1581

Just checking in to see if we are on for tomorrow? I am really looking forward to casting my first spell…especially Ventriloquism.

I also have to wonder if my elf is more chaotic than neutral…I always find picking an alignment before really playing the character to be difficult.

1582

I’m up for it. Gundabar has some chopping to do and Bill’s knives are getting rusty!

1583

I’m good for Thursday as well

1584

Game night! I am ready to go tonight. DCC, where every encounter could be your last!

So, where did we leave our intrepid adventurers? Last week, the party was swept along on the dragon ship, propelled by the underground tsunami down a long underground river, for miles upon miles. At last the ship crashed upon a rocky outcropping in the dark. Fortunately, Gundabar the dwarf led the party upward through a crevasse until they reached daylight, emerging in a forest.

The party spent a week bushwacking, with no idea of where they were heading. Just as people were getting really hungry and desperate, Penchus performed a miracle. He turned a birch log into edible food. Getting the party to actually believe him took some work. And then he turned a couple of large stones into food. And then he turned a brackish puddle into wine. Amazing! The party was saved and Penchus fashioned a holy symbol out of an oak branch and devoted his life to Justicia.

Survival was still hard in the woods. Gundabar practiced with his great axe every day, and so did Bill, but with two weapons at once. Oolorin the elf began practicing some magic, with odd and frightening results. He could shoot lighting balls from his hands. He could drop dazzling rainbows from the sky, although that often left him queasy. He could project his voice across a great distance, although a side effect of this was that the closest living creature to him would die. Many squirrels gave their lives to find this out.

Finally the party reached a road and saw a sign for a village named Hirot. Just before the village the party encountered a mob of villagers bringing a woman to be sacrificed to the local monster terrorizing them. The town has a lottery every three days and this lady was the latest “winner”. The mob was led by the local Jarl and his sinister advisor Sylle Ru, who had devised the lottery.

Penchus of Justicia wasn’t going to stand for this, but he was taken by surprise when he found out that the local priest of Justicia had given this injustice his blessing! Quickly the party went to the temple in town and found that the priest was a hopeless man. Penchus gave him hope, insinuating that Penchus was sent by Justicia to save the town. Oolorin however was kicked out of the temple for blasphemy. Finally the priest promised to arm Penchus with a holy relic in two days time.

The party rushed out the door and back toward the standing stones where the sacrificial villager had been left for the monster. Would they save her in time? What exactly is this monster the villagers call The Hound? What will the Jarl have to say about this? Tune in tonight to find out!

1585

Squirrels are so delicious thankfully!

Awesome write up/recap Rob, really looking forward to tonight.

1586

Great recap! Looking forward to tonight also.

1587

Gendal - which character are you planning to play tonight? If you like you could use two of them.

1588

I… have no idea? I guess the squire would be suitable for a warrior class but the rest I just don’t know how they match up to the classes. Be happy to take any recomendations!

Also what’s the official start time?

1589

The squire would be great, and we don’t have a warrior yet. We can take a look at the other guys. Don’t let the stats necessarily dictate your class choice…they won’t have that big an impact anyway.

9ish? I plan to have the adventure up by 8:30 I think.

1590

I am looking forward to game night tomorrow. Who can make it?

Lat week we had an entire night of rp with no combat. I didn’t really expect that. I really liked the party’s solution to the Hound, and that avoided what I thought would be an early combat encounter. Don’t plan on that working twice however.

I wasn’t entirely happy with how I doled out background information last week, so here it is again in brief. This village, Hirot, is being attacked by a creature called the Hound. It has killed over a hundred people over the last six months.

The village sits in a valley that was once peopled by a wolf worshipping chaos tribe. In those days the tribe would sacrifice people to the Hound. Sylle Ru, the village seer, has reinstituted these sacrifices to “save” the town.

The tribe came to an end when a series of kings took over in the valley, killing the wolves and bringing peace to the tribe. The most famous, and last, of these kings was known as the Ulfheonar, the wolf slayer. He had a mighty wolf spear, a replica of which is in the village tavern. The tomb of the Ulfheonar is a short distance away to the north.

The Hound appeared six months ago. The only interesting tidbit you guys picked up that was happening at that time was a story going around that three thieves had disappeared around that time, supposedly having found some riches and disappeared to the south to live off their wealth.

There is a crone in the village who appears unphased by the Hound. She has covered her hovel in strands of gruesome corpse hair and she claims that this protects her. Oolorin has agreed to marry the old bat if she will make him shackles to bind the Hound. She claims that the Hound may only be killed if it is held down or restrained in some way.

I think that is the gist. The party has decided to go to the tomb of the Ulfheonar. On their way out, the Jarl demanded that they put their names in the lottery box, which they did. Mostly.

1591

I am in for sure.

1592

I’m in for tonight. Last week was a lot of fun. Oolorin and the witch will make a lovely couple when this is all said and done, you know, if we survive.

1593

I am in as well

1594

Why do I get the feeling that Oolorin is planning on casting a few spells that feedback on the nearest person during his wedding night?

I’m in.

1595

I have no clue what you are taking about! I would be more likely to try and animate a scarecrow than kill my bride to be!

1596

I had a great time playing last night guys, thanks for sticking around for the extra hour. When 11 rolled around and I didn’t want to stop I realized I was having a really good time. I have to thank Sailfish Bill for keeping the night fun and not turning it into deep despair over the crushing losses of Panza and Oolorin.

It was an interesting approach to the dungeon. I didn’t expect you guys to tackle the dungeon from the secret entrance, so that changed how I thought things would go last night. The vicious battle in the crawlspace was very DCC, with no room for maneuver or any kind of defense other than death at the jaws of an enormous necrotic snake. I was sad to see Waldak and Microcline killed in such a gruesome manner, but I was happy that Sailfish pulled through. And then you guys were immediately faced with the end of the dungeon, with two treasure rooms, one false and one true.

I’ve been chatting with other DCC DMs on G+ and we’re all in agreement that you have to stick it out when it comes to killing off the characters. It is a core component of the game, even though I felt really bad. As Goodman writes in the Judge’s section:

“Let the characters die if the dice so dictate. Nothing is as precious as a PC’s life when it can be taken away - and nothing is so unchallenging as a game where the players know the judge will not kill their characters.”

The false treasure room trap is vicious. If you roll poorly for initiative, your doom has come. I was tempted to pull my punches and leave a step out, but I’m glad I didn’t. But I was also happy when shellfishguy offered to sacrifice his luck for the good of Panza and Oolorin. It was a bit retroactive, and Goodman might frown upon me, but I thought it was generally legit. Bruised and battered, perhaps wiser for their experience, Panza and Oolorin emerged from the crawlspace holding a remarkable wolf pelt, a wondrous drinking horn, and a magnificent wolf spear.

This is a good moment to talk experience points. The entire party, other than Panza who hadn’t joined up yet, gain 2 xp for tricking the Hound. Penchus gains 1 xp for convincing Beacom to give him the hammer. Oolorin gains 1 xp for agreeing to marry the mad widow. The entire party gains 2 xp for defeating the ghoul in the crawlspace. Oolorin and Panza and Bill gain 2xp for surviving the false treasure room trap. The entire party gains 2 xp for defeating the tomb ghouls in the room of the Cave Bear.

Totals:
Oolorin: 9
Penchus:7
Gundabar: 6
Bill: 8
Panza: 6

You need 50xp to reach 2nd level. Good luck.

I also need to either put the wondrous items into character handouts in the Roll20 adventure.

1597

I honestly don’t know what I was thinking in being so careless with Oolorin in the false treasure room.

Now I have to figure out how to make Oolorin useful when he fails on his two main combat spells…one of which is the first chance we get that he can spend a week to cast his summon familiar spell, he would like to get that done. I don’t understand how a spell as a 1 week casting time…I mean does Oolorin sit there for a week without food/water or sleep to cast the spell?

1598

So not that it would have mattered too much last night, but I just was rereading some info on my class…everyone should make sure that they bumped up their saving throw values based off of your class…for example elves get +1 across the board at level 1.

1599

Think of it as a very long and involved spell, but you would still sleep and eat. As a chaos loving elf, you would be taking the black magic route to finding a familiar. Magic circles, animal sacrifice, consultation of dark tomes or the bones of the dead, self mutilation and contact with dread spirits would all help you find your familiar. You might not want to hang out in the town square of Hirot to perform this dark work. You could tell the party that you are going on elven walkabout and spend the week in the woods doing what needs to be done. You would return with 10 points of spell burn, your mind and body stricken by the needs of the spell.

And if you are lucky, you would have a new friend. But it might not fit the regular definition of a familiar. The black cat is possible, but so is the giant centipede and the skeletal rat. Who can say what the chaotic elf will find in the woods.

Remember, Oolorin has a special ability that allows him to ask other wizards for help in casting Find Familiar. Perhaps Sylle Ru, or your bride to be could assist you.

1600

Last week was a blast and I certainly didn’t mind the extra hour. I thought Bill was done for in that small passageway from hell. Having a lucky halfling around certainly does have its benefits too. It’ll take awhile to get all that luck back, but at least he does get it back. Was worth spending every point! I just hope Oolorin remembers who not to stand next to when it comes time to cast ventriloquism again ;)

The tomb has been a great reminder that you can’t take anything for granted in DCC. Everything is out to kill you and equipped to do it! Looking forward to this week, hope everyone can make it. We have more dungeon left to crawl!