Gorefest Gazette Volume 1, Issue 2 Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 We knocked a whole lot of rust off during our first session last Sunday, Jan. 15. It wasn't our best, nor our worst—it went pretty well for a practice to get us back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, I suddenly got sick the morning of the game, and was sick all day Monday and still Tuesday morning, but I'm over it now. Thankfully I made it through the session, but wasn't in my usual spirits. Now, I'm already looking forward to our game this coming Sunday! First Session Recap Dodging a skeletal archer's arrow while somersaulting over a deadly trap while also diving past the fiery breath of a hideous gargoyle-demon, Zeth really lived up to his title as swashbuckler at the end of our first session. Luke's second Swashbuckler character—his first, a catfolk named Kritty, having died heroically at the end of last season—left the rest of the group back at the entrance to dart toward a large iron-bound door, none to my surprise as the Game Master. In fact, I placed death traps on both sides of the entrance with the specific purpose of killing his character should the dice show him disfavor. They didn't, and Zeth was able to dive behind a column beside the ponderous jail cell door. But, to what end? We had a full roster for our first session; all five players—one new and four returning from past seasons—were at the virtual table top. Gorefest Dungeon characters and their respective players include: Archie playing Elmer F. Rhubarb the half-elf Scout, 250 points; Chris playing Legitimate Hobbes the human Holy Warrior, 250 points, and his ally, Culain; Luke playing Zeth the human Swashbuckler, 250 points; Naryar playing Merideth the high elf Wizard, 250 points; Allen playing Razine D'Tor the human cleric, 250 points. The group entered the first room of the dungeon, called Antepiece , a massive octagonal chamber with a raised platform in the center and a deep moat of glowing goo surrounding it. Atop the platform was a golden chest guarded by two skeleton archers, two gargodemons, and a skeleton in a black robe holding an ebony staff—a dreaded spellwight. The skeleton archers aren't particularly fierce, but with Bow-18 and Heroic Archer, they can't be ignored. The gargodemons—red, demonic fire-breathing gargoyles—on the other hand, are not trifling enemies. With flight and a 3d burning breath attack, the creatures can strike accurately from distance with no range penalties leaving grounded melee characters scrambling for cover. Finally, my spellwights—the name being play on an amalgam of "playwright" and the undead "wight"—are little more than skeletons with the Wizard template, but that's enough to make them perilous encounters. Antepiece . Work in progress! Players began at top. Notice the slide trap in the upper right corner Zeth triggered. Side view, to scale, drawbridge raised. The first thing the group did was appoint Chris' character, the human Holy Warrior Hobbes, as the official leader of the group. Once that was done, the players began planning their course of action. I allowed plenty of "time-out" for this discussion, though in-game, the characters realized the irradiant sludge was rising—the clock was ticking and they had less than twenty minutes but more than five before the ooze reached the walkway and started spilling over the edge. Coming off a five-month hiatus, the players took it slow and cautiously. This wasn't the first time the party had met a spellwight. One guarded the false door at the end of the first season's first dungeon —The Crusher. Gargodemons have been a reoccurring monster as well, though they didn't have much chance in the Gorgonian's Prison, their last appearance, where they were cursed to lie dormant as statues, a major disadvantage. However, it was the skeleton archers on the platform across the moat who attacked first, both aiming for Merideth's heart. One missed the high elf Wizard, played by Naryar, but the other arrow struck its mark. Luckily, her armor deflected the damage. (Thinking back, ST10 was too little and I'm not sure why I stifled them so. They will have ST 11 and the Strongbow perk next session onward. Everything else seemed balanced pretty well, including a Fast-Draw (Arrow) at 16, though it didn't matter the skill level when I rolled a 6, 6, 6, spilling the contents of its quiver. They didn't have a player to represent them in rules court and throw a tantrum, so I said the arrows all went over the edge of the platform.) The players realized they had left their mage wide open and fixed the mistake with a Fog spell cast by Razine, human Cleric, priestess of the war god Lokithor. We welcomed Razine's player, Allen, our new member this season. From there, the players took cover behind the columns. Archie's half-elf Scout, Elmer, traded fire with the skeleton archers, but otherwise, no one made much of a move. That is, until Luke started getting antsy. There are four doors in the chamber, two on each side. He had to see what was behind them, and—just as I had planned—he darted out from one column and sprinted toward the next. Never mind the skeleton archer who had taken a Wait maneuver to shoot him. Nevermind the gargodemon who had perched on the ceiling and taken a Wait maneuver to blast him. Never mind that Elmer had warned him that the area looked like it was trapped. No, never mind any of that, there were doors to open! The gods of fate were with the Swashbuckler and his thrilling dash to the other side of the trap was successful. One good thing to come of Zeth's impulsiveness, the entire party could have been wiped had everyone been standing on the slide trap when it triggered. But, now he's cut off from the other characters . . . Hopefully, Zeth will like what he finds on the other side of that door. Maybe it will be a massive pile of gold and jewels. Maybe it will be a beautiful catfolk maiden chained to the wall, waiting to be rescued. Maybe it's just a trapped decoy, a door to an empty room. Maybe it will be an orc with an axe ready to cut his head off. Who knows? To find out, we'll all have to wait until our next session, Sunday, Jan. 22, at noon Central! Hope to meet everyone back at the table then!
