Land of Eem - Session Three: The Cast Iron Stomach (part one)

Storyline (What happens)

• The party returns to Wally’s basement after defeating King Click (the big rat king) and securing the deed for Wally’s waffles from his lair.
• They discover—and re-confirm—unresolved questions:
  • Where the “killer rats” really came from (they likely tunneled into the basement from elsewhere).
  • Why SPL had interest in Wally’s basement and business.
• Wally welcomes everyone back to the restaurant with celebration—SPL agents are chased out by enraged patrons.
• Over the night/next day, the party presses Wally for answers and learns the rats were being bred intentionally and became uncontrolled, tied to feeding on bogurt cheese.
• The deed must be handled carefully: Neville is currently trapped and infected.
  • Neville is stuck inside rusted armor and has rat plague, requiring a cure.
• The group travels to Fire Damp, a growing rebuilt mining town dominated by SPL presence.
• They:
  1. Plan Neville’s removal from armor via an armorer/blacksmith.
  2. Seek herbalist help from Wickle Thorn Snip to cure the rat plague.
  3. Organize supplies and further intel, including a meeting with SPL.
• Meanwhile:
  • A new contact, Vorash (a roguish ally), shows up at the saloon to assist.
  • The party identifies a larger scheme: SPL wants exclusive rights and has interest in shiny green crystals they found (eventually identified as “Floodite crystal”).
• The party takes an appointment with Overseer Geonigan (SPL leader figure) to negotiate mining/ownership terms for the crystal—but decides they must tread carefully. SPL appears dishonest and competitive with other dungeon-corporation interests, notably Krogan Sons/Krogen (repeatedly referenced as rivals).
• Neville is then cut free but looks horrifically infected; the herbalist can cure him—if the party fetches specific rare components.
• The herbalist sends them on a side quest:
  • Get components involving Singe viper venom and mukroot (requiring travel and sourcing help).
  • To save time, the herbalist asks them to help a local man, Happy Dunston, who has a magic curse that prevents him from functioning normally.
• Happy Dunston reveals his problem:
  • He made a verbal deal with a witch (Walder Hrankle / “Walder HC Crankle”) to gain a cast-iron stomach to win a hot eating challenge.
  • The “side effect” escalates: parts of his body are turning to iron (hand/arm, then foot, spreading).
  • He needs to locate and confront the witch in the hills NE of Fire Damp—a multi-day journey.
• The session ends with travel preparations and mechanics:
  • They camp in the “used to be forest,” discuss camp actions (story time, watching, sleeping, scavenging).
  • They set off toward the hills, and a travel mishap occurs (bad weather reduces progress).
  • They shelter in an improvised place (at/with a strange boggart named Jean).
  • The party gathers materials but also causes “unwanted attention” (setting up complications for what’s next).

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Gameplay highlights & key strategies / tips discussed

Recap-first campaign structure

• The group relies on player memory/character dialogue to reconstruct prior events before moving forward.

Resource and deed control

• Holding the deed provides leverage: Wally’s business and safety hinge on it.
• The party discusses risks of letting others (including Neville) become a “touchpoint” for SPL or thieves.

Combat / chaos tactics

• They used dynamite in King Click’s cave and goop as a trampoline to reach the right tunnels.
• Repeated emphasis on “eyes” as recurring combat targets/imagery.

Travel system guidance

• Each day has 4 travel turns (2 day, 2 night).
• One travel turn ≈ movement of up to 2 hexes.
• Day travel is safer than night travel.
• Every travel turn requires a travel check (d12 + realm skill).
• Travel outcomes can include:
  • Uneventful (travel succeeds cleanly)
  • Bump in the road (weather/event penalties)
  • Discovery results (landmark/secret/creature)

Camp mechanics explained

• When camping, characters choose what to do during the night:
  • Story time + food/cooking (supports relationship/XP-building)
  • Foraging for food/components
  • Sleeping (recovers; “long sleep” can clear tired)
  • Watch (reduces intruders; up to two can share shifts)
• The group discusses optimal distribution to avoid everyone becoming tired:
  • If some players sleep while others watch, only a portion needs to take watch.

Herbal cure quest logic

• Plague cures require specific rare components.
• The party must weigh time cost to retrieve them versus completing local errands.

Negotiation with SPL

• Negotiations focus on:
  • Ownership rights (mining/operations)
  • “Paperwork” timelines and operational capability
• The party works to manage what they reveal and whether SPL perceives them as threats.

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Named people / gamers / sources featured

Gamers/players (as referenced in dialogue)

• Ludo
• Goop
• Neville
• Carl
• Cini
• Crini (spelling varies in subtitles)
• Vorash
• Wally (“Waffle House” owner figure)
• King Click
• Wickle Thorn Snip
• Happy Dunston
• Jean
• Overseer Geonigan (SPL overseer; name varies in subtitles)
• Ferto (appears as a name referenced right when Vorash is introduced)

External real-world sources

• No external real-world gamers/channels/sources are explicitly credited in the provided subtitles beyond in-world character names.