Spes Magna Games

I added priests of Wastri the Hopping Prophet pretty much on a whim while running Danger at Darkshelf Quarry for our Sunday game. Wastri doesn’t figure into the adventure at all, but that’s no reason not to tweak things. As the heroes move toward Highport to delve deeper into the slavers’ machinations, why not feature the demigod of amphibians, bigotry, and self-deception?

The current party consists of Animo, human monk; Foxrad, dwarf druid; Peidro, wood elf rogue; Falgin, halfling warlock; Morgan, human warlock; and Skye, aarakocra ranger. Wastri loathes what in AD&D sources are categorized as demi-humans: elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes. These races are “false humans”, and Wastri’s faithful hunt and kill them.

Based on Wastri’s dogmas, Foxrad, Peidro, and Falgin are fit only for death. Skye may serve as a slave at best. Animo and Morgan likely deserve profound punishments for betraying their humanity by associating the “false humans”.

Official sources on Wastri that I’ve read do not mention half-elves and half-orcs. I imagine Wastri intensely dislikes the former but might tolerate the latter. Humanoid races such as goblins and orcs may serve Wastri, but always in subordinate roles. Amphibious creatures and races, such as grungs and bullywugs, occupy a place between humans (at the top) and humanoid races (near the bottom, but still higher than “false humans”). Wastri admires amphibious creatures for their versatility. Such creatures occupy the land, but may retreat to the water when necessary.

Last post, I offered stats for priests of Wastri. These “Lesser Servants” occupy a middle rung in Wastri’s hierarchy. Beneath them are humans who seek higher service in Wastri’s ranks. These folk are called “Hopefuls”. At the top of Wastri’s hierarchy is the “Immaculate Image”, who is served by “Greater Servants”. In AD&D, the Immaculate Image was a 12th/6th-level cleric/monk).

Wastri himself has three special magical powers, each of which I’ve retooled as cleric spells.

Dampness
1st-level conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

You create a 20-foot radius sphere of chill, damp mist centered on a point within range. The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is lightly obscured. Normal fires in the area are extinguished. Targets in the area make saving throws against fire-based effects with advantage. A creature in the area using a bow makes its attack rolls with disadvantage. These effects last for the duration or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the radius of the mist increases by 20 feet for each slot level above 1st.

Plague of Warts
1st-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S, M (a piece of amphibian hide)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

This spell affects a creature that you can see within range, causing large, rough warts to cover its skin unless the target makes a Constitution saving throw to avoid the effect. The transformation lasts for the duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies.

The target has disadvantage of Charisma checks. The target’s disfigured hands are clumsy and painful. The target had disadvantage on Dexterity checks as well as melee or ranged weapon attacks that involve the hands.

Wastri’s Croak
4th-level enchantment

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 90 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

This spell’s effects duplicate those of the confusion spell, but amphibians are immune. A human target makes its initial Wisdom saving throw against the spell with advantage. A dwarf, elf, gnome, or halfling target makes its initial saving throw against the spell with disadvantage.

Tags: 5E D&D, spells

Our every-other-Sunday 5E D&D game is scheduled for this weekend. The heroes’ forays into the quarry tunnels met stiff resistance from goblins, bugbears, mudtigers, and a pair of priests of Wastri the Hopping Prophet. Judicious use of eldritch blasts, illusions, and arrows dropped the monsters’ leadership, cracking goblin morale, and doing so with little time to spare. For the second session in a row, the heroes avoided total defeat.

After their second brush with death, the heroes returned to Dark Quarry to recuperate, gather information, and report their findings to the village’s head-man. By noon the following day, quarry workers returned bearing frantic news. The quarry’s entrance had collapsed. Booby traps had injured several men. The quarry’s small keep stood abandoned.

The heroes made haste to the quarry to discover that its master, the mysterious Bazili Erak, had pulled up stakes. The keep was empty. The quarry mines were empty. The heroes set free several captives, but did not find Kwon, the brave monk who first attempted to discover the quarry’s secrets. In the quarry’s second level, the heroes found a strange shrine, a stone pyramid adored with carved eyes. Foxrad Stormseeker recognized the pyramid as a symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye, an ancient and unspeakably evil cult.

And so, the Danger at Darkshelf Quarry has ended, but the heroes are left with more questions than answers. Not all is lost, however, for the heroes have learned the Bazili Erak has contacts in Highport, farther to the south. What awaits the heroes in that rough and lawless city?

In other gaming news, I recently received 1975, written by Bill Webb for Frog God Games. I’ve not given it a detailed read yet. The adventure is a hex-crawl, a format in which a group explores travel through unknown wilderness areas, searching for Something Important. It looks like fun, but a few things about it puzzle me:

1. The font size for the main text is too small. It looks about 8- or 9-point. This isn’t first time I’ve run across new gaming products opting for under-sized fonts. One of the reasons I’ve not read 1975 yet is that I’m not fond of straining my eyes.
2. The few illustrations are good, but, combined with what seems like a too-wide bottom margin on many pages, I must wonder. If the illustrations were a wee bit smaller and the margins consistent, could that main-text font had been bumped up a point or two?
3. Neither the player nor DM wilderness maps have either a scale or hexes, the latter of which seems a strange omission for an adventure billing itself as a hex-crawl.
4. Bill Webb provides stats for the giant beaver, and it’s just a big, unaligned beast. This bugs me perhaps more than it should, but I’ve long been fond of the fact that giant beavers in AD&D have low to average intelligence, which reminds me of my evil druid beavers.

Priest of Wastri
Medium humanoid (human), lawful evil

Armor Class 14 (chain shirt)
Hit Points 22 (5d8)
Speed 25 ft., swim 25 ft.

STR 10 (+0), DEX 12 (+1), CON 10 (+0), INT 13 (+1), WIS 16 (+3), CHA 13 (+1)

Skills Nature +3, Persuasion +3, Religion +3
Senses passive Perception 13
Languages Common, Bullywug
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Bane of False Humans. As a bonus action, the priest can expend a spell slot to cause its melee weapon attacks to magically deal an extra 10 (3d6) radiant damage to a non-human humanoid target on a hit. This benefit lasts until the end of the turn. If the priest expends a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the extra damage increases by 1d6 for each level above 1st.

Hold Breath. The priest can hold his breath for 15 minutes.

Spellcasting. The priest is a 5th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). The priest has the following cleric spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): light, sacred flame, thaumaturgy
1st level (4 slots): cure wounds, guiding bolt, sanctuary
2nd level (3 slots): lesser restoration, spiritual weapon
3rd level (2 slots): dispel magic, spirit guardians

Standing Leap. The priest’s long jump is 20 feet and its high jump is up to 10 feet, with or without a running start.

Actions

Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d10) slashing damage.

Conjure Frogs (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). The priest conjures eight giant frogs, which appear in unoccupied spaces the priest can see within 60 feet. Each beast disappears when it drops to 0 hit points. The summoned frogs are friendly to the priest and the priest’s companions. Roll initiative for the summoned frogs as a group, which has its own turns. They obey any verbal commands the priest issues to them (no action required). If the priest doesn’t any commands to them, they defend themselves from hostile creatures, but otherwise take no actions. The frogs remain until killed or until the priest takes a short or long rest.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo 2020. I’m not quite following the rules since I’m taking back up my story about Jared, psychopomp and assassin in the employ of Management. I’ve started out with some revising and editing of what I’d already written.

Here’s part of chapter 1.

Tony opened The Supply Room at oh-seven-hundred every day except Sunday. By oh-seven-thirty, people sat on at least half the stools at the bar. That early, they were all regulars, and all men. Guys getting off a graveyard shift, looking for a beer before heading home to sleep the morning away. Guys heading to work, hoping a morning beer or a couple of shots will help get them through the day.

I pulled into the parking lot, maneuvering around the worst of the potholes to park in the spot marked Reserved for Auction Winner. There’d never been an auction. I hadn’t won anything. As I walked through the front door, Tony gave me a nod. A moment later, he set two fingers of Scotch and a manila envelope on the table in front of me.

“Morning,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s morning, alright.”

Tony gave me another nod and returned to the bar. I downed the Scotch with a swallow per finger, and then bent up the metal fastener on the envelope, lettings its contents slide onto the table. There was a letter-size envelope, a Ziploc baggie, and a manila folder. I peaked in the envelope. Cash, like always. The baggie held a gold chain with a heart-shaped charm on it. A bit of glass mounted in the center of the heart. Costume jewelry. Maybe gold-plated at most. I put the cash and the baggie back in the envelope. I didn’t need to count the money, and I’d touch the necklace back home.

I opened the folder. Two photographs were paper-clipped to the inside front. One showed a pretty young lady. Medium length blond hair, green eyes, a confident smile. A slight tilt to her head, and the shine of laughter in her eyes. I unclipped the photo, flipped it over. An adhesive file label on the back. On the label, a typed name and date of birth: English, Priscilla. She’d celebrated her birthday for the last time about a month ago. She’d been eighteen.

The other photo showed a man in a dark suit, red tie, white shirt with cuff links. Certainly not gold-plated. His watch was the real thing as well. He looked in his mid-30s. Gym membership to be sure, but the thickness under his clean shaven chin told me he wasn’t too zealous about working out. Treadmill, maybe a little racquetball with the bosses, who’d he let win. Professional haircut. Dark brown hair with a little gray. Light brown eyes. The label told me his name, work address, and home address. Prestigious law firm and a high-end neighborhood. He didn’t earn that neighborhood with his salary. Probably born into money.

Paper-clipped to the inside back of the folder was a neatly typed dossier on the girl and her killer. I put the photos back in the folder, closed it, returned it the envelope. I’d read through the dossier when I got home before I touched the necklace. I’d need to know how to explain things. Explain what had happened, and what was going to happen as a result.

“Yo,” Tony said from behind the bar closest to me. “You want another?”

I nodded, and Tony took the bottle from the shelf. One of the regulars commented on how it wasn’t fair some people got special treatment. I ignored him, and Tony asked who the hell ever said life was fair.

Tony slid onto the bench across the table from me, setting the bottle between us. I’d known Tony for the better part of a two decades. We’d met as privates at Bragg, full of piss and vinegar and ready to make the world safer for democracy. Tony hadn’t changed much. Sure, his face sported a few more wrinkles, especially when he laughed, which he didn’t do too often, and his hair, what there was of it, was grayer. Still sported a high-and-tight, still wore combat boots and his dog tags. I was about four inches taller, not that I’m that tall, but Tony’s shoulders and chest were wider than mine. So was his gut. He tapped the bottle with his prosthetic hand.

“You expect me to pour it?”

I shrugged. “You’re the bartender. I’m the customer.”

“Customer my ass,” he said, pouring two more fingers in my glass. “You haven’t paid for a drink since I opened this place.”

Two more swallows emptied the glass. I set it down, and put my hand over it when Tony reached for the bottle again.

“What you got planned for the day?” he said.

“Usual. Go see the Sergeant. Go home and do some work. Talk to the client.”

Tony frowned. He never said it out loud, but what I do scared him. He’d left the life behind after catching bullets in the elbow and bicep. Opened The Supply Room, got married to his high school sweetheart, had two beautiful kids before cancer took his wife. I’m sure Management paid Tony well when he mustered out. I never asked Tony, and I hadn’t spoken directly with Management since they’d hired me.

“How’s the Sergeant doing?”

“Shitty most days, but he’s been like that as long as I’ve known him.”

The next part of the conversation went unspoken. Tony knew my father was a sore spot, and he didn’t poke it. I slid out of the booth, putting the manila envelope under my arm.

“Catch you later.”

“Roger that,” Tony said, policing the table before returning to the bar.

Tags: fiction

Our every-other-Sunday 5E D&D game continues today. Terry DMed the first part of the campaign, running our characters through 5E conversions of AD&D’s Against the Cult of the Reptile God and the laughably bad The Forest Oracle. I’m DMing the game now with everyone running new characters.

In terms of campaign continuity, the first group of heroes are still out and about dealing the The Forest Oracle. Our new group of heroes have traveled to Dark Shelf (a site found in another AD&D adventure that I’m converting more or less on the fly) to investigate strange goings on at the quarry. So far, the heroes have discovered that the dwarven night shift at the quarry is actually a mob of goblins (moblins?). Among those goblins are a number of tunnel goblins, the second of three new monsters I’ve statted up for the game.

The heroes’ first foray into the quarry tunnels didn’t go well. A lack of common sense alerted goblin and human guards, and the heroes quickly found themselves outnumbered and nearly overwhelmed while enemy reinforcements could be heard echoing in the tunnels. With unconscious allies in tow, the heroes beat feet and found a hiding place in the wooded hills northeast of the quarry. Later the next day, the heroes limped back into Dark Quarry. They regrouped, recovered, and hired a couple of river guides. Heading up the river from the coast, the heroes found a way into what they rightly believe to be the lowest levels of the quarry. They defeated a couple of ooze para-elementals without too much trouble, and then the session ended.

Since Jesús, one of the players and a former student whom I taught many years ago, plays a parrot-themed aarakocra ranger whose favored enemies are goblins, the heroes have a solid idea about the capabilities of tunnel goblins even though they have yet to face them in combat. That’s likely to change today. Also, as the party has leveled up, I can pull out some tougher opposition for them. Might be a good excuse to try out a goblin swarm or two. Cue evil laughter.

Tunnel goblins excel at mining and underground construction. Goblin tribes use tunnel goblins as a skilled labor force as well as scouts and guards. With their innate nimbleness and magical ability to move through rock, tunnel goblins may prove to be more than a nuisance to unwary trespassers.

Goblin, Tunnel
Small humanoid (goblinoid), neutral evil

Armor Class 12
Hit Points 5 (2d6-2)
Speed 30 ft., climb 15 ft.

STR 8 (-1), DEX 14 (+2), CON 9 (-1), INT 9 (-1), WIS 12 (+1), CHA 7 (-2)

Skills Perception +3, Stealth +6
Senses darkvision 90 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common, Goblin
Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)

Keen Hearing. The tunnel goblin has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.

Light Sensitivity. While in bright light, the tunnel goblin has disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Nimble Escape. The goblin can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.

Actions

Multiattack. The tunnel goblin makes two attacks with its rocks. It makes the second rock attack roll with disadvantage.

Mining Tool. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage.

Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 20/80 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) bludgeoning damage.

Reactions

Rocky Step. When a tunnel goblin uses Nimble Escape and ends its turn out of line of sight of an enemy, it may make a rocky step as its reaction. The tunnel goblin merges with a stone surface. At the start of its next turn, it uses its reaction to exit a stone surface within 30 feet of its point of entry.

Tags: 5E D&D, AD&D, monsters