GURPS DF Session 200, Brotherhood Complex 7

Game Date: 11/17/2024
Weather: Cool, 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)
     Leon the Eye, human archer (125 points)
     Aaron, Brandon, Cedric, and Dortmund, human guards (62 points)
     Bullworth and Oxford, human laborers (62 points)
Thor Halfskepna, human knight (306 points)
     Honest Charles LeGrand, human squire (125 points)
Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf martial artist (298 points)

The PCs hired up a bunch of able-bodied men, purchased sacks and backpacks and rations, and headed off to the Brotherhood Complex. They reached it in due course, and headed in.

Inside, they found no guards. It was curiously quiet. They found a secret door they couldn't open, right where foes had emerged to attack their flank last time. They marked it with chalk and headed on.

From there, they headed south, and Vlad blundered into an evil runes trap. They healed him with a potion and Minor Healing and headed on, around it. They were seeking the stairs, or foes to destroy to ensure they could loot afterwards. So naturally they stopped, cast Seek Earth, found some gold back the way they came, and changed course.

They forced their way into an odd-shaped room with a six-fingered hand print on the floor, some 6' x 3'. Naturally, Thor touched it. A voice spoke into his head and told him he dared much coming here, but if he concentrated, he could find the voice's origin, and it would help him. He was all for it, so everyone overuled him and say they could do that on the way home.

They kept after the gold, forcing a few more doors - and as they forced one, they were rushed from the other direction by some guards headed by two guy they thought they'd killed last time - Brother Gobin and Brother Dortmund.

In a short, sharp fight - all of 10 seconds - they mauled the lot of them. Their NPCs held down the flanks and rear while Thor, Percy (and Agar's Wand), and Hannari tore them apart, with Vlad killing foe after foe, one after Chop used Command to get him to turn around. Duncan contributed to the chaos with an Explosive Lightning spell. It was pretty lopsided, although one managed to hit Thor in the face and wound him slightly. They killed them all except one (Vlad, as always, called for taking prisoners while he shot to kill.)

They captured one, and healed him enough to stabilize his wounds, then had Duncan question him. He defaulted Interrogation for the first time, and rolled a 3. My house rule since the early 90s has been, roll a 3, get the skill - these days I let you buy it on the spot. He did. He asked a few questions about the complex, and found they are allowed downstairs only blindfolded, and taken to an altar to pray. What happens there, he asked? And rolled a 17. The guard got hysterical, and started screaming, "You want to know what happens when we pray? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" and he died on the spot, clearly of fright.

They gathered up the useful loot, including two pairs of magical gloves, a bit of cash (~500 sp or so and ~200 gp or so) and some gems, a treasure map (the X said "Treasure" on it), and some plate armor. They headed to where they thought the stairs were.

They found them, but nearby were ~11 mechanical knights - those robot knights they fought before. They decided not to provoke a fight, and backed off.

Exploring nearby rooms, they found a silver chest - Vlad rushed in, greedily, and set off a greenish gas trap. So they used Purify Air to clear it out, and Vlad ran in and dragged the very heavy chest out. They slammed the door shut on the gas.

The chest, sadly, turned out to be a silver-painted stone chest.

They spent their last bit of time ensuring they'd located the stairs doww, and then headed back to try to find where the two plate-armored brothers lived. Despite See Secrets, they could not, and left the complex.

The gloves turned out to be a pair of Graceful Gloves and a pair of Gorilla Gloves.

Notes:

- Robots? Yes, the proper term in Cornwood for "golem" is "robot." Some of the non-Cornwoodian types picked up use of that word.

- There was a big debate at the end what to do - stay in the dungeon, stay in the dungeon and start a fight with the mechanical knights, or leave with their XP and substantial loot?

In the end they left, but there were really good weighing of the pros and cons.

- Not a lot of rules issues today. It was all pretty straightforward.

- I did realize a weight error made it into DFT3. I'll submit it for errata - not sure how I didn't notice it before. The Graceful Gloves are 0.5 lbs, the Gorilla Gloves 3 lbs, which is opposite of how they're in the book. Sorry, that's the opposite of my actual writeup notes. If you're using DFRPG, make that 0.6 and 1.2, respectively.

- MVP was Duncan for his Interrogation criticals and amusing results. Otherwise, 5 xp and lots of cash each. Oh, and a suit of plate armor for Thor to keep as a backup for the next time his armor is corroded into disrepair. No word on who will keeps the gloves.