Tabletop Day Event - Numenera: Cypher Marines - Dinosaurs in Space

Special International Tabletop Day Event!

Numenera - Cypher Marines - Dinosaurs in Space

4/5/2014

Nick - Commander Iceman, a Charming Soldier who Leads
Nate - Gunner, a Tough Soldier who Masters Weaponry
Michael - Bones, a Swift Tech who Patches Wounds
Andy - Fritz, a Handy Tech who Walks the Datasphere
Ethan - Spot, a Cybernetic Scout who Wields Two Weapons at Once
Jeremy - Growler, a Canin Scout who Rages

From left to right, Bones, Spot, Gunner, Iceman, Fritz, & Growler

Summary

It's a matter of perspective.  To you, dear reader, this tale takes place in the future - 500 million years in the future to be exact.  But to those of us who live in the Ninth World this is a story that was created an equal amount of years in our past. To those who lived in this "prior world" it was the year Gate +351, 351 years since the first gate was created in the Small Magellanic on the Seed World of Agreon.  In this time period humanity had been banished to the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds by the Void Empress, a strange alien entity who had taken control of Earth and most of the stellar domains that once were under the protective arm of a human civilization that spanned the entire Milky Way.  Stripped of FTL technology humans were placed on Seed Worlds, planets that were barely considered habitable, without the ability to communicate with other Seed Worlds.  This changed when the first Gate was created, allowing humans from one Seed World to communicate with and travel to another.  Soon Gates appeared all over the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, and bare-bones human civilizations flourished.  

To support the worlds of the Small Magellanic Cloud, an SMC Confederation (SMCC) was formed, along with a small naval fleet to venture out into the stars.  Left very much alone by the Void Empress, the SMCC's primary goal was to continue gaining more ships and technology to elevate humanity out of it's degradation.  Despite having the Gates, the worlds of the Small Magellanic Cloud were still quite resource poor in comparison to the Milky Way.  Although Varjellen merchants were more than happy to trade advanced technology with the SMCC, scavenging resources was still the main goal of the fleet.  This was the mission of the crew of the SMCCS Vindicator as it entered the uncharted star system of an experimental Seed World.  This particular world was previously unknown to the Confed intel sources, but rumors from the Varjellen were that DNA from long-extinct creatures from Earth were said to have been placed on the world, creating a sanctuary of the past.  The SMCCS Vindicator came across a derelict transport craft in the system, in a high orbit around the Seed World, but no communication could be made with the ship.  

Captain Bastille of the SMCCS Vindicator placed her dear friend Commander Iceman in charge of the mission to board the transport, uncover the reason for it's current predicament, and pilot the craft back to Agreon as a prize.  Iceman put an away team together consisting of his muscle Gunner, his medic Bones, his engineer Fritz, his alien scout Growler, and his cybernetic pilot Spot.  They boarded one of the Vindicator's shuttlecraft and docked with the derelict craft.

Iceman was an honorable officer of the Confed Navy, and he was proud to be the first one to board the craft.  When Fritz used his connection with the Datasphere to access the derelict's docking control panel he quickly hacked it and gave the crew it's first view of the ship's interior.  But before Iceman could board the giant head of a dinosaur shoved it's way into the shuttle!  Despite his training, Fritz panicked, and before Growler could tell the rest of the team that the beast as an herbivore, the tech closed the door on the thing's head.  Pinned for a moment, the stegosaurus yanked it's head free and began to rampage in the cargo compartment.  Although he didn't relish having to fight the giant creature, Iceman commanded Fritz to open the door and then he bolted in, charge pistol blasting.  Growler followed his commander's lead, charging in with his rifle firing away.  Each was having a rather hard time dodging the lashing spiked tail of the creature, and Growler even managed to get slammed in the face at least once.  To soften up the mammoth, Fritz took a look in the room and shorted out all of the electrical circuitry in the floor and ceiling directly above the dinosaur, causing it incredible damage, and knocking it off to it's side.  Burned, terrified, and in extreme pain the stegosaurus could not get back to it's feet, which made it an easy target.  Gunner had no empathy for the creature.  The tough and brooding soldier walked right up to the dinosaur and put a gauss blaster round through it's skull.  No hard feelings.  

Stegosaurus!  

Time to move further into the ship, while Gunner harvests some meat.  

The crew quickly started exploring the compartments adjacent to the forward cargo hold.  Spot connected with an access panel in the cargo chamber and figured that there were computers in one of the rooms further into the ship that could possibly give more information as to it's mission and purpose.  There were some weapons, guns and bayonets in a few lockers, but the real "find" was in the two crew chambers.  One held a dead crew member who had been impaled by something large and painful.  She didn't last long after getting stabbed and must have come back to her room to die.  An opposing chamber was barricaded from the inside.  Lucky for the crew, Bones had an amazing saw that could cut through any material.  Quickly he severed the door from its hinges, revealing another dead crew member, who had apparently starved to death locked in the chamber.  Whatever awaited him in the ship was more terrifying than a death from lack of food and water.  

Moving further into the craft the party came to a large three-storied central room that connected all of the floors of the craft.  Using his night-vision stim, Growler had a full view of the chamber, and noticed quite a lot of guano on the floor of this chamber.  As Iceman and Gunner entered the room they saw that a sleeping pterodactyl was perched a level above everyone.  Wanting to be stealthy, and needing more information, Spot and Fritz carefully crept along the wall of the lower level and snuck into the starboard computer chamber.  Once connected, the two were able to uncover a lot of information regarding this ship.  Commissioned the "Festivity", the transport craft was under the control of the Gastric Pirates, a rogue band of space-poachers who raided exotic Seed Worlds for creatures to carve up and sell to special restaurants throughout the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds that specialized in that sort of fare.  But what the crew of the Festivity picked up on the small Seed World below must've been too large to handle.  Dinosaurs from Earth's past were tagged, tranquilized, and loaded onto the Festivity, including the pterodactyl, some velociraptors, the stegosaurus, a tyrannosaurus rex, and something of unknown origin.  Somehow the crew lost control of the craft after they left the Seed World's surface, and the vessel had been silently orbiting for five weeks.  

The party saw that the T-Rex was in the rear compartment, and decided to leave it alone… for now.

Knowing that they had to deal with the pterodactyl and raptor threats before they could get control of the craft, Spot used the combination of the darkness and his innate abilities to hide in the dark to sneak up behind the winged dinosaur and stab it ferociously with both of his blades.  The dinosaur screeched in pain, but when Spot went to land a finishing blow he fell over the edge of the railing and was dangling.  Although the rest of the team was able to knock out the flying dinosaur with their guns and meet up with Spot, the previous commotion lead to a team of four velociraptors entering the second level of the craft from a forward chamber.  

Velociraptor attack!

A cellular disrupting explosive fired from Gunner's stim gauntlet sloughed skin and tissue off of each of the raptors, which threw them into an absolute frenzy, despite their horrific injuries.  Believing himself to be unstoppable at this point, the cybernetic spot pulled out both of his Kurgan daggers and charged into the fray of raptors, slashing at two of them, dispatching one, and then slid under a nearby table.  Fire support from the team knocked out a second raptor, but then an ominous sound echoed through the room.  An armored Amphibeing must have been picked up by the poachers, and was most likely the creature that slew the rest of the crew, because it appeared right next to Fritz and stabbed the tech in the face, knocking him over the railing and to the lower level!

The Amphibeing appeared right after Spot laid into the raptors.

Fritz got stabbed right in the side of the head!

Commander Iceman and Gunner started blasting the Amphibeing with only minor success - the creature was heavily armored and had a massive body able to take a lot of damage.  Spot was left alone to deal with the remaining raptors, but that proved little problem for the cybernetic scout, who's daggers were far sharper than the claws of any dinosaur.  Each attack by the Amphibeing was truly devastating, so Iceman knew he had to use something serious to shut the creature down.  Employing his sticky-goo hunter-seeker, which had been mounted on his stim gauntlet, Iceman piloted the remote controlled missile right into the Amphibeing, completely covering it in green slime that quickly solidified.  Now it was easy for Gunner to use his gauss blaster on the Amphibeing.  Down below, both Growler and Bones came to Fritz's rescue.  Growler used a rejuvenator from his stim gauntlet on the wounded tech and Bones was able to mend the wounds further with his healing skills.  Growler knew that he was needed above, so the canin charged up the stairwell, rifle in hand and unloaded a clip into the Amphibeing.  

Growler and Bones trying to heal a frantic Fritz

Bones wanted a taste of revenge as well, and since the Amphibeing was still flailing about, using a low and guttural croaking sound to unnerve and scramble the team's sense of balance, the doctor whipped out his cutting tool and sawed the frog-man in half.  It was the only way to be sure.  

Once the battle was over the team healed up and got command of the vessel.  Spot got behind the ship's control panel while Iceman started rounding up the rest of the troops… but Growler was nowhere to be found.  The canin had taken a great interest in the T-Rex in the rear compartment and had decided to go in for a closer look.  Hoping to perhaps ride the large and massive carnivore, Growler hopped down and introduced himself to the beast.  It was his hope to pacify the T-Rex, and gain a mount for future adventure, and in the end he was partially successful.  Growler did indeed placate the massive T-Rex, who had been quite hungry and was very grateful for the meal.  

*       *       *

Cypher Marines Conversion Notes:

Solder = Glaive

Scout = Jack

Tech = Nano

Canin = Rugged

Patches Wounds = Works Miracles  

Stims & Stim Gauntlets = Cyphers.  Each player could load 2-3 stims onto their gauntlet.  

Cybernetic, Handy, and Walks the Datasphere are out of Celestial Wisdom by Ryan Chaddock Games.  If you are interested in trying out these amazing descriptors and foci, as well as learn about all of the Data Gods of Numenera, make sure you pick this product up here:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/120935/Celestial-Wisdom

The blueprints and images for the Morningstar and Midnight Rose are from 0 Hr's Future Armada line, which can also be found on DrivthruRPG.com:  

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/88855/Future-Armada-Midnight-Rose

Inspiration for this adventure:  Infinite Space & Mass Effect

If you don't know what Infinite Space is please check it out.  Probably my favorite space RPG and an amazing catch on the Nintendo DS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxGmeySOrTA

Numenera: Disenchanted Tales - Session 13

Numenera: Disenchanted Tales - Session 13

Mr. Smee's Wild Revenge

Elsa, a Graceful Nano who Wears a Sheen of Ice

Anna, a Swift Jack who Entertains
Milo, a Learned Nano who Talks to Machines

Tonto, a Mystical Jack who Lives in the Wilderness

Elsa, Anna, Milo, and Tonto in Lego form!

Summary

A billion years beyond "once upon a time" the Silver Comet was gliding across the waves, heading south for the coast of Ancuan.  Commodore Jek Sperro was assisting Merida in piloting the craft, which was towing the pirate's cyphic vessel, the White Onyx.  The craft was making excellent time, and just a few hours prior they picked up a few hitchhikers who were on a deserted beach: Milo and Tonto!  Always eager to help out some friends, Elsa and Anna helped the two onto the craft and continued their voyage.  When a storm arose on the horizon, however, the team became mighty fearful.  Five waterspouts appeared almost out of nowhere, forcing the Three Princesses of Nihliesh to turn the craft quickly and see if there was a way around the storm.  Sensing something amiss in the water, Elsa took some rope and climbed down to the water.  To her horror, she saw that there was a strange creature floating just off the starboard side of the craft.  It looked like a bunch of eels, an octopus, and a crocodile merged into one unified creation.  Riding atop this "thing" was Mr. Smee!  

Carie and Evie were horrified at Elsa's discovery in the water

We're calling Ursula a "Crockosnaketapus!"

The octopus looked dwarfed by the much large creature it was sitting upon.  Mr. Smee told the party that the hybrid creature he was with was Ursula the Sea-Nano, the most powerful science-sorcerer of the seas!  Ursula was the mother of the Kinkrak the party defeated, and was also Mr. Smee's second cousin, and so she was out for revenge.  It was obvious that Ursula was creating the storm, but when this had no effect on the amazing ship faring skills of the princesses, she turned her tentacles and cyphers to the water itself.  Aerating the water excessively, the bubbles created a dreaded "suction", dragging the heavy dagger-craft below the waves.  Although they would've preferred to stay and fight, when Commodore Jek Sperro bolted into the Silver Comet, the rest of the team followed suit and battened down the  airlocks.  Slowly the dagger-craft sunk, over a hundred feet to the bottom of the waves.

While the party had no idea what was going on topside, they soon realized that they were in quite the pickle.  Even though the Silver Comet had many amazing features, it was still a discovery, a craft with many strange and mysterious workings that no one understood completely.  Milo was able to connect with the craft using his special talents, and figured that the Comet could't operate without exposure to air.  It may have been air-tight, but it certainly wasn't a Red-Fleet submergine!  At least he could connect somehow with the White Onyx.  First Milo operated the grappling hook on top of the craft to dig into the ground and then drag the entire ship closer to the submersible.  Once near enough that the swim from one craft to the other wouldn't be too daunting, Milo opened the energy door on the submersible remotely using his brain, and then the party opened the airlock door.  While water rushed in Milo struggled to get out, and then the door was closed behind him.  Swimming over to the Onyx, Milo got the craft running.  He was soon joined by Elsa, who followed not far behind him, and the two piloted the vessel, with the Silver Comet in tow, to the surface.    

Milo leaves the Silver Comet… 

.. and makes his way to the the Commodore's submergine (yes, we used a Jake ball)

Once the Silver Comet was above the waves her engines started back up again and power coursed through the vessel's engineering section.  But Ursula the Sea Nano was still there, and she seemed quite angry that the party had manage to escape from her trap!  Quickly Ursula "split up", with two of the strange "eelagators" breaking off from her body while the writing smaller eels stretched out elongating her tentacles.  To defend their ship, Tonto and Anna rushed to the deck and took up defensive positions.  Ursula "fired" one of her eel-tentacles onto the deck, an attack similar to what her Kinkrak son could do.  But these tentacles seemed much easier to defeat at first, and Tonto speared it to death with one blow.  The two eelagators were trying to climb the sides of the vessel, but Anna used her crossbow to shoot one, and knock it back into the water.   Not wanting to stay out of the fight, Elsa took control of the sonic cannon on board the White Onyx.  She fired a direct shot on Ursula, with a shockwave washing over the two eelagators that were half in the water still.  While Ursula tried desperately to regain her senses, Milo drove the White Onyx at full speed straight at the Sea Nano, hoping to ram her but missing.  On board the Silver Comet both Anna and Tonto were feeling pretty good about their chances in this battle!

Milo fights off the first eel-tentacles with ease

But the eelagators were coming!

But then the course of the battle shifted.  Tonto would strike one of the eelagators with his spear, trying to keep it from boarding, but when his weapon touched the beast, he too was injured as electricity coursed through his body.  Then Ursula regained her ability to attack she fired another eel onto the deck.  This creature struck Tonto, impairing his ability to fight severely.  Soon both eelagators were climbing onto the deck, and the battle became more desperate.  In the waves, Elsa prepared for a finishing blow with the sonic cannon, but the weapon backfired destroying the White Onyx, which started to sink.  About the same time that one of the eelagators dragged an incapacitated Tonto into the waters below, Elsa and Milo abandoned ship.  

Dylan and Carrie were not happy with Tonto's GM Intrusion

Elsa swam towards Ursula to have a nano-versus-nano encounter while Milo saved Tonto with the help of Commodore Jek Sperro and the grappling arm.  Anna was able to finish off both of the eelagators with her crossbow, and managed to successfully dodge their jaws.  The nano battle was luckily one-sided, with Elsa's powers winning out over the evil octopus's.  Knowing that she had been defeated Ursula tried swimming out to sea.  But Milo was a fast swimmer himself, and since the octopus was injured he was able to catch up to her and shank her in the back with his dagger.  Everyone got back aboard the Silver Comet and the party celebrated with some hot chocolate and waffles.

Milo saves Tonto while Elsa tells Ursula to chill out!

Commodore Jek Sperro saves Tonto

Milo had enough of Ursula's crap

Quotes

"Crockosnaketapus!" - Craig was flabbergasted by the GM's Lego creation.  

Dylan:  "If we are underwater, wouldn't the pressure crush the glass and…"

GM: "You're not that deep underwater"

Dylan:  "Darn!"

"Wait, that isn't a 2!  It's a 20!" - Carrie tried to shift Dylan's die roll in a rather obvious fashion.

"I'll pay for it… I'm a princess." - Elsa to Milo after blowing a whole in the White Onyx with the ship's sonic cannon.

Numenera - The Devil's Spine - Session 2

Numenera Session 6

The Devil's Spine - Session 2

3/23/2014

Jen - Oswin, an Intelligent Nano who Fuses Flesh with Steel

Nate - Lynq, a Rugged Glaive who Explores Dark Places

Tom - Torrent, a Clever Jack who Rides the Lightning

Sarah - Silus, a Stealthy Jack who Exists Partially Out of Phase

*SPOILER ALERT* - If you haven't played The Devil's Spine yet, but plan to as a PC, please DO NOT READ this blog!

Summary

The room was large, full of bottles, tanks, pipes, and other containers that housed chemicals and various juices of unknown varieties.  But these strange devices, as odd and mysterious as they were, were of little import to our brave and somewhat desperate band of numenera hunters.  For at the center of this large and dark room was a gargantuan coiled serpent, Devola the Nagaina Matron, who asked the four intruders the reason for their trespassing, despite already knowing the answer.  The party’s clever jack who had a tendency to ride electrical currents was afflicted by an enormous parasite, presumably one of Devola’s young, that would eventually kill him.  It was the hope of the party that Devola would make a deal, that she would somehow assist the party if they had something to offer her in return, for it was rumored by the Lily, a stone construct they had met earlier, that the Nagaina Matron was prone to making deals.  

At first the party searched through their oddities.  They had fireflies in bottles, and a mirror that showed the user a picture of his or her father, but none of these even sparked an interest from Devola.  They moved on briefly to their cyphers, but when the serpent-worm took a look at the party’s gear, it scoffed at this as well.  It was clear there was nothing that they could offer in direct trade, but Devola mentioned that perhaps the numenera hunters could perform a task to gain her assistance.  The nagaina matron was clear that even though she could not remove the parasite now, she could do so with the proper materials.  She would require a chemical known as gharolan to allow her “patient” to live through a medical procedure that could be performed with the Impossible Blade.  Neither the chemical nor the blade were in her possession.  She knew that the gharolan was located near deep sea thermal vents, and told the party that they could meet with a man named Cagyn in Harmouth who could assist them in it’s finding.  As to the blade, she could only give a description.  Help with this surgery, as she reminded the team, would only come after they completed their end of the deal.  There was an intelligent “virus” known as the Insidious Choir that “infested” a portion of the Back Riage south of Uxphon.  This awakened and intelligent virus was a threat to all life, as it had found a means to create giant walking colonies the size of men or larger, as well as communicate with other virons of it’s own kind through a transmitting tower.  Although Devola seriously doubted the party’s ability to eradicate the virus completely, she tasked them with knocking out the communication tower. 

Hoping to garner some further assistance Torrent tried sweet talking Devola but had little success.  So Oswin the mechanical woman moved in and used her own sciency words to try and appeal to the beautiful mind of the female serpent-worm.  While the rest of the team looked on in abject horror, Oswin’s flirtations somehow appealed to the creature, and she began offering various things to aid the numenera hunters in their task.  First she told them of a station where a great shackled beast could quickly transport them to the part of the Black Riage where the Insidious Choir’s communication tower was located.  Next Oswin talked Devola into handing over some choice artifacts and cyphers.  When Oswin’s emotional probing was finished, Devola offered an inoculation against the virus, which each of the party happily accepted.  The nagaina matron bid the party adieu, and told them not to return until they had completed their tasks against the Insidious Choir and acquired the Gharolan and Impossible Blade.

The path to the “station” that housed the shackled beast was easy enough to follow.  The team of numenera hunters wanted to move quickly so that they could make good time as they only had a few months until Torrent would fall to the parasite defender, and for science’s sake no one knew how long their three missions would last.  The path eventually led to a large metal door.  Silus passed her head through the door, saw that there was a dimly lit “train station” on the opposite side, and set the boys to task opening the door.  Although the door gave Lynq a little trouble, with the help of Torrent he was able to force it open.  This led to a large open chamber, just over 120 feet from top to bottom, with a “train” located at the center.  Torrent, Silus, and Oswin were limited in what they could see, just barely making out the features of the area, but for Lynq’s darkvision he could see just about everything as if it were broad daylight.  

There was a control panel of sorts to the left of the platform on which the party was standing upon.  Silus ran her fingers across some braille-like bumps and received images in her head of the craft’s operation.  Called the Catena, this craft would start moving as soon as three levers were disengaged, each corresponding to one of the clamps holding the craft in place.  The craft would begin to move as soon as the third clamp was disconnected, so the team would have to be ready to go once this happened.  So the challenge was to find all three levers in this area.  Luckily for the party, which was relying on glowglobes and ambient light from some of the nearby machinery, Lynq’s tendency to explore dark places came in quite handy as he could see everything in this area as if it were broad daylight.  He easily saw the first lever through the metal grating thirty feet above the party’s head on a raised platform.  Silus put her magnetic boot cyphers on and climbed the wall until she reached the platform.  When she moved towards the lever, however, she found her faced snagged by a razor-sharp metallic strand that was attached to the floor and stretched to the ceiling.  Lynq climbed up, aided by a rope Silus tossed down, and was able to see four of the strands, each dangerously encircling the area.  Using his unbreakable shield Lynq severed all of the strands.  Figuring that this would be the easiest lever to move, they left this and continued their search.

Oswin was particularly interested in the Catena itself.  The party found that the access panels in the roof of each Catena-car were easy to open, and the team explored the craft car by car.  While most of the cars were simply for passengers, containing dusty yet comfortable couches, the front-most car had an automatic control system that Oswin was able to access with her “plug-and-play” internal wiring.  Navigating the system’s dormant controls, Oswin figured out a way to end the Catena’s autopilot system, so when the third lever was activated, the craft would not automatically travel off on its own.  When the rest of the crew decided to leave the Catena and look for the other two levers, Oswin chose to stay behind and lounge in the craft.

There were access points to an area below the Catena, and since the other two levers didn’t seem anywhere to be found Lynq led the team down a ladder into the lower level.  Strands of silvery metal were all about down in the dusty chamber, and Lynq continued to cut each strand using his shield’s edge, right up to the lever itself.  But that last strand that was cut didn’t pop the same way as the others, and may have been attached to something different than the others.  It wasn’t but a few moments after the lever was pulled that the steel spiders appeared!  Four of the creatures came up from a chamber below the lower-level, charging the party.  Lynq’s radiance blade was quickly unsheathed, Torrent unleashed his beam lance, and Silus pulled her crank crossbow.  Lynq was able to drop one before it reached them, and the beam lance and crossbow proved effective, albeit somewhat limited due to the tough armor of the spiders.  When the attack came, Torrent and Silus were able to dodge the metal mandibles, but Lynq wasn’t so lucky.  The nasty bite from the spider injected metal into his veins, causing excruciating pain and agony.  The remaining spiders were no threat to the team, although Oswin’s help would’ve been great.  Torrent injected an antivenom into Lynq’s arm which helped with some of the discomfort.

The party found the last lever in the sub-basement area, but it was surrounded by metal threads.  Using the magnetic boots, which were still active for a few minutes more, Silus climbed into the chamber carefully and activated the lever.  Lynq would climb up to the last lever while Silus and Torrent boarded the train, and once all three clamps were disengaged the party was on it’s way to a visit with the Insidious Choir!

Torrent's Days With the Defender:  1

Quotes

“Do you really want the baby on his back, on his back?  Do you want you baby back, baby back, baby back?” - Oswin was starting to get sassy with Devola the Nagaina Matron.

“Weren’t you the one who got us shot at last time?” - Sarah wanted to remind Jen where her antics got the group in previous encounters.

“It’s a Pegasus!” - Tom was fairly excited as to what sort of beast of transportation awaited them at the underground station.

“You gonna give me some sugar before I leave?” - Oswin’s sass turned to full on flirting as she began to ‘come on’ to Devola.  

“I’m starting to think that we should vote Oswin off the island.” - Sarah to the group regarding Jen... again.

“You just one up’d me!” - Lynq after watching Torrent go nuts with his beam lance.  

Norwin Game Knights Event - Deadlands: Reloaded - Investigative Tract

Norwin Game Knights Event!  
http://www.facebook.com/groups/norwingameknights

Deadlands: Reloaded - Investigative Tract

Journal Date:  August 15th, 1879

Cast:  

- Andy as The Padre, a Catholic Priest
- Michael as Pedro, the town Muckraker
- Melinda as  Mademoiselle Magdalena, the Voodoo Mambo
- Dodie as Ghost, a Dodge City Paranormal Investigator
- Tiffany as Carlos, the local Mad Scientist
- Serai as Luna, just some Kid who decided to tag along

Summary:  

Amanda Plinkett had a problem.  Her farmhouse located about twenty or so miles from downtown Dodge city had been in the Plinkett family for years.  When her husband died while prospecting up in Deadwood, Amanda and her three children returned to Kansas to start their life anew on the farm that her uncle had left her in a will.  Every morning Amanda cared for the animals, and helped manage both the busy life of a homemaker as well as the rigors of operating a farming operation.  It was a tough life but it was improving, day by day.  But one morning, when Amanda awoke from a well-deserved slumber, she looked into her fields and noticed something quite peculiar.  At some point in the evening a three story townhouse erupted from the ground right in the middle of one of her cornfields.  To cause more of a stir, this townhouse just happened to make low groaning noises and emit strange odors.

Ghost, a Paranormal Investigator from Dodge City took on Amanda's plight with a  small posse of teammates and hangers-on that bore skills capable of aiding just this kind of investigation.  The Padre was a Catholic Priest who just happened to be quite handy with a knife.  Pedro was a Muckraker, a pesky journalist looking to make a name for himself in the West.  Mademoiselle Magdalena was a Mambo, a female Voodoo practitioner who feared nothing and chewed a cigar.  Carlos the Mad Scientist packed up his giant glue blaster and left his lab to give his friend Ghost a hand, and didn't notice that the local Kid Luna decided to tag along as well.

The six investigators began their investigation by searching the front door. Carlos used his supernatural goggles to check the house but was almost blinded when he realized that the entire house was supernatural in some way.  Pedro and Ghost checked the handle and lock to see if they could just enter.  The door handle was warm and moist with some kind of greasy liquid and the keyhole appeared to be covered over by some kind of skin-like membrane.  Observing the rest of the door, even the hinges looked "off", as they had just been solid blocks of brass rather than joints capable of moving.  This door was not designed to open.  The windows on the front and back of the house were opaque and seemed to be made of some kind of sturdy material that would not break or shatter… but it wasn't glass.  When the door wouldn't open by conventional techniques, and the brute force of Pedro wasn't effective [the character had a d4 Strength], Ghost's curiosity got the better of her and she blasted away at one of the hinges with her LeMat.  The shard of the hinge that broke away was not brass, but looked more like a piece of a shell.  Luna tried her axe on the door, but only succeeded in breaking the head away from the shaft.  Something strange was going on with this house… and then the voice started.  It was a cry for help by a young child from within the home.  The voice said he wanted to leave, that he snuck in the house through an open third story window, and he was injured and couldn't move.  Pedro stepped back and put a bullet through the front door, hoping to blast his way through, but when he looked inside the exceptionally tiny hole that his gun created all he saw was darkness and he smelled a sickeningly sweet smell of decay coming from within.

Needing another way in, especially if they were going to rescue whoever was trapped inside, the party circled the house until they found that the 3rd story window was in fact open.  Please note reader that it was the only window in the entire house that was open, and so the party accepted that they just had to enter through that particular portal.   Borrowing a ladder from Ms. Plinkett, Pedro set up the 20 foot ladder only to reach the second story, but the party was also able to borrow some rope.  Luna passed the rope through the axe-head that she still had and made a makeshift grappling hook that helped get the party up and over the ledge.  This third floor room had a stairwell down to the second story, a gambling table, a bear skin rug, and a pair of lanterns that weren't lit.  Ghost went to light one of these, but there, but there were no wicks or oil.  Strange.  It was very dark in the room below so The Padre pulled out his cross and called upon a blessed light to cast away the darkness.  Glancing downstairs to the next room it appeared to be a bedroom.

While the Padre illuminated the next chamber, Luna the Kid tried to climb down the stairs.  But halfway down one of the steps just happened to disappear, causing Luna to fall down end over end and injure her arm.  The rest of the party came downstairs into the next chamber, which was in fact a bedroom with a doorway to the south that lacked any kind of door.  Luna's arm was badly injured, and even with his blessed might, The Padre was not able to heal the damage done by the stairwell.  Pedro looked through the doorless doorway and saw a long hallway with a red carpet on the floor.  At the end of the hallway as another open doorway without a door, but to the left was a closed door.  Moving up to the closed door Pedro noticed that the door was just ajar.  But as he started to open the door it began to fight back!  The door pushed against Pedro with incredible force.  But the rest of the team came to his rescue and helped force the door open long enough for Carlos the Mad Scientist to pull out his glue gun (which looked like something out of a Ghostbusters movie), and spray down the entire door, entangling it with stickiness.  This particular room consisted of another bedroom with another stairwell going down.  It was humid and there was a heat in the air that was unnatural.

The Padre and Ghost went to the end of the hallway and saw another window that was quite opaque and made of strange material.  There was a barrel in a small storage chamber along with a few crates.  The barrel appeared to be full of bile, and it let off a horrific stench that filled the room.  At the end of the storage room were the crates, and while one appeared to be false, with no way to open it, when Ghost reached her hand into another, she found a loose organ.  It was a stomach, possibly of a human, that appeared to be turned inside-out.  Horrified Ghost scampered back and away, but the inspirational words of the Padre kept her fear abated.  When they returned to the bedroom that Pedro had found, a noise came from down the stairs.

It was the voice of the child!  It was calling out for the party to come downstairs.  Despite being curious, Ghost looked down and told the voice to make itself seen.  From the side of the stairwell a pair of hands appeared, and looked as if they were desperately trying to pull the rest of the body forward, but the face could not be seen.  It continued to call for help, and said it was stuck and couldn't move.  Luna carefully snuck down the stairs so that the person attached to the voice wouldn't be able to see her and she was successful in her attempts to be stealthy.  That was until she saw that the lower floor of the house… was ALIVE!  The floor of this chamber was covered in a pink tissue, and had both some give and a slight coating of mucous.  There were eight bodies attached to the floor, including the child's, each one appearing to be one with the floor.  Horrified, Luna couldn't move.  Pedro went down the stairs to see the same sight, and the child turned it's head around for a complete 180 to face the Muckraker.  "Help me!"  And then the bodies all started to move as the flesh on the outside peeled away allowing the skeletons to pull up and away.  From each body a deadly and vicious skeleton appeared, and they slowly moved towards the party.  Knowing that he had to act quickly, Carlos kicked his glue gun into overdrive and started climbing down the stairs.  But the house was now fighting back, and the stairs all turned flat, creating a sliding board.  But Carlos was quick and agile, and caught himself as he fell, stood up, and started spraying glue all over the skeletons.  While Pedro and the Padre started shooting pistols into the fray, Ghost decided to do some cooking.  The Paranormal Investigator slid down the stairs and tossed her oil and lantern into the room, lighting up both the skeletons, but also the glue that covered the room.

And the house screamed!

An inferno was created and the posse knew that they had to get out, and get out fast.  The home was shaking and moving at this point, making it difficult for the team to move about in any capacity.  Luna climbed back up the flat staircase and lowered her satchel to help the other party members climb up.  But due to her oil attack, Ghost became the prime target of the house, and the membrane below her feet started to pull her down into the floor itself.  Ghost shot her shotgun into the floor to no effect, and was almost resigned to be digested by the home when Pedro pulled the trigger of his pistol twice, blasting the floor below the investigator into slimy and bloody bits.  Ghost was free and came upstairs.  Luna was now back to the central hallway, but saw that the carpet was now covering the doorway that had previously lacked any kind of door.  She pulled her knife and chopped away at the carpet, but she couldn't get through.  When the rest of the party appeared by her side, they each started firing away with their guns cutting a hole in the carpet in which Luna was able to dive through.  The house continued to shake, and the party kept moving.

The Padre climbed up the last stairwell to the third floor without problem, but found himself face to face with the bear-skin rug at the top of the building, which was now animated!  The house was using everything in it's arsenal to strike at the posse, and this bear was a beast!  It's claws crippled the Padre, tearing at his flesh and rending his skin from his bones.  The priest just barely kept himself from falling unconscious and started pulling his knife while the other teammates tried their tactics.  Luna tried gagging the beast with her satchel, but it was just too strong.  Bullets were somewhat effective, but when the team realized they were running out of time, the Padre turned back to the bear and using his knife, cut the arm off the construct and sliced through it's neck in one stroke.  How a priest had that skill no one in the team knew!  But they had no time to consider the Padre's past, as it was clear that the house was sinking into the ground.  Quickly Luna, Carlos, and Mademoiselle Magdalena jumped through the window, which was now adjacent to the ground despite being the third floor of the home.  The Padre thought about staying behind at first with Ghost who was looking to continue her exploration but even he darted out the window just in time.  Pedro wasn't far behind the Padre, and he continued to call for Ghost, who turned around and jumped but at the very last minute.  She was almost stuck too, as her first leap only landed her half in and half out of the house, but with one last pull, and the aid of the rest of the team, Ghost the Paranormal Investigator was yanked from certain death.

Numenera: Disenchanted Tales - Session 12

Numenera: Disenchanted Tales - Session 12

A Rad Day on the High Seas

Elsa, a Graceful Nano who Wears a Sheen of Ice

Anna, a Swift Jack who Entertains

Merida, a Rugged Glaive who Carries a Quiver

Summary

A billion years beyond "once upon a time" and the festivities at Nemo's were finished.  With Mr. Gibbs, the cat-faced navigator, agreeing to return to Commodore Jek Sperro's employ, the Three Princesses of Nihliesh prepared to depart for the Sea of Secrets far to the south.  With the commodore's cypheric submersible dive vessel still nestled far below the waves just below the docks, the princesses had hoped that they would be able to enter their craft and get out of the City of Bridges quietly without the dastardly Captain Rook chasing them down.  Early in the day Elsa and Merida had both seriously embarrassed the pirates at the sing-off.  Harboring Captain Rook's known enemy, Commodore Jek Sperro also didn't help the situation much.  At the docks all three princesses jumped into the water and swam down to the submergine with the commodore and navigator not far behind.

Unfortunately for the crew of the White Onyx, the submersible was not far into open waters before it experienced a significant jostle.  Using the periscope, Elsa saw that Captain Rook's dagger, the Hook, had not only intercepted the White Onyx, it had also grabbed it with a magnetic clasp held on a long boom.  The evil Captain Rook was fishing for a certain commodore and three meddling princesses, and it appeared that he had found quite a catch!  Quickly Anna grabbed the controls for the sonic emitter and made an attempt to blast the boom and free the White Onyx, but it was to no avail.  The shot was wide, and with the amount of shaking the craft was now doing, there was no way to aim again.  The submergine was plucked directly out of the water and placed on the deck of the Hook.

Not content with being a captive of Captain Rook, Merida decided to take the fight to the villains.  The Hook was manned by only the captain and Mr. Smee, an octopus from far beneath the waves.  The rest of the Hook ran itself.  Merida pulled her Mephitic Staff from the storage compartment on the White Onyx and pointed it towards Captain Room and Mr. Smee, blasting them with a horrible smell.  While the two were stunned and incapable of doing anything of significance both Elsa and Anna bull rushed them.  Elsa successfully knocked Captain Rook into the waves on one side of the vessel, and Anna grabbed Mr. Smee and swung him around like a bola above her head before lobbing him far across the water.  Looking at each other, the princesses all high fived each other and gazed upon Captain Rook's fine vessel.  It was theirs, they thought, the princesses were now corsairs of the sea!

But their excitement was short lived.  Soon a low groan shook the Hook, the vibrations rumbling through the princesses' feet.  Off the starboard side of the Hook a large white squid appeared at the top of the waves, and on top of it was Captain Rook and Mr. Smee.  It was the Kinkrak!  The legendary beast that was related to Mr. Smee (probably a second cousin) that was often used as the pirates' muscle when things went awry.  The Kinkrak had the disgusting ability to launch all eight of it's tentacles at the Hook, each one landing on the deck so the they could lash out at the princesses, fighting as eight foot long giant white worms.  Elsa, Anna, and Merida closed together into a defensive circle and started firing at the tentacles closing in on the trio.  Elsa first bestowed the powers of ice on Merida's bow and then started her own onslaughts, freezing one tentacle and severely frost-burning another.  Merida's frigid arrows were extremely effective against the tentacles, as were Anna's quarrels.  Although the slippery white things successfully got a lash in here and there against the princesses, their strikes weren't terribly effective agains their armored opponents.  Merida was clad in a strong chain hauberk, and both Elsa and Anna were surrounded by esoteric mists of ice and music respectively.  Although it was slow going, the Three Princesses of Nihliesh eventually left the rest of the tentacles dead on the deck.  Captain Rook and Mr. Smee both looked aghast at the tremendous power of their foes, and were about to swim off on their tentacle-less squid when they came under heavy fire and were eventually knocked back into the waves.

The Three Princesses of Nihliesh don't take prisoners.

Quotes

- "Last game you had the sing-off." - The GM describing last week's events.
- "Was Nick Lachey there?" - The GM's wife being a smart-aleck.

"I saw we abandon ship and walk the plank!" - Carrie was really getting into the whole pirate thing, even if it meant her character's demise.

- "Are you sure you don't want them [Mr. Smee and Captain Rook] live on as good villains?" - The GM
- "Are you CRAZY Daddy!?!" - Cooper, the GM's 3 year old son

Savage Worlds: Clockwork - The Cast of Characters

Savage Worlds: Clockwork 

Current Cast

Fangzhi - Wudang Initiate, Veteran

- Agility: d8,  Smarts: d6,  Spirit: d6,  Strength: d10,  Vigor: d8

- Edges:  Martial Artist, Arcane Background - Ch'i (Superpowers), New Power, Block, Improved Martial Arts

- Hindrances:  Vow - Protect Children, Enemy (Major), Outsider

- Skills:  Fighting: d12,  Throwing: d8,  Stealth: d8,  Notice: d4,  Intimidation: d4,  Climbing: d4

- Ch'i Powers:  Deflection: d10,  Healing: d6,  Pummel: d4

Nigel Loring - Hunter/Adventurer/Explorer, Veteran

- Agility: d8,  Smarts: d8,  Spirit: d8,  Strength: d8,  Vigor: d8

- Edges:  Command, Elan, Dodge, Steady Hands

- Hindrances:  Code of Honor, Enemy (Minor), Loyal

- Skills:  Fighting: d10,  Shooting: d10,  Tracking: d6,  Survival: d6,  Notice: d4,  Knowledge - Africa: d6

- Signature Weapon:  Nigel carries an Elephant Gun… everywhere.  

Captain Oswald Chance - Sky Baron, Veteran

- Agility: d10,  Smarts: d10,  Spirit: d6,  Strength: d8,  Vigor: d6

- Edges:  Luck, Great Luck, Jack-of-all-Trades, Ace, Steady Hands

- Hindrances: Cocky, Jingoistic (America is the Greatest!), Obligation (Explorer's Society)

- Skills:  Fighting: d8,  Shooting: d10,  Piloting: d6,  Knowledge- Trimsman: d8,  Swimming: d4,  Climbing: d4

- Signature Weapon:  A bolt-action rifle with a nasty looking bayonet

Lady Selene Eva Thana - Eternal Noble (Dhampyr), Veteran

- Agility: d10,  Smarts: d8,  Spirit: d10,  Strength: d6,  Vigor: d8

- Edges:  Noble, Ambidextrous, Two-Fisted, Arcane Background - Vampire (Superpowers)

- Hindrances:  Habit (Major) - Bood Addiction, Arrogant, Loyal, Pacifist (Minor)

- Skills:  Persuasion: d10,  Streetwise: d6,  Stealth: d8,  Shooting: d8,  Notice: d4,  Fighting: d4  

- Vampiric Powers:  Infravision, Teleport (Mistflight): d8, Weakness to Sunlight

Reginald Thistlethorpe - Psychic Medium, Veteran

- Agility: d4,  Smarts: d12,  Spirit: d8,  Strength: d4,  Vigor: d6

- Edges:  Arcane Background - Psionics, Linguist, Power Points (x3), New Power, Rapid Recharge

- Hindrances:  Curious, Pacifist (Minor), Loyal

- Skills:  Investigation: d10,  Knowledge - Science: d8,  Knowledge - History: d6,  Notice: d8,  Psionics: d12, Taunt: d6 

- Psionic Powers:  Ethereal Armor (Armor), Ghostly Sounds (Confusion), Summon Spirit (Summon Ally), Ghostly Servant (Telekinesis)  

Savage Worlds: Clockwork - Season 2 - Session 5

Savage Worlds: Clockwork - Season 2 - Session 5

The Daunting Excursion to Dread Island, Part Five

3/16/2014

Journal Date:  April 19th, 1898

Cast:  Lady Selene Eva Thana (Eternal Noble), Reginald Thistlethorpe (Psychic Medium), Nigel Loring (Hunter/Adventurer/Explorer), Fangzhi (Wudang Initiate), Captain Oswald Chance (Sky Baron)

Notable NPC’s:  Sister Evangeline

Plot Summary:  

It was early into the evening, and Lady Thana, Reginald, Nigel, Fang, and the Captain were perched on a cliffside, at least fifty feet above the jungle floor.  Below them was the neanderthal-ogre encampment, a collection of tents that formed a semi-circle around an entrance to a cave.  At the center was a large bonfire and patrolling the area were three male ogres.  The party had reconnoitered the area earlier in the day, and began their stakeout early in the morning, so they had a pretty good idea of what to expect below.  At least seven ogres lived in this camp, each one as large and dangerous as the to they fought the previous day.  The brave inquisitives promised Ka of the cat-men that they would return with “the book”, a tome of great importance to the feline humanoids, and when it was finally dark masque movement Fangzhi’s plan was put into effect.  

First the wudang initiate was lowered down to the cave entrance on a rope, held by Captain Chance and Nigel.  When he reached the entrance, Fang peered in and saw crudely made stone spears perched against a wall directly across from large barrels full of liquid.  These barrels were each marked “S.S. Stag”.  Fangzhi was pulled back up, shared his findings with the team, and then climbed back down and into the cave entrance.  When he reached the spears, Fang tied string to the spears and started unspooling it as he moved further and further into the cave.  His first expectation was that he would find a simple area possibly containing the book, however when Fang realized that natural walls of the cave soon led to the smooth stone of an underground temple structure, he realized that he may have gotten in over his head.  The path led to an intersection.  To his left were a pair of ogre women drying meat in an old temple chamber.  To his right was a path that forked southwest and southeast, and Fang heard laughter and other sounds emanating from the latter.  Directly across from Fangzhi an old and dusty passage remained, which looked as if it had not been used in quite some time, possibly due to it’s size restricting the access of the ogres.  Fang decided to dart quickly into the dusty and web-covered portal only to slip at the end of his run and fall down ten feet into a pool of water.  

Fang had been tightly holding on to the string that he unspooled as he moved throughout the chambers, and so his fall pulled the spears down in a loud clatter against the opposing cave wall.  This disturbed the ogres on the outside of the cave, so one came in to investigate, but didn’t find anything distressing.  While this happened, Lady Thana teleported into the jungle with some of the trash from the troupe’s excursion, rattled a few cans together, and then teleported back to the party’s cliffside hideout, leaving the trash behind.  This caused two of the ogres to investigate the trash pile, and occupy them long enough for vampiric noble, Captain Chance, and Nigel to each climb down into the tents below and begin looking for clues and evidence of the missing book.  Reginald Thistlethorpe decided to wait far above the encampment, where he could keep an eye on the events occurring.  Meanwhile inside the caves, Fangzhi had a heck of a time trying to keep from drowning in the fast moving water.  Rather than a single stagnant pool, the water was a quick moving underground stream that flowed from an opening in the south towards an opening in the north.  Although not adept at swimming, Fang’s doggy-paddling skills learned when the airship first crashed several days prior came back into use as the wudang initiate managed to make it back to the edge of the water and climb up towards the opening in the cobweb covered passage.  

In the tents, the party found very little that aided their quest for the book.  The first tent they searched contained crude bedding, and bits and pieces of assorted finery, jewelry, and other knick-knacks possibly salvaged from visitors to the island chain.  Nigel and Lady Thana were careful when they crawled under the canvas to each tent, and with good reason as the second tent contained a basic crib and a five foot long ogre-child who was fast asleep.  With nothing else in that particular tent the duo moved back outside meeting up with Captain Chance.  Needing a distraction, Nigel picked up a large stone and threw it to to the opposite side of the camp which drew the guard away from the cave entrance.  Quickly all three bolted into the cave so that they could meet hopefully meet up with Fang.  

Once they were all relatively close to each other, Captain Chance ran over to hide with Fangzhi while Lady Thana and Nigel explored the southwest passage.  They would uncover three chambers, each covered in a slightly fluorescent moss only detectable which they never would have seen without Lady Thana’s vampiric darkvision.  The long-dead ogre in the southernmost chamber was an indication that the moss was possibly dangerous, so Lady Thana and Nigel decided to leave the area well enough alone.  Captain Chance was having greater luck in his investigation of the underwater stream.  Since he was the only one in the team to have any skill in swimming, the Captain swam upstream until he reached another pocket of air.  Fortunately for Captain Chance this pocket actually extended ten feet above, but the walls of which were caked in foul materials such as trash, old decaying food, and excrement.  It appeared that the good captain found the ogre’s crapper!  But in a positive light, the noises above seemed to not just be of an ogre-ish nature.  The captain listened carefully and could hear a soft british accent and someone speaking the King’s.  Climbing up to the top of the trash chute, the Captain peered into a large common room, where four additional ogres, two male and two female were performing various tasks, but in the far corner there was a nun keeping watch over a figure lying down.  He swam back to Fang, reported his findings, and chose to try the underwater path to the south.  This almost became the last act of Captain Chance, as the path to the south extended underwater for miles.  When the captain finally realized this he remained calm, turned around, and swam against the current back to the opening from which he came.  

Despite nearly drowning, Captain Chance had no problem returning to the waste receptacle chamber so that he could sneak up and into the common room above.  Lady Thana and Fangzhi put their weapons away and decided to approach the ogres in the common room in a peaceful manner, hands outstretched to show that they weren’t armed.  When they entered the large chamber the ogres were immediately shocked, especially considering that they did not hear anyone skulking about the abandoned temple.  Lady Thana started speaking in a careful and polite tone to keep the ogres at bay but her words were not necessary for before the brutes could react Sister Evangeline ran towards the party and begged for their assistance.  Behind her, lying on the ground, was an injured martian!

Quotes:

“Who’s our sneaky person?  Oh, it’s me!” - Frank came to the realization that he was exactly what the party needed.

“Are they full of chili?” - Jen was listening in to the game and was wondering what the barrels from the S.S. Stag were filled with.  

“I see a giant spider, and I shoot!” - Craig joked, as his character Nigel was looking at some old webs that he knew Frank’s character Fang was hiding behind.

“I doubt you’d kill Dante.  It’s a risk I’m willing to take!” - Frank, just before the GM almost killed Dante’s character.