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Dec 26, 2009, 2:25pm

The Games We Play :: RPGS (currently played) :: Hackmaster 5E :: Adventures :: The Basement of Zenopus

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The Dungeon Master
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The Basement of Zenopus
« Thread Started on Jul 31, 2009, 11:14am »

The Party

Benji Woodsmith of Eldor, Human male, an anosmic thief with no concept of personal space and averge honor
Kaloden Hartsong of Cosdol, Human male, Gentle of the Merciful Fates with average honor, cannot sire and is oft seen rubbing a lucky charm
Mortimer Latta of Pel Brolenon, Human male with average honor, Minion of Misfortune, a colorblind glutton
Saerilis Autumnborn Of the Welpremond Downs, Elf male, paranoid and tone deaf with average honor, spells known: Spring, Bar Portal, Planar Servant
Tera Ferma of Zazahni, Human female fighter with great honor, allergic to nuts and with a fear of
heights

The Basement of Zenopus (Here there be spoilers. Properly warned be ye says I)

Veshday, Declarations 7, 563 I.R.
Green Griffyn Inn, Vew, P’Bapar

While recovering from their wounds (aided greatly by the fact that the Cleric of the Caretaker is a master of first aid) the party meets Benji Woodmsith and Saerilis Autumnborne. Saerilis tells the tale of the Zenopus and produces an artifact given him by a gypsy (while she was mumbling some curse about losing weight). The artifact will transport Saerilis and with whomever he is holding hands in a circle to Mendarn, and will then transport them back. Once each way only. (Cheezy GM plot device so the party doesn’t miss the caravan to Frandor’s Keep.)

So the party “bamfs” to the Green Gizzard Inn near Vilden in Mendarn. The first thing Tera notices is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables for sale at the local farmer’s market. So it’s off to buy a list of ingredients for her culinary creations (thank you Goods and Gear!) And while she didn’t purchase any nuts, she was not careful to question or inspect, so I have yet to decide if perhaps some items were packed along with nuts in a cart. Potential cross-contamination of peanut dust! Mwahahahaha…ahem.

Meanwhile Mortimer ordered breakfast, again. During this time the party is made aware of the various story elements and rewards being offered, and directed to the Inn’s “post-it” board. They meet the magistrate and the captain of the town watch, who speaks down to them and advises they “move along, nothing to see here.” Undefended hits to honor; when will they ever learn?

On to the dungeon proper. A torch was lit and given to Saerilis’ planar servant to carry, who did so without complaint. I think I’m going to add a way for him to complain though. Not two-way communication. Just a constant barrage of personal woes and issues in the voice of Allan Rickman. Anywho, the fighter asks for a leg-up to peer through the gap in the south wall exit. Hmmm, fear of heights, Asked for a leg up. Performance hit coming on-line (honestly, I like portraying myself as an antagonistic GM, but I’m not – I do, however let the dice fall where they may and try and guide the players by penalties and rewards to a more fulfilling game experience – but don’t tell them that, it ruins the fun). Another torch is tossed into the dusty room and left to gutter alone, as the party goes through the North exit.

A8 – Eat-in or Take Out?
The ghoul battle was a toughy, but the party won through with only minor overall damage. The conditions were slightly more difficult as the ghoul was spotted just as the party’s torch went out (I’m a stickler for time-keeping). The guttural noises rapidly approaching the fighter from the dark were deliciously unsettling. From then on the party kept a careful eye on the torches. The paralysis effect was creepy enough once witnessed to prompt the burning of luck and honor points aplenty to avoid taking a hit or to at least pass the check. After the battle and triage, the sarcophagus was investigated and slid about the floor (they were trying to tip it over, but physics prevailed.) The grinding noise alerted, wait for it, a wandering ghoul. This solitary creature was handily dispatched. Poor thing never had a chance.

A7 – Dusty Chamber.
Just as the party was investigating the passage here, a lost “adventurer” appeared. They managed to not attack him even though I triggered a count-up and, instead, escorted the poor soul out of the basement with the promise that he would never investigate ruins again. Back to the chamber….the tick battle was initiated but did not pose that much of a problem, at least not nearly as much as the first test combat we ever ran with them. Mortimer the evil cleric was badly wounded, however and set about to try and treat his wounds. Before he could do so a group of 5 spiders, alerted by the combat, wandered into the room, crawling under one of the doors further down the hall that the party had closed. Based on the condition of the doors and the fact that spiders’ super-power allows them to crawl through just about anything, and we have a battle. Now here I erred. The spiders were larger than they should have been for the group. It had gotten late in the gaming day (we needed to finish up some character creation on a couple of characters so started a little late) and we had forgotten to take time to eat. So 5 huge monstrous spiders advanced. Even though I ruled the poison penalties were not cumulative with each successful attack (I think I may have seen someone post the opposite is true) and I even allowed the planar servant to try and put fire to them, causing them to give ground each time, the battle was brutal. Mortimer died, and honor was being burned left and right. We were about an hour past the time we originally planned on stopping (started at noon, now 10:30pm – also had spent some time role-playing speaking with the NPC’s) and I offered the group the option of driving the spiders away, allowing us to stop for the night but earning no EP’s for the survivors. Mortimer’s player would have none of it, and rightly so in hindsight. He insisted the combat continue until the spiders were defeated or the rest of the poor bastards with whom Mortimer had traveled were dead. A Chaotic-Evil metagame moment from beyond the grave? I’ll allow it! The party did win through, but just barely. And Mortimer’s player felt it was a good death. Actually it was a horrible death, involving wracking pain, bloating and skin discoloration as the corpse blackened from poison; but that’s just my opinion.

Five days of rest it took for the party to heal, and then only because of the healing cleric. And the party leveled. That disastrous spider encounter pushed them to their limit and they survived. So do the gods sometimes reward the unwitting. But they’re spoiling for revenge…on….the….basement?

Homeday, Declarations 12, 563 I.R.
Green Gizzard Inn, Vilden, Mendarn

It begins again…

Campaign pages updated
http://www.paintedknights.com/hackmaster.html

« Last Edit: Jul 31, 2009, 11:16am by The Dungeon Master »

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