Games are on Monday night sometime after 5:30PM at World's Best Comics, 9714 Warwick Blvd Newport News, Virginia 23601.

We skipped another week due to personal issues. There shall be no placeholder report for 7 March.

This time we had a combo-pizza and found out to my dismay I have another dietary requirement from one of my Players for no green peppers. In addition to our other Player requirements of: 1) No pepperoni, 2) no veggies, 3) no anchovies. Although requirements 1) and 2) were waived because certain Player's with those requirements were not present at the time.

For BlackMoor fans, I relocated this adventure from Greyhawk to the BlackMoor map near the the crossroads between the Regent of the Mines, The Black Hills, and Fairfield Abbey. Consider Tharp and Nulb to be unmarked towns.

PART 1.

To summarize and apologies dear reader, if there are some new things not yet said:

Elefus stayed behind in the town of Tharp as communications relay officer with his Gargoyle.

A subset of the Party took a minor contract to deliver a message between from one of the townsfolk to her sister that lives out of town on a farm. The sister in town had not heard from her in a week. Our contractors were comprised of Tujef, Blake, Curly and Twitch and four of Huang's Monk followers. They went up the high road and found a tunnel complex underneath an abandoned farm.

The tunnels were discovered by Tujef who had simply had fallen into one and disappeared. Curly, Twitch, and Jacko went down after him and never returned. Blake and the Monks retreated back some miles down the road and enjoined the remainder of the party to effect rescue.

Upon arrival, Aerys ventured into the farmhouse to the kitchen where she found another tunnel entrance and was soon captured by an giant insect that shot webs at her. Hearing her scream, the party also descended into the tunnel and followed the insect's tracks. They soon found Aerys and the farm's former inhabitant abandoned in a small chamber encased in web cocoons. Aerys was OK but the other was desiccated.

To keep the story line in-sync (as this is not a mystery), two of the three who went after Tujef, (Curly and Twitch) had also been seized with webs from the giant insects. Jacko, on the other hand, being one of the underground races, avoided capture and followed. When the party returned he was simply incommunicado in another section of the tunnel complex spying on the bugs. To simulate Jacko's return (by hearing the noise of combat and rejoining the party), I had Jacko link up with one chance in six per Turn.

This is where we pick up from last week.

The party was in a large chamber in combat against what appeared to be a giant soldier insect followed by what were considered four bug workers that attacked the party from the rear. The soldier bug was shortly killed by Huang, but a second one appeared soon after. Due to its nature, rather than press the attack, the second soldier insect considered the first dead bug as food, and dragged it off. Huang and Honda decided not to follow but turned about-face to assist the rear.

For the participants at the rear, who were among the newer (and weaker) Party members, combat took a little while longer. Thus Huang and Honda found it difficult to help as the combatants were bunched up at against a tunnel opening. The best Huang and Honda could do was poke a spear between the other Party members. Eventually the Party won out but Aerys was killed in the process.

Thereafter Party made a slow and deliberate retreat back to the farmhouse. Jacko finally rolled a one and met the party at an intersection. Since he knew the location of the other three captured party members, he told them so. However due to Party politics they instead decided to return to the farmhouse and send a messenger back to Elefus for help. (Aerys was dead and the Players felt they couldn't continue without raising him back up.)

During their wait there were some minor thumps from behind the kitchen table they had thrown upside down over the hole in the floor while they sat on it, but nothing came of it. When Elefus arrived he called upon his gawd to raise up Aerys, but only after he demanded an appropriate offering from non-believers. Vixine (a low level Chosen One of another gawd), having spent her few healing spells during combat, was nonplussed.

After coming back to life rather than being thankful, Aerys did nothing but complain of her predicament and demanded a pay raise. She claimed it wasn't in her contract to endure pain.

At this critical juncture, the point came up whether to continue to rescue the other captured non-player characters (since they were non-player characters) or just move on.

Being good guys they opted for rescue. (Nice to have them on your team.)

Without incident they found the other three again wrapped in cocoons. One of which, like the farm girl discovered earlier, was also dried up. (Why did they not also previously take her body and have her raised up? I hesitate to ask. There may be some explaining to do should they meet her sister again.)

Getting back to the three NPCs, in order to make things fair, I had inscribed the three names of the wrapped detainees: Tujef, Curly, and Twitch on three two by three inch cards. I placed them upside down and asked the party to pick one. The lucky dead character was Twitch. Elefus having used his regular Raise Dead spell for the day, used a Minor Raise Dead spell, earning Twitch some new flaws.

At this juncture we called it a night. Jacko was voted MVP for both his patience and location of the captured NPCs.

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

It is either a House Rule or something I read long ago but the first time a character dies, they are awarded a thousand experience points. Thus 1,000 XP for Aerys.

BT





BBBB

++++ CHARACTER ROSTER ++++

PART 2.

CHARACTERS (New players on top.)

Dornorin, a Sylvan Elf, Magic User, General Practitioner.
Jacko, an Albino Dork Elf, 1st level Infiltrator
Blake, also a Human 1st level Infiltrator (a.k.a. Sneak).
Vixine Numar, a Human 1st level Chosen One (a.k.a. Touched)
Aerys, a Elvariel 1st level Thief. (Elvariels are like 6 foot tall Fairy hybrids. Makes you wonder about the breeding habits of Tinkerbell.
Count Elefus, a Human Male Abbot
Sir Huang - a Master of the North Wind of the Stone Tiger Order, Baron of Catan
Dame Honda - a Human Datai Samurai, Steward of Catan (formerly Temple of the Frog)
Numrendir - a Human Conjurist

NPCs:

Tujef, Numrendir's sidekick and a Human 3rd level Zealot of Thor (recently converted to Zealot)
Curly - Insane Keeper a.k.a 1st level Paladin and Elefus' other Sidekick (a Gargoyle really wouldn't do).
Twitch - Raised from the Dead (twice) Treasure Hunter.
Gargoyle - Elefus's hench person (demoted from Sidekick)
Rubbio - Redeemed Footpad
Sum Dum Gai - Male 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)
Won Hung Lo - Male 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)
Bang Mi - Female 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)
Stin Ki Poo - Male 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)
Yu Too Fat - Male 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)
No Tsmo King - Female 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)
Hu Yu Hai Ding - Male 1st level Monk (a.k.a. Grasshopper)

MISSING or CAPTURED CHARACTERS (PCs or NPCs)

Junkbot Jackson - a Human Tracker/Adept
Gerry Castagere, Human Fingersmith, and ever loving devotee of Elefus
Fundisha - a Half-Elf Swordsperson
Sir Weasel, Human Guild Soldier, Warlock, & Champion (he stayed back in BlackMoor)
- and nine Pilgrim henchmen of various levels. (They wear hoodies.)
Slade Wilson - Dwarven Professional (Left behind at Catan)

BT







BBBB

++++ RECORD KEEPING ++++

PART 3.

This is also posted on two forums, a blog, and recursively on linkedin:

viewforum.php?f=76
http://www.furiouslyeclectic.com/forum/ ... php?fid=13
http://furiouslyeclectic.com/hackmoor/
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/6605523