Caves Of Doom Game

Referee: Dave

Player(s): RooK, Amy, Ulrich, Bonnie

Pre-Game

Introduction

You have been sentenced to death by exile. From stories you’ve heard, you’re likely going to be eaten by insects of unusual size. The planet you’re from doesn’t just kill its criminals, because that’s boring. Instead, they’re packed into an automated ship and sent to a mostly destroyed city planet. Your crimes (either legitimate or the result of a corrupt legal system) have brought you to this unnamed bug planet. Soon the ship you are on will hover above the surface and the shield keeping you in the hold will be withdrawn allowing you to plummet to the surface to accept your fate.

There’s roughly 100 of you on the ship and before departure, you’ve never seen any of your fellow prisoners before (including each other). As you approach the surface, the four of you suddenly have an extreme awareness of each other. You all lock eyes (or light sensitive pseudopods) with each other, knowing that your fates are intertwined, significantly apart from the rest of the people on the ship..

You feel your nanoscopic robots being hacked from an unknown source. Despite the potential distress of this occurrence, you’re all completely fine with it and are content to let it happen.

Then, you are dropped to the surface.

Characters

• Felinid Striker (Amy) - Nala
• Colloidling Technician (Ulrich) - Glub
• Zygroten Assassin (Bonnie) - Raven
• Felinid (Tiger class) Defender (Rook) - Dortho

Backstories

Glub’s family is from a long line of barkeeps. Before the legal troubles, it was studying mixology (aka biology) and is just a few days away from a first stage of scientist.

One of Nala’s grandparents was a modified being designed for pest control. Some of those traits have passed down giving her +2 hit and +2 damage when attacking Vimren. When encountering a Vimren, she must attack unless succeeding in a 2D under will power roll.

Dortho was a slave being groomed for a media event by the famous hunter Jimmy Deathbringer. Some slave rights activists set him free and he snuck aboard the ship. Seemed like a good idea at the time. When everyone was hacked, the slave juice disappeared.

Raven is a murder victim. At least she carries the memories of a murder victim. The killer was sent to the bug planet, but apparently survived the initial arrival. Her family is rich and has been sending assassins to the planet with implanted memories to hunt down the killer. This is the seventh attempt. The killer is a Hylosus named Bax.

Cleric Abilities

• Brick
• Athlete - gives 5 points to the character generator to be distributed amongst strength, speed, and agility. Can rearrange the points, taking 5 hours to complete.
• Kangaroo - grows a pouch that can create any item of gear that costs 30 credits or less. Takes five hours and requires food.
• Rainbow - camouflage ability - can add will power to sneak/hide roles.
• Little Shop of Horrors - aka friends with plants - all patches work from patch plant. Can identify which ones work on everyone. Can alter fruit from the orange plants.
• Axolotl - heals 1D6 per ten minutes.

• Reading - can join with someone's mind and if successful, can read thoughts and memories. Attack: 2D6+Int+WP. Defense: D6*Stage+WP.
• Riting
• Rithmatic - math is hard. and painful. Mind blast: 1d6 damage to intelligence, will power, awareness. Victim recovers after a day.
• Every Breath You Take - can focus on someone and track them.
• Multiverse of Madness - can posses a corpse. Takes ten minutes to recover when ended.
• Swollen Head - gives 5 points to the character generator to be distributed amongst intelligence, will power, and awareness. Can rearrange the points, taking 5 hours to complete.

Game Logs

January 18, 2025 - Awful Planet

The four prisoners -Nala, Glub, Raven, and Dortho - were being transported to a hostile bug planet on a ship with 96 other prisoners. As the ship hovered above the surface, the shield keeping them in the hold was withdrawn, and they plummeted towards the surface. During their descent, they noticed a beacon about 50 metres away. Feeling inexplicably drawn towards it, they decided to head in that direction. The rest of the prisoners ran towards a more obvious cave entrance and were pursued by all manner of insectile horrors.

Upon reaching the beacon, they encountered three small¹ bugs - two with pincers and one resembling a scorpion. A battle ensued, and with a lack of weapons, the group was forced to rely on hand to hand attacks. Glub discovered a crack in the ground which opened up into a small chamber, offering a potential escape route. Nala was mortally wounded during the fight but miraculously survived due to a mysterious effect from their hacked nanoscopic robots. The group decided to retreat into the chamber through the crack in the ground.

Inside the chamber, the tunnel continued downwards, illuminated only by bioluminescent moss and fungi. They cautiously made their way along the tunnel, with Glub clinging to the ceiling to provide a lookout. They soon encountered and fought another bug, larger than the previous ones. Glub, resourceful as ever, found debris in the tunnel from which they fashioned a club and a piercing weapon from the bug’s pinchers.

Continuing along the tunnel, they discovered a strange plant emitting a purple glow, with medical patches growing at its base and a small humanoid skull placed in front of it. Glub’s keen awareness revealed that the patches were a part of the plant, as if designed to be harvested. Nala, still recovering from their previous injuries, decided to try a patch but was unfortunately hurt by it. Unperturbed, the group pressed on.

After travelling for an hour or so, covering a distance of roughly a kilometre and a half, they heard a growl that made Nala’s tail puff up in fear. They decided to hide, but their efforts were interrupted by a large dog-sized creature and five smaller versions of it. Before they could react, a blaster shot rang out from further down the tunnel, killing one of the smaller creatures. The large one, enraged, charged towards the source of the shot, leaving the remaining four smaller ones to attack the group.

The creatures were very bitey. The battle raged on with wounds on both sides, but nothing taken down yet.

¹ 'Small' being a relative term here - they were about the size of cats.

January 23, 2025 - Vimren are for killing

Having inflicted mortal wounds (aka mortal sphincter) on Nala and Dortho, the creatures backed off to let them bleed to death. The wounds healed (painfully). Nala pretended to apply a patch and collapsed to the ground. Glum found a good throwing rock and offered it to Dortho, who threw it at one of the creatures, killing it. This enraged the remaining creatures, who charged back toward the group.

Raven threw a rock, hitting one of the creatures. Glub threw a rock as well. Nala continued to play dead, waiting for the right moment to use her patch. Dortho threw another rock and hit one of the creatures. One of the creatures attacked Raven, giving her a mortal wound, and another attacked but missed Glub. The group continued to take damage from their healing mortal wounds. Glub then attacked one of the creatures and caused a mortal wound. Nala then used a patch on that same creature, which surprisingly healed it fully. However, that creature was then killed by Dortho.

A new figure then appeared in the tunnel: a Reptiloid, who had been fighting the large creature. He threw the dead creature towards the group causing the smaller ones to panic and run away. He then extracted the weapon that was attached to the top of the creature and tossed it to the group. Raven claimed it. The Reptiloid then grabbed the dead creature and dragged it back to a cave. The group followed.

The Reptiloid seemed non-verbal but gestured to Raven that she should keep watch while he was busy with a med pack. While waiting for the Reptiloid, the group healed, and Glub searched the area and found a damaged tool kit. Glub then modified Raven's blaster, giving it a +1 to hit. The Reptiloid seemed confused by the group's quick healing.

At one point Raven noticed a couple of Vimren watching her, and upon relaying this information to the rest, Nala was triggered to go and kill them. More time passed and once the group was healed enough, left behind the Reptiloid and continued down the tunnel. Before leaving at attempt was made to communicate with the Reptiloid using a communicator, but that seemed to aggravate it.

As they went, they passed the remains of the Vimren they had fought, which were being eaten by the two smaller surviving creatures they fought earlier. The group continued moving through the tunnels for a few hours and then Glub had a sudden inspiration that they were walking into an ambush. It was then that four more Vimren appeared. The battle raged, with the Vimren being out matched. There was some debate about questioning them, but Nala was insistent on killing them. The battle ended with the Vimren dead. The group was able to claim two 1D/2 lasers and a couple of 1pt blades.

January 31, 2025 - Bug Grinding

We've been recording our game nights so I can feed the recording into NotebookLM. It's interesting to see how accurate it is. So, this section will be completely unedited from what the AI gives me. For the notebook, I added two sources; this page (before this entry, obviously) and the recording from the game night. Then I gave it this prompt: "The first source is a game log for the first two nights of the game. The second source is a recording of the third night. Create a summary of the third night in a similar format to the existing game log." Here's the result:

Okay, here's a summary of the third night of the "Caves of Doom Game" based on the provided recording, formatted similarly to the existing game logs from the first source:

January 30, 2025 - Slimy Cats and Centipedes

After resting and healing, the group, consisting of Nala, Glub, Raven, and Dortho, decided to continue exploring the tunnels. Glub investigated the walls of the chamber they were in, looking for secret passages and useful items. Finding none, they proceeded down the path, which curved to the left.

• They noticed a dormant insect resembling one they saw on the surface, but decided not to engage it.
• The group continued down the tunnel, which gradually widened and descended. They noticed the tunnel opened into a larger area a few kilometres away that was illuminated with glowing plants.
• They heard jungle-like sounds, indicating activity ahead.
• The group decided to proceed carefully, with Dortho taking the lead and acting as a "battle tank" for the others.
• During their cautious advance, they located a large centipede-like creature heading towards them. They also spotted three cat-sized insects a little further ahead.
• The group initially considered using the remains of the creatures they had fought before as weapons.
• They decided to deal with the smaller insects first, as they were closer, before the centipede arrived. Nala, being a cat, considered attacking them, but ultimately decided to follow the group's plan.
• They discussed the range of their weapons and decided to proceed, with Glub climbing onto the ceiling for a better vantage point.

Combat with Bitey Insects (Round 1):

• Raven, the assassin, used her blaster to kill one of the three bugs.
• The remaining two insects hid behind cover.
• The large centipede paused and sniffed the air before continuing to move towards the party.

Combat with Bitey Insects (Round 2):

• The group continued to sneak forward towards the hiding bugs, and Glub remained on the ceiling.
• The party located one of the bugs emerging from cover.
• An initiative roll occurred, with Nala going first, followed by Glub.
• Nala threw a rock and wounded one of the bugs, and moved forward.
• Glub fired at the same bug, killing it.
• Three more bugs emerged and surrounded Nala.
• Raven attacked one of the new bugs, and Dortho moved to attack as well.
• Dortho wounded the bug with her blade and Glub killed the same bug with a zap.
• The remaining bugs wounded Nala and moved away, and Raven killed one of the bugs with her blaster, and Dortho killed the remaining bug by squishing it.
• Nala healed from her mortal wound.

After the battle, Glub examined the dead insects, noting they were ant-like and about a foot long. The group discussed whether to wait for the centipede or to hide and let it pass. They decided to hide and observe.

• Glub used her sensory stalks to watch the centipede. It was observed eating the dead insects.
• The centipede passed by without noticing them, and the group decided to rest.
• During the rest, they discussed their skills and decided on specialisations, using their experience to level up.
  • Nala chose to become a munitionist.
  • Dortho chose to become a second stage defender.
  • Raven levelled up as an assassin.
  • Glub chose to be a medic technician.

The session ended with the group planning to continue their exploration in the next session. A mysterious blue alien appeared in their chat, but they decided to investigate that next time.

This summarizes the key events of the third night's session.

So, not completely accurate, but got the general points of the night. I think it missed one battle, and guessed the date wrong. Getting all that from listening to a recording is pretty impressive.

February 14, 2025 - Newly Minted Clerics

The group was startled by the sudden appearance of a blue alien who says "Hello". She says she is there to help the group choose their cleric abilities and answer questions about their predicament. She clarifies that the group members are now clerics of the Goddess Mica and will receive a cleric ability each stage they advance. Each character can choose either a physical or mental type of ability. The blue alien warns that mental abilities will alter their brains somewhat. She does not know exactly what the abilities do but has their names.

The characters choose their cleric abilities:

• Dortho chooses "kangaroo", which will allow her to grow a pouch that can create weapons or equipment under 30 credits, requiring eating and five hours to create an object.
• Nala chooses "little shop of horrors," also known as "friends with plants." All patches will now work on Nala, and Nala can identify the one patch out of every six that works on everybody.
• Ravan chooses "every breath you take" aka stalker. It allows her to fixate on another being to know their location and see their surroundings.
• Glum chooses "multiverse of madness," allowing them to possess a corpse.

The blue alien is immaterial and cannot be touched. She doesn't know where to find food and water.

The group is in a tunnel that is widening out. They decide to continue towards the lights in the open area. Dortho notices a couple of the spitty bugs, but they don't appear hostile. Nala takes every death patch she can find from a purple plant, as none of them are death patches for her. Glub receives a death patch and a working patch from Nala to investigate but is unable to see any differences.

Finally seeing the end of the tunnel, the group sees an open area with rolling hills, debris, and a lake in the distance, blocked by a wall of debris.

Dortho spots four bugs, including one larger bug that is hidden. Using range to their advantage, the bugs are killed before any harm comes to the group. The large one was assassinated by Raven. Glum uses its newfound cleric ability to possess the dead bug and wear it as a bug suit.

The group emerges into an open area with a building, debris field, tower, and lake. Dortho notices a human and a trop in the tower watching them. Raven uses her cleric ability to track the trop and see the inside of the tower. The trop climbs down the tower and ignores attempts to communicate via comm. He says he burned out his communicator due to a virus spread through comms a couple of years ago that caused people to get dumber.

The trop says he and another person are guarding a spa, which is behind the tower. He offers admission to the spa in exchange for bug bodies, a bag of orange fruit, and killing some Vimren. The group decides to take the offer and heads towards a rectangle building in the opposite direction of the tower.

Approaching the building, the group was fired at by a hidden assailant. The group continued to take fire as they approached, but it seemed they were still out of accurate range of the attacker’s weapon. The game night ended with the group continuing to advance, but still over 100 meters away.

March 6, 2025 - Not even the younglings survived

As they approached the building, the group came across more accurate fire as they were now in range. Additionally, the single combatant was joined by two more, one of which seemed to be a sharpshooter. Once close enough, Dortho threw Nala to the base of the building. Raven used her cleric ability to track one of the enemies, getting a view of their movements.

Nala went inside and climbed up to where the enemy Vimren were converging. While Nala engaged them, Dortho and Raven continued in, while Glub’s bug was taken down by enemy fire. Soon, the Vimren were killed, though Nala took significant damage.

Exploring further, the group encountered a nest of Vimren children, waiting for the adults to come back. Nala went into a crazed rampage at this point and slaughtered them all. After the bloodshed, the group found the fruit plant they were looking for. Nala’s ‘friends with plants’ ability allowed her to transform the innards of the fruit into different materials including explosives.

Gathering the bodies and fruit in ad hoc sacks made from nearby hammocks, they started the trek back to the Spa.

March 14, 2025 - Bartering at the Spa

Following the events of the previous game night, Nala was described as very full, seemingly from eating Vimren younglings, and covered in blood. Glub was disassembling organic tissues to study them. Dortho had not yet finished growing her pouch.

The group discussed their current location, confirming they were in a room with a closed door, separate from where the Vimren babies were found. Glub scouted through holes in the building, observing the outside area. They noticed a buzzing sound near where Glub's possessed bug died. Raven also looked out an opening, seeing a flying creature with a laser rifle feeding on the dead bug.

An exchange occurred with the flying bug, which seemed obsessed with eyeballs. Nala attempted to lure it closer. They attempted to offer eyeballs from the Vimren they had killed. The flying bug showed interest but seemed suspicious of Raven and eventually flew away.

Raven attempted to use her cleric ability to acquire the bug but had not initially locked onto it. The group decided to proceed to the closed door at the other end of the building. Glub forced their way through the busted door and scouted the area beyond, noting another rectangular building, an orange plant, and two large, unarmed "dino dog" creatures. No purple plants were visible. Considering their injured state and the presence of the large creatures, the group decided to retreat inside and rest. Dortho's kangaroo pouch was expected to be ready in few hours. They healed during the rest.

Glub observed the flying bug again in the distance and then the figures in the tower. They discussed whether Raven could acquire the guard in the tower, establishing that direct line of sight was needed. Raven located a spot to observe the outside from the rear of the building.

Raven acquired the larger "dino dog" outside and attacked it with her blaster from a concealed position. She continued to fire at the creature, but the damage appeared negligible. The creature seemed to spot the origin of the attack and moved towards an entrance of the other building, out of sight.

The group decided to gather fruit from the orange plant outside. Nala and Dortho went out to collect the fruit while Glub and Raven prepared to defend the door. Nala collected four fruit and planned to transform some into holy water, acid, and napalm. Dortho also collected fruit. As the large creature reappeared, the group initiated a retreat back inside, closing the door. The creature bashed at the door but did not break through. The flying bug was observed by the lake, seemingly fishing.

The group then decided to head towards the tower to meet with the people guarding the spa. They travelled with the bodies of the Vimren. The flying bug noticed them, and the guards in the tower also became aware of their approach. Two different individuals, a Croc Major (Janet) and a Yiptak Trop (Roper), came down to greet them.

Janet inquired about the deal made with their sentries regarding access to the spa. The group confirmed the deal involved Vermin and fruit. They presented the remains of the Vimren, including the younglings. Nala coughed up a hairball as well. They also presented eight non-explosive orange fruits. Janet seemed disappointed by the quantity. The group clarified the nature of the remaining fruit, implying they were dangerous.

Janet offered access to the spa for one day in exchange for the fruit and bodies. Dortho accepted the terms. Janet warned them about patches from the plants. She directed them to drop off the fruit and corpses in the kitchen and suggested they could hang out in the town hall. Janet identified herself as the acting mayor. Roper would escort the group while they were there. She then led them towards the spa area, explaining that it offered a virtual paradise for paying customers. She showed them individuals unconscious and connected to a system, some of whom were used to grow patches. They arrived at an area with a bar and tables, seemingly deserted. Janet then left while Roper stayed with the group.

In the kitchen, a chef collected the eight fruit and the Vimren remains. Dortho, feeling hungry from growing the pouch, inquired about food and credits. They negotiated for food in exchange for their service of clearing the Vimren nest. Dortho eventually received a burger.

The group then listened in on Janet who was being tracked by Raven. She went to an office and later made rounds, checking guard posts. She was observed talking to the human and the trop from the tower, discussing the group's survivability and the "bad fruit." Janet mentioned the possibility of them being demons the cultists had warned about.

Back in the town hall, Dortho inquired about religious items, leading to a discussion about cultists who believed in demons and thought they could identify them by seeing if limbs could regrow. The group briefly considered testing this theory later.

Dortho then focused on utilizing her kangaroo pouch, which could create items costing 30 credits or less. They reviewed potential items, considering weapons, tools, and medical supplies. Glub mentioned needing three more days of study to advance a stage of biologist. They then discussed the remaining fruit and their potential uses, including the two holy water fruits. Dortho considered creating a scope or tactical scanner for Raven.

One of the guards from the tower, the human one, came to speak with the group, leading to a somewhat distrustful exchange, particularly from Nala. Dortho mentioned being hungry and without credits. The human guard gave Dortho two metallic circular discs, worth 10 credits each, explaining their ad-hoc currency system. The group discussed the value of the coins and decided Dortho would hold onto the 20 credits.

The human guard inquired about the group's survival, and Nala gave a somewhat exaggerated and untruthful account of their encounters. The Roper remained unconvinced.

March 28, 2025 - Side Quest

The acting mayor (Janet) visited the group again, seeming more friendly and offering a rough map of settlements in the area, including North and South Ekanite, Spinel, Nosean, Galax, and the "three T's": Trona, Tetan, and Tin. She mentioned potential dangers like other refugees and creatures. The group inquired about demons and cultists, learning that demons are considered a boogeyman by some and that cultists often wear cowls or armbands and may be missing body parts as a sign they are not demons.

Before leaving the bar area of the spa, a human named Chrissy approached the group. She requested blood samples for a study on survivability and then offered a side mission to retrieve equipment, specifically a flare rifle, from a fallen comrade who died in the debris zone past the lake. She mentioned a passive giant grasshopper bug in the area.

Leaving the spa, they encountered three spitty bugs. Raven sniped one, and Nala and Glub attacked the others, causing them to retreat. As they continued towards the location of Chrissy's friend, a laser blast from a distance hit Dortho, inflicting a mortal wound. The attacker was identified as the flying bug obsessed with eyeballs, last seen near the lake, approximately 400 meters away.

The group took cover, and the flying bug remained in the distance. They attempted to close the distance, moving cover to cover. The flying bug reappeared briefly before flying towards the lake.

The group then proceeded towards the assassinated bug that Glub intended to possess. Two spitty bugs were near the corpse. Glub possesses the dead spitty bug, but it needed to be healed first. Nala used a napalm fruit to kill a bitey bug in the vicinity, startling the remaining spitty bugs who fled.

The group discussed carrying the dead spitty bug for Glub to possess later, since it lacked manipulating appendages for self-healing. Raven decided to maintain focus on tracking the eyeball-obsessed bug. The group continued to sneak along the wall, with Glub withdrawing from the unpossessed bug for the time being.

April 3, 2025 - Fruit go BOOM

Continuing their quest, the group encountered another large centipede insect, a biped sentient insectizoid named Ben (short for Benfulagazi), and the two lizard creatures they had encountered during the vimren slaughter.

The centipede was not engaged and given a wide berth.

Ben was less than friendly but didn’t become violent. One interesting bit of information came when he said he was from Ekanite, but obviously not South Ekanite due to his size.

Nala was able to obtain some more fruit, and then the battle with the lizards began. Fortunately, the lizards had to run up to engage them and while that happened, Nala made good use of her fruit-grenades to wear them down. One was brought down and the other wasn’t able to land a bite on Dortho. Nala ended the fight by using a grenade on both Dortho and the lizard to finish off the lizard.

Another centipede came in and ate one of the lizards while the group took the other and waited for the centipede to go away. Glub fixed up the dead lizard and Dortho, and then possessed the lizard.

The eye-sucker is still in the vicinity.

April 11, 2025 - Zombie Apocalypse

Continuing to their target, the group got momentarily sidetracked by a giant moss plant trying to lure them to their deaths. It was obvious, and the team would have embarrassed themselves if they fell for it. The plant was punished with napalm and acid and then the group continued.

The eye-sucker was still flying around, and there was also a giant grasshopper in the vicinity. Fortunately, it seemed docile.

Finally, they found the slain combatants from Spa, with the coveted Flare Rifle. It briefly looked like one of them was still alive, as it was slowly crawling along the ground. But no, they were all mobile and quickly rose to attack! Zombies!

There is a type of bug that burrows into a dead body, reanimating it. After the body heals, it becomes active and violent, attempting to create more bodies for other bugs to inhabit.

After defeating the zombies and claiming their gear, the group gained a stage and more cleric abilities.

• Dortho – gained another stage of Defender and doubled up on the Kangaroo cleric ability.
• Nala – gained another stage of Stiker and chose the Rainbow cleric ability.
• Raven – gained another stage of Assassin and chose the Reader cleric ability.
• Glub – gained another stage of Medic and chose the Swolen Head cleric ability. This allowed for hypernormal intelligence which made finishing the stage of biologist trivial. Glub gained a stage of biologist with Athlete as the cleric ability.

April 17, 2025 - Messing with the Eyeball Sucker

RIP Eyeball Sucker. It was followed to it's lair and assassinated through a window.

Team trying to decide if to go to North Ekanite or to bypass it and head north through the path the blue alien pointed out with a beacon.

April 25, 2025 - Beware The Mob

Went to North Ekanite and ended up in a bar. There were a bunch of fellow prisoners that had went underground the more obvious way. An annoying takolee outed them to the rest of the bar and accused them of being cops. While the group chatted with a human, the takolee riled up the other prisoners to attack the 'cops'. Meanwhile, the rest of the bar took bets. The mob attacked and were slowly taken down.

At one point, Nala used a napalm fruit to set a massetin's head on fire. Glub contributed by dosing a bunch with stolen booze.

The only survivors were the takollee and a sandarak. The sandarak attempted to leave, but was blocked by the bouncer. Both survivors hid, but the takolee was being tracked by Raven.

May 1, 2025 - Eye Sucker had a reputation

Two survivors of the massacre tried to hide.  The sandarak was easily spotted, and the takolee was being tracked by Raven.  There was much begging for their lives and weak justifications for their actions were provided.  They were mocked mercilessly.  Meanwhile, the human they were talking with earlier put on his cowl revealing himself as a cultist.

Raven started trying to kill the takolee.  The sandarak cowered.

Suddenly there was a knock at the bar door and the bouncer let in a zygroten combatant that was missing his eyes - apparently a prior victim of the eye sucker that Glub now inhabited.  He was gleeful that the eye sucker wandered into an enclosed space.  

The zygroten shot at Glub while Raven shot at the takolee.  The takolee had little options but to beg for his life and avoid being shot, but eventually he was assassinated.  Glub managed to turn the tables on the zygroten and succeeded in attacking him hand to hand and then tampering with him to be paralyzed.

Meanwhile, a second combatant (only missing one eye) came in to participate in the revenge against the eye sucker.  Glub decided to leave his puppet and inserted himself into the paralyzed zygroten instead.  As the zygroten was still conscious, he was deeply disturbed by this.

A bunch of weird discourse followed and Glub ended up leaving the paralyzed zygroten.  Dortho paid the bartender for stolen booze.  The cultist who was trying to talk to them was ignored.  Finally the group left the bar and headed north out of the city.  There were two paths north and the group chose the path that didn't lead them past Nosel that they learned was the home of the cultists.  They travelled a short distance before noticing a large bug in their path and decided to hide for a while so Dortho could heal.  Meanwhile, Raven had used her tracking ability on the cultist at the bar so she could keep tabs on him and listen in.

Nala cut off a toe to determine the group's healing abilities.

Interlude

Cultist: "Well... that happened"

Sandarak: "How am I still alive?"

Ben: "So close..."

Cultist: "What was so close?"

Ben: "I bet that the new new guys would kill all of the old new guys.  The damn sandarak survived."

Sandarak: "I'm standing right here."

Ben: "Whatever."

Paralyzed Zygroten: "..."

One-eyed Crocaloid: "I think we need a medic."

Cultist: "So... I'm guessing one of them was a mentalist."

Bartender: "Aren't you going to freak out about them being demons?"

Cultist: "Normally... but I'm trying not to jump to conclusions."

Bartender: "That's... out of character."

Cultist: "<shrugs>"

[ time passes ]

Orbodun comes into the bar and surveys the carnage.

Mayor Of North Ekanite: "Looks like I missed a fight."

Bartender: "That's ok, got it recorded."

Bartender extracts a camera/computer system, attaches a screen and shows the mayor what happened.

MONE visibly annoyed:  "So, we got a medic and a mix of combatants, and nobody thought to recruit them?" 

Bartender: "They left in a hurry."

Cultist about to say something but MONE glares at him into silence.

Bouncer: "Don't forget they had a grenade."

MONE: "Oh, a munitionist too.  You people realize the southies are probably going to attack soon?  Last time that happened, it was not pretty.  We could use the help."

Ben: "How do you know they're not spies?"

MONE: "The takolee seemed to be convinced they were new"

Ben: "Takolee could have been a spy too."

MONE: "Bah!  If you're worried, you can help me find them before they get themselves killed.  Come on.  You too." he points at the one-eyed crocaloid.

The three leave the bar.

May 9, 2025 - Burn, baby, burn

The large bug ahead of them turned out to have a built in flame thrower.  :) It will make an interesting host for Glub.

Mayor and company caught up and tried talking the group into heading back to North Ekanite, but were not convincing.

May 15, 2025 - To the crater

While healing and growing gear, Raven observed the cultist approaching. They tried to convince the cultist to approach, but he was kind of spooked. They chatted about the history of the cultists.

An unknown time ago, the demons emerged in the area. These beings amassed extreme abilities and power. They were corrupted by these abilities and became a force for evil unparalleled by any. (On a planet full of prisoners, that's saying something). Eventually they were defeated by the forbearers of the cultists. Unfortunately, a few years later, the 'stupid plague' ravaged the population making details of the evil ones lost to history.

There's one person located in the pit that it's rumored was alive at the time and instrumental in the demon's downfall. He doesn't talk much and likes to dismember people he comes across. The cultists call him the 'original cultist'. It's recommended that if he shoots you, that you don't respond and just leave whatever limb was severed behind.

Eventually fear drove the cultist away and the group headed further north to an outpost overlooking a large crater. They chatted with the lookouts at the outpost who were there to spot any groups coming from Spinel. Then they headed down into the crater.

Soon they were fighting a pack of lizard dogs. Fortunately Dortho had just made Nala an 8D grenade.

May 23, 2025 - Who let the dogs out?

The fight with the lizard dogs was exciting in a snarly, bitey, sort of way. The group prevailed, but the ruckus attracted some zombies, baby fire bugs, and a menacing giant centipede.

Run away, run away!

June 12, 2025ish - Travelling South

Arriving at the top of the crater, the lone guard pointed out the 20 approaching cultists riding centipedes heading their way. Observing them seemed to indicate there were many mentalists among them.

Our gallant heroes made their way back towards North Ekanite but decided they sucked so used the bypass route that Blue had pointed out previously. Blue also mentioned she knew another shortcut that would bypass much of South Ekanite so they planned to head that way. Bugs were fought, but didn’t pose much of a threat. Near the south bypass, Glub was able to tamper control over a large centipede that impeded their movement. Unfortunately, the bugs Glub had claimed were unable to fit through the bypass so were left behind. Dortho was able to fit, but just barely.

The bypass exited into an ancient apartment, designed for large beings. They seemed very intact compared to other areas explored, explaining the draw of large people to South Ekanite.

An equidon entered, confused by where the group came from. He attempted to gleen some information, but the group ignored him and left. The equidon followed briefly before going into his apartment and calling for help. Some grotens came to investigate, but Dortho (with everyone riding on him) was able to sneak past. As they were approaching the exit an alarm seemed to activate. Fortunately Dortho was able to pass as a citizen briefly and they headed out and further south.

Some guards figured out something was amiss with Dortho so commanded him to stop, first verbally, then with blasters. Despite some harm, Dortho was able to flee into the debris field south of South Ekanite.

June 20, 2025 - Tree God?

The grouped headed south into the debris field, trying to find a way to the next town. They encountered many bugs that required dealing with, but were assumed to be background noise at this point. They eventually came across a huge glowing tree. It generated a zone where many of the group's cleric abilities were nullified. It claimed to also be a god, and warned them not to trust Mica. It offered them a way to find Mica if they did something noble and heroic.

Continuing on, they found a path to a more travelled road, but had to kill some bandits to get there.

July 4, 2025 - Pond Scum & Snake Bugs

On the way to Galax they encountered an open area filled with a pink pond, and many sneaky snake bugs. Many baby-snakes were killed horribly while their parents watched in horror from the safety of the nearby caves. Actually, the parents didn't care. The baby snakes weren't considered real children until they were at least two meters long. The pond turned out to be sentient and telepathic and exchanged some fortune telling for spare gear which it ate.

The question posed to the pond was 'How can we escape this planet'. Two possibilities were put forth: "In chains", "Due to someone famous".

July 10, 2025 - Galax

They continued on to Galax and hung out in a bar. The bartender was friendly and the beer was free. There was a group of more recent prisoners.

A cultist was pointed out - he was very drunk and didn't pay any attention to anything. Just in case, Glub went and tampered him unconscious. He was then robbed by one of the newcomers.

August 1, 2025 - Still Galax

A recent arrival seemed to recognize Dortho, so Raven read his mind. Seems there was some controversy regarding Dortho's escape and there were rumours Jimmy Deathbringer was going to travel to the prison planet to hunt him down. Gave new possibilities to the 'Due to someone famous' prescience.

The cultist returned to the bar and was chatted with. Seems the cultists know where they are.

Fight with some ambush snake-bugs! Seems citizens of Galax have been going missing lately.

August 2025 - Unreasonable Cultists

Enroute back north, the Boomers (yes, I'm calling you Boomers now) encountered a cultist death squad. The two groups mostly knew about each other, both from Raven tracking OG cultist, and from the trop cultist's prior reporting. The battle didn't go well for the cultists, one was killed, one dropped and the other two grabbed their fallen comrades and ran away.

-

They're able to revive the human, but the takolee didn't survive. They seem to be arguing telepathically while they head back towards South Ekanite.

Blue Alien is looking grumpy, with maybe a touch of fear. Something's bugging her.

August 29, 2025 - Abandoned By The Goddess

After defeating the cultist, the group achieved 5th stage. oooo, aaaah. However no new cleric powers manifested. Blue indicated that she felt through her empathic link to Mica that Mica was frustrated and angry. Despite this, the group is very powerful as a sniper, tank, striker/sapper, and biotech, all seasoned.

They went back to the bar at Galax and chatted with the one-eyed cultist. Then Nala noticed ten vimren in the bar and had an 'episode'. A decision was made to head further south. On the way out of town, they rescued three Galax citizens from the spider-snakes.

In the meantime, Raven was still tracking the original cultist and his group as they headed back through Ekanite.

Interlude

The original cultist split off from the other three and headed to the bar in North Ekanite. As he was entering the bar, four other beings were exiting. There was a human, a masopter, a fikliess, and an oversized yiptak. There were a few things of note.

• All are seasoned, though you think the fikliess is a non-combatant. He's riding on the yiptak.
• Their gear is 'shiny'. It all looks new and customized.
• Both the human and maspoter have long range laser rifles. The yiptak has a laser rifle, two assault blasters, and a sear gun. Everyone has shields, move boots, and patch robots.
• They're being followed by a bunch of small flying robots with large sensors.

Cultists passes them by and heads to the bartender.

"Who the hell were they?"

"Beats me, but they were looking for your felinid friend."

"... you mean the big one?"

"Yup."

"What is it with these guys? So you told them to head south I assume."

"Yup. Traded a shield for the info."

"Nice."

"Yeah, but they might not be headed south. Also told them the legend about the 'original cultist' in the pit. That seemed to intrigue them."

"Really? Think they're tough enough to take it out?"

"Doubt it. I bet they come back with missing limbs."

September 4, 2025 - Big Bada Boom

Heading south! After travelling a while, they came to a fork in the road. One direction continued south and the other curved upwards to the surface. There was a large fire-bug in their way, and a large beetle close by. Beyond that, they could see another group waiting for the bugs to go away so they could head north.

The firebug had recently roasted most of the other bugs in the region and was happily munching on them. Glub animated one of the corpses as a distraction and the battle began with the firebug roasting it. Raven was able to assassinate some limbs, slowing it down and Dortho was able to evade most of the flame thrower attacks. The other group joined in, but wasn't able to do much harm to the intermediate scale beast.

The large beetle had a number of other humanoid bugs on it and they joined the fray, attacking both the group and the firebug. The large beetle seemed to have a stockpile of grenades to use.

The firebug was taken down and the group focused on the grenade throwers. The battle ended when Raven assassinated the large beetle. It had been designed to detonate it's grenade payload upon death. It's explosion also caused the remaining flammable material in the firebug to explode as well. The group took heavy damage but survived. The rest of the humanoid bugs died in the explosion.

The other group down the tunnel advanced to offer assistance. We'll see if Nala can resist attacking the vimren among them. Mwa ha ha...

September 12, 2025 - Next town

On the way south, Nala was able to replenish her supply of patches and fruit grenades.  They passed a typical guard position and entered Topaz, heading directly to the main bar in the town.

In the bar, two people were noticed.  One was Bax, the focus of Raven's long lost backstory.  He appeared to be working as a bouncer.  The second was a cultist.

Conversations were had by the group and the bartender and the cultist.  The cultist eventually tried some mentalist shenanigans, but it didn't go well.  He was disabled by Glub... and carried away... and eaten.

Blue (aka Smurfette) was still very sad.

Raven lost her tracking on the OG cultist since he died.  Seems South Ekanite and the cultists teamed up to attack North Ekanite.  The results are unknown. Raven switched her tracking to Bax.