Games are (usually) on Thursday nights sometime after 5:30PM at World's Best Comics, 9714 Warwick Blvd Newport News, Virginia 23601.

Tomorrow's game will be another board game. I got a pre-publication revision of the latest Divine Right game to play test. I'll also be running that as an official sanctioned demo at the Guns of August convention in Newport News Virginia on 25-27 August.

This is a two week report and I don't remember much. (Even though I have typed a lot of content). I have been tired lately. Probably overwork, I don't know. I took an online course at the local community college on network security. Maybe that's what did it. As an old timer I was rather a know-it-all, but it was a good refresher. A little bit of Python programming was included, it reminded me of good old BASIC without the line numbers while certain statements, functions, and libraries that would be verbose for me were assumed. I was disappointed because it wasn't FORTRAN/77. I ace'd the final at 100%, snark, snark. However it wasn't for credit since I took the course for free as a Virginia senior citizen in Audit mode.

I have not forgotten what the pizza was for the first session. It is just that I don't care. The 2nd session we got bumped out of our usual room so rather than take the upstairs suite on a hot day, (even though there was A/C I didn't trust it). We traversed town and gamed at my house. That day we had a conglomerate of fast foods, via Taco Bell and Burger King just to be different.

++++ START OF SESSION(S) ++++

The party made combat with the Grumpy Old Man and the Grand Demoness of the Dungeon.

There was a bit of betrayal from Jacko's demon girlfriend. When asked for data she simply started lying. One of the things I remember was Jacko and his Away Team (select characters) tried to sneak up from behind the curtain in the Grand Demoness' throne room, but there was an impenatrable wall of force. When asked if it could be penetrated she lied about it.

Next I remember she was asked to Teleport the Away Team to the other side of the barrier, but the group ended up in a nondescript room. She claimed not knowing what happened (spell malfunction). But the gamers finally got wind of her duplicity due to telltale signs from the GM and so they killed her off with the six Modron Icosahedones (known to the party as the form 27B-stroke-6 contractors), using their gas attack.

While she was down, Gnomex finished her off.

(If it matters only Jacko and his Away Team were witnesses.)

I can't really say if they "really" killed her or was she just putting on a good show of it. As a powerful demonness, her body upon "death" disappeard off the Prime Material Plane and ended up back on one of the Planes of the Abyss. Either way the party gets the points for her "defeat". Essentially her job was to get the Grumpy Old Man to this level. She did that by letting him shrink in size and hide somewhere. When previously asked to do some "detection" about the Grumpy Old Man, she lied about that too.

Mission accomplished.

Upon her reappearance in the Abyss I think she got a promotion and a medal.

Meanwhile back in the regular battle between the Grumpy Old Man the Grand Demoness and the rest of the Party. Elefus and others (not with Jacko) had been trapped with a Forcecage Spell. (Which is like the old Star Trek's Tholian Web but only a 20 foot diameter size.) Supposed to be like a Cube of Force but spells and weapons can be cast into and out of it.

Within the Forcecage was cast a Fireball, and a Lightning Bolt and maybe another high damage spells by the Grumpy Old Man. The end result on the Party's side, Huang's two remaining Monk followers, the two Mynxes, and Man-Bear-Pig were killed.

Otherwise during the battle there was a miracle of miracles. This kind of puts off all other details of the battle to the wayside.

Aerys flew up to the Grand Demoness and with an ultimate act of bravery, attacked her with a dagger (with the appropriate magic benefits otherwise the Demoness would be immune), and rolled a natural 20 on a 20 sided die.

A critical hit.

Gamewise we have a house rule, one can either roll the official HackMaster critical hit tables or use the House critical hit rules (which we call "Cheese Crits"), on a Cheese Crit, another natural 20 on a 20 sided die is a kill. (It slopes downhill from there.)

So while the Player for Aerys was pondering whether to use the official HackMaster rules or go for "Cheese".

The other Players were shouting "cheese, .. cheese, .. Cheese, .. CHEESE!"

He decided to go for the Cheese Crit, and rolled another 20.

This was of course instant death for the Grand Demoness, the Cause Celebre for this entire module. Of course being from the Abyssal Plane, like the lesser demon above she disappeared in a puff of an unfiltered pack of Pall Malls. Banished to the Abyss where she cannot enter the Prime Material Plane for 99 years (or is it 100? or 666?), whatever.

Meanwhile I was fishing for a GM card that would get her out of it. I couldn't find it. I knew I had it however, but found the card the following game session in this report.

Non-plussed, the Grumpy Old Man continued the fight. Elefus finally cast a Dispel Magic out of his Forcecage (3rd or 4th try I think). Meanwhile Jacko's Away Team figured out where they were and hoofed it back to the main battle. (They discovered they were merely in an adjacent room where the Jacko's dead ex-girlfriend had Teleported them to.)

Someone did something that caused the Grumpy Old Man to finally fail a saving throw and he was "Paralyzed". I think it was the 27B-stroke-6 Modron Icosahedron contractors. I'm sure the Players will remind me.

So the Party was about to deliver the Coup-de-Gras on the Old Man on the next round, and I declared the party still needed to roll for Initiative.

But he's "Paralyzed", said the gamers.

He still gets an "Initiative" roll, says I.

The party realizes there could still be mental things going on with the Old Man.

The Grumpy Old Man disappeared. (Just in case I was also armed with the GM card I couldn't find the week before, which was "Monster Emergency Teleport".) Didn't really need to use it, the Old Man had his own power, really.

Game over.

In the aftermath the Party collected any remaining loot and went up the Throne elevator (that only Jacko could operate with his Abyssal Orb). This is just game accounting and I may accrue it later.

About the same time the Grumpy Old Man would have recovered from his Paralysis, the party was upstairs on the Ground Level of the Evil Temple. The area was hit by an Earthquake, and the Temple started to crumple. Escaping through the broken stained glass window of the Temple as it was falling, the party made its way out of the area of effect. (Which of note was a 160 feet radius, hmmmm..)

Debriefing:

Elefus will retire. His presence as a high level Cleric was to shore up the Party. The Player had left long ago and now runs his own DC Superheroes game in another room. The same group of Players that bumped us out of our room the second session.

Who or what the Grumpy Old Man was, has never been determined. His lack of identity as well as the Grand Demoness that Aerys offed with the Cheese Crit (she had a name), I can only attribute this to Player lack of interest or carelessness in checking for story clues.

Whoever he was, the Grumpy Old Man had the hots for the Grand Demoness. She had been imprisoned and blocked from detection on the Dungeon's 3rd level by powerful spells and the Grumpy Old Man had been searching for her for years. Her death by Aerys' Critical Hit merely relocated her to the Abyssal Plane where the Grumpy Old Man can easily find her.

So you'd think the Grumpy Old Man would simply be grateful for her release? But like the lesser demonness killed by, she is now stuck on the Abyssal Plane for 'x' number of years.

So there is also this little bit of Her and the Grumpy Old Man wanting to dominate the World, well, that will have to be put off for the same number of 'x' years.

So it appears the Grumpy Old Man will be around for awhile to harass the Party.

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

I expect the next HackMaster session the Party will be looking for something to do.

++++ CHARACTER ROSTER ++++


PART 2.

CHARACTERS
Felipe the Dwarf, a third level Sigil (Chosen One subclass of Cleric).
Grok the Dwarf, a third level Doughboy (Battlemage subclass of Magic User).
Jacko, an Albino Dork Elf, a Infiltrator (subclass of Thief).
Aerys, an Elvariel, a Fingersmith (Thief class).
Baronet Huang - a Master of the West Wind of the Stone Tiger Order, (Monk class).
Numrendir - a human Conjurist (a Conjuror, Magic User subclass) - Gone off to

NPCs:
Count Elefus, a human Abbot of Heimdall (Cleric class). RETIRED
Baronetess Honda - a Human Datai Samurai, Steward of Catan (formerly Temple of the Frog)
Gnomex, a Gnome Brother of Geardal Ironhand (Cleric class.)
Sum Dum Gai - Brother of the Winds (Monk, Fighter subclass). DECEASED.
Gangnam Bang Mi - Sister of the Winds (Monk, Fighter subclass). DECEASED.
Sum Ting Wong - SheMale Brother/Sister of the Mysteries (Monk, fighter subclass).
Tanzen - a Fae-Born first level Exciter. (Fourth level Invoker, a Magic User subclass).
Vixine Numar, a human Servant (a Chosen One, Cleric subclass). Recently raised a level.
A Dark Enchantress Demon. Grok's new girlfriend who folds her wings over her shoulders to look like a cloak. TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER PLANE OF EXISTENCE
A Madger, a half humanoid, half badger creature who made a deal to serve with the party. DECEASED (a.k.a. Man-Bear-Pig.)
Two Mynxes, half female humanoid, half cat. They can shape change either way. They went both ways. DECEASED
Six Icosahedrones. (27B-stroke-6 contractors)
One charmed Confusion Beast. WANDERED OFF (It got confused.)

MISSING or CAPTURED CHARACTERS (PCs or NPCs)
Gargoyle (Elefus henchperson, demoted from Sidekick, out of town on business, acting as courier to BlackMoor).
BlackMoor to check his Investment Account.
Junkbot Jackson - a human Tracker/Adept (a Ranger, Fighter subclass and Cleric).
Gerry Castagere, human Fingersmith, (Thief class) and ever loving devotee of Elefus.
Fundisha - a half-Elf Swordsperson/Tout (Fighter and Infiltrator, a Thief subclass).
Sir Weasel, human Guild Soldier, Warlock, & Champion (Thief, Magic User, & Fighter classes) he stayed back in BlackMoor.
- and nine Pilgrim henchmen of various levels. (They wear hoodies.)
Slade Wilson - Dwarven Professional (a Bounty Hunter, Fighter subclass) Left behind at Catan.

BT







BBBB

++++ RECORD KEEPING ++++

PART 3.

This is also posted on three forums, and a blog.
viewforum.php?f=76
http://www.furiouslyeclectic.com/forum/f...php?fid=13
http://www.kenzerco.com/forums/forumdisp...ster-Tales
http://furiouslyeclectic.com/hackmoor/

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