Basements and Braunsteins

Session 122: Rocky Sucks, Or, The 4 Confirmed Natural 20s Session

This session was played on 9/5/25 and adventuring lasted until 9/8/25.

Roster

Session Report

Following up

The most notable thing about this session was the players rolled a combined four confirmed natural 20s. (They rolled a 20, then another 20 following it to confirm it.) This is a rule we have been using going on four years now and this was the first time it happened, and it happened four times. (I know a lot of fours.)

Steve Oedekirk is rested up and ready to adventure again. The goal is to leave from Chestertonshire to search for the "Purple Monastery." Hopefully he doesn't die on the way there. He buys some climbing tools to assist his tree climbing. Braxton Briggs is in debt, and owes some loan-sharks money. He wants to get out of town to avoid the bounty hunters.

A few rumors about these mountain passes include: it is overrun by bandits and monsters. It is unknown the agreement between the two groups -- maybe the bandits keep the loot and the monsters keep the food (the bodies). Additionally, or maybe because of that, there are rumors the hills and mountains are haunted and staying in the caves overnight is not advised.

Anyway...

The party travels north to the mountain pass. Oedekirk, now equipped with tree-climbing gear, scales trees along the way to make sure they are staying on course. He is using a lake and sight of the mountains above the trees as markers. It takes a day to reach the forested foot hills, then a day of travel through the forest until they are on the mountain proper.

On the way the encounter a group of club-beaked animals. Ostrich-like in appearance. They don't want any problems with these animals and decide to avoid them. When they finally reach the mountains they see there are three clearly defined mountain passes leading up to three different mountain peaks. It was a good thing the party had a mapper with them.

The party ventures up one of the paths. They find a small campsite outside of one of the caves. They check it for any traps or other activity and then make for rest. The party asks Teek-O about his religion and his clerical nature. He tells them he is on the run because he scammed a guy out of his money, but wants to make it right so he needs to make enough money to pay him back. Odd behavior for a cleric so the party inquires more. Teek-O explains that his people were the original natives of this land. He worships a deity who patrons luck, gamblers, and trickery. Their core tenants are alcoholism and generating gambling debt. Both of those things were on clear display.

The next morning the party makes a plan to go into the cave they camped near. They aren't exactly sure what they will find (bandits, monsters, or maybe ghosts), but the need for gold is calling. As they approach the entrance they notice blood stains. There is other human made equipment outside as-well.

Inside they notice more blood but now it is trails of blood leading down a pathway. There is a small corridor on the right hand wall where there aren't signs of blood -- this is the direction the party decides to go.

The party gets surprised by a "bowler." They scramble away as fast as they can, but it is able to catch up Teek-O, run him over, and then start sucking on him. To quote, "its mouth-like orifice opens to consume the flesh and bone, shell, etc."

This is where the magic happens. Teek-O and the rest of the party would have likely been sucked to death here and consumed by the bowler but during this encounter the four confirmed natural 20s were rolled. Ironic that the cleric of "gambool" is saved by this.

The party cracks open the bowlers and loots a gem from inside of them. They are low on health and resources so they retreat back to Chestertonshire.

Naturally, as soon as he sees the casino, Teek-O neglects to pay his debts and tries to 4x his money.

Aftermath

Slain

Spoils

Score

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#1e #brosr #chestertonshire #session repor