Session 160 - The Way of the Dragons

So it looks like the plan is to defeat the apocalypse by setting it against a whole other apocalypse, then working out how to defeat that apocalypse once it's defeated the first one.
It's basically the Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly disaster management technique, except that the fly is the size of a mountain and breathes gravity.

Next time on the party's diplomatic tour of Loegria's most destructive forces, it looks like the next stop is Dwimmermount to see what the demons are up to. Should be a laugh!

- Tom renders everyone's favourite early retiree, Spicy Mac.

Session 160 - The Way of the Dragons

Campaign Date:

Monday, 23 November, 1600

Moon Phase: First Quarter

Zodiac: Scorpio

New Backstory:

- The evil wizard who infiltrated Nix's family had concocted a dark and secretive experimental ritual. Nix shut it down, but ended up getting the blame! (Take half damage from traps other players set off)
- Coalminer Dan found the strange glowing meteorite in that cave and heard it speak inside his mind - "GIVE ME YOUR FLESH, HUMAN! I DEMAND IT!" (Once per session, cast a random spell)

Enemies Defeated:

- None defeated, but many friends made!

Total: 0 exp

Treasure and Equipment:

- Galaxy Johnson joined the Drakencult of Ereshkigal!
- Nix joined the Drakencult of Ereshkigal!
- POWERLAD joined the Drakencult of Ninhursag!

Total: 0 exp

Exploration:

- First party to visit the Head of Ninhursag (500 exp)
- About 40 miles of travel (140 exp)
- Randoms encountered (50 exp)

Total: 690 exp

Events:

- Leading off from last time, we zoom in to see one of the Banjo Fishwicks leading the party through the space time fuckery of the inside of the floating mountain. Spacial distortions, gravity flips, it's wild. Banjo's eyes sometimes become black gates into a starry black void when he blinks. (50 exp)

- Soon they reach the temple chamber of the Dragon itself. It is stirring, but asleep. Around it are priests in black robes, all of them temporal clone couples of POWERLAD and Andromeda. (50 exp)

- They are aghast and amazed at this anomalous POWERLAD in their midst, married not to Andromeda, but to some other chick! Bertha gets defensive. The group explain that "our" Andromeda died in a terrorist attack. (50 exp)
- They talk for a while about what the deal is with the dragon. They're trying to wake it in order to kill Shub-Niggurath through controlled gravitic demolition of the earth! (50 exp)

- The party is asked if they'd like to join the Drakencult of Ereshkigal. Galaxy Johnson is so down, and he manages to persuade Nix to join him. The rest of the party abstain, POWERLAD and Bertha intending to shop around a bit with the other dragons before committing. (50 exp)
- Kneeling before the great black dragon's head, Nix and Galaxy Johnson pledge their souls to Ereshkigal. Long may it reign! Their bond grants them more power over the Mass rune! (50 exp)

- Asking what the plan is, High Priest POWERLAD informs the party that Ereshkigal shall awaken and advance on Fate to destroy the massive tentacle that lays beneath it. It will rise in two months! (50 exp)
- The party take their leave, passing through a decaying cavern containing the William Fox-Shitts who worship the aspect of Decay. On a wall, clinging like a gecko, is a decrepit and rheumy-eyed dragon with tattered wings. It is not fucked with. (50 exp)
- At the entrance, Insanity Mammoths are called to fly the party down to the ground on their constantly mid-explosion wings. One last thing - where are the other dragons? There's one in Moondin, of course, and another one which roams the Drudge Wastes with a huge goblin machine on its back. Or so they say. (50 exp)

- One of the Insanity Mammoths mentions that no more duplicates are coming out of Dunnsmouth any more, and the party decide to go check it out. Having the Time Cube would be pretty great right now! (50 exp)
- They get dropped off to find that the area around Dunnsmouth is constantly resetting, basically like a big dome covered in a constant layer of fog. Galaxy Johnson reaches a hand into the dome and feels incredible pain! He snatches the hand back to find it covered in blisters. What the fuck is even going on in there? (50 exp)

- Oh well. The group move off towards Moondin to check out the other Drakencult they know about. On the way they see the brainless corpse of a victim of demon deer attack, and later, another corpse with its throat cut. (50 exp)
- They run into a group of people fleeing on the outskirts of Moondin. They're clearly also adventurers. Nix squares off against a couple of Barbarians in a scowling competition, while Galaxy Johnson strikes up a conversation with their wizard. They agree to meet in Fate later. (50 exp)

- Apparently the green dragon's cult has taken over the town, remade it in the dragon's image, and is poisoning people. Great. The groups part ways, and the party discover that yep Moondin sure is fucked! (50 exp)
- There's a big moat of magma, great crystal trees, lots of vegetation reclaiming the town in proper apocalyptic style. POWERLAD activates his Fly spell, which presents as electrical super-jumps. Very Infamous. (50 exp)

- He lands near a cultist guard in a green robe. On theme. POWERLAD persuades the cultist to take him to his leader with some smooth talking. Apparently everyone's already heard of POWERLAD. (50 exp)
- The rest of the party decides to head to the Necromancer HQ they remember hitting up last time they were in town. On the way there, a dude ushers them into his partially crystallised house. (50 exp)
- He's one of the resistance who's staying behind to underground railroad people out of the city. Ratimir is excited by the revolution. Fight the man! The dragon man! Apparently RISEN and the Necromancers have begrudgingly joined forced to resist the draconic incursion. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD has, by this point, been brought to the centre of town. A magma lake with crystal trees growing from it has an island in the middle with some sort of crystal building in the centre. A boat made of stone and even more crystal is paddled across the magma to take him in. (50 exp)
- Reaching the island, POWERLAD is greeted by a very big man called Magnus Grossman. He is a high priest of the Drakencult, and VERY BIG. (50 exp)

- He explains that Ninhursag is all about rock and stone and poison. In fact, the plan is to create a super-poison capable of destroying all cellular life and thus poisoning the tentacles TO DEATH. (50 exp)
- It would be nice to find a poison that kills only the tentacles and leaves everything else alive, but unfortunately as the progenitor of all life on Earth it's hard to make something that only kills tentacles. If they can do it, they will though. (50 exp)
- POWERLAD thinks this sounds pretty legit and decides to join the Drakencult of Ninhursag. Magnus leads him to the great green head of the dragon, which emerges from lava. Around it are high ranking Drakencult of all the different aspects of the dragon. (50 exp)

- POWERLAD prostrates himself before Ninhursag's great head and joins the Drakencult! His bond with Ninhursag gives him more power over the Earth rune! (50 exp)

- Back in the town, the rest of party is talking to the rebel Necromancer. Apparently the Mould just vanished one day, the addicts emerged from the cathedral lost and confused, and Moldus Vane himself has retreated to a secret underground redoubt. (50 exp)
- He admits that he was one of those mould addicts, and misses the feeling of connectedness and completeness he felt at the time. Everyone hugs him, and for a brief moment he feels a shade of what he once had. (50 exp)
- Over at the head of Ninhursag, POWERLAD is talking to Sylvia Flora the aptly named priestess of the Aspect of Plants. She is mildly disappointed that he's married, and explains that their poison research is going fine but they need more poison research! (50 exp)
- During the after-credits scene, we see a flashback to the disappearance of the Mould inside the cathedral. We zoom into the pile of bodies as the Mould vanishes, in and in to see Zarat's eyes pop open. In unison, a chorus of voices say "AAHHHH! A RAT!" (50 exp)

Total: 1500 exp

Misc:

- Antagonist Appeaser bonus (50 exp)
- Classic Charles bonus (50 exp)

- Diplomancy bonus (50 exp)

- Leave a Man Behind bonus (50 exp)
- Long Deliberation bonus (50 exp)
- Noblebright bonus (50 exp)
- Pundemonium bonus (50 exp)
- Split the Party bonus (50 exp)

Total: 800 exp

Party Roles and Individual Exp:

- Remembrancer (Charles / Galaxy Johnson - 100 exp)

- Caller (James / Ratimir - 100 exp)

- Mapper (Fraser / Nix - 100 exp)

- Treasurer (Fraser / Nix - 100 exp)

- Quartermaster (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)

- Guard (James / Ratimir - 100 exp)

- Tracker (Kitty / POWERLAD - 100 exp)

- Chippo Man bonus (Kitty*2 - 200 exp)

- JÜGBRINGYR bonus (Charles, James, Fraser - 500 exp ea.)
- Art Attack bonus (Charles, Tom in absentia - 100 exp ea.)
- Artapalooza bonus (Charles - 100 exp)

Rumours:

- 

Active Businesses:

- Bone Alone. Wild. 318sp. (Zena's Stake: 212sp, Carrie's Stake: 106sp)

- Honey Healing. Safe. 2014sp. (Nix's Stake: 1679sp. Bertha's Stake: 335sp)

Death Toll and Injuries:

- None!

Exp Totals:

- Fraser / Nix Neckbiter, Level 7 Barbarian: 65626 (Level up at 128000)

--- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 2
- Kitty / POWERLAD!, Level 6 Muscle Wizard: 54652 (Level up at 72000)--- Devotee of Ninhursag, Bond 2

- Charles / Galaxy Johnson, Level 4 Elf (Alpdrucke): 14122 (Level up at 24000)
--- Devotee of Ereshkigal, Bond 2

- James / Ratimir, Level 4 Ratman: 8882 (Level up at 12000)

Absent or Retired:
- Tom / Clarence Eclair, Level 3 Specialist: 3040 (Level up at 6000)
- Kitty / Bertha, Level 3 Necromancer: 6731 (Level up at 9000)- Imran / Friar, Level 1 Magic User: 1040 (Level up at 2250)
- Andy / Carrie Meleste, Level 5 Cleric: 25557 (Level up at 28000)

- Yuri / Bjorn Gunnerson, Level 2 Barbarian: 2278 (Level up at 4000)

- Sunni / Larry's Legends, Level 1 Extras: 758 (Level up at 1500)

- Fraser / Tippin, Level 1 Ratman: 1458 (Level up at 1500)

- Charles / Zena, Level 6 Fighter: 41566 (Level up at 64000)

- Tom / Meteor Power Shower, Level 2 Barbarian: 3061 (Level up at 4000)

- Nix's Retainer

--- Huz, Level 0 Hireling

- Tom / Spicy Mac, Level 2 Halfling: 3457 (Level up at 4000)

- Eleanor / Mugg, Level 2 Fighter: 2357 (Level up at 4000)

- Kyle / Gimlass the Brave, Level 2 Dwarf: 2257 (Level up at 4400)

- Amar / Amar's Cleric, Level 1 Cleric: 1413 (Level up at 1750)

- Henry / Henry's Next Character: +2084 exp

- Ollie / Tremendo Picante, Level 2 Ratman: 2654 (Level up at 3000)

- James / Raaf van Held, Level 4 Fighter: 14838 (Level up at 16000)

- Eglė / Bob, Level 1 Dwarf: 434 (Level up at 2200)

- Ollie / Andromeda Spiderbite, Level 5 Muscle Wizard: 19872 (Level up at 36000)

- Will / Cecil Fulbright, Level 5 Cleric (Termaxian): 15063 (Level up at 28000)

- James / William Fox-Shitt, Level 3 Cleric (Zeanist): 4571 (Level up at 7000)