by MOONHALO

Even unfinished, these articles are an invaluable resource for Call of Cthulhu history, and deserve to rank higher in search engine results.

I've recently spent far too many hours trying to pin down the origin of investigator skill categories. They're nearly absent from 7th Edition, save for a note in the legacy conversion guide where the authors discuss their aborted attempts to recreate a similar system; there's a version of them present in the 6th Edition Play Aids without any rules or elaboration; and then there's a completely different version of them in the text for 1st Edition's Sourcebook for the 1920s and 2nd Edition's Cthulhu Companion. I was going absolutely mad trying to figure out where this came from: the official wiki doesn't cover legacy mechanics, the Lovecraft Fandom wiki is unreliable and doesn't have the information anyway, yog-sothoth.com just closed and isn't archived, and half the forum posts I find would have me believe that the rules of 2nd to 6th Edition are virtually identical, when I know for a fact that they are not. I end up getting a partial answer - they originated in 1st Edition - courtesy of a screenshot of the book's table of contents in an eBay listing. That gives me a list of the skills and what categories they fall under, but I still have no idea what they were originally used for unless I pony up the cash for this thing and hope I don't get screwed over by shipping. It's only when I decide to look through the table of contents closer, find a listing to Anders Swenson's "Shadows Over Hollywood", and try to find information on that when this abandoned work of scholarship finally comes up as the first and only relevant result. Did I roll an Extreme Success on my Library Use check?!

And here it is, laid out in plain language. The categories were basically just for organizational purposes. Some rules referred to them, but this was so infrequent that the singular mention of categories in the rules wasn't caught and removed until 4th Edition. As for the different list of categories in the Play Aids for later versions, the world may never know how or why they ended up there. That's all I wanted to know. That's a few points of sanity regained.

It is unfortunate to see that this work was left unfinished, and it would be downright miserable if Meints' responses here played any part in that. Especially considering that the anecdote I led with is emblematic of my numerous experiences grappling with the system's rules changes over the decades, as someone who started playing the game with 7th Edition a few years ago.

Extended Rant

It is maddening to see people downplay the game's revision history, when even looking at the evolution of the non-combat skills reveals that lots of substantial changes were made in each edition: after all, making substantial changes is why you publish new editions! As someone introduced to the game with 7th Edition who adapted 6th Edition supplements for their table with the help of Appendix II's detailed conversion guidelines, even that single edition jump occasionally prompted questions that Appendix II didn't cover. This monster is vulnerable to fire and acids, per the 5th Edition rules on page 52? Well, it's nice that you at least gave me a page reference, but now I know that there used to be specific rules for damage types that were streamlined in 7th Edition! What do you mean these NPCs have Academic Lore and Religion/Philosophy skills? Oh, those from the first volume of the Keeper's Companion for 5.6th Edition, and I can ignore them because they're basically just flavor skills!

Not to mention all of the other details about how characteristics and skills work that module writers take into account when writing their pieces, that end up having different connotations in later editions. In 2nd Edition, Power is "a measure of a person's charisma, soul, or will" that is also "used as a measure of each investigator's leadership ability", to make up for the removal of Charisma. Skipping ahead to 4th or 5th Edition, it's simply "force of will", with a note that "Power does not quantify leadership, which is a matter for roleplaying" - a note that seems like a non-sequitur unless you already knew about the way previous editions treated it. It was finally cleaned up in 7th Edition, which also divorces POW from Luck, placing the stat's emphasis solely on Sanity and Magic Points. Now, I haven't encountered a legacy adventure where these changes could result in confusion, but I have not read every single Chaosium supplement, Miskatonic monograph, magazine submission, and third-party module ever published: it's probable that it comes up somewhere.

I somewhat understand how the "myth" of the version changes being insignificant came about. I'm not ashamed of admitting that I don't read all of my rulebooks cover to cover. I don't need to know about every spell and monster until I need inspiration or a specific reference. To be perfectly honest, I still haven't read any of the adventures from any of the rulebooks: my table traditionally homebrewed campaigns from external modules and whatever lore the Keeper made up to tie them together. That said, I don't know for certain how people overlook all of the different changes that you have described, especially regarding character creation and investigator skills, and then claim that all of the books are fundamentally the same. I can only assume that they familiarized themself with one particular edition, saw that adventures from both prior and later revisions were compatible with one another, and then assumed that the changes must have been marginal. Either that, or they are aware of the changes and consider them relatively marginal in comparison with D&D, which is reasonable to a certain extent. Nevertheless, this myth has not been adequately dispelled as far as I'm concerned.

by aramis

panzer-attack wrote:

The sizes are different in the UK and I suspect they're probably different again in other countries. Personally I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you described something as digest I know that means a small, compact book and that's all I'd need to know.

One more reason to NOT use the labels, just the sizes.

by aramis

MOTHDevil wrote:

Is there an RPG out there that natively handles both Mechs and Fantasy elements, specifically magic? Preferably with no setting or a lite setting attached.

If you accept psionics as enough magic...

Mekton Zeta - the psionics rules are in Mekton Zeta Plus.
Mekton II - Psionics in Mekton Empire

Warhammer 40k (They're called Dreadnoughts, tho' most of the Space Marine Dreadnoughs entomb their operators inside them, Marines too badly mangled to rebuild with 40K cybertech, so turned into shells and installed). Tho' I'm explicitly thinking of the original 40K RT which was intended to be both minis wargame and RPG. And the magic of WFB and psionics of WH40KRT overlapped heavily, and worked identically, for the then current editions in the 40K:RT era. The Dreadnoughts rules were first in WD, then later in one of the add-on books - the 40K Compendium. Calling that an RPG may be a bit of a stretch for some... but I know groups who played it as an RPG. I've run a couple adventures with it as one-shots.

Oh, and Palladium's Rifts. Tho' the mecha in the core are heavy battlesuit scale. The rules are 100% interoperable with their Robotech.

MOTHDevil wrote:

I realize we could accomplish this with some sort of universal system + expansions, but I've personally had my fill of generics at this point and would like to scope something a bit more intentional.

for others' benefit...
Hero System can do mecha and magic from core rules alone for HSR 4, 5, and 5R. The HSR3 Robot Warriors can easily add HSR3 Fantasy Hero magic - but it's not as smooth due to those being separate adapted cores.

GURPS has G:Mecha, G:Psionics, and G:Magic...

Savage Worlds has a couple mecha settings, including Robotech, and has decent psionics-level magic in core.

BESM has already been mentioned, and is really a generic game... with an anime focus...

by awinnef

The February tally is in! Not a particularly productive month for me, I hope to get back in a rhythm where I am able to do at least two reviews a month.

1. [user=sdonohue][/user] 205 (+94) points
2. [user=leroy43][/user] 56 (+20) points
3. [user=Damdael][/user] 30 (+11) points
4. [user=gatekeeper86][/user] 18 (+4) points
5. [user=KatharinaKuo][/user] 9 points
6. [user=Farydia][/user] 4 points

by papercut

Baklin crew:
Abelard - level 5 human cleric
Cyrus - level 3 human thief
Filipa - level 4 human magic-user
Keydi - level 4/4 elf fighter / magic-user
Knicky - level 5 human thief
Match - level 5 human fighter


------------
Session 103
------------

5/2 Day 49˚ F 9˚ C HEAVY FOG
5/2 Eve 44˚ F 7˚ C Clear Strong NW -- new moon -- continued ...

QUOTE: "And we shall name him (Otyugh), Otis."
QUOTE: "I touch the Kracken's crack."

Having secured the friendship -- or at least non-interference -- of Otis, the otyugh, the Party moved quickly to dispatch the other two gambado in this long north-south chamber (A10). Neither of these were a serious threat without the otyugh to distract our heroes and both went down without doing any real damage. At the bottom of their hole-lairs was an astonishing stash: 1883 sp, 1395 ep, and seven gems (insane values -- all rolled legitimately random -- below).

The Party paused here, staying quiet, so that Filipa's super-hearing might give them intel on where the wererats had gone. She heard that far to the south there must be a wide open cavernous space, to the southwest a body seemed to be rolling restlessly on the ground, to the immediate east there was irregular and fairly soft metal-on-metal and metal-on-stone clanking, and finally to the northeast were the wererats and giant rats moving softly now. Following the passage to the northeast out of the pillar room where Otis lives (A10), the party discovered a large circular chamber -- entering, they saw two wererats (and Filipa heard the third in the darkness of the northern edge of the room) flee into the holes in the walls, along with another sizable horde of giant rats. They had abandoned the chamber, leaving behind the soiled bedding for some dozen plus wererats and a leather pouch which contained a good sized folio of papers. Upon inspection the papers included maps of Lord Virmgard's Keep with all rooms labeled and patrol routes marked. A schedule of patrols, timetables for changing of the guards, the location of and general stocks held in the armory, detailed records of all three of Tol Tazeltoth's longships and their crew rosters. Many of the documents signed with a flourished "P". The rats knew virtually everything about the upstairs inhabitants, defenses, resources, and vulnerabilities. But the chamber held no treasure whatsoever. As her compatriots examine and pack up the papers to take them back to Virmgard, Filipa listens again and hears the three wererats along with the giant rats moving north and then west -- fading into the distance as they scurry further into their tunnels.

The Party decided to head back to the passages that exited from the long hall (A10). They elected to take the eastern passage which headed south, then turned east and ended in large door painted with nautical themes. Oddly, however, the carvings on the door (which were hard to see because of the over-painting) are abstract swirls in a dizzying array. Cyrus and Filipa both took a listen at the door -- no sounds from the room immediately behind it. The door was unlocked and the Party entered to find a moderate sized chamber -- at the foot of the northern wall was strewn detritus, old bloodied clothing, broken weapons and shields, smashed ceramics, and general trash. Entering fully, the Party could then see two alcoves on the west side, one north and one south of the door the Party entered from. In the alcoves were large (15-16 feet tall) statues, made of coral: the northern one was a muscular man with a flowing beard and his legs spotted with barnacles, holding a trident that was thrust (over the lintel of the door) into the southern statue, which was of a huge octopus creature, its tentacles winding up the shaft of the trident and its bony beak open and lunging toward the human figure. Poseidon killing a kraken!

Our adventurers spent several turns here, investigating the statues carefully and thoroughly. And successfully: Match was examining the seams on the statues (which clearly were not original to the room and had been brought in later and in sections and pieced together in the room itself) when he noticed a seam that was covered by one of the barnacles on Poseidon's ankle. Match pressed it and it sunk into the statue. A soft rumbling of stone on stone. A puff of dust. And the outline of a secret door to the north was revealed.

Opening the door was simple, but it raised a cloud of dust that made seeing into the north chamber impossible. As the dust cleared, several of the Party's front line entered. They saw, directly in front of them, a massive purplish black metal triangle hanging from the northern ceiling against the north wall of the chamber. Under each corner of the hanging triangle hung a smaller solid metal triangle, of a dark grey color. In front of that was propped a huge iron anchor, and chained to each arm of the anchor was a mummy-esque figure, wrapped in the usual cloth strips, but with a rotting shark's head. The figures (Deceived of Sea-Our-Mother) began to move but could only go about 7 to 10 feet from the anchor. Feeling marginally safer, the Party glanced around them, noticing that the side walls were vivid frescoes, with the western wall depicting human sacrifices by drowning, with the victims sinking into purplish depths of the ocean and the eastern wall showing rituals of worshippers cutting triangle signs into their necks, foreheads, wrists, and chests. To the side of the anchor (on the east wall) was a small table, its legs carved like human bodies all drowning, trying to pull on the figure above in desperation, and upon the table a jagged dagger, its edge in a wave form. Cyrus, guarding the rear, noticed that the rear (south) wall of the room was carved with a long list of names and dates, hundreds of entries long.

The Party's feeling of safety was suddenly shattered as both of the shark-head mummies began a high-pitched keening sound and one emitted a wave of negative energy that blasted half our adventurers. Most made their saves, but Cyrus suddenly felt weak and sunk to his knees. He managed to regain his feet, though his bodily resiliency was clearly reduced (-5 CON). Suddenly, the chains on the mummies seemed to provide a lot less security and our heroes began to attack: bows were fired, spears jabbed, swords thrust. Most weapons seemed to do no damage. Abelard's Turn Undead was ineffectual, but he cast of Silence on the shark-head mummy things, which did end their wailing sounds. But that counted for little as another wave of negative energy slammed into our heroes, again Cyrus was battered to his knees (-3 CON), alongside Taizal (-6 CON) and Fremi (-4 CON). As the enervated adventurers exited the room, Keydi cast Web across the anchor and ensnaring the mummies. The melee characters, especially those with magic weapons, then moved forward to attack as Filipa began slicing her way through the magical web to get at the small table with the wavy dagger (which all assumed was magical or might one-shot the foes). Abelard with his magical mace, Match with Gulthea, and Keydi with her Staff of Striking began battering on the enemy as several more waves of negative energy washed over everyone -- this time with little effect. It was now just a matter of time as the magical weapons began to whittle down the mummies despite their obvious regeneration each round of combat.

Once the battle was over, the Party thoroughly searched the room and the foul bodies of the shark mummies (finding nothing of value), though the more historically minded in the Party (Keydi and Filipa) realized that the dates on the etched list corresponded to the years when the famed pirate lord of H0511 - Tol Tazeloth was at the zenith of his power. Filipa took the wavy dagger and the two small metal triangles, which upon closer inspection were surprisingly heavy for their size and shone with a dark grey gloss. Definitely not the usual steel or iron, this.

The group decided to head back, needing to report to Lord Virmgard about the papers, wanting to get the treasure and gems out to safety, and definitely not wanting to risk any further encounters that might spoil an otherwise superlatively successful delve.

On their way out, they stopped to retrieve most of the coins from the gambado lairs. All 2000 ep was removed (with Taizal and Fremi getting 351 ep and miscellaneous sp for their share), though most of the silver was left behind this trip.

Back in the Keep, Virmgard was alarmed at the amount and accuracy of the information the wererats had accumulated. And while he appreciated hearing that the dungeon under his cellars was clearer of evils, the news that at least three wererats had eluded the Party left him wringing his hands.

And our heroes are worried too: will the weakness (CON loss) from the negative energy of the shark-mummies be permanent?


XP Tally
-----------
2 gambado (HP 8 18)(HD 4) = 90 + 5/hp = 310
2 Deceived of Sea-Our-Mother (HP 29 32) (HD 5+3): 350 + 6/hp = 700 + 366 = 1066
SUBTOTAL: 1376 / 5 (275 per PC)
treasure retrieved:
1649 ep = 825 gp
7 gems (this session): 1000, 1400, 1000, 1700, 4000, 5000, 7000
3 gems (last session): 300, 100, 2000
SUBTOTAL: 24325 / 6 (4054 per PC)
2 iron triangles: 500 gp ea = 1000 gp
magical dagger +2: Filipa 200 XP
SUBTOTAL: 1000 / 5 (200 per PC)
SUBTOTAL FILIPA: 200 XP
TOTAL: 4529 XP per PC
TOTAL: 4729 XP for Filipa

by papercut

Baklin crew:
Abelard - level 4 human cleric
Cyrus - level 3 human thief
Filipa - level 3 human magic-user
Keydi - level 4/3 elf fighter / magic-user
Knicky - level 5 human thief
Match - level 5 human fighter


-----------
Session 102
-----------
One-on-One In-Between Session (conducted on Discord)
Knicky -- disguised as a destitute drunk in the Undercity -- staked out the room where the new Five Blind Beggars's workshop had been set up (un-numbered room west of UC-L1-28). A couple of days into the stake out, she witnessed Saldark Fum and Lisa the Meek, accompanied by four heavily armed guards, come through the passage. Walking slowly, weighed down by heavy furs, Saldark leaned heavily on his lover's arm. "I hope the workshop space is ready. But have those pesky adventurers been seen again in the city?" "No, my dear. Our informants have not spotted them anywhere for over a week." "With any luck, they've come to some 'unfortunate' end," Saldark cackled gently. "Even with the amulet -- you've still got it, right? -- housing those beggars upstairs is most inconvenient. It would be good to relocate them as soon as we know this area is safe again. Can't have those meddlers poking around." "The amulet is safe and sound, right here, don't worry, my dearest." The two entered the workshop and were inside for about 15 minutes, before returning the way they'd come. No conversation this time, merely Saldark grunting approvingly several times. Saldark kicked Knicky as the group walked by, "Damn drunks, even down here now."
Two days later, while still on stake out, Knicky saw two cloaked figures approach. One, short and slight; the other tall. Both moved with feline grace and power. The slighter hissed, "You're sure its the same group?" "Yes, the catspaw captured their image as they looted our safe room beneath Jacknall's Storeroom (Area Q). They recovered Lady Callodric's chests. It's the same group -- or some of them -- from Castellan Cordrus Layard's Keep. No doubt whatsoever." "Well, that's disappointing. They might have been a useful asset here in Baklin for us and our patron. Now, we not only need to be on guard but should probably find a way to neutralize them. I'll send word to H and see if we need to bring in more assets to deal with them." "Okay, they have a house here in town ... " And the conversation fades as they walk off into the distance.
Knicky -- as a native of Baklin and as a low-level member of Baklin's Thieves Guild --knows of "the Combination": the three major criminal organizations on Erillion (the Baklin Thieves Guild, the Cackling Cur Society in Tirwas, and the Assassins Guild of Gont) have a formal agreement to stay off each other's turf. So, seeing Wuestenhagen (the small wiry cloaked figure whose voice she would recognize from the Keep period) here in Baklin is shocking: he is a member of the Assassins of Gont and really shouldn't be "operating" in Baklin.
After her shift on stake out, Knicky told Cenk Tosun about Saldark Fum's hope to move the beggar engravers from his house to the new workshop. She also asked whether he knows about the presence of Assassins of Gont in the city. Cenk would raise one eyebrow (Spock-style) and with a strained deadpan comment only, "Hrmm, no I was not aware of that. I suspect you misheard."


GROUP SESSION BEGINS:

5/2 Day 49˚ F 9˚ C HEAVY FOG
5/2 Eve 44˚ F 7˚ C Clear Strong NW -- new moon -- continued ...

Back upstairs in the Keep, Abelard cast all his remaining Cure Light Wounds to heal several party members and then retired to his quarter to rest for four or five hours in order to pray again for spells so that the delve could continue.

Meanwhile, Keydi cast ESP just before entering Lord Virmgard's feast hall for the midday meal. As Filipa and Match related the fight against the wererats to the assembled men-at-arms, Keydi quickly walked around the massive table in hope that any other wererat traitors in Virmgard's court might betray themselves by their thoughts. Nothing except genuine shock and fear or resolve in the face of danger. A relief, perhaps. Keydi too, then, retired to her quarters to rest and re-memorize her spells for restarting the delve.

Hearing that the Party was this eager to press the fight against the wererats that threaten his stronghold, Lord Virmgard "volunteered" two more of his men, oddly named Taizal and Fremi, to the Party for this expedition, along with the (mostly) healed Fritsche (the beneficiary of several of Abelard's healing spells).

Back in the dungeon, the foyer (A1) shows wet tracks -- circular patterns of moisture fresh on the ground. And a pinkish puddle of water in the center of the floor. The confusion of wet circles led back toward the mini-door into the chamber with the dirty green water (A4). Leaving well enough alone, the Party head back to the magical fountain room (A19): Filipa touching the water in the fountain that grants a giant ear and super-hearing and Cyrus the one that makes his eyes jet tears but also grants enhanced vision.

Heading east to the turning spiral pit trap with its skeleton prisoners (A18), Filipa's magic hearing catches the subtle rustle of fur to the north (A7). The fearless (or is that foolhardy?) magic-user dusted herself with some Dust of Disappearance and had Abelard cast Silence on her as well; then she crept up to the still ajar door and peaked in: three wererats stood along the north edge, near the door exiting the chamber, along with a mass of nearly two dozen giant rats. Filipa cast Stinking Cloud into the chamber, hoping to incapacitate the whole lot. Sadly, all the wererats were able to avoid being caught in the cloud and they slipped out the north door, slamming it shut behind. Almost all the giant rats, however, were caught in the cloud. The rest of the Party joined up and those with ranged weapons began dispatching the choking rodents. Once the cloud dissipated, the rest were easily dispatched. But by then the wererats were long gone.

Following on their heels, the Party entered the strange corridor to the north and could see the wererats seemingly just 10 or 20 feet away. Yet, arrows when fired fell far short of them as they ran east. The Party gave chase with neither the wererats or the Party seeming to make much progress. Several minutes before the Party closed in on the wererat feast hall (A8), the wererats had already disappeared into the room. Filipa could hear their feet padding further to the east and then turning south. Again, the Party gave chase, entering a long and narrow hallway.

Of immediate notice: two massive columns on the north wall, covered in dirty grey sailcloth, but with pulsating and shifting colors of light softly bleeding through the draped covering; and the ground was covered in foul-smelling mud and excrement several inches thick. Fresh human-sized rat paw prints led through the gross mess on what was clearly a worn path. Cyrus, with his enhanced vision, could see three humanoid skulls and sitting atop small mounds spaced unevenly around the chamber, and further toward the southern end was a large mound, faintly radiating body heat, some eight or nine feet tall.

The Party decided to slow their pursuit of the wererats, wary of being drawn into a dangerous situation. Filipa pulled down the dirty sailcloth shrouding the nearest column. She revealed a smooth white stone column, carved in an elongated but featureless face. The white stone emanated a shifting, glittering array of colors and she could feel her mind being entrapped in the glimmering light, but she managed to tear herself away and warned her compatriots to not look at the column, which was now bathing the northern end of the chamber with its multicolored hues.

Keydi decided to poke the nearest skull, just off the path, with a ten-foot pole. As she did so, it sprang up some ten to twelve feet and attacked! Attached to a muscular body and with arms that ended in vicious claws, the creature (a gambado) had kept all its bulk, excepting its skull-like head, hidden in a carefully camouflaged hole. Its initial attack missed and the Party quickly surrounded and dispatched it. As this fight took place, however, Cyrus saw that in the far south of the chamber the large mound was moving!
Out of the slime and offal mound emerged a large monster, with a gaping maw and several tentacle arms (an otyugh). It began lumbering northward. Cyrus fired his bow -- missing twice -- as Abelard cast Speak with Animals on himself. Finishing off the gambado that she had disturbed, Keydi turned south and prepared to fire her bow. But as she did so, she hear Abelard speak a strange glutteral tonuge aloud and felt a wordless telepathic questiong in her mind, something like, "Who? Why hurt friend in hole?" In the confusing "conversation" -- partly conducted in speech aloud with Abelard and partly in wordless telepathy with Keydi -- that followed, the Party managed to carve out a truce with the monster -- one might even say they became an ally, so long as the Party was willing to supply it with food. Yes, the corpses of giant rats, or wererats, or even the "friend in hole" would do just fine. The otyugh would happily munch on almost anyone, or anything. The fresher the better, of course. And, in return, let the Party pass unmolested. Content with the gambado body and sack fulls of rat corpses, the lumbering beast returned to its mound and slowly settled back into the filth, with just its eye-stalks remaining visible.

While this tentative truce was being negotiated, Fritsche climbed down into the gambado lair to haul its body out for Otis (the name swifty given to the otyugh) and discovered at the bottom 605 ep and three gems.

XP Tally:
23 giant rats 23*(5+3): 184 XP
1 gambado (HD 4 - HP 11) (60 + 4/hp) = 104 XP
TOTAL: 288 XP / 5 = 58 per PC
Latent XP picked up this session:
605 ep
3 gems (300, 100, 2000 gp)

by papercut

Baklin crew:
Abelard - level 4 human cleric
Cyrus - level 3 human thief
Filipa - level 3 human magic-user
Keydi - level 4/3 elf fighter / magic-user
Knicky - level 5 human thief
Match - level 5 human fighter

-------------
Session 101
-------------




4/25 Day 37˚ F 3˚ C Cloudy Calm NW
4/25 Eve 32˚ F 0˚ C C-1 FREEZING RAIN - Strong NW - Waning crescent

Having survived a delve into Tol Tazeloth]]'s dungeons and brought out a significant haul, four members of the Party ask Lord Virmgard if there are trainers for Magic-Users, Clerics, and Thieves in the Keep or on the island. Luckily there were.

- Margarite Hooper (T 5), originally from Tirwas and now in residence in Tol Tazeltoth, working for Virmgard, was happy to train Cyrus (now T 4). Margarite, vaguely elfen in features, talked a bit loosely with our Party's thief about her past: she had been a member of Tirwas' Cackling Cur Society, but after forging a contract with the Assassins of Gont, it had been mysteriously decimated and its few surviving members scattered. Margarite, herself unsure how she escaped the carnage, found her way to Virmgard's stronghold and offered her services to the aging adventurer.

- Abelard was trained by Kazimier, Virmgard's in-house cleric.

- Keydi and Filipa were surprised -- and not entirely in a good way -- to find that an ancient old man, with a flamboyant brilliantly colored robe and poofy shimmering hair, had arrived at Virmgard's Keep specifically looking for the two MUs. Accompanied by five (human) guards and a hulking ogre, he introduced himself as, Pathasferu, an apprentice of Poroxius Vern. A mid-tier MU himself, Pathasferu was willing to train Keydi and Filipa but it soon became clear that his real purpose was to tell them that they had attracted the notice of Poroxius Vern in his Mage's Tower (H0709) as rapidly rising Magic-Users and that the archmage was eager to impress on them they must follow the custom of magic-users on Erillion: no high-level magic is to be cast (even by scroll) unless the Magic-User had gone to see Poroxius Vern and passed the test at his tower. "Do not make the mistake of thinking that ignoring the custom here on Erillion is without consequences. My Master will not tolerate flouting of our ancient rules. The powerful Poroxius will not overlook violations, but is most accommodating to those who prove themselves by submitting to and passing the test as required by tradition and morality."

The training of our leveling up heroes finished on 5/2. Match spent the week socializing and gathering rumors. His willingness to drink (almost to the point of blubbering drunkenness) with the residents and visitors to Lord Virmgard's feast hall netted a whole range of tales about the place: of secret passages from Tol Tazeloth that go miles and miles away to Erillion's west coast; of a giant chasm under the Keep inhabited by earth elementals; of a long-forgotten portal to Baklin; of Chlorax Purple-Blood, who built the Keep, going insane and still alive, haunting the deepest parts of the dungeon; that Johno Bonifaces, the pirate who took Tol Tazeloth, worshipped old sea gods who helped him in his depredations around Erillion and the Twelve Kingdoms; of a long forgotten pirates lair that has never been uncovered.


5/2 Day 49˚ F 9˚ C HEAVY FOG
5/2 Eve 44˚ F 7˚ C Clear Strong NW -- new moon

With their training finished, the Party decided to return to the dungeon and help Virmgard secure the Keep against the wererat threat. As the Party descended into the cellars, one of Fritsche Bandals's men ran up breathless, asking to be taken along on the expedition. "You've brought back such riches and ... sorry, sir, but the wages here aren't *that* generous." Fritsche vouched for his man, who introduced himself as Pàrlan. (Filipa recognized him as the one who was suspiciously evasive when she had asked about the merchant transporting gordinan leaf that passed through Tol Tazeloth (session 95.)

Once past the barred cellar doors and down in the dungeon proper, the Party went east, toward where they believed the wererat lair was (A8). Once past the odd corridor where distance and/or time seem distorted, they entered the chamber, seeing a large number of rat holes of all sizes in the walls. A massive oak table took up the majority of the floor space. On it, silver table setting, with flagons of wine and human food -- some old and some looking quite fresh (a day or two old). Looking closer, however, the Party noticed dried blood splatters on the table, chairs, even floor. And bones -- some of them looking human -- with deep gnaw marks were strewn about too. The tableware was soon discovered to bear Virmgard's crest! Stolen from the Keep, no doubt.

Just as the Party was spread around the wererats' feast hall, a horde of giant rats poured out of the holes in the walls and along with them, five wererats emerged from the larger holes. The fight was on. As the Party swung into action, the recent volunteer -- Pàrlan -- pulled out his sword and attacked Cyrus from the back, "Attack them my buck-toothed brothers! Bite them! Turn them into us!" Cyrus whirled around to see the man-at-arms shifting into rat-man form before his very eyes. The fight was not short and there were some iffy moments before the Party was victorious. Not only was the last of Filipa's henchmen, Tremi, lost in the ambush, but a lone wererat was able to escape, slipping into the wall as his comrades fell. Also concerning, Pàrlan bit Cyrus and other wererats bit Fritsche and Keydi. Fritsche, in particular, was almost a casualty: the giant rats swarmed over him, inflicting bite after bite. The disease-ridden rats also bit Filipa, Abelard, and Keydi. Abelard cast *Cure Light Wounds* and used several of the beads to heal various injured members.

With the cleric's spells largely used up, the Party decided to be safe and retreat upstairs. As they headed down the strangely long corridor to the west, Cyrus looked back east and saw three rat-like heads peering around the door frame at the Party's back.

Once upstairs, concerns about being infected by lycanthropy and rat-borne disease dominated the Party's thinking. Fritsche with his multiple bites and injuries from both rats and wererats was particularly worried. As was Lord Virmgard, who could not reassure our adventurers that there even was a patriarch (C 12) capable of curing lycanthropy on Erillion. Only time would tell whether anyone was infected.


XP Tally:
34 giant rats (3 HP avg): (5 + 3) = 272
4 wererats (HP 21, 20, 18, 13) (60 + 25 + 4/hp) = 628
Pàrlan (60 + 25 + 4/hp) (HP 18): 85 + 72 = 157
TOTAL = 1057 / 6 = 211 per PC

by aramis

pdzoch wrote:

A question suggested by [user=Pentaclebreaker][/user]:

Have you ever given a name to your weapon? Or found a weapon with a name? What name would you give your favorite weapon and why?

note: there are so many ways to ask these questions, but consider this to also be a creative thread to create and share name suggestions for a weapon found, make, used by your characters.

Do you have a question you want asked as QOTD? Post here!
And if you want to find an old QOTD: The big QOTD Summary and Subscription Thread Volume 3

In The Great Adventure Game (Edition 15.2), I named my PC's sword Член провосходиtЬ... To exceed the limb. This was a play on the game mechanic, "limb capacity" which was the maximum damage which a limb could mark. Why? Because I kept hitting that limit...

by gonecase

They kicked me off the team after I scored gonecase previously rolled 1d298 = 10 ( ) own goals.

by aramis

pdzoch wrote:

A question suggested by [user=SeaofStars][/user]:

How many intelligent, playable species is too many? In a city? In a world? In a Universe? How do they all fit together in your games?

In a world, a dozen. In a city, half that. In a universe? a few dozens.

IMO, Trek has gotten to the "too many" stage.
Traveller's gotten there, too.

by Moonlight_Fox

Congrats Jamie.

1. What are some of your favourite memories, either tables you played at or adventures you played, from your time playing Pathfinder Society stuff?

2. You mentioned enjoying board game/RPG hybrids such as Gloomhaven in your bio. What elements of RPGs do you wish more board games borrowed from, and what elements of board games do you wish more RPGs borrowed from?

3. I notice you have Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series in your book list. What's your favourite work within it, and for the benefit of those who aren't familiar with it, how would you sell people who haven't tried the series yet on it?

by riverglen

Related Item: Knave Second Edition

22 c, earned from fishing and selling her catch back to Demona