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.