War of Ashes: Post-playtest

So normally, I do write ups for each game session, and I take notes during play so I can track it.

Unfortunately, I find it really hard to do that and GM at the same time.  So instead, I'll talk a bit about the setting of War of Ashes, the rules for the game, and our characters (and how the first two items affected them).

The setting of War of Ashes was, for me, the real gem of this playtest.  Probably not a shock to most who'll read this.  Evil Hat and Zombiesmith have been describing it as "grimsical," a portmanteau of grim and whimsical.  That's definitely a good fit as a descriptor.  The creatures of War of Ashes are cute.  Even the ravenous and terrifying Kuld are basically like hairless frog cousins of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch.  And yet they're out and about dismembering one another for food, a chance at survival, and in the name of their gods.  The contrast is a bit like the old Reese's "you got chocolate in my peanut butter!" commercials.

The setting info in the playtest was DENSE, but I think a lot of that comes from a lack of finished art and no real finalized layout work.  It took me a while to get through it, so I kept my scenario simple: the players were recruited by the Church of Agaptus to retrieve sacred Ghas (giant riding geese of my creation).  We all got to taste a bit of the world, but not so much our lack of knowledge distracted from play.  It was great, too, that War of Ashes encouraged the inclusion of new races, critters, and locations in the world, paving the way for the Ghas, which became a nice combination of comic relief and living macguffin.

By the time my regular GM took over in our second playtest, I felt I had enough of a grip on the world to play a priest of Atronia, who joined up with the other players to discover who was smuggling baby Kuld into Elvorix territory.  Playing was as much fun as GMing, which is a wonderful thing to be able to say.  The setting and tone were such a hit that we plan on being able to keep our War of Ashes campaing as our backup should our main campaigns need a week off.

There were some cool aspects to the War of Ashes rules, as well.  My favorite, especially as GM was "Divine Interest."  As players did really well or poorly, they attracted divine interest from the generally well-meaning but bungling (and slightly vengeful) gods of Agaptus.  It was great fun watching the dread of divine interest build in my players, making even simple pathfinding and animal wrangling almost as high tension as pitched combat.  It was just fantastic.

The system overall is built on the bones of Fate Accelerated Edition, which was easy to pick up for both our Fate vets (most of the group) and our one Fate newbie.  I'm convinced the barebones approach to Fate is not just a good in for younger roleplayers, but also for those used to the six-stat system of DnD/Pathfinder (and that seems to be the logic behind Fate: Freeport, which I recently picked up).  It was fast to get into and serves as a strong primer for the full version of Fate.

We also played with the Weight and Froth systems in War of Ashes.  Weight is something we're adapting over to our WoWFate sessions (as are lethal dice, which I'll get to momentarily); simply put, size matters and when a Ghas (weight 2) charged a weight 1 Evorix, the extra oomph added by that weight difference felt very substantial.  Froth represents a sort of battle rage, eventually leading to the use of lethal dice (also allowed by certain weapons).  Lethal dice cut straight to the consequences of an opponent, skipping stress, making them perfect indicators of when "shit just got real!"

All in all, this gave our somewhat narrowly scoped all-Evorix party a lot more room to play than one might suspect.  We had the previously divinely-touched soldier from the north, who wielded a sword of the gods.  His girlfriend, the dirksherd, who was always irritated that her mouse-like flock was thought of as a food source.  They were joined by the soldier's Beaker-inspired, meeping standard bearer.  They met a Kuld-researcher who just wanted to give peace a chance (and later got divinely swapped into a Kuld body).  There was also the retired soldier turned Ghas farmer who couldn't keep his critters under control; a bard who sang everything, sometimes violently, who just wanted into politics; and a beautiful, not-god-fearing Evorix who was handy with a knife.  When I joined, I played a conman priest who used moss in all his rituals, as well as his clothes.

Because the rules were simple and the setting encouraged us to get a little weird, we came up with a really entertaining bunch.  I could seriously see them as a cartoon that would be all-ages appropriate (which is not always a thing we're good at).  Everything seemed finely tuned towards directing us back to that grimsical tone, and our sessions were better for it.  I'd encourage everyone to look for this one when it comes out.

WoWFate: Beard War

The Quillboar, convinced by Phred, attempted to react reenact dwarven birth.  They snipped a bit of Brim's beard, and tried to concoct a plan to pass through Urist's legs as the beardless dwarf was probably the female.

Meanwhile, Thorren's air elemental caught up to Etiainen, trailing her back to the caravan.  It agreed with her that most mortals were confusing, but sided with Thorren over the elder shaman's concern for his apprentice.

At the Razor Fen, most everyone had fallen asleep, save for a few Quillboar who began snipping at the hair of Brim and Urist.  In his sleep, Urist registered these sounds and brought Urist back to his traumatic experiences against the Scourge.  He woke screaming about an imminent attack, much to the dismay of the Quillboar.

The adventuring party quickly sprang into action. Yshara gathered a group of piglets to her side.  Phred drew his daggers and encouraged the defense.  Thorren readied his command of the elements. Zulfi'shi summoned spirits. And Brim went right on snoring. After it became clear nothing was actually happening, the stealthy rogue slipped in and knoxked Urist out, ending the kerfuffle.  The leaders of the Razor Fen demanded the adventurers leave because of the disruption, and the group had no choice but to comply.

As they headed back to the caravan with their recovered supplies, Brim woke, having remained unaware of what had transpired.  The party hastily explained to him, and Etiainen, what had happened and Brim, bow quite angry, demanded that he and Urist go back to apologize to their potential customers.

They set out, with Phred in tow, as the rest of the party settled in to get the caravan ready to move come morning.  Once at the Fen, Brim and Urist did apologize.  The Quillboar agreed to accept it should the Lightbrew brothers agree to take on apprentices. Phred backed this plan and Brim quickly accepted for both brothers.  

After quite a bit of debate over how apprentices should be picked, Brim simply approached two Quillboar, asked a few questions and announced he was taking one of them. Urist quickly followed suit.  Their names were Keb-keb amd Hogwa and they were extremely eager to learn the ways of brewing Lightbrew Ale.

Once everyone had regathered, the caravan set out again sending dude to warn Honor Hold about the Undead in Razor Fen Downs.  Hopefully, that garrison would be able to defend the area until Orgrimmar or Theramore could send reinforcements.  Once that was done, the party would continue on their mission to Ashenvale via the Crossroads.

As they travelled, they came upon an oasis.  Thorren felt something off about the elements there and was only just able to warn the others before a sudden storm gathered and something attacked!

That something turned out to be a centaur raiding party, led by a hige centaur in ornate armor carrying a spear of Tauren craftsmanship.  The leader singled out Thorren and told his followers to handle the others while he faced the Tauren.  He charged in , reading a powerful strike, but Thorren was ready and able to mostly deflect it.

Two of the archer centaurs fired artows at Urist, who was lightly injured but undaunted by the attack.  Etianen, wanting to help her mentir, fired a lightning bolt at the lead centaur, but his armor glowed and absorbed the attack.

Meanwhile, Zulfi'shi launched skeletal skulls at some of the centaurs towards the back of the group, burning at their skin.  The centaur stormcallers retaliated with lightning strikes, which most of the adventurers dodged after Etiainen blocked a good amount of it.  Brim and Parker, angry now, angled to get into good offensive position.

The centaur leader backed away, readying for another charge, but Thorren closed with him and disarmed his foe with a mighty swing of his axe. At almost the same moment, Etiainen blasted the centaur with redirected lightning, rocking him.

One of the archers took a shot at Brim, but the Dwarven hunter was ready and fired a blast back into his foe, killing the centaur.  Urist added shielding to his companions as Zulfi'shi attacked another of the lackey centaurs with spirit attackers.  Phred stealthily cut around the groups, cutting off their route of escape.  Meanwhile, Parker mauled yet another centaur marauder to death.

The centaur leader managed to trip Thorren up and moved into position to trample him.  Seeing her mentor hurt, Etiainen asked if he needed healing, but Thorren refused it, despite being heavily wounded.  Instead Etiainen blasted the centaur leader again, and this time it struck home.

Another arrow found purchase in Brim's shoulder, but Urist was already blessing Parker a charge to avenge the Dwarven hunter.  Parker chomped down on another Centaur, taking it out of the fight as the Centaur's companions failed to slow the raging bear.

Zul'fishi began preparing herself for a far greater spell than her norm, chanting quietly in Zandali.  Yshara, needing to close the gap with a distant foe, tookoff running in her bear form, leapt while changing into her Night Elf form, cast a spell, and hit the ground running once more as a bear.  Phred, for his part, used the distraction to down a foe with a well-placed knife to the back.

The Centaur leader managed to trample Thorren, who was badly wounded but refused to yield.  Etiainen went against her mentor's wishes and healed him.  Urist dollowed that up with a heal of his own.  Meanwhile Brim used his rifle to fell another Centaur archer.

In the momentary lull, Zul'fishi completed her spell, using it to have entangling hands grasp at all of the Centaurs, slowimg their leader greatly.  He made to charge, but Thorren was ready this time.  The Tauren had retrieved the spear and found it of Tauren-make.  Etiainen used a spell to blind the Centaur leader, who was left open to a huge thrust from Thorren's spear.  

Phred, Urist, and Yshara finished the remaining Centaur.  Yshara recovered the leather armor of the Centaur and Thorren determined that he would return the spear to Tauren representatives ge hoped to find at The Crossroads.

Demigods in the Yakuza!

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap.

At the end of the last session, the Void had retreated into the darkness to try and regroup from the onslaught of the Hestia.  His respite didn't last long, though, as Tak Me but him and dragged him back out of the shadows.

Rivkah, William and Lha Mo quickly capitalized on the opening and struck out at the servant of Mikaboshi.  Jessica mocked him mercilously.  Leander calculated his next likely attack, but the Void staggered his strike to try and avoid it.

That threw off the coordinated assault, but Brock was undaunted and still managed to put a bolt of sunlight into his foe.  Lha Mo took the moment to heal Jessica, who had been wounded in the last exchange.  The Void, and his minions, traded attacks with the Hestoa while Jessica took a moment to heal Leander.  Leander managed to guess the Void's plot and directed a new assault.

While waiting for the Void to reappear, the Demigods cleared up a few of the villain's minions as Leander and Tak Me prepared their defenses.  Lha Mo took the oppprtunity to further heal Leander.

The Void emerged as a giant hand, but the band was ready for him and launched their own attack.  Tak me bit him again, pinning him down as Lha Mo put a powerful punch into the Void's body.  Rivkah added a leaping punch as William lashed out with Foecutter.  Jessica twisted fate and used her apples to distract the Void's minions.

The team got another set of blows in against the Void who vanished for an extremely long time.  When he returned, he forced Lha Mo to protect him.  She was compelled to do so, but the Void quickly formed a whirlpool of shadow, disappearing back into the body of Mikaboshi.  As he did, he told the Hestia that he had been ordered to leave behind a skull as evidence of his defeat.  The Demigods took it reluctantly and mae sure to search the rest of the cave before heading back to the Market.

There they were quickly rounded up by the Yakuza and taken back to the tower headquarters.  The team hurried to discuss their plans of what to tell the ancient ghost they'd met before, revealing more of their secrets to Jessica in the process.  They settled on trying not to lie while not revealing their connection to the demands of Kane Taoka.

The talk began that way, but the ancient ghost used his ability to talk to objects to interrogate the skull, who confirmed that the band had defeated the Void.  It winked over the shoulder of the Yakuza leader at the Hestia, who quickly decided to tell the ancient ghost of the skull's treachery, despite the potential risk to the band.  In the end, the ancient ghost decided to award the Hestia the Ghost of Little Boy as per their bargain.  The Demigods disguised it as garbage and took it back to Muramasa, along with the Flame of Kagatsuki.  Muramasa was very pleased, saying that with what the Hestia had returned with he could make his weapon "even more destructive."

With his knowledge of Muramasa, this set off alarm bells in Leander's head.  He shared that worry with his fellow Demigods and they made hushed and hurried plans to find Masamune, who was renowned for blades which would only cut what must be cut, to try and make an alternative weapon.  Nick was asked to remain behind with his gremlins to distract and slow Muramasa's progress...

Terminus 12.8.13 The Grand Finale Part 1!

The No Pants Brigade decided to skirt the outside of the forge to reach the command chair, hoping that there would be fewer Beholders on that path.  We managed to avoid a lot of the enemy movements, but did come across a few Beholders blocking our route.

Meggido and Adah-kah moved in quickly and scored solid hits hits, seperating the Beholders from the less hearty members of the party.  Sardis and Sabriel struggled to connect with their own volleys, but Vallo did connect and used the chance to spur the party on.

A large purple Beholder moved in, managing to bypass Adah-kah and Meggido to advance on Sabriel and Sardis.  Meggido pulled him back, though, as one of the other Beholders temporarily petrified Adah-kah.  Sabriel got a solid shot off, bloodying one of the Beholders.  A cycle began in which the No Pants Brigade would score hits on the Beholders who repeatedly petrified the party.

Eventually the balance shifted, as Adahkah was able to pull the brown Beholder away as Sardis bloodied the purple Beholder.  The Beholders got a final burst of petrification off, but Meggido broke free.

Adah-kah used the opening to kill the brown Beholder and Vallo finished off one of the lesser Beholders.  Unfortunately, one of the Beholders scored a hit on Sabriel that put her on death's door.

The other party members teamed to rush the killing of the purple Beholder and stabalize the fallen Dragonborn.  They managed it, keeping Sabriel from passing away.

The team gathered themselves and readied for the final push.  Not too long later, the No Pants Brigade had reached the antichamber of the Warforged's Council Room.  Inside  the antichamber were three Beholders, one alive and two clearly undead.

Vallo pushed his teammates onward, getting Meggido into a place where the Warforged could pin the Beholders in a corner.  The party made quick work of them, with Sardis and Sabriel quickly crushing the living Beholder and one of the undead.  Adah-kah, slashed through the last remaining.  With a mighty heave, Meggido opened the door to the main chamber.

The Warforged rushed the room and got face to face with a large undead Beholder as Vallo sniped on of the small Beholders.  Behind the team, the three Beholders who had just been defeated rose back up.  They attacked, but Vallo sent one back to the grave as it tried to get at Adah-kah.

A large Beholder radiating an aura of death arrived as the team fought the lesser Beholders.  Vallo quickly showed the new arrival that he was unimpressed bu killing a blue Beholder and wounding a purple Beholder.  The large white Beholder attacked Sabriel, but couldn't put her down.  Adah-kah killed off the purple Beholder that Vallo had previously wounded.

Sardis added his own volley, striking the white Beholder with an acid burst before pushing him away in a booming of thunder.

He tried to move back in and get the last undead Beholder to help him, but Meggido kept it pinned down.  Vallo, Sardis and Sabriel weakened the brown Beholder that had been holding back and Adah-kah struck a killing blow on it. 

Sabriel killed the last of the small Beholders, and she and Meggido wounded the white Beholder.  He tried to retaliate, but the party manage to dodge the full assault.  Adah-kah, dogged in his pursuit, finished off the last of fhe undead Behilders and Sabriel put the killing blow to the white Beholder. 

Adahkah quickly moved to check the next room, spotting the wide hole created by the forced expansion of the Forge Fire.  Meggido, for his part, moved to the Command Chair and sat, immediately becoming linked to the Forge.  He locked the doors of the Forge to restrict the movements of the Beholders.  The Forge Fire began to whine and pulse and as the noise grew, and tge fire expanded, it became apparent something had just come through from the Beholders' world.  It settled back as Meggido continued his mental exploration.

Meggido closed and locked all open doors in the Forge, giving himself tge only passcode.  Meanwhile, Vallo began rebuilding the artifact the team had gathered.  With great care he completed it, prepping the team for their final assault.

Meggido was slightly stymied by not having the top level of clearance, but managed most of what he intended.  The party formed a plan to use Sardis' gateway to teleport closer to the main Forge Fire room as Meggido contacyed the Contruct which made Pseudo-Warforged we had seen months before in the forest.  The Construct agreed to send those empty vessels towards the Forge under orders to obey Meggido and the party and attack the undead and Beholders.

Now done with the Command Chair, Meggido rose and Sardis teleported the team down closer to the Forge Fire room.  The floor below, in the room above the actual Forge Fire, waited Beholders...

The party quickly dropped through and engaged them.  Meggido drew them all together.  A few minor blows were struck before Meggido was petrified and Adah-kah abjured the Beholder.  In response, it managed to lock down most of Adah-kah's skills.  It was enough, though, as Meggido, Sardis and Sabriel landed heavy blows to finish off the ghost.

In response, one of the Beholders tried to push Sabriel into the Forge Fire, but she rolled away, keeping from being burned.  This gave the team an idea and the slowly positioned their foe until Adah-kah could put him in range for Meggido to shove him into the fire.  He burned and the party dropped down another floor...

Leander: Gear Journey

Generally my Scion characters tend to start off with a lot of Birthrights based on the legends of heroes and gods in the same pantheon.  Often this results in a lot of Birthrights named after those figures.  For Leander, this resulted in things such as the Armor of Odysseus, Shield of El Cid, a spear called the Pallas Lonchi.

Other times, failing a similar story, I'll simply rely on translation.  In Leander's case, this ended up as the Taktiki Michani (tactical machine).  Other items, such as the glasses Leander got, have similar naming schemes (Iaptah, in this case).

But as Leander's legend grows it seems appropriate that the items he carries become more about who he is and less about who he was empowered by.  Leander uses his spear as a tool more often than not, using it to signal and gesture.  So as his power grows it's only fitting that it transitions from being named for his mother to being about what it is for Leander.  The best translation to transliterated Greek I can find for this is Tha Strati̱gós Tou, meaning "Strategist's Will."  The spear has become the extension of Leander's ideas and needs and the new name of it reflects the way in which others see it.

Similarly the Iaptah and Taktiki Michani, as well as the lock of illusion-cutting hair and mana-bead of the Atua, will eventually transition.  They'll become the four pieces of a Corinthian-style helmet.  The lock of hair will be the crest of the helm.  The Iaptah (renamed Warrior's Vigilance), will be a clear shield for the opening of the helm.  The Taktiki Michani will become the main piece of the helmet, though still able to become the iPad it once was, and be renamed the Defender's Codex.  The mana-bead will be relatively unchanged, but will sit at the center of the helm's forehead.  My intention is that each of the pieces could still separate and work, but that this Leander's preferred form of wear for them so that he can have quick access to them all.

I think Leander would make it well known that he was not the first to carry the Armor of Odysseus and Shield of El Cid, but would work to make it clear that he carries them and continues to use those names in order to honor the warriors he respects and used as inspirations for his own strategic style.

Hopefully, this will help make it more clear why each of these items are important to Leander's legend while still allowing him to honor his heritage.

Some Musically Inclined Thoughts On Leander

Initially inspired by this post over on John's Scion Resources (which is a GREAT site to check out if you're playing Scion).

In thinking about music for Leander (and by extension Malena), I came up with a few things that would fit him pretty well and provide some insights.  One song that came to mind pretty quickly was AC/DC's Hail Caesar.  The lyrics remind me a lot of the potential intrigue happening behind the scenes for Leander with him being distrusted by Zeus.  After all, he's a piece of Athena... A male piece, which was also born of Zeus.  Which just might make him as much Metis' son as Athena's, and that might make him the son prophesied to overthrow Zeus the way Zeus overthrew his father.  Which Zeus is decidedly against.

Another clear choice for Leander is the Hyperion Overture from StarCraft II (well, more appropriately, from the trailers for StarCraft II).  It nods back to his hobbies and his strategic leanings.  It also has a rather triumphal and mythic feel to it, which is definitely more where Leander leans a lot of the time, given he's been on Olympus or acting as an agent of the Gods for a while.  I also think it has some tragic notes, which probably also fit well with Leander.

Madonna's Like A Virgin is also on the list.  If you've read the interaction between Leander and Malena, this is a fairly self-explanatory selection.

Celldweller's Hyperion fits pretty well, I think, with the battle between the Scions and Fafnir, with segments that match up with the different phases of the fight.  Similarly, Celldweller's Jupiter fits pretty well for those situations in which Leander steps up from the back lines and suddenly puts a lot of damage into someone.  It's rare, but the build in the music seems to fit so well with him suddenly blurring into action.

For Malena and Leander's relationship, I'd use Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's White Sandy Beach of Hawaii.  The lyrics speak of soothing dreams of a loved one, which I think is pretty much where Leander is at in that relationship right now.  I think Malena would probably be amused that I think the song that would work for her is Meredith Brooks' Bitch.  While I don't think of her as a stereotypical "bitch," I think her outspoken and forceful nature could easily get interpreted that way.  And she's rarely regretful or ashamed, but she's also very caring and kind when it's appropriate.

The game's theme song has long been the Russian cover of Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas, so both versions need to rate on this list.

Demigods in the Underworld

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap.

A little retconning to follow up on last session...  Lha-mo has the ring and Nick didn't disappear,as his player was able to come back.  He hit on some Atua, which is as it should be.

When last we saw the Demigods now known as the Hestia, they had been asked to go into two different underworlds at the behest of two very different individuals owed favors by various members of the band.  Nick and  Brock filled in a few more of the details of the task set to them by Kane and the rest of the team discussed how they might need to delay their trip to rescue Agwe's daughter Genevieve.  Leander pointed out that it was likely that they could travel from Yomi to Guinee by finding a large body of water and diving straight down into it.

Ultimately, the band decided they needed to push on to Yomi first and informed Skulldug and the crew of Genevieve's ship that they'd have to stop there first.  They set out, following a compass that would lead them to Guinee until the ship suddenly turned and dove into the water (it's amazing Brock didn't talk about almost being in Pirates of the Caribbean) and emerged into Yomi.  On the horizon, there were several villages, some looking like ancient Japanese fishing towns and others like their more modern counterparts.  The Demigods directed the crew to bring them to one of the more modern ones, in particular looking for one that would have been built near the time that the atomic bombs would have been dropped on Japan.

When the Scions arrived at the village, they were a spectacle, not likely helped by the fact that once they were off the ship it transformed into sand which flowed into a pouch which had appeared on Leander's belt.  Quickly, they were confronted by a dignified ghost which began to yell at them in Japanese.  At first, none of the Hestia could understand them, but their divine heritage helped both William and Nick to learn the language quickly.  They discovered he was telling them that the Demigods don't belong.  Eventually, he stormed off.

Soon thereafter, the band was approached by another individual, younger and more modern.  He spoke to them in English and stated that he was a big fan of Brock's work.  He warned of the Shikome and invited the band to a place where they could discuss how thinks work in Yomi.  Unfortunately, he led us to a shady warehouse and after the band entered, they discovered the people inside were worshipers of Mikaboshi.

They discussed how the traditions of the ghosts of Yomi were keeping them from having a happy afterlife and how the Shikome would ravage them at any provocation, saying that Mikaboshi had promised them release from their pain.  Rivkah, speaking for most of her friends, told them they were fools and the fight was on.  Supernatural darkness flooded the warehouse and the Hestia went to work.  Unfortunately for the Titan-worshipping ghosts, they were rather weak and the Demigods were filled with divine righteousness.  They fell in droves as, outside, a high keening began.

As the Titansworn were routed, the  symbol of Mikaboshi was cracked in two and the darkness faded.  Then it became clear that the Shikome were coming to put down the fight with extreme prejudice.  Thinking quickly, Nick transformed himself into a visage very similar to his own, but with Japanese features.  He directed the Shikome towards the fleeing Titansworn and they passed by the Hestia without incident.

From there, the Demigods scouted the surrounding landscape, spotting the various villages and a large market city, as well as the Poison Sun Ward and Yellow Spring Mountain.  After considering for a moment, the Demigods decided to head to the Yellow Spring Mountain to attempt to gain permission for their mission to the Poison Sun Ward from Inzanami.

After a relatively short journey, the band arrived at the foot of the mountain, to find a great line arrayed before a striking woman, like a giant Shikome of both terrible visage and immense grace.  This, then was the Dark Matron of the Shikome.  Clearly, the line was avoiding approaching her, but when the Hestia voiced their intent to do so, those in the line, muttering about "her mood," pushed them to the front.

Leander hurriedly dredged up all he could recall of Japanese etiquette and briefed the team.  The Hestia decided to make a gift to the Dark Matron and Inzanami a gift of one of the fire-resistance charms they'd had made by Athena.  Nick prepared a speech to convince the Dark Matron of the team's need to head into the Poison Sun Ward.

The discussion went well, overall, because the Dark Matron did not decide to unleash her Shikome upon the Hestia and promises to "forget" that the band had approached her to ask permission.  The Ward was offlimits to all, including the soldiers of Yomi.  Inzanami remained distant.  As the Demigods left, the Dark Matron ordered her Shikome to slaughter the assembled crowd, so as to prevent there being witnesses to her "forgotten" discussion.  It took an act of will for Leander to turn his back on the slaughter.

The Demigods began, from there, the long walk towards the wall around the Poison Sun Ward.  After quite a few hours, including Leander riding Tak-me, they began to approach a large area with an airfield surrounded by military buildings and Edo period fortresses.  The Hestia hunkered down for a moment, to discuss their plan.  It seemed like the military would be unlikely to support their attempts to cross the wall, so instead, the strategy was to steal a WWII era bomber and fly over the wall to face off against the infantile Titan.

As the band discussed, a jeep with several Japanese soldiers emerged from the base travelling down the road toward the markets.  The Demigods emerged from hiding and Nick managed to bluff them into giving him their jeep, which the team turned around and headed towards the airfield.  Rivkah, driving, used her divine speed to breach the perimeter in the blink of an eye and then the Hestia hustled onto the bomber they'd sighted.  Rivkah got it airborne and provided it with the same divine speed enhancement as the jeep.

It was slow taking off, and the alarms of the base went off.  Anti-aircraft fire went off, tearing a hole in the plane as Leander gathered parachutes and switched his glasses to detecting radiation.  And then the team was over the wall and gazing down onto the poisoned streets of the Ward.

Terminus 9.29.13

In the morning, the No Pants Brigade and the Nekhanj prepared to set out, with the Nekhanj speaking of clearing the entrance to the tunnels that would lead them south and the fact that it would take them a couple of weeks.  While the discussion was going on, the group received an SOS call from Gronton, whom they hadn't seen in quite some time.

The stalwart Minotaur sailor had been scouting along the coast of Celton along with other concerned captains from the nearby area and had seen the undead make attempted crossings to Brenna.  Most of these had been foiled by the coastal towns on the mainland, with the added aid of captains who managed to end sea travel to the island nation, depriving the undead of their source of ships.  But things had changed.

The dragon Krathnaraz had joined the fight, bringing flying undead and their Beholder allies to attack the coastal defenses from the air.  This had decimated these defenses, leaving the coast more open for an attack.  Meanwhile, scouting ships had discovered that there was a new invasion fleet, massive and full of undead, prepping,  The undead had built crude but large rafts which were being towed by Beholders and loaded them with hundreds of undead soldiers.  Soon, it seemed, these undead would sail to the mainland, which was now unready to repel them.

One of the last bastions of defense was the town of Polenta, which is where Gronton was asking for aid to come.  The party decided that they'd have to separate from the Nekhanj to get their in time and made preparations to do so.  Once the threat at Polenta was solved, their intention would be to push onto Celton and make for the Forge, to close the gateway which allowed the Beholders to cross into their world.

Vallo summoned flying boars and the party set out, flying rather uneventfully to Polenta.  But that changed once they neared the town.  Quickly it was apparent that the town was under attack.  An immense white dragon had landed on the docks and was rampaging through the town's defenders. Using the boars, the party got in fairly close before launching their assault.

Meggido moved in first, pulling the dragon towards himself and then Adah-kah unloaded with divine wrath, rocking the dragon.  Sardis and Sabriel followed up with theirown powerful attacks, getting the No Pants Brigade off to a good start.  Adah-kah hammered the dragon again with a critical strike, but that's when things started to go downhill.

Krathnaraz began to use his draconic power to stun the party, then dealing massive amounts of damage.  The party was able to get a few more hits in this period, but eventually the dragon put Adah-kah on death's door.  Vallo delivered timely healing, though, and got the Nekhanj back on his feet.  Once more, the party began to trade even blows with the dragon, though Krathnaraz was able to hurt Meggido more than the Warforged had been hurt in quite some time.

Still, the party appeared to have the upper hand and Krathnaraz made ready to escape.  Unfortunately, for him, the No Pants Brigade had other plans, and put him down before he could get airborne.  Upon a quick inspection, though, they discovered that one of his heel spurs was missing, likely taken by Samuria so that she could resurrect her ally should he fall.

The party moved on to another town, hoping to at least delay Samuria's discovery that they'd re-entered the fight against her and her undead forces.  Once there, the party notified Gronton of their location and asked him to come and meet us.  He came, and learned of recent events, including the plans of the Nekhanj.  In return, he gave the party the information he'd gathered in his time scouting, including the fact that undead have begun to count fallen Beholders amongst their number.  That gave the party something to think on as they prepared for their journey to Celton to find the Forge.

Last Recap.  Other posts on Terminus.

Scions in the Dragons Den!

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap.

In his rage at Reggie having "turned traitor" by coming to his senses and talking to his half-sister and the band, Fafnir dove at Reggie.  As he did, his body contorted, transforming into an enormous sabertooth tiger.  Reggie tried to pin him down, but Fafnir transformed into a hawk, soaring upwards and then further transformed into a large ape which began plummeting back towards the team.

Brock, acting with divine swiftness, put a shot into the Fafnir-ape, but it was apparently unharmed and smashed down into the ledge on which Rivkah and Reggie were perched.  Rivkah shoved her half-brother out of the way and the obsidian platform splintered under Fafnir's impact.

Quickly, Leander directed his team in their assault, but Fafnir was ready for that, summoning up damned souls to harry the Scion of Athena, as well as Nick.  The spirits attacking Leander coordinated their own attack, closing in on Leander, but he leapt up, doing a flip and landing on the wall, sticking there in a trick his divine essence had picked up from spider-bitch upon his apotheosis.

Below, enraged by the assault on his new companions and the torment he'd suffered at the hands of the Titans, Reggie spasmed, his body ripping and changing until he was a hulking beast of rage.  His focus, his white hot fury, fell on Fafnir.  Fafnir shrugged off the first assault, and transformed into an immense scorpion, threatening Reggie with a wicked stinger.

Brock, having watched Leander's new trick, did his own leaping flip and at it's apex shot Fafnir with pure sunlight.  Which is when the team discovered something about the dark elf-dragon-shapeshifter: he has an intense weakness to sunlight!

Leander followed up on Brock's assault, ignoring the spirits and darting along the wall to attack Fafnir.  With an electrified spear, he stabbed into the scorpion-dragon and in a moment of divine provenance, staggered the beast.  Lha-mo crashed in behind him, stabbing Fafnir with icy claws and further rocking the servant of the Titans.  Fafnir transformed again, seeking to rise above the swarming Demigods, but the new Roc-form of Fafnir was latched onto by William, who dragged at it, giving Rivkah an opening to smash her hand through the lava and into Fafnir's face.

Once more the spirits sought to put an assault onto Leander, but he evaded them by jumping onto the back of the plummeting Roc-Fafnir.  As he descended on the grappled beast, he saluted the ghosts with his spear, spurring their howls of fury.  The added weight pushed Fafnir down faster, allowing Raging Reggie to leap up and smash into Fafnir.  Leander hurtled out of the way and William rode out the blow.

For his part, Brock took aim again and with a quick "I'm going to pluck your feathers" but another blast of sunlight into the dark elf lord.  A moment later, Leander called out new orders, including a distraction for the spirits chasing him.  Rivkah obliged the attack by smashing Fafnir into the nearest wall.  Lha-mo followed by sinking her claws into his guts and causing ice to erupt from inside him.  Finally overwhelmed, Fafnir collapses.  From his corpse drop several items, including a ring.

Rivkah, drawn by the ring went to scoop it up, but Leander's warning cry stopped her in her tracks.  And then everyone remembered the other problem.  Still in the grips of Riastradh, Reggie had new targets to smash.  He advanced on the Demigods, who scattered.

William, though, had a good plan and smashed Pele's prison, which had fallen from Fafnir.  Fully powered and aware again, Pele stopped Reggie in his tracks and thanked the band for their efforts.  As she spoke with the team, and mentioned the dangers of the ring, she and everyone else realized that the ring had vanished... And so had Nick!

It would have to be a problem for another time, though, as no one had a way to track him that seemed effective.  Instead, Pele invited the new Demigods to a party in the Atua godrealm.  Along the way, the band divvied up the loot they'd gained from Fafnir.  Leander took a lock of white hair that allowed him to see through illusions and braided it around the rims of the glasses he'd obtained earlier.

At the luau, the band were granted mana beads which made them honorary members of the Atua pantheon.  The feasting, dancing, and general partying went on for several days, with a few members of the band making intimate friends with godlings of the Atua.  But all things must end in time, and when the band returned to the mortal realm, they were met by a messenger from Agwe, who asked them to retrieve his daughter from the underworld.  Which was interrupted by Kane charging Brock to go and kill a nascent-Titan of radioactivity that was forming in the Titanrealms which mirrored Japan.  There was no more time to waste...

Scions in a Brawl

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap. (This has been a little while coming. Work's been crazy and I've got another project, so apologies on the recent silence.)

Crashing down through the caldera, Reggie landed, locking eyes with Rivkah and trying to glare her into submission.  After a moment, he pounded down on the obsidian platform he was on, sending a huge chunk at the party.

Fortunately, it was mostly a distraction and failed to phase the band in the least.  They mostly rolled around it, resuming their ready positions.  Reggie, undaunted, charge at Rivkah, who readied herself for the attack but was slammed backwards.

High above, something about the nexk of the arachnae spawn glittered.  It appeared to be a golden torc, of a norse style, which probably protected her from the flames.

Brock was the first to join the fight for the band and took a shot at Reggie, who shrugged it off easily.  From there things began to happen with intense suddenness.

The spider-bitch tried to web Leander's protective amulet, but he brought the Shield of El Cid to bear and thwarted her. She dropped the web before he could try to use it against her.  

Lha-mo roared and pounded into the golem, dealing it a vicious blow that tore it in two, but it called upon it's Titanic blood to stitch itself back together.

William and Leander, defending Pele, readied themselves for combat, exerting their divine ichor to ready their minds and bodies.  Meanwhile, Reggie grappeled with Rivkah, who chose to try and talk him down rather than fight him.  For a moment, he seemed to hear her, but continued in his assault.  Brock, not far away, prepared to shoot spider-bitch.

The golem leaped toward Lha-mo, smashing into the yeti and pushing her back, but not dealing solid damage.  The spider-chick did her own leap, arcing down at Leander as Brock shot the fire-protection torc from her neck.  She caught it and slammed down into what she thought would be Leander, but Brock had used his divine reflexes and speed to shove his teammate out of the way and they smashed through their platform and into the lava below.

Leander, though worried for Brock, forced his focus onto the golem and directed Lha-mo, Tak-me, and William to hit it together.  Lha-mo closed in, driving icy claws deep into the golem's head and search for the relic which protected it from the fire.  The yak pinned the golem down so it couldn't escape the attack.  Leander lept overtop of them and put his spear into the golem, but not pushing it away or dealing severe damage.  William, though, was the big winner.  He tore a leg from the golem, and the  golem's relic tumbled free.  In an instant it hardened and died from the intense heat of the volcano.

Elsewhere, Brock did his own tearing, ripping the torc from the hands of spider-bitch and shoving her further into the lava.  She died flailing.  Rivkah, for her part, continued desperately trying to calm Reggie and break him from his brainwashing.  He slowed, talking to the band and revealing that he didn't have Pele's spirit, but "my master does."

Before the group could ask who that was, a powerful dark elf appeared, with long silver hair and a disdainful gaze.  He seems ready to move in on Reggie and the band, but another figure appears.  It's quickly revealed that it is Hestia, come to slow the onslaught of Muspelheim.  As Fafnir pushes past her, she stabs a dagger deep into herself, dying to empower the band.  As Fafnir looks on, their power is pushed to new heights and they ascend to Demigodhood!

And then it's dragon time...

Scions in the Heat

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap.

The team emerged from Agwe's realm into a voudoun shop in San Francisco.  The shop was mostly empty, which was odd as it was during the day, but it was quickly clear that that wasn't the only oddity.  Outside the sky was alight with a bright orange glow.  As the Scions stepped into the street, they discovered that through that bright orange sky flew enormous Stymphalian birds, chased by Valkyries on Valkyrie Horses.  It was a pretty clear sign that even in the short time the team had been in Atlantis, things had gone from bad to worse.  Leander, having formed a connection to the shield of El Cid in the  sunken city, found that it had emerged for him and carried it at the ready.  William carried the prone form of Pele.

After a quick discussion of our options for getting to Hawaii, we settled on sailing there and headed towards the wharves.  Along the way, we encountered the forces of Muspelheim fought by the soldiers of the gods.  Myrmidons, Einherjar, and Spartoi pushed the fire giants through the streets of San Francisco.  The human citizens were not in evidence.  When we reached the wharves, we finally found signs of human life.  There were huge media gatherings all along the waterfront... Facing down gods carefully crafting stories which would convince the mortals that all of this was not as supernatural as it seemed.  Among them could be see Hermes and Baldur.  Further back, in what appeared to be a military area, Ares stalked and Athena issued orders.

As the Scions scanned the scene, they spied an old pirate ship docked at the far end of a pier.  As we gazed at it, a skeletal crewman of the ship pointed to us and beckoned us on.  Needing a ship and feeling this was a likely connection, we hurried on.  As we reached it, the skeletal crew introduced themselves and explained that they had been sent on to help us reach Hawaii.  Around this time, Leander slipped on the sunglasses he'd been carrying since taking them off the Titansworn Scion of Ganesha.  He was rewarded with health readouts and pantheon information about his teammates and the others he could see.  After a little more conversation, the team set out.

As they discussed the state of Hawaii while sailing, the team realized that they needed something to protect them from the intense heat of Muspelheim enveloping the islands.  They recalled that they had the essences of the fire hounds from when they were still on the mountains near Lha-mo's monastery.  They debated what god they could trust to ask for help in creating such a defense and eventually, they settled on asking Athena.  Leander spoke to her through the shield and she chewed him out for not having prepared the trinkets earlier.  She did, however, send several owl messengers with the defenses the team needed.

And moments after that, the ship was rocked by the force of a great whirlpool.  Worse, the whirlpool displayed  a great deal of health on Leander's new heads-up-display.  It was Charybdis, attacking the boat after apparently having sided with the Titans.  The glasses reminded Leander that Charybdis was part of his own pantheon, as well, a goddess transformed into a beast.  The ship's crew and the Scions fought to escape the pull of Charybdis, with Leander suggesting that they might have to wait until the former goddess belched up the water she'd taken in if they were caught, but ultimately they were swallowed despite their attempts.

Within Charybdis, they discovered a graveyard of swallowed ships, including a US Navy battleship, clearly recently swallowed.  The pirate ship sailed toward it and the Scions called out to its crew.  The crew answered but quickly retreated after voicing fears of "the things in here."  Which, on cue, seemed to summon the beasts.  They looked like a horrific cross between infants, goblins, and lampreys, which was a clear sign of why the battleship crew was afraid.  They leapt aboard the ship and the skeleton crew retreated within the ship.  William put Pele down and Leander stood guard over her.  Lha-mo flexed her mighty claws and the Scions set to work.  William smashed one of the lamprey-goblin-men into the deck and off the ship.

Brock fired into the advancing pack and picked off another of them.  Lha-mo shredded and froze one of the beasts.  Which was fortunate as we discovered they had acid blood.  William pushed into the group, grappling and then strangling one after another.  Leander stayed on the defense, giving direction to his teammates and the battle ended swiftly and decisively.  The Scions crossed to the battleship, looking for the crew in the hopes that one of them might be able to help them arm the ballistic missiles they'd captured when they'd fought the kraken.

When they knocked and proved that they weren't lamprey-men, the discovered that the crew had been wittled down to only a handful of members and the technician who could have likely armed the missiles had been gravely injured.  The Scions descended to the bunks on the ship.  Rivkah helped him by placing her "brass" knuckles on him and having him punch her.  He healed, though was left with horrific scars.  After a few disoriented moments, he agreed to help us and we set out towards the deck of the ship and the pilfered missiles.

But there were worse things in the belly of Charybdis.  The fire giants had arrived and were circling the missiles.  The crewman darted to the missile and William put Pele near him.  Once more, Leander took up the guard.   William, for his part, moved in and grappled one of the lead giants.  It would later turn out to be not the best decision.

Lha-mo waded into the fray with her icy claws, scoring heavy hits to the giants she faced.  Rivkah hurled mighty blows and the giants were hard pressed to advance on Leander or those he defended.  Brock fought the fire with the sun, wittily telling the giants it was "lights out."  The giants were slowly isolated and defeated.  Leander charged one and struck it with his spear, but his blow was shrugged off.  The giant decided to move in for the kill, but Lha-mo froze his head and the battle was won.  The missile was armed and hurled by Rivkah at the far end of Charybdis' body.

Its explosion blew the goddess-monster open, allowing an escape for the Scions, skeleton crew, and Navy crewmen.  And an immense swarm of Charybdis' brood, all tagged by the glasses as of the Dodekatheon bloodline, now that it had scanned them more frequently.  It would have to be a fight for another day, though, as the Scions had to press on to Hawaii.

Once there, they raced to the volcano and descended.  As they scanned for defenses, three became readily apparent one at a time.  Reggie, still corrupted, descended from the sky.  Down one wall came climbing the Spawn of Arachnae.  And through another wall emerged the mud golem.  The fight was on.

Contemplation

Adah-kah sat silently above the vast basin which had once been a great pool of water.  The hood of his cloak, so often worn up to hide his features in shadow, was thrown back and his legs dangled over the edge. Below, other Nekhanj milled about, regaining their strength and agility after years in stasis.  Many of them were nude, having entered stasis that way and not yet having gathered clothes.  The nudity didn’t bother him so much, he knew what the anatomy of his race was and he’d had years to practice an understanding of separating sexual urges from his moment-to-moment motivations.

Still, he was disquieted.  For a decade and a half he’d been alone.  His race a mystery and illusion, Adah-kah himself the only representative most of the people he’d met had known.  He felt more brotherhood for the other members of Ioun’s religion than for the Nekhanj around him.  I’m not sure what I imagined.  Did I think I’d be connected to them?

The luminescence above the cavern twinkled and flickered, almost like near stars.  Adah-kah stared out into the dusky light.  Did they think they’d be connected to me?

It was an uncomfortable thought.  Like his companions, he was generally thought to be the last of his race.  And in proving that untrue, Metkin had named him “chosen” and “waited for.”  He was a key figure to a race he’d never known.  Their culture had very little to do with his.  And does it have any semblance to what Nekhanj culture had been before?  These warriors who trained over and over to fight an enemy they’d never seen?  Who are, as a rule, little older than me?  What will they do when the fight is won?

Glancing down at his hands, Adah-kah sighed.  Will they look to me to lead?  Am I ready to surrender my studies now that I’ve found their goal, the people who I’d searched for?  And if they turn once more to conquest?

Below, some of the Nekhanj saluted him and moved to climb out of the basin. I would be forced to fight them.  The world has suffered enough war.  It’s time for peace, even if it cannot last.  Regardless of all else, that I know.

Resolve returned, he sat once more in silence, meditating on the questions he’d confronted himself with.  He sat there until someone came to retrieve him.

Related Recap.  Other posts on Terminus.

Terminus 8.18.14

The night for the No Pants Brigade began at the campfire we'd set on the paths shown to us by the dragon at the end of last session.  While we were there, Meggido was visited by the Watcher and when he woke he told the rest of the party a bit about what happened in the vision.  We waited a bit longer before setting out again.

As we descended into the desert, we ran across a group of sand elementals, which threatened to impede our progress.  Vallo launched a good initial assault, putting the elementals on the ropes quickly.  Meggido followed up by knocking one of the elementals prone, where it proceeded to throw a temper tantrum.  The party and elementals traded shots for a few moments, before the party began to gain the upper hand for good.  In among that chaos, the elementals tried to shove Meggido around, but he made like a dwarf and was unmoved.  A few more strong blows and the party came out the winners.

The party briefly rested before another elemental arrived to disturb us.  Unfortunately for him, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn and that left him wide open to the party's onslaught, in which we basically beat him to a pulp.  Sensing that perhaps this desert trek wasn't working out, we set out again.

After a short time on our flying boars, we came across a circular stone cone surrounded by enormous statues representing the  five races of the party: Dragonborn, Nekhanj, Githyanki, Skeshuni, and Warforged.  We inspected the statues and pyramid-structure for a bit, with Adah-kah being able to identify that it had seems that faced each of the statues.  Once the party stood under the statues, they became animate, revealing themselves as constructs.  The moved, pulling the cone open and revealing an elevator.

We rode the elevator down to a room with what appeared to be an organic pod, a stone pillar, and beneath the pod was a pool of clear water.  Not wanting to rush into potential danger, the party searched the room.  Upon the pillar there was an imprint of an Nekhanj hand, so after the search was complete, Adah-Kah placed his hand upon it and the pod began to soak in the water from the pool.

After a few moments, it opened to reveal a naked female Nakhanj, who looked like she was a bit undernourished, but not terribly different in age than Adah-kah.  When Adah-kah questioned her, she  revealed her name was Metkin.  Adah-kah offered her food as Sardis offered her a smelly yeti pelt and Vallo produced fancy clothes he'd obtained earlier in our adventures.  Metkin took the clothes and some of the food before suggesting we move downstairs.

We went with her down another elevator, activated by Metkin saying "down" in deepspeech.  When we descended, we arrived in a room with a couch, a small changing area and a series of elevators which led further down.  Everyone shared more of the food.  Metkin offered that everyone could sit, but only Adah-kah did.  Metkin dressed and returned.  She then suggested that Adah-kah would be awakening the entire Nekhanj race.  He was shocked to discover that they were here.  Metkin explained that this place was built for "everyone" but mainly for the Nekhanj.

Metkin further revealed that the Nekhanj's piece of the linkage is here and Vallo gave her a 30 minute history lesson.  Metkin now explained that Adah-kah's blood, and her own, would be what awakens other Nekhanj.  Once more, Metkin told the elevator "down" and the group descended into a great hive, which was similar to the hive we'd visited before.  We descended for a very long time, eventually emerging into a huge cavern.  Metkin explained that here were housed 10 generations of Nekhanj warriors.

The pedastal from above was duplicated here with two hand prints.  Metkin explained that the caverns here stretched to the southern seas.  There, she said, waited boats which would allow the Nekhanj sail to Celton to combat the beholders there, as had been prophesied.  She shared more of the history she knew, explaining that the Warforged had chosen to shut themselves down to buy the other races time to shut down the link between the Forge and another plane which had allowed the Beholders to break through into our world.

That link had been discovered to suck the life from the other plane and the Beholders had widened it to emerge into the Forge.  Caught unawares, the Warforged were being overrun.  They attempted to recall their race to add to the defense, but they couldn't all make it back in order to establish their defense.  As a result they shut down the Forge.  At this point, Metkin and Adah-kah agreed to put their hands on the pillar to awaken the Nekhanj.

Hundreds, thousands of pods descended into pools of clear water.  The Nekhanj within revived, revealing many young, powerful specimines of the race.  Adah-kah asked Metkin, recovering from the draining experience, what had happened to his mother.  As he'd suspected, she'd died after leaving him.  Meggido remained untrusting of the word of Metkin about the Warforged's decision.  Metkin confirmed, also, that the Nekhanj here held Vallo, and his race, no ill-will, being focused instead on the extra-planar threat.

Last Recap.  Other posts on Terminus.

Pistol Shrimp Interlude

Leander pushed hard at the ground, feeling his muscles protest over the damage that had been done to them by the supersonic blast of the nemean pistol shrimp. 

Not my finest moment.

He glanced around, examining the damaged Atlantean building he’d sought cover in.  In one corner, nestled in the hands of a skeleton clad in medieval armor, he spied it.  It shone at him, gilt dragon adorning it seeming to twist and turn stare at him.  He scrambled towards it, calling out to his teammates to continue their assault.

He gripped it, pulling it from the hands of the corpse thoughtlessly.  More details sprung out at him.  An image of the sun.  Red and white patterns chasing down the edges.  And an owl, nestled at the apex of the central point of the shield.  For an instant, his eyes caught on it.  And then he plunged into it.

Time stretched out as the owl spoke.  “Son of Battle, Mind-born, and child mine.  In times long past, I had another son who could claim rights to titles very similar to those, though he was adopted from a far land.  El Cid, they called him.  The Lord.  El Campeador.  The Champion.

He had a battle-prowess unmatched, and while he fought for a Christian cause, he was well-respected by the Muslims.  And beloved by the Gods.

He carried this shield, and it rewarded him for his battle-wisdom, allowing him to turn mortal wounds into mundane harms and to turn assaults aside with deft prowess.  He took aside his men before each battle and sought their insight and wisdom to add to his own and taught them all the lessons of my chosen.  For many years, he warred and was undefeated, gaining ever higher heights.  And then he passed on into legend.

His son, himself imbued with divine essence had died.  And little was left for El Cid.  And so he departed.  His shield was given to his wife and was taken by the Muslims who removed her from her reign.  One of their number carried it with him for he was a Scion of the Gods, as well.  His journeys brought him here.

And he was laid low, for none may claim the protection of my child’s shield without my blessing.  He died here and none of his companions could take the shield from his grasp, for I would not allow it to be.

It was El Cid’s.  Now it is yours.  You cannot carry it from this place, for I would not have our enemies know it has returned to the field of battle.  But when the time is right, it shall find your hand.  You shall strike them down.”

Leander blinked, at heard the sounds of combat resume.  It seemed as if only an instant had passed though he was sure his reverie had been minutes long.  He dropped the shield, gilt once more buried in a layer of silt and grime.  Pushing off, he emerged into battle once more, striking out with spear and command.  Unconsciously, he maintained space around his free arm, as if compensating the presence of a shield…

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Related recap.

Scions Under the Sea!

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap.

It was mere moments, before the standoff between the nemean Pistol Shrimp and the Scions ended and the shrimp attacked.  Their first volley was mostly ineffective, but Leander couldn't get away and was seriously wounded by the blast of superheated water and sonic waves.  The Scions scattered, and Leander cried out instructions to his teammates who closed to melee range with the shrimp, trying to negate or mitigate the deadly sonic claw attacks of the shrimp.

William ducked into a building, to prepare and after a moment, Leander followed suit.  The others put punches and shots into the shrimp, but did only superficial damage.  Leander ordered another coordinated assault on the nemean beast who'd shot him.  William emerged and joined the assault, wrapping his scarf around one of the shrimp's arms and giving the team it's first winning tactic: using the shrimp's mighty attacks on one another.

Leander returned to the fight, but the light of his spear's eletrical charge gave away his attempt to sneak back into range and the shrimp re-focused on him.  Meanwhile, one of the shrimp was downed by Lha-mo and William and they ripped the claw arm off of it.

On the other edge of the fight, Brock mounted and rode another of the shrimp.  William turned the claw on an incoming shrimp and blew it's head off, while Leander closed and shoved his lightning augmented spear into the mouth of an angry shrimp, electrifying it, but not downing it.  The torn-off claw had been hard to work so far, but William bit the bullet and shoved his hand up inside it, experimenting to see if he could use it more effectively.  The shrimp fell quickly after that and the Scions set out again towards the center of the Atlantean city.

As they approached the area, they were able to make at that the circle in the middle of the city was a pit bridged by a collapsed keep.  Within, William could sense a mighty aura of death and chaos, giving him paush.  Worse, when Lha-mo tried to make out what William could feel, she was struck by it and passed out.  She was tormented by terrible nightmares, which seemed to be hinting that one of the Titans was closely linked to this place.  Worse, the group was sure that Kane Taoka was down there.

William pushed forward first, and after waking Lha-mo, the rest of the team tentatively pushed forward, as well.  They came upon a large pit, with a glimmering hint of light further down in it.  As a result, the team passed into the dark passage and were drawn into differing experiences.

In her dreams Rivkah ate her cousin Ben, when forced to choose between him and her mother.  She found that he was delicious.  In his dreams, the cycle of ages bore down on William and he chose to let this age end so that the cycle could continue.  Brock was faced with the choice of shooting his daughter or forcing her to shoot him, but he decided not to play that game.  He waited for her to choose, sitting frozen in the dark despair that pushed at the Scions.  Nick was offered the choice of being rich, alone and divine, or poor, loved, and mortal.  He chose to be the lonely rich Scion.  Lha-mo was tormented by visions of accepting her Titan nature.  Alone among them, Leander was unaffected.  He pushed further into the pit.

The others slowly awakened from their torment and joined him.  There, they found Kane standing over the avatar of the goddess Pele, clearly readying to strike her down.  The Scions charged into action.  Rivkah dove between Kane and Pele, hoping her stony body could defend her.  Kane, confronted with the party demanding he step down, began to try and talk to the party into allowing him to kill Pele.  It was the only sure way, he argued, to be sure the servants of Muspelheim would fail.  Leander and Brock quickly reiterated their intent to hold to their oaths and protect Pele.

Nick and William considered Kane's points, but mostly, they remained unconvinced.  Sensing an impasse, Brock offered up a favor to Kane.  After some haggling, during which time the party noticed Pele sinking and quickly moved to hold her in place, Brock gained the concession that the favor would not harm the Band nor occcur until a month had passed.  In response, Kane summoned a shinobi lawyer, who bore a contract which was quickly edited to match the deal.

William determined that Kane was stalling and the party readied themselves to attack.  Brock signed, though and Kane held to his word, allowing the Band to push Pele safely from the Well of Tartarus.  They swam with her to the place where they'd killed the Kraken and prayed to Agwe.  There, a damaged Nazi U-boat arrived and the zombified crew announced that it would take them to Agwe.  They were true to their wood and the team was delivered to where they'd entered the ocean.

After some discussion, Agwe healed the party and suggested that they needed to take Pele's avatar back to Hawaii, which the Band decided they needed to do much as it worried them.  They gathered themselves and set out.

Scions in the Ocean!

Other posts on Scion and Leander.  Last recap.

The team, having won out over the Scion of Ganesha and determined that they needed to head to Atlantis, began a discussion of their next step.  Using a submarine or trying to swim to Atlantis were quickly ruled out, which left the best option as approaching a god for aid.

There was some debate as to who might be the best option for the task of helping the Scions reach Atlantis.  The group was certain that a god of sea or a psychopomp would be best, but were less sure of their options.

Rivkah said she could theoretically call upon Thor or Odin, but neither had strong ties to the area or the ocean in general.  Leander felt the animosity between Athena and Posiedon might make a deal with that god more difficult.  The group, however hit on the idea of communicating with the Loa god Agwe because of the likelihood that Atlantis was the cause of recent Carribean disturbances.

The team set out to find a church of the Loa in Los Angeles, starting with simplest methods first and grabbing a phone book.  While the first place didn't work out, the proprietor was able to point the band to an actual place of worship.

He did and the Band got there quickly, but with a quick stop at Trader Joe's (for champagne, a savory meal, and toy boat) and a liquor store (for rum) at Leander's quickly Googled suggestion.  At the Lia church, Leander told the proprietor they needed to speak to Agwe, but the mortal wasn't clued-in and didn't take it literally.  The group convinced him to perform a ceremony during which the mortal was taken over by Agwe.

After making their offerings and negotiating a bit, Agwe transported the Scions to his realm.  There negotiations continued, ending with the band agreeing to perform a task within the next year and a day, but not before rescuing or eliminating Pele.  Agwe provided the Scions with armbands with his veve on them and led them to a doorway into the sea.

Anglerfish formed a lighted pathway to a "landing pad" area where three very large sharks swam in lazy circles.  The sharks allowed the Scions to latch on to them for transport to Atlantis.  Several members of the group activated abilities which let them see in the dark, including Leander looking into the electromagnetic spectrum.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for him, or them, to stop huge tentacles from gripping the shark Leander rode and devouring it.  The Scions found themselves quickly sharkless and facing down a young kraken.

The team leapt into action, managing to mostly beat the kraken to the punch.  Unfortunately, krakens are kind of hard to injure.  Watching the chaos, Leander directed his teammates to work together on the nominal "head" of the beast.  While a few of the Scions could see the kraken, it took some quick thinking on Nick's part to get everyone into the fight.  He used his illusion powers to create an image of the kraken in everyone's mind (though he also made it look like he was single-handedly decimating it), and that gave everyone the ability to join in the assault.

Leander joined the assault by calling lightning down through the ocean to his spear, which had the unfortunate side-effect of making him the priority target for the kraken.  A pair of the beast's attacks weakened the child of Athena, but the Scions struck back quickly, with William, Rivkah, Brock, Nick, and Lha-mo scoring solid hits.  Leander danced back out of range, but continued to direct his teammates.  Lha-mo's yak also joined the fight, which seemed to finally turn the tide.

In the end, everyone moved in close on the kraken, which tried to grapple everyone.  It scored hits on a few individuals, including Rivkah, but Leander used his spear to propel himself down the kraken's body.  William was swallowed and Rivkah considered allowing the same to happen, but ultimately the sea monster lost out and the Scions continued further on towards Lha-mo's impression of Kane.  Which is when they found an enormous bio-luminescent city.  As they settled down onto one of the streets, they had a moment to look around before hearing a loud clicking and several nemean pistol shrimp emerged.  Which is this week's cliff-hanger.

Terminus 7.21.13

Other posts on Terminus.  Last Recap.

The party slept in the relative safety of the artifact chamber and then decided to head back to the surface to hunt down Karus' Ent.  The party decided that the route back to the surface should be the one they'd entered through, choosing to ignore the arboleth hole.

At the entrance, the No Pants Brigade found that a weathered but solid wall had been erected across the open wall of the building.  As they approached it to determine a method of egress, it fell on them, revealing it was actually a transformed rock golem.

The party was hurt a bit by the surprise attack, but quickly rallied.  Vallo called his punishing eye and Adah-Kah shoved the golem through his lesser golem sidekicks, knocking them all over.  Meggido and Adah-Kah closed in on the big golem as the rest of the team decimated the minons.

The golem fell quickly, though not without having taken some serious damage as the golem collapsed on them again.  They took a break to tend their wounds and Vallo summoned a wilderness guide and asked it to lead us to the Ent's grove.  The party mounted their summoned boars and set out.  On the ride, though, both Vallo and Adah-kah were visited by the Watcher.  When they awoke, they shared a bit of what they'd seen and the party returned to hunting Karus' Ent.

The group was led to the grove and found the Ent, who didn't respond initially.  it looked old and nearly dead, but was clearly still a threat.  The party prepared itself and the fight was on.  Vallo gavr Adah-kah an enchantment to set his sword aflame, which Adah-kah was happy to accept.

Everyone sprang into action, scoring quick hits on the Ent.  For his part, Adah-kah stabbed the tree with fire in the face. TWICE.

The Ent tried to strike back, attacking everyone at once but it only managed to hit Sardis and Vallo.  It followed that up by starting to grab partymembers, especially Meggido and Adah-kah.  Unfortunately for the Ent, the party was happy to stay close and use the firey weapons they carried to set the Ent alight and finish it off.  As it burned, it revealed a semi-fetal Dryad-lich, Karus, who also died in the fire.

Taking a moment to assess the situation, the party discovered that Sabriel's sense pointed us at the desert.  They discussed going over the mountains or through the abandoned dwarven tunnels.

Terminus 6.24.13

Other posts on Terminus.  Last Recap.

Now that Karus was gone, the party set to searching his command post for access to the area we needed to go to.  After a little searching by Adah-kah, we spotted an area filled with junk that Sardis recalled might hide the stair down.  Under the direction of Vallo and Adah-kah, Sabriel and Meggido dug into the trash pile, revealing the stairs under the junk.  We set out to descend.

Going further down into the building for a while, we ended up at the entrance to a vertical tube which let out into a domed room below.  Sardis briefly wanted Adah-kah to go through first, but Meggido claimed the most dangerous position.  Vallo helped the party exit the tube into the room when the dome's current inhabitants noticed Meggido and prepared to attack.  They turned out to be arboleths, who tried to go insubstantial and dominate the party.  They sort of succeeded but only sort of at the insubstantial part.  The party beat them down and took a moment to gather themselves.

From the dome, we found a door way and went down a long passage where there was fancy art and jewels on the way.  Clearly, this was leading to something important to the Skeshuni, and the party was curious.  Unfortunately, what it led to was a wall that had been dug in and what appeared to be a treasury that was now a nursery for the arboleths and filled with hatchlings and arboleth-snot-monsters.  Which meant it was time for a fight.

The No Pants Brigade set to killing the hatchlings and snot-monsters, which fell fairly quickly, especially to the area effect attacks of Sabriel and Sardis.  Adah-kah and Meggido pushed into the center of the room and the mother arboleth appeared in the hall behind the party, particularly Vallo and Sardis.

As Sardis retreated, Vallo got dominated by the mom.  He took a swing at Sardis, but not much came of it.  The rest of the snots and hatchlings were pushed to their limits, so Adah-kah turned to attack the mother arboleth.  He sprinted to it mightily, but missed his attack.  In the meantime, Vallo got free.  The last of the hatchlings and snots died at this point, which was good, but then Adah-kah got dominated after attacking the mom but missing because he was dazed, which was bad.

The Arboleth, positioned as it was, couldn't make Adah-kah attack the party, so it sent him around the corner and sought to dominate Meggido, which it succeeded in, but the battle was on it's downswing.  Adah-kah tried again to attack the arboleth, but missed.  Fortunately, though, Vallo and Sabriel had no such issue and we won eventually.  As we counted the money in the room and looked around, we spotted a golden seal upon the roof.

Sardis and then Adah-kah swam up to inspect it.  It really was gold and there were five knobs upon the seal which had symbols which corresponded to the five races of the party and council.  Pushing at the knobs, we opened the seal, but it only opened a little.  Sardis went into the small hole and swam up to a chamber like the ones we'd seen before when finding the Linkage and the Base.  There, Sardis found the Receptacle, which looked like a metallic-glass cylinder and series of increasingly sized glass orbs.  Sardis brought the party up to the room and they settled in to rest.  Sardis passed out pieces of the receptacle to the party, but Adah-kah refused to take some and Sardis questioned his faith.

An Exercise Completed

A while back, I wrote a piece on how I would make myself in a game using Fate Core.  It took me a while, but I finally put together a cover photo based on that.  At the moment, it lacks the stunts, because I found not having them felt "tidier" but I reserve the right to change my mind again!

Kickstarting: Lords of Gossamer and Shadow

A couple of days ago, I read an excellent post by Rob Donaghue on Google+, talking about the Kickstarter for an RPG called Lords of Gossamer and Shadow. He described it as a successor to Amber Diceless RPG, which was intriguing to me.

I never played Amber Diceless, but I've heard lots about it and know, like Rob Donaghue said, that it has a strong community that has kept it afloat despite the licensing of the setting being muddy and no new official content being produced. I've also read the Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny on which Amber Diceless was based, and I loved those books. So I headed over to the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow Kickstarter page to check out the campaign.

I was impressed right away by the dedication and activity there as well as the amazing art that had already been commissioned for the book. I took the opportunity to jump in at the $30 pledge level, which is the first level at which I'd have a chance to get a physical copy of the book (side note: I love PDFs and ebooks, but I tend to need a physical copy of the book to really "get" the rules of an RPG). I got a nice personal welcome from Steve Russell, the leader of the project, which is an awesome touch.  A particularly nice feature of the campaign is that the hardcover book I order at the end of the campaign will be at cost, which is certainly not something that was required as part of the Kickstarter and is really looking out for the interests of backers.  Every step of my interaction with the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow Kickstarter has been positive and welcoming and that makes for a campaign well worth talking about.

On a side note, I think that The Chronicles of Amber novels are a must read for anyone who is into science fiction and fantasy.  Amber sets out a lot of concepts about multiverses and how magic can shape reality that have been emulated by other writers in the years since its writing.  It looks at magic in a fairly different way than most RPGs, in particular those who follow the Vancian model of memorization and recall.  Describing fully how they differs might stray into spoiler territory, so I'll just say you should read and find out!