It's been a while. Here is stuff to read. - A nice rule for "cooking" a hand grenade in GURPS. - A quick rules answer I need to put somewhere besides here - only the consumables in DFRPG Adventurers are available off-the-shelf. Want an Ironskin amulet? Pay for it and await the enchantment. - These consequences for too much time at sea are really funny over at d4 Caltrops.

Merry Christmas from Felltower You'll be lucky to get out alive, but if you survive, may the dungeons grant you a suit of Magescale in your size, an artifact-grade weapon with minimal downside traits, and a bucket of healing potions. See you all in the coming year.

Lots to do before our next session. - I need to go through the VTT and check each and every NPC in the fight for their status so I can update the roster. It was easier back in the pen and paper days, honestly. - I need to delete the thorkers and re-enter them. I may have to make them up in GCS, which is annoying as can be, so they can properly get their advantages into the system. - I need to delete the Gith Axemen and re-enter them. Somehow, despite having equipment and DR, their DR shows up as 0 when they're actually hit. It's wrong. My players love this, and I get at least comment per session about how it's really 0, which is odd becuase when they have 8 DR showing up and they really have 9 it's a major system failure. Huh. - And then I need to do a restock pass at the dungeon, since it will have been months since the PCs last went in. I'm curious what they'll do next, but that's more a "they" problem than an "I" problem and this post is about I, me, mine.

_Will the fight ever end?_ Date: 12/21/2025 Game Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (347 points) **Rogar Thane-Blood** , human barbarian (250 points) **Thor Halfskepna** , human knight (368 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (333 points) We picked up where we left off, at around second 52 of the fight. Rogar was down, Hannari chasing down some escaping Gith, Thor cornering an axeman, Percy bashing thorkers, and Chop dodging thorkers. Duncan began to move to put up a wall to seal off the room from the "south" (screen down) entrance. Things went sideways immediately. A number of thorkers rushed out to assist the Gith that Hannari was after. Others stood up from where they'd fallen, healed up enough to get back into the fray. The PCs pulled back a bit, as Thor finished off the axeman and Percy downed a couple of thorkers. Duncan put up a wall of earth and then immediately tried another, to seal another corridor into the room, but failed. Chop followed, feeding him energy with **Lend Energy** and drinking paut as fast as he could. The PCs fought the advancing new thorkers off for a couple of seconds and Duncan sealed off that side, too. Meanwhile, thorkers retreated back, in response to some unhead command, and dragged off some fallen Gith. Hannari and Percy and Thor rushed over, with Vlad providing arrow support, to try and stop them. A tossed sleep grenade by Hannari put one down, but another escaped with two bodies dragged behind. Duncan turned two of the earthen walls to stone, and then rushed over - still fed energy by a trailing Chop - and sealed the last one off. They rapidly began dragging corpses of the Gith to the hallway, rescued the fallen Rogar and began to heal him, and prepped to get out. As they did, a few thorkers stood up, and needed Percy to put them back down. Hannari dragged one to the GFS and threw him off the landing and down the deep, deep, deep put to the "domed city" level far below. As they dragged corpses, though, the "west" wall disappeared - the Gith leader had dispelled or dissolved it, somehow. Thorkers rushed in just as Thor was dragging two bodies. He quickly let them go and ran back to the party, grumping the whole way but knowing the plan was grab and go. They fought briefly in the entranceway before walling it off - Hannari dive-rolling into the safe area and grabbing a sleeping thorker - put to sleep in Part I - to keep him on their side of the earth wall. Duncan got the wall off, turned it to stone, and they fled with their loot - four dead Gith, and one sleeping thorker. Left behind was probably a dozen fallen Gith, easily a score of fallen thorkers and norkers, and everything they dropped during the fight (like a **Wand of Fireballs** , Rogar's axe, and some thrown weaponry.) From there, it was a quick trip back to town . . . no wandering monsters turned up (yes, I roll, Felltower is DF on hard mode.) Notes: Short crew today - no players for Rogar, Chop, or Percy, but Vlad and Duncan's players, respectively, stepped in for the last two. Rogar was unconcious until the very end. Normally we don't allow PCs to come along without the player, but we do cover for players who can't make all of a multi-session delve. Finally, this grindy, epic fight ended. It was a grind but not a slog - it really felt like every turn was a decision point . . . and we ended on the 70th turn for most of the PCs. The PCs didn't nearly get the loot they "earned" but they did get a lot. Four suits of magescale, a magical Gith longsword, chameleon clocks and stealthy boots, and a live thorker to hand over to a "sage" - vivisectionist - for research. The cost was high - a lot of consumables, a dropped **Wand of Fireballs** with 14 charges, a number of weapons - but no PCs were killed or maimed. They almost certainly killed a number of enemies - a few decapitated or skull-smashed Gith and norkers, for sure, and maybe some of the thorkers. The enemy will be more ready, but have they taken such heavy losses - dozens of their number down - that they can't muster such a hard-crust defense again? We'll see. The PCs will be back, eventually. MVP was Duncan for the walls. XP was 4 xp for loot, +5 XP for 5 extra sessions, for 9 xp each. Not bad, oh, and $22K or so in cash, each, after Duncan took the suit of Magescale in best repair. Fun stuff! Like I said, this was _long_ , but man, I enjoyed every session. I think my players agree, but they'll be happy to do one-session delves if they can pull them off.

A reduced crew of players will attempt to finish out the fight tomorrow. I think it's doable as long as people don't get hung up on: - kill maximization - loot maximization - loot carrying min/maxing and instead focus on - winning the battlefield - quick and easy loot and casualty recovery - getting away clean We'll see if they do that. I'm giving away no hints, here - this is all things discussed during the last session. The ideal is win the battlefield so they can get away with loot and their wounded and dropped/thrown weaponry, allow no enemies to escape, and get out with all the possible loot. But it's not an ideal situation and they know it - way too many ways to get flanked (three hallways and an unblockable staircase), a casualty, low amounts of FP and _time_ even with a fairly clean win. It should be interesting - successful and profitable raid, or overextended attack that leads to tragedy?

Folks, we'll be taking a short break from Felltower. One of our regulars has suffered a tragic family loss - someone who was also an important friend to me, as well - so we're just not feeling getting a game organized and going right now. I turned off comments because as much as I appreciate that people will want to express sympathy, this isn't the place for it right now. We'll be back at it when the grief and complications from a loss are at a place that allows it.

_Short session today - all we had time for._ Date: 11/30/2025 Game Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (347 points) **Rogar Thane-Blood** , human barbarian (250 points) **Thor Halfskepna** , human knight (368 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (333 points) Bullet points to cover the action in the continuing big brawl: - before Duncan could put up a wall to block them, a bunch of Gith rushed into the room. - Percy managed to beat back a few Gith and a thorker with aid from Agar's Wand and Vlad. - Thor and Hannari killed a Gith or two and pushed back the Gith leader and two of his allies, with Thor crippling the leader's sword arm. - Lots of nageteppo countered by **Purify Air** dominated the magical fight for the day. - the PCs are back to Operation Build a Wall. Notes: We had a short session budgeted for today but even so, we couldn't finish the fight. It's a good one, but the PCs have to contend with high-damage-soaking thorkers and high-defense Gith mixed together. Honestly, it's the kind of fight where boths sides don't like how it's been going and don't like where it ends up, but there is no clear way out. The players seem concerned that the Gith leader, who was driven out of sight, is getting reinforcements, and that even with 3 walls up (they'll do that next time) they'll have scant time to gather some loot, gather up their fallen brother, and get the hell out before foes come upstairs after them. They can't block that off entirely, or even tactically, given so many airmobile foes at this depth of the dungeon. Speaking of which, one thing that makes delving deeper hard isn't always more lethal foes, but ones that have abilities that counter the usual "win buttons" of early play - foes who can move through the air, see invisible, see in the dark, or ignore or recover from status effects quickly make for a very tough delve. But the loot is better . . . MVP was Thor for his critical hit that crippled the sword arm of the toughest foe of the bunch.

Continuing from the previous session. Date: 11/23/2025 Game Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (347 points) **Rogar Thane-Blood** , human barbarian (250 points) **Thor Halfskepna** , human knight (368 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (333 points) Bullet points to cover the action in the continuing big brawl: - The Gith turned their focus to Rogar, with the "main" Gith - blurred, enhanced by spellstones and potions - joining a Gith Lichtor and their axemen in attacking him. Hannari ran over to help, himself doubly boosted by a DX potion (+4 to DX) and a Speed potion. - The remaining thorkers around Percy and Thor kept piling on to keep them busy, along with a Gith Lichtor. - The other thorkers mobbed Chop, Vlad, and Duncan. - Chop kept healing Rogar from afar, Cursing any non-cursed foes, and used Purify Air to clean up a nageteppo used to (it turns out) obscure incoming reinforcements. - Hannari put down three of the axemen with help from Vlad's arrows right after they finally knocked Rogar unconscious, Percyn put down a few thorkers and a Gith Licthor, and Thor decapitated a hapless norker brute and then put a few thorkers down. - Alarmingly, 10 or so (by Hannari's quick count) Gith came running up, and then shieleded themselves with a layered wall of smoke from nageteppo. And even more alarmingly, a few more thorkers - supposedly bashed into death or unconciousness - clambered to their feet and re-engaged, not much worse for wear from endless head blows, neck shots, and "chop[s] to the hit points." We left it with 4-5 thorkers up, and a lot of incoming Gith. The PCs plan to hold them off at a hallway so Duncan can temporarily wall it off with stone so they can haul ass and haul corpses out to get a lot of loot. We'll see how much they can take with them, assuming they get to that point, given that they're 100% sure the enemy can get around the walls rather more quickly than they'd like. That is where we'll pick up next time - Operation Build a Wall and Have the Gith Loot Pay For It. Notes: 10 seconds of combat time. Took a while today - I was lagging toward the latter half of the session and that slowed us a lot. MVP was Chop for his curses, which disrupted several critical successes by the enemy. I like that the PCs call their enemies Gith, so I named them all that way in the VTT. I don't like that one particular group of them shows with their DR under Actors, but when I add them to the map and use them to fight it goes to 0. Editing it doesn't help. Manually typing in DR on every hit isn't fun.

Tomorrow will - hopefully - be the end of the big multi-session battle in the depths of Felltower. The PCs seem to be in a good spot . . . but of course battles can turn suddenly, and they've been spraying resources (especially FP and ER and Paut) all over the place. They only have so much. Looking forward to seeing what happens!

Continuing from the previous session. Date: 11/9/2025 Game Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (347 points) **Rogar Thane-Blood** , human barbarian (250 points) **Thor Halfskepna** , human knight (368 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (333 points) Bullet points to cover the action in the continuing big brawl: - the enemy continued to pull back into a large "C" facing the PCs, and laid down three smoke nageteppo after Vlad shot one of the "Gith" axemen. - Chop cleared the smoke with **Purify Air** and the PCs charged. - Rogar fought his own little war with a couple of Norker Brutes and a quartet of axemen, eventually felling the two norkers and wounding one axeman. - Thor rushed the main core of the enemy and got hit with **Slow** by a Gith they supposedly hit with Magebane, so that wasn't as effective as it might have been. - Percy bashed down a few thorkers. - A few fallen thorkers got back up, after having been put down rather harshly earlier. - Vlad landed a few eye shots on Gith Lichtors and put them down. - Hannari crippled the foot of a Gith Lichtor and found the guy have **Levitation** on and didn't fall. They decided that's probably why they don't worry about the **Deathtouch** floor. We ended it at second 31 of the fight, havign resolved a good 10 seconds or so of combat. Slow, yes, but people kept a move on. It's a big fight and the VTT helps a lot but also slows things down a bunch, too, when we hit issues that it doesn't do well. Notes: - MVP was Vlad for the nice eye shot criticals. - I really need token statuses for - "off balance," "unready weapon," "Slowed," "Hasted," Crippled Limb, and a few more. Oh, and different ones for Blur, Shield, Armor, and other buff spells.

Norker (n). 1. One who norks. 2. A Fiend Folio monster I use a lot. (Warning - stats are AD&D;, and I've made them different for GURPS.) One thing I love about norkers is that they're great fodder. They're intrinsically armoured, so they don't need to provide $5K in loot each just to be able to absorb some hits. They are cheaply armed with axes, so killing a few of them doesn't provide a realistic amount of loot. They fulfill the value of monsters to a GM - they're a threat - without that implicit promise that games have made to PCs - fighting is good because fighting means loot. The "Gith," aka the Masters, the six-fingered elven vampires, etc. - seem to have a number especially tough norkers. So the PCs are enaged in a brawl with them as I write this. They also have some other guys - Thorkers. **Thorkers** The PCs aren't exactly sure what thorkers are, exactly. They're very quiet, eeriely silent. They don't readily bleed - or maybe don't bleed. They take enourmous punishment to put down, regardless of magical or non-magical weapons. Their best effect on them has been putting them to sleep with sleep elixirs - clearly they're not immune to that - and repeatedly bashing them in the head with a flail - which takes far too many hits of far too much damage to make anyone feel like it's a really vulnerable spot. They attack with claws or a bite - generally claws, since GURPS (unlike AD&D;) tends to make biting suck unless biting is your main or only thing. They don't use weapons, unlike "regular" norkers. They're a new monster for Felltower, although with an old inspiration. And the PCs are the first to encounter them, so research isn't going to turn up much. Their best bet is to take a live or dead one home - in that order of utility. They've hit upon that plan.* I may update this post - or just link back to it - when they find out more. * And I expect either way, they'll try to explain why someone in town should pay them for the prisoner or the corpse, and then tell them everything they want to know on top of that. No, NPCs don't pay you to find out what you want to know from them. No one has that level of social skills in game to pull that off. And it's probably less fun as a game if they do and regularly do so.

_Continuing from theprevious session._ Date: 10/26/2025 Game Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (347 points) **Rogar Thane-Blood** , human barbarian (250 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (333 points) Reinforcements: **Thor Halfskepna** , human knight (368 points) We picked up where we left off. Not a lot to add for the fight, except that: - Thor came running up, a few seconds into the battle. - More foes came up - a dozen or so norker brutes led by a pair of "Gith" Licthors, as the PCs call them. - Percy put down a few thorkers, but it took a lot of hits to do so. - Vlad's arrows were largely ignored - he hit a couple of norker brutes but **Missile Shield** kept the Gith safe. - More Gith showed up - axemen, more lichtors, and a taller, more slender Gith. Assuming he was a mage, Hannari used a pair of Magebane grenades to take away their Magery. It didn't stop one from using one of Wyatt's long-lost spellstones to **Awaken** a good number of thorkers asleep from Hannari's grenades last session. - Thor bashed down two obsidian golems and the iron spectre, Rogar to concentrate on the norker brutes. - Gith threw lightning - even after being hit with Magebane - and demon's brew grenades at the PCs. - Chop found out that while norkers can be hit with **Command** to attack their allies, they won't follow through. We left it mid-fight, with the awakened thorkers getting to their feet and the Gith and norkers forming a semi-circular position away from the PCs. Notes: - I really need a way to display multiple icons in one hex in Foundry. - Thor was MVP for smashing up three constructs pretty quickly, freeing up Duncan from a threat and Rogar to fight foes he is better able to deal with as a brand-new 250 point PC.

_Continuing from theprevious session._ Date: 10/26/2025 Game Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters Chop, human cleric (362 points) Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points) Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points) Persistance Montgomery, human knight (347 points) Rogar Thane-Blood, human barbarian (250 points) Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (333 points) Thor Halfskepna, human knight (??? points) We picked up where we left off. Not a lot to add for the fight, except that: - Thor came running up, a few seconds into the battle. - More foes came up - a dozen or so norker brutes led by a pair of "Gith" Licthors, as the PCs call them. - Percy put down a few thorkers, but it took a lot of hits to do so. - Vlad's arrows were largely ignored - he hit a couple of norker brutes but **Missile Shield** kept the Gith safe. - More Gith showed up - axemen, more lichtors, and a taller, more slender Gith. Assuming he was a mage, Hannari used a pair of Magebane grenades to take away their Magery. It didn't stop one from using one of Wyatt's long-lost spellstones to **Awaken** a good number of thorkers asleep from Hannari's grenades last session. - Thor bashed down two obsidian golems and the iron spectre, Rogar to concentrate on the norker brutes. - Gith threw lightning - even after being hit with Magebane - and demon's brew grenades at the PCs. - Chop found out that while norkers can be hit with **Command** to attack their allies, they won't follow through. We left it mid-fight, with the awakened thorkers getting to their feet and the Gith and norkers forming a semi-circular position away from the PCs. Notes: - I really need a way to display multiple icons in one hex in Foundry. - Thor was MVP for smashing up three constructs pretty quickly, freeing up Duncan from a threat and Rogar to fight foes he is better able to deal with as a brand-new 250 point PC.

- AD&D; Asassination. Seems straightforward in the PHB, and then the DMG comes and takes it away. Thanks, Gary. - Next game is in 3 weeks.

More notes on Session 214, which we played on Sunday, 10/6/2025. - It was interesting watching the players talk themselves into going into a big fight on the "first landing on the second GFS." It's always been a big fight on this level, against a mixed lot of enemies who are always (somehow) alert to the invasion. But somehow there is always some at least mild surprise that, hey, those guys we never defeated are still there and still ready to fight. They did make it past before, but it always involves a nasty battle. Maybe this time they'll be able to either win out or make a permanent dent in the forces here. They have a lot more tools for the job - witness the sleep grenades and nageteppo - and better supporting tactics. But the "Gith," as the players call them, are tough and have a lot of seemingly loyal minions. - I have a "no helping" rule but waived it for helping our new guy. He's an old hand at gaming and a quick study. Still, we really need the GURPS module for Foundry to include Committed Attack as his barbarian has Berserk (Enraged, Battle Fury) and will use it extensively. He also has Bad Temper and Bloodlust. But I know that's how he plays, so he may as well gets points for them. - I love that they visited the mysterious blue pool when their PC with Curiosity and Impulsive isn't around. Oh, and jumped into a big fight when the same player - who is all for heavy combat - isn't around. I can't wait for next session . . . in 3 weeks. Oh well. If this goes well enough for the PCs I suspect it'll strongly opened up a lot of adventuring possibilities. If not . . . I hope there will be sufficient survivors.

More notes on Session 214, which we played on Sunday, 10/6/2025. - It was interesting watching the players talk themselves into going into a big fight on the "first landing on the second GFS." It's always been a big fight on this level, against a mixed lot of enemies who are always (somehow) alert to the invasion. But somehow there is always some at least mild surprise that, hey, those guys we never defeated are still there and still ready to fight. They did make it past before, but it always involves a nasty battle. Maybe this time they'll be able to either win out or make a permanent dent in the forces here. They have a lot more tools for the job - witness the sleep grenades and nageteppo - and better supporting tactics. But the "Gith," as the players call them, as tough and have a lot of seemingly loyal minions. - I have a "no helping" rule but waived it for helping our new guy. He's an old hand at gaming and a quick study. Still, we really need the GURPS module for Foundry to include Committed Attack as his barbarian has Berserk (Enraged, Battle Fury) and will use it extensively. He also has Bad Temper and Bloodlust. But I know that's how he plays, so he may as well gets points for them. - I love that they visited the mysterious blue pool when their PC with Curiosity and Impulsive isn't around. Oh, and jumped into a big fight when the same player - who is all for heavy combat - isn't around. I can't wait for next session . . . in 3 weeks. Oh well. If this goes well enough for the PCs I suspect it'll strongly opened up a lot of adventuring possibilities. If not . . . I hope there will be sufficient survivors.

Date: 10/5/2025 Weather: Warm and mild. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (347 points) **Rogar Thane-Blood** , human barbarian (250 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (333 points) We started off in town, and the PCs gathered rumors and set off. The plan was simple - take the new guy to the altar, and hope for the best, and then go down the second GFS. The group went in the well and made their way to the altar. Hannari handed a big bag of silver coins to Rogar and he touched the altar - and 45 of those coins turned to gold. That done, they made it to the GFS and went down. At the bottom, Hannari used **Autohypnosis** to put himself in a meditative state and then tried to keep climbing down the steps by following the pattern on the floor. It faiiled, and left him dizzy. Out into the level itself, they found the air very stale indeed, and Rogar felt dizzy and nausea (he rolled a 17 on his HT roll, his first in-game roll.) They headed towards the second GFS. Along the way, they forced open the door to a room near the "Ape Gate." They felt a refreshing sense of good, clean air . . . but inside was an intact black hemisphere, and two bronze spiders that seemed to be repairing or having just repaired it. The spiders attacked. One jump-slammed Vlad but he dodged. They quickly pounded them into junk. Then Vlad shot the hemisphere to pieces with a few dozen shots from his **Cornucopia Quivers**. That done, they headed to the second GFS, but sidetracked to a magical pool nearby. The hallway was lined with runes, sigils, and symbols powerful for water magic. At the end of it was a opaque blue pond. Vlad drank some - their notes said it made the drinkers strong. Instead, it nearly killed him - HT-5, which he barely passed. He spewed out the water - which had tasted wonderfully clear until he had a full mouthful - and stood back. They didn't stop there - they put **Resist Poison** on Vlad and he stuck his head in and looked around, to no avail. Hanari tried some, since he has a **Serpent's Amulet** and is immune to poison. Nothing happened but it tasted bad. They moved on to the other GFS. It took **Strengthen Will** and a few tries to get everyone through. They wound down the stairs a few turns and opened the first door - they planned to bypass the "**Deathtouch** floor" and find something to kill and loot. But as they moved in, Chop and Vlad heard a faint five-note chime. They let everyone know the enemy was alerted. They stacked up on the left wall to give Hannari running room for a jump across the room, and Vlad began to shoot the black hemisphere in the room. From a side passage, four Obsidian Golems and an Iron Spectre emerged. They waited at the edge of the floor for the golems. Vlad shot at the eyes but didn't make any real progress on them. Rogar threw a hatchet, missed his target, but rolled a 4 on the next golem in line and knocked its left hand off. The golems moved up and bathed Hannari and Rogar with their paralytic eye-rays. Hannari was paralyzed but Rogar was not. **Relieve Paralysis** from Chop took care of that. Hannari threw a smoke nageteppo to block their line of sight, which forced the golems a little forward. They managed to beat one down with a combination of Percy's flail and Vlad's arrows. But soon after a big mob of humanoids rolled in from the far hallway - a dozen or so norkers . . . but unarmed ones. Stories from previous groups talked about "thorkers," and these were they. Vlad shot one in both eyes, and it basically shrugged it off. Hannari blinded a few with a flash nageteppo thrown behind his own smoke. A few were blinded, and complaints were heard. The "thorkers" were otherwise silent while they fought. They mobbed up against the PCs. Percy knocked a few out with skull hits, but clearly hadn't killed them even with 2-3 clean, hard hits. They were vulnerable to **Sleep Potions** , though, and Hannari had a lot and kept them coming. Two of the golems were down, but two are meleeing Rogar who is slightly battered but holding firm and dealing damage back. We left with the PCs getting swamped with thorkers, but most of those who got too close were asleep and a few knocked out. We called it there for time. Notes: Rogar Thane-Blood is the first DF PC for a new player. Actually, one of my old players, from my 1st edition GURPS game back in the day set in the then-new Forgotten Realms. He happened to be visting, and asked if he could drop in on game. I did him one better and let him join ongoing. He knows some of my guys from back in the day since we all grew up in the same town. There is a random effect from the beneficial altar, but the silver-to-gold has come up quite often. It feels like more than it should, but maybe just because that's the one people get excited about? MVP was Hannari for his timely and effective grenade and nageteppo use.

The crystal ball room has been used a number of times in DF Felltower. A quick search shows it being used in at least these sessions. DF Session 45 DF Session 114 DF Session 188 DF Session 213 I'm sure having linked them all I'll now need to field a lot of clarification questions. But it comes down a few things: - **Crystalmancy** will help, but it's not necessary. - Some areas of the dungeon just cannot be scryed with this device. - Some areas of the dungeon can be scryed easily with this device, even if you aren't that familiar with them. - Some areas of the dungeon can be scryed with difficulty if you are familiar with them. - The surface area around the dungeon is probably in the second or third category. - It's location-dependent and cannot effectively be used for finding things. Think of it more like a series of cameras on a facility and less like a magic ball of answers and you'll do better with it - and the use in the sessions above will bear that out. There is one exception to that in there . . . but was that a true vision or someone messing up badly and misunderstanding what they saw? It's unclear . . . divination is like that.

Date: 9/21/2025 Weather: Cool, dry. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points)      Almaric (125 points)      4 guards (62 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (318 points) We started off in town. The PCs gathered rumors, and then set off to Felltower. The plan to follow up on a rumor they'd heard: "The dark cult to the demon god on the second level of Felltower has made a return, but made some new secret temple to worship at." They'd decided this meant they needed to search the upper levels for the temple. Long story short . . . they didn't find it. But they did find some adventure. The PCs started to search the second level, hoping to find a restarted evil temple. So they first checked the old demonic temple long ago cleared. They found it wasn't being used, so they worked their way around to the stairs down to the burial areas for the Brotherhood and the draugr. The goal was to find "edge" areas that could have seen expansion out from the levels as they are, where a new temple could be built. As they did, they used **Seek Earth** to find gold and then another to find silver. They found both a short distance away, with a vision showing a loose wall stone with coins and some gold behind it. They decided to use **Seek Earth** to triangulate on the gold. This time it revealed a massive hoard - a room carpeted with coins, speckled heavily with gold coins. It was some distance off the map. So they searched the whole of the burial areas - the central draugr laid as well as the two side areas where the Brothers had been buried. Long story short, the niches of the higher-ranked guys had been totally looted and destroyed. Those of the lesser brothers - who had only 1 cp as a passage coin - hadn't. They didn't bother to despoil them, either, since they're looking at 2500 cp or so max for many hours of work. They settled for 1 cp and Vlad touching a red hand - which zapped him, of course. But they kept after the big source of gold. No path they took got them much closer, and it was clear on the far side of the draugr crypt. They couldn't find a way to get there - no secret doors, no tunnels, nothing. Next up they went to scrying room on "level 3." It is accessed by a button that does **Deathtouch** on the person pressing it, so Hannari suggested Vlad shoot it with a blunt arrow to "push" it. That worked. In they went, and Duncan began to scry. He kept trying to scry by term - "look for the Lord of Spite" and "show me the room behind the door on the GFS" and so on - which kept failing. What did succeed was checking some local areas, including a nearby former temple. When he tried a 9th time to scry and went to look at the room where the Doomchildren had spawned back in the day. Duncan got immediately dizzy, threw up on the crystal ball mount, and was nauseous for a while. They checked the room themselves, unspiking the shut downs and searching it. They found nothing. Next they checked the cliff where ropers had been fought, and the cliff itself - nope, nothing. Next they went to the flooded prison, and Vlad flew around looking for Big John the troll and other things. They found nothing - Big John was gone, all the boats were gone, and so on. Vlad did spot a "gem" on the floor and shot it when he saw holes in the floor - he suspected a trap. He hit it and it shattered, setting off a spiked trap. They moved on, and decided to search pretty much every room they'd stumbled on in the long past. Eventually, in one of them, they found a loose stone with a sack beyond it. It was trapped with (what turned out to be) a sleep grenade, but Vlad caught it on the way down. They found 935 sp, a gold-silver-and-ivory decorated horn, 6 glow vials, and a set of dwarven lockpicks. They took that, searched a bit more, and then headed home. No temple, no fights, no room carpeted with coins . . . but they did find some loot. Notes: - **Seek Earth** is annoying. Helpful to delvers, but annoying. And that you can use it over and over again to triangulate can also be annoying. I'm not that good at math so it's hard for me to calcuate the distance. Plus I need to keep checking all over the map and the room key to find out what's where. - 2 xp for everyone for over 20% of their loot threshold. MVP was Hannari for suggesting shooting the secret door trigger with a blunt arrow.

- 9 and 30 Kingdoms talks a bit about mapping. I'm okay with players mapping or not mapping. It's up to them, as long as their characters can do it. If they try to use it to detect secret rooms, eh. I have lots of filled-in blocks of stone between hallways to avoid explaining line-walls that don't have any clear thickness. So it generally doesn't work. They do help to keep you from getting too lost. - Not gaming, but this post explains historiography. I first ran into the concept in college and I wish I'd understood it earlier. - Next game date is unclear.

Date: 8/24/2025 Weather: Warm, dry. Characters **Chop** , human cleric (362 points) **Duncan Tesadic** , human wizard (346 points) **Hannari Ironhand** , dwarf martial artist (360 points) **Persistance Montgomery** , human knight (332 points) **Thor Halfskepna** , human knight (358 points) **Vladimir Luchnick** , dwarf scout (318 points) The PCs started out in town, gathering rumors and taking delivery of some items ordered way back when. The goal was to take out the iron golems, as they called them, first encountered years ago. The armed up, with a lot of blunt weapons to potentially avoid breakage, and headed down. Long story short, this did not work out. The PCs found the room alright, and forced the door. Beyond it were three golems - with the appearance of knights. They were made of dull steel, two with sword and shield and one with a poleaxe. The PCs let loose with a **Stone Missile** and Thor and Percy moved in. The **Stone Missile** hit one square and dented it, but didn't stop it. Vald pinged arrows off of the golems to no visible effect. Neither did Percy - he smacked one three times, two hits, one block. His flail almost broke on the first hit, averted by **Luck** , and the second hit broke his flail. A **Fireball** didn't do much better, and the golems breathed poison gas - averted by everyone having **Resist Poison** , and one breathed fire and set Thor alight and wounded him badly. **Resist Fire** saved him. The PCs pulled back, and the golems closed the door on them. The PCs tried again - buffed Thor, readied **Lightning** , and opened the door - why? To retrieve the broken flail that Percy had dropped when it snapped in half. **Lightning** didn't do much better, inflicting damage but not stunning. But the golems rushed forward, and engaged. Thor rushed them back. In a tough and short brawl, while Duncan used **Apportation** to get the ball and chain portion of the flail, Thor held off the golems. But then suddenly, after lots of critical successes by the PCs and none by the golems . . . they got a few. Whack. Off came Thor's leg. Then he fell, and his left arm was lopped off. The PCs desperately managed to snag Thor's limbs - he grabbed his own leg, Percy his arm and shield - and beat a hasty retreat, chased by the golems that suddenly seemed willing to pursue. They were chased to a nearby intersection, and left the dungeon directly. Notes: It was a funny session more than a fun one - it cost $3200 to fix Thor's lost limbs . . . all to rescue half of a nicely made but no longer enchanted broken morningstar. Heh. Percy broke his morningstar on his first swing at a golem. He used Luck, and rolled twice more. The next two didn't cause breakage. I said, just keep the last roll for the second swing that he hit with. The players argued that Luck needs three rolls. Okay, I said, nevermind, I was being generous, but fine, roll for the second breakage roll. 1. The flail broke. Insistance on the rules overcoming GM generosity . . . heh. MVP was Percy for **Leadership**. Otherwise XP was 0. Next game . . . TBD.

Date: 8/24/2025 Weather: Warm, dry. Characters Chop, human cleric (362 points) Duncan Tesadic, human wizard (346 points) Hannari Ironhand, dwarf martial artist (360 points) Persistance Montgomery, human knight (332 points) Thor Halfskepna, human knight (358 points) Vladimir Luchnick, dwarf scout (318 points) The PCs started out in town, gathering rumors and taking delivery of some items ordered way back when. The goal was to take out the iron golems, as they called them, first encountered years ago. The armed up, with a lot of blunt weapons to potentially avoid breakage, and headed down. Long story short, this did not work out. The PCs found the room alright, and forced the door. Beyond it were three golems - with the appearance of knights. They were made of dull steel, two with sword and shield and one with a poleaxe. The PCs let loose with a **Stone Missile** and Thor and Percy moved in. The **Stone Missile** hit one square and dented it, but didn't stop it. Vald pinged arrows off of the golems to no visible effect. Neither did Percy - he smacked one three times, two hits, one block. His flail almost broke on the first hit, averted by **Luck** , and the second hit broke his flail. A **Fireball** didn't do much better, and the golems breathed poison gas - averted by everyone having **Resist Poison** , and one breathed fire and set Thor alight and wounded him badly. **Resist Fire** saved him. The PCs pulled back, and the golems closed the door on them. The PCs tried again - buffed Thor, readied **Lightning** , and opened the door - why? To retrieve the broken flail that Percy had dropped when it snapped in half. **Lightning** didn't do much better, inflicting damage but not stunning. But the golems rushed forward, and engaged. Thor rushed them back. In a tough and short brawl, while Duncan used **Apportation** to get the ball and chain portion of the flail, Thor held off the golems. But then suddenly, after lots of critical successes by the PCs and none by the golems . . . they got a few. Whack. Off came Thor's leg. Then he fell, and his left arm was lopped off. The PCs desperately managed to snag Thor's limbs - he grabbed his own leg, Percy his arm and shield - and beat a hasty retreat, chased by the golems that suddenly seemed willing to pursue. They were chased to a nearby intersection, and left the dungeon directly. Notes: It was a funny session more than a fun one - it cost $3200 to fix Thor's lost limbs . . . all to rescue half of a nicely made but no longer enchanted broken morningstar. Heh. Percy broke his morningstar on his first swing at a golem. He used Luck, and rolled twice more. The next two didn't cause breakage. I said, just keep the last roll for the second swing that he hit with. The players argued that Luck needs three rolls. Okay, I said, nevermind, I was being generous, but fine, roll for the second breakage roll. 1. The flail broke. Insistance on the rules overcoming GM generosity . . . heh. MVP was Percy for **Leadership**. Otherwise XP was 0. Next game . . . TBD.

Some stuff I found interesting to read this week. Why Magic Users Suck at Fighting. In general, I think is a perfectly reasonable explanation. It's hard to do two hard things well without a large time investment in each. The dedicated fighter and the dedicated magic-user should be more effective in their niche than a person who does both equally, given the same constraints of time, resources, etc. OLD DM TRICK #3 - I don't know, this doesn't seem like it would work, especially if anyone maps or the party spreads out a bit. Of Periwigs and Pallid Masks - while pre-1776 colonial America seems like an interesting place for a Call of Cthulhu campaign . . . all you get is early pre-1776 divisions and violence and political splits. That might help give players a hook, but I don't think you get to have colonial America without all of the politics that made it a rebellion. It's not like one thing happened, simplified text in school textbooks aside, that suddenly made it all explode. Still, given a group of players with a similar interest in history, it could be interesting. Sharp Practice: The Relief of Dojjibotti! - I love minis, and I love Indian Mutiny mini battles. They're so visually interesting and the conflict is both messy and easy to understand.

Some stuff I found interesting to read this week. Why Magic Users Suck at Fighting. In general, I think is a perfectly reasonable explanation. It's hard to do two hard things well without a large time investment in each. The dedicated fighter and the dedicated magic-user should be more effective in their niche than a person who does both equally, given the same constraints of time, resources, etc. OLD DM TRICK #3 - I don't know, this doesn't seem like it would work, especially if anyone maps the party spreads out a bit. Of Periwigs and Pallid Masks - while pre-1776 colonial America seems like an interesting place for a Call of Cthulhu campaign . . . all you get is early pre-1776 divisions and violence and political splits. That might help give players a hook, but I don't think you get to have colonial America without all of the politics that made it a rebellion. It's not like one thing happened, simplified text in school textbooks aside, that suddenly made it all explode. Still, given a group of players with a similar interest in history, it could be interesting. Sharp Practice: The Relief of Dojjibotti! - I love minis, and I love Indian Mutiny mini battles. They're so visually interesting and the conflict is both messy and easy to understand.

The next Felltower session is up in the air. It was supposed to be today, but unfortunately we had too many people unable to attend after all. It's unclear when it will be.