CR Donjon & Cie (en VO) [MAJ 07/12]

[Sammael99]

More Employees

Banult the Reckless Dwarf. Banult is a dour dwarf who rarely has consideration for his own safety as long as the thrill of the action is there. He is trained in combat (Martial Training D8) and sturdy (2HD).

Banult shares a love of exploration with Quinlan the Quartermaster (+) but Zyylla is no fan of his because his recklessness has caused some problems in the past (-).

Rodriguez is a Go-Getting Skeleton. He's a company man through and through, and relishes the opportunity for work for the greater good of Dungeon, Inc. He has found out that he can control his bones in an unusual way which grants him the special training of Disattachment: it allow him to crumble into a pile of bones or detach his skull and leave it somewhere. All senses except touch are linked to where the skull is. He's also tougher than your standard skeleton (2HD).

Rodriguez is a good friend of Sir Robert the Zombie. It makes sense since they were raised together (+). On the other hand Irma has no love for him because he has a reputation of annotating inaccurate maps (-).

[Sammael99]

Mission #2: Wrong Assessment

Following the completion of their mission, and particularly upon hearing how cleverly Gnorman got the metamorphosed magician to betray himself, Zyylla sponsored the gnome for Employee of the Month, and Gnorman was chosen by the board of directors. He leaves for a week of well-deserved rest in the upper levels of Dungeon, Inc. where (presumably) he'll be able to smooch to the important people in the company.

Meanwhile, it's more work for Ssservalax and Zolark. Following an unfortunate series of accidents amongst receivers, Zyylla reshuffles the teams around and adds Banult, a reckless dwarf and Rodriguez, a go-getting skeleton to the team. She calls the four of them in for an urgent mission.

- Marketing has set up this scheme a few years ago, she explains. They call it 'proactive advertising' and a number of client areas work this way. In this case, it's the Lair of the Reptile God. It's an area with some big lizardy monster that Troglodyte residents worship. People from advertising regularly set up teams to go to the Outside and bring back some villagers for 'sacrifice' to the Reptile God. That way, adventurers are continually attracted to that area.

- Very clever, Rodrigues interjects.

- Anyway, Zyylla says, a group of four adventurers have entered the area. Now this is an area suited for clients of intermediary power levels, so I normally wouldn't send you there. But supervision tells us that these clients are actually novices. Chances are they will be wiped out by whatever the level has to offer to them. Still, you need to make sure they're done for, and possibly get rid of a survivor if there is one.
- Ssso, kill them? Ssservalax asks.
- Yes, kill them, of course. Oh, and before you go: it has come to my attention that some receivers in my teams may have been keeping some loot on the side for their own enrichment. I don't need to stress that this is not only forbidden by company policy, it's a dangerous path to tread on. Those that do this will be Warned, and believe me, you do not want to be Warned.

Zyylla is not looking at anyone specifically, but tension can be felt in the air. She finally breaks it by saying:

- So, who will be Mission Chief ?

Zolark, who doesn't want to attract any further attention following Zyylla's tirade about pilfering doesn't put his hand up.

- If no one else minds, it would be a great honour for me to take the mantle of Chief for this mission, Rodriguez says. I will do my utmost to steer the team in the right direction!

- Good, that's done then. Off you go to see Irma.

The small band goes to meet the cartographer. She hands them the map of the Lair of the Reptile God and stresses repeatedly, looking Rodriguez in the eye sockets, that the map should come back in the exact state that it's been given in.

- You have a reputation, Boney, and I don't like those that think themselves cartographers when they're not.



Then they go to see Quinlan for gear. Ssservalax is handed a pristine musket and a cutless but only a buckler to protect herself. Rodriguez' pack holds a rapier, a bola and a scale mail armor. Banult is given a massive war flail, some dueling pistols and a light leather tunic. Zolark ends up with a dagger, a throwing axe and the same oversized helmet he had last time.

- Seriously, he asks Quinlan with exasperated eyes.
- Sorry, little buddy, the Minotaur responds.

After a short elevator ride, the four find themselves at the entrance of the Lair of the Reptile God.

- Now Team, Rodriguez says. I'm sure we'll do great work here, and I want us to keep a positive attitude at all times. Lets stay on our toe-bones and everything will be fine. Banult, I think you should go first, but please keep cool-headed.

Banult lights a lantern that was in his pack, and they enter the Lair. They explore the first corridor, and a short flight of stairs going down leads them to a flooded area with about a foot of water everywhere. Looking at their map, they decide to first eliminate the rooms on their left in order to make sure the clients, dead or alive, are not there. The room marked with a trapped statue looks empty, so they avoid getting any closer. Towards the end of the corridor, they find two changing rooms with adept's robes. The robes are brown with ornements at the bottom that look like Troglodyte speech.

- It is our sacred script, Ssservalax says, but it's gibberish. They have just ssstuck random words together. It makesss no sssense...
- OK, team, Zolark points out that in case we meet the resident troglodytes, we will need a cover story. I suggest that myself, Zolark and Banult put some robes on. That way we can be penitents that Ssservalax has recruited if we should meet the locals.

They find appropriate sized robes, and don them on. They also take some extra cords tying the robes in case they need something akin to rope (which was not in any of their packs). Then they make their way back towards the entrance to explore the other branch of the complex. They are wading through water and while they aim for quiet, it's not that easy to achieve.

As they near the area where the albino alligator dwells, discussions start again about who should go check that the beast hasn't eaten one or more adventurers. Finally, Rodriguez uses his prerogatives as Mission Chief:
- I'm going to make a decision. Banult, you go and check the alligator room.

Banult shrugs and goes. He advances prudently to the edge of the room and notices the headless body of a white alligator floating in the (deepers) basin in the room. He calls in the others.

- Maybe it's eaten a client that has sunk to the bottom ? Zolark asks.
- Well, if that's the case, we can always go check once we know one of them isn't accounted for. Agreed?

So they continue on towards the location marked as Vicious Pit Trap on their map.

- It's got two skulls on the map, so it must be pretty deadly. Let's all be careful here.

Before they head down the corridor, the search and find the mechanism that opens the secret door to the Oars and Boots cabinet. They pick a couple of oars, thinking it might help them with the pit trap.

After having closed the secret passage again, they start tapping the floor in front of them. Quickly they realize that there's a grate on the floor where the pit trap should be. Ssservalax even feels like something crunched when she pressed the oar handle on the grate. Rodriguez decides to have a look.

The skeleton pushes his head underwater while Banult lights the lantern above him. Rodriguez sees that there is indeed a sturdy metal grate, and two hands are gripping it from below. He emerges to explain this to the others.

- I remember this! Zolark says. I was once chatting with Geraldine, you know the dwarven gal from Upkeep. I asked her about some of the nasty traps they had to handle and she told me about this one: it's underwater, and by default the pit is open. Someone steps into it and momentum and weight carries them to the bottom, not too far. There's a pressure plate there, and when pressed it slams the pit shut underwater, so they basically drown.
- Oooh, that is vicious... Banult says admiringly.
- Anyway, I know how to open it again. We need to collect the body, or rather its belongings, right?
- Indeed.
- Geraldine told me that for this kind of trap there's usually a lever a few meters before, hidden under the water.

Zolark finds the lever hidden behind a shifting brick underwater. He actions it and Rodriguez goes into the pit to fish the body up. It looks freshly dead with a terrorized look on its face. It's wearing a light armor, a rapier and miscellaneous tools in a satchel.

- Probably a thief, Rodriguez says.
- You're supposed to say Rogue, these days, Zolark mentions.
- Who cares, technically all our clients are thiefs.

Zolark suggests that they should keep the pit trap closed and tie one of the robe cords to the lever so that if they need to they can run past the pit and grab the cord to open it up.

- Excellent plan, Rodriguez says. Love the energy, we're being creative, it's awesome!

Having executed on Zolark's plan, they continue down the corridor which opens into a massive cave. There are dozens of natural pillars over the water which clearly gets deeper. There's a ledge however on which the receivers are now standing. The air reeks, a smell not unlike burnt fish. All around them, floating in the shallow water are charred corpses of troglodytes. Several pillars are black with soot.

"That feels like some pretty powerful magic for novice clients", Zolark thinks, but he doesn't say anything.

Ssservalax looks mildly put off at the massacre of her brethren, but is not excessively outraged. After all, she made a radically different life choice and to her these were mostly bumpkins...

Rodriguez looks at the map and says:

- We should first secure those side doors leading to the Treasure of the Troglodytes.

They head down in that direction, trying to minimise sloshing noises. Where the map indicates that there's a boat, they indeed find a small skiff. They also notice that there must have been a second one moored there, but the rope has been slashed and the boat is no longer there.

- They must have gone towards the end of the cave, maybe aiming for the Eggs, Rodriguez states.
- Should we follow them there? Zolark asks.
- Does anyone know how to row? Rodriguez asks in response.
- I think I can manage that, Banult says. I went cave exploring with my pal Jack the Wandered from Exploration a few times and he let me row.

Indeed, the strong dwarf's strokes soon get them going, navigating in between the pillars. After a while however, Ssservalax spots some shifting lights in the distance and hear some voices speaking in common.

- Be wary, Sir Dramman, as there may yet be more of these slimy creatures around.

Ssservalax looks shocked and turns to Banult to quietly say to him:

- We're not slimy you know. That's actually a misconception!

Looking afar, Zolark spots three men on a skiff. A man in armor is rowing, his hair are cut short and his face is severe looking. A man is standing besides him holding a torch. He is also wearing armor and a mace hangs to his belt. Finally, there's a lithe silhouette in the shadows sitting at the back of the skiff.

Rodriguez has a moment of indecision. He wonders what to do now, when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a small bat appears and starts fluttering around him. It looks like it's got a tiny message tied to one of its legs. Rodriguez puts his hand out and the bat lands. He quickly unties the message. It reads:

"Supervision has made a wrong assessment of the situation. These are not novice clients. Try to stall them for as long as possible, we are sending in reinforcements."

- Uh oh... the skeleton whispers.

As Rodriguez turns around, he notices that Ssservalax has quietly slid into the water, swimming towards the other skiff. Zolark has grabbed her musket and is carefully aiming it at the man holding the torch.

- Pulls a little to the left, he keeps muttering. Quinlan showed you how to use one of these last time. Aim... Cock...

A ferocious detonation suddenly fills the air in the cavern. Zolark's shot hits the client square in the chest, and he falls back in the skiff, dangerously rocking it. The goblin immediately starts reloading the musket.

- Master Rezzan, prepare the artillery! the knight yells as he turns around towards his fallen companion.
- The artillery is always prepared! a soft voice responds.

The robed figure at the back of the boat stands up and arcane chanting follows. Suddenly, a flame erupts from Master Rezzan's hand and blooms into a cloud of fire that engulfs the boat the receivers are on. All three are burnt pretty bad although luckily the pillars and the lack of a good line of sight has diminished the impact of the fireball.

That's when Zolark decides he'd rather not stay around for the next piece of artillery. He remembers how Craicg from Inner Relations told him about the Swamp Goblins and their natural ease with swimming. Taking heart from this he dives into the water.

Meanwhile, Ssservalax has slithered very close to where the client's skiff is. The knight seems to be putting his hands on the shoulders of the wounded man, and a while light shines briefly. The man stands back up, and takes a medallion from under his shirt. A bright halo of light suddenly bathes the entire cavern.

Ssservalax recalls a conversation with Borisss, a kuo-toan colleague from reception about underground water currents. He told her that just outside the main channels in underground lakes there are often jagged rocks just under the surface. She dives, then gives the skiff a good push, but her strength is not enough to really change the course of the embarcation.

However, the nudge attracted the attention of the knight who draws his sword, standing, and prepares to slash at the troglodyte. Ssservalax dives, remembering her times playing hide and seek in the caves with Bronigren, the gnome from Exploration who loves spelunking. She uses the reflections on the stalagmites and those of her own scales to confuse the Paladin, and his sword just slashes the water.

Rodriguez grabs the loaded musket and aims it at the wizard. Meanwhile Banult gives their skiff a push from one of the natural pillars, and they start sliding towards the client's skiff. Rodriguez remembers a Flumph hunting party that he got invited to by Smythyngton, the Death Knight from Patron Relations. He has shot back then, but not from a moving boat. He fires, but the shot goes wide.

Banult is struggling with the oars and cannot seem to steer the boat. The wizard starts chanting again and three streaks of purple erupt from the robed silhouette's fingers and fly to Ssservalax (undrwater), Banult and Rodriguez. The arcane missiles hit them in the chest and burn with an unnatural light.

Zolark emerges on a rock outcropping south of the cave. He slides onto the rocks. The clients have not seen him, but he's quite far. Still, he takes his throwing axe out of his pack and tries to throw it at the Paladin. He fails, and the axe sinks quietly into the lake.

Rodriguez decides that there's no point in standing on the boat like a sitting duck so he lets himself sink into the lake. Banult meanwhile gets annoyed at the oars. He gives a good kick on one of the pillers and his boat glides over the water towards the other boat. He quickly rolls into a ball at the front of the boat in the hope that they will not see him.

Zolark sees what is happening, and decides to attract the attention to him (despite the risk to his own health).

- You are filthier than the excrements of a leprous pig! You stink worse than a goblin's drunken vomit! Your mother was a hairless ape and your father a lecherous troll! You're no knight in shining armour! You're just a sanctimonius fleshbag of sputum wrapped in tin!

The Paladin tries to stay cool at this avalanche of vile insults, but Zolark manages to distract him long enough that he doesn't see Banult stand at the front of his skiff, war flail in hand. At the last moment, the knight realises he is being attacked, and he manages to dodge at the cost of being severely destabilised. Banult instead focuses his attention on the wizard, who is chanting again, and this time hits him in the back with the flail, knocking him off the boat and in the water.

Ssservalax wastes no time and, cutlass in hand, starts slashing at the elf (for it is an elf) who struggles to stay afloat. Zolark can only look at the scene remotely and without any idea what he can do to help. Rodriguez finally emerges on the shallow end where the burnt troglodytes lay. He turns around and shouts encouragements. "Love the energy guys! Keep at it!" But he also doesn't know what to do.

Banult is facing the Paladin (who has finally recovered his balance) and the other man who looks decidedly like a priest. In fact his hand is now glowing with a golden night, and the dwarf decides he'd rather not touch that hand. So instead, being reckless, he jumps at the other boat and swings his flail as hard as he can at a precise spot he knows is weak: Jon from upkeep told him a while ago that Dungeon, Inc. went cheap on the boat purchases, and all the skiffs in the Dungeon have a structural defect there. The bottom of the boat blows apart and the skiff starts to sink. The paladin loses his balance again and falls in the water. The cleric tries to touch Banult with his luminous hand, but the dwarf is having none of it and evades.

Ssservalax realises that she's not efficient enough slashing at the wizard, so she grabs him by the ankle and starts pulling him down. When he sees that, Rodriguez decides he would be more useful underwater helping her than pep talking from the short. He enters the water again.

The paladin swims to the Banult's skiff just as the client's skiff goes entirely underwater. The dwarf face the choice of either jumping on the safe skiff and avoiding the cleric's hand, or slamming his flail at the Paladin but risk being touched by the cleric. He decides for neither, and with a mad laugh, he jumps and slams his flail into the intact boat. With a big hole in the middle, the boat starts to sink. The Paladin is plunged into the water again and this time the cleric follows suit.

Banult then swims as fast as he can towards the short, with the Paladin hot on his heels. He now measures the advantage of having been handed a puny (but light) leather tunic by Quinlan, and he reaches the short ahead of the knight.

Ssservalax has finally managed to drown the wizard. She abandons the lifeless body and moves on to the priest who is trying to swim to short. As she reaches him from below, she is surprised to see Rodriguez who grins (or does he?) as he himself grabs the other ankle of the priest. The two of them make short work of the religious man. How fitting that he should die for the glory of the Reptile God, Ssservalax things.

Meanwhile, on short, Banult is waiting to face the Paladin, now well and truly enraged. He manages to land a blow on him, but the Paladin slashes him in return. He is clearly the superior fighter and while Banult had an advantage with the Paladin still half immersed, on solid ground he might not last long. That's when Zolark from the other side of the cave yells at him in Troglodytic language*:

- Go into the corridor and set up the trap by pulling on the cord!

Banult pretends to flee. The Paladin's sword is now illuminating the scene as the drowning Cleric's light fades.

- I will cut you to pieces, you evil halfman! the Paladin yells.

Banult runs down the corridor, sloshing in the thigh deep water, feeling the light of the sword on his back. He grabs the cord and keeps running. The grate that was closing the pit opens just as the Paladin is walking on it, and he falls straight down underwater. There's a noise of a mechanical slam underneath, and muffled yells for a few more instants, and then it's over.

Banult sits down, panting, as his companions slowly make their way back swimming (or in Rodriguez' case walking).

That's when the dwarf hears a noise coming from the entrance. Weary, he stands back up and grabs his flail firmly. His dark vision allows him to see a silhouette walking towards him cautiously with a long sword and a shield. A very deep voice then calls at him:

- Hey Banult, is that you? Is everybody OK?
- Yes, Sir Robert. We got them.
- Wow! Good job, man! the zombie says slapping the dwarf on the back.

They all meet Sir Robert of the Golden Lance in the corridor while they are stripping the four dead clients of their belongings.

- Thanks for coming to help us, Rodriguez says to the undead knight.
- Think nothing of it. When I heard you might be in trouble, I volunteered to come and help immediately while they put together a proper rescue team. I'm glad I wasn't needed.
- Well, you did notheless sssave the day, Sir Robert. I was growing quite faint with fear that we might never play draughtsss together again...⁠⁠⁠⁠
- Bla bla bla, Zolark mutters under his breath. He didn't "thave the thay". And that damn rotten do good pile of maggots is going to take credit for our hard work... again!

Rodriguez takes a minute to address his receiver colleagues.
- We are of course grateful to Sir Robert for his assistance, but most importantly I wanted to say that I was really proud of you. What we did today proves that the letters in TEAM do indeed spell Together Everyone Achieves More.
- Aaaarghl Zolark mutters. Kill me now.

* the PCs have all chosen to speak Troglodyte so that they would share a relatively obscure language to communicate when clients can hear. Well, except Toad, despite his name.

[Amaranthe]

Au as ou tu ne connaîtrais pas ces Strips... ils sont tout à fait dans le ton.
https://www.facebook.com/donjonservice/
 

[Sammael99]

Voilà, la mission est narrée dans son intégralité.

Inutile de vous dire que ça a été assez chaud, les personnages (deux de niveau 1 et deux de niveau 2) faisaient face à trois aventuriers de niveau 4. Quand ils ont vu les dégats de la boule de feu (miraculeusement minimisés par les trois personnages affectés) ils se sont dits qu'il fallait trouver autre chose que la confrontation directe.

Une partie très chouette.

Des avis sur le bouzin pour le moment ?

@Amaranthe en effet, principe similaire, par contre comme il n'y a jamais la fin des strips c'est frustrant. Casus n'est pas distribué à HK ;-)

[Sammael99]

Suite à ces deux premières séances, on va sans doute modifier quelque chose concernant les faveurs. Les faveurs ce sont cette mécanique qui permet aux receveurs d'obtenir un avantage sur un jet en se rappelant de quelques chose qu'un collègue leur aurait dit ou montré. J'essaie de les illustrer dans le CR.

Les faveurs sont matérialisées par un Dé de Risque, mécanique de Machiatto Monsters qui permet de gérer les ressources sans s'encombrer d'une comptabilité excessive. Un dR c'est un dé normal qui sur un résultat de 1-3 baisse d'un niveau. Un dR8 devient alors un dR6, un dR6 un dR4 et un dR4 disparait.

A la base, j'avais stipulé que pour chaque faveur utilisée, on devait créer un PNJ, mais comme la dernière partie l'a montrée, le risque c'est d'en créer trop d'un coup. Du coup, on va modifier ça en stipulant qu'on ne crée un PNJ que lorsque la faveur n'est pas perdue (que le dR ne fait pas 1-3 en d'autres termes.)

[Sammael99]

Curieux de savoir qui me lit. Je sais qu'en Anglais c'est moins accessible, mais je suis preneur de retours.

[nergaal]

Salut, je trouve vraiment le cr agréable à lire et le concept est vraiment plaisant avec ce qu'il faut d'humour.

Je trouve le principe des dès risque vraiment bien. Je vais aller me lire macchiato monster.

[Sammael99]

Salut, je trouve vraiment le cr agréable à lire et le concept est vraiment plaisant avec ce qu'il faut d'humour.

Je trouve le principe des dès risque vraiment bien. Je vais aller me lire macchiato monster.

Il faut lire MM, c'est vraiment ce que j'ai trouvé de mieux pour faire du Donjon sur le pouce, et en plus ça collait parfaitement avec mes objectifs de design sur Donjon & Cie.

Merci pour ton commentaire, je me sens moins seul ;-)

[Herlkin]

...je ne suis toujours pas à l'aise avec les Faveurs, dans leur introduction "roleplay" en jeu...(maintenant) si en plus faut inventer un PNJ avec chacune d'entre-elles, enfin avec chacune d'entre-elles qui ne sont pas "perdues"...(ça peut quand même faire facilement 3 ou 4 PNJ en plus, pour chaque PJ, non ?). Je trouvais que justement l'anonymat de la Faveur reflétait bien leur faible niveau...?
Et pourquoi pas limiter à seulement une ou deux par PJ (avec le PNJ qui va avec) et en acquérir avec l'expérience ?

[Sammael99]

Comme la plupart des PJs commencent avec des faveurs à dR4 les chances de les perdre sont quand même grandes.

Et puis là on essaie de jouer sur le long terme, avec une part accrue accordée aux relations au sein de l'entreprise.

On a pas eu trop de bol lors des deux premières séances parce qu'il a fallu à chaque fois créer des nouveaux persos, ce qui a du coup laissé peu de temps pour jouer des scènes de "machine à café". Jeudi prochain, on commence par ça.

Du coup, les PNJs créés vont être utilisés.

Mais plus généralement, on est en train de tester le bousin, si c'est pas gérable ça va vite se voir!

[Herlkin]

More often than not, the Employee of the Month is Sir Robert of the Golden Lance (but "please just call me Bob"). Sir Robert is a Likeable and SelflessZombie. He gets along well with Sservalax, and they often play draughts together (+). On the other hand, he believes that Zolark is up to no good (-) and Toad is jealous of him being 'in his spot' (-). 

J'ai hâte de savoir si et comment tu vas faire interagir cet "Employé du mois" qui me semble le plus "déjanté", de tous les personnages, malgré son air sympathique...

[Sammael99]

Normalement on commence ce soir par une partie "vie de l'entreprise". Il faut que je prépare un peu, mais pas avant d'avoir fini ce p*tain de rapport que je dois écrire pour le boulot. 

Je peux déjà te dire que Zolark s'est fixé un objectif (obtenir un manuel de nécromancie) visant à éliminer Sir Robert à terme en lui... rendant la vie! 

[Herlkin]

Et donc ?

[Sammael99]

Ah oui ben deux secondes !

[Sammael99]

Singing the Dungeon's Praise

(feat. Gnorman, Toad, Rodriguez)

A week amongst the bigwigs

• During his time as Employee of the Month, Gnorman is introduced to the upper levels: free food, lavish decor, important people.  
  
• Intimidated, he stays in his corner until Marzle, an affable Mind Flayer and Head of Living Resources - who only seems to read his mind superficially - introduces him to other important people. 
  
• Gnorman hits it off with Pratchett, the Head of Maintenance. He's a rowdy kobbold but also the Cantor of the Cult of Glord that Gnorman belongs to. They chat about Gnorman's clever inventions, and Pratchett invites him to The Shank, a restaurant where about any type of meat you might want to try is on offer. They then head to the Gobble Heads, a pinbowl alley that used to be called the Goblin's head until political correctness went mad (Pratchett's words).
  
• Finally, Gnorman heads out to Maglar's Emporium, a shop of mundane and magical curio where he spends hard earned gold to recharge his magical focus. 
  

A new mission

• The receivers are called in to receive a new mission briefing. Profiling has identified a good candidate for escape from the Dungeon. Unfortunately, said candidate has fallen into a pit and his companions are dead. The receivers are to go down there and rescue him and get him out of the Dungeon with valuables without him suspecting anything (of course). 
  
• Gnorman is named mission chief.
  
• Quinlan hands out equipment. Toad ends up with the same oversized helmet that Zolark had during the previous mission as well as a chicken in a cage.
  
• Irma seems embarassed when handing out the map to them. As well she should: the level apparently hasn't been surveyed in over 500 days. The level is called "The Demonist's Laboratory". 
  

On the way to the Demonist's

• Before they reach the elevator, the group is approached by an affable halfling by the name of Hamlin. Hamlin works in Marketing and would like a favour from the receivers. He and his companion occasionally head out to The Demonist's Laboratory for a bit of horizontal sports "if you see what I mean". 
  
• Last time they were there his companion lost her bracelet during their 'activities' and she's disconsolate about it. It's not very valuable, but it's a family heirloom or something. Now that there's management attention on that level, Hamlin doesn't dare go to collect it himself and would like the receivers to do it. 
  
• In exchange for a favour to each of them, the receivers agree. 
  
• On the elevating platform ride down, the platform stops unexpectedly. The doors open and a wave of heat hits the receivers. A few employees from maintenance enter the elevating platform, covered in soot and singed. They're exhausted and quickly collapse on the floor. The receivers only manage to get from them that two or three levels are ablaze and teams are working around the clock to try to contain and eliminate the fire. 
  

The Demonist's Laboratory

• The receivers enter the level from inside cells destined to hold sacrificial victims. From there they discover a large circular room where a pentagram is engraved on the floor in silver etchings. The walls are covered with demonic script. 
  
• Toad who speaks Demonic starts reading the script. The air shimmers around them, a massive noise builds up and explodes, and in a puff of sulfur and smoke a giant red horned demon appears. 
  
• Rodriguez recognizes one of their fellow receivers, Glar'z't't'. They chat a bit. He mentions being on duty and having already killed adventurers on this level earlier today (in the other Pentagram room). 
  
• Gnorman asks how he kills adventurers without destroying the environment around him. Glar'z't't says he spits acid on them. 
  
• Rodriguez asks if he would mind spitting acid into one of the cooking pans that Gnorman has in his pack. The demon agrees and bids them farewell. 
  
• Rodriguez tells Toad never to read demonic aloud again. Toad replies that he doesn't know how to read silently. Gnorman tells him to not read demonic until they ask him first, then. 
  
• Further down, the corridor leading to the summoning room they come from opens on a square room with doors in each direction. But the doors have been munched through although they can't seem to determine by what. The only intact door is the one made of metal that they came through, and it's shining. There's not a spot of dust anywhere.
  
• The group then splits up: Rodriguez (who cannot be seen by the adventurer they are meant to rescue) goes down the corridor towards the exit to scout things out. He walks past the statues that animate at his approach, but he utters the codeword mentioned on the map and they resume their stillness. 
  
• When he reaches the lower pentagram room however, Rodriguez finds it entirely collapsed, with bits of adventurers bodies sticking out through the rubble. It looks like Glar'z't't's antics were more brutal than he thought. 
  
• Rodriguez makes his way back to warn his colleagues that this route is impractical. 
  
• Meanwhile, Toad and Gnorman explore the other rooms around the eastern side of the level, but find nothing of note. 
  
• They decide to go retrieve the bracelet in the Demonist's bedroom. It's all props except for a real bed and they understand why Hamlin likes it here in good company. They find the bracelet under the bed. As they exit the room, they hear singing coming from their left, where a pit is marked on the map behind a secret passage.
  
• Rodriguez comes back to warn them about the collapsed room. As he reenters the large rectangular room, his vision blurs for an instant before he realises that there's a vast gelatinous creature in front of him. He circles around the (slow) creature and meets with the others. "I know what eats up the doors" he says, explaining to them what he saw. 
  
• They decide that Rodriguez should go and hide (pretending to be a skeleton lying against a wall) in the secret passage from the alchemical lab to the front exit of the level (passing resident Trolls according to the map) while Gnorman and Toad free the adventurer. 
  
• Rodriguez once more skirts around the gelatinous mass and exits towards the other side. 
  
• Gnorman and Toad pretend to just a heard the adventurer singing in his pit. 
  

Rescuing Reginald the Bard

• "Thank the heavens" they hear from the pit on the other side of the secret passage. "Fellow adventurers!"
  
• Gnorman and Toad ask the adventurer how to open the secret passage he is behind and they tell him. They then fetch a plank from the fake study and put it over the pit, and pull the adventurer out. 
  
• He introduces himself as Reginald the Bard, talking very loudly in a theatrical fashion. 
  
• That's when they realise that the gelatinous creature has crept all the way to them. They all jump to the far end of the pit, and the creature slowly slithers over the plank. 
  
• Under its mass and acid touch, the plank breaks and the creature slowly slides down into the pit. 
  
• Gnorman and Toad then tell the bard they should go, but he refuses vehemently, stating that behind a second secret door stands the old demonist's treasury, including a very sought after tome of ancient magic. "See!" he says, showing them an old and tattered map of the level (featuring a tiny scribble in one corner that shows it comes from Marketing). 
  
• The two receivers help Reginald open the door and even go out of their way to help him retrieve the book (Toad borrows tongs and oven mitts from Gnorman's cooking kit to retrieve the book without touching it). Reginald also stuffs his pockets and his shoulder bag with coins and jewels. 
  
• Then the three of them jump over the pit (and the gelatinous creature now trapped inside) and walk towards the part of the Demonist's abode that Reginald has not yet seen. 
  
• Gnorman and Toad pretend to explore things, but really their goal is to find the secret passage in the laboratory itself that leads to the exit.
  
• Once they manage to open the passage they try to advance quietly, but Reginald insists on commenting everything in a stentorian voice. 
  
• Once they pass Rodriguez' limp body, it springs back to life, and utters a curse to Reginald: "You let your companions die and fled like a coward. Now you will die in turn!"
  
• Reginald is shaken, but Toad and Gnorman, pretending terror, push him towards the exit. 
  
• Reginald runs along the corridor, protesting of his innocence all the way. Toad tries to get him to be quiet, worried they will alert the trolls. 
  
• "Trolls?" The bard says. "We should not suffer such despicable creatures to live!"
  
• "Mama? I hear the sound of food!" a loud voice says in the adjoining room. A troll mother and son duo emerge. The mother has a large cow bone in her hand she intends to use as a club. 
  
• Gnorman swings the saucepan full of demonic acid in the mother troll's face. She screams in pain and the gnome slips past her with the bard. 
  
• Toad is hit by a frantic child troll to a inch of his life, but manages to run away, the trolls hot on his heels. 
  

Adieu, Reginald

• They reach the entrance. Reginald points at the strange portal displaying shifting colours and says that is where he came from. 
  
• Toad collapses on the floor and tells him to run. "I'm done for", he says. 
  
• Reginald refuses to let the man who saved his life die "in this forsaken place".
  
• Toad pretends to roll over in pain and kicks Reginald in the stomach. The bard stumbles back into the portal and disappears. 
  
• The troll mother is too large to get through the door, and the troll child is hesitant to come through alone. 
  
• Reginald suddenly reappears, rapier in hand, announcing loudly that he shall fight to the very end to protect his friend Toad and "the little guy". 
  
• Gnorman suddenly remembers that he once spoke to the Great Unknowable Ichtioïd in Supervision who showed him how the portals could be deactivated. 
  
• The gnome tries to reason with Reginald, slowly manoeuvering him back towards the portal. Toad then pretends to jerk his leg in pain and trips him. He falls through the portal again. 
  
• Gnorman quickly finds the hidden lever that deactivates the portal. It goes dead. 
  
• Toad stands up (although weak) and opens up the cage in which the chicken has been quacking in panic since the trolls attacked. He grabs the bird, and signals to Gnorman to get ready. 
  
• Toad throws the chicken in between the legs of the troll mama. Mother and child scramble to catch the panicked bird. 
  
• Rodriguez, who is hidden on the other side of the trolls touches the mother troll, freezing her for an instant. 
  
• Toad and Gnorman take advantage of the confusion and slip past the child troll. All three receivers run back to the central column. 
  

During the debriefing, Zyylla decides to push Rodriguez as Employee of the Month, and a few days later the Skeleton receives the good news that indeed he will be Employee of the Month. The three receivers meet with Hamlin the Halfling who is so happy about recovering his girlfriend's bracelet that he invites them for a beer at the Happy Slime.