Urutsk using D&D 5e: The Sunday Sessions-

Urutsk 5e-

:: Sunday Sessions

Using the print copy available on Lulu, but dialing back the crazy bonuses which were conceived of during the 3.x era, we made new PCs.

1). Yirinn-Mutant Fighter with Elemental Blood: Earth.  He has Dual Brain and Heightened Brain Function, so receives 3 mental saves taking the best of the three, cannot be lied to, and takes 1/3rd the time to figure out tech and that with a bonus.  He becomes the de facto 'traps guy' with his Yirinn suite of old school Dwarven senses.

2). Yaesh Monk with Elemental Blood: Shadow

3). Western Isles Vrun Wizard with Elemental Blood: Frost.  The only one with Darkvision: 30'

4). Vrun Cleric of Life with Elemental Blood: Silt

A few of them receive a Human Eugenics bonus of +1 or 2 to one stat.

Each of them had some Starship caste clan background as per that book.  I cannot remember what everyone had, but I know we have two Security, two Data Techs, two Life Support; Medical, Athletics & Recreation, and two Shuttle pilots amongst the group.  These are in addition to their 5e Backgrounds, as they don't provide any gear or 5e proficiencies, but do give % to scavenge food, or diagnose malfunctions, etc.  The Players don't seem to mind rolling d% instead of d20 for those odd bits, and frankly, I enjoy the mix of die types.

The PCs were at a travel lodge when a notice was posted regarding a new burial mound found out in the wetlands woods some distance from 'town.'  With the knowledge that through Starship caste or 5e Class, the PCs all had some connection, they set off.

Scout service indications led the group to a tree with an Ogham map to the mound.  The capstone entrance was heavy enough as to require group effort, but hey manged and entered the first chamber empty of anything.  Detecting faint sounds of clanking and irregular but mechanical 'swooshing', the party set off sown a 30' shaft which terminated in a sloping corridor.  This then ended in a 'trapped' door which they surmised would signal the occupants of the noisy room beyond of entry.

The monk burns 4 HP to generate 1d6 bonus to Stealth and opens the now rigged door and peeks in to find three Humanoids in a forge room.  The blacksmith is hairy and burly, the bellows operator is green and scaly (5' ish), and the overseer is Violet and scaly, wearing robes.  The room is illuminated from the floor in a tangerine light cast upon the walls, and the overall effects suggests that it is a heat source funnelled into the tech furnace.  The smith is using a Bright Metal hammer, but what he's working isn't determined.  The bellows operator is throwing his entire weight upon the lever, while the violet scaly overseer is looking on intently.

A plan is hatched to attack the overseer with Ice Spears erupting from the ground (Frost-based Magic Missile), and the Yirinn burns 4 Blood to trigger a DC 15 'grapple' at range with the SFX of the stone floor cracking and cratering under him.  Melee is launched and the overseer is killed through a combination of staff and bare-hand monk attacks.  The party waits to see the workers' reaction before renewing hostilities.

The store closes at 9; we hold it there for next week.

Inspiration Comes from the Most Unlikely of Sources-

HARMARYN
'Pioneers of the Dark Lands' / 'Dark Muses' -- Aberrant Humanoid (AH)
Menace Rating: 39 (4d8) | DEF +1 | ARM 1d6 | MOV 30'
Damage: By weapon-type +1/+1, 2d6+1B Strangle, 1d6+1EP Bite

:: Monstrous Women given over to strong delusions, prone to muttering in insane languages, and obsessed with imaginary details, the hearing of which creates a compulsive malaise which overwhelms those within 11 Msnk Radius failing a T# 17 Control CT. The effect is such that the victims are imbued with greater creativity and drive to produce an expression of their inner being. When the duration of (1 Hour per year of the Harmaryn's residency at the same fell spot) is exceeded, the victim must either risk further exposure, or move on to some other task, wandering away from the Harmaryn in confusion.
:: Harmaryn are serpentine from their knees downward, terminating in a 1.6 Msnk muscular tail with which they are well capable of strangulation. Some with scorpionic lower bodies have also been reported, and noted Monstrologist Klaustys Mor suggests that so called Harpies, Sirens, and the Almia and other Monstrous Women are a class of being rather than individual classes.
:: Most Harmaryn give birth to a male child who learns his mother's dark mutterings, and from an early age picks up the die and casts it in auguries of the imagination, writing their own interpretations of The Graet Gaem. When a Harmaryn is killed, she invariable laughs, "But you're wrong Steve, You see, It's only solitaire.", even if decapitated. The young apprentice will carefully devote his life to her revenge, seeking to husband a young Harmaryn of the same Blaag Sphere and perpetuate the work.

:: AP Value: 1st Encounter 4,200; 1/10th, 1/100th, etc. thereafter.

You've seen this creature before... :D

YQAOM
'Purple Bounders' -- Aberant Animal (AA)
Menace Rating: 63 (7d8) | DEF +0 | ARM 2d6 | MOV 40
Damage: 4d6B Pounce, 3d6EP Bite

With swollen-seeming bodies of deep purple leathery hide, the cylindrical legged and footed Yqaom is a sight to behold. Its upper body (for indeed, they are an upright locomotive being) has humanoid qualities with a strong yet flexible neck supporting a proportionally very large head. The maw of this creature ia a vast portion of its head and this mouth is visually dominated by two pairs of tusks followed by banks of complex molars. Its tongue can extend nearly four Snk and is about as big as a dinner plate. It is the dainty pair of feathered wings and curious antennae which mark out the Yqaom as truly weird. Genalchemic inspection has revealed that the Yqaom are a relatively recent mutation, suggesting that the deadly mutagens of the North Western Sphere may still lurk in the wilds and pose a danger.
The Yqaom is an aggressive, territorial omnivore that uses its combination of aberrant powers to facilitate its hunting/grazing and its ranging. By use of its magneto-repulsion power, it is able to levitate, which is controlled by the tiny wings and allows this lumbering beast to rotate in a corkscrew manoeuvre or even perform loops, with all lateral movement generated through running and its bounding-power. Its top recorded speed is in the 8-12 XsM/H range. The Yqaom's bony antennae are used to sense electrical fields, and are sensitive enough to detect living auras within an 8 Msnk Radius, but not with pinpoint accuracy, and is tested against the creature's PSI.

:: AP Value: 1st Encounter 775, subject to Group Multiplier Bonus +(2/3); 1/10th, 1/100th, etc. thereafter.

Length/Height:
* Snk: 2.68 Inches
* Msnk: 4.47 Feet
* XsM: 11,800.98 Feet ( 3.6 km / 2.23 mi.)

B = Blunt
E = Edged
P = Piercing

[Playtest Campaign] Friday, 30th, October-

Still in the vast subterranean chamber abutting a black river => They went to investigate the submarine => Entered a maze-like sprawl of Disneyworld-esque 'cute buildings' => Battled a Water-Weird sort of thing that 'Fumbled' and decided that the party wasn't worth that sort of abuse => Found magic items => Met deformed folk interested in their doings => Pressed on and found a 'pit' that looked like something had simply scooped-out a section of the vast faux-village, but was still radiant blues in the Dark- and Ultravisual spectra => Skirted the pit => Ran afoul of more mutant Dryvv-like creatures, but scared them off with bright lights => Found a vast highway trailing off into the water due to the displacement shearing => Beset by more mutants who warned them of the deadly beast (sub) and its poison breath => Story recounted of the sub's core being ejected and causing the pit => The vessel's AI contacted and the 1325 year decontamination-process begun => The escape pod least affected, and jettisoned to roll onto the shore => Delver understands this to be Aelbaan technology and enteres the craft, passing through an energy screen => The others see Delver transform in a flash of light as he passes through the screen: He grew 7" and put-on 35 or so pounds (he now stands 7'2") => Tybalt, also talking to someone he thinks is the AI, is urged to kill Delver, and in return, the party would be rewarded by the agency from which the voice said Delver had gone rogue. Cliffhang...