FF/ASW: The Golden Spiral, Episode 102

Cast

• Asheal (level 3 ishim wizard)
• Hordac (level 3 tarchon battlemind)
• Waive (level 3 scion nomad)

Summary

Once Asheal was back on her feet, the party continued past the bone spikes, and after a few twists it opened into a gaping chamber. The chamber was sparsely illuminated by numerous snails with dimly glowing shells: they crept across its furrowed and scabrous surfaces, seemingly oblivious to the party.

At the far end the party saw a small grouped of robed figures, the heads of each were also capped with a glowing snail. They were huddled about another robed figure. He was wearing a tall, spiraling snail shell on his head, but also had a glowing snail perched on each shoulder.

The party observed the group slowly move across the room, gradually approaching one of many crates that, along with a myriad of other storage containers and objects, was adhered to the walls. Presuming the snails to be controlling them, Waive tried folding space to remove one of the snails, but it was firmly attached.

While startled, the figures didn't notice the party and soon returned to following their sluggish overseer. Eventually his patience wore out, and Waive initiated conflict by by collapsing a point in space, sucking in nearly half the group. This time the party was spotted by a pair of figures flanking the entrance to the chamber: they were clad in plates of shell, giving them the semblance of an armored knight and also making them difficult to notice against the walls.

The cultists drew shell-capped maces from beneath their robes and rushed towards the party; all but two were immolated by Hordac's fiery breath, and they decided to flee through different exits. The snail knights charged into the fray, and up close even Hordac was revolted by their slimy faces, bereft of defining features, and pale eyes that could extend on long stalks. Despite their strength and surprisingly durable armor, the party was able to slay them both before the figure with the shell hat crossed the room.

He spoke much more quickly than he moved, but it didn't help much because he apparently enjoyed gesturing as he talked. Even so, the party eventually learned where to go to find the celestial salt, and they made it out of the room just before another snail knight arrived, this time mounted on a giant snail with a modified elemental collidor attached to its shell. Waive folded a flask of alchemist's frost into the collidor, rendering it useless. The knight dismounted and charged towards the party, severely wounding Hordac before he was finally slain.

Design & Development

From the previous play report:

I've been doing some snail art for Inktober, which will be used for this adventure when it comes time to publish it. Definitely doing it for Dungeon World and FrankenFourth (by default it will be for A Sundered World, with notes on how to use it in something not A Sundered World), maybe even Dungeons & Delvers and 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (which was almost voted the system of choice).

Now the new stuff:

I need to change the tarchon's breath weapon from being an all the time thing. Currently I'm waffling between giving it a Vitality/Fatigue cost (like sorcerer/wizard spells), make it an encounter power (or do the 5E thing and spell out every time that you "regain it after you take a short or long rest"), or do something like 4E's recharge mechanic: at the start of each turn, you roll a d6 to see if you get it back. Could even do it like 3E, where you roll a d4 or d6 to see how many rounds it takes for you to get it back.

Unlike the Dungeon World nomad, this one uses Power Points instead of I guess making an Intelligence check for Fold (I suppose I could hold a vote to see if people would prefer to make a Search check in an area to determine how many Fold points they get). It differs from the wizard and sorcerer's Mana in that you get a small amount, more on par with the cleric's Favor, and when you rank up a talent you have to spend more Power Points to boost up your psionic powers.

So right now Waive's Singularity lets him make a ranged Intelligence attack up to 30 feet away, that deals 1d6+Intelligence damage (ignores armor), half on a miss. Rank 2 bumps up the range to 50 feet, makes it affect a 5 foot radius around the initial target, and you deal 1d8+Intelligence damage, but you gotta spend 2 Power Points.

Announcements

If you're curious about FrankenFourth and/or Dungeons & Delvers, you can find public alpha documents here and here respectively.

A Sundered World: Player Fragments, the first supplement for A Sundered World, is finally out!

If you're looking for a class that lets you play almost any were-thing you want (plus a bunch of related extra content), then check out The Therianthrope. There's also The Dragon, a class that lets you play almost any dragon-ish thing you could think of.

By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).