H&Y Infinite Open Table Session 11 Notes (Beneath Puddlegrass)
In Attendance:
- Ronby [human 2] (Duress)
- Xavos [elf 3] (Laggs)
- Gundur [dwarf 2] (Oscar)
- Houtgrout [dwarf 1] (Wheezl)
Companions:
- Donut [human 1] (Laggs)
Starting Date: Summer 24, 6023
Not having any particular plan besides "get money," the PCs decided to head out east of Circlebrook into Puddlegrass and down the hole to the Underworld there. They stopped along the way to talk to a few Purple Heron goblins and trade for some of their firefly lanterns. The Purple Herons warned that there had been giant snakes spotted coming up from below recently and that the caves below were the hunting grounds for the Orange Skull clan, a different sect of goblins that didn't like to come to the surface very often.
The PCs headed down the hole beneath the giant snake skeleton to a large network of natural stone hallways. They saw a sleeping giant snake behind a portcullis as well as some cave graffiti in Goblin marking a few doors. They came to a chasm with a drawbridge on the other side, which they hooked using a grappling hook to cross. They saw that the bridge control line went behind a locked door and spent some time discussing possible trades with the voice behind that door.
Xavos traded his knife to the goblin behind the door for use of their drawbridge and rope ladder, wanting to go down into the chasm after hearing it expanded into a larger cave system. The party descended, finding themselves at a large stone bridge suspended over a pool filled with crocodiles. They scrambled up onto the bridge and continued deeper.
Around the corner from the bridge they heard the sounds of battle and death. They hurried forward and saw 4 goblins escaping a sliding metal door in the wall, covered in burns similar to the ones they had after the dive to the Strange Structure in the Lake. They cautiously approached, discovering that A) the sliding door was blocked by a dead goblin and B) that the bone token Gundur still had from Dakssonhold was enough to get the door to open fully. Within the room beyond, they saw moving metal cylinders above another door, the cylinders obviously being the source of the burns of the goblins.
After discussing options for a bit, Xavos tossed one of the dead goblins into the room to draw fire from the metal cylinders and the whole party ran past to the second door. Luckily, the bone token opened that one as well and they kept going into a hallway beyond. They found a button that appeared to temporarily turn off the weapons in the room previously, labelled in a language none of them spoke (Gnomish).
The party kept going down the hallway until they reached another room, a locker room of sorts with 4 lockers and 4 suits of metal armor vaguely reptilian in aesthetic. They searched the lockers and found some electrum coins as well as 6 portions of smoked meat. Houtgrout and Ronby ate 2 portions each, Gundur and Xavos ate one apiece. Houtgrout and Ronby felt much stronger and healthier after their portions, while Gundur and Xavos felt sick to their stomach and like they were going to throw up.
[The PCs had found some smoked troll meat, the semi-random effects were rolled off of the entry for Trolls from The Monster Overhaul by Skerples.]
Xavos and Gundur decided to return to the goblins above and see if they had any medicine or magic to make them feel better. Meanwhile, Houtgrout and Ronby stayed behind to mess with the armor. They eventually determined that the armor suits were constructs controlled by buttons on the back of their torsos, though not before 1 was destroyed due to catastrophic large-rock-falling-on-them and 1 was permanently deactivated due to improper authentication protocols. The last two were activated and swapped their operating languages to Human, putting themselves under Ronby's control.
Ronby and Houtgrout explored deeper in the strange metal complex. They saw a room of strange glass tubes filled with green liquid and sleeping creatures inside as well as a room with a massive machine labelled "DIAGNOSTICATOR." Houtgrout found a shelf filled with mutation samples in the room with the glass tubes and both PCs drank a handful of the samples to see what they would do, each getting a few mutations. Ronby wrapped up the shelf in their robes and tied the whole thing together with Houtgrout's rope, then had one of the constructs carry the shelf out as they prepared to meet back up with their companions.
[Mutations from Skerples's 1d1000 mutations table.]
Meanwhile, Xavos and Gundur had returned to the goblins above at the top of the rope ladder. They learned that the troll jerky was actually reforming as a troll and that the new trolls would attempt to climb out their throat any minute now. The cure for this terrible malady was to drink strong mushroom alcohol and light it on fire, killing the troll for good. They traded for a flame cure procedure for each of them, as well as a Tome of Fists book the goblins had mentioned earlier. They took a lot of damage (15 damage each, most of their HP and getting to wounds at that point) but were cured. Xavos and Gundur thanked the goblins and went back down the rope ladder into the dark to join their friends.
Unfortunately, between the two groups of PCs a new group had emerged. Duergar bounty hunters looking for the escaped fugitives Gundur and Xavos were on the prowl. Gundur and Xavos ran the other way on the stone bridge and hid while Houtgrout spoke to the duergar and swore up and down he hadn't seen either of them. The duergar eventually left, allowing the PCs to regroup and escape back to Circlebrook.
650 XP per share / 1300 XP per PC no coin split
Houtgrout recovered 57 doses of mutation fluid as well as the shelf they were on for later. He stored it at Ronby's house.