John Adams and Variks realize that their feuding with each other over a satchel of credits means nothing if they're no longer alive nor free to use them, and put their disagreements aside to focus on the Gammorean Thugs at hand for the moment. Natsu struck a Gammorean Thug down with his blade, as Erza attempted to creep along in the shadows to the Aqualish Thugs. Unfortunately, he failed to prioritize his footing and stumbled as he approached, alerting the Aqualish to his presence.
Ark Cloudwalker hastily grabbed a mass of contraband weapons from the checkpoint and scuttled into the main lair. As he approached the fray, one of the Gammorean Thugs clobbered him with a haymaker punch, at which Ark stumbled and the weapons he was carrying scattered across the cold, dank floor. While the Aqualish were distracted by Erza's presence, Clancy flanked to their backside and unleashed silent strikes of fury, dropping all three of them to the opposite end of the mortal coil. Eva, quickly coming to the end of her patience, declared that things were out of control long enough, and pressed an incognito button on the stand next to her, slowly opening a formidable door on the far wall. Variks force-pulled his ancient blade from where Ark had dropped it on the floor, to pierce through the Gammorean Thug that was before him from behind, the point of the blade driving through the Gammorean's pig-like flesh and coming to within an inch of his own face. He quickly stole a deep breath and rolled to the side as the body crumpled to the spot he'd just been. He then concentrated his energy and called upon the Force once more in order to break free of the chain than had bound his arms together. Shorad'dik regained his feet, and grabbed one of the remaining Gammorean Thugs, tossing them across the lair like a ragdoll into another Thug, sending him careening to the ground and knocking him out. Erza regained his balance, and seeing the Aqualish Thugs fall before him as Clancy took them out from behind, quickly turned on his heel to strike one of the remaining Gamorrean Thugs, doing some damage, but also sending the Thug into a tumultuous berzerker rage, where it began spinning and striking wildly, knocking Erza to the ground. Clancy grabbed one of the blasters from the ground, and tossed it back to Ark as he regained his footing, and picked up two others for himself. The scene drew to a close as the door finished opening to reveal a massive beast behind it.
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We rejoined Variks, Shoraddik, and John Adams this week mid-scuffle in Eva’s Lair. They were surrounded by Gammorean Thugs, and two groups of Aqualish Thugs were approaching. Variks had his chain pulled by one of the thugs who then hammered his fist down on Variks from above, driving him to his knees. Without missing a beat, Variks reached out and pulled the thugs legs out from under him, driving him to the ground and mounting him for a pummelfest.
John Adams elbowed the thug holding him in the gut, was able to work himself free, and ran toward the door. As he did, however, Variks reached out and force pulled the coin purse from him that John had just received from Eva. John, having felt the money leave his person, turned on his heels and ran back to the fray, kicking Variks off the guard he was on top of. Variks responded by attempting to force choke John and the guard but failed miserably, grunting and stressing himself out. Eva bellowed out, attempting to regain control of the room. Upon being ignored, she reached out and grabbed Shoraddik from behind, drawing him up into a half nelson-like hold, pressed firmly against her sluggish body, squeezing the strength out of him. Erza and Natsu made their way to the weapons check at the main entrance to Eva’s Lair. Hearing the din of melee coming from within the lair, the two quickly grew hesitant to relinquish their weaponry. Rather than turning over their weapons, they turned them on the guards and a skirmish broke out. Clancy and Ark were having a good time in the cantina, even as they heard some interesting sounds that didn’t quite fit with the band’s musical repertoire, until Clancy gets a bit raucus and starts throwing things at the band, getting them kicked out of the establishment. When they are thrown through the doorway, Clancy bumped into a maintenance droid, which he immediately attempted to fight, and Ark had to get him back under control once again. Eventually, he was able to calm Clancy back down, and helped him stagger around back to check in with the Bounty board in Eva’s Lair. When Clancy and Ark headed into Eva’s Lair, they came upon Erza and Natsu, who had just decommissioned two of the three guards they were dealing with. Clancy, seeing the scuffle still in process, drew out his knives and threw them at the remaining guard, grazing his neck. Ark attempted to pick up one of the knives, but the guard stepped on his hand and barred him from retrieving it. In the guard’s distraction, however, Clancy drew his final knife and held it to the guard, who threw his hands in the air and backed himself away, beggin for release. Clancy, ignored the plea, and ended the guard’s attachment to the mortal coil, showing a glimpse of the darkside. The battle rages on next week. The dust is dense on Tatooine. Our scene opens in the dank and musty lair of Eva the Hutt with Jon Adams dragging Variks and Shoraddik before the Hutt to claim the bounty that has been placed on their heads. Jon converses with Eva, and presents his capture to receive his reward. But his reward quickly becomes his just desserts as Eva pays him 1,000 credits only to loudly announce that another Hutt has placed a bounty on Jon Adams' head.
The scene cuts the cantina on the other side of Eva's lair, where Ark Cloudrunner, Clancy Allacard, and Davrail Turon are enjoying the proffered entertainment and revelry at a central booth, while in another, shadier corner booth, Erza Scarlet and Natsu Dragorell contemplate their next bold move. Back in Eva's lair, her guards rush forward at her command and grab hold of Variks' and Shoraddik's chains, and Jon Adams. Jon struggles and tries to draw forth his holdout blaster, momentarily forgetting where he was and that he checked it at the door. He the attempts to grapple the guard, but ends up being slipped under and gripped up by the guard. Shoraddik lets out a mighty roar as he yanks on the chain he is attached to, sending the guard holding the other end careening into the guard holding Jon by the arms. Variks attempts to jump and spin-kick the guard holding his chain, but the guard is quicker than Variks assumed, forcefully drawing in the excess chain, and knocking Variks off his feet. Meanwhile, back in the cantina, Erza and Natsu grow bored with conversation and settle on finding more action, and head out and around to scope out the bounty board in Eva's lair. At long last, we have kicked off this year's RPG! This year, we will be exploring two game systems: Pathfinder and Star Wars Force &Destiny/Edge of the Empire. Follow along for updates and recaps here.
When we last left our party, they were just packing up and leaving the cavernous underswamp. As they strode back out into the forested swamp itself, they realized that the mysterious stranger who had appeared in the locked room was still with them: a shabby, grubby fellow.
The party tried to engage the stranger in conversation, but he seemed to be truly unawares of much of his own story. He seemed, however, to be cordial enough, and at the very least, non-threatening. Sebastian and Tsukikage fell into argument over whether to bring the blade to Die Kreutzritter or not, while Davail and George sunk into the shadows and conspired as to whether it might be possible to make an imitation of the dagger or not. The group then left Sebastian with the unknown man while they discussed the options before them, particularly what to do with the blade they now have in their possession, weighing the pros and cons of bringing it to Die Kreutzritter or The Explorers' Society, or keeping it hidden and to themselves. Davail drew the dagger back out of his satchel to investigate it more closely. In doing so, he noted the great craftmanship involved in creating such a piece of art, and how difficult it would be to create a passable stand-in for it. Tsukikage then investigated the gem itself, located in the pommel of the dagger. Sensing the power within, he took the dagger in hand, and as he lifted it up before him, a single skeleton emerged from the soil. As Tsukikage moved the blade, swiping and pointing it in various directions, he realized he was actually controlling the creature. Davail makes the same observation, and attempts to pull the dagger from Tsukikage's hand as Tsukikage retreated away with a hop. But as Tsukikage attempted to get away by shimmying up a tree, the dagger fell from his grip. As the dagger fell, so did the skeleton crumple and fall to the ground, a pile of lifeless bones once more. George went off looking to gather any further natural provisions for the trek back to Posen, and got lost for a time, but eventually found his way back to the party, noting only signs of wildlife and undead creatures throughout the forsest without seeing so much as a single one of the creatures themselves. In the end, the group agreed to Sebastian's suggestion to return the blade to Die Kreutzritter, and we leave them this week as they take up the trail, heading back toward Posen. Our crew found themselves a bit stronger as they awoke this week, having taken in the lessons fate taught them throughout the past few weeks. And they were joined by a new member aboard their ship: a topman going by the name of Scrapus Undermold.
As they continued to explore the town, Oddr purchased a quite intelligent Raven named Clancy. Captain James welcomed the new day by checking in with Felix and Gordon in the hold, to see if a night in the cold, damp cell had changed their demeanor any. Clancy quickly became a nuisance, and was pecking at Gordon in particular. Felix demonstrated his Porte ability to Captain James, reaching through a hole from nowhere to grasp his sword, and turning it back over to the captain immediately to clarify that his intent was good. After further conversation, the captain released Felix from the brig. However, Gordon is left to serve a longer sentence as he was still quite unruly. Clancy flew into the cell and attempted to steal Gordon's hat, but wasn't able to squeeze back through the bars with it in his grasp. The captain reached through and grabbed the hat, however, and tossed it back to Gordon. Reminding him that his fate was in his hands. On deck, Scrapus readied the ropes and sails for their next venture while Neo left ship to seek out an enchanter. As soon as Neo left the ship, he ran into Thorn, who recognized him immediately, though he tried to side step through the shadows to avoid her glance. Thorn let Neo know that even though they had their disagreements, she recognized his and the rest of the Ruby crew's potential. Thorn fills Neo in on the information the Explorer's Society has gathered thus far on the Destenvoldor, and gives him a scribed copy of the poem. She also let's him know that they have reason to believe that Grum van Gruul has two of the gems at this point, and that they think there is one in the Crescent Empire and one hidden in Montaigne at this point. Neo then continued his journey, seeking an enchanter. He found one, but quickly found that the desires of his heart were much more complex and difficult to bring to reality than he had anticipated. He then rejoined Captain James, who had just purchased a small hat for Clancy, and they returned to the Blood Ruby together. We rejoin the crew of the Mighty Sinbad right where we left off two weeks ago, as Davail prepares to challenge the Challenger of Souls.
Davail speaks further with the Challenger, and learns that he must climb up onto the dais with the Challenger in order for the challenge to officially begin. With some hesitation, and a great deal of trepidation, realizing there is no other way out, he slowly makes his way up to face the spirit. As soon as he does, the Challenger booms with laughter, and his voice bursts forth: "Ah, now the Challenge may begin." Georgios raises his holy relic as the spirit transitions back to his former green, mist, and the entire room goes black. In the other chamber, at precisely that moment, the remainder of the party is still entrenched deeply in a battle with the skeletons. They hear a faint, thunderous sound, and green mist bursts forth into the room. The mist passes quickly through each member of the party, and then through the remaining skeletons, transforming them into exact replicas of the party members, in vestments and in habits. This room also then fades to black. Not knowing whether it has been hours or centuries, the party members all come back to conscious awareness, together, in a room with no doors nor windows. The room is dimly lit only by the plethora of candle sconces lining the walls. A chest sits on a podium in the very center of the room. Attached to the chest are what appear to be magical locks. The voice of the Challenger booms through the room: "This is how the Challenge works. Through teamwork, sweat and wits, you must solve the puzzles that are to come... or die trying. "The first lock may be opened from most any angle, but rarely in the dark." The crew quickly got to work, but realized this may be more difficult than at first it seemed. After a long struggle, another individual, disheveled, grimy, and looking confused, stumbled forth from the darkness of the far corner of the room. "It's high noon!" he bellowed. As the word, "noon," was spoken, the first lock unfastened itself from the chest and Sebastians dopplegangers crumpled into piles of bone just as they had seen them below the tarps in the room from which they came. Each of the party members then felt a burning on the backs of their right hands, and saw a symbol appear. The Challenger's voice boomed again, from everywhere and nowhere at once: "The next lock opens when you know what you are and what you are to become." After looking around and thinking about if for a while, the party found a cipher, which they were able to discern, after much tribulation, could be set using the symbols on their hands to decode the clue. They realized that what they were was pirates, and what they were becoming were legends. As they said the words aloud, the next lock opened, and George's dopplegangers crumpled into piles of bones and trinkets. The Challenger's voice boomed once more: "The final lock will take some extra finesse. A master swordsman knows his drills. Remember, the blade is useless if one know not how to make it move." Sebastian, knowing many drills from his duelist training, quickly started going through the foundational flow drills he knew. Upon completing an Eisen six-cuts pattern drill, a key magically appeared in his hand. Upon inserting the key and releasing the final lock, the remaining dopplegangers crumple into bony piles, the podium recedes into the ground, and the chest snaps open. The party catches a glimmer from within the chest as the room falls quickly back to darkness. The party reawakens in the rooms they were in before being transported to the lock room. Georgios, Davail, and the mysterious stranger are staring at the chest on the dais. The other party members are staring at the piles of bones that once were the skeletons, and then once the dopplegangers, as they now sit cold and lifeless on the stone floor. Tsukikage, Sebastian, Edward, and George head back out of their corridor, and toward the other room, which they quickly locate. As they arrive, they see Georgios and Davail looking at a dark, mysterious dagger, which they have just pulled forth from the chest. Sebastian practically stumbles over himself as he rushes forward in an attempt to handle the blade: "Dracheneissen!!!!" he squeels. After a vast amount of bantering back and forth and across the way, the party carefully packs up the blade, and begin their journey back to Posen, where we will rejoin them next time! We rejoin our party as Gordon is conversing with the Captain in his quarters. As they are discussing the gauntlet and the magic therein, Captain James gives it a looking over, and as he places his hand inside the gauntlet and touches the gem with his opposite hand, he discovers that he is able to make a scaled-down version of the kraken appear in the center of the room. By wiggling his fingers around, he is able to make the kraken wriggle about. As they are in the midst of their exploration of the gauntlet, Felix is overcome with desire to claim the gauntlet as his own and attempts to rush into the Captain's Quarters. As luck would have it, however, Oddr was stationed near the entrance, and scooped Felix up in a firm bear-hug. Upon hearing Felix struggling, James and Gordon step back out onto the deck, and James has Oddr escort Felix down to the brig, where he might get his priorities back in order. The Blood Ruby and the rest of her crew point their bow and their spirits back toward Carleon, taking on a bit of water in the raging storm, but otherwise making the journey unscathed. As they arrive back ashore, James, and Neo head straight for the Briny Turtle, seeking to update Allende on their adventures at sea while Gordon and Oddr head to the milliner with the hopes of purchasing new hats with a portion of the loot they saved from the Falcon before she went under.
As they are talking, Oddr and Gordon return. Gordon makes a big to-do about handing out hats to the party, and even had the foresight to pick up an extra for Allende. They pull up stools, order meals, and join the recapitulation.
As they are conversing, a foreboding Vesten woman saunters in and heads straight to the keeper of the establishment, quietly bribing him for information regarding any unforeseen magic in the area. The 'keep shares with her what little he has overheard of the kraken and that it may have been magic behind the creature's appearance and the late ships' disappearances these past few months. The woman does not even feign to linger, but approaches the party and Allende, asking quite conspicuously about any magic they may have encountered. It is quickly apparent that the woman and Allende are well acquainted with one another, and the two seem to be on equal footing as far as their influence is concerned. Allende introduces her as Thorn Ulfborn. As the party is still skirting around any knowledge of a magical implement that may or may not have been involved in their adventuring, a group of the sailers who returned from the Falcon upon the Blood Ruby enter the Briny Turtle, boisterously talking about the gauntlet and the magic, and how they couldn't believe the ragged crew of the Blood Ruby was able to overtake their ship and their captain and plunder the gauntlet from his very grasp. The party at the counter very clearly overhears, and Allende notices the brief trepidation that washes over Gordon. Allende quickly inquires with Gordon why he seems so nervous as Thorn makes her way to Gordon's other side, and lifts the gauntlet from his person. Felix arrives, having talked his way out of the brig on the Blood Ruby and made it ashore, and just as he enters the Turtle, ready to rush forth and help his friends, Allende's men capture him and lift him off the ground. Two of Allende's other goons give Gordon the same treatment as he is yelling and cursing at Allende and Thorn in frustration. Allende drops three purses of golden coins before James, and tells him that he is an honest man and honours the deals that he strikes, and as such, he expects the same from those whom he deals with. He tells James that as such, the gauntlet is his now, and then produces one more purse of gold coins, encouraging James to get his crew under control and to head back to their ship and to their lives as they knew them before crossing paths with Allende. Allende has his men escort the crew back to the Blood Ruby, where they begin to reconvene and plot out their next moves. We rejoin our party this week as they are staring at the wall that has just recessed to reveal two doorways, one to the left, and one to the right. Perplexed, the troupe decides to split into two separate groups in an effort to explore both pathways immediately. Initially, Tsukikage, Davail, and Georgios head to the left while Sebastian, George, and Edward take to the right. As Sebastian, George, and Edward venture forth, the path opens up into a large and lengthy room with small, tent-like structures running along either wall. As they assess their surroundings, the group finds bones, seemingly human, placed within each tent. Many of the tents also seem to have a crude plaque on the wall behind them, with older runes that seem to be names. Some of the bones have adornments laid atop them as well, such as sashes or ornamental weaponry, etc, and the group deduces the room to be some sort of burial site. As the troupe progresses the length of the room, they see a doorway on the far wall, and decide to continue on and see what they may see. Except George, who recalls that he set down his adventurer's pack in the hexagonal room, and turns back to retrieve it. As George re-enters the tomb-room, he is greeted by a large number of shambling skeletons and screams to the high heavens. Tsukikage hears George's scream as he is following Davail and Georgios down the other corridor, and silently turns back to investigate. In the other hall, Sebastian, George, and Edward are entrenched in battle with the horde of skeletons. Just as it seems they are turning the tide, another squad rises forth, these seeming even taller and more dense than those who have come before. The fight drags on, with skeletal fragments flying left and right. Edward throws himself in the midst of the battle, and recklessly takes down a handful of the skeletons in one fell swoop, sacrificing his own well-being in order to do so, and Sebastian muscles through a hefty number of them on his own, his iron fist flying faster than his sword. George is tottering on the brink of madness, as he is tormented with his memories, and strikes out in berserker rage, tearing through skeleton after skeleton. Following the noise, Tsukikage draws forth his daggers and comes to the aid of his comrades. As Davail and Georgios continue forward, down the left most path, they come to a medium sized room with sconces along the walls and a fairly large, stone table centered in the room. They begin to take the room in, looking for anything that may give them knowledge as to the room's purpose. Having a hard time seeing with only the single torch between them, they light one of the sconces on the wall. As soon as Davail touches his torch to the wall sconce, all of the sconces ignite, and a dark green mist swirls up from the center of the table, slowly forming into a large, humanoid shape. "Who beckons the Challenge of Souls!?" a booming voice calls forth from the green-hued figure. Georgios attempts to convene with his Deity, to bring blessings forth into the room, and cowers in the corner of the room as the Spirit's form and shape solidify. The door through which our heroes entered slams shut with an echoing thud. Davail briefly attempts to converse with the Spirit, but is confused by the Spirit's talk of challenging the challenger, and takes it upon himself to fire his musket at the Spirit. As he pulls the trigger, he watches in awe and horror as the lead ball passes through the Spirit and directly into the wall behind him, without doing any harm nor damage to the Spirit itself. "That is not how the challenge works," the voice booms. We rejoined the Ruby Crew this week in the midst of their high seas conflict with The Falcon. James took the position of lookout, aiming his spyglass toward the enemy ship and spotting what looked to be overloaded cargo of barrels. Not know what was in them, but assuming it was combustible, he directed his crew to begin firing directly at the barrels rather than the broadside of the ship. Neo, Gordon and Felix quickly followed his orders. Oddr was too focused on the roiling waters to hear or care.
The crew's aim was true, hitting the barrels, and just as the captain had anticipated, they went up in violent blasts, taking bits and pieces of the ship with them, including the main mast. Gordon then took aim and sunk some lead into the enemy captain's calf, causing him to stumble momentarily as his first mate and a deck hand ran forward to catch him and prop him up on their shoulders. On the other side of the ship, a great kraken arose from the sea and wrapped it's mighty tentacles around the bowsprit, tearing it asunder. The kraken then cinched itself tightly around the middle of the Blood Ruby, and began to squeeze, cracking the deck, rails, and mast like they was mere kindling. Oddr watched the scene in horror, until finally, breaking free of his stupor, he raised his sword above his head to strike the tentacle down. At that very moment, Gordon swung over to the Falcon and approached the captain. After much arguing back and forth, to no avail, Neo distracted the enemy captain, throwing his blade at him, creating an opportunity for Gordon to jump into action. Seeing the captain and his mates twitch their attention to the Blood Ruby, Gordon rushed forward and tackled the captain from his men's grasp, tossing him overboard without a second thought. As he did, however, he clung onto the captain's glove, and inadvertently, the captain's hat, which he found to be quite comfortable. The instant the gauntlet was pulled from the enemy captain's hand, the kraken diminished into nothing more than a lingering fog on the air, just as Oddr began to bring his sword down. His sword sliced through the fog, and cut a deep wound into the railing of the foredeck, where an instant prior, the tentacle had clung so viciously. As the kraken vanished, so too, uncannilly, did the damage it had seemed to have done to the Blood Ruby. Gordon tried the glove on to see if he could cause the kraken to reappear, but the gloved seemed to have no effect, other than that it was extremely heavy. The hat, however, he found to be extremely comfortable. The Ruby Crew offered the Falcon's crew passage on their vessel. The majority of the Falcon's crew took them up on their offer, although a handful chose to remain aboard the Falcon and go to the bottom of the sea with her. The crew learned that this was indeed the crew that had been causing so much trouble in the Montaigne/Avalon Strait. The Ruby Crew gathered what supplies and cargo they could from the Falcon even as she was lowering into the waves and taking on water. Gordon attempted to keep the glove hidden for the time being, but the captain had watched the whole scene unfold, and brought him into his quarters to have a private chat about it. The Blood Ruby then turned about and set sail to return to Carleon, to seek out Allende once more at the Briny Turtle. |
What in the world
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