Adventures in Tymirr

Chapter 2 – The Gray Forest

As our heroes approach the forest to the east of the destroyed Kobold camp, they see many tracks leading around and through the forest. They can discern that the caravan went through the forest. They realize that this is the Gray Forest, a dark and dangerous place.

They enter the forest, and immediately feel a sense of dread about them. The forest is dark, and a foul wind blows through it. A gray moss grows over most everything, giving the forest its name. Nettles and poison bushes are everywhere. They see signs that the caravan has passed through here. As they progress further, they see supplies and clothes strewn about. They also see signs of a battle and pools of blood, but no bodies.

As they move further, Atentir hears strange clicking sound coming from ahead, like buzzing insects. They slow their horses and move further cautiously. Ahead they see two strange looking beasts blocking the path ahead. They are about man-sized, and can be described as hideous gorilla-like reptiles. They have glowing red stalk-eyes, and huge mouths with hundreds of sharp teeth. Their teeth are clacking together, making the sound that Atentir previously heard.

The group dismounts and attacks the beasts, driving them back into the forest. After several moments they are finally killed. Nearby is spotted their lair, and next to it a cache of items hidden in a hollow tree stump. Found there are a rusty dagger, a battered short sword, some ruined armor, a large belt with an engraved lion on the clasp, a quiver with 30 arrows, a waterskin filled with wine, a reddish bar of metal, a purse with 35 silver, and another purse with several small jewels.

Galandil takes the belt and examines it. Pressing the engraved lion apparently gives the wearer great strength, and causes the visage of a lion to appear around them. He puts it on and finds that it shrinks to fit his waist. Elowisyl takes the reddish rod and presses the switch at the base. It suddenly expands to an 8 foot staff. Galandil and Elowisyl agree to trade items, since Galandil is adept at using a staff as a weapon.

They move on, and soon afterward see a disturbing image — above them one of the caravan’s wagons is perched upon a large branch. There are swords laying around and the ground beneath them seems disturbed. Elowisyl’s horse is spooked and takes off running back down the trail. Atentir spurs his horse and rides after it.

Suddenly the ground shakes, taking 3 of the party off their feet. A huge insect, what looks to be a millipede, emerges from the ground nearby and begins to attack them. It is roughly 4 feet tall and about 25 feet long. Several attacks are aimed at it, but Elowisyl draws his sword and does a mighty strike to its head, killing it instantly. Atentir returns with Elowisyl’s horse and they continue on. They spend a night in the forest and are not further harried.

In the morning they continue on and soon find themselves at a crossroads. They decide to continue north, as Meran is able to determine that the path leads to a nearby village. By midday they are out of the forest and continue on the road.

They camp another evening before they reach the village. During the last watch, they are assailed by two youths with longbows. Elowisyl is hit in the arm by one of the arrows, and becomes angry. Meran attempts to attack them but is badly wounded, an arrow breaking his arm and another wounding him in the leg. Elowisyl runs full-tilt at the two bandits, brandishing his bastard sword. Galandil hits one with an elemental bolt, breaking his arm and sending him reeling.

Combellon, eager to join the battle, gets up and starts to run towards the others. Atentir grabs him and refuses to let him go. Combellon becomes angry and swipes at him with his hand-axe. Though he misses, he is able to get away and run towards the battle.

Elowisyl finally reaches the two youths and slashes the remaining one in the groin with his sword. They search and find a small amount of money on the youths, as well as a very nice looking longbow.

They gather their supplies and continue on towards the town.

Adventures in Tymirr

Chapter 1 – Exile

The once grand Elven city stands before our heroes in ruins, torn asunder by an unknown force and a cadre of hideous undead.

Erillas thanks the party for looking after his son, Combellon, during the battle. He chides Combellon for fighting alongside the deployed forces like a common foot soldier. Combellon apologizes but protests, saying that he wishes to be a fighter and not a prince.

Erillas tells the party to look help in the city and look after their own families. He then tells Combellon that he wishes to speak to him in private.

The three Elf-brothers rush quickly to their family home, and the Desert Ranger, Meran, accompanies them. They find that their home is burning, and they hear cries of their family members from inside. After Meran tries to scale the burning tree and falls onto his backside, Galandil and Atentir manage to climb up the trunk of the tree and get inside.

After breaking down a heavy door, they manage to get to their family members inside. Their father, it seems, has succumbed to the smoke and heat and has passed on. Their other family members, including their mother, sister, grandmother and grandfather are suffering from smoke inhalation.

The family members are lowered to the ground and tended to. The father’s body is also removed from the burning building, and given to the town’s cleric for a special healing rite. After a long while the cleric returns with sad news — the father has passed on and nothing else can be done for him.

Later that evening, Erillas addresses the remnants of his people and announces that this day will be a day of mourning for the homes and the lives lost — sadly, his wife Shanni was killed in the battle. On the next morning, they will leave their ancient home and travel north to the Human city of Tymirr to seek refuge. King Arayen of Tymirr has long been an Elf-friend, Erillas says, and he will welcome them there.

The next morning the Elf brothers bury their father in a brief ceremony. Elowisyl, although the oldest child, is too overcome to speak. Galandil mutters a prayer under his breath. Meran plays a sad tune on his lute to honor him, and the sister says a few short words.

Packing what belongings they have, the Elves set out for the long journey to Tymirr on horseback and in wagons. The band departs (made up of our heroes, Erillas, Combellon, 150 civilians and 50 Elf-soldiers).

While traveling it is noticed that the ground on the nearby plains has been eaten away by the oncoming threat, leaving little but dead grass and dirt. It is nearly impossible to follow the road north, and navigation must be done by compass.

Soon after the caravan leaves, their path takes them to a small village that appears to have been attacked by a similar band of undead that ravaged the Elf Guild’s city. There are only a few remaining survivors, one of which is a young woman who appears to be dressed as a warrior. She introduces herself as Neith. Elowisyl invites these people to join their band traveling to Tymirr. They gladly agree, and they all pack up their belongings to leave. Neith also decides to go with the caravan.

Another evening passes without incident, and the band enters a mountainous area that does not seem to be affected by the surrounding scourge. The weather turns to rain, and they camp that evening in a rocky hollow with some trees for shelter.

While scouting the perimiter, Meran hears a noise off in the distance. Silently approaching the area from which the noise originated, he sees a man in his mid 50’s, exhausted and wounded. Meran attempts to help him to the camp, though the man’s horse cannot get up and after a few moments, it expires.

The man introduces himself as Aesmos, a resident of a small town about 20 miles east of their position. He explains that he was out riding earlier in the evening and was attacked by undead. Meran takes him back to the camp and the party attempts to heal him, but a large wound on his neck remains open. The party calls for the cleric, but before he can arrive the man displays strange symptoms and then attempts to attack Elowisyl.

The party attacks the man, Atentir finally slicing him apart with his javelin, but not before he can strike a brutal blow on Neith. She is soon healed, but is worried that the attack would cause her to become an undead. The cleric checks her wound and says that it is not infected.

Erillas, hearing of what happened with the man, asks the party to scout out the area for any other dangers that may threaten the camp. With a few Elf rangers as escort, they ride out and make sure that the man’s horse has not become an undead. Finding that it is indeed dead, they ride up to the north over the ridge to search for any other threats.

As they crest the ridge, they see campfires to the north. Moving closer they see a group of at least 20 kobolds making camp in the area. While attempting to sneak back to camp to warn them, the party unwittingly makes a sound that alerts the kobolds to their presence.

They race back to their horses, the kobolds hot on their heels. They manage to get back to camp to alert the guard, and see that the kobolds have turned back and are not attacking the camp.

Elowisyl attempts to convince Erillas that they must mount an offensive on the kobolds before they could plan their own attack, but Erillas refuses, saying that he will not waste the lives of his people. Instead he says that they will leave early the next morning and give the kobold camp a wide berth — but to make sure that there is no further threat, he volunteers the party to ride up and check the camp to see if the kobolds are still there, while the caravan continues north.

Later that evening, Elowisyl further examines the strange blade that he recovered from one of the undead that attacked their village. It seems very dull, and does not cut human flesh. Atentir also examines the blade, and is able to divine that it is used for cutting wood. Elowisyl tests it on a piece of wood he was carving for a bow, and it cuts through it easily. He then tries it on a dead tree, and it slices through it as though it were a hot knife cutting through butter.

In the morning they follow Erillas’ plan, but Combellon hears of the plan and takes the place of one of the guards set to go with the party. They advance on the kobold camp, but see that they have been wiped out by a group of undead. Meran finds the tracks that the undead left, and (using a spell) finds that the trail originated in the southern Wastelands and ends a few miles north at another village.

Traveling north in pursuit of the caravan, the party crests another ridge and sees the village to the west, already destroyed. They surmise that the caravan moved further to the east to avoid the town, and have entered a heavily forested area. They follow with all haste.

Adventures in Tymirr

Prologue – A Land Under Siege

Our story opens in a Tree Whisperer (wood-elf) city southwest of the Human city of Tymirr. Over the past few months their defenses have been eroded by increasing numbers of undead and other foul beasts, all seemingly coming from the Erstland Wastes to the west.

Another threat are the so-called “Terrors”, a mysterious force that have the local farmers and city-folk talking. Strange disappearances and deaths are blamed on this unknown entity or entities, but nothing has been sighted in the area.

Erillas, the silver-haired leader of the Western Elf Guild, makes a grim proclamation to the gathered masses at the Guild’s largest city. “Our outer defenses are all but destroyed and the Enemy advances on our city. We have received reports of hundreds of undead and other menaces only a few miles away. Logic tells us that these “Terrors”, whatever they are, are not far behind. Prepare to defend yourselves for true!”

Erillas’ wife, the beautiful and waifish Shanni, steps up next to her husband and addresses the crowd. “We will hold fast. Have faith, brothers and sisters, that the Gods may deliver us from these evils.”

Erillas continues, “I have divided our forces into four groups. Two will defend the city from within, and two will flank the enemy as they approach. To your stations, and the Gods be with you!”

Our heroes are among those of the 3rd Guard, taking left flanking position against the oncoming threat. They notice that Erillas’ son, Combellon, has snuck into the group and stands with them to fight.

Presently a rider appears in the distance, a swarthy Western nomad. He introduces himself as Meran Al’Sahiri, and he warns that the enemy is not far behind him — a force of kobolds, zombies and skeletons, more than a thousand in number. He joins the group to defend the area.

After moments of terrifying silence, waves of enemies appear and begin to attack, trying to corner and drive back the Elves. Strangely they appear as if they have already been attacked; zombies have large chunks of flesh and limbs missing, and skeletons are only slightly better for wear. The archers fire upon the attackers, taking down several before they reach melee range.

The battle is joined, and our heroes fell many kobolds, zombies and skeletons. Several of the rangers and townsfolk who had joined the group fall in the battle, but the Enemy are finally struck down.

While searching through the remnants of the battle for survivors, Elowisyl finds a strange looking dagger. It is made out of an unknown alloy and appears to be dull. Galandil confirms that it is indeed magical.

Meran notices that the boy, Combellon, is missing. Galandil finds him nearby caught under a fallen zombie. His arm is broken and he is bleeding badly. Atentir uses spells to stop his bleeding and mend his broken arm.

Just then a earthquake rips through the ground in the area, sending Elowisyl toppling to the ground. Galandil tries to analyze if the quake was caused by a magic spell, but he does not believe it was so.

The survivors are gathered up and they continue back to the Guild city, aware of the eerie silence after the earthquake.

As they crest the final hill on the way towards the city, they see droves of mauled undead and slaughtered kobolds. Meran ascertains that some of the undead were men from Nomad clans when they were living, some of which he recognizes and some of which he does not. Approaching closer, they see more Elf corpses, many of them familiar.

The city itself is a smoking ruin, the immense tree that was at the center of the village completely uprooted and snapped in half. What evil could have done this?

Nearby a pile of zombies shifts and Erillas emerges, covered in gore. “They will pay for this,” he hisses.

The Codex

Session 14 – Get the Girl and Get Home

We are hanging out at GG’s place when there is a commotion — someone is arriving. We se our old friend and Owl Shaman, Tebriel. It seems that he was sent here by Smoke Jaguar to help us out. After a brief re-introduction we tell him of our current mission.

Our plan is to take the sub south to the area that Fenola is being held in, and find a way to get her out.

We load up all of our gear and take off in the sub, since we will not be returning. On the way out, Nutz manages to scrape the sub on the side of the wall, causing a small leak.

Nutz pilots the sub south and finds a small boathouse that looks safe to store the sub in. All exit and move into the city. It is mid-afternoon and there is a light rain falling.

We make our way through the city to her building. Nutz sends the flying drone around the perimiter of the building. The north entrance looks sealed off but the others seem to be open. There are lots of security cameras around. Some people are coming in and out of the building but they do not seem to be armed.

We move towards the door and they barricade themselves inside. Skelfeng casts Magic Fingers in case they need to be “coaxed”. Jack approaches and asks them if we can rent a room. They let him in and tell him that it is very expensive. He says that he can provide several things, including passage out of the city.

We decide that we could sell one of Nutz’ drones in order to buy the girl back. Jack goes back in and one of the guys, named T’krit, asks him about getting out of the city; he wants passage for himself and a few of his men.

Jack explains that we want the girl in exchange. The guy agrees and lets us into the building.

We go up to the penthouse and get settled in. They bring up the girl and we explain the situation to her. She begins crying, and seems very happy to be getting out of the city and to see her brother again.

T’krit announces to his men that some of them will be leaving the city, and some will be asked to stay and help out. We will leave some supplies here for them as well.

We start packing up to leave. Fenola explains that she needs to get some of her family heirlooms out of her apartment before she can go. Some of T’krit’s men will go with us to the apartment building, which is nearby.

All of us head into the building, but we leave some of T’krit’s men on the ground floor. We head up to the 26th floor, but smell a sweet odor and decide to head back down to the 19th floor since there are most certainly bugs upstairs.

We ask Fenola about the location of her items, and her apartment number. She gives us the information and we head upstairs, leaving her with the others.

We get back up to the 26th floor and there seems to be activity. Skelfeng sees several bug spirits around. We launch our grenades into the hallway and take them out. We find two more in the apartment and kill them as well. We take her belongings from the safe in her room and clear the area.

Returning to T’krit’s building, we pack up our belongings and take the passengers with us.

We leave in the sub and are able to escape the same way that we came in, through the hole in the fence that we previously made. Our trip back to Milwaukee is without incident.

We deliver the girl back to Dorchatus and she is very happy to be back. He makes good on his promise and says that he will tell his superiors that he has killed Nacre.

Some of the passengers stay with us in the warehouse base. After a day or so, most of them leave, thanking us profusely and promising to return and repay us for helping them.

A few days later we deliver the cage to Smoke Jaguar. He adds 1.25 million nuyen to our account, which amounts to 250,000 nuyen apiece. He tell us that we are going on a trip, and takes us in his plane to Seattle.

After landing we go through a DMZ area where an Urban Brawl had just occurred. We go inside a church nearby and into a room with an Aztec-style altar with petroglyphs. Each person present has a piece of the codex.

A ritual occurs — they assemble the pieces of the codex and a flash whites out the room. The codex is glowing intensely. We all feel very good. Skelfeng approaches the codex to look at it. Several other magicians do the same.

He casts Analyze Magic on it, to find out the codex’s purpose. Apparently it is a focus, gathering nearby mana into the crystal at the center. It could be called a “mana battery” of sorts (force 9).

In game terms, it increases everyone’s Essence by 1.

The Codex

Session 13 – Bug City

The “queen” cockroach approaches us.

Nutz, already wounded, beats a hasty retreat and calls for the others to follow. Nacre runs forward and fires an arrow at the bugs. The queen dies from the hit. We quickly dispatch the other bugs, but Nutz’ walking drone has been hit and cannot move.

The roto-drone scopes further in to the room and sees only dead bugs and bodies. Skelfeng heals Nutz some, and we begin to make our way to the electrical panel.

Skelfeng checks astrally and does not see any threat. Nutz attempts to fix the power and accidentally electrocutes himself. Skelfeng uses his war club to knock him away from the live wires.

Skelfeng is able to heal Nutz and he continues working. 4 hours later Nutz is able to fix the power.

Nutz then fixes his drone enough so it can walk. We return to the Sanctum.

The guards let us in and we go to meet Two Spirits. He gives us the birdcage and Skelfeng confirms that it is real (or at least magical).

Skelfeng heals some of the others group members.

Two Spirits is asked about the girl and say that she is outside of his realm, he does not know her.

We go back to GG’s and she helps fix up Nutz and Jack. After five days, Jack is down to a light wound.

Nutz goes back into the tunnel and fixes his walking drone.

Skelfeng speaks with the other mages at the Sanctum, and they trade spells. He learns 2 new ones.

The mages offer to help find Dorchatus’ sister. They participate in a ritual using the photo that Dorchatus gave us of the two of them during their childhood. She is in a tall apartment building that is silver with purple glass. There are several trolls and orks around, they look like some sort of gang. She is in servitude to them, bringing them food. She seems threatened and unhappy.

The mages fashion an amulet that will lead us to her approximate location. We search for old photos of the area that Dorchatus told us she lived in, and we see the silver and purple building nearby.

The Codex

Session 12 – Bug City

During the night at GG’s stronghold, we hear her men moving about, possibly doing reconnaisance outside. They are using a keypad to open a secret door.

Morning comes and we get up. We find that there are areas for us to get cleaned up. Nacre slept outside and is very cold due to something called “winter”.

A combat mage approaches us and gives us some information about the Field Museum (now called the “Sanctum”). It is run by a shaman called Two Spirits, an Owl shaman. He was reportedly in Chicago a year before the bugs came, and foresaw that something bad was going to happen. He stayed anyway, and when it all went down he opened his doors to many refugees, and has been there ever since.

We go to seek GG to ask her about the Sanctum. We eventually find her in her room. She says that her men will take us through the freight tunnels under the city to the Sanctum. GG loads the tunnel map to Jack’s datapad. We find the general area of the Field Museum on the map.

Skelfeng goes outside and finds Nacre. The doctor says that Nacre is on the verge of hypothermia from sleeping outside. She puts a blanket on him and has him lay down for a while.

The two coming with us are Maxim (combat mage) and Matchlock (street samurai). They will be our guides. We are scanned so we will have clearance to get through the tunnels. They scan our retinas and fingerprints.

We wait another hour for Nacre to thaw out, then we leave, bringing all of our guns. Nutz decides to leaves his drone at the complex.

We are taken to a large steel door that looks like the door of a sub. We are authenticated and the door opens. We are led into a tunnel that is damp and musty. Nacre tries to light a torch but is told to put it out. We go single file.

We come to a corridor that is sandy with coral around it. There are old railroad tracks as well. We come towards the Field Museum, and go to a large door. They let us in and take us to a guard station. They seem excited that outsiders are visiting.

A shaman comes to us and says that we must leave our weapons to go in. They lead us further into the Sanctum. We see a Native American man talking to a bunch of people. He invites us in and introduces himself as Two Spirits.

Maxim gives Two Spirits a message from GG, and the two of them leave.

Skelfeng introduces us and asks Two Spirits if he has seen anything like the birdcage we are looking for. He says that they indeed have it, and it is in storage. They would like us to do a favor for them in exchange for it.

They have a problem with their power systems; a nest of cockroaches in a nearby garage is disrupting the power to the entire building. We say that we will help in any way that we can.

Two Spirits tell us that we could have some of their mages put protective spells on us before we leave. We can take the tunnels most of the way to the place. They will also give us some equipment to help out. We hook into their frequency on our coms as well.

We go back to GGs through the tunnels. They ask us if we will be back for the Christmas celebration in 2 days. We tell them about our task and they seem to think we might not make it back.

We go to the sub to get some items and tools for our mission. Jack hears some sort of a party going on. We see a heat signature upriver — it looks like a boat is approaching.

A barge comes down the river with a Jolly Roger symbol on the front. They seem to be dredging the river, and are getting close to the location of the sub.

Nutz tries desperately to get the sub out of the way, and seems to succeed. The barge goes over the sub and passes by without incident. They don’t seem to see us, either. Nutz gets what he needs from the sub. Nutz moves the sub into a flooded basement so it is safe from further Jolly Roger ships.

We return to GG’s for the evening. Nutz uses his datajack to find info on basic electricity and to study up for our mission. He logs onto a local chat room. One of the other users gives him some schematics for the building. They say to be on the lookout for cyberware on our mission.

Nutz continues to study throughout the night. The rest of us turn in. The next morning we wake up to eggs frying — GG’s people make us a special meal because of our mission. We are delighted to eat real food. They also say that they will try and help us out if we need it.

We get ready to go on our mission and get equipped. We need to go down to sub-level 3 of the parking garage. We go through the freight tunnel with the two drones. We come out two blocks away from the building. Nutz sends to drones towards the building.

Jack smells something horrible and puts on his respirator. The rest of us follow suit. Obviously there are lots of bugs here. We load up our weapons and proceed into the building. The walking drone goes ahead of us.

We head down to the third sub-level. Skelfeng looks astrally and sees cockroaches all around. We decide to fire grenades in the area and clear all of the bugs. Skelfeng gets a direct hit on one of them. The gas from the grenades fills the area.

The cockroaches awaken and begin to surround us, not staying in the gas long enough to be affected. We fend them off in melee combat. Skelfeng kills several of them using magic.

Suddenly the queen shows up.

The Codex

Session 11 – Bug City

We sell all of our trappings from the last mission and receive 703,240 nuyen in return. Nutz spends 642,000 of the nuyen on the sub, purchasing decoy torpedoes, auto-navigation, and a few other upgrades.

Nutz also buys another drone, “crab”, and a deployment rack on the sub. The drone will be used underwater to secrete an acid and burn through the underwater fence surrounding Bug City. We will need to get within 3 kilometers to control it.

Dorchatus gives us info on his sister. Her name is Fenola Ciran, and she is Elven with fair skin, 1.7 meters tall, 50 kg. He also gives us her SIN, and says that she is originally from Galwey, Tir Na NOg. She worked in the Chicago Loop building 4, Suite 5705. Her apartment is at 8644 S. Daymon Avenue, Apartment 1920. He also gives us a picture of Fenola from when they were kids.

We leave for Chicago through Lake Michigan. We encounter something near Chicago, an enourmous sturgeon. It passes by us without incident.

We get 3 kilometers from the fence and deploy the crab. We use the sonar to try and detect anything. The crab spurts out acid and cuts through the fence.

Skelfeng checks outside the sub in astral very quickly and sees nothing significant in the area.

We begin to move forward and a hard ping goes through the ship. Nutz deploys the “chameleon mode” to try and hide us. We continue moving forward. We go through the fence at 2 knots. There are floating sensors somewhere near us.

The sub goes right through the fence perfectly, thanks to Nutz’ navigation. We have made it through the sensor net and there should not be any more to hinder us.

We move towards the breakwall and go south to our target area. Skelfeng goes astral again and checks out the area. No one seems to be around. Nuts deploys the sensor drone and scans the area as well.

Nuts uses the sub’s arm to bring us to shore. The sensor drone goes off — some older man is approaching at the side of the river. Skelfeng assenses him, and sees that he is not magically active nor does he have cyberware.

Nacre disembarks and sneaks behind the man, attemping to knock him out. He does not go out, but is hurt by the blow. He begins begging Nacre not to kill him.

Jack gives the man a food bar, and asks him if he knows where our contact, Doctor Griselda Gawarski (“GG”) is located. He says that his name is John and that he will lead us to GG. Skelfeng heals him.

Nutz goes to retrieve the drones and the cargo. John leads us towards her building, on the way a few people see us but scatter. He leads us to a building and goes inside.

Skelfeng sees three people inside the building in the darkness, heavily cybered. More people are on the stairs. Jack throws up his hands and says that we are only here for a pickup and a delivery. One of them speaks on a subdermal mic.

They tell us that the Doctor will see us. The old man leaves, after Jack gives him another food bar. The cybered men take our weapons. The doctor approaches us and leads us downstairs. We tell her that we have 2 crates of medicine for her. She is pleased.

They bring us into a sub-basement that holds a bunker and bomb shelter behind a hidden entrance. We drop the crates, and the Doctor’s men open them, revealing the medicine and other supplies that we brought.

GG asks us what we are doing here, and we tell her about our mission for Smoke Jaguar. She explains that the art museum was ransacked a while ago, and the Field Museum is now a bunker for a powerful mage. We ask if we can get in contact with the mage.

They offer to let us stay for the night. Nutz asks about the area to the south of us, where Dorchatus’ sister is supposedly located. GG explains that there are a lot of shamen and “liberals”. They trade with the other people and farm, but mostly keep to themselves. The Field Museum is now called the Sanctum. Bugs apparently cannot penetrate the Sanctum, but those who inhabit it seem a little “off”.

The girl lives in “Swamp Thing” territory. They may have an insect shaman with them. North of us is “Ghoul Territory”. The “Jolly Rogers” trade flesh with the ghouls in the area.

We are told to stay away from subways and underground areas, as well as high areas like skyscrapers. These can all be havens for bugs.

We are also told to stay away from the Freeway, because it is a common ambush area. There is one restaurant that manages to stay open and safe somewhere in the city.

Many other things may be floating around, including advanced cybwerware and other technology.

We decide sack out for the night.

The Codex

Session 10 – Home Sweet Home

We return to our warehouse base for a few days, rest up and (in some cases) heal. Skelfeng learns a couple of new spells, spending a long time in a magic-induced trance.

Suddenly we hear a loud noise coming from the water docking bay. A large ship smashes through the dock door and several individuals begin firing on us. A mage among them begins casting fire spells, setting the crude drywall rooms ablaze. Skelfeng goes into astral and checks the ship. He finds 3 individuals.

We begin fighting back, Jack firing his revolver and Nacre shooting arrows at the vessel. We hear popping sounds and no longer any movement from the ship. Skelfeng confirms that they are dead, but we weren’t the ones responsible. Markings on them show that they were the Trinity, the group funded by the Vatican to find the pieces of the codex before we did.

An Elf in commando garb approaches the warehouse. We are about to attack him, but we realize that he could have killed us all with his sniper rifle as he killed the Trinity. He introduces himself as Dorchatus and says that he was hired to kill Nacre, but has a proposition for us instead.

While he was surveilling us, Dorchatus found out that we were traveling to Bug City for our next mission. His sister, Fenola, has been trapped in Bug City since the borders were closed off. If we can get her out, he will repay the favor by not killing Nacre.

The Codex

Session 9 – A Small Favor

The group is continuing to hide out at the warehouse just outside Aztlan. The other Gator Shaman wants to exchange spell knowledge with Skelfeng before they leave. Jack is seriously wounded, but is healing.

El Chupacabra asks if we are willing to help the resistance with a small matter before we leave, in repayment for their help on our mission. He wants us to intercept a blood mage on his way to Tenochtitlan. He is coming through a “slum” area unnanounced and we need to kill him and his entourage.

It will occur in 4 days. We begin planning the hit and visit the area. Eclipse goes to one of the buildings and tries to sublet an apartment for 3 days. She is able to sublet from an older couple for 1200 nuyen.

We leave for the slums and take our positions. Eclipse and Skelfeng go on the roof of the building, Nuts is in his truck on a side street and Jack is on an opposite building.

The cars approach and Nutz slams into the second and third cars with the truck. Jack fires a grenade and misses badly.

Skelfeng goes astral and checks out the third car, it appears that they are heavily cybered and not magically active. While he is in the astral, Skelfeng notices that a spell was cast against him but it was unsuccesful.

Nuts fires the autocannon at the second car, which is still trying to get away.

Skelfeng moves to the fourth car in astral space, and sees a powerful mage in the car with a strange leaf-shaped knife. He suddenly sees the man’s astral form in front of him.

Nacra shoots a grenade-tipped arrow into the third car through the back window. Jack fires some explosive rounds into the first car’s tires.

Skelfeng is hit with a manabolt spell. He responds with “slay human”. Suddenly the blood mage’s form is no longer on the astral.

The mission seems successful, and we begin to pull out. Skelfeng verifies that the mage is dead and recovers several magical items from him.

El Chupacabra jacks the trunk of the car and finds a package. It is some genetic material that the blood mage was going to use to track one of Chupa’s friends.

We escape just before helicopters arrive. El Chupa thanks us, and we say brief good-byes. They make a distraction so we can safely leave.

We travel back to Milwaukee and meet with Smoke Jaguar. He is delighted that we have returned with the the crystal. We realize that the last item, a bird cage, is located in Bug City.

Smoke Jaguar says that he has set up a legit corporation as a front business for our dealings, and we will be paid as sub-contractors from here on out.

The Codex

Session 8 – The Temple

We get to the east entrance of the temple and call WizKid to ask him if he can open the door for us. After a few moments he is able to do so and we sneak in. He also manages to lock the outside gates so no one can easily get in behind us. He is having trouble accessing the internal security systems, however.

In the center of the building are escalators going up and down. Everything seems shut in the building and several areas are gated off.

Skelfeng goes astral and checks out the area. He descends into the basement, supposedly towards our objective, and sees several feral looking (dual natured) creatures running up the escalator and towards the group. He returns to the group and warns of their coming.

Everyone takes position around the escalator. One of the beasts, what appears to be a hell-hound, rushes up the escalator and dashes around the corner. Skelfeng wounds him with a manabolt and Eclipse shoots him with her pistol. He continues running and disappears from sight.

We move downstairs via the escalator. It goes for a very long way down into the basment. There is a large temple down here that is 60 feet down from our current position.

Suddenly four of the “hounds” converge on us, 2 from above and 2 from below. One of the ones above us breathes fire on all of us, Jack is hurt from the fire. One from below rushes and bites Jack’s arm, wounding him severely. After a brief firefight the hounds are killed. Jack looks very hurt.

We move down the remaining steps and stop a moment to rest. Skelfeng attemps to heal Jack with magic.

Before we can completely recover, two werewolf creatures appear and begin approaching us. We are all petrified as they howl horribly and begin to attack. Skelfeng kills one with a manabolt spell and the other one moves in close. We manage to dispatch him without taking further damage.

We approach the smaller temple and check around the sides. There are no entrances, though there are steps that go up on each side. We ascend to the second level, and Jack notices a symbol carved in the rock that resembles the marking on the compass.

Skelfeng places the compass on the outcropping and suddenly a gigantic earth elemental rises out of the side of the temple. He attacks Jack and nearly crushes him to death. The rest of the group attacks it, Skelfeng with magic and Eclipse and Nacre with physical weapons. After a few rounds it finally goes down.

Skelfeng heals Jack again. Jack picks through the rubble where the elemental came out from, and finds a wooden box. Inside is a crystal and a gold rod with a snake around it.

We take it and retreat back to the warehouse. We inform the rebels that we have completed our mission and that they should fall back. They sound harried, as if they are under heavy fire.

We finally meet up with El Chupacabra once again, and he tells us that we must pack up and move to another location. They meet us at a different warehouse outside of town.

Skelfeng shows the other Gator shaman the snake symbol. He says that he has never seen anything like it before. Just then, the other rebels return from the battle. Many of them are wounded. Skelfeng heals them, and realizes that his healing power has been increased dramatically. The snake talisman must be a powerful healing fetish of some sort.

We rest at the warehouse for a few days.