Basements and Braunsteins

Session 121: The Knife Session

This session was played on August 29th and adventuring lasted until September 7th, 2025.

Roster

Session Report

This session is a follow up to Session 120.

A new potential main character was played for the first time tonight, Dr. Vincent Strange. A very buff psionic user. May his days be plentiful.

This session started out similar to previous sessions: the party gearing up, and then traveling to the underground bunker to see if they could find any more valuable loot. Michael Will Susan hires a serjant and seven men-at-arms trained with the shortbow. He also opens a bank account with Billiam Gatesworth and deposits some gold there-in. Vincent buys metal shavings from the local smith and prepares the "enlarge" for the day.

The group (Chad, Michael Will, Big Boy, and Dr. Vincent) starts their two-and-a-half day journey to the bunker. On the first day there are no encounters. The party decides to set up a campsite for the evening and they tell me their watches. On the first watch, that was Michael Will Susan's watch, a group of traveling bandits was passing by.The group of bandits was "uncertain" about the party and wanted a closer look. So they stopped shorty before the camp, and a few of them dismounted and began to approach the campsite on foot.

Their faces were covered with hoods and darkness. They had a magic user with them. While Michael Will Susan was offering food and drink and other accommodations to the bandits, he was geased by the magic user to hand over his most valuable object. He hands over one of the rifles that he found in the bunker previously. This was sufficient for the bandits and they mounted their horses, and rode away into the darkness of the night.

The next day and night of travel there were no encounters.

The following day (9/1) they reach the bunker a little after lunch.

The retrace their steps through the bunker and come back to a room they were unsure about earlier. It is a small puzzle room that is solved by connecting two wires in a fusebox to get a sealed door open. I think it was a 2in6 for a success and 1-3 damage on a failure. After a failure or two the party gets the sealed door open. Sealed away were 2 pieces of a sponge-like cake, wrapped in tinfoil. (These were effectively going to be health potions but the party devoured the cake on the spot.) Chadwick used the foil to create a makeshift helmet to protect himself from Dr. Strange's psionics.

Their next stop was another room they had marked on their map but never entered. It was another puzzle room with a chest in the center. This puzzle consisted of two poles with ring scones atop of them. These poles were jointed at their base and could be pulled down like a lever so that they became pointed toward the corners of the room. Corners inhabited by crystal-carved statues.

Dr. Vincent examined the poles and the rest of the party examined the room. Big Boy Humms did not like the statues and thought they would activate if they opened the chest so he picked one up but this still activated the statues. A short battle follows and the party is victorious. Dr. Vincent Strange figures out the puzzle and opens the chest. There is a gold ingot inside. He takes it and the party retreats back out of the bunker.

The party rests for the night.

We decide to take a short break and step outside for a smoke.

A friend—let’s call him “Tim” (identifying details changed for anonymity)—arrives to my house around 10 p.m. I only mention this so I can also mention the fact that "Tim" brought a dozen knives with him. Before he sits down, he begins pulling out knife after knife from his backpack as if it were the trench coat from the sketchy kid on Recess.

Play resumes.

They decide to go back in soon after but are met by a group of hostile beetles. The beetles have an ability excrete some type of acidic substance. The party was able to defeat two of the beetles before they became suicidal and excreted on Big Daddy Humms and Garth Brooks, killing them. They grab Garth's body and drag it back with them.

Two new characters are rolled, Nissan Pathfinder and Tarth Brooks (yes).

The newly formed party wants to go south to visit Dr. Weird and see exactly it is that he needs. They hire a ferry for two days and journey south. There are no encounters on the river. They arrive at a small port-village and see that the general landscape here is very swampy. The druid uses his magic to determine that it will not be raining anytime soon so they should be safe from flooding swamps.

They travel a few miles and reach the tower. No swamp encounters.

Dr. Weird meets with them and explains his situation. Dr. Weird wants some brave adventurers to help him find some materials so he can rebuild 2-Wycked and create prototype of a new kind of racing horse. He specifcally needs: four wheels, a combustion engine, and exhaust pipes.

He leads the party to a large, stone tunnel in the side of a hill that descends into the darkness. Now underground the party enters a corridor full of human bones. While wading through the bones they alert ten lesser-crabmen. Dr. Vincent Strange hypnotized a group of them and made them "flee". While this was happening, other party members threw a volley of lit oil flasks. A few crabmen were killed instantly by this and the others were quickly chopped down.

The party loots their small lair and retreats back up and out through the tunnel they came in. They report to Dr. Strange they were unable to find anything this delve, but would certainly find something next time they descended. Dr. Strange offers them free room and board and even offers to look at Garth Brooks and see if there is anything he can do for him.

Dr. Vincent Strange offers his assistance to Dr. Weird to help run medical tests on Garth.

This is where our weekly journey ends.

Aftermath

Slain

Spoils

Score

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#1e #brosr #dr. weird #session report