Goodman Games

Gran AC11, 1hp, +2 missile attack, +1 Melee attack, Bridle, small hammer, 1sp 75cp, torch, knife 1d4, short bow 1d6 12 arrows
Marissa AC11, 5hp, +1 missile attack, Sling 1d4, club 1d4, 1lb flour, staff 1d4, 35cp, torch, knife 1d4.
Luc AC10, 2hp, +1 melee attack, pitchfork 1d8, club 1d4, rag doll, 39cp, torch, knife 1d4.
Nan AC10, 1hp, Hen "little queen", empty chest, 37 cp, shovel 1d4, torch, knife 1d4

Nan leads the charge to the last cabin, throwing open the door and throwing in her hen while remaining outside. She holds her shovel ready. Luc is behind her with pitchfork ready, having picked up the last cornhusk doll on the way. Gran and Marissa bring up the rear with shortbow and sling ready. People have switched a few items of equipment to be more effective.
OOC: Fire, you got the rest of the dolls, right? If not, my people carry them.
OOC: Hmm, didn't think of the book being magic.....thought it might be a diary explaining how to get out of this cursed place.

Book: Well, let's *hope* it helps us get out of here. Despite the fun of the Hypercube of Myt, I don't usually like losing any characters. After all, all the "story" that character has accumulated vanishes when they die. Deadly dungeons are great, but so are the strange mutations, geas-based quests, cursed items that need to be removed, and so on. Not that it should be easy all the way, either. It's a fine line to jig, threat level vs story. Whether we're in a funnel or not, I'm going to wrestle to live as much as I can!

OOC: I dreamed that one of my characters died last night. Haven't dreamed about a rpg in ages.

Sorry about the long absence. I didn't even get to go camping; home stuff intruded.

On an off note: Don't assume that death ends a character's story. It does most of the time, but the core book's suggestion on TPKs...let them fight their way out of Hell!...offers something different. In Through the Cotillion of Hours, dead PCs show up as "dream ghouls" able to discuss the afterlife with the PCs. Time travel can unwrite the present, and extradimensional analogues can appear after death, in later adventures. If it can happen in Appendix N fiction (and it does), it can happen in DCC!

The final house here is another weather-beaten cabin. A roofed porch spans the front of the building, granting some protection against the sun and the rain. The front door hangs askew on a single hinge and a crudely-fashioned child's rocking horse stands beside the short flight of log steps leading to the portico.

A low wall of fieldstones mortared together with cracked clay indicates that there is a well between this cabin and the one you left. The well is a simple affair lacking roof, cover, or winch, and stands open to the sallow sky. A tin bucket with a severed strand of rope lies beside it.

You are not even to the well when a cackling laughter erupts from the trees to the east, and five phantoms swirling like mist, slide out of the wood. Their eyes burn like green fire.

OOC: Oh, crap. Not these guys again.
And a reminder that a TPK is not the end right before what could easily turn into a TPK.
Fight or flee, forward or backward or down the well. I'm gonna need to think about this one

Wait: did we leave the cabin? I remember a description of a book upstairs, and said I'd like to read it. Do the phantoms pop in *before* we get there, or just as Amalthea is reading the book?


Death is only the beginning: Boris Karloff in the Mummy (also the imho very fun recent Mummy film with Rachel Weisz). That sounds actually kind of fun. I'd have liked to reclaim some of my previous characters. Would that Blacksmith or the Astrologer from Hypercube be there, perchance?

Just want to interject here: I just ran this funnel for my group and both the Judge and the players are doing an amazing job! Great descriptions, guys. Enjoy!

OOC: Doesn't matter fire, I'm on my way back.
OOC: Thanks for the kind words!

All 4 run back to the cabin they just left "Back to the cabin! Never mind these ghoulies, we forgot the rope!" Gran shouts as she leads the way back the way they came, Marissa right behind her, than Luc, and Nan last. Whoever survives last in line charcoals the devil's thorn on the door as quickly as possible. Gran and Marissa take up ranged positions inside the cabin, back from the door.

OOC: Unless the elf wants to help out and ward the cabin before we get there?
OOC: I want to see what's down that well. Hopefully not Rappan Athuk.

Judge Perky: Huzzah! And thanks! I vote you either join the fun here OR you have a GM's duel: whoever loads us with the best treasure wins!!! Any takers? (*crickets*) Bueller?


Wards: As a minstrel, there is little she can do. Unless the books she's collected (from Murphoi or this new diary) have something in them she can just say?

Guang: Don't forget, you've got the symbol of the Thorn on your head. If that was helpful, maybe your 4 are okay?

OOC: Maybe, but would prefer not to risk my life on that assumption, yet. And I need the rope if I'm going down the well.

As you run back to the cabin, the phantoms follow, cackling gleefully. Wooden walls do not stop them, and it seems as though the Devil's Thorn needs more than mere tracing to make it effective...roll for initiative, and tell me what you intend to do!

OOC: am I rolling initiative also? If so: 16!

Amalthia and Sir Cudsworth are frightened by the phantoms and look for a way to escape the room, such as rushing down the stairs. Amalthia will keep the book with her.

If not: Amalthia will read said book while Sir Cudsworth is her lookout.

OOC: Fire, I think it's time for magic. It's been made pretty clear nothing else is going to work. For best effec, suggest one person with the book and one person with the tarot?

OOC: ...there's a Tarot? Didn't you get that one? And the book, the diary: I haven't read it yet, so I have no idea. I'm still up in the second floor of the cabin, reading that book. If I can, I shall use magic to save the day. However, my limited knowledge of DCC and playing with "The King of Crows" in general, I suspect it'll be more interesting than casting "explode bad guys easily".

I had the idea of showing the phantoms the corn dolls, just in case our dead friends are among the phantoms and the corn husk dolls will either control them or scare them (like a vampire looking at a mirror sort of deal).

On a separate note: I'm in print! At last! Lightning Source templates took forever to figure out (sizes, margins, settings for the indesign document, etc.), but after weeks of crying myself to sleep, it is ready!

Linkity link link: http://drivethrurpg.com/product/143780/ ... rost-Queen

OOC: Congrats
OOC: No, you took the tarot. I'm happy to run over and start drawing cards if that's what it takes. Are you ok with that? I like the "show them the doll" idea too.

OOC: Oh, okay, but you'll have to get here first.

I'm feeling pretty paranoid about this whole situation, so each of my PCs is going to be burning 6 points of luck on this initiative roll.

Gran = 12+2+6 = 20
Marissa = 12+1+6 = 19
Luc = 15+6 = 21
Nan = 3+6 = 9

Gran dashes over to wherever the elf is and starts drawing cards, pausing to investigate if th result is helpful before the next draw. Marissa scratches viciously at herself and bites her lip as she runs, and then uses her own blood to mark the door of the cabin with a devils thorn before slipping inside. Luc dashes back to where the dead/undead beasts and his adopted father's corpses are inside the cabin, rubs the blood and gore of the bodies all over himself, and hides under them. Nan throws her beloved hen to the phantoms, before running forward to the new cabin (the only one to do so), and diving inside.

...and after Marissa is all finished with the door and "safely" inside, she grabs a doll in each hand and faces the door from inside, holding them out as if to show them to whoever comes through the door.

ok. 1 luck from Gran and Marissa, 2 from Luc anf Nan. I seem to be playing favorites.

The book appears to be a grimoire of some type, but not something that can be instantly utilized.

Who has the lowest Luck remaining? Also, who is carrying what in terms of those dolls?

Dolls: I know Amalthia had the one from fleeing the house earlier, during the fight iirc. Then, when we got in, she started collecting some. Murphoi's doll is one of them, for example. Unsure how many there are in total, or who was the doll outside (which got kicked, then she picked it up later, and brought back in).

Are there pictures in the grimoire, perhaps of cornhusk dolls or phantoms? Even if she can't cast a spell, maybe there's some information relevant to the current situation? (ie: if it's for when we gain that 1st level, fine; but is there exposition (not powers) in it?)

As the grimoire is not instantly usable, is Amalthia aware of the phantoms attacking outside?

Luck: I think I've got 14 in that, for initiative, iirc.

Luck scores:
Gran 14-1
Marissa 7-1
Luc 10-2
Nan 10-2

Dolls: This is a little harder. Specifically mentioned, Luc has the one that was originally in front of the door, and Marissa has 2, one in each hand. We mentioned that between me and fire, we collected all the dolls. I think we can assume Nan has Rainbow's doll. How many were there? That accounts for 4 dolls. Presumably everyone, including the elf (sorry, have trouble remembering how to spell her name) would have grabbed a few, leaving none left. But specifically mentioned or implied, only those 3 ppl.

The five phantoms swirl around the unlucky Marissa, passing through walls without any difficulty at all.

1d20+1 x 5 = 7 ; 9 ; 7 ; 19 ; 16. Each does 1d5, feel free to roll damage for any hits.

She got hit for 1&2 dmg. Still has 3hp. She throws her bag of flour at them, dropping the dolls and dropping to her knees, apologizing profusely for offending the dead.

OOC: How is Nan doing in the new cabin or Gran with the tarot? Luc is completely covered in undead gore and is lying at the bottom of the beast pit, at the bottom of a (still movable) pile of the dead beasts