Overall, my Felltower campaign has been a success. A solid group of core players, some coming and some going in and around the core, for what will be 14 years this year. I haven't needed to do too much mapping of the main dungeon after my initial waves. A few more side areas than I expected to need - the Cold Fens, the Lost City, and the Brotherhood Complex, instead of just the Caves of Chaos - but not as many as I might have. Lots of great games. Lots of fun. Many, many stories.
So my posts where I pretty much complain about my game is going? The Joe Walsh quote that titles this sums it up pretty well. Our game is good. I really enjoy getting to GM it, more often than not. I feel rewarded for the work I put it. I complain because I'd like it to be better, more enjoyable, more eventful, more rewarding to play in. But it's not because it's bad. If it was bad, I could complain much more rightfully but I'd also need to just end the game or totally overhaul it. It doesn't need those . . . it just needs some effort. I think I can make it easier for people to see the big picture of things left undone . . . and do a bit more to make it obvious how to get the answers they want. After that, if still the game feels stalled or limited, then perhaps it's time to set it aside. It's not that time. Felltower's been good to me so far.
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Monday, April 7, 2025
The Mysteries of Felltower - Status
I will attempt to keep an ongoing list of solved and unsolved puzzles, mysteries, and oddities in Felltower.
Some of these aren't really that mysterious. Some of these puzzles aren't actually puzzles. Some are, kind of. A few had clues to "solve" them - or at least understand them - that were destroyed through PCs actions.
I will mark as solved those things that, as a GM, I've confirmed were resolved. They aren't mysteries anymore and are effectively resolved. Creative players may find a further use for them but they are basically done. When I get time, I will update this, and I'll add links relevant to the mystery in question.
Solved or Resolved
Rotating Statues. Revealed a treasury, long since looted.
Golden Fish & Pool of Water. Fish was sold for 50K.
Sterick's Tomb. Sterick slain and the magical doors opened permanently.
Twinned Temple. The secondary temple is gone permanently.
Stone Altar on Felltower Level 2. Effects largely known, limited to one touch for beneficial effects.
Unsolved or Unresolved
Orichalcum Doors. One key is still in the possession of PCs.
Crystal Mirrors aka Crystal Lenses. Use unknown.
Circular Rooms Beyond the Repelling Doors. Use as yet unknown. Method to bypass the repelling doors is known.
Optical Illusion of additional stairs on the first GFS.
Green Gemstone Zombies.
Room of Pools. Some of the pools are still an unknown, but all have been heavily investigated.
Headless Busts / Aka Saints of Felltower. Some are still headless.
Chained Doors. Twin giant chained doors on the Gate level, near the Olympus Gate.
Brotherhood Complex Tapestry that detects as Gate magic.
Unopenable Door on the 2nd floor of the first GFS.
Some of these aren't really that mysterious. Some of these puzzles aren't actually puzzles. Some are, kind of. A few had clues to "solve" them - or at least understand them - that were destroyed through PCs actions.
I will mark as solved those things that, as a GM, I've confirmed were resolved. They aren't mysteries anymore and are effectively resolved. Creative players may find a further use for them but they are basically done. When I get time, I will update this, and I'll add links relevant to the mystery in question.
Solved or Resolved
Rotating Statues. Revealed a treasury, long since looted.
Golden Fish & Pool of Water. Fish was sold for 50K.
Sterick's Tomb. Sterick slain and the magical doors opened permanently.
Twinned Temple. The secondary temple is gone permanently.
Stone Altar on Felltower Level 2. Effects largely known, limited to one touch for beneficial effects.
Unsolved or Unresolved
Orichalcum Doors. One key is still in the possession of PCs.
Crystal Mirrors aka Crystal Lenses. Use unknown.
Circular Rooms Beyond the Repelling Doors. Use as yet unknown. Method to bypass the repelling doors is known.
Optical Illusion of additional stairs on the first GFS.
Green Gemstone Zombies.
Room of Pools. Some of the pools are still an unknown, but all have been heavily investigated.
Headless Busts / Aka Saints of Felltower. Some are still headless.
Chained Doors. Twin giant chained doors on the Gate level, near the Olympus Gate.
Brotherhood Complex Tapestry that detects as Gate magic.
Unopenable Door on the 2nd floor of the first GFS.
Sunday, April 6, 2025
The Telephone Game & Felltower
Last game session, we got to enjoy the telephone game - I mentioned this Friday, but it's worth repeating here.
"The telephone game is alive and well. One of my players suggested getting some arrows of dragon slaying, because Puissance +3 is cheap on arrows and any weapon with Puissance +3 is Slaying. So, almost none of that is actually true. But half-remembered rules and events get passed along and become, to paraphrase Phillip J. Fry, widely-believed facts.
You have to wonder how many things in Felltower are regarded differently than they actually are thanks to similar half-remembered details passed along, morphed, and then re-remembered. I'm half curious but mostly I deliberately tune out the player discussions to avoid giving away what I actually think."
It got me thinking about Felltower and the "played out" nature of it. It's been voiced repeatedly by my players, old and new, that Felltower really has no more easy areas and only near-certain death areas. You need to be X points to survive what's ahead, no one is X points, and getting those points requires new exploration or loot and that's all played out in the survivable areas. How true is that?
There are a good number of "unsolvable" encounters, auto-death locations, places that need special abilities to usefully interact with, and so on. But are they always what they seem?
There are a few places that newer players - and some vets alike - would like to go and deal with. But they're shot down when suggested because they are rejected by a sufficient number of players (a plurality, in general, of nos vs. a minority each of yesses and agnostic.) I think some of them are a variation of the telephone game. You get player memories of events their previous PC enountered, accounts written down by me after the game session, and what people remember being told second hand. It creates a stew of uncertainty.* My players are, to a degree, willing to risk their PCs in a fight, but only if they know it is winnable and has a reward. But what gets defined as "winnable" is colored heavily by the telephone game.
More than once I've heard people bring up an idea, and have it shot down for reasons I know are, at best, oversold. This can be a big downside to a megadungeon or any other repeat-play area. Because you can find out things now to make tasks easier later, there is a reluctance to take a jump into the unknown, and a strong reluctance to try where group memory says something is hard.
I am not really sure what a solution is for this problem. It remains one of the big issues of Felltower right now - people have combed over the "easy" stuff again and again and again, and take a shot at the risky stuff only when there is no choice. Or not even then. Sometimes they're right to do so . . . but other times, it's just a case of misinformation becoming common sense. How to resolve this? I don't actually know.
* I need to stat up Stew of Uncertainty at some point. Maybe next April 1st.
"The telephone game is alive and well. One of my players suggested getting some arrows of dragon slaying, because Puissance +3 is cheap on arrows and any weapon with Puissance +3 is Slaying. So, almost none of that is actually true. But half-remembered rules and events get passed along and become, to paraphrase Phillip J. Fry, widely-believed facts.
You have to wonder how many things in Felltower are regarded differently than they actually are thanks to similar half-remembered details passed along, morphed, and then re-remembered. I'm half curious but mostly I deliberately tune out the player discussions to avoid giving away what I actually think."
It got me thinking about Felltower and the "played out" nature of it. It's been voiced repeatedly by my players, old and new, that Felltower really has no more easy areas and only near-certain death areas. You need to be X points to survive what's ahead, no one is X points, and getting those points requires new exploration or loot and that's all played out in the survivable areas. How true is that?
There are a good number of "unsolvable" encounters, auto-death locations, places that need special abilities to usefully interact with, and so on. But are they always what they seem?
There are a few places that newer players - and some vets alike - would like to go and deal with. But they're shot down when suggested because they are rejected by a sufficient number of players (a plurality, in general, of nos vs. a minority each of yesses and agnostic.) I think some of them are a variation of the telephone game. You get player memories of events their previous PC enountered, accounts written down by me after the game session, and what people remember being told second hand. It creates a stew of uncertainty.* My players are, to a degree, willing to risk their PCs in a fight, but only if they know it is winnable and has a reward. But what gets defined as "winnable" is colored heavily by the telephone game.
More than once I've heard people bring up an idea, and have it shot down for reasons I know are, at best, oversold. This can be a big downside to a megadungeon or any other repeat-play area. Because you can find out things now to make tasks easier later, there is a reluctance to take a jump into the unknown, and a strong reluctance to try where group memory says something is hard.
I am not really sure what a solution is for this problem. It remains one of the big issues of Felltower right now - people have combed over the "easy" stuff again and again and again, and take a shot at the risky stuff only when there is no choice. Or not even then. Sometimes they're right to do so . . . but other times, it's just a case of misinformation becoming common sense. How to resolve this? I don't actually know.
* I need to stat up Stew of Uncertainty at some point. Maybe next April 1st.
Friday, April 4, 2025
Friday 4/4/2025 Roundup Post
Friday roundup!
- The telephone game is alive and well. One of my players suggested getting some arrows of dragon slaying, because Puissance +3 is cheap on arrows and any weapon with Puissance +3 is Slaying. So, almost none of that is actually true. But half-remembered rules and events get passed along and become, to paraphrase Phillip J. Fry, widely-believed facts.
You have to wonder how many things in Felltower are regarded differently than they actually are thanks to similar half-remembered details passed along, morphed, and then re-remembered. I'm half curious but mostly I deliberately tune out the player discussions to avoid giving away what I actually think.
- I'm writing a new DF Felltower Questionairre. Unlike the last one, this one is entirely focused on player responses, not the PCs. My last survey did both. My goal at this point is to just figure out what things within the game and rules are working well, and what are not. It's surprisingly hard to word them in a neutral way while also eliciting the feedback I'm interested in.
- Do you kill the hobgoblin children in the Caves of Chaos? 20% of respondants, and 100% of Desmonds, do!
- This guy - Togilius the Chamberlain is pretty neat. He'd make a good NPC wizard in my game. Or a PC wizard in my game.
- The telephone game is alive and well. One of my players suggested getting some arrows of dragon slaying, because Puissance +3 is cheap on arrows and any weapon with Puissance +3 is Slaying. So, almost none of that is actually true. But half-remembered rules and events get passed along and become, to paraphrase Phillip J. Fry, widely-believed facts.
You have to wonder how many things in Felltower are regarded differently than they actually are thanks to similar half-remembered details passed along, morphed, and then re-remembered. I'm half curious but mostly I deliberately tune out the player discussions to avoid giving away what I actually think.
- I'm writing a new DF Felltower Questionairre. Unlike the last one, this one is entirely focused on player responses, not the PCs. My last survey did both. My goal at this point is to just figure out what things within the game and rules are working well, and what are not. It's surprisingly hard to word them in a neutral way while also eliciting the feedback I'm interested in.
- Do you kill the hobgoblin children in the Caves of Chaos? 20% of respondants, and 100% of Desmonds, do!
- This guy - Togilius the Chamberlain is pretty neat. He'd make a good NPC wizard in my game. Or a PC wizard in my game.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
DF Felltower Spellstones further rulings
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.
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.
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.
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