There are a bunch of rules about spellstones in this post - I'll duplicate them here, to save clicking around when my players search.
Spellstones
Crushing a spellstone takes the Concentrate maneuver. However, unlike most spells, you can crush a spellstone while grappled if you have it ready and the hand holding it can potentially crush the stone given the circumstances (which is usually the case.)
You must crush it willingly to complete the spell. You must crush it with your hand and will it to activate, it can't be done accidentally.
You cannot crush more than one spellstone at a time. It takes a full second's concentration to complete the action.
You can hold them in your mouth, but remember, they're small (1-5 carats for 1-5 power). You will have issues if you're wearing hand armor beyond light (cloth or light leather) - this may require a DX roll with Ham Fisted modifiers.
You cannot learn Fast-Draw (Spellstone.) They're too small.
You cannot hold one ready in the same hand as another item unless you have the "Third Hand" perk.
You cannot use a spell stone on another person by crushing it against them. Known Exceptions: Gem of Healing, Gem of Awakening.
Only Wizardly magic can be made into spell stones, with the exception of the Awaken spell. Gems of Healing and Gems of Awakening are made by the church in some secret process, and are available for sale.
***
Here are the additional rulings/frequency asked questions:
You can't put maintenance costs into a stone. It's just a one shot, base duration spell. You are not able to, say, buy a 4-point powerstone that contains 3 rounds of maintenance for a 1-energy spell.
You can buy an Area spell with a larger than 1-hex AOE, or Missile spells with larger sizes, or Resist Fire at a higher level of flame resistance, or similar improved castings.
You cannot maintain the spell yourself, since you are not the caster.
Unlike GURPS Magic, which specifies that the spell is cast (against the Power level of the enchantment) on the turn after you activate the stone, in DF Felltower the spell takes place immediately - in other words, on the turn in which you Concentrate and activate the spellstone. That can make them more effective, but means spells that require an action to effectively use must have a duration longer than one second in order to be useful.
Finally, although the parlance in my games is to "crush a spellstone" the actual verb phrase is to "Concentrate and activate a spellstone." I understand what is meant, but a lot of the "can't I?" questions come from assuming "crushing" is the goal - can I hit it with a hammer, can I put one on the tip of a blunt arrow and shoot it at someone, can I bite one with my teeth, can I crush more than one, etc. It's more like reading a scroll or activating a wand or staff or special ability - it takes Concentration and, in this case, a specific hand action - holding a stone in the hand. A good number of FAQs are self-answerable by changing the verb phrase to the most accurate one.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Monday, March 31, 2025
Felltower Disads & Point Total clarification - item disadvantages
For DF Felltower, when a magic item gives or has a disadvantage, the PC that wield it/owns it suffers from the disadvantage but their point total is not decreased.
For example, Percy is 318 points and carries Agar's Wand, which is a Weirdness Magnet. Percy suffers the effects of the disadvantage, but does not drop to 303 points in value.
This is done so that PCs do not have a loot requirement (see DF21) that is below a given threshold thanks to have a magic item that has disadvantages. It's purely disadvantageous, and carries no additional benefits.
FWIW, this also applies to disadvantages earned/gained in play that take you below -55 points. The cap of effective point reduction for thresholds is -55, regardless of how or why the additional disadvantages were gained.
For example, Percy is 318 points and carries Agar's Wand, which is a Weirdness Magnet. Percy suffers the effects of the disadvantage, but does not drop to 303 points in value.
This is done so that PCs do not have a loot requirement (see DF21) that is below a given threshold thanks to have a magic item that has disadvantages. It's purely disadvantageous, and carries no additional benefits.
FWIW, this also applies to disadvantages earned/gained in play that take you below -55 points. The cap of effective point reduction for thresholds is -55, regardless of how or why the additional disadvantages were gained.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
GURPS DF Session 207, Felltower 134 - Exploring the Gate Level
Game Date: 3/30/2025
Weather: Cold, clear, dry.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (358 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (318 points)
Before the PCs headed out, Hannari and Duncan went looking for Black Jans to sell him some things they'd found. No luck, though - his tower wasn't anywhere to be found.
The PCs headed up to the castle ruins above the town, and down the well entrance and more or less straight to the "gate level." A couple PCs wanted to try the teleporter, but others were vehemently against it. They went down the GFS, carefully.
At the bottom, Hannari decided to get cute and follow the painted-on stairs that seem to keep going down. He made it most of the way around before getting nauseous, throwing up, and passing out. They dragged him away from where he fell and used Awaken. Thor and Hannari tried to replicate what happened, but to no avail.
They walked out into the very still, very tight area of the level. Next, the Lost City - the plan was, go there, kill the "dragon" reputed to live in the lake, or near the lake. Sadly, thought, the gate wasn't functioning when they arrived. It's a little flaky and it wasn't active today.
Next, they decided to go kill the dragon on the level below. With their Daedalus' Wings, they could fly down from a pit that gave way to the dragon's cave, and attack it. So they put Flight on Vlad and he flew upside down to see what was up. He saw the dragon below, facing away - but clearly awake, and clearly (and loudly) sniffing him out. He backed off and they decided not to attack the dragon. (I think the plan was, kill the sleeping dragon by shooting its eyes shut before it woke up. Awake, there were concerns.)
Next, they headed to the Bottle Prison to loot the bottles there. Long story short, Thor got zapped with fire, they took three bottles (blue, white, and copper) and found they couldn't leave. They tried one by one but the same thing occured. So Duncan cast Analyze Magic a bunch of times and determined all of the bottles had a kind of imprisonment enchantment, at Power 20, and a password they couldn't discern.
They put them in place and did the same spell on the "strength + crazy bottle" - a metal bottle that had humorous effect last time and found it had a very powerful, but essentially chaotic and random, effect on it. They left it alone.
Next they decided to go kill the beholder, and headed down the long way to reach it. On the way, though, they decided to cut down the netting blocking off a side passage, and moved through and found a curtain. Vlad heard something(s) waiting beyond it. Thor tore it down, revealed two gnolls, an ogre, a hobgoblin, and two distorted orcs. Chop joked, "Parley!" but no one meant it. They butchered the lot, but a second went by before Chop put down Silence on the fight. It was enough to alert the others. After the PCs killed their opponents (in a few seconds), Vlad looked ahead and saw some living quarters with space for more than they had fought. He came back, Hannari came to him, and they decided to pursue. They ran after what - to judge by bedding - was more than a score of human-like folks and a half-dozen gnolls and another ogre. They kept after them, but the humanoids had fled out of a little complex of tunnels they clearly lived in, past a "garden" of mushrooms, glowing lichens, and weird grey eggplants. Followed them, they entered into a large carven and saw lots of gargoyles. They fled back.
Duncan put up a yard-thick earth wall with Create Earth and then turned it to stone with Earth to Stone. They did the same with another side passage that led to the same gargoyle caves.
After they rested for a few minutes and Duncun downed 4 paut, they shaped a hole in the closer wall. Vlad moved through, backed by Thor. They saw 25-30 gargoyles moving around, alerted to the PCs by their lights. A few seconds later, a beholder appeared in the distance, coming out of a tunnel in the far wall, some 50-60' off the ground in this 70' foot or so tall cavern. From it came a low, menacing laugh. Vlad put two Cornucopia arrows into its main eye . . . except the magically created arrows disappeared. He tried again with two more arrows, this time one fine and one magical. The beholder dodged one and disintigrated the other.
They fled. A gargoyle landed near the hole they'd made, Dodged two arrows from Vlad (one created, one magical), and then Duncan sealed the hole.
They ran back to the level above, and headed home, pausing only to Seek Earth on gold (which failed) and to check out the big, chained doors marked on their map.
After that, it was just back to home.
Notes:
The original plan was the Air Gate, but my own personal busy-ness made it hard for me to prep for it . . . and then Persistence's player couldn't make it, and they didn't want to go without him.
The next plan was the Lost City, but it's only open on a 1-5 on a 6. I'd have preferred they hit that gate, too . . . but I rolled a 6, and I rolled because I wanted the dice to decide.
Plan for next time is the Air Gate, unless someone comes up with something spectacularly better.
MVP was Chop, chosen at random. 1 xp each for exploration (the humanoids' tunnels were new), so 2xp for Chop. Point totals above should be accurate as of game start.
Weather: Cold, clear, dry.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (362 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (358 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (318 points)
Before the PCs headed out, Hannari and Duncan went looking for Black Jans to sell him some things they'd found. No luck, though - his tower wasn't anywhere to be found.
The PCs headed up to the castle ruins above the town, and down the well entrance and more or less straight to the "gate level." A couple PCs wanted to try the teleporter, but others were vehemently against it. They went down the GFS, carefully.
At the bottom, Hannari decided to get cute and follow the painted-on stairs that seem to keep going down. He made it most of the way around before getting nauseous, throwing up, and passing out. They dragged him away from where he fell and used Awaken. Thor and Hannari tried to replicate what happened, but to no avail.
They walked out into the very still, very tight area of the level. Next, the Lost City - the plan was, go there, kill the "dragon" reputed to live in the lake, or near the lake. Sadly, thought, the gate wasn't functioning when they arrived. It's a little flaky and it wasn't active today.
Next, they decided to go kill the dragon on the level below. With their Daedalus' Wings, they could fly down from a pit that gave way to the dragon's cave, and attack it. So they put Flight on Vlad and he flew upside down to see what was up. He saw the dragon below, facing away - but clearly awake, and clearly (and loudly) sniffing him out. He backed off and they decided not to attack the dragon. (I think the plan was, kill the sleeping dragon by shooting its eyes shut before it woke up. Awake, there were concerns.)
Next, they headed to the Bottle Prison to loot the bottles there. Long story short, Thor got zapped with fire, they took three bottles (blue, white, and copper) and found they couldn't leave. They tried one by one but the same thing occured. So Duncan cast Analyze Magic a bunch of times and determined all of the bottles had a kind of imprisonment enchantment, at Power 20, and a password they couldn't discern.
They put them in place and did the same spell on the "strength + crazy bottle" - a metal bottle that had humorous effect last time and found it had a very powerful, but essentially chaotic and random, effect on it. They left it alone.
Next they decided to go kill the beholder, and headed down the long way to reach it. On the way, though, they decided to cut down the netting blocking off a side passage, and moved through and found a curtain. Vlad heard something(s) waiting beyond it. Thor tore it down, revealed two gnolls, an ogre, a hobgoblin, and two distorted orcs. Chop joked, "Parley!" but no one meant it. They butchered the lot, but a second went by before Chop put down Silence on the fight. It was enough to alert the others. After the PCs killed their opponents (in a few seconds), Vlad looked ahead and saw some living quarters with space for more than they had fought. He came back, Hannari came to him, and they decided to pursue. They ran after what - to judge by bedding - was more than a score of human-like folks and a half-dozen gnolls and another ogre. They kept after them, but the humanoids had fled out of a little complex of tunnels they clearly lived in, past a "garden" of mushrooms, glowing lichens, and weird grey eggplants. Followed them, they entered into a large carven and saw lots of gargoyles. They fled back.
Duncan put up a yard-thick earth wall with Create Earth and then turned it to stone with Earth to Stone. They did the same with another side passage that led to the same gargoyle caves.
After they rested for a few minutes and Duncun downed 4 paut, they shaped a hole in the closer wall. Vlad moved through, backed by Thor. They saw 25-30 gargoyles moving around, alerted to the PCs by their lights. A few seconds later, a beholder appeared in the distance, coming out of a tunnel in the far wall, some 50-60' off the ground in this 70' foot or so tall cavern. From it came a low, menacing laugh. Vlad put two Cornucopia arrows into its main eye . . . except the magically created arrows disappeared. He tried again with two more arrows, this time one fine and one magical. The beholder dodged one and disintigrated the other.
They fled. A gargoyle landed near the hole they'd made, Dodged two arrows from Vlad (one created, one magical), and then Duncan sealed the hole.
They ran back to the level above, and headed home, pausing only to Seek Earth on gold (which failed) and to check out the big, chained doors marked on their map.
After that, it was just back to home.
Notes:
The original plan was the Air Gate, but my own personal busy-ness made it hard for me to prep for it . . . and then Persistence's player couldn't make it, and they didn't want to go without him.
The next plan was the Lost City, but it's only open on a 1-5 on a 6. I'd have preferred they hit that gate, too . . . but I rolled a 6, and I rolled because I wanted the dice to decide.
Plan for next time is the Air Gate, unless someone comes up with something spectacularly better.
MVP was Chop, chosen at random. 1 xp each for exploration (the humanoids' tunnels were new), so 2xp for Chop. Point totals above should be accurate as of game start.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Seek Earth
DF Whiterock has a nice post on Seek Earth.
Find it here.
In DF Felltower, I do the following:
- Even a single coin is a "significant" amount. This means that small hoards, and even single coins layed out, can distract a Seek Earth spell.
- I don't allow specific gemstones. Casting on gold, silver, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, etc. one after the other - trivial with high skill - just doesn't work out. I basically just shut this down to avoid the annoyance of needing to know the direction to everything in my dungeon from every point in my dungeon, in three dimensions.
- I give relative directions but not "lead" people to anything. Directions are rough - I tried being very specific, but people believe their maps and measures, so if I said 40 yards northwest and they go what on their map is 45 yards NW and find loot, they think there is more 5 yards closer as well and keep looking. Insisting on vague has actually made for more clear communication.
- I always choose to lie on critical failures. Lie, lie, lie. Oh, and roll on the table for what else happens. Information spells are great, but when they're wrong, they're really wrong.
Optional rule ideas:
- Give a -1 for each source you ignore in the casting. Make everyone pool their gold together or move away from them so you can treat them as one "hoard" of gold. This fits the DF -1 per adjective approach to obstacles, makes for a challenge to find a "big" hoard in a mess of little ones you're carrying, and rewards the 20+ skill of better casters. It also explains why skill-12 pikers out in the world have troubles and your IQ 16, Magery 6 guy does not.
- Make it akin to an divination spell - give a direction, but not a distance. Let people triangulate . . . it'll be easier for you, the GM, as they do the trig to determine how far to go.
- limit the castings to once per period of time - says, once per hour, or once per substance per day. Don't allow spamming it out.
I haven't tried, these, but I love the second one and like the first one . . . and that first one is an easy implementation.
Find it here.
In DF Felltower, I do the following:
- Even a single coin is a "significant" amount. This means that small hoards, and even single coins layed out, can distract a Seek Earth spell.
- I don't allow specific gemstones. Casting on gold, silver, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, etc. one after the other - trivial with high skill - just doesn't work out. I basically just shut this down to avoid the annoyance of needing to know the direction to everything in my dungeon from every point in my dungeon, in three dimensions.
- I give relative directions but not "lead" people to anything. Directions are rough - I tried being very specific, but people believe their maps and measures, so if I said 40 yards northwest and they go what on their map is 45 yards NW and find loot, they think there is more 5 yards closer as well and keep looking. Insisting on vague has actually made for more clear communication.
- I always choose to lie on critical failures. Lie, lie, lie. Oh, and roll on the table for what else happens. Information spells are great, but when they're wrong, they're really wrong.
Optional rule ideas:
- Give a -1 for each source you ignore in the casting. Make everyone pool their gold together or move away from them so you can treat them as one "hoard" of gold. This fits the DF -1 per adjective approach to obstacles, makes for a challenge to find a "big" hoard in a mess of little ones you're carrying, and rewards the 20+ skill of better casters. It also explains why skill-12 pikers out in the world have troubles and your IQ 16, Magery 6 guy does not.
- Make it akin to an divination spell - give a direction, but not a distance. Let people triangulate . . . it'll be easier for you, the GM, as they do the trig to determine how far to go.
- limit the castings to once per period of time - says, once per hour, or once per substance per day. Don't allow spamming it out.
I haven't tried, these, but I love the second one and like the first one . . . and that first one is an easy implementation.
Friday, March 14, 2025
Friday Night Roundup 3/14/2025
Stuff for the week.
- Things I Want to Do Differently This Time over at DF Whiterock is well worth the read. I do this kind of thing myself, but only an exercise in passing along lessons . . . my game is just an undying series of sessions without a cold restart.
" I'm hoping that if players want more XP, they try to make their PCs achieve more per session, rather than whining about the GM." I have to pat myself on the back for my XP system - this is pretty much what happens. The current version, especially so. People don't moan at me, they moan that they can't find the loot they are (correctly) sure I have stocked the dungeon with.
Also this: "Ultimately it's up to the players what they do, though; the GM provides challenges and incentives and hooks but the players act." Yes.
I will keep a close eye on what he chooses to do and how it works out.
- Speaking of Megadungeons, Castle Zagyg is up and running on Backerkit. I'm out . . . I don't need it, and the price tag is (probably appropriately) steep.
- I've got a bit of a break coming up, so I may not post much - or at all - for a week or two.
- Things I Want to Do Differently This Time over at DF Whiterock is well worth the read. I do this kind of thing myself, but only an exercise in passing along lessons . . . my game is just an undying series of sessions without a cold restart.
" I'm hoping that if players want more XP, they try to make their PCs achieve more per session, rather than whining about the GM." I have to pat myself on the back for my XP system - this is pretty much what happens. The current version, especially so. People don't moan at me, they moan that they can't find the loot they are (correctly) sure I have stocked the dungeon with.
Also this: "Ultimately it's up to the players what they do, though; the GM provides challenges and incentives and hooks but the players act." Yes.
I will keep a close eye on what he chooses to do and how it works out.
- Speaking of Megadungeons, Castle Zagyg is up and running on Backerkit. I'm out . . . I don't need it, and the price tag is (probably appropriately) steep.
- I've got a bit of a break coming up, so I may not post much - or at all - for a week or two.
Monday, March 10, 2025
Rules & Rulings from DF Session 206
Two quick notes from last session.
How does healing, etc. work with the odd downtime?
The PCs didn't go through a gate, but a lot of time elapsed. In game, the PCs finished their delve December 12th/13th, and we finished the session March 9th. Healing - and weapon and armor repair - dates from that time. No one sits around not healing. Fixing gear is the same to me as healing.
Enchantments and special orders, though, happen from 3/9/25. It's a sanity-saving device where I can date from my actual emails and notes when something was ordered. Letting people back-order means I have to be stricter with travel time, rest time, etc. and it rewards people who count the days and buy accordingly. I just don't love that aspect of the game in the first place enough to add more of it on top.
Re-assembling armor
I ruled that re-assembling the suit of mail they'd found was a simple task of lots of time, and the Armoury (Body Armor) skill. Thor will learn it and assemble the suit. Costs are minimal - it probably should be 5%-ish of the cost of a suit - but the container did say it contained everyone for a suit.
The players wanted to know if they could re-assemble the suit into a dwarf-sized suit of mail instead of human, since both are SM 0. No. The armor is fine, and thus exactly tailored to a specific build. You can't just swap pieces. This is mail, so I get the idea that you can just move rings from here to there, and here to there, and so on, but a) I'm not sure that would actually realistically work, b) fine says no, and c) it seems iffy to claim that mail armor is just a square footage that is totally fungible into new shapes. Same with making "adjustments" to a different size - at that point, you're paying a substantial premium to have the armor rebuilt and extra, matching quality/enchantment pieces need to be made. In this case, that's Fine, Elven, and Fortify 3. Not cheap, not by a long shot. Better to just put it on one of the humans that it will already fit.
How does healing, etc. work with the odd downtime?
The PCs didn't go through a gate, but a lot of time elapsed. In game, the PCs finished their delve December 12th/13th, and we finished the session March 9th. Healing - and weapon and armor repair - dates from that time. No one sits around not healing. Fixing gear is the same to me as healing.
Enchantments and special orders, though, happen from 3/9/25. It's a sanity-saving device where I can date from my actual emails and notes when something was ordered. Letting people back-order means I have to be stricter with travel time, rest time, etc. and it rewards people who count the days and buy accordingly. I just don't love that aspect of the game in the first place enough to add more of it on top.
Re-assembling armor
I ruled that re-assembling the suit of mail they'd found was a simple task of lots of time, and the Armoury (Body Armor) skill. Thor will learn it and assemble the suit. Costs are minimal - it probably should be 5%-ish of the cost of a suit - but the container did say it contained everyone for a suit.
The players wanted to know if they could re-assemble the suit into a dwarf-sized suit of mail instead of human, since both are SM 0. No. The armor is fine, and thus exactly tailored to a specific build. You can't just swap pieces. This is mail, so I get the idea that you can just move rings from here to there, and here to there, and so on, but a) I'm not sure that would actually realistically work, b) fine says no, and c) it seems iffy to claim that mail armor is just a square footage that is totally fungible into new shapes. Same with making "adjustments" to a different size - at that point, you're paying a substantial premium to have the armor rebuilt and extra, matching quality/enchantment pieces need to be made. In this case, that's Fine, Elven, and Fortify 3. Not cheap, not by a long shot. Better to just put it on one of the humans that it will already fit.
Sunday, March 9, 2025
GURPS DF Session 206, Brotherhood Complex 8 - Raid, Part VI - Exploring & Looting
Actual Date: 3/9/2025
Game Date: 12/12/2024
Weather: Cold, clear, dry.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (301 points)
Brother Quinn, human initiate (125 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (335 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (316 points)
Amlaric, human squire (125 points)
Persistance Montgomery (303 point knight)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (306 points)
Leon the Eye, human archer (125 points)
Aaron, Brandon, Cedric, Dortmund, Ernie, Ferd, Grunlark, and Hansel, human guards (62 points)
Bullworth and Oxford, human laborers (62 points)
Honest Charles LeGrand, human squire (125 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (298 points)
We picked up where we left off last time.
The PCs carefully moved through the Iron Witch's room, finding a series of rough tunnels behind one door. They eventually found they all were dead ends each to a covered spyhole out into the hallway. They tossed the main room, taking a framed picture they believed was of the King of Cornwood (it wasn't), moved furniture, etc. All they found of interest was a book stand with a snapped-off chain on it - whatever book was there had been very recently torn off the podium and removed.
They went where the Iron Witch had to have gone - another side door they'd briefly explored past and then returned from. That turned out to lead to a "treasury" - an alchmical lab, a workbench oilstained and scarred up from metalworking on the top, some food, and coffers and urns. They found a big haul of gems, some gold, silver, and copper coins, some rings, a suit of unassembled magical mail, and sone food. Oh, and some purple lotus flower dust - a hallucinogenic that also makes the taker very susceptible to suggestion.
They organized it up, sealed the clay urn with candle wax to keep the drugs in, and carried it out to their wounded compariots. They also found a second set of stairs down, right near the Iron Witch's room, behind a secret door revealed by See Secrets. They went to their wounded friends and spent a bit of time healing them up. That done, they carried their loot, their fallen friends, and what they could pull off the cultist wizards (paut and a few Hooded Robes of Protection) and headed ot the surface.
There, they set a few of their men guarding the camp, took two guards - Ferd and Aaron - and Brother Quinn, and headed back in.
They spent the rest of the delve exploring the third level underground. Most notably, they found the "junk room" where a previous group had struggled with some demon grunts, the torture chamber where a previous group had fought some torturers, a couple of rooms redolent with the smell of the incense they'd found above, and a demonic temple.
The temple was incomplete. The altar had a blood-caked obsidian knife and silver (or silvered) cup, and showed some heavy use . . . but nothing recent. Some statues nearby showed signs of having held . . . something . . . that was missing. None of it was magical - it was the tools needed to make a summoning easier, but not enough to summon without just flat-out casting Summon Demon. It was Low Sanctity, as well. Chop surmised (correctly, in the end) that there was an older cult of demon-worshippers or demonic servants, and the Brotherhood had moved in long after and used the temple area and the hallucinogenic drugs to condition their recruits until they were solid believers.
Further exploration found many sets of robes for the brotherhood, but also a study area, and a long-disused set of cult paraphenalia - a silver mask, an onyx ring, an ebony staff with an onyx head, and iron knife, and a black robe unlike that of the Brotherhood. The mask, looked at from the front, was an odd mix of demon and babboon. From the left, it appeared more babboon-like. From the right, more wolf-like. "Demogorgon!" they agreed, but luckily only a couple times out loud . . . and nothing came of it.
They took the ring, shredded the robe, broke the knife, and snapped the skull off the staff. Thor rolled up the solid silver mask like a frying pan in a strongman show, and Percy helped pound it into a lump they could sell for its weight in silver. Beyond this area were "natural" caves . . . with many bones of animals and some humans and human-like bones as well. Nothing complete . . . but a lot. Vlad decided things came in here to die. Yeah, no one else saw it that way. They wanted out before whatever was killing things made an appearance. They headed out.
What followed was a lot of exploration. Just going around looking for the wizard's room - they didn't find it - and anything else. They found stairs up that led eventually to an illusionary wall right near the entrance. They also found an armory/storage room. They took some weapons, but left the old construction materials they found that matched those used for the temple area.
In the end, that's about all they found - they never found the gnoll's rest area, where the two plate-armored cultist leaders stayed, or where the wizard's stayed. They jsut got tired of going round and round and headed out.
In the end they did take some serious loot - it worked out to almost $10K each - and put down the Brotherhood in this place. The Iron Witch, though, and that one wizard cultist got away, and they never figured out exactly how. They're currently in Stericksburg, recovering and plotting their next moves.
Notes:
A rare no-combat session. Not a single blow aimed in the session. We spent a good chunk of time in combat time, though - maybe 2 1/2 hours? - as the PCs were stalking what they thought was a carefully hiding Iron Witch. They weren't willing to break off pursuit until it became clear they could not and would not find her.
MVP was Chop for caring for the NPCs and his very helpful See Secrets spell.
The PCs are already talking about going back and mapping the complex to ensure they found everything. We'll see if that's the plan for next session or not. It'll be a few weeks from now, and many weeks from the delve they just completed.
Game Date: 12/12/2024
Weather: Cold, clear, dry.
Characters
Chop, human cleric (301 points)
Brother Quinn, human initiate (125 points)
Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (335 points)
Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (316 points)
Amlaric, human squire (125 points)
Persistance Montgomery (303 point knight)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (306 points)
Leon the Eye, human archer (125 points)
Aaron, Brandon, Cedric, Dortmund, Ernie, Ferd, Grunlark, and Hansel, human guards (62 points)
Bullworth and Oxford, human laborers (62 points)
Honest Charles LeGrand, human squire (125 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (298 points)
We picked up where we left off last time.
The PCs carefully moved through the Iron Witch's room, finding a series of rough tunnels behind one door. They eventually found they all were dead ends each to a covered spyhole out into the hallway. They tossed the main room, taking a framed picture they believed was of the King of Cornwood (it wasn't), moved furniture, etc. All they found of interest was a book stand with a snapped-off chain on it - whatever book was there had been very recently torn off the podium and removed.
They went where the Iron Witch had to have gone - another side door they'd briefly explored past and then returned from. That turned out to lead to a "treasury" - an alchmical lab, a workbench oilstained and scarred up from metalworking on the top, some food, and coffers and urns. They found a big haul of gems, some gold, silver, and copper coins, some rings, a suit of unassembled magical mail, and sone food. Oh, and some purple lotus flower dust - a hallucinogenic that also makes the taker very susceptible to suggestion.
They organized it up, sealed the clay urn with candle wax to keep the drugs in, and carried it out to their wounded compariots. They also found a second set of stairs down, right near the Iron Witch's room, behind a secret door revealed by See Secrets. They went to their wounded friends and spent a bit of time healing them up. That done, they carried their loot, their fallen friends, and what they could pull off the cultist wizards (paut and a few Hooded Robes of Protection) and headed ot the surface.
There, they set a few of their men guarding the camp, took two guards - Ferd and Aaron - and Brother Quinn, and headed back in.
They spent the rest of the delve exploring the third level underground. Most notably, they found the "junk room" where a previous group had struggled with some demon grunts, the torture chamber where a previous group had fought some torturers, a couple of rooms redolent with the smell of the incense they'd found above, and a demonic temple.
The temple was incomplete. The altar had a blood-caked obsidian knife and silver (or silvered) cup, and showed some heavy use . . . but nothing recent. Some statues nearby showed signs of having held . . . something . . . that was missing. None of it was magical - it was the tools needed to make a summoning easier, but not enough to summon without just flat-out casting Summon Demon. It was Low Sanctity, as well. Chop surmised (correctly, in the end) that there was an older cult of demon-worshippers or demonic servants, and the Brotherhood had moved in long after and used the temple area and the hallucinogenic drugs to condition their recruits until they were solid believers.
Further exploration found many sets of robes for the brotherhood, but also a study area, and a long-disused set of cult paraphenalia - a silver mask, an onyx ring, an ebony staff with an onyx head, and iron knife, and a black robe unlike that of the Brotherhood. The mask, looked at from the front, was an odd mix of demon and babboon. From the left, it appeared more babboon-like. From the right, more wolf-like. "Demogorgon!" they agreed, but luckily only a couple times out loud . . . and nothing came of it.
They took the ring, shredded the robe, broke the knife, and snapped the skull off the staff. Thor rolled up the solid silver mask like a frying pan in a strongman show, and Percy helped pound it into a lump they could sell for its weight in silver. Beyond this area were "natural" caves . . . with many bones of animals and some humans and human-like bones as well. Nothing complete . . . but a lot. Vlad decided things came in here to die. Yeah, no one else saw it that way. They wanted out before whatever was killing things made an appearance. They headed out.
What followed was a lot of exploration. Just going around looking for the wizard's room - they didn't find it - and anything else. They found stairs up that led eventually to an illusionary wall right near the entrance. They also found an armory/storage room. They took some weapons, but left the old construction materials they found that matched those used for the temple area.
In the end, that's about all they found - they never found the gnoll's rest area, where the two plate-armored cultist leaders stayed, or where the wizard's stayed. They jsut got tired of going round and round and headed out.
In the end they did take some serious loot - it worked out to almost $10K each - and put down the Brotherhood in this place. The Iron Witch, though, and that one wizard cultist got away, and they never figured out exactly how. They're currently in Stericksburg, recovering and plotting their next moves.
Notes:
A rare no-combat session. Not a single blow aimed in the session. We spent a good chunk of time in combat time, though - maybe 2 1/2 hours? - as the PCs were stalking what they thought was a carefully hiding Iron Witch. They weren't willing to break off pursuit until it became clear they could not and would not find her.
MVP was Chop for caring for the NPCs and his very helpful See Secrets spell.
The PCs are already talking about going back and mapping the complex to ensure they found everything. We'll see if that's the plan for next session or not. It'll be a few weeks from now, and many weeks from the delve they just completed.
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