#meatcastle PBB

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #0: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Let's try something out. I am going to do weekly play-by-post style posts here on Tumblr where you, my dear readers, get to act as my players via polls. I'll roll dice and act as a referee as needed, but the core choices will be up to you! Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure blog but with a bit more TTRPG backend on my part. Let's see how it goes! If you are interested in this, please vote in the poll below!

I'll be running Luke Gearing's The Isle which is wonderfully written, mysterious, strange, and honestly quite grotesque so be ready for a wild ride!

The Isle is tiny, a mere 40 acres of forbidding rock and low grasses. Seen from the sea, the monastery buildings stand adjacent to the peak of the isle, lit by a fire atop a tower. The monks never let the fire go out.

Cliffs rise above the bitter sea, mauled by waves and weather. Fallen stones jut like Frisian horses, big enough to skewer whales. The abbot knows this, because he has seen it.

First, character creation! We'll be sticking to some version of Jared Sinclair's The Vanilla Game (a streamlined old DnD-like core this adventure was written for). The biggest decision is as follows:

After this poll expires, I'll roll up a character randomly for you all to collectively inhabit as we venture deep into the dirty depths of The Isle, starting next week!

EDIT: Play-By-Blog #1 can be found HERE!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #16: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in the hall to the east of Room 19.]

Now, back to the adventure!

Unsure of the dangers that lie ahead, you once again sit and concentrate, being the Wizard Eye ritual. Over the next hour [6 Encounter Rolls (1 per 10 mins): only 1 triggered an event], you safely conjure the invisible arcane orb.

Midway through the ritual, you hear the crack of brittle bone against stone, new sounds from the burnt smelling room to the south. You send the Eye down the hall.

In the chamber [Room 17], you see 6 Bonded Dead, animated skeleton warriors like those that accompanied Fionn in his chamber only these wear old, rotten furs. Fionn mentioned his brother's penchant for furs and the ornamentation of their forefathers. These are mindless dead, in service of Dainéal. They march to the northern end of the room before turning and marching out the chamber's western door and into the room housing the strange sphere creature you spotted earlier in your scouting [Room 16].

Beside the now-gone Bonded Dead, you see "a burnt figure, huddled by the eastern doorway. Now barely recognizable as human." An open doorway leads east down a short hall and into another chamber.

Here [Room 18], "thick soot blackens the walls and floor." Beneath the soot, there is a slight glimmer, like a layer of flint, on the flooring. Taking several minutes to closely examine the room, you discover several details: "the ceiling has many fine holes bored into it" (nearly impossible to see from standing height) and "the floor is made of four pressure plates." To the east, there is "a door marked with images of coiling serpents falling into a pit."

You let the Wizard Eye fizzle and creep down into the room with the burnt body [Room 17]. You hear the Bonded Dead, Dainéal's patrol, marching further away, to the south [out of Room 16]. There are going away, but you do not know if or when they may be back.

The burnt body has nothing of use. Everything is burnt and charred save the few bits of armor, all missing their straps: gauntlets, a chest piece, and large plate mail boots, all battered and covered in soot.

You look into the room with the pressure plates, clearly trapped, and ponder how to proceed. There's no way to avoid all of the pressure plates by entering the room (although you do not know how much weight may be necessary to trigger them). You could Teleport again, but there's much more risk in teleporting into the next chamber without firsthand knowledge or sight of it and casting as a ritual takes time you may not have with the Bonded Dead about and casting it quickly has it's own risks of miscasting.

You have many options, none of them perfect.

[EDIT: For the options below, @wrapping-rags suggested throwing the armor pieces from the corpse into the room and onto the pressure plates (instead of having to cast Sticks to Snakes and that's a great idea so if you like that option, please vote for "Cast Sticks to Snakes" and we'll do that instead!]

[If you've got another crafty solution to evading the trap, reblog or drop a comment! I'm always up for considering creative new ways for players to outsmart the dungeon! - Christian]

PBB #17 is up now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #1: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my large-scale play-by-post of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (although this will likely be adjusted somewhat to fit the Play-By-Blog format). This is the first proper entry, but you can check out PBB #0 to get a feel for the ideas behind this play-by-blog concept and at character creation. For now, let's lay some groundwork.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Last week, LOADS of you (over 150 people) voted for our character's class and Magic-User won in a landslide. Using that, I randomly rolled a character (using this Vanilla Game character generator). Let's get to know them a bit before we dive in.

The Player Character: Medon Girdou - Magic Cutpurse

Medon Girdou, a cutpurse turned unlikely wizard, is in a bad way. You don't stage a solo raid on a place like the isle if things are going well. Somewhere back out in the world, there are forces calling for Medon - calling on their debts, calling for their death, or calling them home (when they'd rather be anywhere else). Now, the chance of riches, enough to possibly settle the score, has brought them here to the isle.

[Because Medon is braving The Isle alone, they are coming in at Level 3 to help turn the odds very slightly in their favor. This isn't their first raid.]

[We'll let any background and whatnot build out during play. Feel free to propose your own ideas about what kind of person Medon is and what may have come before but remember, Medon's true character will come out during play and be determined by the actions they take!]

With their katana in one hand, spellbook in the other, and a pocket full of cheese and lead figurines, they step onto...

THE ISLE

"The isle is tiny, a mere 40 acres of forbidding rock and low grasses. Seen from the sea, the monastery buildings stand adjacent to the peak of the isle, lit by a fire atop a tower. The monks never let the fire go out.

"Cliffs rise above the bitter sea, mauled by waves and weather. Fallen stones jut like Frisian horses, big enough to skewer whales. The abbot knows this, because he has seen it."

You've convinced Cioran, a local fisherman, to grant you passage to the island, claiming to be a pilgrim in search of your god. Once a month, he delivers supplies to the monks on the isle out of some sense of obligation you can't quite place. You watched him sit and listen to the sea in the dark of night for hours aboard the boat.

Cioran drops you at a small cove on the island's eastern side [C], wanting to see you on your way before sailing around the island to the main jetty. He's not sure how the monks would take to an unexpected visitor on his boat, even if you are a pilgrim. He'll check this cove again in a month, if you are looking to return to the mainland. His ship slides away quietly around the northern cliffs.

You are alone.

A bloated corpse, fought over by a dozen or so gulls, is bobbing facedown in the water of a small, rocky alcove.

A stone-carved staircase leads up out of the cove, coated in wet, slimy moss fed by the ever-humid conditions. [Saving Throw to not fall down the stairs and take damage: Success!] Taking your time, you manage to safely climb to the top and look out across the rest of the isle.

[You can see out to 3, 4, 5, and 6. 2 and 1 are partially obscured.]

To the north [3], you see a squat formation of man-made stone some 30 or more feet high, scars and bird shit marring the surface.

To the northwest [4], you see a collapsed building of some sort, a loose pile of rubble.

To the southwest [5], you see a scenic view of the western sea atop of an hill topped with an outcropping of rocks.

To the south [6], you see the Monastery, the reason you came to this place. The supposed home to a number of riches, meant to bring glory to a god but that do little more than languish here in obscurity when they could change everything for you, if only you can get to them.

Beyond these places, you can make out a partial view of a sizeable collection of graves to the far north [1] and the upper branches of a large tree to the northwest [2], past the collapsed building.

The choice now, of course, is...

You can now read PBB #2 HERE.

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #18: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in Room 12.]

Now, back to the adventure!

You pull your katana from your side and slash down at the eel closest to your feet. [Attack Roll (d20): 5 - Between your AV of 11 and the Eel's AC of 2 - Hit!, Damage Roll (d6): 1!] You connect, but only just slashing lightly across the side of its head as you quickly step back away from the water.

The eel attempts to wriggle forward and reach you with its teeth-filled jaws. [Due to the difficulty of the eel to attack and fight outside of water, you will get a +5 to AC. Attack Roll (d20): 10 - Between its AV of 11 and your AC of 5 - Hit!, Damage roll (d6): 2!] The creature wriggles forward, as if it has been a long, long time since it has had anything at all to each and will do anything to keep you from escaping, and bites into your calf. Blood trickles down over your boots and into the nearby water.

The two remaining eels, tasting blood, attempt to reach out and attack you in the same manner as the first. [Attack Rolls (d20 - both eels): 4 and 20 - the first is under your AC and the second is over the eel's AV - Miss!] They snap out at you but are unable to carry themselves far enough out of the water.

You bring the katana down once more on the first eel. [Attack Roll (d20): 6 - Between your AV of 11 and the Eel's AC of 2 - Hit!, Damage Roll (d6): 4!] In a single swift motion, you sever the eel's head entirely from its body. [50 XP gained!]

Despite the death of the eel, the others press on, driven solely by their hunger. [Morale Roll (brave): 9, 4 - Under their ST of 6 - They keep fighting!]

They ignore the body of the first eel, crawling over it, and lash out towards you. [Attack Rolls (d20 - both eels): 6 and 1 - the first is over your AC and below the eel's AV and the second is under your AC - Hit and Miss! Damage Roll (d6): 6!] The second eel digs its teeth deeply into your thigh and pulls down, slashing at your flesh as it goes. [You are now at 0 Grit (your first line of defense which can be quickly recovered during rest) and just 5 Flesh (your lasting hit points).]

You took the first eel out easily enough. You and your katana can certainly do the job, but as the pain shoots up your body from your leg, you can't help but feel like you are closer to death than you may think. They are close enough on you now that you know turning to run would ensure they would bite at you, at least one time each, but a single strong bite from them could bring you down... [Mechanically, each eel would get a Free Attack if you do anything but attack back during your round (this means casting a spell, running, etc.). Still, it may be worth the chance, but then again both eels are also bested by you with a single, strong attack each.]

[This is tough choice! Either way could go quite bad or quite good. I'll leave the decision in your hands! See you next week! - Christian]

PBB #19 is up now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #7: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our map: The Isle

[You can use the link's above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle. On the map, you are currently at B.]

Now, back to the adventure!

The dead monk's medallion hangs heavy around your neck as you pick yourself off and leave this place. If there was silver to be found in those ruins to the north and peace may be difficult to procure with the monks (based on this last interaction anyway), you figure it best to explore what else of interest my lie outside the monastery's walls.

To the north, there was a large graveyard, butting up against the sea. You head there. Grave robbing has never been your preferred style of theft, but you aren't above it. If these monks are godly men than it will do them no harm either way. Their souls are safe in their lord's heavenly domain, after all.

It takes an hour or so to reach the graves [1 on the map]. You pass over the collapsed building once more and, keeping your eyes peeled, don't see any other monks out and about. To the south, the flame still burns atop the monastery's tower.

"Low pilings of rock--the traditional drystone cairns of the mainland. There are seven, currently. The graves are neither named nor marked." The seventh shows some sign of being more recently dug than the others, albeit still a considerable time--many months at least.

The sea crashes against the cliff face over the edge and far below. The graves cast almost no shadows in the high, midday sun. To the west, you can see an ancient auld tree, warped by the wind [2, on the map] but with little else nearby. To the west, the 30 some foot high formation of stone stands in stark contrast with the oceanic horizon beyond [3, on the map]. It looks climbable, if you are careful. The birds certainly seem to perch their regularly.

[A short little transition entry this week. Lots of options still, and we haven't even hit the monastery itself (where the vast majority of the adventure lies)! If I find the time, I may do a midweek update as well to help us make a bit more progress. Thanks, as always, for reading and voting! - Christian]

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #4: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our map: The Isle

[You can use the link's above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle. On the map, you are currently at 4.]

Now, back to the adventure!

The monk is the first person you've seen on the actual isle, other than that corpse back in the mossy cove. Best to follow him from afar, you think. They may only be monks, but Cioran made it pretty clear that can be wary of outsiders, especially uninvited ones. You lay down amongst the rubble you searched through earlier in the day and watch the monk on his stroll.

He heads north, generally in your direction and away from the monastery for some time, before turning west and heading down a well worn path heading towards the sea. At a point, he falls out of your view as the path descends. It's time to approach and quietly tail him, if you can.

You cautiously step down the raised rocky region and into the area of the lower path, steps carefully as you go [Dexterity Check: 8 - Success!]. You keep a good distance and the short cliffs at either side are full of pockets to hide yourself away in. The monk continues on his path.

Closer now, you are able to see the man is younger, younger that you expected any of the monks to be on a forgotten monastery like this. He's carrying a long, fairly fine fishing pole, using it as a walking stick as he travels towards the cove [B] along the western coast. He's singing a shanty to himself:

"Oh, poor old man your horse will die And we say so, and we know so Oh, poor old man your horse will die Oh, poor old man "We'll hoist him up to the main yardarm We'll hoist him up to the main yardarm "Say, I old man your horse will die Say, I old man your horse will die "We'll drop him down to the depths of the sea We'll drop him down to the bottom of the sea "We'll sing him down with a long, long roll Where the sharks'll have his body and the devil have have his soul!"

A surprising song to hear from a godly man such as this.

You continue to trail him for a time until he enters the built-out and well-kept cove. He walks past a stockpile of stones and down a set of carves stairs towards the water below.

"This shallow cove shows extensive signs of recent improvement—some stone removed and a wooden jetty installed. The stairs are worn, but notably clean."

The monks moves some crates near the end of the jetty, creating a makeshift chair and table. From out of his pocket, he pulls a small leather pouch filled with dirt.... no wait, there are worms among the dirt. He settles in for a long afternoon of fishing, humming a song.

There's little of note in the cove, other than its well-maintained state. You imagine this is where Ciaron pulled the boat in after dropping you off early this morning. Supplies for the monastery come to the island here, but they do not stay here.

[The next entry will be in 1 full week since I've done a few now in a shorter time frame than that, just to get things moving. Thanks for following along and taking part in the adventure so far! - Christian]

PBB #5 is up now HERE!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog Repository: The Isle

I'll be using this post to keep a collection of link to each entry of my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing. Feel free to read along, vote in the most recent entry's poll to help decide what our character does, etc.

PBB #0

PBB #1

PBB #2

PBB #3

PBB #4

PBB #5

PBB #6

PBB #7

PBB #8

PBB #9

PBB #10

PBB #11

PBB #12

PBB #13

PBB #14

PBB #15

PBB #16

PBB #17

PBB #18

PBB #19

PBB #20

PBB #21

PBB #22

New entries are written every week-ish!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #17: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in Room 17.]

Now, back to the adventure!

[Shortly after posting the last entry, @wrapping-rags suggested throwing the armor pieces from the corpse in Room 17 onto the pressure plates in Room 18 (instead of casting Sticks to Snakes). Since that's a much more creative and smart solution than the one I originally, suggested I added a disclaimer that the Sticks to Snakes option (which won) would be doing that instead (since I can't modify the poll after posting, sadly). Thanks for the suggestion @wrapping-rags!]

You remember the patrol of Bonded Dead and think again about casting a ritual. Who knows what may come through this area over the course of that time? A better idea strikes you.

You pick up the bent and charred fragments of armor from the corpse at your feet and toss them into the room.

First, the moment the moving metal scrapes across the shimmering plates, sparks fly across the ground - like flint on steel. Second, the armor pieces settle and their weight shifts the plates beneath. From overhead, where you'd noticed the hundreds if not thousands of small hole in the ceiling comes spewing forth thin, jet black oil. It coats the entire floor, splashing up onto the walls.

You've seen traps like this before. Any metal touching the floor with generate a spark and any spark (or other flame) will ignite the oil. Looking down at the blackened husk that was once a man at your feet shows you its effectiveness. If you are to traverse this room, you must tread carefully or die.

With the room already coated in oil and more pieces to spare, you toss 3 more pieces of armor and old equipment from the corpse into the room, landing one on each of the last remaining pressure plates. With each toss, oil spurts down again and across the floor, where it eventually creeps down beneath the plates and into the stone. Still, there is a slick layer covering the room.

You believe you could cross now without triggering the oil, but it will require a careful step. Luckily, you don't wear armor (though you certainly have metal on your pack). You rearrange your equipment as much as possible, placing everything metal you can into you pack and hoping it's enough if you fall.

You creep forward, channeling your stealthiest moments back on the mainland as a cutpurse, when you'd be noticed picking a pocket and have to hide. Town guards were easy enough to fool. They often weren't the sharpest of individuals. Dogs were harder to lose than your average guard, after all.

You step carefully, finding your footing slowly before taking each and every step. After a few tense moments, you find yourself facing the door to the room's east side. It is a wooden door marked with "images of coiling serpents falling into a pit."

You push it open slowly. A dark corridor on the other side turns off the the right. You step quickly out of the trapped room, oily-shoed but unharmed, re-outfit yourself, and continue on.

The corridor heads south, sloping downwards [Encounter Roll: 12 - Nothing]. You smell brackish seawater just before you enter a flooding chamber [Room 12], barely a foot or so of space is visible above the water and beneath the low ceiling. The water is "rotten, black, foul" and eerily still. Your feet rest just barely in the water's edge as the corridor drops even lower into the chamber, you bend down and look as far as you can into the room.

On the north side of this room you see a raised corridor you could clamber into and a slight orange glow coming from further in. To the south, a metal slab - iron perhaps - with no mechanisms or hinges. You can't rightly say what it is.

Suddenly, the "rotten, black, foul" water shifts and in it several [2d4 roll: 3] huge eels with milk-white eyes come writhing across the surface in your direction. They smell your flesh and are moving to feed.

[Initiative Roll: 4 - On evens, players go first.] You have a moment to react as the 3 eels make their way to you, mouths widening as they come. Here, along the water's edge, you likely have an advantage against the creatures, being as used to hunting (and staying) in the water as they are.

[Out of the oil room and into the eel pit! The Isle is full of dangers, but so far, you have navigated them well. What now? See you next week! - Christian]

PBB #18 is up now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #21: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, Floor 2, Floor 3

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 3, Room 2.]

Now, back to the adventure!

You look to the strange door and the wheeled mechanism before it. You've seen enough dangers in this place to no longer fear a door alone. You grab the wheel and twist with all your might. [Strength Check (1d20): 11 - Success!]

The mechanism twists silently as the door slides open. In the low glow of your amulet, you can see the opening beyond the door stretch off into a sizeable chamber, some of which falls beyond the reach of your light.

Before you [in Floor 3, Room 3] stand sixteen Legionaries, strange undead in banded armour, bull-horned helms, porcelain wolf masks and a heavy gold medallion imprinted with a man's face in profile. At their sides, they hold short swords and large, rectangular shields. They are immobile, statuesque in their too still stance.

Among the Legionaries are six sea-things, mutilated corpses of once cadaverous, spiny creatures filled with bioluminescent blood now scattered atop the resting water surrounding the feet of the Legionaries. A shiver runs down your spine.

To the north, a stone passage leads off into the dark. To the south, a hall leads into a partially flooded room. Before you though, stand the Legionaries.

[Sorry for the lengthy delay! I started a new full time gig here locally after our move, then I got COVID, then my wife got COVID, then I worked like 6 days in a row, and here we are now. I'm (mostly) healthy and back at it. Apologies for the delay! - Christian]

PBB #22 is live now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #11: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, Room 20.]

Now, back to the adventure!

You look back at Fionn, this strange skeleton writhing with leeches and crowned with long, white hair. For the first time on this isle, you find yourself thinking that you can be honest with this man, if you can call him that. Surely, he has far bigger things to worry about than a petty thief like you. Surely, he's done worse to become whatever he is now. Perhaps, there's some shred of a kindred spirit in those old, cracked bones.

You tell him the truth. You have come here for riches. You know and care little for the cares and customs of the monks and their monastery. You have heard there is old hacksilver here to be had, be it in coin or in trinkets of one kind of another. In fact, you've already found some. Fionn lets out a raspy laugh, heading tilting side to side. You are sure he would be smiling if he had flesh. "It is rare to come upon such an honest soul in a place like this. It gives me hope for what you and I may achieve. I too care little for the damned monks on the surface. They, like so many others, were collaborators in my demise. They will find their time in the dirt soon enough. "You see, I do not care for any of the many treasures you may find within these halls. My treasure is my kingdom, back upon the mainland. To reclaim it, my brother Dainéal must die a true death. He is here somewhere, lingering in undeath. Kill him for me and you will forever have a place at my court. In the meantime, you may rest here, make use of my chimney, and loot anything else you wish from this place (outside of this room, mind you).

"Dainéal is my equal heir, you see. We were tricked long ago and exiled. While he lives, I am unable to reclaim my proper glory. You'll find him far from here, but he is here - in these halls. He has Bonded Dead, much as I do." Fionn gestures to the other skeletons shifting in place around him. "They wear furs, much in Dainéal's antiquated style, not that he can wear much these days." He laughs again, shattered teeth and old bones clattering.

"So what say you? Join me in this quest and take your pick of all the treasures of this place, uninhibited by me. A place at my court, if you wish it, for all eternity."

Fionn and all of his Bonded Dead look to you, empty eyes wriggling with leeches.

Beyond them, you here a quiet shuffling sound through the dark doorway to the east and a grinding sound through the doorway to the south.

[I was pleasantly surprised to see y'all take the honest approach! Especially for a cutpurse like Medon, this feels like a big character moment. I'm interested to see how it continues to play out! See you next week.]

[Also, it's worth mentioning that Medon's spell Wizard Eye does summon a magical, floating eye with darkvision (or at least I'm ruling that is does for our purposes), but casting spells are potentially dangerous and can't be relied on as readily as equipment. Still, it's worth noting for the future in a place as dark as this. - Christian]

PBB #12 is live now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #5: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our map: The Isle

[You can use the link's above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle. On the map, you are currently at B.]

Now, back to the adventure!

You continue watching the monk for a few more minutes. He is a capable fisherman, easily baiting his line and casting well (far better than you, anyway). He pulls a small fish up, dropping it in bucket resting near him on the jetty.

You feel like this may be your best chance at a favorable introduction with the monks, better to at least approach one and see, rather than face down the monastery itself. Still, best to keep your true purpose here quiet.

You step out from behind the rocky cliff side and holler down from the staircase leading down into the cove proper.

"Ho there! Beautiful day for it, isn't it?" It wasn't a beautiful day really, but it seemed nicer than most on this gray, wet rock.

The monk turns to you, surprised by the sudden noise and then shocked when he lays eyes on you and realizes you aren't a fellow monk. That you shouldn't be here at all.

He jumps to his feet, reaches into his robes, and looks towards the monastery, seeing the rocky cliff side of the cove blocking the building from his view entirely. He's too far from the others for them to hear him, but he yells anyway.

"INTRUDER!"

He draws a crooked fish-gutting knife out from under his robes. You can see a crude tattoo of a siren on his inner forearm. This monk carries himself like a sailor and one who certainly knows his way around a blade. [Reaction Roll: 3 - Violent]

[Initiative: 1 (Odd) - Enemies act first]

"I've seen your kind before. Here to put me and mine in the dirt, take our lord's wealth, put out the flame. Good luck then."

He rushes up at you, quickly scaling the short set of stairs leading up towards the path. Why couldn't you have followed a more elderly monk?

He swings in at you with the knife [Attack Roll: 5 (under AV of 10) - Success, Damage Roll: 5-1 (for small weapon) - 4 damage] and connects, slicing away at some of your traveling clothes, nearly striking a deep flesh wound [You have 3 Grit and 6 Flesh remaining]. You know that if you try to pull away from him, he'll strike at you again [This is called a Free Attack and you can do the same to him].

[Because you took damage this round, you cannot cast a spell due to the time and danger involved. You can do anything else though. For the purposes of the Play-By-Blog, I am going to create poll options that are overall goals for the combat - so we don't have to play out each round week-by-week.]

EDIT: [If you'd like to fight and subdue (but not kill) him, please vote for one of the Kill Him options and we'll adjudicate that in next week's poll - sadly, I can't alter the poll after the fact. Sorry for overlooking that option!]

[An exciting turn of events! See y'all next week! - Christian]

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #22: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, Floor 2, Floor 3

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 3, Room 3.]

Now, back to the adventure!

You look over the group of Legionaries in front of you and remember the undead warriors you'd encountered on the last floor. Better to leave them be, but you can't stop here. There must be something valuable behind a group like this.

With the low light of your amulet, you prepare the ritual casting of Teleport, eyeing the passage to the north of the warriors as well as you can among the ever-encroaching dark and through the mass of weapons and bone. [Teleport (5/6 Chance of Success): 1 - FAILURE]

You whisper the incantations and aim to place yourself in what appears to be the middle of the passage. In the next instant, you are across the gap... or mostly across, but something has gone wrong. You look down at your stomach and find your chest wrapped around and grown over the banded armor of the last Legionary. The warriors short sword is pierced through your right side. Before the pain hits, the blood begins to flow. Dark and red, escaping from deep veins and arteries now open to the air of the dungeon. Your vision is blurred on the left side. In horror, you raise your hand to touch where your eye should be, finding instead one of the warrior's helm's horned protruding through your skull.

The undead warriors shift for a moment, reanimating to attack, but then go still a moment later. You are dead within seconds, your brain and body perforated by the effects of the malformed teleportation spell. The Legionaries have nothing from which to defend the chamber and all goes quiet, save the slow dribbling of your gut blood among the sea-things corpses at your feet.

[Well then.... such is the life of a thief in a place as treacherous as The Isle! I went back and forth with my commitment to sticking to the dice and to the rules of The Vanilla Game, but in the end, I knew that I had to stick with my initial impulse to play it all rules-as-written. A botched teleport is instant death, and despite the great chances, our luck ran out. A disgusting end for Medon, but so it goes. What else lies within the halls of The Isle? LOTS!]

[If you enjoyed this Play-By-Blog and would like me to give another system/adventure OR another run of The Isle a go in this format, please let me know! I had a lot of fun writing this, and I still think it's a fairly unique thing on the internet. Thanks for reading and may your next Teleport ritual fare better of poor Medon... - Christian]

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #20: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, Floor 2, Floor 3

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in Room 15.]

Now, back to the adventure!

[Due to the closeness (when backing out my own vote) and the smartness of both of this entry's highest ranking options, I'm ruling that we'll do both!] The adrenaline leaves your system for the first time in what feels like hours. Navigating these dark chambers, hiding from skeletal patrols, and now having slain a pack of pale cave eels--it has all taken a toll on you. You are tired. You lean against the stone wall at the top of the ramp leading down into the floor below, set your pack at your side and rest, letting the eel bodies continue to bleed out.

You have heard their blood is poisonous and that's why they are so often cooked before eating, even in the wild, but you don't have any way to make a fire here and it's too far and potentially too dangerous to head back to Fionn's chamber tonight. You'll chance it on the eels.

After resting for a while, you cut one of the eels into a number of larger steaks, removing the skin and eat it one slice of your fishgutting knife at a time. [Poison Save: 4 - Under Saving Throw of 8 - Success!] It tastes earthy and strange, but already you can feel it beginning to nourish your body and mind.

You rest for the night. In the chambers around you, all is quiet. Nothing disturbs the surface of the flooded chamber and nothing seems to trigger the oil and spark trap to the north. All too is quiet from below, down the ramp. [Healing Roll - 1d6: 3! 3 Grit recovered (up to a total of 5)!]

In the morning (or what you imagine to be the morning in this sunless space beneath the isle), you pick up your pack, stretch your aching body, and begin down the well worn stairs to the floor below.

The flooding continues, to varying degrees, down in this lower level. You walk down into water, keeping your eye out for more eels, until, at a point, it is nearly reaching your chest. With your pack above your head, you continue forward through the dark, quiet water until the hall opens into a large natural stone cavern, the soft glow of your amulet failing to reach the outer edges or ceiling of the chamber. The water lowers as you rise up onto the cavern's floor.

"A natural stone cavern, barely worked with tools. Ankle-deep seawater, and fresh salt smell. A huge brass door blocks the western exit. The metal is not smooth—the surface is a tapestry of screaming faces crushed beneath a rampant bull. Their blood forms a wave, and the foam atop the wave is all wolf heads. The heads pursue running deer, boar and cattle—crowned and faceless... A wheel, 5' across, juts from the door's face."

The metal door itself has a strange, shimmery quality to it. Being near it feels unnaturally cold. Other than the wheel, you can't see any mechanism, even hinges.

[Sorry for the delay in this entry! I had a SUPER busy week last week, missed the original day and then put it off long enough that it just made sense to skip that week and get it going today. As always, feel free to drop any other suggested courses of action in the comments/reblogs! Thanks for much for reading along with Medon's adventures! - Christian]

PBB #21 is live now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #19: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in Room 12.]

Now, back to the adventure!

[As @leatherandtea commented on last week's entry, "the only way out is through!" Time to slice some eels (or die tryin')!]

You look behind you, eyeing the path you took to get into this flooded chamber, but you know that you haven't the time to turn and run, not without risking serious harm from the encroaching eels.

You keep up your offensive and bring down your katana towards the nearest eel. [Attack Roll: 14 - Above your AV of 11 - Miss!] Your attack misses, the blade striking through only water before hitting the stone floor beneath.

The eels strike out! [Attack Rolls: 3, 20 - One is under your AC of 5 due to their out-of-water fighting conditions and the other is above their AV of 11 - Misses!] Both creatures lash out at you, but you quickly recover, sidestepping their attacks.

You take a split second to collect yourself, line up your blade, and bring it across the closest eel. [Attack Roll: 10 - Between your AV of 11 and their AC of 2 - Hit! Damage Roll: 6 - Max Damage!] You sever the eel's head entirely from it's body, cutting a clean slice straight across its throat. Blackish blood sprays out onto the nearby stone wall. Just one eel left. [50 XP gained!]

The remaining eel wriggles and reaches out as your blade flies past, attempting to bite down on your right shin. [Attack Roll: 15 - Miss!] You pull your leg back, just in time and take a stronger stance. Confidence grows in your chest as you realize you've bested two of these creatures with relative ease. Perhaps you will make it out of this flooded hall alive.

You bring your katana back overhead and strike down. [Attack Roll: 3 - Hit! Damage Roll: 6 - Max Damage (again)!] Your blade lands exactly where you intended and it splits the eels from crown to belly vertically. In a spatter of blood, the final eel thrashes at the waters' edge before quieting. [50 XP gained!]

You grab the 3 eel bodies and hang them off your pack, letting their necks drain out their remaining blood onto the floor. Although the skin and eyes are strange compared to other eels you've eaten in the past, the meat itself looks good. You don't know if you'll have means to cook it, but if you can drain as much blood from the bodies as possible, it should be better than nothing to eat (if somewhat dangerous, you've always heard eel blood is poisonous).

You take a moment to rest and nibble away at the last few pieces of your pocket cheese, pondering the raised corridor and slight orange glow you can make out from within it just across the flooded chamber. [Resting roll (1d6): 2 - You recover 2 Grit!]

Seeing few other options (the iron slab to one side of the flooded chamber has no visible mechanics, if its even a door), not wanting to travel back through the trapped oil room, and absolutely not wanting to get in the water after your altercation with the eels, you ritual cast Teleport [Roll (1d6, failure on a 6): 2 - Success!] and appear in an instant in the raised corridor to the west.

Before you, the path curves downward, deeper into the stone of the Isle, bearing faint marks of worn-away stairs. From below, you can smell old seawater [The path heads down to the next floor of this expansive dungeon - Floor 3.]

[It's really fun rolling out this combat because it feels really high stakes, even to me, as I do it! I couldn't believe those 2 max damage rolls in a row. Medon is made of tougher stuff than I imagined, it seems. See you for the next one! - Christian]

PBB #20 is up now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #10: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our map: The Isle

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle. On the map, you are currently at 3.]

Now, back to the adventure!

[Our most one-sided poll yet! It turns out when you give most people the option of going down into a mysterious hole, even if it may not be the safest/smartest option, they just can't help themselves! I'm excited to see how this goes! Onward!]

You look back down the stone shaft. After that fight with the fisherman monk, the idea of the monastery weighs on you. There are many more men in there. Men are unpredictable. Even if they lived up to their supposedly godly nature and granted you access or even a place to rest between now and the return of the ship from the mainland, they'd undoubtedly have questions. They could find the body in the cove. They could find the disturbed graves. No, best to check for other ways first before you breach that place.

You securely anchor the grappling hook and silk rope, lowering it down into the shaft. The birds continue to caw and flap their wings at you from the nearby edges of the stone formation. You take one last look across the Isle and descend down into the shaft.

The tunnel itself is rough on the edges, angled and wide enough to climb without the rope but it would be a considerable, possibly dangerous effect. You are happy to have found that odd grave. Thankful to the woman who planned better than you before she came to this place.

The further you descend the more the darkness surrounds you and the less the sunlight from far above is able to reach you. All around you, the rock thrums with the constant crashing of the waves. You are deep within the isle now, and its heart beats all around you.

You're feet touch down on flat ground and you let go of the rope. You turn and have to crouch, looking out from under what appears to be a mantle, soot at your feet. You are in a fireplace, unused for years— maybe centuries. What little light is left here spills out across the room.

Leeches cling to 5 [2d6 roll: 5] skeletons, their bones a strange blackish blue are stained in swirling patterns and writhing with leeches that glisten in the little light. Beards still hang from their skulls. Several spears and swords rest among them. They writhe slowly in place.

At their center, you see another skeleton. A shock of white, nearly glowing hair hanging from its head. Leeches crawl inside its rib cage. A slew of golden rings hang from its bony fingers, rattling as its slowly moves. As its mouth opens, the squealing of the leeches—all of them—form a single voice.

"Well, now... I was not expecting you, but I am not one to turn away guests of any kind, be they invited or not. Come, rest here after your descent."

The few leeches in the center of the room crawl back in the skeletons direction, as if clearing space for you to sit.

"I am Fionn Ó Ceannaigh, and I am the rightful ruler of a land far from here. You need not fear me. You are free to leave, of course. Out there." He gestures towards the shadow of a doorway across the room. Beyond its frame is nothing but pitch black darkness. "But that is my fireplace and my chimney. If you wish to use it again, let us make a deal. I believe we may work together, if you would be so kind. But first, tell me of your troubles. Tell me why you are here."

You take a deep breathe and wonder if the monks really could have been any worse.

[EDIT: The second to last option in this poll should read "Cast Teleport (19/20 chance of success) and flee back to the surface." Sorry for the typo!]

[We are really in it now! From the relative calm of the Isle's surface to the hidden horrors deep below ground. I'm excited to see what y'all choose and how it all starts to play out next week.]

[As always, if you'd like to see Medon do something that is not listed as part of the poll, please reblog or leave a comment with your idea. If enough folks feel the same way, they will be considered similarly to the poll options. If there's a glaring oversight on my part too, I'll be sure to address that. - Christian]

EDIT: Play-By-Blog #11 is live now!

[christiansorrell]

Play-By-Blog #15: The Isle by Luke Gearing

Welcome to my ongoing play-by-blog of The Isle by Luke Gearing! We are playing this adventure with its original system, The Vanilla Game (adjusted somewhat to fit the format). You can check out the Play-By-Blog Repository to get all caught up if you wish.

How Play-By-Blog works:

I write up the situation, NPCs, and more, just like a DM.

You vote in the poll to help decide the character's course of action.

I roll the dice, resolve actions, and write them up next week.

So on and so forth for the rest of the adventure!

Notation:

[Text in brackets is out-of-character/GM text!] "Non-italicized quotes denote text from the original adventure!" "Italicized quotations denotes NPC dialogue."

Our character: Medon Girou - Magic Cutpurse

Our maps: The Isle, The Dungeon (so far)

[You can use the links above to find Medon's Character Sheet and map of the Isle and the so far uncovered portions below the surface. On the Dungeon map, you are currently in Floor 2, in the hall to the west of Room 19.]

Now, back to the adventure!

Sludge be damned, you came here for treasure and anything under that kind of foul protection must be worth something considerable.

You head back down the hall, out of the oozes path, and take several minutes to cast Teleport as a ritual, focusing on the raised dias holding the knife inside the sludge chamber [Room 19]. [Because you have seen but not studied the destination, there is a 5-in-6 chance of success. 1d6 Roll: 4 - Success!]

You are the in the hall one moment and in the next you are standing atop the dias in the stench and sludge-filled room. Your mind takes a moment to re-orient itself to your suddenly new surroundings.

At your feet rests a witch-knife carved from a stag's antler. You pick it up and flick off the last bits of goo before holding it in both hands and feeling its energy. There is something arcane about this knife.

You sense the power within. A slaughtered royal stag, poached in a distant land. Vague shapes, long since lost in time. Those the knife struck. A connection. You can sense their slumber, now dreamless and eternal, as well as your own mind, your own intentions. With this knife, you may forever send dreams to those you have struck at lease once. This is a dark but powerful tool to those in the proper position to use it.

You slide the witch-knife [Small, 1d6-1 damage, -1 enemy AC, value unknown] into your belt and look around the room.

The walls and what bits of exposed floor you can see now that the ooze has fully spread out down the open doorway and hall to the west are sheer, carved stone. This was a chamber seemingly built for one purpose: the guard the witch-knife.

To the east, another stone door is closed but is accessible via careful steps to avoid the remaining bits of noxious sludge. You push it open and hop back to the dias, letting the remaining sludge pooled on that side flow and spread out into the eastern hall. After several moments, the ooze stands less than an inch deep in the area and you feel safe to travel through it. Still, your head pounds from the thick, disgusting fumes hanging in the air.

You step down the hall and can smell something burning, not too far off. The hall branches off to the south and leads into a larger chamber, now out of sight. The burning smell is coming from this direction. Further to the east, the hall bends twice, doubling back on itself. You don't approach too closely, knowing that this hall must connect back with the room you viewed with your arcane eye, room with the strange, dismembered ponies. You can hear their shuffling through the door.

[You are currently in the halls to the west of Room 19.]

With some artifact of worth on your belt and being not much worse for wear, you take stock of your options. You can travel down the unscouted, burnt smelling room to the southeast of the knife chamber [Room 19]. You can enter the room housing the disgusting ball of roving teeth and hooves [Room 16] and attempt to see what lays beyond. You can enter the emaciated pony chamber [Room 21] and explore further north. Still, you do not know if either of the horse creatures will react hostilely towards you. You cannot say for sure this far below ground, but you'd estimate it being mid-morning.

[It is worth noting that you do gain XP from successfully AVOIDING monsters as well as defeating them so scouting out Rooms 16 and 21 as you have and choose to move around them going forward will still award you XP. Obviously, anything else in the chamber will be lost to you though, so as always, it's a possible trade-off.]

[Sorry for the delay! I've spent most of the new year sick unfortunately with an infection I can't seem to shake, but I'm on the mend now (hopefully). I appreciate your patience! Next entry should be coming on Sunday as regularly scheduled! - Christian]