The company (minus Gestlin) found themselves teleported to the Citadel of Ten-Thousand Pearls, and the court of the djinn ruler, Zat al-Dawahi. They are made to explain their purpose, that being to seek her aid in the rescue of Finn Sardock
At dinner, Zat revealed that she believes she can, with much difficulty, rescue Finn, at the cost of three tasks the company must perform. Also, Ammerah is already present with him, which the djinn interpreted to mean she must send Ammerah to Finn’s location a week or two into the past.
The following morning, Ammerah was sent through a portal to Finn.
Exploring the city, Brumrumli encountered a familiar dwarf, Thráin Ironfist, in a cage, to be sold at market as a slave. Thorondil sneaked in and unlocked the cage, allowing him to escape. Believing Brum responsible, Thráin indicated he owes him a debt, before disappearing.
At evening dinner, Zat tasked the company with delivering a message to Farouq ibn Said, the half-djinn who previously enslaved Zyanra, and escaped death at the Kelmarane Battle-Market.
Ismir requested of Zat to be allowed to claim a knife left stuck in the hall floor, to be “used upon her enemies,” and it was granted.
With Zyanra as “advisor,” the company set out for the City of Ten Thousand Delights, Farouq’s domain, upon the following morning.
Wherein the company is confronted by a trapped djinn…
After the scouts reported no activity in Dulihiban, only the “glass statues,” the company entered the city to see what they could find.
They encountered a (not-glass) man calling himself al-Nur, sultan of this city, who asked for assistance releasing his “friend” from the treasury.
At the treasury, in a ruined tower of the city palace, the man revealed himself to be a djinn and prevented the company from leaving the chamber, cloaking them in magical darkness and provoking them to attack. Aramis was accidentally stabbed by Ismir in the darkness. Thorondil accused the sultan of being a bad host, and after a more-pleasant parley, agreed to free him from his prison, a man-sized crystal like those encountered in Yaqut min Alraml, in exchange for their release. After doing so, the tower collapsed.
At camp, Thorondil relented, and used Smil-Blam on Gestlin, though it turned him instead into a turtle.
The company traveled on to the Citadel of Ten-Thousand Pearls, to the border of the lands of Zat al-Dawahi, where they were stopped by a flash of bright light…
Post-battle, Ammerah tended the injured, with Gestlin’s help, while the caravan survivors prepared shelter from the incoming sandstorm.
All present sheltered in tents as the sandstorm arrived; the unconscious and/or injured were dragged inside. During the storm, all were affected magically:
Aramis’ left arm turned to copper
Brumrumli’s beard and hair are enveloped in flames that don’t burn
Haruki grew 5 inches taller
Ismir seemed unaffected, though he was unconscious from his wounds
Thorondil’s wing-harness disappeared, but the wings became permanent
Of the other survivors: One turned to sand, one killed by plants growing out of him, one grew 5 inches shorter, one grew 10 years younger, one’s tongue became that of a serpent
In the morning, the survivor with the serpent’s tongue, believing himself cursed by Allah, had gone into the desert to die. Thorondil and Gestlin flew to find him, but were unable to save him from a buried, giant desert creature (AKA Deserthulhu).
The company traveled to Dulihiban with the remaining caravaners and their dozen-or-so camels, hoping to purchase some of the camels there for their own use.
Dulihiban was found by Thorondil to be deserted, but Ismir entered and found the population turned to glass.
Wherein the company is reunited, and sets out to find Finn…
A few days after the collapse of Yaqut min Alraml, the company is still looking for survivors while evading occasional Yuan-Ti ambushes.
With a bright flash, Haruki, Aramis, Ismir, and Gestlin the Unpredictable appear, displacing Lan-Fan back to Defiant; Gestlin is transformed into a talking goat in the process. Gestlin is informed of the company’s fate, and believing Finn still lives, is determined to travel to the Citadel of Ten-Thousand Pearls to speak with the djinn, Zat al-Dawahi, Mistress of Misfortunes, regarding Finn’s potential rescue.
Aramis narrowly dodges a crossbow bolt from a hidden shooter
Thorondil refuses to wield Smil-Blam to restore Gestlin’s proper form; too dangerous.
Zistral, and the Leashed-One rescued by the company, part ways to be with their people.
The company, along with Ammerah (under Ismir’s careful protection) and Zyanra, sets out across the desert, a trip expected to take over a month, while the other Fa’iel head to the Cave of Winds to rejoin their tribe.
The company experiences many “strange events” during their travels, including a dragon, Vermithor Rex, who mistakenly eats one of the company’s pack-camels, thinking it a stray. Ismir pulls a magic spear from the dragon’s side.
Several days in, just across the border into the Djinn Lands, the company hears the din of battle ahead, and encounters a local caravan beset by centaurs, likely the forces of Atah Keth, and decide to charge to the rescue…
Player Notes:
Due to an unexpected internet outage, we ended the session mid-fight, to be continued next week.
Aramis de Sauvons is the last remaining fighting-man in Proximo’s caravan, inbound to Castle Defiant, bringing many freed slaves from the Djinn Lands.
The Defiant scouting party finds the caravan under attack by Gnollish thugs, believed to be under Kardswann’s orders to slay them all. The Gnolls are defeated and scattered, at the cost of several of the freed-slaves, and Proximo himself; Ismir is also injured.
Aramis is gifted a ring by a dying friend, one of the freed-slaves who was felled.
The combined parties return to Defiant to find a giant raven speaking with Gestlin the Unpredictable in the courtyard. The master-wizard is here to find Finn Sardock, who is not present, having been lost to the sands of the Djinn Lands—though only Haruki has any idea of this, from a dream.
Gestlin discusses with the PCs, deciding the symbol from Haruki’s dream is a symbol of a djinn, and suddenly casts a great spell…
Everything goes to crap straight away. The bugs smash into the house and open up with non-lethal munitions clearly intended to capture. James, J.P. and Shane are quite promptly glued in place, while Damien is partially webbed. Meanwhile, John – who had been sleeping in a guest bedroom – reacts to the sound of the attack and lunges out of bed, grabbing his rifle as he does; at the same time, Reece is outside the house with Woola, working on the truck, and responds as well … though it’s a considerable distance for him.
When John enters the fray, he does so with gunfire, which shifts the tempo of the engagement. Using cover to his advantage, he manages to avoid getting webbed and critically injures one of the bugs and outright kills a second. Simultaneously, Chandler manages to work himself free and retrieves his weapon to engage a third one before pursuing his fleeing ex-wife, Valerie. Reece finally enters the engagement and uses his shotgun to excellent effect, though he is unable to prevent Damien from getting gooped once more which ensures that Valerie can escape. Wells finally manages to get free and fires a single shot with the Desert Eagle he took from the prepper’s bunker; he quite quickly learns that he isn’t anywhere strong enough to use it effectively, but by this point, the fight is nearly over. The last of the battle bugs are taken out and Damien has an eyewitness view of Valerie fleeing into a waiting craft of some sort. There’s nothing he can do to prevent her from escaping…
Over Buffalo, additional bug ships can be seen and the locals take numerous ineffective potshots at the craft overhead. Realizing that Valerie was after the photos that Damien informs them of, the “book club” gather their gear and plan for a rapid departure, pausing only long enough to warn the local authorities about the dead bugs now in Chandler’s backyard.
Pressing on to the south, the group continue for a bit, pausing long enough for Reece to swap out as driver in a vain attempt to get some sleep; he suffers from intense insomnia and has not been able to sleep properly over the last few nights. While dozing, he has a strange, lucid dream of an odd-looking man standing before Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The next time they stop, he quizzes John about this, knowing that some of Heinlein’s odd training under his Grandfather included dream interpretation. Though it about two hours out of the way, the crew decide to head to Devil’s Tower out of curiosity, some of them halfway convinced that this is just another example of the ongoing weirdness.
They arrive to find … nothing. This seems like it was a monumental waste of time and gas, and Reece is exceedingly embarrassed about the fact. Chandler decides that, while they’re here, he’s going to climb Devil’s Tower; everyone else just begins setting up a camp for the night.
And then, they see aerial combat between several unfamiliar but terrestrial-looking warplanes and bug ships; the bugs are shot down, much to the great delight of those on the ground, though they quickly go back into survival mode when the planes begin circling the area. A third aircraft approaches – it is clearly a transport craft of some sort and displays VTOL ability as it approaches and lands in the parking lot before deploying a small robot thing to sweep the area. A grizzled badass-looking old man exits the plane and Reece gets up to meet him. The man informs Sheriff Burroughs that they’ve been looking for the group. And who are they, Reece asks?
They’re X-COM.
Player Notes:
OMFG, the opening firefight was so irritating from a dice rolling standpoint. Heinlein could not roll under 14 for entirely too long and two of the PCs were either completely out of the fight or so far away that it took forever to get into the fight. Lessons learned. We need AP rounds.
Evidently, we completely threw the GM for a loop when we simply threw our plans out the window and headed toward the dream location instead of continuing toward Cheyenne Mountain. Meanwhile, we all thought that was what he wanted us to do. I’m sure he’ll gripe about it on his blog.
No game next week, but the week after I (Rigil) will be running Banestorm III: Embers of Defiance, season 3. Wheeeee…
At about the same time that John realizes there is a flying saucer in the sky, multiple characters also recognize that little grey aliens are near them as well. Closer to the plane, Chandler sees one of these creatures and is psionically stunned, while Wells finds himself puppeted and sent toward the plane to retrieve something. Eventually, the two will manage to struggle free of this alien’s control, likely due to its decision to bug out following the events that surround his ally below.
Simultaneously near the truck, Robert (who was going off to take a leak) cries out in shock and dismay when another grey alien mentally dominates him. Multiple people converge upon them – John with the squad automatic weapon (SAW); Reece with his pistol; Shane with a rifle – and the alien (who is keeping Robert between him and them) mentally attacks them. Heinlein responds with a burst of gunfire that misses the alien … but tears into Robert, killing him instantly. Reece opens up with his pistol, but finds it to be not very effective against this thing, and as Shane gets into position, John opens up again with the SAW and cripples the little grey bugger by mostly blowing off a foot. As it starts to crawl away, Shane will take a shot with his rifle and cripple one of the thing’s arms. To their surprise, it then vanishes (much like the one that Chandler and Wells are dealing with does as well.)
Unfortunately for the alien, John visually follows a trail of ammonia-like blood and fires a short burst that miraculously catches the grievously injured alien and kills him instantly. Later, when they rejoin one another and discuss options, they decide to take the Grey with them for further study, but have to wrap it up in a tarp due to the acrid smell of its blood. Robert is also wrapped in a tarp for the time being, until they can figure out what to do with his body. The saucer itself has departed and the second Grey has vanished, so at the plane, they discover that there are numerous crates within, though there is a suspiciously blank space where one should be, indicating these aliens got what they were looking for.
As an extremely ominous storm front races toward them, the team press onto the town of Ten Sleep where they quickly determine to hold up at the nearby school to ride out the storm. This proves to be a little more difficult than expected as the precipitation and wind are brutal, tearing open roofs and flooding the streets. They emerge on the other side a little worse for the wear, and opt to shelter in place overnight rather than press onto Buffalo.
In the morning, John and Reece bury Robert in the nearby cemetery while James watches; Wells conducts a rudimentary autopsy of the Grey alien with a little bit of assistance from Chandler while they’re doing this and learns some things. They briefly consider ditching the alien here, but decide to hand it off to the Buffalo authorities once they arrive as proof of what just happened.
Arriving in Buffalo soon after, the crew promptly split up, with Damien heading straight to his home while the rest coordinate in their usual manner with local officials who are hesitant to take the alien corpse off their hands but do so. When they track down Chandler at his home, they find that he has already located the photos he came for. They begin plotting their next step: travel to Cheyenne Mountain while steering clear of Denver. A circuitous route is hammered out…
Later that evening, as Damien is gathering supplies, he hears someone using a key to unlock the back door. To his surprise, it is his ex-wife, Valerie! She expresses surprise to find him here and they exchange cool pleasantries before she asks about their wedding photos. Damien pretends that he has no idea about them, and the two basically circle one another like hunting cats. Valerie notes the presence of others and abruptly notes that she brought friends as well. She gestures to the back door…
And Damien sees soldier bugs outside!
Player Notes:
John shooting Robert was absolutely hysterical. In any other game, I would never have taken that shot because there was an ally in the immediate vicinity … but John is Impulsive so I decided, what the hell? Missed the alien, then Gigermann had me roll again, capped at 9 and I rolled a critical success. One of the rounds that hit Robert nailed him in the skull and that weapon does 5d pi so … oof. John has already convinced himself that it was the alien’s fault and, luckily for him I suppose, all three of the other PCs got mind-whammied at least once during the fight so it isn’t entirely unbelievable.
Killing the alien was also an instance of unexpected critical success. Once again, I probably wouldn’t have taken a blind shot with most characters, but the Impulsiveness gave me an excuse.
Wells conducted an autopsy of the dead Grey and the GM declared that he’ll know “some things” should it actually come up later.
As soon as “Boomer” showed up, absolutely everyone jumped to the conclusion that she was a cylon.
We begin with a quick flashback to establish Chandler’s “MacGuffin.”
Back to the present, John and Reece have come under fire from Howard the prepper but, with Shane’s assistance, they talk the guy down and manage to convince the guy to let them enter. Not trusting this guy entirely, John decides to stay outside with James. Everyone else (except Robert who continues lounging in the truck) descend into the bunker where they discover that in addition to the dude, there is a timid-looking woman named Michelle present.
In the bunker, pleasantries and information is exchanged before Howard shows the team around the bunker itself so they can admire how well everything is setup. During this, first Chandler, then Reece are able to discreetly chat with Michelle, during which they both learn that she’s not here willingly. While Howard is showing Chandler and Wells the gun room, Reece tells Michelle to get out … this leads to Howard wildly overreacting to the sound of the door being opened & closed. He locks Chandler and Wells in the gun room and charges out, opening fire on Reece the moment he sees him. Reece retaliates with better aimed shots and drops Howard (but doesn’t kill him.)
Following this, the team attempt to figure out their next steps with Reece opting to take both Howard and Michelle to the local Jackson police department. While there, they learn that a large majority of the people are packing up and getting out of Jackson because, since the EMP, they’re now down to the last dregs of their supplies. Meanwhile, back at the bunker, the rest of the team are raiding the heck out Howard’s guns and other supplies, opting to “borrow” his better truck.
The team spend the night at the bunker, then head out the following day, intent on heading toward Buffalo where Chandler has certain photographs stored that he wants to recover. While en route, they find themselves pausing in various communities to pass on information, much to Heinlein’s frustration who thinks that’s a waste of time.
En route to Buffalo, while on a causeway that leads to a bridge, the team observe a bus approaching from the opposite direction. Chandler actually notes that these guys are armed and passes on a warning to his allies; as feared, the bus turns hard in an attempt to block the route and armed thugs pile out and begin setting up ambush points. Far behind them, the crew can hear motorcycles revving up as they lunge out of concealment. Unfortunately for these ambushers, John now has a squad automatic weapon in his possession and he pops up onto the roof of the truck to clear the path. Wisely, the would-be ambushers opt to get the hell out of the way and not pursue.
After pausing to warn the various communities about the would-be ambushers, the team press on toward Buffalo. A little before they are able to enter the city, they observe an old plane that has crashed in a nearby field. This is a very old plane, but has obviously recently been downed. Chandler immediately diverts his ATV toward the plane to investigate while Reece stops the truck to wait. Heinlein setups to provide cover with the SAW.
And then, he sees a freaking UFO…
Player Notes:
The delay in this recap is entirely my fault. I was feeling lazy. Again. Plus, I was reading the new Dresden Files book.
Not a whole lot to actually discuss here. The game was fun and we managed to avoid getting sucked into a potentially ugly firefight.
Inside the bunker, the team begin discussing what they’ve found and the electronic voice announces that it is changing to English for understanding. A recorded message of Heinlein’s Grandfather appears, though he does not have the stoop and appears to be moving more quickly. This recording begins in a language that no one recognizes but shifting to English and stating that he is not from Earth, but rather from a world far away. His name of origin he gives as Rabaka Wepwety Arth, and he is a “Bystander of the Glorious Taareh Kingdom of Qebe.” His entire crèche was inserted onto Terra in 1909 after being surgically altered to blend in; they were tasked to observe and report sign of the “Defector,” known to them as Gen-Hisis, one of the “Masters” who fled the “Sk’ranu”. He adds that these Bystanders have been noting increased solar and NEO activity, so they expect an invasion soon and will likely be the first targets.
Terra’s best hope for survival is the Defector, according to Grandfather … er … Rabaka Wepwety Arth. Gen-Hisis has been kept in secret under a “Project Genesis” and was recently relocated from Area 51 to somewhere in Colorado, probably Cheyenne Mountain, after some sort of “incident.” The recording also references a datachip with all knowledge about the Sk’ran – which the team presume is the name given to the bugs – and states that this bunker will be destroyed once they leave to avoid it falling into enemy hands. With that in mind, the team spend the rest of the night studying what they can in shifts.
Despite there now being questions about his origin, Grandfather is laid to rest in a traditional Arapaho ceremony attended by many of John’s cousins. They look at him askance when he tells them the truth but generally shrug when he offers to show them the proof in the bunker below. His son, James, is a little troubled too; if they’re part alien, does that mean they’re going to develop powers? John has no idea but promises to be there for him nonetheless.
In the morning, after sealing up the bunker so it can self-destruct, the team set out once more, aiming for Fort Washakie, Wyoming. They are not on the road for very long when they observe a cloud of flying insects. They do no real damage – apart from smearing themselves all over the windows and exposed people – but it is still a troubling event regardless. A plague of locusts … is a rain of frogs next?
They pass on, eventually reaching a bridge that is partially out. Even worse is the presence of an old station wagon that is tottering on the lip, barely balanced in place. Calls for help from the car reveal that it is occupied by injured! The team scramble out to assist, with everyone but John actually being rather helpful; in the water nearby, Jules notes another of those drop-pod things. Based on the angle, he suspects that the pod smashed into the bridge and broke it. As everyone is coordinating to rescue the trapped civvies, a new kind bug waddles up on the bridge. John is having none of this, however, and goes for his rifle immediately, riddling the thing with bullets; later, he will note that the bug’s dangerously sharp-looking “beak” and opts to cut it free with an intent on turning it into a makeshift katar or hay bale hook for later. The others will successfully extract the injured men from the car, one of whom needs some emergency medical attention from Jules. They exchange stories, learning that these men are heading toward Seattle despite the fact that it seems to have been lost because one of them has a fiancee there! Damien, being a selfless sort, gives the men some extra rations to make up for their lack, earning a grumbled complaint from Robert.
While investigating, they also discover what appears to be a bunch of bug eggs under the bridge. No one questions the decision to use some of their fuel to set these eggs on fire.
From the bridge, both groups backtrack a bit to find an alternate route over the river, then continue on their respective ways. The team observe a wandering herd of bison on the road which slow them down a bit, before passing through Dubois – hilariously pronounced “Dew-Bois” in Wyoming instead of the more traditional French “DOOb-WAH” – though they do pause briefly to pass on the usual intelligence to those in positions of authority.
Some distance north-west of Dubois, they encounter a wildfire on one side of the road; some campers are present along with some local, mounted ranchers, and they tell a tale of a surprise attack by some sort of … fire creatures. There is some discussion about how best to proceed – everyone is quite concerned over the fire spreading, but none of them have the ability to properly fight it – but both John and Reece are not caught by surprise when they see a trio of unusual-looking bugs creeping out of the forest. Recognizing these from the bunker’s data as fire-breathers, the two immediately open fire and cut down the creatures; one of them explodes upon death, causing another fire. An effort to retrieve the campers’ gear is considered but promptly discarded as they all note the scope of the fire. Instead, they pile the campers into the truck and backtrack to Dubois to drop them off before resuming their trip, this time having to brave the fires a bit.
Entering Jackson a short time later, they proceed directly to the prepper’s bunker, halfway expecting everything to blow up around them while they’re there. They discover the prepper’s house to be effectively abandoned, but there is an entrance to the bunker nearby along with an outbuilding some distance away. While John bangs on the bunker’s door, everyone else mostly spreads out to investigate; Damien will discover that the owner appears to have been a SeeBee in the Navy and Reece discovers someone has written HELP ME in the outbuilding window. John momentarily observes a woman with a cast on her foot appear inside the bunker through a second door but she’s wrestled out of sight by another man. When Reece joins him, they discuss options before John hits upon using the super-sharp bug’s beak to cut in. They are surprised at the the ease with which it cuts through the steel (though cutting through metal is rather loud) and in mere moments, they’ve got a fairly decent-sized hole that they can shout through and be heard.
And then, the man John saw earlier pops into view, shouting “Die, commie alien scum!” before opening fire with a firearm!
Player Notes:
The delay in this recap is entirely my fault. I was feeling lazy. Again.
Giger and I have worked a bit on figuring out the Taareh culture principally for The Verge, my Traveller campaign set in this same universe (though many centuries later and thousands of light years away.) He used the same naming sequence for Grandfather – translated, his name would be Rabaka, Bystander, Earth – that we developed there, though the addition of dogs not liking Taareh is new to this game … but will show up in mine at some point as well. It’s kind of neat to see how that back-and-forth has worked out.
Lucky for us that Heinlein decided to take a trophy from one of those bugs! I’d already considered having him start taking trophies from these critters, but the way Gigermann described the one with the long beak made me think it was important. When I had Heinlein use it against the steel door, my thought was “Huh. That was some pretty good set-up on his part.” Imagine my amusement when he told me later that it was just a happy coincidence and he’d already forgotten that I had the pseudo-knife.
Speaking of it, I was envisioning making it into a jury-rigged katar or maybe a hay bale hook; CommJunkee suggested the fishing gaff but strongly recommended not just Googling “gaff” … I second that recommendation after having accidentally done so.
I was amused that Gigermann did not expect me to have watched 10 Cloverfield Lane which he’s ripping off and was quite surprised when I recognized that plot device; I don’t recall it very well, but I did watch it once. Sorta. Though it’d be more accurate to say I just sort of let it play in the background while I was doing something else. I think I only watched it because I like Elizabeth Winstead.
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