'Flailsnails' Player's Introduction - HMS APOLLON

Strange and artificial environments await

ARRIVAL ABOARD THE HAUNTED HULK

For less overwrought setting Information read this

Thrashing in the dark waters, the taste of salt overpowering, burning the nose and eyes as the light recedes above. A straining pain in the lungs and the sounds of the surface world blotted out.   It seemed endless, struggling against sinking, struggling to reach air and light again, and finally you burst forth head above calm dark water, gulping in the air with explosive breaths and weak with exhaustion.  All around a miasma of fog, tinged with purple and reeking of the rotten sea.  Something nibbles at your feet tugging momentarily, as you scan the mist for a sign of something to swim for.

It’s hours, or maybe only minutes as time is without meaning in the numbing waters, but staying afloat seems easier than before all the same, when you hear a bell in the fog.  Soon accented voices and harsh croaking can be heard coming closer.  A long boat, seemingly cobbled together from parts of other vessels, looms from the left and aboard it you hear a familiar sailor’s shanty, as the rowers push the strange fishing boat closer to you.  

The hands that pull you aboard the fishing vessel are strong, and the sailors aboard mostly pallid, hairy and clearly human.  A few however appear amphibian, with wide frog mouths, bulging eyes and dangling limbs with slick green and brown skin.  Both man and frog are dressed in ragged clothing of a clearly nautical cut.  Pea coats, striped jerseys, cabled sweaters and seaman’s boots abound.  Your rescuers say little to you, but taking advantage of your weakened state exchange your of weapons and armor for a large mug of a black salty broth and a block of bread that tastes of iron and the ocean.

Few see the deck aboard the Apollyon

HMS APOLLYON - Planning a 2nd Campaign

While my Megadungeon project - HMS APOLLYON is currently still on hiatus, I am thinking of starting up a second campaign in a few months.  There will be rule changes and some design changes seeking to create a more dangerous dungeon where the setting's "life is cheap" ethos will actually have some effect on the PC's.  Perhaps this can be viewed as moving the game into higher level play, or simply adjusting the denizens of the hull a bit to increase the challenge to a party equipped with firearms. Below is a list of some potential plot hooks I've been tossing around for one shots.  Prior to renewing the campaign I may run a series of "Big Score" one shots - with very high risk and rewards for undertaking special missions on behalf of the Vessel's denizens.

Lost Technology Awaits (by zeo-x of deviant art)

HMS APOLLYON - Updated Rumors and Possible Expeditions.

1) An anonymous group (presumably a family of social climbers amongst the Factor class) has been offering a flat reward of 10,000 Gold Coins to anyone who can clear out the Haldvar Mansion in uptown.  They'll get your group a temporary pass to uptown (if the reward is reduced to 8,000 GP), and then it's a simple break in and clear the place of automatons and servitors for the presumably extinct family.

Proving that there are no Halvar heirs, or other proper occupants and making the location safe is the commission, but it's also likely that the mansion is stuffed with art objects and other valuables.  The Haldvars are known to have been a vengeful and nasty family that employed malign pacts with powerful outsiders and didn't trust human servants, so the danger involved is considered high. 

A group of Flying Monkey guards from the neighboring families tried to clear the place after no one was seen leaving for a few months, but they did not return.  Since the place is not an active menace the Stewards won't act. Any squatters discovered within may be killed. 

2) The Church of the Ship Spirits has been having a considerable amount of success in keeping the recently reclaimed mushroom farm, cathedral hall and auxiliary power protected against the undead massed in the buried vault beyond, but are always looking for scouts, or an assassination squad, to take the fight to the dead beyond the new frontier.

It is claimed that besides the Salt Haints and some more functional revenants a mysterious figure in a leather mask and surgeon's coat has been seen directing the fortification of the buried vault and probing attacks against Ship Spirit positions.  More information about or the destruction of the War Dead leader(s) would be well compensated.

3) The Marines are looking for a group to enter their defensive works, "the Sigil Maze" and find out whats been disturbing and destroying the protective Sigils.  They believe it's some kind of extra planar beast.  As always they don't have much to offer in cash, but will give gifts from their artifact stores.  Additionally the Maze is full of the remains of those who have been trapped or destroyed by it: undead, stewards, outsiders, fishmen and whatever else thought sneaking into the back door of Sterntown was a wise idea.  The expedition might also be a good cover to meet with the Baron of Hell - Malchris, who says he always has work for able bodied adventurers and who controls (at least partially) the vessel's spinal railway.

4) The Factors are getting desperate, because recent expeditions have proven that the hull can be entered without serious attack on Sterntown, yet no effort has been made to properly discover and exploit new resources for their benefit. They have offered a standing 35,000 Gold Coin reward to anyone who can chart/clear a safe way to the machine shops on Deck 5 (to the fore and port of the Rust Gates).  The way must be open to at least one hundred soldiers with some heavy weapons and cannot be submerged or blocked by entrenched enemies/entities. 

Google + ASE - Session 1 - Learning a Few Lessons

A decision to embark on a life of adventure driven by destitution and the social collapse of brewing war, the adventurers marched to the nearest ruin, an ancient pre-fall tower of cherry red ceramicrete that most recently was home the a skull crushing Wizard/warlord named Johnny Two-Bad who was apparently killed by the City State of Denethix's armies 30 years prior.

GOOGLE + GAME OF ASE - SESSION 1

Art by Gex - from a comic title Mute Tower

ASE 40 Questions

ASE 40 Questions about how I'm gonna play

Anomalous Subsurface Environment - Google+ Campaign Jeff's 20 Questions and Untimeately 20 Questions.

Never did answer the 40 questions about ASE - so here goes.

Jeff's 20 Questions

1. Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
   The town of Denethix and its satellite villages are your best bet. There are shops and the bazaar. 
   
   

HMS Appolyon Session V - Gunrooms and Ghosts

No feats of arms are performed, but amazing feats of luck occur.  Interactions with gloomy dead things, unwholesome live things and increasingly threatening men occur.

The Desperate and Foolhardy Adventurers

Quartle(Th/MU1) , Frogling water elementalist and former junkyard owner, with his familiar the Steam Beaver.

Vorning Vess (E1), Former member of the passenger class, exiled for necromancy.

Sem, The Cleric From Beyond (C3) - A heavily muscled priest of an unknown god.

Thalia (C2) - Death Priestess, now a 2' tall hobgoblin

Kerup Potali (Th/MU1) - Incautious frogling appraiser of valuables, Augur and spearphbian

HENCHMEN: Pincip, (now) Pikeman of Argos (Lvl 1 Fighter), Krang the Unkownable, Dinosaur Hunter (Lvl 1 Fighter)

Their Monstrous Victims

None

Subtotal: 0XP

The Glorious Cargo Salvaged

1 Suit of composite Steward riot Armor (Light AC6)  - 100GP (cause it'll look good on parade)
3 Riot Shields (Large Shield) - 60 GP
1 Shock Rod (1D4 + Stun - Unknown number of charges) - 300 GP
7 Batons (5 Given to Guards for reentry) -4 GP

Anything retained will not give XP or GP.

Subtotal: 464GP/474XP

Mysterious Objects Recovered

Unstable Explosive Junk - The Gunners of the Rust Gate recognize to goo on the end of Vess' pole as unstable explosive, they say its very dangerous and in bulk it can explode if exposed to fire or jostled too much.  They want to know where you found the stuff and how much you found.

Subtotal: 25XP for learning about a dangerous substance

Exploration

Party ran from something like this - Art by 8eelze

Avoided Crawling Death - 50 XP
Encountered the Buck Nakeds again, still no violence - 50 XP
Discovered 2nd Entrance to Steward Station - 100 XP
Narrowly Avoided Unstable Explosives - 100XP
"Defused" Door trap - 100 XP

Mapping: Will determine depending on if party wishes to reveal existence of way into Substation.

Subtotal:400XP

TOTAL:899XP/464 GP

Per Surviving Party Member - 150 (Plus any mapping XP) 
Per Henchman - 75 (Krang a Fighter 1 now)

HMS Apollyon - State of the Ship, Session V

Below is the a map showing Exploration of the Hull.  Currently Only Deck 9 has been investigated.

As of the date of the map the following factions in the Hull have been discovered:

Hull Dwellers                                                                                                                         
1) The Craydogs - Semi-Intelligent, non-verbal crayfish headed dogs.  Live in Auxillary Power area, especially the Western rooms, destroying walls, mimicking former victims and setting crude traps.

2) Merrow Men - Intelligent, utilize mutagenic flesh sculpting, numbers have been winnowed but are still unknown.  Dwell in caves carved from junk pile in buried vault, and possibly in other areas to the North of it.  Likely very very angry.  May have captives.

3) Sheriff Buck Naked's Men - "Nudist" humans covered in glyphic symbols, some crossdress.  Live above the Southern Stairs (apparently) and have demanded food and metal supplies in exchange for 'safe' passage.

The Current Status of NPC Parties:

1) The Gearmen, Exhalted of the Ship Spirits.  12 Effectives, mostly armored fighters and clerics in good bronze and steel armor.  Some Blunderbuss armed retainers.  Led by Brazen Gear (C1).  After thier recent haul of 1200GP worth of copper pipe the Gearmen have begun to turn the Rustgate storefront church of the Ship Spirits into a real temple.  They plan to raid into the hull some more to gain funds.  There has been talk of Lady Stott accompanying the Gearmen on a tour of the "reclaimed" areas of the mushroom farms.

2) The Sons of Vanderdecken.  4 Effectives, Well equipped in high quality armor and gear.  Led by Marco Templeman (F/MU 4/1) Hiring and recruiting with very limited success after their pitched battle with the Merrowmen.  Obvious reluctance to join them by most of the Rustgate's denizens.  Have hired Hanz the Engineer and given him some armor and a boarding axe.

SternTown Factions

1) Mechamn and the 'Scavenger's Guild' - Plans for a hall and exchange continue, apparently there's been some success with his map/bond sales and stories of the various scavenger groups exploits.  He's trying to spin the battle with the Merrowmen into a heroic war against evil by paladins of the upperdecks (with limited success - especially amongst the rich).

2) The Vory - Rumblings that the underworld is considering getting in on the scramble for wealth from the hull.  Known Thieves in law seen hanging about Rustgates (usually with perfumed  kerchiefs in front of their noses) and increased activity around Madam Bibi's establishment.

3) The Factors - Trade is picking up (why is unclear - speculation mostly) and talk of retaking the Machine Shops is high.  Funding opportunities may exist.

4) Church - A young priest of The Queen has been seen in the Rustgates and may be looking to buy space for a small chapel due to the increase in Ship Spirit Conversions.  The Gearmen are talking tough - but since the churches are not actively hostile that seems odd.

5)Frogtown - Magicman seems to have a lot of money lately.  He's always been known to be a spy for Boss Wugg, and he was showing off a bound Undine of some size a few days ago, but he's not talking.  Local Frogling Merchants also seem especially close mouthed.

6) Uptown - Party Season is about to start. Apparently scale and fish-like fashion is all the rage - recent summonings have emphasized this.

HMS Apollyon - Welcome Aboard

Now with three sessions of HMS Apollyon exploration over it seems appropriate to post an introductory document for the campaign. Edited 11/27/12 due to gameplay changes.  Edited last 8/30/215.

From the Comic Leviathan - inspiration for the setting

First the Practicals

Flailsnail's Player's Introduction

I am running a dungeon crawl of the HMS APOLLYON - a miles-long demon and monster haunted cruise ship that travels between worlds and frequently 'rescues' individuals from the seas it traverses. Perhaps it's a crude metaphor for Davy Jones Locker, perhaps I just like boats. The games have been played for some years now as non-static world, and currently use my own house rules based on Whitebox/0E D&D.  It's open ended and if you're on Google + and want to play look me up - while people who have dedicated HMS Apollyon characters or play regularly have precedence, there are usually a couple open spots for casual players who want to check out the setting.

Genre: It's sort of a mix of a "point of light" campaign, social climbing and horror.  Embattled and not very nice humanity is trying to claw back something from the monsters, environment and other intelligent species within the hull of an Leviathan cruise ship long gone dark, crumbling and strange.  The polyglot Sterntown is the only known civilized area and just now recovering from a disastrous war 40 years ago.  Sterntowners are allied with at least three (four really, but we keep quite about the Draugr) mundane non-human races, and their leaders, the passenger class, have dealings and share bloodlines with infernal powers.  Humanity is not the most powerful faction within the hull, and the characters are the lowest order within Sterntown.  Hence there is an element of survival horror here, or at least I hope there is.  I am aiming for an atmosphere of drippy, damp, dreary and odd - but it's not especially serious, and gonzo elements exist (like Flying Monkeys).

Level: Right now the game exploring early midlevel (3rd-5th) areas of the hull. I am using OD&D mechanics however so the power curve is rather flat and first level characters have little trouble adapting.  In the past there was an original flailsnails game that reach 7th level, a passenger class game that played around on the upperdeck at 1st level, and a second scavengers game that reached about 4th level.

Magic: The HMS Apollyon is a place of lots of weird, but fairly weak magic.  Don't expect to find a great many magical treasures, and the ones you do find are likely to do odd things.  A +1 sword is more likely to simply be made of good steel, and a magic sword is likely to only cut the shadows of enemies (effectively I might add).

Technology: Anything is fine, but it's likely I will adjust its abilities as I see fit - There are space age zap guns lost deep in the hull of the Apollyon, and bolt action rifles are standard issue to guardsmen.  Whatever your worlds trotting adventurer has picked up is unlikely to unbalance things.  Discussion of available 'new' technology is here.

Campaign Goals: The goals of the campaign are open - setting up a colony, acting as religious crusaders, plundering a pharaoh's golden sarcophagus, overthrowing Sterntown's overlords - all can be ultimate goals.  The basic premise though encourages an exploration game, and exploring is rewarded with both XP and money (in the form of mapping commissions).  As such, keeping good maps and finding one's way past obstacles is a solid strategy for wealth and fame


Treasure:  Treasure aboard the Apollyon is salvage mostly.  This includes gold and gems, but it also includes working machine tools, copper pipe and fancy canned goods.  Astute players will be rewarded for thinking beyond the standard treasure heap system of many games.

Monsters: Yup there's lots of them, from hyper-intelligent Fishmen to dogs with crayfish heads.  Lots of undead as well, and very few creatures are in the monster manuals - most do strange gross things.

Example Here

Pacing: Trying to run the game once a week, for about two hours a session.  In game pacing is not linear - that is while things are generally easier in the starting areas near the Rust Gate they're not universally so.  Running away is a good option sometimes.

Important House Rules

The basics of the current system are HERE or under the "Player's Guide" heading - they are getting finalized.

Counter Spells: Magic Users, and only magic users (not hybrid classes), can counter-spell instead of casting.  Basically if you know a spell you can counter it by holding your turn and watching the other magic-user.  If you counter successfully they end up losing the spell and it fizzles.  The other guy can do this to you as well.  Note: almost every caster aboard the Apollyon knows sleep and magic missile.

Death and Injury (NEW):At Zero HP a character is unconscious or dead.  The player may roll a save vs. death at the end of combat, to reducing merely be injured and unconscious. Injuries from near death are usually permanent and stat reducing.  In especially bad cases they may require the PC to retire.  Death saves may be re rolled when another PC spends the combat attempting to stabilize the dying character.  If the character or NPC stabilizing the injured character has skills as a Doctor the injured PC will receive a second save at +(level of doctoring) to avoid injury if the first save is made, and to survive if it is not. 

Guns: Firearms are prevalent on the Apollyon.  Muzzle loading weapons are cheap enough and manufactured widely in Sterntown.  Better gunsmiths are available for weapons up to the bolt action rifle and revolver lever. More advanced weapons used to be common and can still be recovered in the hull.  Ammunition is readily available and may be custom made for found weapons.  Guns work with simple "exploding damage" - on a roll of maximum damage another roll is made.  This works for each die if the gun has multiple dice of damage.  Heavy slower bullets tend to have larger damage dice, while small high powered guns have more smaller dice.

The Environment

Sterntown: This is the standard megadungeon starting town, the gates lead directly into the untamed, monster crawling hull.  However, the players are limited to where they can go within town due to their status as outcasts and strangers and are limited to the slums around the Rustgates (main exit into the hull) until they prove themselves friends of the town.  The important locals are generally helps and info can be found here on the page.  Details regarding the vessel at large are here, and rumors here.

Rolling Up a Member of the Crew: Rolling up a member of the crew is a reasonable option, and has certain advantages. There's a character generator here - but generally I just use 3D6 in order.

Other options include F/MU hybrids is the form of exiled members of the passenger class.

Flying Monkeys act as servants and scouts for the Apollyon's elite and are F/TH hybrids.

Froglings are a major minority aboard the Apollyon, and know elemental magic as will as having Specialist skills (light fighters or thieves).

Draugr are specially constructed and concealed undead horrors  and are fighters/magic users or specialists.

Merrowmen are awful little eel people, most are specialists but with certain stats they may be fighters or magic-users.

 

Doodles

Here's a drawing of some monsters...This is what I do while playing flailsnails sometimes.

Walk Without Rhythm ... HMS Apollyon Session 1

Now imagine it with a mole man whaling on it with an ax

Aboard the HMS Apollyon a motley gang of travelers plucked from the sea were sent into the depth of monster cursed HMS Apollyon and all returned to tell the tale.

Released form the relative comfort of the infirmary and subjected to a series of irksome and insulting personality testing, the castaways were herded to the rust gates, a fortress barricade bristling with cannon that leads from the civilized Sterntown into the lost regions of the hull.

Of the 30 odd lost souls, our six adventurers appeared to be the most well equipped and skilled.

Rustgate (starting) Equipment List - HMS Apollyon

This sort of thing is not available in Rustgate

Below is an equipment list of what supplies can be bought around the rust gate - a minimum of trust will be required to get out and go to the Scavenger's Souk where better equipment can be found.  Expensive, magical and better mechanical equipment can be found on the Promenade, but unless one has a special pass (such as for religious observance) that area is out of bounds to flotsam and exiles like the characters.

ARMOR

Anyone can wear armor of any kind that they have the Strength for.  Armor Skill gets rid of Penalties as detailed in the appropriate skills post. Wizards should consider the Weapons Training skill-set if they would like to wear armor.

AC	Description	Price	Min STR	Penalty
8	Piecemail armor, woven fiber armor, Padded Armor,Soft Leather (Light)	15 GP	5	None
7	Hard Leather Armor, Studded Armor, Ring-mail (Light)	30 GP	6	-1 hit / AC 8
6	Shell/Chitin Armor, Scale (leather/light), Half Cuirass( Light)	40 GP	9	-1 hit / AC 7
5	Chainmail, Heavy Scale, Plate Cuirass, Brigandine (Heavy)	80 GP	11	-1 hit /AC 6
4	Splint, Banded, Heavy/Reinforced Chain or Mirror Armor (Heavy)	150 GP	13	-2 hit /AC 5
3	½ Plate, Plate and Heavy Scale, Plate-Mail (Heavy)	1200 GP	13	-3 hit/ AC 4
-1	Shield – Light metal, Leather, Chitin, Wood or Woven shield	10GP	5	N/A
-1*	Heavy Shield – Metal, Hardwood	30 GP	11	N/A
N/A	Helmet – Various metal or leather helmets**	15 GP	N/A	N/A

* -2 vs. Missles

** Grants an additional saving throw when something smacks you in the head or you fall.

Min STR – If you lack the Strength to use the armor all rolls are at -4 and AC is two levels lower. For flailsnails PC's these rules and the Penalties will apply if you're buying armor aboard the Apollyon or it seems appropriate (i.e. you've played several sessions, have leveled up etc).

Penalty – (See this post for detailson Fighter Skills) For native PC's without the appropriate armor skill there are penalties associated with wearing armor one lacks training in. Generally this means wearing armor you can use is more effective than wearing armor you can't but which is heavier.

Note on Weapons and armor: Bronze weapons are favored and cost 1.5 times as much as they do not corrode or rust in the awful damp environment of the Apollyon. Silver Weapons cost 10 x normal and take a session to forge. Magic armor is assumed to have no strength requirements or use penalties.

MELEE WEAPONS

Description	Price	Min STR	1 or 2 HD?	DMG
Sword, Scimitar, Morningstar, Large Axe	25 GP	11	1 HD	1D8
Mace, Hammer, War-Crowbar, Short Sword, Short Spear, Bayonet	15 GP	7	1 HD	1D6
Dagger, Brass Knuckles, club, blackjack	5GP	5	1 HD	1D4
Rapier, Small Sword, Katana (fine sword)	100GP	7	1 HD	1D8
Battle Axe, Two Handed Sword, Maul*	55 GP	13	2 HD	1D10
Polearm, Pike * +	25 GP	9	2 HD	1D10

* Always attack last regardless of inititative.

+ May attack from 2nd Rank.

MISSILE WEAPONS

Description	Price	Min STR	Range S/M/L	DMG
Throwing Knife, Throwing Steel	5 GP	N/A	10'/20'/30'	1D4
Light Crossbow/Spear Gun (pneumatic)*	35 GP	11	30'/50'/80'	1D6
Heavy Crossbow/Spear Gun (torsion)*	80 GP	16	45'/60'/100'	1D8
Shortbow	50 GP	8	30'/50'/80'	1D6
Longbow/Compound Bow	100 GP	14	45'/80'/150'	1D8
Javelin, Throwing Axe, Harpoon, Spear	10 GP	8	15'/25'/35'	1D6
Arrows or Bolts x 30	10 GP	N/A		N/A
Quiver **	5 GP	N/A		N/A

* May be used is below minimum strength but will require a Goatsfoot or Cranequin to reload, and this takes a round.

** Without a quiver reloading takes an extra round unless the player spends a round sticking arrows into the ground and doesn't move from their firing position.

Guns

Guns are in loud, smells and tend to do no more damage than other missile weapons, except they are very handy in close quarters, have almost no strength requirements and hit for exploding damage. That is if a gun rolls maximum damage an additional damage dice may be rolled. This is why certain highly penetrating weapons such as bolt action rifles do multiples of D4 damage rather than a single die, the wound is almost guaranteed to be nasty.

Firearms come in three varieties Low Technology, Medium Technology and High Technology. Low technology weapons are the most easily available and are almost universally muzzle loading requiring extra time to load. Medium Technology Weapons are harder to find and are cartridge firing. High Technology Weapons cannot be made by the current engineers of Sterntown and begin at clip fed automatic weapons.

Description	Price	Min STR	Range S/M/L	DMG
Wheelock or Flintlock Pistol +	50 GP	N/A	15'/30'/50'	1D8
Matchlock or Musket * +	150 GP	N/A	45'/100'/150'	1D10
Blunderbuss/Shotgun(muzzle loading) +	150 GP	N/A	10'/20'/30'	1D10
Shot and powder for 10 shots	15 GP	N/A		1D6
Powder Horn, Cartridge case, bullet kit **	100 GP	N/A		1D8

* This is a long gun and may have a bayonet attached. Seating a bayonet takes 1 round, but firing while it is attached gives a -1 to hit. Bayonets effectively turn the rifle into a short spear.

+ Muzzle Loading Weapons are slow to fire and lower velocity, they take 2 rounds to reload (can be reduced by gun skill).

Description	Cost
Light Sources
Torch – Burns for an hour x4, 40' Light	1GP
Lamp – Burns of 4 Hours, directional, 60' Light with Shutters	15 GP
Glow Kelp – Glows when crushed for 2 Days, 20' Light (Green)	6 GP
Flask of Lamp Oil – fills lamps - Range 20'/30'/50' (M), burns 1D6/1d6	1 GP
Oil Bomb, fused, highly combustible – Range 30'	5 GP
Tools
Pick, Shovel or Crowbar (-1 Hit Damage 1D6)	2 GP
10' Pole	1 GP
10' Rope	5 GP
Grappling Hook	15 GP
Pitons, climbing gear, and harness (1 person)	25 GP
Iron Spikes x 5	1 GP
Mallet and Stake	1 GP
Camouflage or Bug Netting (10' x 10')	10 GP
Thieves Tools (Picks, glass cutter, blackening, 10' wire)	30 GP
Fishing Kit (line, hooks, pole, hand net, lures, flies)	5 GP
Containers
Canvas Backpack	5 GP
Leather Backpack	15 GP
Small Sack	1 GP
Large Sack	1 GP
Waterproof Backpack	30 GP
Waterproof Small Sack	5 GP
Steel or Glass jar (Waterproof – 1 Gallon)	3 GP
“Potion” bottle/test tube	1 GP
Bug Spray
Moon Bane herbs (rumored to help with lycanthropes)	15 GP
Infernal Shells (rumored to delay outsiders – mildly magic)	60 GP
Holy Water (Holy to Ship Spirits - effects crawling death)	25 GP
Holy Water (Holy to the Queen – effects undead)	30 GP
Holy Symbol (appropriate material)	30 GP
Mirror, Glass	5 GP
Mirror, Metal (Silver)	30 GP
Sick Lichen (Mild Ingested Poison – 1D6 damage or save)	15 GP
Garlic	10 GP
Food and Drink
Wineskin+	2 GP
Hard Liqour – Bottle+	5 GP
Beer – Growler (bring own bottle)+	1 GP
Iron Rations (Dog Jerky, Kelp Loaf, Sea Nuts) 1 week supplies	15 GP
Rations (Sea Frond, Fungus Flour, Rat) 1 week supplies (need fire to prepare).	5 GP
Fine Rations (Mushrooms steaks, Giant Pigeon, Meat/seaweed Tarts, Chocolate) 1 week supplies (Need fire to prepare)	40 GP
Mad Kelp (Mild Smoked Drug/anesthetic/stimulant - addictive) 3 doses*	15 GP
Laudanum (Intense Ingested drug/anesthetic - highly addictive) 3 doses**	100 GP

+ A belt of alcohol will rejuvenate some HP (mostly the insubstantial kind) at a rate of 1D4 per drink (1 times max a session and can be had during battle – takes 1 round). Bandaging also has this effect after battle or when someone spends time working on a fallen ally.

*Mad Kelp will stop shock and stabilize a dying person 25% of the time for 1D10 turns per dose.

**Laudanum is an effective painkiller for surgery and to prevent shock 75% of the time. It is effective for 4D6 turns per dose, but more than 3 doses in a 24hr period are likely to be leathal.

Note: Upkeep in Rustgate is cheap – A space in a shack rents at 1 GP a week and food tends to run about a GP 1 Day – figure 10 GP a week total for food, shelter and sundries.

There is once nice inn in the Rustgates – The Gilded Exile (Sign appears to be a mummy previously dipped in brass) where a night of food, drink and a private room run 80 GP, the owners can also arrange contact with dealers in unwholesome pleasures.

The Pit of Pavelorn - Part I - Into the Pit

Brendan over at Untimely ran his inaugural session of his Little Brown Book - extreme OD&D persistent world "The Vaults of Pavelorn".  It was a lot of fun, and we even introduced a fellow to D&D (I think).  The rules are easy and the framework allows a lot of play.  Brendan is a good GM, he's very even handed - and isn't remotely malicious (though I can tell he'll let the dice kill a character if that's what the dice want) and his dungeons don't feel stale - even if in Pavelorn's case the world is extremely standard OD&D (at least so far).  We fought giant rats and bandits (see very old style) - too much fighting was a mistake I believe, as it isn't rewarded in Pavelorn and it's extremely deadly. I recommend getting into a session if you happen to have some time off Monday nights.

It's always difficult for a demobilized veteran - especially one who departed from service with a full compliment of the finest heavy infantry gear a solider in the tyrant's service could hope for.  Yet here was the quandry facing Lune ChMehet and his hairdresser Bol O'th'Knee.  The loot and the war finally ran out in the desolate town of Zorfarth - half abandoned and next to the pit of Pavelorn, where a castle once levitated into the sky leaving an unwholesome chasm with an evil reputation.

After meeting up with a pair of equally dissolute hoodlums, a arcane initiate and a well armored holy warrior of one of those mysterious mystery cults, Lune and Bol were soon looking for work.  The local guardsmen suggested the a merchant family (and some impoverished farmers) had recently had members of their family stolen away in the night. Resolving to plunder themselves the wealth of Zolfarth's stolid citizen's the band set off to discuss the situation with the proprietors of the general store, the Tipitz family.

The Tiptiz's son, a trouble maker, and had vanished a month before after a cloaked figure surrounded by an armed band was sited on a nearby hillock.  After haggling the party gathered a retainer of 30Gp and  set forth to investigate.  A large number of footprints converged on the hillock, and led both West and towards the pit.  Following the prints toward the pit the adventurers soon found themselves in a lonely chamber down an antique stair.