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 Soon the ship you are on will hover above the surface and the shield keeping you in the hold will be withdrawn allowing you to plummet to the surface to accept your fate.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
• Kangaroo - grows a pouch that can create any item of gear that costs 30 credits or less. Takes five hours and requires food.
• Rainbow
• 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

• Reading
• Riting
• Rithmatic
• Every Breath You Take - can focus on someone and track them.
• Multiverse of Madness - can posses a corpse.
• Swollen Head

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.