May 6th, 2010 RPG Night

IAGC Members Present: James, Chris, Ryan, David, and Meredith

Horseclans Apocalypse Session 1:
Caverns of Ohrohs Tourkiapehtehnohs
The stalwart party of seven adventurers left Mahrtuhnsburk in the early hours of one fine May morning, seeking the suspected lair of goblins and bandits upon the slopes of the Ohrohs Tourkiapehtehnohs (known in Mehrikan as Turkeekawk Mountain). Bandits in the wilds about the mountain, who preyed upon the merchants and travelers of the Tchatuhm Road, were said to lair in a series of caverns upon the southeastern flank, in the heart of a small area under the Shadow of Chaos where too, it was said, goblins and other foul creatures laired.

The heart of the mountain was covered with the Shadow of Chaos, an area about two miles in diameter where the skies turned purple and the clouds, entering the region fluffy and white, turned grey and brown, and grew leering faces and skulls. The adventurers found the entrance to the caverns with ease, as the recent inhabitation of the caverns by bandits and others carved an easy to follow trail through the wilderness; since the Fall of the Confederation, banditii and such ilk lived not in fear of goodly folk. The seven who entered the foul pit were:

Sister Ann, a Priestess of the Blue Lady from Redn in the Middle Kingdoms (Lawful Cleric 1)
Jaik, a Freefighter from Harzburk in the Middle Kingdoms (Neutral Fighter 1 [Two-handed Sword])
Mairee Steevuhnz, a Horseclans Bard from the western Steevuhnz clan (Lawful Cleric 1)
Tsheri Steevuhnz, a Horseclans Maiden Archer from the western Steevuhnz clan (Neutral Thief 1)
Sahyeed, a Mage from the Kahleefate of Zahrtohgah (Neutral Magic-user 1)
Bjorn the Runt, a Bowman from Wiscaland (Neutral Fighter 1 [Shortbow])
Pohpoh, a Mehrikan Swordsman from Mahrtuhnsburk (Neutral Fighter 1 [Sword])

Jaik, though of humble sort, had been voted the party leader based on his great strength and mighty mindspeak power, much to the chagrin of Sahyeed, who felt his cunning and wisdom were a much better fit for the position. Taking his part as leader seriously, Jaik led the way into the first chamber of the caverns, well lit from outside through the short tunnel that faced the rising sun. The first chamber was empty, save for dried and blown leaves and the detritus of ages, including a bit of rag here and a bit of leather there.

From the first chamber, three tunnels continued, one to right, one to left, and one further on, deeper into the mountain. To the left, within the shadows, could be seen a stout door bound with bronze fittings. Jaik sought to see what stood in the tunnel before him, while Pohpoh sought to check out the door. Ere the door could be investigated, however, forth from the further tunnel deeper into the mountain crawled forth a horror, a vast spider fully the size of a small pony. Alone in the tunnel, Jaik stood against the horrible beast, and cut swiftly and surely with his great blade. The foremost leg of the spider was hewn in twain, and the blade bit deeply into its abdomen, loosing a foul gush of ooze and ichor; it rattled and hissed, dying in a soup of its own life blood before the rest of the party could even react...

Many then felt their decision of a party leader was well founded, but the mage merely scoffed at such swordplay.

The door was then searched, and found to be locked; Tscheri quickly pulled out a wallet of tools, picks, and files and made swift work of the device. Note that all thus far, save the hissing of the death throes of the spider, was done in silence, as all memebrs of the party were mindspeakers, and hoped to catch their prey asleep at such an early hour. The room beyond the door proved that they were likely within the realm of the goblins, for at the center of the square room stood a pile of skulls, all of human sort, the most recent atop the pile still wet and covered here and there with a bit of flesh after being boiled in the stewpot.

Too, the mage discovered graffiti upon every wall, up to about man-height, written in the odd, scrawled Goblinish script. "Goblins Rule!", "Death to Humans!", "Gronk Slayed 17 Men in One Day" and so forth covered every available space on the wall. On the walls to the left and fore stood small doors; upon the right, double doors.

Peeking through the keyhole of the door on the left, Tscheri saw a small brazier of glowing red coals in the center of the room, with six small figures sleeping and snoring on straw and grass ticks. The door being unlocked, after some debate she snuck in quietly, and was able to slit the throats of two of the goblins ere the others awoke to the screams of the third, whose throat was not slit quite enough. In burst Jaik and Pohpoh, and together with Tscheri they quickly finished off the last four...

But not quickly enough. Watching the other doors and hearing the din from the barracks room, Mairee ranged forth with her mind beyond the door on the further wall; she discovered a wakening mind, cursing at the din being made by the goblins, who, the mind thought, had been "well warned to keep quiet, as he needed his sleep before performing the ritual later that night." At that she noted that the man she had ranged decided to go out and silence the goblins.

Warning the others in the room, Bjorn was ready when the tall fat man in robes burst through the door yelling in an obscure and ugly tongue; his eyes and tongue bulged out when he quickly found an arrow quivering in his belly, and a scimitar, drawn swiftly by the mage, whirling but an inch from his nose! Before he could even so much as cry in pain, another arrow joined the one in his belly, and the scimitar had cut a red swath of blood across his chest. Wounded nearly unto death, he stumbled back into his room, slamming the door even as the words to the healing spell were being brought to the fore of his mind...

The priest, sitting upon the edge of his bed, wqas muttering in fear as the red tendrils of Chaos were knitting the wound cleaved into his chest... to little avail, as Pohpoh burst through the door, took several quick steps into the chamber, and took off the priest's head with a single slice of his blade. The head went bouncing off the fine mattress as blood geysered across the room from the headless neck. The others quickly followed the warrior into the room as the body slowly settled back on the bed. Veterans at loot and plunder, each party member sought out an area or item of interest. Pohpoh checked the desk, and Tsheri sought out the chest in the corner, while the Mage searched around the book case, and the Bard searched the environs of the strange statue standing in another corner. Jaik guarded the door found in the wall to the right, while Bjorn and Sister Ann guarded the main door and the party's rear flank.

Pohpoh found merely paper, ink, and quills upon the desk and in the first two drawers, but the third seemed to be locked, though no lock was visible. Tsheri tried to pick the lock on the chest, and nearly ruined her finest pick. Sahyeed though perhaps a secret door stood behind the bookcase, but found nothing; similarly, Mairee thought perhaps there was a secret compartment in the statue, but again, found nothing. The statue itself was such that none had seen it before; a wraith-like figure, complete with an empty coweled head bearing an iron crown, and hands such that one might hold an orb, the other a sword or other pommeled weapon or device. The statue was of wood, painted black, while the crown was truly of iron, and separate from the rest of the statue. Mairee called her sister over to search the statue, and indeed, the thief was able to find a secret compartment in the pedestal. She smiled to the others when she flourished the ring of keys found therein, a move that successfully masked her rather more surreptitious pocketing of a small pouch also found therein...

While the Mage perused the books and other items found on the shelves -- the books he could read mostly of Ehleeneekos and Mehrikan, and concerned with the history of the Confederation and the various local kingdoms (back to the founding of the old Commonwealth and Kingdom of Vudjiniya), Jaik sent forth his mind into the room beyond the door on the right wall, and there discovered a dreaming mind, a mind dreaming nightmares of being sacrificed (and worse) to terrible creatures of Chaos. Even as he sifted through the inchoate dreams, Tsheri went to help Pohpoh with the stuck and/or locked drawer. Searching it, she found a latch underneath that she was sure would release it, and though she found no traps, something told her that perhaps she and Pohpoh should hold their breath as they opened the drawer... and sure enough, as it opened, there was a loud popping and cracking sound, and a cloud of gas enveloped the two!

Fortunately, neither succumbed to the gas, and they stepped back out of the small cloud to waqit while it settled to ground. They then found a large metal box that filled the drawer; a key upon the ring opened it easily, and therein they found many coins of all sorts, including a small trove of platinum coins! sahyeed meanwhile had searched over the tomes he could not understand, and decided that the strange, spindly script, which seemed much like a refined version of Goblinish script but in a wholly unknown tongue, was of another Chaos race, perhaps Elvish.

As Jaik told the others that he believed a prisoner to be held in the next room, they all divided up the loot from the metal box. Then someone noticed the amulet on the ground at the food of the bed, which they recalled had been briefly glimpsed hanging from its gold chain on the neck of the priest. The amlulet, also of gold, bore upon it a symbol of a red, lidless eye, a symbol that none recognized, but all found rather distasteful, and both bard and priestess felt was sure to be of Chaos-sort. This they picked up with the pointy end of the Mage's scimitar and dropped into the metal box, untouched by human hand. There, too was soon deposited what was believed to be an unholy tome, found between the mattresses, a small booklet of black leather with the red, lidless eye embossed upon the cover.

Finally, all searched to the players content (having forgotten at the moment the unopened chest!), the party quietly opened the door on the right wall, seeking the prisoner held therein... and found, much to their consternation, not merely a prisoner, but also a guard... a sleeping ogre! Again, after quick discussion, Tscheri snuck in and slit his throat as he slept; all had a bit of a fright as he rose up and thrashed about, bathing the area in blood fro his rioting jugular, but upon his collapse into death all exhaled a sigh of relief. The room itself was fitted out as a torture chamber, with rack, iron maiden, braziers, and other tools for torture and pain. Further down a corridor were three cells, one of which held a young Ehleen maiden who, upon hearing the roaring death of the ogre, started screaming in terror. The ladies of the party immediately went to calm her; when they realized she had no clothing save for rags, they wondered where they might find some clothing for her to wear home, and then they recalled the chest in the other room. Tsheri opened it with a key from the ring, and therein were found all sorts of robes and vestments in black. Thus dressed, she and the other ladies rejoined Jaik, Pohpoh, and Bjorn in the corridor off the torture chamber, where they had discovered another set of double doors... and from the layout, figured that these, as with the doors back in the central chamber of this area, likely entered into a foul temple of Chaos...

Checking the room beyond with their ranging minds, they found no minds of Men or other known beasts, and so presumed it to be empty. When they opened the doors, they wondered much at their evaluation, as the large room was filled above with massive webbing as of huge spiders... all above what was obviously a temple of some sort. A vast crevasse split the chamber in two. With the great webs above, it was thought that certainly here would be more of the great and loathesome spiders as Jaik fought when they first entered the caverns, and though none such could be seen in the light cast by the Mage's lantern, it was thought best that the group retreat from this door. They would have Tsheri investigate the altar, which could be seen at the very edge of the light, and the interesting and glittering objects upon it from the entrance closer to the cavern's exit...

So the party quietly closed the doors and went back to the room of skulls, where they opened the double doors which, indeed, did open into the temple from a better vantage, at least, from the point of view of quick escape! As Tsheri slowly and quietly crept into the temple an approached the altar, she could discern that there was a large silver bowl upon the glittering black stone, the bowl flanked by silver candlesticks in the same form as that of the wraith-king statue found in the priest's room. As she peeking into the bowl and saw therein a pile of human eyes, some mummified, others rotting, and a few quite fresh and bloody, the others saw what she could not -- a giant black widow spider slowly gliding down a silken strand from the ceiling above, right above her!

Nearly deafened by the many mind-spoken shouts, she was warned enough to dodge just in time from the falling spider, even as a flaming arrow, loosed by Bjorn, missed the falling beast and fell into the chasm behind... and fell and fell and fell outside of hearing and sight!

Tsheri fought her way back toward her comrades, weaving and dodging and fending off the spider with the point of her blade. Jaik stepped forth to cover her escape, while arrows flew around them loosed by Mairee and Bjorn. Bjorn thought to light the webs above with a flaming arrow; the webs exploded in bright flames, silhouetting another huge pony-sized spider, dozens of shield-sized spiders, and countless small hand-sized beasts. It was in the light of the burning webs that they then noticed that opposite the door they had earlier entered stood another pair of double doors, standing wide open, obviously the egress that the earlier giant spider had taken into the corridor... and were they all to make their escape, they would have to close off that door, lest the spiders follow them out of the caverns and into the Shadow-tainted forest around the lair.

Quick as a man can run whilst wearing plate mail armor, Jaik ran back through the room of skulls to the corridor without, quickly passed by Tsheri; the others slammed the doors tightly behind them and then followed. As they gathered in the central chamber, further down the hall in the fire-lit shadows they could see Jaik fighting with the large black widow; he took a terrible bite, and they couldhear the hiss of the venom bubbling around the wound! Even as he and Tsheri retreated from the beast arrows flew, both real and magical, as the Mage finally got in the fight using his arcane powers. Stuck with arrows, the beast retreated and crawled down into the crevasse, where too the other spiders were fleeing. As Jaik stumbled slowly back to the rest of the party, his flesh rotting around the wound as fire seemingly ran through his veins, Tsheri quickly ran into the temple and closed the doors. When she returned to the party she thought she had seen the last of her party leader's life, but she was surprised when, with strange prayer and the touch of her soft hands of Sister Ann was able to pull forth the venom from the wound, though the mighty warrior remained terribly wounded...

Fearful of further attacks from residents in the other quarters of the caverns (thanks to the sound and fury of the battle and the burning temple), the party decided to return to Mahrtuhnsburk, and return Mehleeah to her father. So relieved was Dehmehtreeohs the Wine Merchant that he rewarded them with 100 tahluhns of each, or twice that in credit toward wine (an offer that Bjorn, naturally, accepted).

And so the party settled down to rest and recuperate from their first adventure in the Caverns of Ohrohs Tourkiapehtehnohs...

May 5th, 2010 Board & Card Game Night

Members Present: James, Ryan, Chris, and Ray.

Game Played: A massive three-hour long Munchkin game! For most of the session, James was a Halfling Thief-Wizard with Boots of Running Really Fast and a Cloak of Obscurity, Ryan was an Orc Thief with a Pegasus Steed and Blessed Flaming Armor, Chris was a High Elf Master Wizard, and Ray was a Halfling Warrior-Thief with a Coat of Arms. In the end, Ryan prevailed.

As Chris and Ray had to leave early, James and Ryan worked on Ryan's characters for the RPG session the following night.

Next Board & Card Game Night is Wednesday, May 13th! Hope to see you there!

Board & Card Game Session: April 21, 2010

Attendees: James, Troy, Dave, and Chris (New)
Report by: James

We played two games, the first a round of Munchkin the second a long (long, long) game of Nuclear War.

Munchkin: We used the first two expansions plus a smattering of cards from various bonus packs and such. For most of the session, I was a Halfling Thief riding a Pegasus Steed (which later became a Poisonous Pegasus Steed and eventually a Very Poisonous Pegasus Steed around the time I changed from Thief to Warrior). Chris was a Dwarf Wizard, Dave was a Dark Half-Orc Cleric, and Troy... IIRC Troy was a Human with No Class most of the time.
Winner: Chris.

Nuclear War: This was the first time I'd broken open my old Nuclear War set since I'd run a HUGE game at a convention several years ago, so I was a bit surprised to find the card set included all three major sets plus the entire run from the collectible set. As we soon discovered, a card set geared toward fun play for a dozen players was far less accomodating for merely three players (Troy had to leave early, unfortunately). Dave ended up either testing missiles or testing warheads, having both in good numbers throughout the game but never at the same time. I, naturally being the war-mongering type, ended up splitting my efforts between Dave and Chris, taking out neither. Chris dropped most of his bombs on me, then finished me off with a Secret that caused me to lose 25 million population (the "You Attack A Small Country and the World Pounds On You" card). My Final Retaliation did little enough damage, and Chris finished off Dave with a Propaganda card on the next turn.
Winner: Chris

Remember, no meetings next week; we next meet for Board & Card Games on May 5th, then RPG Night on May 6th.

Good Gaming!

2010 Weekly Game Schedule

Here is the Weekly Event Schedule for 2010. The Iola Community Center has been reserved for the following nights through the end of the year:

April
Board & Card Game (Wed): 14, 21. No meeting on the 28th, as we were too late to reserve the room.
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 15. No meetings on the 22nd and 29th, again, too late to reserve the room.

May
Board & Card Game (Wed): 5, 12, 19, 26.
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 5, 13, and 20. No meetings on the 27th, again, too late to reserve the room.

June
Board & Card Game (Wed): 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 3, 10, 17, 24

July
Board & Card Game (Wed): 7, 14, 21, 28
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

August
Board & Card Game (Wed): 4, 11, 18, 25
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 5, 12, 19, 26
August Note: Gen Con is August 5-8 in Indianapolis, Indiana... so the sessions on the 4th and 5th may not happen depending on who gets to go to Gen Con...

September
Board & Card Game (Wed): 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

October
Board & Card Game (Wed): 6, 13, 20, 27
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 7, 14, 21, 28

November
Board & Card Game (Wed): 3, 10, 17, 24
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 4, 11, 18; no meeting on the 25th, which is Thanksgiving.

December
Board & Card Game (Wed): 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Role-Playing Game (Thu): 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

[Board & Card] Wednesday is Board and Card Game Night!

Wednesday night is Board & Card Game Night!

Drop on by and join in a game of Settlers of Catan, Risk, Munchkin, Arkham Horror, Nuclear War, Talisman, or more! No experience necessary, new players are always welcome!

Games: Board and Card Games of all kinds!
When: Most Wednesdays 5:00 pm to ? (Check the calendar on Facebook)
Where: Iola Community Center, 180 South Main Street, Iola, WI 54945
E-Mail: dnd_iola@yahoo.com

[RPG] Thursday is Role-Playing Game Night!

Game: Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons
When: Most Thursdays 5:00 pm to ? (Check the schedule on Facebook)
Where: Iola Community Center, 180 South Main Street, Iola, WI 54945
E-Mail: dnd_iola@yahoo.com

We are currently running a Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in a post-magical-apocalypse setting based on the Horseclans novels by Robert Adams. You can follow the campaign on the Mishler Games Blog.

New and experienced players alike are welcome! Ages 16 and older.