Paradise Falls

Episode 27 – Bravely Brave Sir Fossar…

We rise early in the morning knowing this will be a fateful day.  Thaddeus presses a potion into the hand of each party member saying to drink it when we find the dragon.  It will help fortify you for the battle head.

At the blacksmith shop, Roland is finishing the assembly of an 8 foot tall iron man with a ghost rock boiler.  It emits a scream as the boiler comes to life, the robot stands and looks at Roland for a command.  At this point there is a rumbling in the town, and the skies start to darken.

Meanwhile back at the cabin we notice the weather is turning.  It is getting darker and cold.  Fossar notices a small girl right outside of the cabin.  She asks to see Maverick.  She introduces herself as Sally and says we helped her family when we first got into town.  She says she thinks we are heroes and she needs our help.  She says her mother is ill and the doctor is busy.  Thaddeus agrees to go with her.  Maverick goes as well.

As we leave it feels like an earthquake.  We see a huge tendril burst out of the ground by the horses.  It grabs a horse and decapitates it.  The other horses runn oft (O Brother Where Art Thou), and three zombies appear from the hole the tentacle made.

Jimmy flies out of the cabin and attacks a zombie.  He slays it with his tomahawks.  Maverick shoots the tentacle and it falls and shrinks back into the ground.  Thaddeus throws a potion that explodes and shakes the zombies.  Fossar engages them in lively conversation.  They respond that they are here to destroy, which the posse can’t understand but somehow Fossar can.  He attacks one of them and wounds it.  The zombie swings and misses.  The girl cowers in fear, and starts to ride away.

Another tentacle and two more zombies appear.  We also hear the outhouse break apart.  Lucille jumps on a horse and get ready to ride.  Fossar kills one zombie but then his shovel flies out of his hand.  Jimmy kills the last zombie near the cabin, but we have more to deal with.  Maverick shoots the tentacle to the south and kills it.  The zombies close with him but they miss him.  Thaddeus shoots another.

Maverick takes out the the remaining zombies.  We all jump on horses and ride for town, except for Lucille who rides north.  Before she leaves she gives a slip of paper to Maverick. We don’t see her anymore.

Once in town we goes to the girl’s house and find her mother.  Thaddeus treats her with his medical knowledge.  Maverick goes to talk to the blacksmith and sees the automaton.

At that moment, more tentacles and skeletons break out in the town.  Roland commands the automaton to attack with its buzzsaw and flamethrower. They attack and bind several party members.  Bat Masterson and the Russian engage but have no success.  Fossar dispatches a tentacle.  Jimmy tomahawks a zombie.  Thaddeus entangles a tentacle and zombie.  Maverick finishes off the tentacle and the zombie.  The party that is left regroups and talks.  Maverick and Thaddeus decide to head out of town and meet up with Lucille, who gave Maverick the location she was fleeing to, somewhere in Saskatchewan. Jimmy goes to assist the Dust Boys and they head out of town as well. Fossar heads to the mine alone.

We see a plume of black smoke rising from the area that was Paradise Falls. The townspeople are never seen or heard from again. Fossar’s fate is unknown.

Star Wars EOE

Session 1 – Sigmentus

We are a group of misfits and malcontents aboard the Corona, a medium freighter vessel that is headed toward the space station The Wheel to deliver a package to a company called IsoTech, are contacts are brother and sister Twi’leks named Riom and Shari. Suddenly we are knocked out of hyperspace.

Ten Je (Paul) is a Cerean pilot who has spoken of having an obligation to an organization which gives him jobs and also multiple families back home. He doesn’t seem to have any love of the Empire.

Vidakko (John) is a female Twi’lek who came from an upper-class family, educated and has some medical and martial arts training. She doesn’t like to be pigeonholed and escaped from her planet to go her own way.

Kuma Vanroh (Jon) is a Bothan former diplomat who has been exiled from the Core Worlds, and has been helping mid- and outer-rim people and worlds against the Empire.

Zach (Bill) is a Corellian gambler who is trying to restore his family’s company from the Empire.

Quentin (Steve) is an unkempt human who tends to keep to himself. He has tech and medical skills and likes to help those in need.

As we come out of hyperspace, Ten Je, Vidakko, Zach and Kuma come to the cockpit and see that we are in an asteroid field. The asteroids are fairly far apart but we are nearing some. Ten Je makes a piloting maneuver to go around them. He runs a sensor scan and sees that there are several small starfighters in medium range to us. He also sees a star and a nearby planet.

Zach runs to man the cannons. Kuma turns on the ship shields, tells Zach to not shoot them yet, and goes over the radios to the ships and tells them to identify themselves. A Zabrak who calls himself Capt. Malice of the Marauder and is wearing pirate clothing comes over the coms and tells us to power down and prepare to be boarded. Kuma tells them that he is a diplomat on a diplomatic mission. They tell him to send his diplomatic credentials.

Ten sees that we are in the Sigmentus system, which has dangerous wildlife. He tries to plot a hyperdrive jump out of here but the drive is not working. Quentin checks the hyperdrive and tells us that the motivator is shot, but he may have some parts. He looks and finds something but it won’t work.

We are now seeing six small ships, Z-95 Headhunters, and a corvette that could be holding up to 200 people. We decide to go toward the planet since they aren’t shooting us, but it may be their goal all along. They continue to follow us as we go toward the planet.

As we get closer we see that this is a mostly temperate world with polar caps. It should support life, and gravity is just a bit more than standard. On the night side, there is a storm system near the equator. Ten Je flies straight toward it, and Kuma asks him if he’s actually going to do that. He says yes, and takes us in. Amazingly there are only a few bumps as we go directly into the storm and we come out below and find somewhere to hide.

As we descend and see forest below us, Zach notices an area that might fit the ship. Ten Je lands it perfectly so there is cover. As we were flying, Zach noticed on the sensors that he saw weak power readings coming from the planet.

We think about venturing out in the storm toward one of the power readings, and find that we do have some protective gear but it is dark and we don’t have a way to navigate.

Ten goes down to the engine room to look at the hyperdrive damage and speaks with Quentin. Kuma stays in the cockpit and researches the planet. There appear to be Gundark (vicious four-armed apes) and Nexu (catlike things) as well as some Nerfs here. He also tries to research the pirate captain, but can’t find anything.

Ten attempts to hide the cargo, as it’s quite large. He uses a grav sled to hide it in the smuggling hold.

The next morning the storm has mostly passed and it is daylight. We decide to head out. Quentin and Kuma work together to navigate us to the nearest power source. We think that we are on track but it is taking a long time to get there and the terrain is difficult. The other three keep a lookout for threats. Ten Je hears gundark calls in the distance which are to the right and also behind and to the left.

We keep moving forward but don’t seem to be getting any closer to our goal. However we are moving to potentially evade the gundarks. They don’t seem to see us right now. Zach shimmies up a tree to look around the area but falls and hurts his ankle a bit.

We continue on and see our objective in the distance. Checking through binoculars, we see several crashed ships that look like freighters. Kuma trips and also hurts himself a bit.

The group stealths toward the ships. We see five of them: a Hawk-290, a Zavatar-Class Heavy Transport, a Barlaz Freighter and various Corellian YT models.

Zach notices some mewling sounds coming from one of the Corellian transports, and we decide to stay away from them. Ten, Vidakko and Quentin go inside the Hawk to search out parts. He sees a lot of carbon scoring inside and outside the ship. The doors have all been forced open so it’s easy to get in. In the engineering section Ten sees several deceased Duros. He takes the transponder off the ship.

Outside, Zach hears a rumbling noise of something large approaching. Kuma radios back to the rest of the group and lets them know. Zach and Kuma see a huge gundark approaching. Kuma runs and hides, and Zach moves to engage it. The gundark closes with Zach and slams him with a huge fist, he drops him to the ground and disorients him.

Vidakko tries to shoot but her gun goes dead, and she notices that the gundark is female. We continue to try to fight the gundark but it is undaunted. Ten moves toward the ship that had the sounds coming through it, understanding that it might be her young there. Kuma tries to get toward Ten but the gundark closes and knocks him down, causing a lot of damage.

Quentin and Zach fire on the gundark and kill it. We decide what to do, with a couple of us needing medical attention, the two gundark babies perhaps being something we could take with us to sell, and the nerf meat that the mother gundark had may be useful for food.

We get 20xp.

Paradise Falls

Episode 26 – The Breaking of the Fellowship

Mav, Jimmy, Magnus, Alice and the lawmen get into town.  The law starts taking charge of the town and Mav and Jimmy are taken to the jail.  They are not put in a cell but they do take their weapons.  Some of the lawmen spread out and head out of town.  Magnus and Alice are also in the jail.  Everyone stares at each other.

Marshall Carr comes into the jail and starts questioning the group.  Mav tells him we are on the same side and we helped clean up the town.  He explains about the dragon and how it has controlled the town.

Carr shows a picture of Lucille (by another name) and asks if they know her.  The party says they do not know her.  After some back and forth a deputy comes in and whispers to him.  Carr is upset and says “Two hours. “  He is not happy about not getting answers from the group.

Jack from the Pinkerton Agency comes in with a large black man behind him.  He introduces the large man as Colby Spencer, his boss.  Colby Invites everyone to sit at the table and have some whiskey.  He tells the group that sending us here was an agency operation working with Magnus.  Many things did not go to plan, but we did succeed in unearthing some stuff.  He knows about Lucille and that she is with us, but Carr does not and will shoot her if he sees her.  He asks again for our story, including the weird stuff.  Mav spills the beans.  Much whiskey later, he asks what help we need to wrap this up.  Mav says there is no play here, grabs his guns, and heads to the back at theTriple Tap.  Magnus follows with Alice.  Jimmy too.

Back at the cabin we succeed in translating the book.  It is a book of evil powerful spells.  Including controlling people.  Anyone can read the symbols and gain control.   We decide to burn the book.  The hide  has the beginnings of a spell to bind spirits to this realm but it is not finished.  We need to find the other half or write it ourselves.

Jack runs after Magnus and tries to convince him to stay.  Magnus says there is nothing here for him and wants to head back east.  Jimmy goes to the Triple Tap.  Mav talks to Ben at the Yellow Canary to see if he wants to run the Triple Tap.  He agrees and they send Freddy over to run the Triple Tap for a cut of the action.  Jimmy is talking to the blacksmith.  The blacksmith is working on a way of protecting the town based on some plans from Jenkins.   Jimmy also warns the Dust Boys.  Bat Masterson also comes up and asks what is going on.  They explain, then head to the cabin.

When they get there (minus Magnus and Alice) Fossar tries to convince everyone that we should help the town.  Maverick is less interested.  Lucille succeeds in creating a spell that connects to the dragon and will bind him here.

Maverick heads into town in the morning to have the blacksmith make bullets out of the sacred metal we found.  There is a lot of activity around city hall and the jail house.  He also notices that the blacksmith has a furnace that can smelt ghost rock, and he is building a large man shaped device.  Mav heads to the Triple Tap.

The bar is dirty because they had a good night.  That made $98 which Mav goes to gamble right away.  The Russian at the gambling club draws 5 of a kind (2 jokers) and wins everything.  Poorer but wiser Mav heads back to the blacksmith.  He gets the bullets and returns to the cabin.

Paradise Falls

Episode 25 – Judas, We Forgive Ya

We get to the cabin and set up accommodations. There is a fight for who gets to sleep on the bearskin rug.  We all go back to trying to translate the book, including Jimmy, Fossar, and Maverick. We get more successes for a total of 15 against translating the book.  We are tired now and decide to cook, rest, and set watches.  Maverick heals Fossar.

While Magnus and Fossar are on watch, Poker Alice appears.  She climbs up and sits near Magnus.  She tells him that a bunch of miners came down and excavated the landslide found some ghost rock and silver that was missed before.  Everyone in town wants to go get it, so there will be a dance tonight and go into the mine tomorrow.    They talk quietly. <pause, more pause, Cary makes off color joke, more pause, Jeopardy theme, more pause>

Alice comes into the cabin and wakes us up.  She says that people are crazy ghost rock and silver fever. She also wants us to know that Fossar is evil,  and is maybe working with the dragon.  As she died, she saw a vision of him being captured by the dragon.  Lucille casts a mind reading spell and finds out that Fossar is indeed in league with the dragon. Poker Alice wants to kill him, but we want to talk. Thaddeus goes out and confronts him.  Fossar admits he was saved by the dragon.  The rest of the party comes out of the cabin.

Fossar explains that he was saved by the dragon, but he is not in league with him. Alice interrupts and says a bunch of people died because he knew Eva was working with the dragon and didn’t stop us. Fossar says that they were idiots because they are church-goers, so they deserved to die anyway. He also admits that he destroyed some wards to help the dragon, but he thought it would all balance out. Gray Owl asks if he means the wards in his sanctuary, and Fossar says yes. Gray Owl says that what he did put the whole town at risk because of his actions, as the evil is growing in the town due to his wards being gone.

Poker Alice says “I’ve heard enough” and raises her guns to shoot at Fossar. Fossar shovels her and she falls down. Magnus heals Poker Alice, and Thaddeus tells Fossar to stand down.

Fossar explains that he saw himself dying alone but then the dragon appeared to him and said he would bring him back if Fossar would do him a favor.   We decide to sneak into the north entrance of the mine, go to the south entrance, and then blow the south entrance so no townsfolk can get in. As they are speaking, they notice that Gray Owl has disappeared.

Maverick, Fossar, Thaddeus, and Jimmy head into the old section of the mine through the north entrance, which takes about 90 minutes to ride to. As we move into the mine we hear miners working. They notice us before we approach and ask who is there. Maverick talks to them, and we find out that they are actually finding more ghost rock in areas that we know were dry before, and there is a large vein of silver as well. Thaddeus inspects some of the ghost rock and sees that it is genuine. Maverick tries to convince the miners, of which there are about two dozen, to head back to town early and that drinks are on him. He flashes some cash and the miners are amazed. They take the money, $10 each, and some of them leave.  Others will not leave so he gives them only $5, and we head back to the cabin.

When we get back we see that Magnus and Poker Alice have left. Magnus has left a note that says “It’s been good, but this is where our paths will part.” Lucille didn’t realize that they had left for good. Fossar inspects the letter to see if Magnus has put a secret message on it, but he hasn’t. Maverick and Jimmy jump on horses and follow the trail of the horses while the rest go back to the book.  Lucille, Fossar and Thaddeus keep on the book for a total of 21 successes.

Jimmy and Maverick see a large cloud of dust as a wagon train is heading up the mountain.  They see a large posse of law enforcement, at least 50 men with three wagons. Several riders approach and see Jimmy, who has not hidden, and spot Maverick, who did try to hide but not very well. A man who introduces himself as Jack Calderon comes up to Jimmy and says that he needs to come with them back to town. Jimmy feigns ignorance but Jack says that he recognizes him as one of Magnus’ friends. Maverick agrees to head back to town with them. Jimmy also agrees but only if he can have Jack’s fashionable hat, a bowler. Making a pretty easy decision, he gives the big Indian the bowler and they all head back to town.

Paradise Falls

Episode 24 – Magnus Pokes Poker Alice (Again)

We take stock of the battle aftermath. Fossar gets to work burying the bodies of which there are 7.  The blacksmith’s kids start to wake up.  The messenger takes off, shaken but seemingly unharmed.  Robert Ford comes stumbling out of the sheriff office and says “What the hell is going on here?” At first he seems to blame the posse for what went on, but Magnus and Lucille remind him that they deserve his trust and he shouldn’t be so quick to judgement. He agrees but seems frustrated.  Rusty comes out of city hall and joins the posse, also trying to figure out what is going on. Robert says that he is not sure that he wants to be sheriff any longer because there are so many strange things going on, all of which seem connected to the posse. Rusty tries to bring him around and seems successful.  We invite them all back to the Triple Tap to discuss what’s been going on and give them the full story.

In order to get some more help to protect the town, Fossar and Jimmy go and talk to the Dust Brothers in their camp west of town. They explain to them what has been going on and Glenn agrees to send some men to help. He remarks that it’s strange that Jimmy is talking and that all of this has happened in the past couple of weeks. Glenn and eight men come back to town with Fossar and Jimmy and meet up with the rest of the group at the Triple Tap.

Meanwhile, Magnus has been helping the town doctor fix up the people who were hurt in the melee at the center of town. They are able to stabilize all eight of them. The ones that wake up, including the blacksmith’s kids, seem to have no memory of their violent actions just a couple of hours before. They don’t seem to be affected any longer. Magnus leaves after making sure everyone is tended to and heads back to the bar.

Once everyone is gathered including Rusty, Robert Ford, two of his deputies, Glenn and the rest of the posse, Thaddeus starts to tell them what has really been going on. He goes through the whole story from Jenkins’ spirit being captured to the zombie miners and all of the creatures they’ve encountered the past couple of weeks. Everyone seems to agree that weird things are happening except Rusty, who seems confused and very much a Doubting Thomas.  Lucille decides to demonstrate by turning him into the puppet.  She makes him stand on one leg and almost dump his beer.  He goes white and now believes us. Rusty asks how his father is wrapped up in all of this, and Magnus says that he doesn’t know but he is working on figuring it out. It may have something to do with the town’s founding papers which Rusty has in his care. Rusty reminds us that Otto Stauss was on the first set of papers that founded the town, but then Otto did not like sharing the wealth and left town, after which the town papers were redrawn with just Jenkins name.  Otto has disappeared, over 20 years ago. The real problems started 9 months ago.

After agreeing to help guard the town from supernatural threats while the posse goes into the mine to face the Dragon, the visitors all leave and agree to keep the town under guard. The posse goes back to looking at the book for several hours and working on the translation. It is slow going but they are making progress.

Magnus goes to the hotel and pokes Poker Alice.  Ok they just go for a walk, but I am a fan of alliteration.  Magnus questions her more.  <long pause while they talk>. Then he comes back to the bar.   We go to bed and plan to start on the book again in the morning.

Magnus takes watch and at around four in the morning he notices someone prowling in the alley next to the bar.  He goes down to confront the stranger. <long pause while they talk>. After coming back in, Magnus wakes up the rest of the posse and says that they need to pack up and leave the Triple Tap right away.  The same group of lawmen that raided Salida including a county marshal and judge are on their way to Paradise Falls tomorrow. Likely they will take over the town and will not think kindly of the posse when they do. It’s decided that they will relocate to the Kid’s shack which is near the back entrance of the mine but is far enough out of town that no one will disturb them there. When there, they can finish translating the book and hopefully get an advantage to defeating the Dragon.

Jimmy and Fossor travel quickly back to the Dust Brothers’ camp and asks Glenn for some supplies. He is able to spare several bedrolls and two tents. It’s about 5am now. They head back to the Triple Tap where the rest of the posse is loading up more supplies in a cart. Thaddeus and Maverick take the wagon of supplies on a roundabout route east of town and then north, and the rest of the party leaves VERY Obvious tracks that lead into the mine.  Then Magnus teleports them away several hundred feet so there are no connecting tracks and they start walking to the shack.  They are just out of town when we notice some creatures heading toward the town. They are a group of zombies and skeletons looking for food.

Magnus casts silence to protect the wagon from drawing their attention.  Thaddeus hits two of them with an entangle potion.  Fossar shovels the motherfucker.  Maverick kills one and they wound Magnus and Fossar.  Jimmy tomahawks another.  After a long combat they die.  Since the cone of silence kept Maverick’s pistols quiet, the town is not disturbed. We continue to the hack and set up camp, finishing up by mid-morning.

Paradise Falls

Episode 23 – Lobster for Dinner

We are outside the church with the clawed dudes and drag them into the center of town to show why we attacked them.  Robert and several deputies come up.  We explain that they attacked us.  The critters start to move so we gag them.   Then we kill them.   Then we melt the butter.  Thaddeus tries to convince the town but fails.  Magnus convinces the townsfolk to go home and secure them against any other possible critters.  Fossar buries the bodies.

We take the unbible, wrap it up in a skin, and then take it back to the triple tap.  We also search Eva and find $180.  We also find a piece of metal with hieroglyphs similar to the map and the mine.  Grey Owl could not translate them.

We go back to the triple tap to reconvene and decide what to do next.   We also look at the metal piece and the map and see if we can translate it.  We realize hat the metal piece is a key but we need more time to translate, and we need to look at the book.   Maverick helps Lucille as she reads the book, by covering her with a gun.  Lucille opens the book and feels the book try to course through her, but she resists.   Thaddeus helps her.

Magnus checks in on Alice but she is still groggy.  She remembers being in Fossar head.  She says he is going to betray us.  He has been communing with dark forces.  Magnus takes her out of the triple tap and back to her place.  On the way back he runs into Grey Owl/the kid, who is puking in a horse trough.  He asks him who can be trusted in town.  Grey Owl will check on the town leaders to see if they are possessed.  He also agrees to come back and help with the book.

When he looks at the book, he fails miserably, but Lucille saves him with the black chip.  When he looks again he is shaken but OK.  We keep working.  There is a a knock on the door of the Triple Tap.

Magnus and Jimmy answer it and do not recognize the man.  He is looking for Mr. Effing.   The man is collecting letters and will take them back east.  He asks about the commotion earlier.  They go off and talk.

We keep working on the book, with some success.  Then Jimmy and Lucille hear some noise from out on the street.  There are people gathering in the center of town.  Jimmy looks out and sees the crowd.  The blacksmith comes toward us and asks what’s going on.  His kids just left his shop and he doesn’t know what s going on.  We haven’t seen them.    We stash the book and head toward the commotion.  Magnus notices his messenger buddy in the crowd.  There is confusion as some people are milling about.  People are talking about the Lord’s will.  4 people seem to be causing the problems.

Jimmy throws a knife and disables one of them, and kills another.  They attack and nothing happens.  Fossar kills two more, so does Maverick.  Magnus zaps another.   Thaddeus throws a slumber potion and knocks out the blacksmith’s kids plus two others.

Magnus and Jimmy drop two more, and Thaddeus entangles the remaining antagonists.  Fossar taunts them to no effect.   Jimmy hits two more with knives.  We render the others unconscious.

The messenger keeps going out of town and we check on the other townsfolk.  We still don’t know what caused some of the townsfolk to turn.  We realize the aggressors were all at the church earlier.  We decide to burn the church down.

Cataclysm, Savage Worlds

Session 22 – The Year 2018 in Review

GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Cary-Zerk, Brad-Ian, and Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: Sept – December 22, 2018

The year 2018 was a busy, productive and revealing year. After the discovery of the Transportation Hub the beginning of Sept word was put out among the local population that they were welcome to settle in the vicinity of the Hub. Within weeks dozens of people had shown up from Lapham Peak, Yerkes Observatory, the metro Milwaukee area and the area around Franksville.

Ian directed the growth of this new little town with input from the other founders. Time is of the essence as everyone knows winter is coming. Housing, medical and latrines are the first order of business. People are sorted by their strength and set to tasks. Those with lesser skills are tasked with cutting wood, helping with food prep, and tending animals.

After discussing with the founders, Zerk returns to Lake Geneva to recruit Sean Ferguson and his family. It was decided that Sean would make a good community manger for the new little town around the Hub. Sean is reluctant but Zerk is able to bring him around. The family packs a car and trailer that Sean had prepped just in case they every needed to make a fast get away. The family secures (hides) the remaining supplies in and around their house.

Once the buildings were put up Scotty was able to wire them for electric and heat using the large generator in the hub. Wells were also driven and water made available. With winter coming, it was not possible to provide bathrooms in the buildings. A common bathing/restroom was constructed until a sewage solution can be devised.

During preparation of the town Alex, Ian, Zerk and scavenging for parts and equipment when they came across some Holstein cows in the nearby woods. They noticed that the cows had fungus/mushrooms growing out of them. Alex thought that some of the fungus looked similar to something that used to grow on his home planet. Alex approached one of the cows to examine it. To his surprised the cow nudged him with its head and knocked him to the ground and then went back to scraping for grass. Alex got back up and tried again to get a mushroom and milk sample to run some experiments on. The second attempt was successful.

Alex ran the samples back to the Hub while the rest of the group kept an eye on the small heard of 6 Holsteins. Alex quickly came to realize that the cow’s milk contained enzymes which would act like an antibiotic for humans if ingested daily. He ran back to the group with some of the other Hub inhabitants and herded the cows back to the Hub.

As the end of December approached Zerc spent his time on the short wave radio collecting news and contacting other locals who might not make it through the winter. By this time there had already been 4 feet of snow and not much had melted. Much to Zerc’s surprise he made contact a past acquaintance named Kira. She and 6 of her crew were in Genesee Depot and were attempting to make their way closer to Milwaukee or Waukesha to find more resources. It was also the 6th anniversary of the Cataclysm which meant the Earth was passing through the debris field again. This always brings new debris storms. Needless to say Kira and friends gladly accepted the offer to be picked up and join the Hub group.

Zerc had scavenged up a couple old snowmobiles and two brand new pull behind sleds earlier in the month. He prepped these two vehicles and gathered up Ian, Meaghan and a very reluctant Alex. They packed their gear and left. Meaghan hopped on the snowmobile with Zerk while Alex buried himself under furs in the sled attached to Ian’s snowmobile. The group set off northwest for Genesee Depot early on the morning of Dec 22, 2018.

Though the snow was fairly deep the snowmobiles handled it well. Being careful not to dump the pull behind sleds Ian and Zerk navigated to find the most opportune paths. The group was making good progress when there was a sudden sonic boom. Ian and Alex happen to be looking toward the east and saw a Talolan drop pod streaking overhead toward the east. Its descent trajectory was taking it to Lake Michigan or beyond. Know that it was debris storm season the Ian and Zerk punched the throttles on their snowmobiles to be able to reach an overpass some 100 meters away. Debris began falling almost imediately. Luck and skill was in their favor and the group arrived unscathed.

The group sat and watch as small and large chunck of space garbage rained down into the snow. One large item as big as an oversized couch hit the ground causing the snow to explode like a nuclear bomb. The other noticable item that fell was a shiney square container the size of a breif case. This thing slammed into the top of an abandoned car and stuck there like a throwing star. From Zerks angle he could see that there were three foriegn characters on the side facing him. The group waited the storm out and then gave it a few extra minutes just to be sure.

When the storm had stopped the crew made a quick recon of the area. First they went to the obvious item; the case. They gathered a piece of metal from a broken sign and pried the case from the car. Much to everyone’s amazement the case did not have a scratch on it. As Alex grabbed the case to read the letters on it, which were Talolan for TEF, the case popped open. Inside were 8 pipe looking things, a piece of clothing, a geometric device the size of hardball, and two protractor looking things. Alex explained them to be signals, a high tech Talolan jumpsuite, a focus, and two utility devices controlled through psionic.

The group then policed the area for additional items. The only other item found was the large thing that hit the ground. That turned out to be a cryo pod but the Talolan inside was nothing but paste. Giving the pod the once over Ian figured out that the power unit was salvagable and removed it. The rest of the debris was just junk and rocks. The group loaded up and continued on their way.

After a couple hours the team arrived in Genesee Depot. Cautiously, the group scans the area and see one guy on the roof a building on the corner of Hwy 83 where it turns north. Deeming it safe enough, they continue on. As they approach the front door the the building opens and a woman, obviously Kira, waves to the group and motions them in. Both snowmobiles are brought to a halt and the group dismounts. The guy on the roof slides down a ladder against the side of the building.

Inside everyone cautiously measures each other up. Zerc and Kira embrace and begin the conversation. As quickly as the conversation starts it screaches to a halt when Alex takes off his helmet and warm weather gear. A woman from Kira’s team whips out a pistol with a “What the Fuuu….” but before she can get the word out Ian steps into the line of fire, Meaghan draws, Kira grabs the womans gun forcing it to point away from the group, and Zerk calls for calm. As quickly as it begins it ends. Kira, a full 20 years old,  introduces her team – Brent Fields, Lori Schock, Simona Giacintucci,  Gia Tyson, Maxim Markevitch, Erin Azuse, and Stephen Berry.  Kira and team had found a building with a wood stove and sealed the room with plastic to keep in as much heat as possible. They offered their guest a meal of mixed canned goods with some venison. When it was time to retire Meaghan offered to take first watch and Erin echoed the offer. It was evident that trust had not been completely established. Through the night both groups provided people to pair up on watch shifts. Zerk and Kira talked quietly much of the night catching up.

As morning broke, Ian and Maxim noticed 4 people walking down the street toward their location. Quietly and quickly they called to the group to wake. The group inside the building positioned themselves by the windows pulling back the plastic so they could see better. When the strangers got about 100 feet away Ian called to them. “Stop right there. Who are you?” He then pointed his gun out the door. The four people stopped where they were. Zerk noticed that only two of them were carrying weapons and relayed that to the group. Ian called out again “Drop your weapons and take two steps away from them.” The two men in the back complied.

At this same time Alex had developed a focused look on his face. He then stated the two in front are Talolans. “They want to know if we are the ones who salvaged the debris. I told them that we were. We should let them in before they freeze.” Much to the dismay of Kira’s team two more aliens and two others, obviously Native Americans, were let into the building.

Temple Crusaders

Session 11 – The Goddess Appears

We spend some more time around town but don’t find out too much more about the elves. Filarion plays at one of the local bars and gets quite the crowd. The name of the place is Akamagosh and caters to more of the working class crowd. The people there say that the elves left and then came back — most likely they were casing the city and then came back to steal the lute.

At the Golden Lute Filarion’s set is not met with as much enthusiasm, but he hears from the locals that they were waiting for something before they attacked.

We move on to the Slippery Fish where there is a big party going on. Filarion plays really well and everyone is having a great time. We don’t get so much information from them, however. We decide to turn in.

Later, Filarion visits the druidic grove where Mord is convening with the druid circle. The two ask several questions that the druid circle, firstly “Why did the elves take the lute?” which they respond “To draw the orks in.” They ask “What is their motivation?” and they respond “They think they are following Alona but are not.” They ask “Who are they actually following?” and the answer is “Erevan Elesir.” Erevan is a pretty severe elven god who is a trickster and hates orks.

We wake up to the smells of really good food and we eat and then visit the mayor. He says that he’s torn sending more of his men out. He can send six orks with us. We decide that we’ll use them as a rear guard and not go directly in with us. They will build some cover for us if we want to fall back.

Greedex, the local druid, comes with us. As we get closer, he says that there is a “shielded space” ahead of us. The elves must be using magic to protect themselves. Mord, Filarion and Dardenne go ahead and tell Greedak and Hadrian to wait for us.

We approach along with the unicorn and are told to stop by two elves who are ahead of us. We identify ourselves and say that we’re aware of the conflict between the elves and orks. They say that they are eladrin from the fae realms, and were told by Alona to root out the “corruption” in the forest. We say that they have been commanded by Erevan Elesir who is tricking them. They don’t believe us but Mord says that he can ask the god directly. They agree but we notice that there are warriors behind them ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

Mord’s divining works and the goddess speaks through him. She says that the elves are being commanded by Erevan Elesir. This causes a crisis of faith with all of the other elves and they seem to be questioning things. The cleric tries a spell as well, and says that we are telling the truth.

We suddenly hear a rumbling above us, it appears to be rolling thunder. An elf appears beside Hadrian and tells him to come with her. He detects evil and senses none, so he goes with her. They both approach us.

She goes to the other elves and says that Erevan was trying to use them, and he will pay. We can tell that this is Alona from her energy. She touches the leader and he breaks down crying. She summons Greedak out of thin air and introduces him to the elves as a faithful follower of hers for many years. She says that they could learn from him.

Greedak says “Our town welcomes those who come in peace, you could return and make amends.”

Filarion suggests that they return the lute that they stole.

The elves invite us to their town and say that they’ll disarm their traps so we can visit with them. They give us the lute and Filarion starts playing it. It is just a regular lute and is pretty out of tune.

Back at the ork town, the leader puts both of his swords down in front of the mayor — one is fire, one is ice so they sizzle when they touch. He asks for forgiveness.

Filarion plays the sacred lute in the town square but doesn’t do the best performance. The town is entranced anyway.

The mayor says that they are deeply in our debt and we can stay here any time we like.

Paradise Falls

Episode 22 – Aquarium of Death

Magnus is working in his office, building something,  Thaddeus is brewing his potions.  In the morning he comes downstairs with this huge machine and uses it to bring Alice back to life.  She says WHAT THE F*(% and passes out.   That’s what happens when you have been in Fossar’s head.  Magnus is tired, but Lucille restores him.

Maverick tests his new gun.  It does more damage but he feels it trying to pull the life out of him.  We then head into town to see if we can find the kid/Grey Owl.  We find him in the bar and he is drunk.  We get him back to our place so he can sleep it off.

About 10 some of Lucille’s followers how up and ask when she will have her service.  Lucille sends them off to find the others, so they an help build a new chapel for her.  Her flock has dissipated, and they aren’t coming back.

Once Grey Owl is awake we ask if there is anything we can do to help him.  There isn’t, and his body is lost.  The dragon spirit that caused this seems to be more closely bound to this plane.  That might allow us to destroy him, or we could just leave.

Maverick commissions the blacksmith to build us a still, to help make liquor for the bar.  Lucille goes to find one of the followers who left her flock to work ones farm.  She senses that there is something arcane about him.  She confronts him.  Argue, argue, argue.  She tries to cast a spell but fails miserably.  She has a crisis of faith, and has reduced powers until she successfully performs another miracle.

She decides to approach another ex patron.  This one is also under some sort of spell but she casts dispel and he is suddenly free.  He was holding a pistol and a bible, but doesn’t remember why.  He comes back with her to the Triple Tap.

We decide to go check out the church, and Eva, since the patron muttered that name by mistake.  As we arrive there are a bunch of people going in to get food, and the bell is ringing.

The service starts and the dudes in white robes appear.  Eva appears and starts the mass and says food will be handed out after.  Maverick speaks up and asks for thanks for the people who brought in the food.  Eva lets the crowd applaud then continues.  She begins the mass and it sounds similar to a regular one, but slightly different.  There is something different about her cadence that doesn’t sound natural.  We realize that we do not recognize the guys in white robes.

Magnus tries to read her mind, but fails.  We realize that she is casting a spell on the crowd but we all resist.  Now the fun begins.

Lucille casts havoc which hurls the parishioners in front of her at Eva and one of the white robes.  Several of them hit Eva and one of the guards.  Maverick shoots another guard and drops him.  Magnus whips out another device which silences Eva.  Fossar sneaks up toward the altar.  Eva runs toward the back of the church.  She gestures and Magnus flies back.  She yells kill them all.

One of the white robes run up to Magnus and wounds him, but Jimmy returns the favor and ends the white robe.   Thaddeus throws a potion and entangles Eva and two guards, then gives a healing potion to Magnus.  Fossar drops another two of the white robes.

They attack.  Jimmy and Fossar are shaken.  Maverick shoots Eva and critically wounds her.  Jimmy drops another white robe in front of him.  Then he runs toward Eva and throws Bloodseeker.  She drops.

2 jokers later, Maverick drops a white robe and Magnus bolts another.  Jimmy runs up and dispatches the one bound white robe, and Thaddeus shoots the other.  Fossar dispatches the last one.

Jimmy recovers Bloodseeker.  The robe guys actually have talons growing out of their hands, and they look like distorted humans.  Lucille checks out the Bible.  It is not the Bible, but rather an evil book with no writing.  She opens it but it does not kill her.  It has symbols similar to the map we found in the shed.  Suddenly the white robed bodies start moving.  Lucille realizes they are harrowed so we give them the elixir  that Thaddeus made.  They come back to themselves, but they still have claws.  They are furious with us, so we kill all but two and knock out the rest.

Paradise Falls

Episode 21 – New Bar Name, The Cock and Ass

Maverick (the fake one) says I’m leaving now and backs out of the back door to the bar.  A bunch of the locals rise from the tables and say you should let him go.  Thaddeus tosses a slumber potion and two of the townsfolk fall.  He and Jimmy run out after Maverick.  Meanwhile Magnus, the blacksmith, and the others wrestle with the remaining townsfolk.  They seem to be not themselves, and several other townsfolk are trying to pull them back.

While the fight goes on in the bar, Jimmy and Thaddeus run down the alley after Maverick.  He obviously mounted a horse and rode off.  We regroup and Lucille casts mind rider on one of Mavericks possession.  Meanwhile Thaddeus goes back and grabs our horses from the Triple Tap.  He is headed east out of town, so we follow.  One the way we come up with new bar branding, complete with animal themed symbols.  Not to mention the loincloth waiter uniforms. (Thats what you get for missing a session Brad and Cary)

Jimmy and Robert Ford keep tracking the horse out of town.  We are at least 10min behind him.  We notice that he jumped of the horse but the horse kept going.  We stop and Thaddeus shouts we know you are here, come out and we will not kill you.  He is floating in the trees above us and says You stupid f***ckers.

He gets a Joker (he really is Maverick) and shoots Thaddeus, the blacksmith, and Grey Owl, who is seriously wounded and falls off the horse.  Magnus blasts him with a bolt.  Lucille casts a spell but nothing happens.  Glen shoots and misses.  Thaddeus hits him with another slumber potion and he falls to the ground.  Jimmy runs back and tries to heal Grey Owl.  He succeeds (thank you Great Spirit of bennies).  

Jimmy moves toward Mavrick’s unconscious body.  Magnus runs back to Grey Owl and heals him of one wound.  The blacksmith closes on his body, and Thaddeus also runs back and heals Grey Owl.  The blacksmith asks Lucille what to do, and she says she thinks she could do it but it would take half a day.

Suddenly the man in black rides up behind us. Thaddeus cries out a warning.  Robert finishes tying up Mavericks body.  The man in black shoots Magnus.  Thaddeus throws a glue bomb which traps the man in black so he can’t move.  Jimmy rides up and hits him with two thrown knives and wounds him.  (Cary,Matt has put his stink all over your pink dice)

The man in black breaks free somewhat but Jimmy rides up and tomahawks him for serious damage.  Thaddeus blasts the man in black with a scattergun, ending him.    Jimmy recovers his knife and gun.  The gun feels like it is drawing heat out of Jimmy’s hand, and the knife feels like it has murderous intent.  Jimmy also uncovers his face and sees that he is a normal guy but we don’t recognize him.  His clothes are completely black, as is his horse.  His horse also has glowing red eyes, but gets spooked and runs off.

We head back to town with Mavericks body and the Man in Blacks corpse.  We get back around midnight and Lucille starts the ritual to banish the spirit and put Maverick back in his body.  By dawn she is getting really loud and sweaty, and soon after Maverick wakes up.  We realize that Edward O’Kelly is the spirit that was inhabiting Maverick.  Magnus casts a barrier to try and contain it, but he floats throw but we see his spirit dissipate.  Maverick feels himself float out of his hosts body, but does not end up back in his own.  In the darkness he hears the voice of his manitou offering to gamble his life, but Maverick refuses and says he puts his trust in his friends.  Lucille rests and tries again.  Maverick hears the voice again and agrees to give him a favor in order to help Lucille.  She is able to put his spirit back in his body.  Maverick wakes up, but owes a favor to the manitou.

Maverick gets the knife and gun from the Man in Black.  The gun feels cold to him as well.  <scene>