated hiding the animals in the cave to protect them. There they discover stirges, only mutated and glowing green. They decide to dispose of the stirges and keep them far from the animals.

Oftentimes described as a "mosquito's wet dream".

 Getting inside, there is a larger, more humanoid robot waiting for them, who informs them that the western wing of the gatehouse had been closed off, refusing to explain why. Unsatisfied, the party regardless makes their way back to the broken frame, to which Aria correctly identifies it as a god's eye. They deliberate on restoring it (or prying it off the wall and selling it), but decide to explore the rest of the gatehouse, heading south.

 

 

The party stumbles upon automatons hiding from the abomination, and they start to realize the scraping noises are getting louder. In a panic the party rushes through the automatons, leaving several behind to get destroyed by the abomination, finally stumbling upon the guardians of the gatehouse, the greater guard automatons. There is only a few moments to prepare for the abomination as it busts into the room, metal screeching and sawblades whirling in frenzy!
 

"The church has a point, technology sucks!"

 A fight ensues, the party making copious usage of all the metal bodies between them and the abomination, wearing it down before it could do any lasting damage to anyone still living! With multiple instances of percussive maintenance applied, the autobomination finally stops moving, for now. The party is able to loot the body and gain the respect of the surviving automatons, as they allow them to pull the lever to the south.

They pull the lever, causing Mt. Rendon to quake and rumble for several minutes, loud klaxons sounding off throughout the facility before the door opens to a set of stone stairs leading down into the darkness. Aria takes point, descending slowly, freezing in horror when she sees a giant spider-like creature looking back up at them at the foot of the stairs. It skitters off, leaving the party unsure if they want to delve deeper. Regardless, they press on.

 

The party explores around the first level, discovering an old note Laguna translates as a farewell message. Not long after, they set off a dart trap:

"I tap around the room with my pole."
"You discover a loose floor tile."
"Great! I press it."

They see a strange, spindly birdlike creature exit a room as soon as they enter it, and almost have a run-in with doglike creatures gnawing on a goblin corpse, deciding better than to bother them. Instead they go to experiment with the giant pillar with carved faces in the center of a room. Aria pokes her 10' pole into one of the eye sockets, which culminates in the stone faces crying out corpse jellies. Francis and Rex get smeared, but the jellies are all defeated and the paralysis the two suffered quickly wore off. The party now deliberates their next move...

I am skeleton jelly, I am skeleton jelly...

 

Treasure:
-50 sp (split equally, 10 sp to each party member)
-Gold and Emerald necklace (worth 75gp)
-Several hundred feet of gold wire (20 gp total)
-String of blue quartz gems set in tarnished copper (worth 30 gp to a collector)
-Metal bar (used to open up a previously locked door)

Experience:
Aria (lv 2, 5 xp)
Cedar (lv 3, 6 xp)
Francis (lv 1, 1 xp)
Laguna (lv 3, 6 xp)
Smith (lv 3, 6 xp)

My Current Thoughts: I ended up taking on two more players, bringing us to five for group A and three for group B. Exciting! My players have been making several remarks about how lethal the game apparently is, how the game emphasizes setting up an advantageous position or avoiding combat rather than duking it out with foes in a straight-up fight. I'm happy they're discovering this, but with the party's current focus on combat defense and survival it is unlikely much on the first level will threaten them if they continue to play smart. Well, unless they trip into some green slime...

ASE: Session Three, Group B

Date: Lapin 4th
Weather: Overcast

Party:
Jace (Expert)
Sebastian (High Mage)

Cohorts:
Gil (Axebeak)

Summary:
The duo finally get into Denethix. Checking into the Wizard's Repast, they stay for the night and figure out their plans. Jace wants to find work while Sebastian wants information on the Quiet God's Star. After almost getting pickpocketed by the vicious halfling street gang the Lollipop Guild, they split up with Jace going north along the Street of Temples and Sebastian going to the bank. Sebastian manages to deposit his gold without much incident, while Jace passes by odd people worshipping gods of cutlery and also strange white-robed men attempting to send grunkies into orbit with bottle rockets.

While Jace seemed to have no luck looking for work, Sebastian gets suckered into almost joining a cult, as the Church of Starry Wisdom welcomes him with open arms. They usher him into the facility and make him wait in a plain room with a chair. Meanwhile, Jace has a run-in with a band of urchins who call him out for a favor, and ask him to check in on one of their friends who had, completely coincidentally, been taken in by the Church of Starry Wisdom.

Clearly not a sinister cult.

Using a convenient tree and finding an open window, Jace sneaks in and manages to disguise himself as a cultist. In another part of the tower, the door opens for Sebastian and he's asked to wear a helmet, one that his ability to read magic tells him is a Helm of True Sight that allows people to "see forever". Finally sensing danger, he casts a spell to make the cultists fall asleep and get out. The two bump into one another, with Jace telling Sebastian off and giving him directions to leave, as he goes deeper into the compound.

Discovering a cellar with large bulky objects in sacks being moved, Jace discovers the room where the sacrifices are being held and discover the person he's supposed to save. With some finesse and a few concussions given to the cultists, he manages to free the girl and rescue her, meeting back up with Sebastian and fulfilling the request for the urchins. He tells them to keep half of the reward and requests a favor in the future instead, to which the urchins agree.

With that side trek having been resolved, they check out the cult of science who were currently discovering the effects of terminal velocity on grunkies. Very scientific. They get to talking with the pair and the scientists become really interested in the idea of a rocket ship. They mention places where there could be scientific materials and artifacts that could make such a thing possible: The Dimming Cave and the Molybdenum Tombs. With this new information, they spend the rest of the day taking on hirelings to head out to investigate the Molybdenum Tombs in the morning.

 

Left to Right: Alucard (Warrior / Vowed), Melzgar (High Mage/Expert), Brilena (Warrior)

Treasure:
25 silver
A favor from several street urchins
A Helm of "True Sight" that allows you to "See Forever"

Experience:
Jace (lv 2, 4 xp)
Sebastian (lv 2, 4 xp)

My Current Thoughts: Having a duo allows for a very swords and sorcery dynamic. This session was far more improv-heavy than others and resulted in a lot of page flipping. I probably should have called for a 15 minute break to draw up the temple of starry wisdom's compound, but the players did not seem to mind the loose improvisation.

The oracular adventure adjustment tables in WWN beta v.20 were very handy. I can see myself using just this for adjudicating solo games, along with the adventure seeds.

ASE: Session Three, Group A

Date: Lapin 4th and 5th
Weather: Overcast

Party:
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)
Smith (Warrior)

Cohorts:
Niberius (Warrior hireling)
Raymond (Axebeak)
Rex (Wolf)

Summary:
The party makes preparations to head back into the gatehouse. With Aria busy, they seek someone else suicidal enough to risk their lives in the dungeon. They hire a masked man named Niberius, who agrees to adventure with them for a nominal fee, but does mention that he will not stick around for long.

A friendly face.

Going up the mountain without much incident, the party finds the entrance once more. Once inside, they head East, finding a lever in the "up" position as well as soon running across a room chock full of patchy, mostly-broken automatons. With some careful negotiation, they learn the automatons in the West wing of the place are hoarding all the good parts. This prompts the party to strike a deal: They'll clear those automatons out for information on this location.

Returning to the lever room they discover a ghost made of swirling dust and electricity watching them. They see it then move towards the lever then disappear down the indentation in the floor as if it were not solid. Judging it to be a thoroughly strange encounter, it is decided they avoid the room and return to the armory.

The metal machines in the Western wing were waiting to ambush them, but the party manages to set a lot of things on fire, which activates the sprinkler system in the room and leaves them soaking wet. As the damaged automatons retreat, the party soon advances, using the pipe from the trap to block one of the doors as they used the bathroom entrance to thoroughly eliminate all the automatons. There they find an odd dome made from tarnished silver with wires sticking out, in addition to treasure and Moktar parts. They report back to the broken automatons and reported the deed was done, prompting all of them to leave to the West wing to salvage. The party receives information on the Gatehouse, including a bit of information on the Subsurface Environment anomaly and what had happened to the humans in the facility.

The party proceeds to explore south of where they found the jury-rigged automatons. There they found a deeply suspicious room full of sunlight with none of the warmth, as well as what looked to be a room with a glowing blue light orb they thoroughly did not touch. A ghostly apparition appearing in the room frightened Cedar enough to try and shoot at it, but it ignored him and kept on its spiel about three thousand, seven hundred, twenty-nine years, eleven months, and two days of no accidents at the Subsurface Research Facility.

Maneuvering through winding halls and avoiding the ominous scraping sounds, a strange jeweled frame was discovered, with the party agreeing that Aria may be able to parse something out of it. They then retreated to the entrance only to discover that it was swarming with automatons in disrepair all looking for parts. Slipping out, they find their axebeak had been spooked by something. The party arrives home by midnight without incident.

Niberius is willing to adventure with them again, but if they want to cut ties he will want his negotiated payment in full.


Treasure:
500 silver (143 to each primary party member, 71 to Niberius)
An odd dome-shaped silver wall sconce.

Experience:
Cedar (lv 2, 5 xp)
Laguna (lv 2, 5 xp)
Smith (lv 2, 5 xp)
Niberius (lv 1, 1 xp)

 

Bonus! The player who plays Cedar has been drawing his own map of the place. Here is the party's progress so far:

My current thoughts: Player characters are a lot stronger in Worlds Without Number compared to traditional B/X. However, the threats they have encountered so far are very minor compared to what they will find deep within the first level.

I feel I'd like to slow down experience advancement a little, so they're not fifth level by the time they actually make it past the Gatehouse.

Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Session Two, Group B

Date: Lapin 2nd, 3rd
Weather: Bright and Sunny (2nd), Overcast (3rd) 

Party:
Jace (Expert)
Sebastian (High Mage)

 

Summary:
The duo, pleased with the money they got from looting the Liche Throne, now set their sights on it again. Traveling in the morning once more, they put the wagon somewhere safe and wander back into the basement. There they found several phantasms waiting for them, which Sebastian manages to placate with a sleep spell. Jace eliminates them, noticing their essence seeps back into the center of the room. The duo then loot the room and disarm a trap leading to a fancy sarcophagus, but have no means to get to the sarcophagus.

I re-use a lot of tokens from past campaigns.
 This was repurposed for the phantasms.

 The Pretender arrives while Sebastian is coming back from loading treasure onto the cart and wails about his pumpkin being destroyed, flying into a murderous rage. They manage to fend him off long enough for them to get back to a safe spot and force the Pretender into hiding. They resume looting, and chip away at the cool-looking mosaic in the room. This reveals a hole, in which they push a sarcophagus in, stirring a hornet's nest of phantasms and making the duo run upstairs! There the pretender ambushes them, chanting a spell to mentally dominate Jace, but Sebastian manages to snap him out of it! The duo escape and leave, the Pretender burned alive by his tormentors the phantasms. Now Sebastian and Jace leave for Denethix, what adventures will they have there...?

 

Treasure:
A mace with gold etchings (Sold, 25 gp)
3x copper platemail armors (Melted down for 15 gp total)
The adulation of Broken Huts 

 

Experience:
Jace (lv 2, 3 xp)
Sebastian (lv 2, 3 xp)

Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Session Two, Group A

Date: Lapin 2nd, 3rd
Weather: Bright and Sunny (2nd), Overcast (3rd)

 

Party:
Aria (Priest / Duelist)
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)
Smith (Warrior)

Cohorts:
Raymond (Axebeak)
Rex (Wolf) 

 

Summary:
The party stops by the rich town of Retennis to stock up on supplies before going up Mount Rendon. As they travel, they come across three starving wolves, of which Cedar manages to befriend one. They then make camp, with Cedar noticing flying winged humanoids while hunting and Laguna noticing a wizard vehicle taking flight.

 

Rex has joined the party!

They continue with their new lupine companion up to the cave entrance on the map. At the cave, they notice that a bear had taken up residence in the cave. After a lot of deliberation, Cedar tries to hunt for the bear only for Moktar to come up to the cave instead. The Moktar take a liking to Aria's claims that they stole the cart and make an offer: They will hunt the bear if they get the shinies from what was past the cave. The party agrees, Cedar rejoins, and the party opens the door at the back of the cave using the sick rock.

The party finds themselves in a strangely lit room. Laguna manages to translate the signs, and they head West. There they find hostile robots that wanted them gone, barely manage to dodge a trap that was set up, and find some small treasures as well as several empty rooms. They begin marking rooms with chalk at this point and even put Laguna's axebeak in one for safekeeping. After this, they head back to the Foyer, Smith sets up caltrops at the entrance, and they check out the room to the Northwest. The Moktar return at this point, stepping in the caltrops. They follow the chalk marks and are stopped just in time, convinced by Aria to open the door to the automatons. A huge fight breaks out, moktar are dismembered, and the party high-tails it out of there and back to town to safety. 

 

Like this, only with more surgical saws.

Treasure:
Two eagle-shaped pins with three stars in them (worth 5 gp apiece).

Experience:
Aria (lv 2, 4 xp)
Cedar (lv 2, 4 xp)
Laguna (lv 2, 4 xp)
Smith (lv 2, 4 xp)

Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Session One, Group B

Date: Lapin 1st
Weather: Bright and Sunny

 

Party:
Jace (Expert)
Sebastian (High Mage)

 

Summary:
At a town called Broken Huts, two unlikely companions team up to investigate what the townsfolk call the Liche Throne. They get to the place and start to look around, soon discovering the phantasms. Avoiding them, the duo discovers a pitiful wretch, whose mad ravings told them they should stay the heck away from them.

Not quite as scary as the description.

 

They manage to get away from him and climb up to find a large pumpkin growing in a bathtub. Thinking it was magical, Sebastian cuts it from the stem and Jace carves it to obtain the seeds. The two also find something called the Armillary of Fatidic Stars. Jace activates it and receives a vision that tells them to seek the Quiet God's Star. They then used a rope to climb down from the top and went back to the basement to loot the bodies they saw, heading back to Broken Huts to give them pumpkin seeds to plant and buy a wagon and axebeak to head back and clean out the throne! 

Treasure:
Fishscale Armor (300 sp) (Sold)
Silver Mask (500 sp) (Sold)
Pouch of Silver (50 sp)
Shell Buckler (30 sp) (Sold)
Silver Daggers (75 sp each)
Black Leather Linothorax (Has sheathes for throwing blades, allows first set of throwing knives to be readied with no encumbrance.)
Black Silk Rope
Six Oil Flasks
One Flask of Poison
A wagon in exchange for the pumpkin seeds.

 

Experience:
Jace (lv 1, 1 xp)
Sebastian (lv 1, 1 xp)

Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Session One, Group A

Date: Lapin 1st
Weather: Bright and Sunny

 

Party:
Aria (Priest / Duelist)
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)
Smith (Warrior)

Summary:
The party is hanging out at the Muddy Cup Inn in Chlemsfoldshire when suddenly, two scruffy-looking lads (Phil and Terry) barge in asking for people to aid them! Their caravan was attacked by Moktars, and they needed help recovering the treasure they were supposed to guard. The party was led to the site of the caravan raid, and they tracked the Moktars back to their lair.

 

Looks more miffed than anything else.

At the lair, Aria discovered the trapdoor at the entrance and attracted the attention of the moktars. After a battle, they see that the moktars were sick. Negotiations were opened, but only managed to anger the Moktars. They did get the merchant back, who was already dying, as well as a strange rock, the merchant tucking a treasure map into Laguna's robes before expiring.

After a lengthy battle, the sickly Moktars were beaten back, and the party got the Moktar chief to surrender. They manage to get the chest out and drag it back to the wagon, and promptly returned to Chlemsfoldshire to blow the king's ransom they acquired and buy an axebeak to pull their cart with the box.

 

Absolutely not a Chocobo.

 

 

Treasure: Almost 800 gold! Also a weird rock that makes people sick and a heavy lead-lined box to hold it in.

 

Experience:
Aria (lv 2, 3 xp)
Cedar (lv 2, 3 xp)
Laguna (lv 2, 3 xp)
Smith (lv 2, 3 xp)

Anomalous Subsurface Environment: Session 0

It's been a while. Life happens, so do things that put a halt to enjoying it. It's a new year and I've started up a new game, using the excellent Anomalous Subsurface Environment module by Patrick Wetmore. For system, I'll be using the beta of Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawford. I'd use Old School Essentials or another retroclone but I feel the character customization afforded by WWN will help my players, who mainly got into the hobby via D&D 5e and Pathfinder, ease into a more OSR style of play.

Of course, due to the preferences of myself and my players, this game is going to be a bit more fuzzier than usual. Each PC will be listed with their name, class, and background as well as a short descriptive blurb.

Update (2/22/21): One player left the game, but two others had joined, playing Celica and Kla'ir!

Update (3/9/21): A new character, and the first death.

Anomalous Subsurface Environment Exploration Team

Aria    -    Priest / Duelist    -    Laborer
An indentured servant of the church of the Blood God. Eventually broke away to become a priestess of another religion, worshipping the Weaver, one of the Children of the Twelve.

Cedar    -    Warrior / Beastmaster    -    Hunter
Hailing from a tribe of wandering beastmaster nomads, trying to find out what had happened to his parents.

Laguna    -    Healer / Elementalist    -    Physician
Was tossed out of the magic academy for being a prick. Now looking for work.

Celica    -    Necromancer / Skinshifter    -    Scholar
A mysterious figure who seeks knowledge. As she takes on unnatural forms, she uses subterfuge to hide her true self, and possibly her true intentions.

 

Cloud Nine    -    Invoker    -    Scholar
An odd goat creature with gilded horns. Seems to have magical origins, going so far as to register as a magical creature. Tends to act very precocious.

 
Firion    -    Warrior / Thought Noble    -    Soldier
An heir of a former thought-house, though he lost any and all heirlooms to prove it. Now broke and looking for money. Hides his powers from most people.

 

In addition to this group, I happened to have the fortune of assembling a second group as well using the same setting. Introducing...

The Duo Cavorting Around Denethix and Surrounding Lands

Jace    -    Expert    -    Criminal
Bored of his life in a broken down village of huts and turnip farms, he teamed up with an unexpected ally to finally get some excitement.

Sebastian    -    High Mage    -    Scholar
Mysteriously summoned into this world by a wizard when he was expected to clock into work that morning. Now trying to get back home.

 

Those Who Have Left, Alive or Otherwise

Smith    -    Warrior    -    Soldier (Status: Left the Party)
Have spear, will travel.

Kla'ir    -    Warrior    -    Barbarian
A warrior from a far-off tribe. Given a branch from the tree of life her tribe was tasked with protecting and has gone off into the world in search of new experiences.