Current Situation after session 118

•Tanos 50, closing on second hour as the group regains the ancient Venolvian road.  The explorers went through and Burnous and PLaes_Holdir did a scout of the area where they found cultists building a tower.  They spotted some 40-plus cultists, and saw a palisade by the road, as well as a squat tower and out buildings.  Burnous and PLaes also rescued a female Klaxik prisoner.  The group finished session 118 taking a prisoner and going back to the road, planning on crossing it and going to the west side of the road, towards the Ensight Hills.  Burnous' Map here.

This is the group's sixth foray to the Ruins of Vexchian, and this toqwer and contructions were not there 3- hawaak ago when the group passed by here last, or at least, no where near this advanced.  SO the cultists are creating a base a few days South of STeel ISle Town, but a few days North of the Ruins.

It was a good game  last night, though Victor was missed.  Sneakiness, archeology, interrogation, skullduggery...

Session 119 involved the explorers going to the west side of the old Venolvian road through the moors, since the Cult of the Dark one clearly had decided to hold the road itself with their new tower and palisade on the only rise on the road in a hester in either direction. It was about 2nd hour after noon still on Tanos 50, and the group had a hobyt cultist prisoner in tow.   So the explorers spied a small pile of stone and brush about a bankar to the west and south, the only real feature in the moors on that side.  The group could also see some grey clouds building over the large hills far to the west.

The explorers started towards it, marching from hillock to hillock and avoiding the wettest places of this red and green moor. The prisoner is bound and puts up little fuss with the grim and dangerous looking explorers leading him away.  The group gets to the hillock by mid second hour, and get behind some bushes.
Of course, there was the sound of terrifying huge wings in the air, that set the group splashing and dashing through the wettest moors to the hillock...and the site of a Wyvern with a rider landing in the Cultists' encampment...

 There, Moss, Toden and Plaes (the grimmest of the group, and the leaders) questioned the hobyt while Burnous Gar and Bryx found some old columns and a set of stairs.  Toden was also pleased that Bryx seemed to be more 'in tune with the Godstraat' then others in the group.  

The interrogation was not very professional, but the scarred, hooded, and dangerous air of the group scared the hobyt into telling what little he knew, which was still useful in learning a few names and confirming the wyvern rider and that the cultists were indeed fortifying, mainly in the area between the two bridges.

Once finished, Plaes dispatched the hobyt quickly with his trident through the hobyt's throat, and they used the dirt from the uncovered ancient pool to bury the body.  Not quite casual brutality.  Toden was disgusted by the cultist's 'perverted' philospophy.
Then the explorers moved over to a slighly larger hillock they saw part way between themselves and the eastern foothills of the Ensight hills.  They started splashing their way through the moors, as tribin dipped low and Red Gerin's light became the main illumination.  Then Moss spotted the ruins of an old road, a bit sunken, but much drier.  The group followed it along, ruined and tragic as the sun sank, seeing foundations and such all knocked over all about.  Then, as Tribin sank and the sky turned all scarlet with Red Gerin peeking over the water behind them, they reached the hillock.

Session 120
Hauntings, sneakings, and critical attacks.  Tanos 50

The group started with Tribin, the large yellow sun just dipping past the Ensight hills on the horizon in front of the explorers, smaller, red Gerin.  They folowed the old road, sometimes lightly submerged, sometimes above the moor, as it moved past old foundations and knocked over statues.  They could see ahead, some hour or so through the wetness, the rocks and trees of the 'island' they were making for, to the South and west.

After going down a small hill and up an old set of stairs, the group sees a pond off to the right of the road, and PLaes and Moss see a small band of gnolls of to the right, maybe 120 feet away.   The group hides, and PLaes goes foward, and spies on the gnolls as the light fades.  One gnoll has a well-kept, grey-white suit of Scale Armor, with dragonflies inlaid on the back.
The full darkness falls, and strange lights and distant horns are heard on the right side of the pont, off towards the direction the road they were following went.  the gnolls also were watching, and took a pose indicative of their expectation of the show, as strange, 1/2 seen phantoms dance and screams and horns wail seeming to come from nowhere.  

The Gnolls and the players enjoy the show.  

Then The group sneaks over, as the gnolls leave 2 on guard, and PLaes assassinates all the gnolls but one.  Succesfully sneaking and slaying first the ones on guard, silently, then the sleeping gnolls.  Then the group woke and questioned the last gnoll, finding out that this band was part of Trine  Stronghoen...the beastmen of the Ruins the group was returning to for the fifth time.

By the way, this group may lead me to the creation of Vreeg's Sixth Rule of Setting Design.  That in a good Sandbox, it will create itself as it needs to be.

I have noticed, in a Sandbox, that there is a skill (and something of an art) to building a lot of information in the direction you think the players are going to go, but still filling in histories and side-bits as well as (most importantly) enough information sketched on the outskirts of this path and nearby that the GM can logically extrapolate and the players never know when they have mved from the center of the detailed part off to the more sketched in areas.  This is a critical part of good GMing, and is part of the fifth Rule, about the 'illusion of preparedness'.
 
Especially because the good sandbox GM  is very Aurelian in nature ("The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.") and between session in the same way, will adapt to the new 'direction' of the PCs and detailing more fully in that area and sketching in the sides and big-picture stuff around that new Player direction.

I never thought the Steel Isle Online game would go on this long (though in retrospect, it makes sense), but it just hit session 120.  It was certainly devised as more of a Dungeon Crawl, but the way to the adventure is certainly difficult.  And that route, though mainly sketched, keeps becoming more and more detailed as the players move through the adventure and the moorish wilds Between Steel Isle Town and the Ruins of Vexchian.

Recently, the group needed to avoid a new settlement of the cult of the Dark Path (itself a response to the PC actions) and went off to the wetter moors to the west to loop around, where I had sketched in the ruins of Vericium, a large, destroyed town sacked in the War of the Shield. Since the PCs moved in that direction, I detailed the maps and some encounter areas (mainly passive undead, since Celtricia is so undead and spirit-heavy, visions and spirits can be used as informational encounters to smarter characters, etc) and changed the encounter charts to fit the area more (and added the obligatory uniques).

And since I have done this quite a few times before, one starts to see a pattern.  Since even the longest campaign with the GM with the most sparetime cannot possible do more than create broad strokes for many areas.  And the Sixth Rule I am working with is that a good GM will allow the players and their actions create where the details need to be; and through this, the settig will grow and populate in response to the game that is being played.

I haven't really gotten any time to write up the 'after-action' report for session 121.
Things are 'stupd-busy' at work right now.

Session 121 was knowledge building and role-playing.  The explorers are still in the Moors between the two bridges, in an area they now know was once Vericium, an ancient and destroyed Venolvian polulation center.  The Knights of the Bone, Squires Billo and Abryxia, have felt spirits everywhere they turn.  As the night darkens and the moons rise, the presence of the spirits grows stronger.

Moss, Toden, Jon and Plaes_Holdir questioned the remaining gnoll, and learned much about an underground palace, where Stronghoen led the Trine Vexchian from.  Moss really got into the questioning...but eventually let the gnoll go...

Later that night, Abryxia and Billo cast a shriving on a strong ancient spirit in the area, making all the spirits in this ancient and soul-infested area more well-inclined to the group

Session 125 two nights ago...

Current Situation
Tanos 52, about 10:30am.  Max has rejoined the group after spending the better part of a Goesi with the Knights of Colors.  They have determined to sneak up on the Ruins avoiding the old Vexchian Road, and have found strange metal tracks in the moors.
 

 

Current Members
•Toden Hodd TorZyjman - NPC - New Gartier priest of The Shrine of Ogleic, as well as part of Armor of Trade. Taken out of combat after a werewolf ripped off his arm.  Returned after taking over a Goesi to heal to help lead the group after he healed and the group suffered losses, but is taking a backseat in leading lately.      

•Moss - PC - Gesana Human from the Church of Obscurity and Fate.  Rescued by the party at the end of the third expedition to the ruins.  Often opinionated.  Large, and sort of in charge with a morningstar.  

•Victor Halvor - PC - Priest from the Platform of Trade.  Taciturn and very much a healer first.  A rock of stability..and a budding philosopher.

•Bournous - NPC - Omwo~ rescued from a necromantic ritual.  Somewhat sneaky but prone to setting off traps.

•Jon Cedric Galica - NPC - Human of the Frigid Song of Igbar, found in a temple on the second level.  Bardic Sage, Bardic caster and a help in the front line.  Has Venolvian Lammellar.

•Plaes Holdir - PC - Orcash/Wolden Omwo~.  Sneaky, wily and dangerous.  Trained assassin in Steel Isle Town. Rarely seen without his new mask.

•Abryxia Ravenstone -PC -Hill Klaxik, From the Most Honorable Knights of the Bone.  Recently re-armed well spoken Squire, shriving priest.

•Maximillian Carchedin- PC - Vanir Omwo~/Kann Klaxik Cross. Cousin of the fallen Mior Carchedin and Armiger of the Arcanic Swords. His might is pre-eminent. Maintains a regular correspondence with his grandfather. Known by some as "The Accursed". Has taken to bouts of quietness and reflection after being the centerpiece of much death and destruction during the disastrous fourth expedition to the ruins. Literally did not join the party on the second level and during the fifth expedition to the ruins, and wandered the outer ruins by himself.  Rejoined the group after spending time with the Knights of Colors.
 

Minions - Followers attracted by the parties fame and fortune
Hennik Gor - NPC - Red Hobyt wannabe assassin.  Recruited by Plaes to help the party.
Capilina - NPC - Gastax Hobyt  from the Church of Black Irony. Bitchy follower of Moss.
Billo White - NPC - Huge Ograk. Inherited by Astell, Bonewarden.    Recently allying closely with Abryxia.
Yeomic Fernfollow - NPC - tiny Hobyt/gnome crossbreed Scale Apprentice of the Platform of Trade.

This session featured the return of Max from his sojourn with the Knights of Colors, and the decision of the explorers to avoid the old Vechian Coastal road on this trip back to the ruins (the 6th?), and instead cut across the Moors and swamps.  During the evening, the spirit of an ancient dracolisk came close but was shrived... The group found a strange row of metal tracks with buttressing underneath, and is following that as it snakes southward...

Session 126 dealt with the party resting near the rtacks, then coming upon an area with sunken, circular ruined building on the swampy, overgrown, mainly underwater sides of the tracks.

The group spent some time and effort loking through them, finding a bunch of silvery gears and levers below the water's surface.

After working with them some, Abryxia and Max got some of the ancient Venolvian gears to move ans spin, and eventually heard a rumbling under the track, when a long, thin 'boat' with wheels popped up from underground onto the tracks.

The group spent a while learning how it worked, and then cooked hazardously down the ancient tracks to the end, just over the hills and near the ruins.  
They were at the Vexchian area at last.

I'm loving this. Kinda on a cyberpunk riff at the minute, but this is very much calling me back to my fantasy roots.

Bookmarked!

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Re: CELTRICIA- Steel Isle Online Dungeon crawl

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Session 128

was a riot, though we ended in the middle.

Session started at the bottom of the wide stairs that led down 300 steps from the top of the flat Ziggurrat

Toden, " Jon, this IS the fifth time we've been back here...
 The floor is a grey Fidikmarple, in tightly packed flags.  The area at the bottom of the stairs is pooled with liquid, branches, and old leaves.  The corners have small cisterns where water gathers, and the walls are a dark marple, but plastered white turned yelllow, with frescoes of snakes and lizards being smashed by warriors with skull-pommelled weapons.  the ceiling is 15' high and vaulted, and many , many tiny red eyes look back at the explorers.
a dissected gartier bleeds all over the floor in front of the group.

 the room stinks of guano and the floor is covered in piles of itand the 5' corridor to the west seems to be partially filled with firewood
 the smell of caverns, unerground, and moisture is under the smell of guano and the ancient construction still takes the breath away....
 metal torchiers on the north and east, next to entrances, with strange, bundled wicker torches in them.

The group lights lanterns (yeomi, Billoc and Burnous have them) and then loot the bodies from the ambsuh they laid on the gnolls.  They find and put away all the shineys and coin (all old Venolvian stuff),  They spent some time trying to figure out some starnge items, and then looked North and east.  North led to some well known bat-filled areas, and PLaes was determined to get back to the strange sub basement they found under the temple in the level below.

[/I]
Billo and Abryxia both note that they can feel a lot of old and new spirits unshriven here, and Burnous finds a huge quantity of tracks moving in and out of the east, arched door.
The walls and ceiling are of a reddish brick, crumbling and ruinous.  12 party members and 3 donkeys.

[/I]
The corridor is 5' wide, and really not big enough for Max with his SHansheer and Jon with his pilum, so they sort of move into a snaking ond and a half people per rank.  they move east and then north.  the two in front wear ancient Venolvian Lammellar, which makes a litttle noise as the move.
All sorts of arows and bolts are stuck in the far walls of the corridor, most of them less than a year old.  The group has had a lot of fights in this area.

The group heads north down the red0bricked, arched corridor.

 Jon_Galica notices damage on the wall
"What happened to this wall here?
Plaes_Holdir shrugs.."No idea, can't be that important. "
Toden, " behind that wall is a door, a secret area, sacred to the god of death and of Saint Arbor"

Plaes_Holdir "Ah, perhaps slightly important then, but already looted?"
 Toden" we have hidden there before.  we have been through much of it,"
 Jon_Galica nods "Ah.  So we don't go in there."

 Toden" there is a skull, with horns...most disconcerting.  It talks"
Abryxia, " Maybe that is where all the voices are coming from..."
 Jon_Galica> "Fascinating...."
Plaes_Holdir  makes a disgusted face.  "Bah..Talking skulls are of no interest to me.  I can't kill it or sell it."
Jon_Galica> "But it's a curiosity nonetheless..."
 Toden, " this one especially.  We did research on it...a construct of the Cult of St Arbor...It speaks to the void"

Toden  looks over at Jon, who's eyes are glassy, " Jon, it floats in a strange room...one would have trouble getting it..."
Jon_Galica wistfully "I imagine SOMEONE would be interested in buying a talking skull that speaks to the void.....As unsettling as that is...."

 Burnous holds up a hand, " something moves to the north..."
 Jon_Galica quiets to observe
Alright, let me check it out"  he sneaks ahead to scout
 max gets down

Jon_Galica raises his defenses and tightens his grip on his pilum, his knuckles whitening
 the roup is very, very silent
Jon_Galica resists the impulse to tell Plaes to be careful
 You hear a gutteral yell, and a huge twang!!!!!
Plaes_Holdir> Gnolls!

Note: Buckets of piss
 01[21:49] !rill d%
 01[21:49] !roll d%
[21:49] 3
 01[21:50] !roll d%
[21:50] 15
[21:50] "Buckets of piss!"
[21:50] ooc: fuck I'm dead
[21:50] ooc: WELP, char number 4, here I come
 01[21:51] !roll ((2d6+1d8+23)\(d5-1)
[21:52]  try this  !roll (2d6+1d8+23)\(d5-1)
 01[21:52] !roll (2d6+1d8+23)\(d5-1)
[21:52] 37
[21:54] ooc: holy crap!
[21:54] !roll (56-d10)/((2d6)/2)
[21:54] 11.7777777777778
[21:54] ooc: and my head explodes
 01[21:54] 25 hits to the face
 01[21:54] ow
 01[21:54] ooc  how many HP?
[21:55] ooc: not 25
 01[21:55] lol
[21:55] ooc: 12, so I'm dead at -13
 03[21:55] * Plaes_Holdir is now known as Corpse
 01[21:55] an arbelest is a huge mofo piece

 the group behind hears the yell...and sees plaes' head get pinned to the wall to the right, with an ugly, meaty thunk, by a huge crossbow bolt.  He is still.
Jon_Galica yells "PLAES!!!!"
 Max roars and jumps up
 Victor also i son the move as is Toden..healers are almost running over the warriors....
 Jon_Galica moves up to where he can spear the first thing to come around that corner, running to get into place with Max.
 Jon and Max rush around the corner, seeing 2 gnolls moving north, yelling in Orcash,  moving around the corner, and more voices from the north.
 Toden has whipped out a scroll, an old one in a beaten silvered, coiled case.
Jon_Galica runs up to where they rounded the corner and thrusts  around the corner as I reach it
 Toden roars, " Jon, Max, hold the corner...Billo, grab our friend the pincushion... we are leaving this place"
Jon_Galica> "We're letting them get away with this!?"
Toden, " I have a scroll, I need peace and quiet to use it, Bard!"

 Max, " Jon, let us chase a bit, then....?"
 "Yes, lets!"

 Jon and Max race around the corner, seeing the corridor goes 10 north then turns east
 they hear crashing an movement to the east

 Billo pulls the bolt out of PLaes Eye socket
 *SPlork!!!*
 then puts him on his shoulders and carries him effortlessly, following Toden
 Jon and max rush north, then they hear a metalic screech abd twang from behind them, a sound of springs and wires....
 (2 huge spears hit Max, 1 hits Jon)
 thud! thud! thud!

 Jon hears the nouse and rolls under them...
 as does max
Jon_Galica> "WHOA!"
 the huge spears impact into the north walll...
 Max, " HAh, the cowardly fools though they had us in their ambush!"
 max and Jon dive and roll perfectly, coming up looking east...

 meanwhile, Toden and Abryxia light candles in the opening room, with the huge stairway up.
 Abryxia, " Lords of Bone, Plaes is so mad!
Yeomic, " You can hear him?"
Abryxia, "No, but I can feel him..he is a very fiery spirit."
Victor sets to helping Toden..he holds the scroll, as Toden only has one arm.

 Jon and Max turn into the corridor, and sees their way goes 15', then ends with with a corridor turning north, and some 5+ gnolls rushing out of the heavy, open door do the south, opposite.  
A slight stop, and the creatures, whering rough leather and chain armors then rush at the explorers...
Max gets in front, with Jon slightly behind....
Jon_Galica> "A DEATH FOR A DEATH!"
 Max "AYE!!!!"

Meanwhile, in a large room with sunlight streaming down a huge staircase, Toden and Victor sit on opposite sides of PLaes lifeless body, in a circle of red and black candles.  Abryxia and Yeomic sit at pllaes feet and head.  
Victor holds the scroll for Treefather Toden, and the other sitters whisper the words as Toden speaks them, trying to lend strength to Toden's reading of this Potent scroll.
The 5 red candles all flutter, and gutter...and the chanting grows.
Sweat pools on Toden's Brow, and Victor's arm's shake.

Note
rolling spell success for scroll
 01[22:16] !roll d%
[22:16] 6
critical success in scroll use.....Normally there is
days of rest needed after 'raise the earthen Dead...
But we will allow for more immediate, based on this roll

[/I]

 Plaes whole eye re-knits...and the blood stops flowing...and the angry spirit comes flowing back in
 Plaes_Holdir eyes open wide and he looks around, anger etching his face.  " Hewecars blood..."
 toden, unconsious in front of PLeas, billo standing over him, Victor and Yeomic cradling the one-armed healer.
Plaes_Holdir glances between them... "Thank you..."


Meanwhile, Jon and Max give no ground as the two groups crash into each other, spear, sword, simitar, and war-rake all fly and flense...
 the gnoll in front stabs at you two, with a big spear at max

Note
[22:24] !roll d%
[22:24] 2
 01[22:24] hitting him
[22:25] ooc: Ouch!
 01[22:25] !roll d%
[22:25] 19
 01[22:25] hard
 01[22:25] !roll (1d8+1d6+17)\(d5-1)+3
[22:25] 57
[22:26] :-O
[22:26] ooc: boy these emotes are really vague.  I almost look happy
 01[22:26] roll !roll (61-d10)/(2d6/2)
 01[22:27] (isobot) 49
 01[22:27] holy  shit

[/I]

the gnoll rips a huge shot at max, with full force...it looks like it will go righ into his head...
 but max somehow deflects most of it at the last second, and the spear rips a chunk out of Max's right shoulder...blood pours out of it.
 the gnoll is perpelexred, as Max calmly wipes the huge wound on his shoulder.
Max, " I have been through worse, gnoll..."

Jon swings his pilum around, and throws down a shot at a gnoll behind the one who stabbed Max, one weilding a scimitar
Jon_Galica> "DIE MONSTER!"
 jon spins over Max, and takes the scimitar-wielding one in the head, ripping skin and flesh away from the scalp, skipping over it, and the gnoll yells as his har and blood splatter behind him on the others of his ilk.
 Max roars, spins and brings the huge sword into the gnolls crotch with huge force.
 and despite good protection, Max 's huge sword rips through the gnolls leg, crotch, and into its abdomen, spraying blood and bile everywhere, and it screams and howls as it perishes. Max tugs the sowrd out of the gnoll's cracked pelvis with a disdainfull wrist-snap.

 A pilum whooshes out of the door, at Jon, but the pilum somehow misses Jon.
 Jon_Galica deftly dodges the projectile at the last moment, stpes left and stabbing a gnoll
Jon_Galica> "MY FURY CANNOT BE STOPPED!  FLEE BEFORE ME!"
 slicng into the arm badly, and the gnoll with a broadsword yells and yammers.
Max and Jon step around each other, protecting each other's backs in the small corridor, and depsite the odds, start forcing the gnolls back a bit.
Max tries not to slip on gnoll intestine.
a spear-gnoll stabs at Max, double handing it
  hitting him in the chest, but max laughs at the creature as he sidesteps as it hits, casuing it to bounce off of his shell-like Lammellar.
 a gnoll with a broadsword stabs at Jon as Max bumps him a bit, but Jon's armor is up to the task as well.

Back in the front room, Yeomic cannot believe PLaes is consious and moving around.  
Victor speaks as his hands trace a complex sigil on the Mercurial Assassin, " PLaes, by all rights, you should be resting.  Even the blessings of the Scalelord should not allow you to rejoin combat."
Yeaomic also heals him.  

Plaes_Holdir flexes... "Alright! By Hewecars name it's time for me to exact some revenge!"

 Plaes_Holdir grabs his trident and heads off to combat
> billo is holding the bolt he pulled out of plaes' head, looking at it oddly.
Plaes_Holdir yells back as he leaves the room..." Billo, hold on to that thing! I'll have a use for it"


Back in the melee,  an arbelest twangs
 missing max narrowly
 Jon whirls on in, seeing 2 injured gnolls in front,  he swings high over the ducking max
 (jon and max hear footsteps running from the south}
Jon_Galica thrusts his pilum at the spear carrying gnoll
 into the abdoment and lower rib cage of the gnoll, pushes into the bet, knocking him back and drawing a bit of blood.

 A piulm wings out at Max from the back
 the warriors can see a gnoll with a war-rake in the back

Note
[23:04] ooc: what kind of weapon is a war-rake anyway?

[/I]

the twice damaged spear gnoll swings at jon, stabbing his chest,
 but jon defends it
 "Come on! Put some force behind it!", Jon_Galica taunts
 the broadsword gnoll also swings at Jon an overhand smash...he hits
Jon takes bloody shot in his right upper arm and blood spurts out, joining the other streaks on the walls and floors.
Jon_Galica "Aargh!"

 max swings at the spear gnoll, going for a stab
 max 's shamsheer cuts through armor, breastbone, and through all the way to the gnoll's back....
"Huk...Hulk!!"  it collapses and dies, spurting blood all over max
(behind, a gnoll with a pilum, and gladius, a pilum, and the hoko gnoll)


 jon jumsp high, all the way over the stabbing max, and eyes the dark-haired gnoll that wields a broadword.
Jon_Galica wipes away some blood and grins at the broadsword wielding gnoll
Jon_Galica> "This one knows how to play!"
 slipping and twisting, jon still scores a hit, slashing the gnoll's left leg, pinking him
 max and jon have forced the gnolls back, into the doorway area

Note: crit, crit, crit again...
 01[23:20] yep, you crit on an 11
 01[23:20] roll again
 01[23:21] (jon, +1 crit per 10% to hit)
 01[23:21] base is a 7&)
 01[23:21] plaes, roll again
[23:21] !roll d%
[23:21] 34
 01[23:21] -2
 01[23:22] on divider
 01[23:22] !roll (35-d10)/(2d6/2)
[23:22] 7.75
[23:22] ooc: Gotcha, so I crit on a 10
[23:22] !roll ((1d12+18)\(d6-2))+4
[23:22] 82
[23:22] ooc: god damn that feels fantastic

[/I]

 plaes comes from no where, jumping, spinning over the whole fray, stabbing at the hoko-gnoll in the back, taking the gnoll through the neck, and stabbing his spear perfectly down the gnolls exposed throat, down to the thing's stomach
"That was revenge!" says plaes as he lands on his feet, spinning with a wicked smile...SPUURT!!!!!  blood and guts, as plaes lands on his feet, spinning with a wicked smile...
 the floor is awash with blood....

and we ended there, with 3 gnolls in between Jon, Max and PLaes...[/SIZE]

Hmm.
Might have to write a post on critical hits soon, and what they do and why they matter.

Session 128 tonight, looking forward to deeper dungeon draping in the ancient ruins.

Session 130 last night was a success.
This is the 3rd time the explorers have penetrated this area of the Ruins, but due to some fast work and some good scouting by PLaes and Burnous, the group was able to quietly make their way down the long steps to the cavern area, dousing their lamps as their were torches lit in three areas (south and many to the east), the group made their way quietly, taking their time, down the stairs, whilst PLaes and Burnous had hiden in the large cavern.
Max, Jon, Billo White, Moss, Abryxia and Hennik Gor (this group is pretty magic-weak, but fighter heavy) all wheeled down and around the last part of the staircase and ran pell-mell across the rubble strewn (and bloodstained) floor of this cavern area towards the defensible stair and columns where the gnolls were caught flatfooted.  out of the 4 gnolls, 2 got off crossbow shots, since PLaes also clambered up the side of the cavern and backstabbed one of them.

The fight lasted 30 seconds, while the 4 gnolls, then three gnolls after the backstab, yelled and tried to hold the stair, but this group of explorers is much, much tougher than the last group that came down this way.  Bloodied and thrice wounded, the last gnoll sunk to his knees surrounded after his last comanion fell.  PLaes_Holdir delivered the Coup, as this now-hardened group of warriors had no arguement about his fate.

Another good explorative session last night is session 131.

The group snuck to the north of the large cavernous area, keeping to the wall, slipping behind an ancient obelisk with a statue of a wounded human cradled in an ancient Kalxik's lap, and around the raised temple platform.  

There, they found the panel on the back foundation with the skull in the owl's face.  Plaes remembered how to open it, and the group slipped back into the strange, ancient passages below the temple, into darkness and fetid air.

The first chamber was the one they had hidden in for 12 hours before, and looted of various chests labelled as gifts to different powerful Magi.  This is where PLaes found ther Gimp leather armor.  After searching around, the group finally checked out the 10', squared off entry on the southern part of the east wall, whcih went only a little bit then turned south.  PLaes explored, and found a skeletal warrior, damaged and one who obviously expired on this spot leaning against the east wall.

The group found still-good ancient, filigreed and carved lamellar on him, inscribed with ants and spiders.  There was also a wicked trident with a wooden haft, still in good chape, with barbs on it.   The group stripped the ancient warrior, then moved on, where the corridor turned west.  The humans were totally blind here, but they found a double door immediately, and then found 2 more locked entrances in the corridor beyond.

Quick note on some of the rules.

Circumstance Checks are here, and there have been a few slight changes.

Probably will paste up session 132 and 133 by next week.
But I love clever use of spells and mechanics.

I have a spell called 'Bleu Eyes', that allows a person to see the light cast by a 'bleu torch, a 'bleu Lantern', or a 'bleu sun' (all different artificer spells), and after years, seeing my groups actually using it is awesome.  The light cast is invisible to others, so it does not cast any real light and does not give away the pcs or npcs, but I've been using it for ages around them, and they are just getting to using it...