I began, finally, after not one nor two but THREE false starts and several months-worth of delays due to clashing schedules and various sicknesses -- I began a hopefully long-for-this-world campaign of Stonehell, set in a corner of Luka Rejec's UVG, played in my slightly-customized version of Skerple's iconic Rats on Sticks GLOGhack, with some degree of success, I would say? It went okay.
THE BACKGROUND:
Stonehell was a ancient prison-experiment of an insane king of a dying city-state on the geographical and cultural line between Rainbowland Civilization and Ultraviolet Grassland Barbarism. Eventually the city-state fell and the prison was cracked open to reveal not a prison after all but an apparently-infinite series of halls and galleries and rooms and cells excavated by the now thoroughly-crazed vitamin D-deficient inmates. Fast forward 120 years and it's a 10-level hive of monsters and freaks and Very Large Jewels, or in other words it has turned (conveniently) into a megadungeon. There's a shitty town 4 hours away from the dungeon called Gont, which despite being the Rainbow Confederacy's western-most interest of any considerable size is essentially a glorified truck stop in the middle of the steppelands full of migrants, mercenaries, fugitives, and caravaneers.
THE CAST:
Clariandra, 11 year-old little necromancer girl, looking for her dad
Krema Affogato, very tall mutated thief, coffee addict
Dave, teen barbarian, dumb as hell
Lucidius, street-preaching lunatic mystic of Mother Silicon, metal jaw
1. The group waks up in the cheapest room at L'Ultime Motel they could get, one bed, bars on the window, poisonously-strong coffee and soft bread for breakfast.
2. Onboarded them into action as least-terribly as I could manage; they approach the polytarp yurt of Guapo Pasgeddi, headman of a profit-sharing association of gold-rush-esque merchant suppliers, who is delighted that he has more bodies to throw at the Ghost Beggar problem (Stonehell's "Supplement One," detailing a cave network full of bandits and an alternate entrance to the dungeon). 800 silver is promised for proof of dispersal or proof of the death of the Ghost Beggar leader. A coupon is provided, good for half-off any one shopping trip with the merchants he represented, which the party ignores.
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| The Brigand Caves |
3. Having bought zero supplies (Lucidius had purchased a bottle of cheap wine), they arrive at the poorly-hidden entrance to the bandits' hideout in the cliffs surrounding Stonehell, through which Dave charges into a cave-stable. Two badly-equipped highwaymen yell and run for reinforcements; the horses are unimpressed.
4: One runs to a nearby watch-post (room 5), and is stabbed nearly to death in the narrow preceding tunnel by Dave. Lucidius wins initiative, runs up behind Dave, shoves a chromium femur past his head and casts THE WRATH OF GOD IN ALL ITS GLORY (Cleric Laser) at the three filthy brigands playing bridge in the room beyond. They are left singed and reeling; Dave is left completely blind. Lucidius rolls a 4 on his magic die and is therefore out of divine favor for the day.
5: The bandit captain screams at his underlings to circle around outside the cave complex and get them from the back, then fails his morale roll, pisses his pants, and runs out after him. Dave takes a hit, Clariandra casts Wernher's Redistribution of Vitality at the man in front of him, rolls a 1 for damage, and watches him fall over dead, skin subtly wrinkling.
6: Dave blindly runs through the southern tunnel in an angry haze to look for more things to kill. Clariandra cuts off the thumbs of the dead and puts them in a little bag. The sounds of shouting and commotion reach them from distant caverns as news of the intrusion reaches the rest of the bandits.
7: Krema deals with the two underlings circling around the front of the cave by spooking a couple of the (by now fairly agitated) horses, which charge into their caretakers and launch them off hilariously the edge of the cliff.
8: Clariandra uses her turn to stroll around the back of the complex (room 6), which is the first unlit section anyone had encountered; unfortunate, since, again, no one had bought any supplies (no torches). By feel alone, she is able to find a low tunnel behind some very old crates.
Since this was the first session in months, there was a lot of bullshitting before we could start properly, so that was all we had time for. There are 3 Ghost Beggars in room 3 and 13 more scattered around the cave, so we essentially stopped 1 combat round away from the party getting swarmed; I expect deaths unless they can intelligently weasel their way out of their own stupidity and unpreparedness. Maybe they can lose them in the cramped tunnels in the back (17 and 18) or in the old unused barracks (7, 8, 9), but more likely I expect them to simply run away, maybe explore some of the other caves around Stonehell, and probably get ambushed by angry bandits on their way back to Gont.
Kills: 1 Ghost Beggar, 3 Highwaymen (40 xp)
