This time we had a large sausage pizza with extra cheese. The previous week we played Settlers of Catan so there was no report for 10 March.

Games are on Tuesdays sometime after 5PM at World's Best Comics, 9714 Warwick Blvd Newport News, Virginia 23601.

This missive is also posted on two forums:
(This one, you're reading, and)
http://www.furiouslyeclectic.com/forum/ ... php?fid=13

And one blog:
http://furiouslyeclectic.com/hackmoor

++++ START OF SESSION ++++

This was an adventure "between-adventures" where the Party commiserated on where to go next for two hours. At the conclusion of the 2nd hour, we had a new Player join in with a Thief character named "Twitch".

Their first encounter was Duchess Trixie who mysteriously emerged beneath a pile of rubble, apparently saved from death -- as opposed to the rest of her bodyguards -- by a quick chug of a healing potion as the walls came tumbling down. She had acquired the chugging skill due to her frequent tavern-hopping excursions in the seedier sections of town.

First item on the list was for Elefus to expend all his healing and cure spells on the party as well as a couple of remove curses. Having expended all of them, they elected to return to the refugee camp and assist as they could. One spell of note was Create Food & Water spell which at his 12th level of experience was 12 cubic feet of the stuff. Enough to feed a small regiment.

The next day Elefus finished casting enough remove curses to alleviate the rest of the party of their die roll penalty. Those that fell into the Dishonor category are still have a penalty of one to their die rolls. Huang & Kmaregh have acquired "Bad Karma" and have their honor score "capped" until they commit a selfless-heroic act.

They elected to stay and research "Murica" and the "Freedom Bells" in Starport (an auspicious name). However in order to do the research the town had to be rebuilt, especially the library. Fortunately for them, the Duchy's deliberative body was made up of retired lecherous lounge Wizards, and the library including the adult section was rebuilt on the first day while the rest of the town was rebuilt over 3 days. During research, the party found several clues, mainly indicating that "Murica" was over the Western Sea, except that the Blackmoor map ends with a desert on the West edge. This meant they would have to travel to parts unknown. A couple of the clues were from ancient inscriptions, one of which said "They'll stone you when you're trying to take your seat." and "How many seas must a white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand?"

One Player made further queries on the second ancient inscription, in order to find the distance before the dove sleeps. Of course he was informed only that "The answer is blowing in the wind.".

Having done that, the party opted to go back to Blackmoor to recuperate a little and perhaps replenish their stores, since Elefus is now without his twice a day teleporter. So they hired a local fishing boat but had to wait another five days due to the Brewfest holiday after which they finally set sail with a bunch of drunken sailors.

Not much occurred until the end of the 3rd day, when the hackles rose on Elefus neck. So he cast a "Detect Evil" spell and found a pile of garbage on the shore that emitted a strong sense of foul evil. So they avoided it. (No experience points for avoiding a combat encounter and not that they'll ever know what the evil was.)

Elefus got docked Honor for not combating evil wherever found. Essentially the whole party did, for "Walking away from a challenge." This also applied to the next two encounters:

A couple of days sailing downriver during the night they had another encounter with singing Sirines in one of their magically generated fog banks. All the characters except Numrendir and the five of the six (now sober) crewmembers made their saving throw. Kmaregh flew out on his broom to rescue Numrendir. Meanwhile from the mist they heard two glubs and three cries for help. Weasel made an unusual move and rolled vs. his "Diplomacy" skills and negotiated a truce. The Sirines departed leaving the crew in the water. (No crew succumbed far enough to actually drown, and one quarter experience points for negotiating combat into a draw.)

And again during the night they heard more singing, but they were far enough away from shore to be bovvered. However these were Nereids and not Sirines. (Again no experience points for avoiding a combat encounter.)

A few days later they made landfall on the eastbank of the Firefrost channel north of the Cimieras Hills and the Goblin Hills. This is west of the Egg of Coot and separated by the Sturgeon channel. Besides they wanted to avoid any Cooters.

++++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR ++++

BT







BBBB

++++ CHARACTER ROSTER ++++

PLAYERS

Count Elefus, Human Male Deacon
Sir Weasel, Human Guild Soldier, Enchanter, & Myrmidon
Sir Kmaregh Dismal, Human Thaumaturgist
Sir Huang - Master Monk of the Stone Tiger Order
Dame Honda - Human Samurai Bushi
Numrendir - Human Coercer
Bane - Human Hero
Twitch - Human Larcenist

MISSING CHARACTERS (captured)
Junkbot Jackson - Tracker/Adept
Gerry Castagere, Human Fingersmith, and ever loving devotee of Elefus
Fundisha - Half-Elf Swordsperson

So, would a "selfless, heroic act" have been tackling the garbage pile, the Sirines or Nereids, even though they didn't have too?

It seems strange with two of the party having "bad karma" that they weren't trying to get rid of it asap.

I cannot account for the vagaries of my Players nor their motivations or lack thereof.