All posts by jon

Temple Crusaders

Session 5 – Mopping Up the Moat House

We head down the stairs to an area we haven’t explored yet. It is a man-made cavern (room 30) that opens into a natural cavern that is quite large but enclosed. There is a large pool here. We start searching around, but something moves in the water. It appears to be a large crayfish. Dardenne fires at it with arrow but doesn’t do much damage. Hadrian goes to attack it but almost slips into the pool. He swings again and slices it in half. We drag it to the surface so we can eat it.

Looking around, we find some treasure. There is a platinum pin that Filarion puts on. A scroll is also found with spells on it. This is an 8th level scroll with the 2nd level spells Push, Stinking Cloud, and Fly. Dardenne takes this.

We come back up the stairs and go left through another hallway. It twists a couple of times and opens to a room with lots of alcoves (Intact Crypt – special #). We start checking it out but don’t find anything. At the end of the room is a sarcophagus. We move to check it out but we are ambushed by zombies from behind. Hadrian cuts one of them in half, Dardenne slices another and Elauthin takes out the third.

We look around further and find that one of the crypts has a hole in the back. We start check it out but Darius is looking at the sarcophagus. It emits a huge burst of energy and Darius drops. Hadrian grabs him up and hauls him away just as it emits another burst. We heal Darius and he tells us that before the pulse occurred, he saw two bodies behind it. Filarion tries to use his grappling hook to grab them, but he hooks his leg instead. Painfully, he pulls it out and has Darius toss it instead. He manages to hook both of them and pulls them out.

The two people are searched, and it looks that they have unicorn sygaldry. On them we find several items including cleric spells, druid spells and a staff. Mord takes the staff and briefly passes out. He wakes up with a smile on his face and says that it provided a direct connection to his god. It is a very powerful magic item. Filarion takes the breastplate with the unicorn on it.

We decide to try to get into the sarcophagus. Dardenne casts Detect Magic and sees that the lid is covered by runes which must be causing the magic. Filarion sees on top of the coffin the design of the body underneath and it looks like it is an evil wizard. Brother Gregory uses the scroll to remove the magic for a while, and Elauthin, Dardenne and Hadrian push the cover right off and it smashes into the corner. However, the runes are still active.

Looking in the coffin, we see four spell books and a wand along with the robe-covered corpse. There are two rings. We take everything and sequester ourselves in the pool room for the evening.

Dardenne checks the wand and sees that it is indeed magical. He uses it to check the other items and sees that the shield and one of the rings is magical.

Later, Dardenne goes out into the hallway and tries to check out one of the spell books — the blue one. He opens the clasp and suddenly there is a burst of cold air that almost freezes him. He wraps the clasp with cloth so he can’t accidentally touch it again and looks in the spell book. There are several first, second and third level spells in the book.

The next morning after some rest, we go down the tunnel where the ghouls came from and find their nest. We find a spell scroll for the cleric, and see around here a bunch of narrow caverns that go into a maze. We decide not to risk it and go to the outside and the other end of the caverns.

Entering the other area, we wind our way through several caverns and end up at a closed gate. We try to lift it but cannot. Eventually we find a secret closet with a lever that lifts the gate. We go up and see that we’re at the entrance of the moat house. We realize that we have missed something and go back down. Almost immediately we see a secret door that we missed. Inside is the nest of the ogre, where we find a very find elven cloak and a chest. There is treasure in here.

There are two doors in this room. Darius picks one of the locks and we see something moving. We think they are undead but they are actually starving prisoners, two humans and a gnome. They are thankful that we’ve saved them and move out.

We continue on and find a room of junk. Further through, we see what appears to be another burial area. We are attacked by zombies. After the first wave, several more run at us. Brother Gregory turns several of them and we take the opportunity to attack them as they flee.

After the battle we search the adjacent rooms and find a bunch of equipment here. There is so much that it takes us a long time to load it up.

We start heading upstairs and two oozes attack Hadrian and Darius.

Kung Fu Rivals

Session 1 – Kung Fu Tournament

The year is 1840 in central China, which is near the end of the Qing Dynasty. We are north of Chengdu in the city of Fuxian (Fu County, now known as Mianyang). It is a sub-tropical, semi-mountainous region.

There are several kung fu schools in Fuxian, the largest being San Chuan (literally “Three Fists”) at 150 students, which is run by Master Shifu, one of the three original masters that founded the school. He is elderly and kind, but firm. This school teaches a variety of styles and is fairly progressive in its outlook, mixing wrestling, forms, weapons along with sparring, acrobatics and iron body training.

Smaller but no less influential is the Black Lotus school, a very regimented group of 50 students who are less kind to styles other than theirs, and also any outsiders. Black Lotus is headed up by Coiled Snake, a master of the Shaolin snake style, along with his son Spitting Snake. Here the training is focused on endurance drills such as horse stance and practicing forms with heavy rings on students’ arms. Anything less than perfect in technique and skill is not tolerated.

We meet two students of the San Chuan kung fu school: one named Zizou Ming (literally “Smart Ass”), an 18 year old of average height and build who has been studying at the school for a couple of years. His family sold his sister to be able to afford training with the venerable Master Shifu. Zizou has been training in wrestling, forms, and specializes in the rope dart weapon.

Tiaowu Jiu (literally “Dancing Wine”) is a mountain of a man at 6′ 2″, towering over his other countrymen. He started out as a dishwasher and janitor at the school several years ago, and now at age 20 has finally been accepted at the school after proving himself. He is often still treated as the janitor, however. Also he is addicted to rice wine, and hides clay pots full of it around the school for when he has a hankering to drink. He swears that drinking helps his fighting ability. His specialty is in brawling, and very few challenge him in this regard except for the higher level students.

Lung Po (literally “Broken Dragon”), 17 years old, began training at the Black Lotus school last year after finally being accepted. He has been hanging around there since he was a young boy, always waiting for his chance to become a student, but was never allowed to train because of his low standing. After showing his martial prowess and his acrobatic ability which he uses to bounce around obstacles with ease, the teachers finally let him begin training. His weapon specialty is brass knuckles with claws, and thrown knives.

It is mid-summer and very hot, and the students at both schools are training hard. At San Chuan School, Zizou and Tiaowu practice their forms and then transition to wrestling. Tiaowu is winded after a few wrestling matches with the large SiHing nicknamed Big Nose (his real name is unpronounceable), and sneaks away for a nip of wine. No one notices him. Zizou is paired with Mei Mei, the daughter of Master Shifu, who is notoriously arrogant and proud. After beating Zizou soundly in the first round, he comes back and throws her. Her face is red with anger at the humiliation, and stalks off.

At the Black Lotus school, Lung Po has spent the whole morning in strength drills and forms, and is now practicing staff forms. He does not like staff at all, preferring smaller and more agile weapons, and is not doing well. However even worse for wear is his friend Fei Wan (“Flying Over”), the only person at his social level at the school. Fei comes from a rich family, but is so terrible at martial arts that the other students shun him. Fei tries hard on the staff but trips and accidentally breaks it in half. Lung helps him up and finds him another staff, but one of the SiHings, a temperamental man named Barking Wolf, yells at him and beats him. Fei gets up to try again and breaks a second staff. Barking Wolf grabs him by the nape of the neck and drags him into the building, fuming.

Lung Po uses his acrobatic ability to sneak away from the other students training and bounds to the second floor, looking down at Barking Wolf and Fei Wan, and sees Barking Wolf begin to beat his friend senseless. He gives him several body blows and then superman-punches his face into the floor, knocking him out and dislodging several teeth. Without even thinking, Lung loosens his belt as it’s his only weapon, then jumps onto Barking Wolf’s back, choking him out. Before Barking Wolf can fight back, Lung strikes him in the side of the head and knocks him unconscious. He drags the limp SiHing into a closet, and notices a small scroll sticking out of his robe. He snatches it and then tends to Fei Wan, taking him gingerly to the barracks and binding his wounds. He is still mostly knocked out but cries in pain. Lung goes back to the training floor and resumes staff work, hoping that no one saw him leave.

At San Chuan school, it’s lunch time and as Zizou gets his bowl of soup and goes to sit down, Mei Mei pushes past him and sits down in the chair instead. Zizou squeezes next to her and asks her what her problem is. She says that he must have cheated in order to win, since she is a much better fighter than him. He denies it and says that he meant no disrespect, but she is having none of it and walks off in a huff.

Near the end of lunchtime, Master Shifu comes out and says that their school has been asked to participate in a city-wide kung fu tournament tomorrow morning, and he wants the kwoon spotless before they leave. All students will spend the remainder of the day cleaning, and tomorrow morning they will leave for the tournament. He is planning on asking several students to perform their special techniques they have been training for. All are dismissed and go to begin the cleaning work.

Zizou gets a bucket of water for cleaning and again runs into Mei Mei, who is also carrying a bucket. He apologizes again for upsetting her and says that perhaps he just got lucky. She thinks it over and finally agrees, saying that maybe that’s what happened and perhaps if he was lucky today, that he would be unlucky another time. She “accidentally” spills some of the bucket’s contents on his shoes, which did not contain water but mud, and walks off with a smirk. Zizou is glad that she did not douse him entirely, and thinks that he is making progress with her. Nearby, SiHing Big Nose asks Zizou how he got Mei Mei to notice him — Big Nose has been trying for years.

Back at Black Lotus School, at lunchtime Lung Po sees some of the teachers discussing something in the hallway where he fought Barking Wolf. He comes forward to inquire what they are looking at, and one of the SiHings says that they found blood on the floor, but they are not sure what it was from. He suddenly realizes who he’s talking to and orders Lung Po to move along, and he complies. Nothing more is said about it, and Barking Wolf does not reappear.

Later in the afternoon, Lung Po and the other students practice horse stance with a candle or sharpened stick underneath them, and heavy rings are placed on their arms. Lung Po has placed the stolen scroll in his pants, hoping that no one finds it. Spitting Snake, the Shifu’s son, comes around with a small heated cauldron that he places between students’ arms to hold up as well. Lung Po’s arms burn, but he makes it through the trial. After this, everyone is told to prepare for evening meal and lights out. Fei Wan is still in his bunk, whimpering with pain, but seems to be recovering. After lights out, Lung carefully reads the contents of the scroll. The letter is from Shifu Coiled Snake, and apparently Barking Wolf was being thrown out of the school for misconduct. He was to leave by the end of the day, which explains why he was so hard on Fei Wan. Lung quickly hides the scroll in another student’s bunk and goes to sleep.

The next morning at breakfast, Shifu Coiled Snake announces that they will be leaving for a tournament shortly, and everyone will be ready to go right after the meal. Everyone runs to comply. The school leaves, and Lung Po and Fei Wan, the lowest standing among the students, take up the rear.

At San Chuan School, Zizou is chosen to take one of the school banners to the tournament. As he is walking, he notices Mei Mei next to him with a larger banner. She does not acknowledge him, but he sees that he still has her attention. Tiaowu grabs a nip of wine before leaving and hurries to catch up with the group.

At the tournament, five schools are participating. San Chuan, Black Lotus, the Crane School (nothern longhand and shaolin techniques), the Five Element School, and Lo Han School (a mix of kung fu and tai chi students). Vendors have brought their carts selling street food and wine, and townspeople are crowding around to watch. The day begins with demonstrations, and Master Shifu does not disappoint with a mesmerizing spear form. At one point he shoves the spear into the ground and appears to defy gravity as he balances on it with one hand. Shifu Coiled Snake follows this with a spinning form that leaves the audience dizzy, and breaks wood and bricks as he spins.

After this the students begin to perform, with demonstrations of acrobatics and iron body displays. Big Nose shows his iron head technique, with students breaking pieces of wood over his head. Next is forms. San Chuan starts out. Zizou is chosen to demonstrate the rope dart and provides a flawless presentation of the form. Next is SiHing Lozu then Mei Mei. She has difficulty with her rhythm, though, and Zizou sees this. He encourages her by pantomiming the form and showing the rhythm, and she improves. She has a slight smile as she finishes and everyone applauds. Zizou and Tiaowu also perform to good responses.

Sparring and wrestling starts next, and Tiaowu is paired with Big Nose. The fight goes on for several minutes with Big Nose using his iron head against the big man. They continue to trade blows until Tiaowu advances with a ridiculous combination, striking Big Nose in the leg, body and finally the head. He lifts the SiHing above his head and hurls him into a vendor’s cart. Wontons go flying and everyone cheers. The man who owns the cart curses Tiaowu out, but he is grinning from ear to ear. After this, when others are fighting, Tiaowu goes to a wine vendor and gets a free bottle of wine, which he downs immediately.

Zizou fights Mei Mei and it’s a draw. Zizou respectfully looses his next fight but then beats the next oppent.Zizou then fights Lung Po and loses once, then wins twice. The two warriors are respectful to one another. Zizou continues on and defeats 2 more opponents.

Lung Po fights ??? and wins?

Tiaowu fights Spitting Snake in an incredibly long battle. Spitting Snake throws dirt in his eye.

Tiaowu fights a Lo Han student, and loses?

The inter-school matches conclude, and after observation by the Shifus, the final contenders for the day are chosen. The first match is a student from Five Elements against a Lo Han student, and Five Elements wins. The second match will be Zizou against Lung Po, and the third match will be SiHing Lozu versus Spitting Snake. After this the winners are to fight.

As Zizou and Lung Po are getting ready to fight, a commotion is heard in the crowd. Men with robes and hoods are coming through the crowd with swords, scaring the townspeople and slashing at anyone who gets in their way.  Master Shifu barks at them to stop what they are doing immediately, but they still advance. He tells his students to get ready to repel the fighters. Coiled Snake tells his students to snap to attention as well.

The first four men go down easily, with the students from both schools working together. Master Shifu takes one out with precise strikes to several nerve points, paralyzing him. Mei Mei stuns one of them, and Zizou grabs his rope dart and slashes one of them across the back with a spinning move, whips it around his leg and then out to strike the second man in the face, taking him out. Tiaowu and Lung Po join the battle and the other man is taken out.

This leaves just one, who takes his mask off and reveals himself to be Barking Wolf. He addresses Shifu Coiled Snake and says that he will pay for shaming him, and even if he dies that his revenge will be complete. He lunges at Coiled Snake, ignoring all the other attackers, but Tiaowu tries to grab him. He slashes Tiaowu savagely and the big man falls down, unconscious. Mei Mei and Zizou both attack, but are unable to bring him down. Mei Mei slips while kicking and twists her ankle, falling to the ground. Lung Po leaps at Barking Wolf from behind and slashes him with his brass knuckle claws, and Barking Wolf falls, bleeding out.

Barking Wolf continues to crawl toward Shifu Coiled Snake, but passes out short of him and expires. Coiled Snake looks up at Lung Po and nods, which is the most attention and respect he’s ever paid the boy. He then turns sharply and walks away, motioning his students to follow him.

Temple Crusaders

Session 4 – Darkness, Silence, Oil and Caltrops

Hadrian charges through the fire, taking some damage and his armor starts on fire. He swings his sword and wounds several. The others don’t risk running through the fire and take some shots from the other side with arrows and spells.

The men attack Hadrian and wound him into near-unconsciousness. He stumbles back through the fire and heals himself. Brother Gregory lays hands on him as well and he recovers.

Suddenly we are covered in darkness, and it becomes completely silent. Someone has cast silence and darkness spells in this area. We work our way back to the hallway entrance but the darkness goes on for a long way. We finally emerge and reconvene at the end of the hallway. We spike the door behind us and the other one next to us that leads to the gnolls. After an hour of rest, we hear rattling at the door that leads to the gnolls. Later, there is banging on the door we came through. We decide to leave, but leave them a present–we squirt several oilskins worth of oil underneath the door and light it on fire. We hear screaming as we hastily leave.

We spend a day back in town and heal Hadrian up to full at the temple. We re-arm and the magic users re-memorize their spells. Dardenne casts Identify on the armor he recovered after we fought the assassins, and finds that it is +3 magical chain mail. He dons it and the group moves back to the moat house.

We enter the same door we were at before, and all the bodies are still here. At the end of the hall we open a new door and see a nicely appointed room, but there is nothing here. We loot the bodies of the guards and find very standard weapons and armor, but a good amount of gold, silver and some platinum.

We move back down the hall to the gnoll door and open it. There is a long, narrow diagonal hallway here. We do not detect any traps and continue on. At the end there is a turn and another door. Darius opens the door and sees several gnolls here. Dardenne quickly casts a sleep spell on the ones that he sees and several fall asleep. Darius throws an oilskin at the back row as a molotov cocktail and they start on fire. We see behind them several bugbears and an ogre. We slam the door and spike it, then squirt oil underneath the door and light it. We then lay down caltrops and more oil in front of the door and wait.

A short while later, we hear commotion down the hallway behind us and several bugbears are coming up. Mord casts an entangle spell and several of them are completely bound. We move up and take out several of them with arrows, including the ogre. The mage gets away, however, and casts more darkness on us.

After the darkness dissipates, the gnolls in the far room ask to be let go. We wait until the darkness dissipates but the fire and caltrops are still there. As soon as the binding goes away, the gnolls turn and run.

Temple Crusaders

Session 3 – My Friend the Bugbear

Met a new PC – Paul’s Ranger Elf – Elauthin Torgil

We enlist a former family to run the Merchant Post.

While searching the ruined moat house, we are attacked by giant ticks, lizards, and rat swarms.

We found a camp of previous raiders in Room #7. Can be bolted on the inside.

We camped, and were attacked by bugbears through. Hole in the outer wall of room 7.

We befriend a bugbear who is paid by the master, whose name is “Lareth the Beautiful,” a disciple of Lloth. 8+ gnolls are in the tribe. The master hired an ogre — they all stay away from the undead crypts.

The bugbear draws a crude map of the outpost for us.

The bugbear takes us to an entrance to the tomb that takes us right to the master. He gets the door open and we all pile into a narrow hallway. We fight nearly a dozen soldiers armed with hand weapons and crossbows. Our bugbear friend dies in the conflict.

Filarion throws a keg of oil into the group and burns several down. A second wave comes at us from the other side of the fire.

Temple Crusaders

Session 2 – The Invisible Assassins

It’s decided that we will stay here for the night and rest up. Dardenne volunteers to watch because he doesn’t need much rest. Hadrian stays up with him for the first watch but nothing happens. During the second watch, suddenly a small keg comes through the window and explodes in fire.   A group of men approach us from 2 sides and begin to attack. Hadrian stands up and rushes them, and Filarion shoots another with his bow.  Dardenne and Darius begin attacking as well. Brother Gregory takes a hit immediately and goes down.

After seeing most of his men taken down in a matter of minutes, the leader of their group turns and runs away. Filarion puts two arrows in his back. We finish off the others and regroup. Hadrian and Gregory are unconscious so we bind their wounds. We decide that we need to leave immediately and get help. We take the enemy’s crossbows, coin purses and put their leader over one of our horses. The corpses and the rest of the equipment are shoved into the rubble of the tower to hide it, and we take off.

We quickly go back to Homlett and cover up the leader’s body as we make our way through town. We go to the temple of St. Cuthbert and ask for their help. They let us in and the head priest heals Brother Gregory. Filarion goes to the Grove and starts composing a song about our adventure. He returns in the morning and Hadrian and Dardenne are healed as well. The Cuthberts ask us for money, and Hadrian & Gregory give them all of their share each. They ask Dardenne for some money as well and he promises to give them some.

Filarion asks the head druid at the Grove where to sell the other items we found on the leader, and he says to go to the merchants nearby. He does so and as he’s speaking to the shopkeeper, he is stabbed in the back. His things are left behind and he makes his way out to the street. At the temple, the priests say that they hear a scream from outside. The others burst out into the street and see that Filarion has been stabbed and someone is pulling out a dagger from his back. Hadrian and Dardenne run after the person into an alley, but they have disappeared.

Hadrian searches the area and sees two auras of evil. Dardenne calls for the city guard. Gregory heals Filarion and the priests catch up with them. Filarion explains what happened and the assistant priest goes to get the city guard and militia.

Meanwhile, Hadrian, Dardenne and Darius run through the streets and between two buildings. Suddenly Dardenne and Hadrian are stabbed from behind and are down. Darius cries for help and tries attacking and backing up from the invisible foes. One of them seems to trip and he sees some dust come up like someone has fallen. He shoots an arrow and it seems to stick in the air. Finally the others arrive and the cleric heals Dardenne. Darius is stabbed and goes down, and so does brother Gregory. Dardenne gets up and casts a sleep spell at what he thinks is the area where the assassins are, but gets a knife in the back himself and falls.

At this point the only people standing are Filarion, Zert and the cleric. Zert, being evil, thinks that this is a great opportunity to attack the cleric. The cleric casts Hold on him and he freezes, then the cleric takes him out. Filarion fires arrow after arrow at the invisible assassin but doesn’t take him down. Finally the cleric casts Hold on him and Filarion shoots a final arrow that kills him. Darius searches him and his hands start becoming invisible. Apparently they had some solution or dust on them that made them invisible. Suddenly the other assassin becomes visible — he is still alive but being held by the cleric’s spell. Darius dispatches him. The militia comes to the area and Filarion explains the whole story to them.

Hadrian and Dardenne are taken to the temple. Dardenne is healed but Hadrian is completely dead. They need to spend an entire day resurrecting him, and Brother Gregory helps.

The next day, Dardenne, Filarion and Darius go back to the shop to see if they can recover what was stolen. The head of the militia is there and lets us in. He mentions that there were two militia men who worked here but they didn’t respond to the call and didn’t come back the next day. Most likely they were working with the evil men. He gives us a description of them in case we run across them.

Inside, we see a lot of hard tack and other dry goods. The ivory box and gold chain are where Filarion dropped them when he was stabbed. They are recovered. We look for secret doors but do not see any. There are some nice looking horses in here. In the back room we find a small chest with a bunch of gold, some test tubes, a black scarab with the letters TZGY engraved on it, and other standard gear. Darius grabs a composite short bow and a composite crossbow as well.

Back at the temple, we hear chanting coming from the main area. We are not welcome there so we take a look at the two assassins’ bodies. We find armor, weapons and some riches. Zert also has a bunch of things that we will divide up.

The next morning, Hadrian is back awake, having come back from the dead. He takes everyone to the bar to celebrate. We then divvy up the goods that we found.

Temple Crusaders

Session 1 – The Moat House

The town of Homlett is bustling with adventurers looking for opportunity. Most have heard that a few years ago a great evil had risen up nearby, and it was conquered, but things have gotten more dangerous again lately.

Dardenne (Jon) and Darius (Steve) are strangers at the Welcome Wench, one of the inns in the town of Homlett. Dardenne is looking for work and tries to get in on conversations. He sees that there are some others here who seem to be well equipped and look dangerous, and sits at the next table and tries to listen in. He asks the barmaid if she knows them, but she says no. He sees one of them walking by with a sword and shield, and asks him why he’s loaded for battle. The man asks him if he’d like to find out and they exchange hostile words. The man ends up walking away as Dard calls after him. Frustrated, he calls for another ale. The barmaid expresses her pleasure that people wouldn’t be killed in the inn. Dard says that he can handle himself.

Two men, Hadrian (Bill) and Brother Gregory (Brad) enter the inn. Hadrian is a large man in chain mail carrying a shield, and Gregory looks like a cleric. They are clearly of the order of St. Cuthbert based on the color of their clothing and religious symbols they carry. They order food and sit nearby Dard and Darius, offering to buy them a round. Hadrian says that he needs to tell us about St. Cuthbert in order to get the mean, to which Dard rolls his eyes, but then Hadrian says that he’s kidding.

Another couple of men come in — Filarion (John) is a half-elf bard that seems familiar with the locals, and his friend Mord (Jeff), another elf who appears to be a druid. The Cuthberts strike up a conversation with them. Filarion says that he is from a far-off country, the Grand Duchy of Geoff. He regales us with talk of his father, who was a hero there.

A man named Zert approaches the group and introduces himself, and says that there are opportunities here. He is grizzled and his clothes are worn. Hadrian looks him over and determines that he has an evil aura about himself, but remarks quietly that St. Cuthbert is patient.

Hadrian offers to get everyone a drink, and on his way to the bar, Darius tries to pick his pocket. Hadrian catches him and asks him to apologize. Hadrian buys a round. Afterward he asks if we are all interested in adventuring together, and we all agree. He asks for us to all promise that we won’t go against the others in the group. We agree to this as well, and we decide to meet up in the morning to travel out. Dard tells Darius that he will help protect him as he is quite young.

In the morning, Dard learns his spell and does his maneuvers. Everyone meets up and we head out on foot. The way is not far but it is difficult due to the fallen branches. After a mile, things thin out. After 2 hours, we reach our destination. The road turns to the north and it becomes boggy. Here we see the Moat House.

The bog here stinks and there is a foul wind.  Suddenly we are jumped by a group of huge frogs. They attack with long tongues and Dard is entangled. Darius strikes the tongue and it retracts. One jumps up and swallows Hadrian whole. Mord is also swallowed. We are slightly damaged but manage to kill all of them and free those who were swallowed, however Hadrian noticed that Zert did not attack right away. He asks Zert about it, and Zert says that he was surprised by the attack, however it’s clear that he was not pulling his weight in the fight.  A few of us are injured, so Hadrian and Brother Gregory say prayers over us to restore our strength. They mention that they can offer no more prayers today for healing, however.  We search the bodies of the frogs and Dard finds an amethyst in one of their stomachs. There is nothing else of interest.

We continue on to the Moat House. We see a rotting drawbridge with two broken gates behind it. Darius is the lightest of us and decides to cross. We head into the courtyard and Hadrian sees some boot prints going to the building across the way. He also senses evil inside the nearby tower. We decide to go to the tower first, so the archers may have the high ground if anyone comes out of the building across the yard. We see that the tower’s  doors are broken open. We go inside and see that the inside is a ruin, and there are holes everywhere. However, something is glinting on the floor nearby . We move in to check it out and suddenly a huge spider drops on top of us. We attack, but everyone misses except for Hadrian, who cuts it in half with his sword. We find the treasure we’d been seeking, including some gold and other items, and afterward decide to rest for a bit.

Cataclysm

Session 21 – Depth Charge

GM: Brad
Players: Simon – John, JD – Bob, Alex – Jon, Zerc – Cary, Meaghan – Paul
Game Date: September 13-14, 2018

Alex reads the label on the canister that we found and he sees that it is for a nutritious plant that was edible on the Talolan planet, but it is unknown whether or not it is digestible by humans.

We continue our travel and make it to Menomonee Falls. Alex picks up all of the things that he had stored in the cave and we stay here the night. The next morning as we get up and see that it has started snowing. We figure that it is going to accumulate into a couple of inches of snow, but it’s better to get started moving. We load up everything with the horses and start off.

We stop in Franklin at the prison, though it is not a swap meet time now. The person at  the gate asks us who we are and we discuss the Templars being around here and he says that they are called “The Crusade”. He seems concerned that they are so close. He offers us a spot to stay for the night and we bed down. Before heading to sleep we look to trade. JD is interested in some grenades and we find only one. He negotiates with the man and convinces him that his .357 is the one Dirty Harry used in the movie. He is convinced and gives him the grenade. Zerc is not able to sell any of his toilet paper unfortunately.

The next day we hit the road and after a couple of hours we see a pile of bodies the road. Looking around, we see smoke off in the distance. Meaghan, Zerc and JD go off to take a look while Simon and Alex stay with the cart. After a few moments Alex and Simon hear noises north and south on the freeway. Simon jumps underneath the cart and suddenly huge mutated wolves converge on us. Alex creates a barrier around the cart just in time and the wolves bounce off of it and cannot get through. They seem momentarily confused. The others hear that something is wrong and start running back. Meaghan and Zerc start shooting and take several of them out, almost all of them with headshots. Alex struggles but manages to keep up his barrier for several more moments until the others can shoot all of the other wolves. We pile the dead wolves on the cart to keep their pelts and continue on.

We see from their tracks that the Templars are near Caledonia, but we do not pursue them now. Later that day we finally make it back to the compound. We have been gone about 4 days. Alex begins to connect up his nanotech and prepares to grow more Talolans. Meaghan skins the wolves for their pelts.

 

 

Cataclysm

Session 20 – Man Eater

GM: Brad
Players: John, Bob, Jon, Cary, Paul
Game Date: September 12, 2018

We continue moving north, on the east side of Highway 45 across from the zoo. We see more of the pink mist in that area and are looking for high ground to get a view on where it might be coming from. Alex thinks that they may be a kind of a mutated spore from Talol that can knock you out.

We come to San Camilla’s hospital as a good option. Of course it has been completely ransacked and a lot of the windows are broken. Most of the supplies have been raided as well. In one area we see some evidence of a fight. There are blood spatters, drag marks, spent casings and a makeshift barrier here. Even a bloody hatchet. We all grab a handful of the brass so that they can be refilled later.

We head to the top floor and look out toward the zoo. We don’t see any lights, movement or smoke from here. From the vetrinary center  at the zoo, we see the smoke and a bunch of pods with vines around them. They are writhing around. Zerc also sees some things that look like alien technology. He suggests that we go down there and check them out. JD and Meaghan agree, but Simon and Alex don’t want to. They are overridden and we head out.

On the way across to the zoo, we see some people approaching. Meghan recognizes them from the observatory. They see her and they greet each other. They see Alex and are surprised but Meaghan quickly explains about him and the compound that we’ve used as our base. We also talk about the Black Templars and they say that they’ve seen them as far west as Madison. We let them know about the shortwave radio as well. We show them the map, and they mention that there is an airport and also a National Guard Armory in that area. We thank them for the share and tell them to stop by the compound sometime. We bid them farewell as they are off to Milwaukee now.

We head to the fence line and cut a hole. We head in with hatchets ready for any vines that may attack us. We see bones that Alex identifies as both human and animal. They seem not to be too disturbed but there is a thin crust of dried goo on them. We find a backpack with a few items in it. While we are looking around a vine snakes its way over to Meaghan and tries to grab her. She gets away from it and we start running toward the building. Before Simon gets into the building a vine grabs him around the waist and hauls him off the ground something that looks like a venus flytrap comes down to try and eat him. JD pulls his machete and hacks the vine off, and Simon falls to the ground. Zerc fires his rifle at it. Simon pulls out his machine pistol and fires a burst into it, and it falls dead. He yells in victory, and Meaghan shouts “All right Simon!” He gets up and runs into the building along with JD.

In the building we find some oxygen gas tanks and some acid. Alex rigs up a rudimentary flamethrower and acid gun. JD and Simon take them, respectively. We head outside toward where we saw the canister. We see two more of the venus flytraps in trees nearby. JD torches one of them with his flamethrower and Simon shoots the other with acid. He tries to cover all of the vines on the ground with acid but the sprayer breaks and he gets acid all over himself. He quickly runs and jumps into the nearby flamingo pond.

Zerc finds and grabs the cannister and starts running toward the fence. Meaghan fishes Simon out of the pond and they start running as well. Alex creates a barrier in the shape of a tunnel to protect us from vines as we run.

Cataclysm

Session 19 – Air Shrimp

GM: Brad
Players: John, Bob, Jon, Cary, Paul
Game Date: September 11, 2018

Back at the compound there is a discuss regarding what to do about the Black Templars. We hear from others in Beloit and the Milwaukee hub that they’ve found dead bodies in exactly the same configuration. We decide that we are going to head up to Menomonee Falls and grab Alex’s gear. We are heading straight up Highway 45.

The air is crisp and cool here in mid-September. After a bit of travel time, we see ahead of us a pinkish cloud, like a puff of vapor, is rising through the air. We observe it and see another one come up. We move toward it and see some houses here. We see some activity at a house on the other side of a divided highway with a barrier down the middle.

As the wagon trundles up, a shot rings out and Zerc cries out in pain. He has been shot in the arm. He returns fire right away to what appears to be a sniper in the upper level of one of the houses. Alex creates a barrier to try and protect us but the bullets continue flying. We take out several guys with guns. After a few moments it is quiet again and Meaghan tries to see if anyone else is in the house. She looks into the front door of one of the houses and suddenly a man with a knife attacks her. JD runs up to the house to help her just as she jams her knife into the man’s throat. She then stabs him in the groin for good measure.

We decide to search the houses and find tons of equipment, supplies and weapons including a sniper rifle and kevlar armor. JD finds a cache underneath a loose floorboard with maps and notes outlining Milwaukee and Beloit as operation areas. Most of the information is in code, though, so not possible for us to read. There is a picture of an airplane and a picture of a handgun near West Bend. On one sheet there is a picture of a Black Templar logo. The dead guys are basically cosplayers as their dress is almost exactly like Black Templars from 40K. They have purity seals, and under their armor they have ritual scarring. Meaghan takes a machine pistol and gives it to Simon as a present.

We look through the third house but don’t find anything. As Alex is looking over the bodies he notices a psionic vibe on them. He thinks that they were being controlled by someone using psychic power. Zerc also is glowing with energy because he was just healed.

Chronicles of X

Session 2 – Ore Storage

After the previous job, X lets Varan and Chance know that one of the barrels we recovered was full of a rare and expensive ore known as Tyrite. However, he thinks that it would be suspicious if we offloaded it right after the job. Varan says that we should hide it, and X agrees.

We land at a the Bezmer Space Docks, a small outpost on Earth in what used to be South America, and the three of them go to a nearby supply area and buy sturdy sewage waste containers — a larger one for the waste and a second one to put the actual ore in.

Varan disguises himself because this is work that no Vanguard would be doing. X helps him cover his face  and dirty up, and Varan feels for a moment like X has done something to him. He looks but doesn’t see anything. He tells X to keep his hands to himself.

We load up the ore, Varan and Chance doing most of the work because X’s wounds are still healing. It is a tough job and Varan is sweating, not used to manual labor. After a while all of the ore is loaded up and surrounded by sewage in the larger container.

We will need to take the container to the storage area ourselves. We find a place nearby which seems pretty slummy but should work. The woman behind the counter is old and ugly, with a face tattoo and a vape stick. She says “15 credits a day and you can’t sleep in them, 33 a month and you CAN’T sleep in them and 500 for a year AND YOU CAN’T SLEEP IN THEM.” Without doing the math, Varan slides her 500 credits with a disgusted look on his face. She walks away and leaves a cloud of vapor. X nudges Varan and says that he overpaid — the monthly price is better. When she comes back, X asks for 6 months at the monthly rate and she refunds part of the money. She gives us a strange looking security key and leaves again.

We push the ore through a set of doors and to our small storage locker, while we are recorded by several security drones. Chance lifts the crate into the unit and is sure to slop some sewage over the side so no one gets curious. He has feces all over his gloves.

We leave, and as we do Varan notices that the security key has a recording device and GPS on it. X thinks that we should go back and get our stuff, but Varan blurts out “I could probably re-route the signal so it can’t track us, but will need some help with the hacking.” X covers his mouth so he doesn’t say more. He finds some oil and grease and covers the key so we aren’t recorded. He also takes a small audio player and turns it on so the key is recording just the music.

Varan washes up in a local restroom, getting the grime off of himself, then contacts a hacker and has the GPS signal and recordings from the key re-routed to a random server. It costs 5 credits a day to keep it from recording us.

We go back to the ship. Chance uses a blowtorch to clean off his suit and gloves of all the sewage, but the whole ship smells like burnt feces now.

X takes some painkillers to deal with his still un-healed wounds. He downs them with a beer which makes him a bit woozy. Varan notices this.

Before we go, X asks Varan to help him fix a laser rifle. Varan takes a look at it and is able to fix it as it had solid internals, however it fires blue whereas most fire red or orange. X likes the color.

Varan, disgusted with this place, says that they should leave. X suggests that we go to meet a friend of his where we can find parts for the robot and also some “companionship”. Varan asks him to lay in the location and the robot is hooked up to help with navigation, though it doesn’t have any arms or legs.

Varan asks Chance to pilot, but X asks if he’s ever piloted and he says “Once in boot camp.” Varan looks alarmed and says that he will pilot. X assures him that he can fly better than either of them even in his slightly addled state, but Varan says absolutely not and takes the helm. X, resigned, drops into the co-pilot seat. The robot also asks if he should take over since Varan seems less than skilled. Annoyed, Varan says that he will do it.

The robot gets the coordinates set. The team gets permission from ground control to leave, and Varan activates the thrusters. The robot reminds him to turn on the shielding and deactivate the docking plates, which Varan does with a loud curse. However he has bumped the stick and they are off course. X takes over piloting and rights the course. Varan relents and lets him fly.

The robot philosophically says “Remember, he may know how to fly, but he does not own his own ship. Each needs one another.” Varan loudly tells him to shut up. In response, the whole ship turns off. Varan panics but the robot says that we should remember that he is part of the ship now. Varan is spooked and says that maybe we should have left the robot on the ship we found it on. X says that he  is on the robot’s side.

The ship turns back on and we resume traveling to our destination. X has been calling the robot “B” but asks  it what its name is. It says “Norro”. X agrees to call it either that or “B”.

Within minutes we arrive at Sarris Warehouse, a massive warehouse that has been added on for over 200 years to be one of the biggest indoor markets. X says that we should not take any valuables with us when we go into the market.