There’s no zealot like a convert

There's some kind of corrupt person that Deadorna speaks to on the crystal island, and is told people shouldn't go down there. Umm, well, duh?

We don't, in fact, get eaten by ginormous creatures, but instead a deal is made with the barbarians (?) down there that the blind death lizards won't kill anyone who's down there in the company of Deadorna or Elindra - everyone else is fair game. We're happy with that arrangement. and finally manage to emerge from the hole!

Murmei gets a note about meeting someone in an alley. That sounds as bad as it absolutely was - he, Valgai, Knightlight and Vizell get attacked by archers on the roof as well as on the ground. But it's fine, the ones still alive at the end of it get thrown into dungeons, because hello? RUDE!

I've been trying to get disowned for years!

The weird thing here is that my first note from this session reads: "Spider god: GTFO." I can't remember if this was us encountering a spider god, meaning we need to GTFO; or if it was a spider god telling us to GTFO; or if it was a spider god actually hiding in that hill that people were trying to dig up, and therefore that's why we should all GTFO and stop digging. I think my personal RAM is on the fritz.

People are leaving the camp now, at any rate, and we suggested the powers that be that they should go to where Erdugald was, but beware the murder hornets ...

Murmei practiced making leather armour so he can make snakeskin armour for Deadorna once he gets enough XP to get Blacksmith at Adept, because the armour will be a lot better then. His sister is considering making him fancy ink to write with as a thank you.

In the end we bricked up the bit where people had got closest to breaking through to the thing inside the hill, so we can leave the place and the barbarian tribes can ward anyone off from getting too close. A job well done, we think!

Deadliest Catch: Human Slaves Edition

In the final session of Rifts, for what might be a very long time because we've complicated things for the GM now, our best laid plans involved using a warlock to create a distraction. He unleashed a water elemental that would turn the town of Moreno into a lake. A lot of people, including the vampires' human slaves that we wanted to save. Gorbash managed to save a handful, and took them to safety, but not without a body count because he had to do it very quickly, in a kind of trawler manner.

But we got the people we were sent there to save, so that's good? Mission accomplished? There were a number of vampires in storage somewhere else and they appear to not be there any more, but that's not going to be a problem, right? No, let's head back home to Blackstone Juggernauts HQ and get ready for our next adventure, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Can we put this moat on our expenses?

We continue our journey toward Mexico, the land where there are absolutely no vampires whatsoever. Except we found a bunch on the way, like a whole storage warehouse full of coffins. There were talks of constructing a moat and filling it with water, and ... yeah.

There were fewer coffins by the end of it. And then the vampires found us.

Ice trolls are dicks

We were in Runvid's Cairn, about to disrupt some runes on gholem-type statue things. We succeeded, and they didn't come to life when we passed a certain point on the map. Instead, we found a room with a tomb, and a shield on the wall. A shield that, as it turned out, gives out bolts of lightning when you touch one of the rocks on the burial mound thing.

After various unsuccessful attempts at disabling the lightning trap (we later found out you're not supposed to be able to) we gave up, and left. Turns out the forge thing was best left alone as well, so Murmei was right to insist not to become a blacksmith. Of course later he took the skill anyway, because it meant he'd be able to patch up Knightlight himself.

We continued our journey and came across the Fortress of Solitude. Despite his previously flawless negotiation tactics ("hi, let's be friends!") Murmei was unsuccessful with the ice trolls, who decided the party would be best eaten. The party disagreed, almost wiped, but finally took out the lot of them, and got a fancy magic spear in the process.

Turned out there was a ginormous wolf creature, who had apparently eaten a dragon previously, guarding a big door inside the ice cave. Elindra talked to it, but it wasn't being helpful either. Apparently there's a portal to another realm behind the door, and the ice trolls want to take over this world, but so far they haven't come very far ... and besides, they're also trapped inside a big bubble you can't simply walk out of.

At any rate, we got out of there, found a treehouse, rested up, and we left off having found a couple of dead ice trolls and a dead boar, and the air was getting chilly again ... to anyone not wearing a cold immunity ring.

Deliberately breaking the Left Hand Rule

So curse the old guy's sudden but inevitable betrayal. Because Elindra's spider-talking was non-verbal, he didn't notice her doing that - instead he focused on Murmei's knowledge of different languages, and him speaking with the giant in particular, to decide he was a demon and ... battle ensued.

RIP crazy old man.

We found the Tomb of Horrors, or at least the Cairn of someone or other. The door was locked, but we made it unlocked and headed inside. It was full of pit traps. Fortunately (even the spider-weary in the party agreed on this term) Elindra has a pet spider who can crawl on things other than the floor.

Eventually we found a big room with a ritual anvil, so the party decided Murmei was somehow best suited to become a blacksmith and turned an ordinary axe into an axe that makes you blind when you carry it, even if you're dragging it behind you on a rope. He also only narrowly missed out on taking permanent corruption during the forging, and wasn't keen to have another go making another perfectly usable weapon useless - despite both Valgai and Elindra thinking it would be great to have a blacksmith in the party.

It was basically a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl, and there's more where that came from!

Make Gond Great Again

Our main characters had a look in the angels' armoury, where Elani found a foresty-looking crown behind a hidden wall. She decided to take it with her, as it basically looked like it was made for her. It turned out to be an artefact called the Fey Crown, which changes its main Word and therefore powers depending on the season - or surroundings. Denethor would LOVE to find out how to make one, but it's currently wayyyyy beyond his pay grade.

Our secondary characters were on the road to Yhaunn, where they got stopped by a toll road. There was some kerfuffle happening (we may or may not have had something to do with causing it), and made their way to the town and up to a church that seemed to emanate the whole weirdness bit. Oh, and we spoke to red-haired lady who said she wasn't the bad guy we thought she was, and actually, we sort of have common goals. We find that rather suspicious, as it happens ... especially as the GM made us note down how many times we've failde Spirit saves while in Sembia ...