Dubzaron Session 48: Rapunzel gets Trolled

The party delved the Nethercity on 03/09/22. Rested 03/10/22. Left city en route to the dwarven city on 03/11/22. Fought trolls that night and double timed it to Turos Quelle; arriving early morning 03/12/22. Needing a day of rest the PCs can make downtime requests on and after 03/13/22.

Foreword

This session was a bummer. Read on! :)

Session Report

I took a week off between Session 47 and this, Session 48 and I wonder if this might have been a long enough break where PCs were getting rusty. There was something weird in the air; indecision. 

mourning the only one
she ever loved

Players discussed on the mics for a while about what they might want to do. It sounded less excited and more exasperated or confused. I was left wondering why a good plan wasn't agreed upon privately between players during the 2 weeks since the last session.

I'm not privy to those conversations so can only theorize and guess. What was very clear to me, however, is they weren't sure what they wanted to do. They eventually agreed to go with ol' faithful session goal: Delve the Nethercity.

Rapunzel (PC Priestess Level 4) recently began fortified and cleaning up the first few rooms of the megadungeon to reclaim it for Law and the Temple. The player and I discussed a bit about the guards and guard shifts Rapunzel had set in the stairs descending in to the Nethercity and the first couple rooms which were now claimed and fortified by steel doors. It was pretty cool seeing how player(s) come up with interesting ideas like reclaiming a dungeon, how they might go about it. I tossed out some rulings about random encounters the guards would have to deal with in their fortified position and this was noted for future downtime tracking.

The party passed through the safe guard room to the next room over which was a crypt. I rolled random encounters and restocking checks and found that 3 ghouls were in the crypt and, worse yet, they had successfully surprised the PCs. Since ghouls are somewhat intelligent I ruled that they would allow the party to pass through the room a bit so they, the ghouls, could attack the party's back and side ranks.

Additionally the party was passing through the room and a trap door inside as a sort of shortcut to where they were going. When the front line (mostly melee tank sorts) were at the bottom of the hole the ghouls attacked. Carina (henchlady mage to Rapunzel) was knocked below zero hit points and possibly dead. Rapunzel herself had ghouls in her face and it was a challenging fight getting her out alive. Olivier (PC Paladin Level 2) and Daria (PC BladeDancer level 6) were at the bottom of the pit but were able to get back up and defend the priestess and kill the ghouls. Grommz (PC Dwarven Vaultguard) also put a hurt on the undead as well.

This little battle was foreshadowing for the tragedy that would befall the party before the end of the session.

After the battle Daria and Olivier worked together to help get Carina back on her feet. The mortal wound the Mage received wasn't dire and she could get back to adventuring after one day of rest. So the party went back topside and rested a day. It didn't take long to get back up to the city above since the ghoul fight was only ONE ROOM into the dungeon.

Then the debate about what to do raged on the mics. I got a drink.

I get a sense some players were tired of delving the Nethercity and wanted to do something bigger. There was discussion of following the treasure map they gained a while back to an apparent Biodome of Dinosaurs near the Dark Wall. But that was shot down since they had no Explorer/wilderness type PCs this night. Another option that was put out there was to follow a treasure map they had through the Black Lodge to some fortress full of magic items defended by a mad lizard. Planar travel could be interested right?

I'm not sure why this was shot down. I think they simply fear the Black Lodge.

The mission the agreed upon was very simple indeed and it was to travel to the dwarven vault city and just check it out. Grommz the Dwarf was in this session so he promised he could get the PCs a warm welcome were they to travel there. Problem is that it's pretty far away from the city of Dubzaron, where the Party was. 

E

ven so, they all tentatively agreed on the plan and travel began. Grommz's player quipped that they had a Paladin, a SwanMaiden (Rapunzel has a magic cloak that turns her to a swan), and a Dwarf just like the terrific Appendix N novel "Three Hearts, Three Lions". Little did they know a famous monster from that tale was about to be upon them...

During the camp on the second night of travel, somewhere between Turos Quelle and Siadanos, Daria was on watch and not focusing. I rolled up a random encounter of like SEVEN TROLLS and what's worse; they had surprise on Daria.

Surprise check was about to kick the party's rear again but this time, much worse. 

Grommz and Olivier weren't in their full plate armor because they were sleeping. And Rapunzel wears no armor at all. Only Daria was fully geared and ready. But all of them were still surprised.

I checked the encounter distance and the trolls could easily get into the small PC camp and start ripping people apart. They did so and before Daria could even sound the alarm and wake up the other PCs, Rapunzel was ripped limb from limb and the trolls were gnawing on her bones. Screamed filled the night.

Grommz and Oliver jumped to their feet to fight back back the dwarf was quickly killed and ripped apart as well. Grommz's player joked that he knew that he would be killed because the dwarf in "Three Hearts, Three Lions" gets killed by a troll. The swan-mae in the book however... she survives. We were in bizzaro 3H3L.

At this point Daria and Olivier decided to flee and leave Rapunzel and Grommz to be eaten. Daria directed her charmed Giant Hawk to dive bomb and try and save Rapunzel's corpse from the trolls for the possibility of healing or saving her later. The trolls grabbed the Hawk from the air and bit its head off. 

The leader of the trolls chased the fleeing Daria and Olivier on his own since I ruled he was smart enough to realize this would make it less likely for those two to successfully Wilderness Evade. The sub-chief caught up to them but the encounter distance between the three of them was such that Daria could keep distance from the troll and cast buff spells on herself. I made a Reaction check that the troll would keep playing this game and the answer was a quick "no". He fled back towards his gang to eat the priestess and dwarf.

Daria and Olivier came back to the battlefield some time later in the hopes of finding the bodies of their compatriots to no avail. They double timed it back north to Turos Quelle and ended their evening of adventure there.

Afterword

Rapunzel was a PC that had come to define the campaign in many ways. When the PC was rolled the players had decided they needed more support classes. Since Priestesses get Divine Spells at level 1, unlike Clerics, Rapunzel and another Priestess named Aurora were rolled. They both debuted (iirc) in the session where Ratface led them to certain doom against a xenomorph. But the Priestesses escaped, survived, and thrived.

The Nethercity dungeon was a perfect delving spot for a mid level priestess and Rapunzel was indispensable and leading ops into the place and making clutch Turn Undead checks against the powerful mummies they found there. Much treasure was had thanks to this. Thus levels.

So anyway most of the table was bummed that Rapunzel got killed, myself included. Real D&D can be harsh. It plays for keeps!

What this session outlined for me in particular was that everything in ACKS matters. This session was ALL about the Surprise check. There are some classes and abilities which are less likely to be surprised and after the tragedy of the Trolls I realized these classes (Barbarian, Elves when outdoors, Dwarves when in dungeons) are the ones you want on night watch if you can help it. 

The party realized they would be at a disadvantage doing wilderness trekking without a ranger or explorer type but night watch question wasn't given much consideration much to their detriment. 

Even so, the chances of having such a powerful monster encountered at night AND have surprise AND be encounters close enough for them to take advantage of a surprise round are extremely low. This whole situation was about the dice forcing a tragedy on the table. One that might have been mitigated slightly with some player decisions but even with that it's likely it would have turned out bad.

Sometimes you get the troll sometimes the troll gets you. 

RIP Rapunzel.

.....

.....

oh and Grommz.

Surviving PCs Present

Daria (0% XP Bonus) Level 6 Bladedancer. 44 XP gained. Total: 27,396

Olivier (5% XP bonus) Level 2 Paladin. 45 XP gained. Total: 3,617 [LEVEL UP TO 3!]

Deceased

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Swoleous Maximus (L1 Paladin). DECEASED. Captured then drawn and quartered by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Damianus (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Captured and beheaded by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Bucky (L1 Barbarian). DECEASED. Became a illegal pit fighter during his downtime. Had two bouts to the death, winning the first and losing the second. Was killed by Young Jack Sparrow who sashayed into the ring, drank rum, and mogged on Bucky before putting a dagger into his ribs, killing him. This happened during downtime between Session 17 and 18.

Broll Wolf-Eater (L1 Barbarian). Current total XP: 1079. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Brother Franklin (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Decapitated by a mad cultist of a Lovecraftian slime thing in Session 19.

Felix the Elder (L1 Bard). Total XP 825. DECEASED. Captured by mad cultists and fed to a Lovecraftian slime monster in Session 19.

Templar Flavius Africanus (L1 Cleric). Total XP 7. Killed by the claws and beak of mad harpies in Session 19.

Xendi (L1 Explorer). Total XP 6. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Yllmeeton (L3 Shaman). Total XP 4,563. Bludgeoned by the corpse of a bowmen by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Longinus (L2 Assassin). Total XP 2,036. Had his face ripped off by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Mandonio (L3 Fighter). Total XP 4,779. Charred to a leprous crisp by diseased Dragon breath in Session 22.

Corydon (L1 Joker). Total XP: 0. Burnt to a crisp by chimera breath so thoroughly his corpse wasn't even fit for the crows. Died with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. that's life and as funny as it seems... some people get their kicks, stomping on a dream... In Session 25.

Donny Keebler (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP 2,238. Had his legs burned completely off by chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Marina (L2 Fighter). Total XP: 2,204. Burnt into ash by a chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Gundro (L2 Gnomish Trickster). Total XP: 2,575. Had his mouth and tongue bitten off by a lizardman ambusher in the dank sewers below Cyfaraun in Session 26.

Polydoros (L1 Fighter). Total XP: 0. Had his legs ripped off and eaten by Akira monsters in the dark canopy of the Viaspen Forest in Session 28.

Odrum (L1 Explorer). Total XP: 287. Javelin to the heart from the hands of weird vine goblins hidden in the walls of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Garvin the Nutless Wonder (L1 Mage). Total XP: 0. Fell off the side of Ferigno's lair 20 feet to his death in Session 30.

Blackmoon (L1 Assassin). Total XP: 768. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while stealing treasure from Ferigno's dragon horde in Session 30.

Xanthus (L2 Cleric). Total XP: 2,364. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while hanging out on the roof of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Lord Zyklon (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP: 0. LORD ZYKLON DISEMBOWLED LORD ZYKLON upon finding himself on the losing side of the Desolation of Turos Tem.

Turin (L1 Cleric). Total XP: 0. Eaten by Wargs in Session 32.

Rat Face (L2 Thief) Total XP: 1,577. Seemingly grabbed in the dark by a Xenomorph in Session 36. In a sinkhole your party can hear you scream! 

Smarticus (L1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Captured by a Xenomorph in Session 36 for all the party to witness. Taken deep into a sinkhole.

Hearticus (L1 Cleric) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 after projectile vomiting all over himself from the stink of sewer sludge.

Mickey Mouser (L1 Thief) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 in the happiest place on earth: the Cyfaraun sewer!

Aenes (Level 1 Paladin) Total XP: 62. Swarmed by giant flies in the sewer beneath Cyfaraun in Session 40.

Acianus (Level 1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Chopped to pieces in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue from behind and quickly forgotten about by his compatriots who saved MadEye and lamented Hardar instead. But I'll never forget you Acinanu nanu...nanite... nananaa...

Hardar (Level 2 Mage) Total XP: 2,832. Chopped up in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue as he held his Darth Vader Choking Grip spell long enough for his compatriots to escape an unwinnable battle. His dream to become the most evil being in the universe suffers eternally the indignity of being remembered for self sacrifice and laying his life down for his friends.

Nubbs (Level 3 Thief) Total XP: 4,017. Swarmed by scarabs which bored into his ears and brain in Session 45.

Grummz (Level 1 Dwarven Vaultgard) Total XP: 0. Ripped limb from limb by a throng of skeletons and their undead golem leaders in Session 46.

Grommzs (Level 1 Dwarven Vaultguard) Total XP: 2,168. Torn to bits and eaten by trolls in session 48

Rapunzel (Level 4 Priestess) Total XP: 11,540. Torn to bits and eaten by trolls in Session 48. 

Alexa this is so sad play "horse with no rider" from the Tangle official motion picture soundtrack

Dubzaron Session 47: Voices in the Dark (and Mummy Cats)

This session was played on 02/23/22 with PCs adventuring until 02/26/22. Needing one day of rest as per ACKS rules the PCs can adventured and make downtime requests on and after 02/27/22.

Session Report

The Party was delving the Nethercity megadungeon beneath the city of Dubzaron yet again. In the first room in the dungeon the party decided to expend some manpower and spells to try and clear the first room so it might be claimed later as part of Rapunzel's (PC Priestess level 4) shrine. The first big room was full full of swarming bugs so it wasn't the easiest fight to clear them out. 

The auto damage that ACKS "swarm" monsters do was enough to knock down Carina (hench Mage of Rapunzel Level 2) despite everyone else in the battle fairing fine. The party healed her up but she'd need an evening of bed rest due to her mortal wound of "becoming sterile" (not going into description details there... ugh). They decided to go topside, rest for the night, and simply do a second delve. Before escaping the dungeon they cast Purify Water and Create Water on the sewer sludge filling the room hoping in time such efforts would clear out the grossness and the room could be claimed as a sort of guard room for Team A.

Next day the second delve took the Party back to the Great Temple inside the megadungeon. The one where, last week, Daria (PC Bladedancer Level 6) killed about 9,000 skeletons. There were no random encounters on the way to the Gallery despite it being pretty deep into the dungeon. The Party set fire to the skeletons in the hope that, if they were all burned up, the room and the surrounding rooms would no longer be a Sinkhole of Evil.

Sinkholes are an ACKS mechanic wherein a massive graveyard or an evil altar makes the area around it empower undead and evil creatures. Turn Undead becomes much harder in these areas. It's like the necklaces Gygax put in the Caves of Chaos that zombies and skeletons wear so PCs wouldn't turn them too easily and make the fight with the Evil Cleric pointless. You know, except it's better worldbuilding and not cheap and stupid. (Gonna spend a couple thousand gp to make 12 of your zombies harder to turn? Dumb.)

So anyway the fire was going to have to burn a long time since the party started exploring new areas past the grand gallery while the skeletons burned all up. To the south hallway from the gallery they came to a heavy stone crypt door. Once again The Doors proved to be their toughest opponent and despite taking about 5 minutes pushing at the thing, they couldn't get it open. (It was found opened later on... stay tuned!)

They gave up on the heavy door and went deeper into the Great Temple complex raiding graves and such for a bit of gold. Eventually they circled around the Gallery and were on the opposite balcony from where they stood their ground with 9000 skeletons last session. Here they found a weird hologram thing in the center of the balcony room of a dancing skeleton made of shiny lights. Some of the PCs succumbed to a hypnotic stupid looking at the image, Kortes (PC Explorer level 3) is the one I remember specifically since he played up the scene ("that was pretty cool man!"). But enough of the PCs were not hypnotized and snapped their pals out of it.

South from there they found an ancient embalmers room with the corpse of the embalmer dead and decayed on the floor. A wraith rose from the corpse when they tried to loot the room. The embalmer wraith complained about them destroying his filing system as he gripped Brian (Hench to Rapunzel Thief Level 1) and melted the henchman's eyes, leaving him screaming on the floor.

Rapunzel successfully Turned Undead and then the party beat the embalmer wraith down and looted the room. Pretty solid haul.

One the way back past the balcony something weird happened again! There were two mummy cats on the railing of the balcony and a hissing voice was inside Korte's head telling him to "stop desecrating the nethercity and maybe you all won't be killed".

Kortes was pretty spooked out by this point. The Party left the mummy cats alone, despite their cheshire smiles, and began to go back the way they came and exit the dungeon. I rolled a Wight random encounter and the party was in danger of someone in the front line losing a level(s) because it surprised them. Everyone except Kortes who was able to kill it with one shot from a silver bolt (or arrow? i dont remember) before it could attack the Party.

Further along the party come across another random encounter of a wraith which looked like BOB. Rapunzel did Turn Undead again and it was beat down.

By now you can see this is a dangerous place indeed. A bit of luck and good play was keeping the PCs from taking some serious level drain damage, or even a TPK. Kortes's player was getting antsy by this point but Rapunzel's was feeling gung-ho. 

So when the party noticed the stone crypt they failed to open was NOW OPEN. Each player became more so. Kortes was all "lets run!" and Rapunzel was thinking "the room past that door is flush with treasure I'm sure of it!"

When the party was about to loot the crypt room Kortes noticed just behind them (because he was "watching their back" and looking directly into said Gallery room) that it was magically dark. Their torchlight wasn't piercing into that room.

He told the party (and perhaps had fear in his voice) when the voice he heard in his head was now laughing from the magic darkness. Telling the party to leave immediately or they'd all be killed. The voice chat filled with crosstalk as every player had some idea of what they should do. Kortes: "run away!" Rapunzel: "screw that voice" and everything in between. The Caller eventually decided they'd leave with haste and the hissing voice from the darkness insulted them, insulted their gods, and declared the supremacy of the chaos gods as the Party left (fled).

Sadly I can't really tell you what was in the darkness or what was happening behind the scenes as my Players read this. Suffice it to say it was mostly born out of random encounter rolls, checking the various spell charts, and using reaction rolls on what the "voice" might do in the circumstances of tomb raiders.

The party did pretty well on loot and Kortes's henchman Obseye (now renamed as Yeezy) leveled up.

Afterword

These delves are starting to run together a bit, as the player of the last few Thieves and Dwarves said recently. Don't worry, something quite a bit different happens next session.

You may think "it doesn't seem like Jeffrogaxian Timekeeping is having much impact on the campaign; these are just delves!" Oh how wrong you'd be.

Gaius (PC Fighter Level 5) wasn't available this session because, during downtime, he joined up with Legate Nitherian (Patron Fighter Legate level ???) to help lead a military campaign against the Scaled King (Patron Insane Lizardman Warlord level ???). BriarWhisper (PC Elven Ranger Level 5) was also unavailable because he was doing a scouting mission for Nitherian to find the Scaled King's location and then, during downtime, head off to the Istrith Forest for Elf Reasons.

So the Braunstein effect has continued in the background, often with PC involvement in downtime rather than session time. It's my understanding this is different than what's happening with Trollopulous wherein PCs are mostly hanging out in Macho Mandalf's realm (Patron Magic User and Cream of the Crop) and doing stuff for him IN SESSION. The difference in approach likely coming less from best practices or the divergent rule-sets but from the personality of the Players. My players (generally) are a bit more cautious and want to stay closer to a major city. I'm also, probably, a bit stingier on my rulings. Trollopulous is a more wide open place and, in my experience (I was a PC for a while), the Players are more interested in doing the wackiest most meme-able stuff they can most of the time. Both group personalities are awesome and a Real D&D campaign will likely have a mix of both.

BROSR style Real Time timekeeping will pay dividends in your campaign even if you're just doing dungeon delves and have a Patron or two on the side. 

Even the gross weird dnd yootoobers are figuring this out! Check here (no I'm not providing a link) where some grifting dnd yootuber talks about Real Time Keeping as if he stumbled on the concept on his own. Doesn't name the #BROSR at all, despite our 2+ years of work on this stuff, involving many men, many DMs and PCs, and many loooong form campaigns.

Wow! Look at his big bookshelf of gaming books! So cool! So organized! So un-played!

Apparently this guy even says "always on campaign" without crediting the trailblazers of the #BROSR. Pathetic. 

Don't be a grifter nerd like question beast. Be a BRO like Adam. Give the BROSR credit. Thanks Adam!

Surviving PCs Present

Daria (0% XP bonus) Level 6 BladeDancer. 888 XP gained. Total: 27,352

Kortes (0% XP bonus) Level 3 Explorer. 888 XP gained. Total: 6,671

Olivier (5% XP bonus) Level 2 Paladin. 932 XP gained. Total: 3,572

Rapunzel (10% xp bonus) Level 4 Priestess. 976 xp gained. Total: 12,516

Deceased

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Swoleous Maximus (L1 Paladin). DECEASED. Captured then drawn and quartered by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Damianus (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Captured and beheaded by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Bucky (L1 Barbarian). DECEASED. Became a illegal pit fighter during his downtime. Had two bouts to the death, winning the first and losing the second. Was killed by Young Jack Sparrow who sashayed into the ring, drank rum, and mogged on Bucky before putting a dagger into his ribs, killing him. This happened during downtime between Session 17 and 18.

Broll Wolf-Eater (L1 Barbarian). Current total XP: 1079. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Brother Franklin (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Decapitated by a mad cultist of a Lovecraftian slime thing in Session 19.

Felix the Elder (L1 Bard). Total XP 825. DECEASED. Captured by mad cultists and fed to a Lovecraftian slime monster in Session 19.

Templar Flavius Africanus (L1 Cleric). Total XP 7. Killed by the claws and beak of mad harpies in Session 19.

Xendi (L1 Explorer). Total XP 6. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Yllmeeton (L3 Shaman). Total XP 4,563. Bludgeoned by the corpse of a bowmen by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Longinus (L2 Assassin). Total XP 2,036. Had his face ripped off by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Mandonio (L3 Fighter). Total XP 4,779. Charred to a leprous crisp by diseased Dragon breath in Session 22.

Corydon (L1 Joker). Total XP: 0. Burnt to a crisp by chimera breath so thoroughly his corpse wasn't even fit for the crows. Died with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. that's life and as funny as it seems... some people get their kicks, stomping on a dream... In Session 25.

Donny Keebler (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP 2,238. Had his legs burned completely off by chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Marina (L2 Fighter). Total XP: 2,204. Burnt into ash by a chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Gundro (L2 Gnomish Trickster). Total XP: 2,575. Had his mouth and tongue bitten off by a lizardman ambusher in the dank sewers below Cyfaraun in Session 26.

Polydoros (L1 Fighter). Total XP: 0. Had his legs ripped off and eaten by Akira monsters in the dark canopy of the Viaspen Forest in Session 28.

Odrum (L1 Explorer). Total XP: 287. Javelin to the heart from the hands of weird vine goblins hidden in the walls of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Garvin the Nutless Wonder (L1 Mage). Total XP: 0. Fell off the side of Ferigno's lair 20 feet to his death in Session 30.

Blackmoon (L1 Assassin). Total XP: 768. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while stealing treasure from Ferigno's dragon horde in Session 30.

Xanthus (L2 Cleric). Total XP: 2,364. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while hanging out on the roof of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Lord Zyklon (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP: 0. LORD ZYKLON DISEMBOWLED LORD ZYKLON upon finding himself on the losing side of the Desolation of Turos Tem.

Turin (L1 Cleric). Total XP: 0. Eaten by Wargs in Session 32.

Rat Face (L2 Thief) Total XP: 1,577. Seemingly grabbed in the dark by a Xenomorph in Session 36. In a sinkhole your party can hear you scream! 

Smarticus (L1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Captured by a Xenomorph in Session 36 for all the party to witness. Taken deep into a sinkhole.

Hearticus (L1 Cleric) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 after projectile vomiting all over himself from the stink of sewer sludge.

Mickey Mouser (L1 Thief) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 in the happiest place on earth: the Cyfaraun sewer!

Aenes (Level 1 Paladin) Total XP: 62. Swarmed by giant flies in the sewer beneath Cyfaraun in Session 40.

Acianus (Level 1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Chopped to pieces in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue from behind and quickly forgotten about by his compatriots who saved MadEye and lamented Hardar instead. But I'll never forget you Acinanu nanu...nanite... nananaa...

Hardar (Level 2 Mage) Total XP: 2,832. Chopped up in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue as he held his Darth Vader Choking Grip spell long enough for his compatriots to escape an unwinnable battle. His dream to become the most evil being in the universe suffers eternally the indignity of being remembered for self sacrifice and laying his life down for his friends.

Nubbs (Level 3 Thief) Total XP: 4,017. Swarmed by scarabs which bored into his ears and brain in Session 45.

Grummz (Level 1 Dwarven Vaultgard) Total XP: 0. Ripped limb from limb by a throng of skeletons and their undead golem leaders in Session 46.

Alexa this is so sad play "she blinded me with science" by thomas dolby

Dubzaron Session 46: Nine Thousand Skeleton Gallery (and Why the BROSR is Winning)

Session was played on 02/16/22 with PCs needing one day of rest they can adventure and make downtime requests on and after 02/18/22.

Session Report

Back to the Nethercity we went. But this time the PCs had... a Big Plan! A plan so big they asked MapGuy (Patron Mapguy Level ???) to send one of his henchmen with them to do maps and art. The PCs' plan was to go back to the big 30 foot high gallery filled with like a million graves they discovered a week or two back. 

bookdox

Daria (PC BladeDancer Level 5) had cast Detect Evil back then and the party was pretty sure the place was full of undead. Full to the brim. They also didn't have any sort of Loremaster or Historian with them back during session 44 which would be able to contemplate the glowing orbs all over the ceiling. That seemed like it could be useful information. 

Tonight MapGuy's henchman went to work studying the ceiling and drawing a picture of everything he saw. The Patron himself reviewed the paperwork later and found the ceiling was showing some constellations and predicted some sort of evil cosmic event at some point in the future. Patron play opens up new info gathering and hook possibilities! Add patrons to your campaign.

So what about the wall graves?

The PCs sent Grumms (NEW PC Dwarven Vaultguard level 1) and 4 henchman down into the gallery to carefully lay military oil just along the floor under those wall graves. Check the pic above. Most of the PCs stayed up on that balcony on the top right. Laying out like 30 oil flasks on the floor would take a while. And it should be easy but I decided that each oil-guy would accidently drop a flask onto a grave or bump it or get too zealous in his work. If I rolled a Natural 1 on a d20 for that guy. So 5d20 each turn for like 4 turns to see if a nat 1 hit. It did. In the first turn.

So I ruled that a henchman of Rapunzel (PC Priestess Level 4) heretofor un-named got too zealous and was just throwing the oil down cackling like an idiot. I asked the voice chat for names and we named him Brian. I thought Brian would become a goat. Players loved him instead. There's no accounting for PCs. Insane.

The module said if the graves were disturbed they would ALL open up with skeletons at about 2d20 per ROUND. And like 4 crazy powerful undead (see the background of the pic) would too. The rising began!

Grummz was caught in bad position waaaay at the back of the room like 20 feet from the Big Bad undead. They surrounded and killed him in round 1. Most of the henchmen were close enough to a staircase on the right wall (not in the picture above) that Xanthos (Pc Cleric Level 3) and Daria were holding the threshold of so retreaters could nope out of the gallery floor. Xanthos cast Protection from Evil and I think Rapunzel was up on the balcony with the plan to do Turn Undead up there on the skeltons and Big Bads. 

By now the party has really realized the power of Protection from Evil; making it impossible for undead and evil summoned creatures to approach the protected bubble unless and until the PCs attack out of it. So they used this to make the threshold of the stairs a choke point they could control, undead couldn't ascend to them from there.

Xanthos made a bunch of jokes about how he spent the entire 3 hour combat with the 500+ skeletons just concentrating to Protect from Evil in that one spot.

The skeletons mobbed bigly and climbed upon eachother to form a bone ladder. One of the big bads was able to ascend this and take down MistWeaver (Hench Elven Spellsword for Briarwhisper) during a moment when there was no Protection from Evil on him. The elves were peeking over the balcony just laying down arrow fire and taking down skeletons and big bads.

Rapunzel turned for round after round successfully, like 100 skeletons total jumped back in their graves scared of the holy symbol of Ianna. Daria was casting buff spells on herself for like 5 rounds until she had an I-WIN button on me in the form of Immunity to Evil and Swift Sword (among other buff divine spells) and she went to work chopping down skeletons for like 40 minutes.

There was a bit more fighting with regular round based D&D combat (to the players' loss tbh) but we eventually agreed that Daria could kill all the remaining skeletons with no danger to herself and, with all the other party members in Protection from Evil bubbles. So we wrapped the combat there.

Gaius (PC Fighter Level 4) was there too. And Grummz's player quickly rolled up a replacement Dwarven Vaultguard named Grommz and got XP for it. #WinAtRPGs

After the battle was over Rapunzel used her swan-mae cloak to fly up to the ceiling and poke out all the fancy glowing gems. 

I rolled random encounters for the time that took and for the trek back. The 60ish magic gems were worth an absolute ton of money and in downtime MadEye (PC Venturer Level 2) brokered a deal with the Tower of Knowledge (mages guild) to sell in bulk.

Everyone who survived Session 46 leveled. 

Afterword

What is it about BROSR campaigns that has so many folks excited? For one you look at the above and think "well I've never done that sort of thing in my campaign i bet it was exciting". But it certainly wouldn't be impossible to do that session in fake dnd. Big combats with hundreds of guys probably happens in OSR games now and then in a dungeon scenario.

But the osr on the whole is NOT having successful campaigns. They post about the new books they've bought as if consoooming product is gaming. It's not. They wax nostalgic about the one-shot game they played in at a convention back in 2017 (before they got terrified of the flu and hid alone in their loft) as if one-shots are real D&D. It's not. And yet they come at the BROSR on tw1tter to criticize us, as if they have any expertise about how to run successful campaigns. They don't.

So why is the BROSR running successful campaigns?

Is it me? Well yes I am an #Elite DM. 

But these days I don't do much more than make rulings about the ACKS rules and gives a thumbs up to ridiculous downtime actions and Patron schemes. The above session report just needed a quick ruling on whether Daria's spell cocktail meant she could fight for like 40 minutes and slay 400 skeletons with no danger to herself. Because Ima a be real with you chief, I ain't rolling all that. I got work in the morning.

And when Rapunzel says she's building a shrine above the megadungeon on dowtime to save travel time? I say "ok sounds good". When a Patron Legate says he explored some woods just outside his territory and found some orcs he subsequently slaughtered and looted I say "ok, put it in your treasury and calculate the XP". 

I trust them.

So that's the secret. BROSR gaming is high trust gaming. It's the sort of trust that comes when you believe in your friends to do the best they can for your campaign and to not rip you off or cheat the campaign as a whole. Because they are your friends.

OSR is low trust gaming. It's why osr dms never want to leave the dungeon. It's easier to control PCs in small enclosed spaces. It's why osr dms are stingy about giving out magic items. Low trust in their players. It's why OSR dms lament high level PCs. It's easier to kill low level and HP mooks when they are making it too hard for the dm to live out their power fantasies. 

BROSR DMs instead laugh and celebrate all the madness that will come to their campaign when a PC (or Patron) achieves high level, when a PC cops a powerful magic item, when Patrons run roughshod over the wilderness with armies. 

There is a real brotherhood in these games (despite some of my players' weird tendency to rp as chicks...) of wanting everyone to succeed and wanting the CAMPAIGN to ascend to great heights. To go down in history like the campaigns of old. Greyhawk. Blackmoor. Trollopulous? 

We're winning because the men involved are not only great REAL D&D players but they are great men.

And we run rules as written.

Surviving PCs Present

BriarWhisper (PC Elven Ranger Level 4)

Daria (PC BladeDancer Level 6)

Gaius (PC Fighter Level 5)

Groomz (PC Dwarven Vaultguard Level 1)

Rapunzel (PC Priestess Level 4)

Xanthos (PC Cleric level 2)

Deceased

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Swoleous Maximus (L1 Paladin). DECEASED. Captured then drawn and quartered by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Damianus (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Captured and beheaded by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Bucky (L1 Barbarian). DECEASED. Became a illegal pit fighter during his downtime. Had two bouts to the death, winning the first and losing the second. Was killed by Young Jack Sparrow who sashayed into the ring, drank rum, and mogged on Bucky before putting a dagger into his ribs, killing him. This happened during downtime between Session 17 and 18.

Broll Wolf-Eater (L1 Barbarian). Current total XP: 1079. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Brother Franklin (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Decapitated by a mad cultist of a Lovecraftian slime thing in Session 19.

Felix the Elder (L1 Bard). Total XP 825. DECEASED. Captured by mad cultists and fed to a Lovecraftian slime monster in Session 19.

Templar Flavius Africanus (L1 Cleric). Total XP 7. Killed by the claws and beak of mad harpies in Session 19.

Xendi (L1 Explorer). Total XP 6. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Yllmeeton (L3 Shaman). Total XP 4,563. Bludgeoned by the corpse of a bowmen by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Longinus (L2 Assassin). Total XP 2,036. Had his face ripped off by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Mandonio (L3 Fighter). Total XP 4,779. Charred to a leprous crisp by diseased Dragon breath in Session 22.

Corydon (L1 Joker). Total XP: 0. Burnt to a crisp by chimera breath so thoroughly his corpse wasn't even fit for the crows. Died with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. that's life and as funny as it seems... some people get their kicks, stomping on a dream... In Session 25.

Donny Keebler (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP 2,238. Had his legs burned completely off by chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Marina (L2 Fighter). Total XP: 2,204. Burnt into ash by a chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Gundro (L2 Gnomish Trickster). Total XP: 2,575. Had his mouth and tongue bitten off by a lizardman ambusher in the dank sewers below Cyfaraun in Session 26.

Polydoros (L1 Fighter). Total XP: 0. Had his legs ripped off and eaten by Akira monsters in the dark canopy of the Viaspen Forest in Session 28.

Odrum (L1 Explorer). Total XP: 287. Javelin to the heart from the hands of weird vine goblins hidden in the walls of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Garvin the Nutless Wonder (L1 Mage). Total XP: 0. Fell off the side of Ferigno's lair 20 feet to his death in Session 30.

Blackmoon (L1 Assassin). Total XP: 768. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while stealing treasure from Ferigno's dragon horde in Session 30.

Xanthus (L2 Cleric). Total XP: 2,364. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while hanging out on the roof of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Lord Zyklon (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP: 0. LORD ZYKLON DISEMBOWLED LORD ZYKLON upon finding himself on the losing side of the Desolation of Turos Tem.

Turin (L1 Cleric). Total XP: 0. Eaten by Wargs in Session 32.

Rat Face (L2 Thief) Total XP: 1,577. Seemingly grabbed in the dark by a Xenomorph in Session 36. In a sinkhole your party can hear you scream! 

Smarticus (L1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Captured by a Xenomorph in Session 36 for all the party to witness. Taken deep into a sinkhole.

Hearticus (L1 Cleric) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 after projectile vomiting all over himself from the stink of sewer sludge.

Mickey Mouser (L1 Thief) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 in the happiest place on earth: the Cyfaraun sewer!

Aenes (Level 1 Paladin) Total XP: 62. Swarmed by giant flies in the sewer beneath Cyfaraun in Session 40.

Acianus (Level 1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Chopped to pieces in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue from behind and quickly forgotten about by his compatriots who saved MadEye and lamented Hardar instead. But I'll never forget you Acinanu nanu...nanite... nananaa...

Hardar (Level 2 Mage) Total XP: 2,832. Chopped up in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue as he held his Darth Vader Choking Grip spell long enough for his compatriots to escape an unwinnable battle. His dream to become the most evil being in the universe suffers eternally the indignity of being remembered for self sacrifice and laying his life down for his friends.

Nubbs (Level 3 Thief) Total XP: 4,017. Swarmed by scarabs which bored into his ears and brain in Session 45.

Grummz (Level 1 Dwarven Vaultgard) Total XP: 0. Ripped limb from limb by a throng of skeletons and their undead golem leaders in Session 46.

Alexa this is so sad play "bone bone bone" by Bone Thugs n Harmony

Dubzaron Session 45: The Mummy Part 2 (Review of ACKS "Secrets of the Nethercity")

This session was played on 02/09/22 wherein the PCs delved for 1 day. Needing one day of rest as per ACKS rules they can adventure and make downtime requests on and after 02/11/22.

Session Report

The Party had been having so much success delving the Nethercity that they decided to return YET AGAIN! 

They rolled through the sewers to get to the entrance of the Nethercity and came upon a clutch of Shriekers in the sewer muck. The shrieking began! The PCs decided to just run past them and there were no extra random encounters thanks to all the racket.

Then just before the dungeon entrance 15 giant rats were loitering. Rapunzel (PC Priestess Level 4) used her beautiful disney songs to put them to sleep. The party went into the dungeon.

This would be the last time the party would have to trudge through the sewers to get to the entrance of the Nethercity since Rapunzel bought the public latrines above it from the city (bribe). During this delve she already had craftsmen building the location into a Shrine with stairs (and secret doors) going down to the entrance of the Nethercity. Yes she and the party used their downtime and money to construct a way of avoiding 3 random encounters coming and going from the Nethercity entrance. This is the sort of thing I've never witnessed done in campaigns without 1:1 time and the downtime actions that result from it.

I rolled no random encounters as the party explored the volcanic tunnels and crypt halls deeper into the dungeon. They came to a stone crypt door and decided to push it open since, thus far, they've been pretty lucky at finding rooms full of treasure beyond these doors. When they're able to actually open them...

It took them quite a while to open the door this time so I checked out what was beyond it. The module has a helpful little guide wherein you roll randomly on if the PCs struggling with the door wakes up an undead occupant and what his or her disposition might be. Well the mummy cultist in this room was angry at being disturbed. She had about 5 rounds of the PCs pushing and prying the door to get ready so she cast a handful of buff spells (including protection from fire), Summoned 4 Giant Pythons and a Summon Insect Swarm spell.

The crypt door rolled and crashed open and there this crazy undead elf lady cultist stood laughing and directed a bunch of scarabs and such at the party. ACKS "Swarms" are their own kind of creature with a set HD and special defenses. Some swarms only distract you, some knock you down (rats), but these do 2 damage per round to anyone in a 30'x60' area (a whole marching order, in most cases).

The party acted fast but all of them were taking damage from the multiple insect swarms. Nubbs (Thief Level 3) sadly had scarabs drill into his ears and eat his brain. He died.

Xanthos (Cleric Level 3) acted fast in casting Protection from Evil which I ruled prevented the summoned creatures from approaching him and those the spell was protecting.

Daria (PC Bladedancer Level 5) fought the snakes and swarms as best she could alongside Oliver (PC Paladin Level 1) but the constant damage from the swarms was starting to get even the higher level PCs close to death.

Daria almost died and jumped into the sarcophagus and closed the lid to hide from the bugs  and there was an awkward few rounds when Olivier jumped inside as well to hide from same. "Madame... ahem... pardon me..." he said as he tried to be as modest with her in the small space as possible.

The jokes about what they were up to in the sarcophagus continued on through the night and THEN into the following sessions' pregame joke/planning sessions. Are Daria and Olivier and item now? 

Besides that not much happened. Rapunzel had succeeded at turning undead on the Mummy Cultist early in the fight. Once all the bugs and snakes were dead Daria and co beat the mummy lady down while she cowered in a corner from Rapunzel's holy symbol. The players looted the crypt which was pretty flush with cash and prizes, including the swanmae cloak.

They left the dungeon and had no random encounters on the way back.

Afterword

Since this is a simple session report I will use some space to review and analyze the Adventurer, Conqueror, King System (ACKS) module we are playing in, called "Secrets of the Nethercity". 

Players are loving this module because it's a dungeon right under the medium city of Dubzaron so they can delve and come right back up and sell their treasure. It also limits the amount of time coming and going from the dungeon which is a major boon when dealing with 1:1 time. I know they love it because they've delved it like 6 times in a row.

The player for MadEye (Venturer Level 3) is enjoying the module since it has some good built in story elements such as Lore that can be gathered and grokked by PCs that tie back into the Auran Borderlands region, myths, lore and such. From a DM perspective I'm glad to have alot of that stuff, including history and the like, baked into the module where it's already figured out in a sensible way. For instance the fact that the mummies thus far have been elves has some of the players scratching their head and being curious to learn more. What means? Well, a means to find out is probably in the pages of the module, fellas.

 playable af

The layout is perfect. Just perfect.

It has a big macro map with everything on it. But then it's numbered with letter and number combo. Room A1, Room H17 and the like. The letters designate a sort of section of the dungeon, Section H being the Grand Temple, for instance. Then the map is chopped up and the Section Map is put nearby its key for each room.

The exits from a section even note the room they'll enter into. Example: Room A5 southern door will have "Exit to B1" next to it on the map. So if players go through that door you can flip over to Section B chapter and keep going.

Finally, layout wise, the contents of the room DM info is broken down to "Monster:", "Treasure:", "Trap:" and "Lore:" sections. So you can quickly scan a room entry key and see if there is a monster or trap in there, on the fly, as you come to each room.

For me this has meant that I've read pretty much NONE of the room entries except and until the players get there. Everyone talks about how prepping yourself and the book for running adventure modules is just as much work as creating your own dungeon. I find that often to be the case, as well. Not with "Secrets of the Nethercity".

The content that I've seen (since I've not read the whole book) is fantastic. This is a dirty volcanic tube and sewer location with wall crypts from floor to ceiling. Special hand carved crypt complexes with black tiled floor. High galleries with constellations of doomed events on the ceiling. It's simply a scary and freaky place. In Session 47 (as you'll see later) I think the spookiness of the place really stood out as the PCs were chased by voices in the dark.

Adding on to the content is the sensible way in which many crypts (as the PCs noticed) have these big heavy doors in front. This gives an internal logic in why the high level undead in the place aren't just running around or going topside to destroy the city (yet). It also forces the PCs to deal with the actual environment in the place, not just "enter room, fight, next room, fight". But they have to play ahead to have strong characters to even get into the rooms where, it seems, most of the big treasure is.

There are a million real concerns and planning the PCs must address before they enter the place. Not enough Clerics will mean certain doom in the crypt areas. But no druid sort to deal with the rooms full of bugs is its own problem. Among other things.

Generally speaking the #BROSR , of which I am a founding member, are anti-module. I address this stance in general in this session report. But I will elaborate some more on my initial thoughts back then. 

Jeffro is right in that you don't NEED very much to run a REAL D&D session. One dumb lair of a randomized number of orcs or something will handle an evening of session play just fine and quite often (usually?) better than your fancy module full of story/flavor neither you nor your players care about. And you're able to storyfy it or flavor it to the needs of your actual table. 

But that sort of gameplay is better suited to wilderness travel and hex exploring. Which is GREAT gaming but not the only kind of gaming. The BROSR has even floated the idea that DUNGEONEERING isn't even Real D&D because many of the stories about Gygax and Arneson's original games was about hex crawling armies around the map to fight eachother.

For a while I thought that may be the case but "Secrets of the Nethercity" has firmly established for me that dungeons, even "kilodungeons" as Macris markets this as, have a very useful place in Real D&D.

These delves have been my BREAK from the high test and high stress army crawls, intrigue, wilderness exploration etc my Patrons are engaging in and my PCs are engaging in downtime. For a DM in Real D&D then; dungeon delving is a stress reliever. 

And a published module like "Secrets of the Nethercity", one I've barely read at all except as PCs come upon the room, serves that purpose perfectly. 

For PCs? It's a place they feel like they can find good and sustained session to session rewards each week, leveling up their PCs at a steady pace to eventually ascend to Patrons themselves.

Five stars for ACKS Secrets of the Nethercity.

Surviving PCs present

Daria (0% XP bonus), Level 5 Bladedancer. 1,336 xp gained. Total: 24,495 [LEVEL UP TO 6!]

Kortes (0% xp bonus), Level 3 Explorer. 1,336 xp gained. Total: 5,783

Olivier (5% xp bonus), Level 1 Paladin. 1,470 xp gained. Total: 2,640 [LEVEL UP TO 2!]

Rapunzel (10% xp bonus),  Level 3 Priestess. 1,470 xp gained. Total: 9,372 [LEVEL UP TO 4!]

Xanthos (10% xp bonus) Level 3 Cleric. 1,470 xp gained. Total: 5,098

Deceased

Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR.  Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.

Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.

Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2

Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498  DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.

Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.

Swoleous Maximus (L1 Paladin). DECEASED. Captured then drawn and quartered by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Damianus (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Captured and beheaded by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.

Bucky (L1 Barbarian). DECEASED. Became a illegal pit fighter during his downtime. Had two bouts to the death, winning the first and losing the second. Was killed by Young Jack Sparrow who sashayed into the ring, drank rum, and mogged on Bucky before putting a dagger into his ribs, killing him. This happened during downtime between Session 17 and 18.

Broll Wolf-Eater (L1 Barbarian). Current total XP: 1079. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Brother Franklin (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Decapitated by a mad cultist of a Lovecraftian slime thing in Session 19.

Felix the Elder (L1 Bard). Total XP 825. DECEASED. Captured by mad cultists and fed to a Lovecraftian slime monster in Session 19.

Templar Flavius Africanus (L1 Cleric). Total XP 7. Killed by the claws and beak of mad harpies in Session 19.

Xendi (L1 Explorer). Total XP 6. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.

Yllmeeton (L3 Shaman). Total XP 4,563. Bludgeoned by the corpse of a bowmen by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Longinus (L2 Assassin). Total XP 2,036. Had his face ripped off by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.

Mandonio (L3 Fighter). Total XP 4,779. Charred to a leprous crisp by diseased Dragon breath in Session 22.

Corydon (L1 Joker). Total XP: 0. Burnt to a crisp by chimera breath so thoroughly his corpse wasn't even fit for the crows. Died with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. that's life and as funny as it seems... some people get their kicks, stomping on a dream... In Session 25.

Donny Keebler (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP 2,238. Had his legs burned completely off by chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Marina (L2 Fighter). Total XP: 2,204. Burnt into ash by a chimera fire breath in Session 25.

Gundro (L2 Gnomish Trickster). Total XP: 2,575. Had his mouth and tongue bitten off by a lizardman ambusher in the dank sewers below Cyfaraun in Session 26.

Polydoros (L1 Fighter). Total XP: 0. Had his legs ripped off and eaten by Akira monsters in the dark canopy of the Viaspen Forest in Session 28.

Odrum (L1 Explorer). Total XP: 287. Javelin to the heart from the hands of weird vine goblins hidden in the walls of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Garvin the Nutless Wonder (L1 Mage). Total XP: 0. Fell off the side of Ferigno's lair 20 feet to his death in Session 30.

Blackmoon (L1 Assassin). Total XP: 768. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while stealing treasure from Ferigno's dragon horde in Session 30.

Xanthus (L2 Cleric). Total XP: 2,364. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while hanging out on the roof of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.

Lord Zyklon (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP: 0. LORD ZYKLON DISEMBOWLED LORD ZYKLON upon finding himself on the losing side of the Desolation of Turos Tem.

Turin (L1 Cleric). Total XP: 0. Eaten by Wargs in Session 32.

Rat Face (L2 Thief) Total XP: 1,577. Seemingly grabbed in the dark by a Xenomorph in Session 36. In a sinkhole your party can hear you scream! 

Smarticus (L1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Captured by a Xenomorph in Session 36 for all the party to witness. Taken deep into a sinkhole.

Hearticus (L1 Cleric) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 after projectile vomiting all over himself from the stink of sewer sludge.

Mickey Mouser (L1 Thief) Total XP: 0. Gored to death by giant horned beetles in Session 39 in the happiest place on earth: the Cyfaraun sewer!

Aenes (Level 1 Paladin) Total XP: 62. Swarmed by giant flies in the sewer beneath Cyfaraun in Session 40.

Acianus (Level 1 Mage) Total XP: 0. Chopped to pieces in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue from behind and quickly forgotten about by his compatriots who saved MadEye and lamented Hardar instead. But I'll never forget you Acinanu nanu...nanite... nananaa...

Hardar (Level 2 Mage) Total XP: 2,832. Chopped up in Session 42 by a six armed demon statue as he held his Darth Vader Choking Grip spell long enough for his compatriots to escape an unwinnable battle. His dream to become the most evil being in the universe suffers eternally the indignity of being remembered for self sacrifice and laying his life down for his friends.

Nubbs (Level 3 Thief) Total XP: 4,017. Swarmed by scarabs which bored into his ears and brain in Session 45.

Alexa this is so sad play anything by the beatles