schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 12, 2023 9:52:16 GMT -5
DELVE 126.
MR MILLER'S TALE
Saturday 4th December 2022.
Campaign year: Mid-autumn 511.
Online, from ca. 8.00 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: PICKWICK (Scally) 3rd level wizard; MR MILLER (Glyn) 5th level rogue.
Locations: Yarimura/Violet Ocean; Yellowport.
MR MILLER found himself shipwrecked in a rowing boat. PICKWICK was cast into the southern seas by a rogue zephyr. They ended up on a desert island. They set bonfires and attracted a ship – it was Geoffrey’s old ship, the Kingfisher! It turned out they were in the waters near Smogmaw, so they sailed north.
Commentary: You might remember Mr Miller as the delvers' long-serving first mate on a variety of vessels. He first shipped with them in delve #24,and has now been upgraded to full delver status.
They came across the Sea Tree (a.k.a. the Wandering Mangrove) and ate of its miraculous fruits but contracted a dream-sickness. Later, some of the crew were carried off by barnacle men, depleting them severely. They also found a floating barrel containing a rare vintage of wine, as well as a meteor that fell to earth and struck a reef.
Commentary: The sea tree is a rare plant that walks through shallow waters on its long roots. The barrel of wine was from the personal cellar of the pirate King (it bore his stamp of a parrot and cutlass). The shooting star was a source of the rare metal meteoric iron, prized by wizards and alchemists of the better sort.
They ended up docking in Yellowport and trading the ship’s cargo of spice; they used the spice money to replace the missing crew.
Back at sea for delve #126. The party now has two former NPCs (NDCs?) among its ranks.
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 15, 2023 13:19:16 GMT -5
DELVE 127.
"DELVERS" AND DELVERS
Tuesday 6th December 2022.
Campaign year: Mid-autumn 511.
Online, from ca. 8.00 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: BARTON (Savage) 5th level warrior; CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard; MR MILLER (Glyn) 5th level rogue.
Locations: Yellowport; Blessed Springs; Farmlands.
PICKWICK & MR MILLER were cruising the temples in Yellowport, then got a quest from the merchants’ guild to obtain some merchants’ cloaks from Ankon-konu (in return for unlocking the late Geoffrey’s guild savings account). CRENELL had bought passage by ship to Yellowport and met up with them
MR MILLER & PICKWICK were cured of the dream-sickness, but MR MILLER contracted the wizard plague. They headed north past Venefax and on to Blessed Springs (still encased in a wall of thorns) and chatted to a wandering priest.
Heading into the Farmlands, they made contact with a Delver commune, but it was under attack by a band of eight beastmen
A big fight followed, featuring archery, fireballs, heroic speeches, inflamed peasants, and beastmen being dropped from a great height by PICKWICK.
At the Delver’s homestead, they spoke with Brother Gareth, the Head Delver. PICKWICK decided he wanted to give up adventuring and join the Delvers, and it was a difficult task for his friends to convince him otherwise.
Commentary: In this context "Delvers" of course means the Leveller-like community that has emerged in the Farmlands, and not the "delvers" our gold-hungry and itinerant protagonists.
They found a copy of a rare book in the Delver’s library, and learned that the Heart of Harkun can only be destroyed if it is “cast by hand into the Mouth of Harkun”. They also found Ethel, the healer of Venefax, and persuaded her to return home.
Commentary: The Mouth of Harkun is a sea-cave in the far northern waters - a very treacherous place for shipping and held to be a portal to the Underworld.
Delve #127 saw a big leap forward in the quest of the wizard plague - a way to actually stop the pestilence in its tracks.
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 15, 2023 13:19:41 GMT -5
Accidental self-quoting double-post!
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 28, 2023 6:52:03 GMT -5
DELVE 128.
THE BEASTMEN ARE REVOLTING
Tuesday 13th December 2022.
Campaign year: Late autumn 511.
Online, from ca. 8.00 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: BARTON (Savage) 5th level warrior; CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard; MR MILLER (Glyn) 5th level rogue; GUS (Jeeves) 4th level warrior.
Locations: Great Steppes/Farmlands; Blessed Springs; Venefax.
GUS and BARTON had been enjoying the hospitality of General Beledai, but he forcefully ejected them from the Great Steppes into northern Sokara, where the pair battled it out with another band of beastman.
Commentary: Gen. Beledai (to be played in any future film adaptation by Brian Blessed) is the military commander of the exiled heir to the throne of Sokara and currently holds the keys to the fortress of Velis Corin. The marauding beastmen are still rather a problem in the northern lands.
They then bumped into MR MILLER, PICKWICK and CRENELL, who were escorting Ethel the healer back to Venefax. There was much roleplaying along the way, including some brief badinage with the ent of Blessed Springs, who gave them the blessing of the trees, but they did not enter the town.
Commentary: The druids of The Isle of Druids have come to the mainland to secure the sacred sites at Blessed Springs, now that General Marlock's armies have retreated south.
At Venefax, the Venefaxians rewarded the delvers with a boatload of gold and a.p.; the delvers then went to a new pop up craft ale house in the town.
We saw the completion of a side-quest in delve #128, but surely the delvers should be doing something about their main quest against the wizard plague?
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 29, 2023 6:24:52 GMT -5
DELVE 129.
ARE YOU HAVIN' A LARP?
Thursday 29th December 2022.
Campaign year: Midwinter 521.
Durham from late evening.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: BARTON (Savage) 5th level warrior; CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; MR MILLER (Glyn) 5th level rogue.
Locations: Venefax.
THE DELVERS met with a disagreeable dice-man and played several games of chance at the ale house in Venefax. BARTON won 395 gp; CRENELL won 175 gp; and MR MILLER won 390 gp.
Delve #129 was out first (and, to date, only) attempt at a T&T LARP. We didn't dress up or carry foam swords, but sat around a table and played some tavern dice games in character. (I was quite ill over that Christmas and not able to run a full delve.)
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houndle
5th Level Troll
Posts: 557
Member is Online
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Post by houndle on Dec 29, 2023 9:29:59 GMT -5
Very generous if you were handing out actual GP.
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 30, 2023 5:58:53 GMT -5
Very generous if you were handing out actual GP. They did roll pretty well, as I recall. I (the GM character) was completely cleaned out!
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Dec 31, 2023 4:30:15 GMT -5
DELVE 130.
BACK TO THE BIGHT
Saturday 31st December 2022.
Campaign year: Midwinter 512.
Durham from mid-evening.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard; MELODY (Emma) 4th level healer.
Locations: Venefax; Scorpion Bight; Yellowport.
PICKWICK and CRENELL met a new delver, MELODY, in the Scorpion’s Sting pub in Venefax and after much breakfast and discussion decided to attempt the capture of a live scorpion man.
Commentary: The delvers had been bestowed a quest from the priests and priestesses of Maka in Yellowport to bring them a specimen of a live scorpion man.
They ventured into Scorpion Bight where PICKWICK scouted out a lone scorpion guy. A fight broke out and the scorp’ was subdued using a spider toxin. A swift getaway was made.
During the getaway the scorpion man almost awoke in the night. There were mild ructions and half-a-dozen crucial Saving Rolls. MELODY and CRENELL prepared a powerful poppy-seed syrup to sedate the miserable wretch.
Commentary: Two healers working in tandem were able to use role-playing skills and Saving Rolls to whip up a bespoke sleeping draught.
The delvers returned to the temple of Maka in Yellowport and cashed-in the quest; the priestesses bestowed upon them a unique blessing.
Commentary: The special blessing of Maka was a single-use immunity to poisons, diseases, stat-drain and other nasty effects.
Delve #130 was a New Year's Eve delve, also a real-life delve and occurred exactly 1 year ago (as of the date of this post). We also welcomed new delver Emma (although this was her first and only delve so far).
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Jan 1, 2024 13:45:37 GMT -5
DELVE 131.
ON THE SALT WAVES
Thursday 12th January 2023.
Campaign year: Early spring 512.
Online, 8.00 pm – 11.00 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard; GUS (Jeeves) 4th level warrior; BARTON (Savage) 5th level warrior; MR MILLER (Glyn) 5th level rogue.
Locations: Venefax/Yellowport; Sokaran waters; Marlock City.
GUS, MR MILLER and BARTON had been in Venefax. The innkeeper of the tavern where they’d been staying told them that their friends had passed through on their way to Yellowport with a captive scorpion man.
Joining up with CRENELL and PICKWICK in that city, they chatted with a one-legged ex-delver on a park bench, popped in to the temple of Elnir, then took to the sea in their ship the Kingfisher and sailed to Marlock City. On the way they encountered a overloaded ship of crusaders and pilgrims on their way to ‘convert the heathens’ in Ankon-konu. Some of the crew tried to desert to join the crusader ship, but MR MILLER persuaded them otherwise.
They then came across an abandoned ship listing in the water; going aboard, they found the crew half-eaten by a pair of escaped sabre-toothed tigers, which the delvers defeated after a serious fight.
Commentary: This vessel was a beast-hunting ship carrying exotic animals that had burst from their captivity and slew the crew.
The rest of the voyage was uneventful. At Marlock, they checked into a rubbish tavern (the Fleece) and visited the temple of Nagil for healing; they also bought some equipment and made plans to seek the Heart of Harkun in the palace of General Marlock.
A little bit of sea travel in delve #131, and some (rather vague) plans for the quest of the wizard plague.
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Jan 3, 2024 14:06:35 GMT -5
DELVE 132.
BREAKING & ENTERING
Tuesday 18th January 2023.
Campaign year: Early spring 512.
Online, 8.00 pm – 11.30 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard; GUS (Jeeves) 4th level warrior; BARTON (Savage) 5th level warrior.
Locations: Marlock City.
In their efforts to access the General’s palace in Marlock City, the delvers obtained rumours from the Fleece pub about the layout and defences of the palace.
Commentary: Our delvers have determined that a magic jewel, the Heart of Harkun (crucial to combating the wizard plague), is being held in General Marlock's fortified mansion.
They spoke to the followers of Sig who told them of a secret passageway into the grounds through a garden fountain. They biffed some chippy rat-men in the sewers before emerging through the fountain the palace gardens. The warriors flexed their muscles to bend the rusty fountain grill.
Commentary: The rat-man were last encountered under the city of Yellowport - they'd moved to Marlock City to get away from harassment by delving bands.
They made it to the flat roof part of the palace, and defeated some gargoyles, turning one of them to rock(?)
Commentary: There was some debate about whether it was possible to turn a gargoyle to stone (using the ROK spell), but we allowed it in the end.
Delve #132: finally some action on the pressing quest of the wizard plague. Next time the delvers sneak inside the palace - what will befall them!?
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Jan 9, 2024 11:45:20 GMT -5
DELVE 133.
SEIZING THE HEART
Wednesday 25th January 2023.
Campaign year: Mid-spring 512.
Online, 7.30 pm – 11.00 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard; BARTON (Savage) 5th level warrior; MR MILLER (Glyn) 5th level rogue.
Locations: Marlock City, Magwort Fens; Wishport coast.
Atop the roof of the General’s palace in Marlock City, the delvers were seeking the Heart of Harkun. Gus had completely vanished after a fight with the gargoyles. MR MILLER looked through a chink in a tower door and saw a ruddy-faced man fixing them with a fearsome gaze. They spent quite a while discussing what to do, but eventually bashed open the door into a study – the “man” was a life-size portrait hanging on the opposite wall.
There was a key in the locked desk and a metal door behind the painting. PICKWICK sliced the latter from its frame and kept it. Past the metal door were a set of very narrow stairs leading up to a small room with the Heart of Harkun on a plinth, bathed in a deadly beam of light. PICKWICK spotted a prism, fixed in the roof, focusing the light of the moon. He attempted to shatter it with an arrow, but this was disintegrated by the light.
Using an improvised mirror MR MILLER deflected part of the beam while BARTON snatched the gem. This set off the alarm gong, and they fled down the side of the palace into the gardens, dodged the guards and jumped into the fountain.
In the passages below, they met a band of rat-men waiting to jump them, who they defeated after a sharp fight. Back in the city streets, MR MILLER returned alone to the Kingfisher while the other used the last dreg of magic in their portable door to escape through the city walls (taking the Heart of Harkun with them).
At the harbour MR MILLER was closely questioned and searched by the city guards, but eventually allowed to return to the ship. Sailing west into Golnirean waters, he was fired on by a Sokaran sea-fort (perhaps mistaken for a pirate), but fled and later spied the other delvers camped on a hummock in the Magwort Fens. MR MILLER sent a boat out to retrieve them but this lost its bearings in the mists and was forced back to the ship; CRENELL & PICKWICK became separated from BARTON in the fog.
An inconclusive end to a dramatic delve #133. Will the delvers be able to sneak the Heart away from the Marlock City guard?
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Jan 9, 2024 11:46:23 GMT -5
(Delve #133 prog rock accompaniment: "Closer to the Heart" by Rush.)
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schmee
3rd Level Troll
Posts: 215
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Post by schmee on Jan 15, 2024 8:17:36 GMT -5
DELVE 134.
HAVE A BANANA
Friday 27th January 2023.
Campaign year: Late spring 512.
Online, 7.00 pm – 11.15 pm.
GM: Schmee.
Delvers: CRENELL (Pippy) 4th level healer; PICKWICK (Scally) 4th level wizard.
Locations: Magwort Fens; Wishport; Haggart’s Corner; Metriciens; Golnirean coast road; Ringhorn.
CRENELL and PICKWICK were lost in the mists of the Magwort Fens; their friend BARTON was nowhere to be seen. They found a low hummock topped by a stone table covered in enchanted bananas (the “Smogmaw Special” cultivar). Picking their way out of the Fens they were accosted by a trio of man-apes who accused them of stealing their magic fruit. PICKWICK leapt into the air and flew off, leaving CRENELL to face them alone (the man-apes pelted them both with rocks). CRENELL attempted to dazzle them with his compass (they crushed it). He then dodged round them and ran off; along with PICKWICK they outpaced the man-apes in a foot-race.
They made it to Wishport and rested in the richly-appointed Crown and Anchor tavern and chatted with the landlady about merchants and quests. Taking the road to Haggart’s Corner they spotted and investigated am ancient barrow, where they fought a barrow wight. PICWICK cast a HOT spell to super-heat it’s barrow-blade; then an overly ambitious spell of lightning that was too much for him; he almost perished in the magic (but was saved by a life-giving banana administered by CRENELL). The lightning bolt vaporised the wight, and they looted its treasure hoard.
They arrived in Haggart’s Corner, but did not stay long and passed on the road to Metriciens (encountering a wandering pedlar on the way, from whom CRENELL bought some herbs). At Metriciens, PICKWICK visited the apothecary to restore his CON attribute losses and also checked out his 2,500 worth of shares from the merchants’ guild (unfortunately these had been invested poorly in a badger farm and he lost everything). They then visited the temple of the Three Fortunes and received the blessing of the goddesses.
They left Metriciens behind and walked the long road to Ringhorn, where they met a patrol of merchant militia. Further on, they passed by an old ruined fort then were ambushed by six crossbow-wielding bandits. The delvers refused to surrender their gold and treasure; the bandits opened fire. PICKWICK began to summon a fireball, but at the last miniute swerved this into a spell of shielding around himself and CRENELL, blocking the crossbow bolts. The delvers then charged to attack, PICKWICK wielding his spells and his stave; CRENELL hurling his dagger then closing to engage in a tough fight. The bandits were defeated but the delvers made it to Ringhorn in a rather sorry state
Only two delvers for #134 - it is times like these when the delvers' adventuresome spirits get the better of them and they can come to grief. There was a good deal of peril this time, but our two friends managed to survive (for now).
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scally
1st Level Troll
Posts: 42
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Post by scally on Jan 16, 2024 12:03:14 GMT -5
A two delver delve often courts doom; so much so we now call it a death delve! Unless we stick to the roads and cities. I quite enjoy an admin session but I understand that other members of our party yearn for action, big dice rolls and all that good stuff! Running face first into a dragon is a sure fire way to lose all the quest items… just sayin’😁
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houndle
5th Level Troll
Posts: 557
Member is Online
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Post by houndle on Jan 16, 2024 13:16:14 GMT -5
DELVE 134. they were accosted by a trio of man-apes who accused them of stealing their magic fruit. ... he almost perished in the magic (but was saved by a life-giving banana administered by CRENELL). Presumably they did indeed steal the magic fruit then? Reprehensible, who would have thought Delvers were capable of such base behaviour, etc. I enjoyed this write up very much.
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