Sunday 5 June 2016

GURPS Free Cities Session 9

Party:
Arc Sol - Human Cleric of Pelor, the god of the sun (287 points)
Aurum Red-Brand - Human Wizard (278 points)
Mor'ath Enanqua - Elven Swashbuckler/Thief (276 points)
Zaxod - Half-Orc Knight (283 points)

Day 10
Arc got everybody back up to full health by casting a crapload of spells, and then the party headed back to Carda to grab some more supplies.  Zaxod bought some spare materials to work on upgrading his greataxe, Arc recharged his symbol at the church of Pelor, Mor'ath sold some spare goods, and Aurum sold his greathelms (which weren't worth much), refilled his power item, and bought some more potions.  Arc used Gift of Letters and found out that the dwarven runes Aurum had copied said "Way to Home".

The party then headed back out the south gate, over the river, and down into the mines.  They made it to the ruins and then Aurum used Levitation and the floating bronze disc to ferry people across the lightning runes on the stairs so they could explore the lower floor.  They checked the large, broken doors, and found that they led to another descending staircase in a narrow passage, which dead-ended at a cave-in.  Before heading back, Arc checked for runes over the door and used Gift of Letters to figure out they said "Way to Sky".

With Mor'ath on point, the party then followed the left passage, skipped two closed doors, rounded a corner, and found another side-room with a pile of dead bodies, a desk, and a table with some scroll cases, stone tablets, and a large (2'x1') blue-ish metal tablet with a single large rune on the face.  When Arc and Aurum entered the room, they both instantly noticed the tablet as magical, and Aurum realised that it was a Nexus of Creation, an artifact left behind by the gods.

Aurum hastily put it on the disc, and the party continued on around the next corner.  There was another open door, which lead to an old mess hall with a door to the north and a pile of dead bodies missing legs, which they reasoned to be the ones they had killed recently, close by.  Mor'ath moved to check the door for traps, and then a group of large, grey worms jumped at him.  Thanks to a Blessing from Arc, though, he was only deeply wounded and stunned, instead of being knocked unconscious.

The fight was short (though one worm managed to grapple and lightly mangle Aurum's face), and after some more healing from Arc, the door to the north was opened, revealing the store-room with the barrels they had found earlier.

The group then headed back over to the two doors, and realised that one of them would be filled with nauseous gas, and got ready to have Aurum cast Purify Air. After finding that it was blocked from the other side, Zaxod tried to force it, but was unable to.  They tried the other door and found a room full of ruined furniture.  Mor'ath picked through it and managed to find a bottle full of some bright-red non-magical, non-toxic powder, and a silver bracelet with some gems.

Notes:
Wasted a bunch of time with the shopping.  I should try to do that outside normal game time in the future.

The Nexus is a mystery.  Nobody knows what it does, if anything.  Aurum wants to sell it and use the profits to fund his Obsession (Create A Flying Wizard School out of Gold).

Because having Forced Entry beyond DX+2 is pointless, I'm using a neat suggestion I found online and using the better of ST or ST-based Forced Entry to force doors.

They had an idea to have Aurum melt the door (which is made of iron), but they never tried.  Heat might take a long time, but it'd be interesting (if energy-intensive).

Most doors in the ruins have hinges with stone moulded around one side, so there are no screws/bolts to undo.

Zaxod tried a running start to force the door, but the hallways were narrow, so he only got +1 and took half fall damage (based on his move), but I'd probably give +2 normally.  Still wasn't good enough, because the door's tough, and either barred or blocked.

XP:
2 for success
1 for roleplaying
0 for the hardest fight (the worms were easy and didn't outnumber them)
0 for loot (none sold yet)
MVP was Aurum for providing general magical help.

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