Finally got to play some D&D again, had to miss last session because I was in Mo. This one was impossible to prep for, because of the location that everybody decided to quit. They had defeated the guardian Naga and acquired the second piece of the artifact, but they had yet to escape.

If they went the route that they came in, then they would run into the 6-Fingered Hand and risk losing the artifact, but there was a second option of bombing a corridor that the Naga had blocked, which would had enabled them to escape.

Well, the players only have one person on the team that is expert enough with explosives to be able to handle such a risky undertaking safely enough so that the entire dungeon didn't land on their heads, and he has always been itchy to use this cool ass skill, however, as luck would have it, he had to work lastnight. Isn't that always the way that it is? You put a spot for one person to finally get to use a skill and they don't show up! Well, this meant that the team only had one option, going through the Hand.

I've got two villains out there that are deadly as hell. The Beetle (an Irish thug), and Hanz (a German Sharpshooter and quick-draw expert), their magic-user was slain on the Orient Express by Fu Manchu's men and they haven't received a fresh adept yet, which was good. The rest of their men were simple boobs that they had hired.

It's January yet, in Bucharest and cold as sin! The men were keeping an eye on the pit and keeping warm with gin and a fire while placing bets on if the heroes would come out or not. Spending the night in a archaeological dig site wasn't high on their lists of stuff they enjoy, thus they did a terrible job of it. Beetle and Hanz would check the pit every so often, but they were grumbley as well for being duped by the PC's, especially Beetle who even got inside of the Tomb of Horror, but he was overwhelmed by the heroes and tossed out on his ear. A very sad day for the Beetle, it was. A very sad day indeed!

Well, he was itching for some revenge, but it was just too impossible to tell when the PC's would appear. It was finally at 3am when they quietly emerged, and were able to sneak up and out of the pit they were in, and into a different one that would take them closer to the exit. The men checked the pit twice, but didn't notice that the latter down was missing, Beetle did, but by this time they had already started making their getaway. Everyone except Shannon's character escaped unharmed. Shannon tripped on board, Hanz heard it and shot him. Shannon didn't believe what a badass this man was until he took that round.

The heroes all escaped and were able to take refuge in the hotel of their new allies, which we repaired before the game started. Both were use to 3e rules and did too much min-maxing so that the Explorer wasn't all that exploreresc, nor was the sailor very sea-hearty. This was all changed. Now the Hand knew about the original 4 members of the party, however their spies have no idea about the explorer or the sailor, thus everyone was able to escape Bucharest undetected via several trains that took them through Europe until they could take a ferry to London.

In London, they gained permission to return to the Weathermay Estate. Now I had done tones of prep for this badboy and it is huge!!! They finally finished exploring it. During the night, poor Giorgio (Shannon's Henchman) perished, via the ghost of a woman who was crying for her baby. Shannon drug his dead corpse out to the shed, but in the morning he was no where to be found. Footprints led to a private family crypt, were they discovered a staircase and a door, however it was all underwater.

The party needed some redirection, they didn't know where to go, so I had to remind them that they returned to get the heading they needed to locate the next piece of the artifact. Captain Kidd's treasure island was finally located, they discovered an old treasure map of an island, thanks to the sailor, they were able to discover the barrings and are now ready for the next part of the adventure!

They have purchased a ship, one of those cool three masted steamers that are simply brilliant!!! I wrote down the stats that I need, for my prep. They've got to hire a crew, and they made the sailor (only 5th level) their Captain, which should make things interesting.

NOW!!! I can finally do my prepwork! I'm going to run the ships course myself, and only roleplay the highlights, and I've also got to design the treasure island, as well as the next dungeon which I can make as nasty as I want. PIRATES AHOY, MATEY!!!! I simply love this game! It takes place on the 28th of this month, so I best get to prepping.

I do have my next add-in in the works, but it is massive as well. We'll explore law and justice, as well as explore a dungeon (a real one!), but my prepwork of course comes first, but I'll whittle at it little by little and eventually it's see digital print! Till then . . .