Numenera - Pulse - Session 4

The last scene… keep reading!

The One Where Garren Got Varjellen-napped 

Last year our party was given a healing sphere artifact during the very session of The Sun Below: City on the Edge.  Tonight, I spent the entire evening trying to brutally slay the party, but that damned artifact kept them alive!  It's okay… at the end I had my revenge!

Characters

• Chase Rombek or Raa-em, a Mystical Nano who Sees Beyond or a Mad Nano who Wields Power with Precision, played by Frank
• Jak, a Mutant Glaive who Constantly Evolves, played by Craig
• Glyquorg, an Exiled Jack who Controls Animals, played by Andy
• Ralyx, a Mlox Jack who Throws with Deadly Accuracy, played by Marc
• Takkorek, a Slaker Nano who Entertains, played by Jeremy
• Garren, a Varjellen Glaive who Studies Anatomy, played by Andreas

Non-Player Characters of Note

• None this evening

Summary

After the brutal battle with the Oorgolian Soldiers, our brave numenera hunters nursed their wounds and collected any valuable pieces of technology left behind by their slain enemies.  What was surprising, however, was the realization that Raa-em/Chase Rombek had not been in the battle!  So the party sent Jak back to the south in order to find their missing nano.  Several minutes passed and then Chase remarkably appeared!  However he had no recollection of seeing Jak.  Oh well!  Figuring that their mutant glaive was probably still safe, the party used Chase’s healing sphere artifact to recover a bit more health before moving on.

[GM’s Note:  Sorry, Frank missed last week’s game, and Craig had to miss this week… this was the best explanation I could come up with.]

Glyquorg and Ralyx paired up and started tracking the one remaining Oorgolian into the valley to the east.  A small stream of pure blood flowed along the ground, out into the river, and it seemed obvious that this was the principle source of the Wyr’s contamination.  After fifteen minutes, the tracks led to a small and bloody waterfall, flanked by a pair of smooth marble stones.  At the base of the waterfall clots of green muck collected, which fed dozens of beetles, each the size of a large fist.  

Ralyx decided to climb up one of the stones, but as soon as he approached the bloody waterfall, a small cypher clattered to the ground directly ahead.  Suddenly, a massive hontri, a bird with a thirty-foot wingspan, appeared in front of the mlox jack.  The terrible creature grabbed Ralyx, and started to “stuff” his body into the bird’s own torso.  But this event was merely a waking nightmare, as none of the other party members saw the bird.  They only saw a convulsing, squirming, and whining mlox.  Glyquorg was interested in what happened to his fellow ex-bounty hunter, so the exiled jack approached.  But Glyquorg also suffered a terrible waking nightmare, as a twelve-foot tall version of his slain “Lemux” appeared, and began beating upon the jack's head with clenched, gerbil-like fists!

Before the rest of the party could react, the pursued Oorgolian erupted from behind the bloody waterfall, bow in hand, launching arrows as it moaned a terrible warcry.  As he had done in the past, Chase Rombek, currently under the control of Raa-em, let loose with a violent flash esotery, not only striking the Oorgolian, but also all of the beetles, and his two party-members Glyquorg and Ralyx.  Takkorek had more concern for his teammates, and the slacker nano darted forward and used his countermeasure esotery to disarm the cypher affecting the screaming pair of jacks.  No longer quaking in fear, Glyquorg leveled his slug-thrower and fired several piercing rounds into the Oorgolian’s chest.  Always one to steal the final glory, Ralyx finished off the creature with a thrown rock.

Ralyx was quite interested in the area behind the bloody waterfall, and hoped that perhaps the Oorgolian’s missile launching artifact was located inside.  The mlox ignited a glowglobe and stepped through the falls, followed by the rest of his team.  There was a long winding corridor ahead, which appeared to be constructed of synth and metal.  Following the passage, Ralyx came to a point where it turned left, and peering around the corner, there was a soft glow of light.  The mlox signaled for the rest of the party to follow along, but accidentally triggered a trap!  Since the party took an hour to heal their wounds earlier, the Oorgolian had time to set up an explosive rig, using the last remaining missile and pieces of the launcher.  The blast washed over the entire team, and the ground shook violently.  Certainly, if anyone else was nearby, they would be coming soon.  Since time was of the essence, this intrepid team of adventurers made the wisest decision possible…

… they waited forty-five minutes for the party’s mad nano to construct a walking automaton (named SH33P) out of spare parts.

Just before the automaton was ready, Ralyx noticed something strange.  The soft glow of light at the end of the hall was starting to dim.  Running down the hall, Ralyx looked east and saw that there were three Oorgolians pushing large heavy stones to block the one exit from the tunnel.  Glyquorg, sensing trouble, took a look to the west, carefully peering out of the bloody waterfall.  Sure enough, three more Oorgolians were setting up an explosive launching device.  

[Queue Admiral Ackbar quote]

Thinking quickly, Ralyx decided to charge past the three Oorgolians pushing the stones.  He threw a needle burst cypher at one, causing him to explode into shards of crystal and bone, which sprayed the others.  The rest of the team followed behind the mlox, and when a cypher was lobbed into the hallway from outside, Takkorek was ready again with his countermeasure esotery.  The entire troupe ran up and out of the hall and into the tall grass and bushes that were on the other side.  

Careful to stay out of sight, the party followed the edge of the valley, staying low and ever vigilant for more of the Oorgolian soldiers.  At the very end of the valley they found them… as well as the source of the blood and oil.  

The valley came to a close around a massive cave entrance.  All around the entrance to the cave was a deep pool of blood.  Protruding from the cave and flopping against the ground was a thirty-foot long, five-foot wide, constantly bleeding artery.  There was also a soft thumping in the ground below the party’s feet, and with each thump, the artery moved, and more blood flowed.  Attached to the end of the artery were long wires, connected to a giant metal cylinder.  There were ten Oorgolians overseeing this operation, five working with the artery and the cylinder, and another five standing guard.  Occasionally one of the Oorgolians working would disconnect the wires, and either a “scientist” would enter or exit the artery.  It was clear that cylinder was acting as some kind of “pacemaker” for whatever was attached to the organic tube.  

Knowing that they had to shut off the flow of the blood, the party carefully planned a coordinated infiltration of the Oorgolian camp.  The key to the whole operation was that metallic cylinder, and Garren believed that, if he could get close enough, he could discern what it was doing, and perhaps shut it down.  So the varjellen donned a visage changer, turned himself into an Oorgolian, and entered the camp.  

Unfortunately, while investigating the cylinder, Garren’s disguise failed.  Although he looked 100% Oorgolian, he didn’t speak the language, and the three nearby scientists attacked with detonation cyphers.  

Figuring that the plan was shot, Raa-em/Chase Rombek flash-bombed all of the Oorgolian guards in a searing blast.  He then used his mini-gate cypher to disconnect the wires from the flopping artery, causing it to go non-floppy.  Ralyx far-stepped to the top of a hill and rained down razor ring death onto the Oorgolians, but had to carefully dodge the incoming hail of slug-thrower fire from the remaining guards.  

Meanwhile, Garren was able to dodge his remaining attackers, as he leapt into the bloody pool.  Two of the scientists to the north had remained unscathed in the combat... until Glyquorg showed up.  The exiled jack who murders descended upon one with his water sword in a terribly vicious chop, and faced a second with the help of SH33P, sent by Chase/Raa-em as backup.  The entire group was able to work more effectively given the entertaining Takkorek’s stories and esoteries.  Some of the party members were accelerated in their actions, and others were donning nanite-driven force shields.  All had the confidence to assault these organized visitants head on.

The Oorgolians initiated a failed counteroffensive to drive the numenera hunters back.  Ralyx was blasted with a gas emitting cypher, which he managed to shake off.  Garren was “shocked” to discover that the electrodes of the cylinder were very effective against victims swimming in the metallic blood.  The varjellen was dragged ashore by one of the scientists, and then pulled into the giant artery itself, into the “creature” that resided in the hillside.  SH33P would fall to a needler attack, but Glyquorg avenged the death his hastily crafted cohort.  Between Ralyx’s razor rings, and Raa-em’s onslaught barrages, the battle was completely won…

… until the last remaining Oorgolian initiated a self-destruct feature on the metal cylinder, detonating the entire area in electricity that injured the party (save for the captured Garren), and shorted out the group’s most useful artifact… the healing sphere.  

Quotes

"Five dollar footlong, bitch!" - If Ralyx could throw a sandwich, this would be his war cry.

Jim - "… and a handheld shredder." 
Andy - "I'm holding out for a handheld Beebop and Rocksteady!" 

"… and out of the waterfall comes an Oorgolian Rambo!" - Jim almost made Marc spit with this comment.

"I'm convinced this is because of the beetles, because I don't like beetles." - Frank doesn't like beetles.

"I say 'that's not a knife, this is a knife,' and I pull out my Water Sword!" - Andy's character, Glyquorg, knows how to speak Australian.

"I'm basically a big crystal explody thing!" - Frank's description of Raa-em was sort of accurate, but not.

"TK421, why aren't you at your post?" - Marc quotes Star Wars when Andreas' character can't communicate with the other Oorgolians.

"I high five the sheep!" - Glyquorg was having Lemux flashbacks.