Gorefest Gazette by Richard Sharpe Volume 2, Issue 2 Friday, Jan. 12, 2018 The Draugr Crypt Our
first session in the new year, Jan. 7, 2018, went very well despite sickness
wracking the game master's bones. Too bad there are no Cure Disease spells in
real life! We were also missing our enthusiastic Scout player, Killer Mouse,
who got tickets to a ball game as a Christmas present. More monsters for
everyone else to slay! We got started a tad late and played from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., our standard ending time.
While we were down one player, we gained two,
bringing our official Blue Team membership to the full five players. We
welcomed Carl, who played Tembei, a half-oni (a stylized half-ogre)
Swashbuckler, and David, who played Mandar, a human Wizard. They were both
fantastic additions to Gorefest Dungeon!
This session was centered on the Dragr Crypt, a
cavernous chamber inside the first floor of the multi-level dungeon, but getting there was half
the battle! Session Recap Mandar, the wise and intelligent Wizard played by David, decided to investigate the sinister, glowing runes on the floor that only his senses could detect. First, he announced to his three comrades, the Knight, Swashbuckler, and Cleric standing behind him, "Stand back! This is a job for only the mightiest intellect, one capable of comprehending the sorcerous nature of the arcane! A mind able to clearly view the hidden reality of the universe's most esoteric secrets!" Impressed by how truly smart Mandar must be, the other delvers complied and stepped back. Way back. This is when explosions tend to happen, after all. Brow furrowed, Mandar stood at the edge of the pulsating circle contemplating it for a moment. After racking his memory, he could think of no advice for eliminating evil runes from his Magic Traps 101 class at the Wizard Academy. Dispel Magic wouldn't work as this was probably a permanent enchantment and even if it wasn't, the runes were more like a curse rather than a spell anyway. There was no physical component to the trap, either; only he could see the intangible markings with his powerful mind's eye. So, he did what any super genius would do: jumped feet-first smack dab right down into the center of the runic circle. We needed the laugh. Gorefest Dungeon players and their respective characters for the Jan. 7 session include: Chris D. playing Henry Goldston, human Knight, 255 points Shiva playing Deacon Ostarys, dwarf Cleric, 255 points Mouse, not present, who plays Vakkem Flintbreaker, human Scout, 255 points Carl playing Tembei No Oni half-ogre Swashbuckler, 250 points David playing Mandar the human Wizard, 250 points At the dungeon's entrance, our four delvers were again called to choose which of the three southward passages they would take. Ostarys the Cleric prayed to his god seeking divine guidance as he did
the first time they entered the multi-level dungeon, but on this occasion, his god gave
him the opposite advice: proceed to the east instead. Of the three forks, only one was
in that direction, and that was the only one they knew nothing about, but they
took the god's advice and cautiously proceeded down it. After all, they previously took the middle passage, which led to a goblin-kin
garrison, during their first delve. While some orcs might have returned or wandering monsters might have
moved in to fill the void after the first session's slaughter, there wasn't
likely to be any new treasure . If rumors from Town were true, the far-west hall did contain treasure, but also traps, and the adventurers already knew from their
first expedition slimy oozes patrolled its dark passage. Players generally dislike diffuse monsters, but really hate equipment-eating corrosive damage, so they weren't going that way. Down the east passage and into the darkness of the unknown they plunged, torches held high. Mandar the Wizard voiced some natural concern about the fact that so far, the entire dungeon was a no-mana zone. Thankfully, while it was also a no-sanctity or nature area as well, Ostarys' god still answered his prayer (as per the rules). Walking slowly—aided by Henry the Knight's helmet lantern and Ostary's delver’s periscope—the explorers made a few twists and turns before finding the exit to the goblin-kin chamber. They closed its door, which still stood open from last time, and proceed in the opposite direction, featureless stone-brick walls everywhere they looked. Thankfully, for the Wizard and Cleric at least, they eventually re-entered normal mana. The air was still and silent, chill and dry. Footfalls against the flagstone beneath their boots echoed through the long, dark corridor. Ostary's consistent use of his periscope at every turn payed off: when he peered around the next corner he spied four floating skulls wreathed in ghostly-blue flames at the far end of the 25-yard-long hall. Freezing skulls! They didn't seem to have noticed the Henry's spotlight quite yet, but there was no time to spare! It might have been a mistake by the GM to have revealed the skulls were the "freezing" variant of flaming skulls ( Monsters , p. 27), but no big deal either way. It was a (forced) result on a wandering monster roll, not meant to be a lethal threat, but still a considerable challenge. Despite Ostarys quickly casting Resist Cold (a good Power Investiture 2 spell) on himself and Tembei the half-oni Swashbuckler, the skulls proved to be worthy opponents as wandering monsters. So, while the players tried to bypass diffuse monsters, they ended up still encountering the same. Diffuse creatures are meant to be battled with explosive attacks (e.g., explosive fireball) or other large-area injury (e.g., Create Fire), but the party was lacking there. Sure, they knew it was a weak spot in the party's capability, but not too bad of one, right? Even with attacks that do full damage, it seemed the skulls had far too many hit points, but more on that later. The skulls flew toward the heroes, but were met with an enormous amount of swing-crushing damage. More often than not, Knights and Swashbucklers do swing-cutting damage, but our team's heavy-hitters both do crushing, Henry by way of an estoc and Tembei with a club. Our Cleric, eshewing Dungeons & Dragons conventions, is our swing-cut guy; he uses an axe. The skulls swarmed forward at a breakneck 12 yards per second, but their chill fangs were bashed to wispy splinters. After the last skull dissipated in a flash and cloud of blue smoke, the party moved down the hall until Mandar called for everyone to halt; there were evil runes on the floor! The invisible markings were situated just before a large, arching, black doorway made of iron and etched with reliefs of scowling faces and moaning skulls. This was it, the draugr crypt! The trap posed a frustrating obstacle, though. It was right in the way of the doors. Of course, that's when Mandar jumped feet-first into the trap, triggering it. After taking 3d injury and rolling 8 (out of 10 Basic HP) , Mandar made his major wound check and scurried back to the group, who were all rolling on the floor laughing. The wizard's hair was frozen, a layer of white frost covered his body and clothes, and tiny icicles hung from his nose and eyebrows. Basically, he looked like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining: Mandar was alive, at least. A quick Major Healing spell from the Cleric and he was back to full HP—but that meant a "repeated attempt" penalty if he needed healing later in the dungeon! Not good! Luckily, it was cold damage and thus, two members of the party should theoretically be protected: the Cleric and Swashbuckler, who both still wore Resist Cold spells. Ostary's was brave and virtuous enough to volunteer Tembei to step inside the trap just to make sure. Tembei agreed, ready for action, but did he probe the area carefully with his big toe barely crossing the circle's outer rim? Heck no! He went full "Mandar" and jumped into the center of the two-hex trap. Though the trap flared with blue energies surging from the glowing runes, Tembei was unharmed. The Resist Cold spell worked. The Cleric joined him, and after finding himself also unaffected, searched the doors for traps (he has one off-template point in Traps, for skill level 13). Finding none, he pushed the doors open. The massive iron doors swung slowly inward, groaning in complaint. A gust of bone chilling air rushed out from the crypt. The vast chamber was a forest of slender stone columns stretching up to a vaulted ceiling more than 20 feet above. Coals smoldered in a brazier against the far wall. Six sarcophagi lay on the floor, three on both the left and right side of the room. Three were closed, three were open with undead standing before them: two unarmored skeletons with shields and axes, one draug in a suit of mail similarly armed, though his shield was larger and his black axe more menacing. Bats shrieked and scattered, their leathery wings flapping in the darkness of the high ceiling's shadows. They were like a cyclonic torrent of shrill screeches and beating wings. The heroes were unimpressed. A pair of feeble skeletons and a lone draug do not a challenge make, not for four well-prepared delvers! After a bit of circling, shield banging and taunting, it became clear that the undead guardians weren't going to rush Tembei and Ostarys. Shields and axes raised, they waited. The whole time, from the far side of the door's threshold, Mandar built a fireball bigger and bigger. He let it get to 6d (in two turns) and then took aim for three more, all without interruption. He loosed the flaming ball of fiery death, sending it roaring toward the draug. The blazing sphere smashed against his upraised shield in a flash of sparks and pyrotechnics . . . but the monster stood unharmed. It successfully blocked the elemental fury. Tembei and Ostarys then laid into the skeletons. The dull thud of metal weapons on wooden shields resounded through the frigid mausoleum as each of their blows were deflected. Both hero and villain blocked and parried repeatedly, sparks flying as their weapons met again and again. Tembei mainly used rapid strikes at only -3 each due to receiving his mail-order Weapon Master certificate. The GM's active defense rolls for the monsters were all very good, but the skeletons, with a Move of 8, have a great Dodge score (11, +3 when retreating) as well as a serviceable Block, canonically. The only change to the stats from Monsters , p. 48, was an increase to their Axe/Mace skill from 14 to 16. The draug waded into battle with its fell axe, swinging the ebony Dwarven blade at the half-oni Swashbuckler. That put the odds in favor of the monsters—the Henry stayed in the hall to defend Mandar; only Ostarys and Tembei entered the crypt. Fortunately, the Swashbuckler's parry was an outstanding 17. He parried with ease and returned the attack. The two clashed in a back-and-forth that ultimately resulted in no injury, even with Mandar pouring on the Flame Jet for a couple turns at the end, using up the draug's favored defense, his block. After 11 rounds of turns, we ended the session in a stalemate, but I'm quite certain that will quickly change at the beginning of next session! Speaking of which, our next session is Sunday, January 14, at 6 p.m. Central Time (-6 GMT). Hope to see everyone there! No designer notes this time; the recap ran long and behind schedule. I have plenty to say, but we'll save it for another issue.
