A Dungeon Runs Through It - Palasé Dungeon Crawl 2015, Part 2

This is a continuation of last week's post. 

Having found their way down the waterfall, Lady Clothilde and the rest of her band made their way around the side of the lake and into a room cloaked in magical mist. They found what appeared to be a small urn constantly filling with some sort of red liquid...

The Imperial troops found a large pile of gold and a magical portal. They began to debate the merits (and dangers) of passing through. 

One of the adventuring parties (and apologies, but their name has unfortauntely slipped my mind) lost a man to a giant face in the wall. He walked in of his own choice - heavily weighted by his fellows, of course - and failed to reappear. Not wanting to lose more of her men, the player sent her warband to investigate a pile of treasure on the other side of a rickety-looking bridge. Unexpectedly for one of Bob's games, it wasn't trapped.

The pirate goblins drifted closer towards my Salvage Company, but managed to anger a tribe of troglodytes. Their poisoned darts killed one of the crew members, who fell overboard and sunk into the murky depths. 

A second Wall of Flame sent pirates into the drink, along with a few of the other goblin gang who had crawled their way onboard. The magical boat kept drifting towards the dock, albeit with a few new passengers. 

Senator Rudiger and his men found a magical talking door that posed to them a riddle. They solved it quite handily - the answer was "Thirst" - and inside they found a magical orb. Quite the find!

The pirate captain and his first mate struggled to get over to the edge of the water, where there was a small ledge they could stand on. Deciding to investigate a small alcove, they found the nesting site of the troglodytes, including a mass of slimy eggs! This angered the dungeon dwellers, and the two goblins were swiftly turned into poison-filled pincushions. 

The dwarves had managed to find a Ring of Teleportation (that would only short out on a roll of 1 or 2 on a d20) so they started to hop around the dungeon in search of treasure. One of their finds, a large chest, acted like a portable mega-flashlight.

As it turned out, the 'Brian' I found was actually Brian van Hoose, of Knights of the Dinner Table fame, who decided to break character and offer me help in the form of a loophole or cheat with the rules. This was just at the moment when the magical boat drifted over the dock, and the goblins attacked. Brian's cheat came in handy, and for a few moments the goblins took damage from their own infighting. Unfortunately my archer took a goblin dagger to the stomach and died. 

Still curious about the man-eating face, the remaining adventures decided to go back and enter. They were transported to another section of the dungeon and reunited with the previously lost member, who had been quite worried after sitting in the dark all by himself for some time. 

One of the surviving goblins, clutching at a pillar of rocks rising from the water, was astonished to find a blue-skinned woman looking down at him. She asked him to retrieve a certain scroll from another area in the dungeon, and offered a reward. 

In a somewhat nostalgic moment, the dwarves used their Scroll of Fireball (remember that from last time?) to attack another warband, managing to kill four of them. Unfortunately, one of the dwarves had activated a trap, and had been killed when a giant bear-trap closed on him.  

An unfortunately timed 'Plot Card' - you'll remember them from some of Bob's other games - caused the magical boat to sink. The remaining goblins and the thief and fighter from my party end up in the water. 

One of the remaining goblins from the non-pirate crew saw the commotion involving the dwarves and decided that he wanted to get in on the action against his race's ancient enemies. Looking over his spell list, he decided to summon a swarm of spiders. What he got instead was a sea monster! 'Nessie' quickly laid into the dwarves, who hadn't been expecting an attack from the lake. 

Remarkably, another toot on the horn at the dock brought the magical ship back up from the depths of the lake. My men clambered back on, leaving the goblins behind. 

Lady Clothilde's group emerged from the mist - after battling a undead horror that had killed a large part of their party - only to find one of their party members had been murdered by goblins while guarding a raft. They decided to attack!

The last remaining goblin swam over to the other side of the lake and discovered a discarded urn on a pile of rocks. This urn contained a genie, who promised the goblin three wishes, and then his destruction. For the first wish, the goblin asked for the genie to disappear after the second wish. There was a moment of silence, then laughter as everyone realized this meant no third wish. 

So for his second wish, the goblin asked for his crew to be returned to life, and to have their boat back. Apparently feeling magnanimous, the genie did so without any twists. It then disappeared, taking the surprised goblin with him. I expect we'll see the two in some other game.

Another player forced his way into the sealed room in the picture above and found that it contained ghostly hounds and a pyramidal crystal. A mad dash for the crystal revealed that it, like other features in the dungeon, sent the touching party member... somewhere else. He wasn't seen again.

The last struggle of the game was between the Empire warband and the summoned lake monster. I also threw my remaining party members into the fight, but it seemed as though Nessie had the upper hand. 

At the conclusion of the game, it was determined that the dwarves had gathered the most loot, thanks in large part to the ring of teleportation they had found. 

Like all of Bob's community game, this dungeon crawl was full on unexpected surprises and some pretty funny moments. I'm eagerly waiting for the next level of the dungeon to be found, hopefully sometime next year. 

A Dungeon Runs Through It - Palasé Dungeon Crawl 2015, Part 1

Hello, and happy new year! I'm hoping everybody had a great holiday season.

Just as an aside, By Brush and Sword is now two years old! Hooray!

Almost a year ago, I wrote a blog post detailing one of Bob's community games. It was a massive dungeon crawl, filled to the brim with dangerous monsters, deadly traps, and plenty of backstabbing (and frontstabbing) from the players. 

Well, the time came once again when, thanks to the drunken exclamations of a pair of men in a local tavern, word got out that another level of the infamous Palasé Dungeon had been discovered. With the dungeon's predilection to somehow accumulating fantastic amounts of wealth in coins, jewels, important artifacts and magical items, it didn't take long for a number of dungeon-delving salvage crews to make their way down to the newest level. 

The stage was set for another rumble in the dungeon!

Last year's game featured a dungeon with plenty of rooms and constructed hallways. This year's offering was vastly different, and was fairly eye-catching from across the game store. A large part of the level of the dungeon was covered in murky water, whose depths swirled with both currents and things best unseen, flowing from left to right. While the left half of the table did have some of the classical dungeon features, the right side was dominated by a small lake. The level was dotted with a number of boats, whose use would be critical during the game. Bob also had a number of areas hidden from view, which could only have meant they contained important treasures. 

All the familiar faces from last year's game made a return, and now the goblins were options as playable characters.

Both goblin groups began the game afloat, with the pirate crew showing off a rather imposing cannon...

The other groups started in scattered locations all around the right side of the table, some uncomfortably close for comfort.  My Salvage Company Squad began the game close to the shore of the underground lake. 

The game began in a usual chaotic fashion with Lady Clothilde's party opening a grate in the sewer floor. What emerged was a pack (or a lobe?) of grells! The monsters were swiftly dispatched, although now without dealing out a few scratches to the adventurers. 

The dwarves of the Elderberg Expedition used their innate senses (and their eyes, as it was placed right in front of them) to find a pile of treasure near their entrance. However, a ghastly ghost - or a ghostly ghast - appeared and the dwarves fled. 

The Salvage Company Squad found what appeared to be a dock on the edge of the massive lake, with several odd features - a magical rune, a trapdoor and a horn. My mage sensed that some sort of powerful magic waited just around the corner. But not wanting to get his robes wet, he sent one of his lackeys. 

The source of the magic turned out to be a flying shield! Not only was it worth 5,000 gold pieces, but it also hovered around a person, giving him a defensive boost in combat. 

A warband from the Imperial Army had also descended into the dungeon, and their leader's eye was quickly caught by a strange looking fountain that burbled quietly in a dark recess. 

One of Clothilde's men - the Torchbearer, in fact - thought to make his way down the slimy waterfall to reach the lower depths of the dungeon level. Unfortunately, staring at his torch for so long meant the man's vision in the sudden darkness was rather rubbish, and he slipped and fell to his death. Luckily he had passed his torch on to another member of his party, so it wasn't extinguished when his body hit the shallow pool at the bottom. Senator Rudiger and his men watched on. 

The goblins decided to announce their presence by launching a cannonball and a fireball at the Salvage Company, killing their torchbearer! Luckily, his body was useful as a larger torch. 

The goblin's victory was short lived when the Salvage Company's mage cast a Wall of Fire directly on top of one of their ships. While the goblins managed to make it into the water, slight singed, their boat was less lucky. It caught fire and started to sink. Meanwhile, another boat appeared from the darkness, apparently summoned from the horn on the dock. The goblins, sputtering and splashing, couldn't believe their luck - another boat had appeared, ready to be boarded. 

And decided that now was better than never, the Salve Company thief opened up the trapdoor to reveal and man named Brian!

Yes, I know. Bob said he couldn't believe the coincidence either.

Well, that it's for part 1. Part 2 will be up next week, and we'll see how the exploration of the dungeons goes on.

Dark Corridors - Palasé Dungeon Crawl 2014

Once again, I journeyed to 7th Dimension Games for another of Bob Fanelli's games. This time Bob was running a dungeon crawl. The story as Bob related to we players was that a new level of the infamous Palasé Dungeon had been discovered, and a number of different groups had taken an interest in plundering its dangerous depths. Most important was the uncovering of facts that this level of the dungeon contained four priceless gems that would make any one who found it rich beyond their wildest imaginations.

We certainly had a lot of adventurers to chose from!

This was a group of priests of the Order of the Bull, a group of religious fanatics whose secondary objective was to find and destroy any heretical objects found in the dungeon.

This group was Senator Rudiger's Contingent, comprised of the Senator himself (in the poofy, feathered hat), some of his personal guard, and a dwarf wizard. 

This was my group, the Elderburg Expedition, a band of dwarves who came for the plunder!

This was the Baron's Men, a group of thugs hired by the local Baron to explore the dungeon. 

The Baron had also hired some professionals to work alongside his men in the form of Lady Clothilde's Service, a group of shadowy assassins. 

The last, and most exotic group was an exploratory band of Al Shamrdal's Northern Combine, whose numbers included a rather small giant!

It didn't take long for the assassins to have a run in with some of the dungeon's denizens - a horde of goblins came screaming out of the darkness, and a spider horde crawled out of the nearby structure!

A hastily cast fireball from the assassins' mage wiped out all but on of the goblins - and managed to kill the mage and two of his allies as well! The spider horde was then quickly dealt with.

The senator and his men stumbled across some sort of necromantic ritual.

The Baron's men, on the other hand, found a room that suddenly ended by plunging into a deep, dark crevasse. They quickly decided against checking the darkness and backed out of the room.

The dwarves, having barely escaped from a trap - involving a massive spiked ball and a strange indent on the floor - with a lucky Plot Card, began to explore the catacombs of the dungon. 

The Northern Combine group cautiously enters the dungeon proper, avoiding the area awash with burnt goblin and human chunks. 

Rudigard lost half of his men in clearing out the evil church. Well, two of those men were killed by the dwarf mage's fireball, but at least they found plenty of treasure and a magic sword to compensate!

The magic sword was immediately put to good use in skewering the remaining banshees whom the fireball hadn't hit.

The holymen had decided, for the moment, to avoid the imposing doorway and strange floor and ventured further into the dungeon.

The Baron's men were attacked from behind by a pair of Carrion Crawlers that had, er, crawled out of the cavern after smelling fresh meat. Combat ensued!

The dwarves continue to rummage through the catacombs. 

The Northern Combine group was suddenly set upon from above by Darkmantles! The nasty creatures failed to hit anyone, so the adventurers merely walked right past the monsters instead of fighting them. The wee beasties were rightly confused.

Continued rummaging. 

Combat continued with the Carrion Crawlers. The thief, Lupin, was paralyzed and soon killed and one of the monsters made a snack out of him. 

Having heard a commotion deeper in the dungeon (the fight involving the Senator and his men), the fanatics decided to head back to the previous room. One of the priests, noticing a lever, failed a Will Check and yanked down on the lever, opening the large doors. Inside was a large room with a grotesque statue at the opposite end. As the men entered, the room dimmed, and gas began to issue forth from the statue. Something was being summoned...

A demon! A... rather small and frail looking demon. Huh.

A fight ensued, and the demon proved it wasn't such a pushover as it looked to be. First summoning a magical darkness that the torchbearer's light couldn't pierce, it slew two of the fanatics in quick succession. The priests went down fighting, however, and one managed to squish the demon with his flail before perishing. 

The room brightened with the demon's death, and the fanatics found two very expensive paintings hanging up on the walls, which they decided to take.

The Northern Combine continued to delve further into the dungeon. The man taking up the rear suddenly found an arrow lodged in his back, accompanied by high-pitched cackling. 

The last goblin that had survived the fireball in the beginning of the game was back! He had fired his arrow through a small murder-hole neatly concealed in the wall. 

Not satisfied with his haul so far, the Senator ordered his remaining guard to continue searching the dark cathedral. The Senator took the mage with him to explore other rooms.

The Baron's men finally managed to kill one of the Carrion Crawlers! Noticing that the other monster was two busy feasting on Lupin's corpse, they beat a hasty retreat across the cavern...

Where they found the remnant of Lady Clothilde's Service. Nominal allies kept an eye on each other in the flickering torchlight.

Turning a corner, the Northern Combine giant suddenly found himself face to jello with a Gelatinous Cube! Quick reflexes kept the giant from being sucked in, and the Combine men also retreated back down the hallway.

Senator's Rudiger's remaining guard must have been a thief in a past life, as he found a small fortune of gold and a priceless statuette in no time at all. Unfortunately, he must not have been a very good thief, as a small cloak-wearing rat pilfered the statuette from the guard and was gone without a trace. 

The dwarves discovered a coffin in one of the catacombs. The dwarf thief had a bad feeling in his guts, and decided to check the coffin. Sure enough, it was trapped. The thief disarmed the gas trap and discovered a rather valuable heathen relic - something the Order of the Bull would love to get their hands on.

Good luck quickly soured when a swarm of Stirges swarmed up and out of the floor of the tomb. They began to attach themselves to the flailing dwarves, sucking their blood out and doing damage. The dwarves eventually managed to defeat the monsters, but not before taking a good chunk of damage.

The Combine group continued to be chased, albeit slowly, by the Gelatinous Cube.

What remained of the assassins were suddenly set upon by metal monstrosities. They managed to fight off the constructs, but lost another group member in the process. 

The Baron's hired group went further into the dungeon. The first man to walk into the room was skewered by spikes that erupted from the ground. Passing their pin-cushioned companion, the others found a room with statues that had switches on them. Turning one on, the statue immediately began to belch forth a stream of green ooze. 

Now this part will take a bit of an explanation. By way of the dungeon's hidden doors and twisting passages, the Order of the Bull, the Elderburg Expedition, and the remnants of Senator Rudiger's contingent all found themselves in the same area. Using an Invisibility Cloak he had found earlier, Rudiger attempted to sneak past the fanatics - and failed to do so, bumping into them and causing quite a commotion. 

I decided it was the perfect moment to break out a Scroll of Accurate Fireball that my leader had, and she tossed it into the mass of humans. Another players Plot Twist caused the fireball to deviate a little, but my dwarves remained untouched. Rudiger lost his last guard, but all of the fanatics were killed apart from the leader. 

Righteously incensed by the attack, the fanatic leader charged into the dwarves, killing three of them in close combat! 

Senator Rudiger decided to beat a hasty retreat. His flight was secretly observed by the members of the Northern Combine, who could peer through the fake wall. 

The Order of the Bull's remaining priest crushed another of the dwarves with his flail, but finally fell to the axe of the last dwarf. The last living member of the Elderburg Expedition gathered the treasure of both his group and the Order of the Bull - sans the paintings, which had been set alight by the fireball - and exited the dungeon.

Thus ended my involvement in the game. Before leaving, however, I took a couple more pictures of what was going on elsewhere in the dungeon. 

The Baron's thugs had descended further into the dungeon, pursued by some sort of ooze monster, into a room painted with watching eyes. Green ooze dripped from the ceiling into the center of the room. Unbeknownst to the group, the last goblin was activating more of the ooze-spewing statues in the room above...

Meanwhile, the Northern Combine, crossing over a small pond, was suddenly set upon by a horror from the deep!

Once again, Bob ran a fantastic game as the Game Master (GM). The scenery was amazing - my heart skips a beat whenever I think about the amount of money this resin dungeon must be worth! I also enjoyed Bob's use of the Pathfinder/Paizo Plot Twist cards, since they can turn a situation around rather quickly. The treasure assignment was mostly random - Bob had specifically placed special items in certain rooms.

I'm again looking forward to his next game, hopefully some time in early April.