Date: 12 November 1624
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Moon Face: Plain
Zenith Deity: The Scorned
Zenith Deity: The Scorned
Returning Characters:
- Brie van der Hells, Nonanist Cleric. Taking the Gods seriously.
- Bulgur, Son of Borgar, Barbarian. Can now see foes' HP when he hits them, which is collectively lauded as the "anti DM bullshit" ability even though I never mess around with that I swear!
- Manrat Snels, Ratman. Now in control of a swarm of nine rats!
- Manrat Snels, Ratman. Now in control of a swarm of nine rats!
- Nines, Inheritor. Wearing the shape of a Halfling Milliner.
New Backstory:
- Bulgur's father was an angry drunk, and this trauma fed into Bulgur's rage. +2 Dexterity.
- Manrat Snels hid from the burning sun during the hottest summer on record. The rats inside the cave he hid within became his first friends. +2 Wisdom.
- Brie van der Hells was at her grandfather's bedside as he begged for death. She did so and caught his Last Breath, as all children of Necromancers are taught to do. +2 Dexterity
- Nines was egged on and fought another member of his gang. +2 Dexterity
Events:
--- Telling of Tales
- We rejoin the party as they rest up in the Milliner's shop in the Northfell region of the Halfling town of Bunkertown. Northfell is the industrial region where any "largelings" that enter rarely leave. Outside is a drizzly mist, nasty weather but not the worst Autumn has to offer.
- They are of course on a quest to assassinate the Alderman, a mission given to them by a mysterious handsome hooded Halfling named Shortshanks in the darkness of an inn. They've infiltrated the Milliner's place, now they will lie in wait to ambush the Alderman when he turns up for his millinery appointment.
- They're swapping stories of their childhoods, and catching Brie van der Hells up on the events of the previous week.
- They are of course on a quest to assassinate the Alderman, a mission given to them by a mysterious handsome hooded Halfling named Shortshanks in the darkness of an inn. They've infiltrated the Milliner's place, now they will lie in wait to ambush the Alderman when he turns up for his millinery appointment.
- They're swapping stories of their childhoods, and catching Brie van der Hells up on the events of the previous week.
- The Milliner is dead. The Milliner is alive. The Milliner is Nines in the shape of the dead Milliner. All of these statements are true.
- Bulgur is having a heart-to-heart with the freed human slave Bjorn. Bjorn is finding it hard to accept his new freedom. He is told of Fortress-City Fate where he might find individual freedom, and of the Wheatlands where his serfdom will at least be under fellow humans. In the interests of free will, they let him go to make his own choice. He leaves with a backpack full of man-kibble and a head full of dreams.
--- Gustav my Man!
- Around noon the Alderman (ie. the Halfling the party was sent to assassinate) turns up, looks around the shop, and with a smile approaches Nines in his milliner form. "Gustav my man! You're looking well! Looks like our adventurers aren't here yet then?" he beams.
- The Milliner's real name, as opposed to character name, is Gustav. It becomes very clear that this assassination plot is actually just a storyline the Halflings put on to divert adventuring types - they come into town, have a satisfying adventure, and leave.
- The Alderman does some cursory sign-countersign stuff to prove that Gustav is Gustav, but isn't particularly thorough. Plus Nines has access to Gustav's memories, which makes the whole thing a little easier. The Alderman then says he'll go hide over in the corner, behind the hat racks, so they can surprise the visitors.
- The Milliner's real name, as opposed to character name, is Gustav. It becomes very clear that this assassination plot is actually just a storyline the Halflings put on to divert adventuring types - they come into town, have a satisfying adventure, and leave.
- The Alderman does some cursory sign-countersign stuff to prove that Gustav is Gustav, but isn't particularly thorough. Plus Nines has access to Gustav's memories, which makes the whole thing a little easier. The Alderman then says he'll go hide over in the corner, behind the hat racks, so they can surprise the visitors.
- Instead Nines murders the Alderman and messily consumes his body. This is not in the script.
- The others peek through the blinds and see that there's a crossbow-bearing team of Halflings hidden in the hobbit holes across the road. Otherwise the streetscape looks like a normal quaint Halfling factory district, nothing to see here.
- The others peek through the blinds and see that there's a crossbow-bearing team of Halflings hidden in the hobbit holes across the road. Otherwise the streetscape looks like a normal quaint Halfling factory district, nothing to see here.
--- Suppressing Fire
- Nines/Alderman pokes his head out of the front door and hails some neighbourhood policemen with classic police hats. Unfortunately he makes it extremely obvious that he isn't the Alderman and has to retreat! Gas-powered machinegun crossbows pepper the walls from across the street! The neighbourhood policemen are torn apart in the crossfire!
- The others realise they're in a bit of a pickle.
- Manrat Snels is in the toilet cubicle, ripping out the seat. It's a small hole down to sewer, but it's smaller than a human head so a ratman can definitely fit through it. He dives into the toilet! Below he discovers a genuine sewer and also sees that the various manholes in this area are rigged with blenders to soupify anyone who thinks to jump down one.
- Brie sends her skeleton (née Nutella) out the back door into the alleyway. It goes a few steps towards the manhole on the corner and HISSSSS! A great cloud of green gas melts it down into slime!
- Bulgur has been hiding in the corner the Alderman said he was going to hide in, and a hatch opens above his head! It's Shortshanks! A ladder chunks down, and instead of following the attempt at re-railroading the plot Bulgur climbs up, extorts the script off the poor fellow, and in the process discovers that he wasn'ts lying - he really was trying to change the plot such that his political enemies ended up dead.
- Bulgur chucks him off the roof. Splat!
- Below, the cops burst in (with Beam-Light runes on their service crossbows) and swear vengeance! Brie thinks quickly, shucks her skin, and disguises herself as a skeleton in the little punishment cell for humans in the back room.
- The others realise they're in a bit of a pickle.
- Manrat Snels is in the toilet cubicle, ripping out the seat. It's a small hole down to sewer, but it's smaller than a human head so a ratman can definitely fit through it. He dives into the toilet! Below he discovers a genuine sewer and also sees that the various manholes in this area are rigged with blenders to soupify anyone who thinks to jump down one.
- Brie sends her skeleton (née Nutella) out the back door into the alleyway. It goes a few steps towards the manhole on the corner and HISSSSS! A great cloud of green gas melts it down into slime!
- Bulgur has been hiding in the corner the Alderman said he was going to hide in, and a hatch opens above his head! It's Shortshanks! A ladder chunks down, and instead of following the attempt at re-railroading the plot Bulgur climbs up, extorts the script off the poor fellow, and in the process discovers that he wasn'ts lying - he really was trying to change the plot such that his political enemies ended up dead.
- Bulgur chucks him off the roof. Splat!
- Below, the cops burst in (with Beam-Light runes on their service crossbows) and swear vengeance! Brie thinks quickly, shucks her skin, and disguises herself as a skeleton in the little punishment cell for humans in the back room.
--- All Cats are Beautiful
- The cops decide this has gone too far and decide to blow up the area and isolate the threat. Northfell, like Westerling, has streets ready to blow if a powerful threat enters the zone.
- A couple of them head outside into the alley and start keying a code into the keypad beneath a manhole. Down the street another cop starts keying in similar - this is clearly a two keys nuclear code situation.
- Unfortunately for them, Manrat is in the sewers already! He disables a blender device and sends his rats up and out to murder the nearest guard. It's horrible!
- Meanwhile, up on the roof, Bulgur is startled to see a female Halfling in practical-but-cool gear turn up. She's a princess or something, or an Alderman's daughter, and per the script she's meant to make the adventurers think that maybe they're murdering the wrong people. Since Bulgur is clearly holding the script she decides to leave - the party is off-script!
- Bulgur slides down the spherical roof and extorts yet another thing - the nuclear keys - from a cop, who then flees.
- Manrat and his rats kill the other cop. Thank goodness no people were hurt.
- Meanwhile, up on the roof, Bulgur is startled to see a female Halfling in practical-but-cool gear turn up. She's a princess or something, or an Alderman's daughter, and per the script she's meant to make the adventurers think that maybe they're murdering the wrong people. Since Bulgur is clearly holding the script she decides to leave - the party is off-script!
- Bulgur slides down the spherical roof and extorts yet another thing - the nuclear keys - from a cop, who then flees.
- Manrat and his rats kill the other cop. Thank goodness no people were hurt.
--- Fire on My Position!
- According to the recap, "Nines made an oops and triggered the contingency".
- Various people around the town do the pre-nuke freezeframe thing.
- Various people around the town do the pre-nuke freezeframe thing.
- The party flees to the best of their ability.
- BOOM!!!!!
- Manrat Snels and Nines are badly hurt, but survive! Everyone else was clear before the street exploded!
- Brie drank her seagull potion and turned into a (skeletal) seagull before the bomb went off. She talks to a large bird nearby, who is concerned but not alarmed.
--- Flip the Script
- Bulgur also survived. He reads the script he lifted from Shortshanks.
- It turns out Shortshanks wasn't lying, he did change the script to benefit himself! The original script involved:
-- a few months of training (wherein their minds would be weakened by drugged food)
-- an attempted taming by "evil" Halflings (played by expendable prisoners who would be granted release if successful).
-- If that didn't work they party would be put onto the main plot - killing or hopefully capturing an evil politician.
-- After capturing the Alderman at the Millinery and turning him in, the Halfling lady would turn up and make them question the true reason for targeting Aldermen.
-- Shortshanks the "bad guy" politician would elected, showing his true reasons for hiring them. They would then kill/capture him, save the day, and go on their merry way.
- Unfortunately this all got sidetracked by the party finding the actual script. Bad news for the Halflings!
- On the plus side, as part of the "investigate the true enemy" plot, there is an underground dungeon containing a "giant ratman" and real loot to be had.
- Bulgur persuades the others to skip the plot, quickly head into the dungeon before they're scripted to arrive, grab the loot, then they can all leave this horrible town.
-- an attempted taming by "evil" Halflings (played by expendable prisoners who would be granted release if successful).
-- If that didn't work they party would be put onto the main plot - killing or hopefully capturing an evil politician.
-- After capturing the Alderman at the Millinery and turning him in, the Halfling lady would turn up and make them question the true reason for targeting Aldermen.
-- Shortshanks the "bad guy" politician would elected, showing his true reasons for hiring them. They would then kill/capture him, save the day, and go on their merry way.
- Unfortunately this all got sidetracked by the party finding the actual script. Bad news for the Halflings!
- On the plus side, as part of the "investigate the true enemy" plot, there is an underground dungeon containing a "giant ratman" and real loot to be had.
- Bulgur persuades the others to skip the plot, quickly head into the dungeon before they're scripted to arrive, grab the loot, then they can all leave this horrible town.
--- Missing the Cue
- The party have a bite to eat in the sewers, then hurry towards the place on the map marked as the Mayoral Dungeon beneath the actual mayor's office. On the way, Manrat regenerates his rats from the local population, and of course pretends that they're the old rats miraculously surviving.
- They come to the map position and hey! It's a jail! alflings in cells lurk within, chatting since they're not supposed to be "on set" yet.
- They come to the map position and hey! It's a jail! alflings in cells lurk within, chatting since they're not supposed to be "on set" yet.
- There's a guard inside though, who quickly gets into character when he sees Nines in his Alderman form come in. The guard is holding down a dead man's switch, as instructed.
- It goes well for a short while until Manrat fucks it all up! A scuffle breaks out, the dead man's switch is released, but someone props the switch open with a chair. Phew?
- One of the Halfling prisoners breaks character. They're a real prisoner, but playing along will get him released. He doesn't care any more since the dead man's switch releasing will blow him up anyway!
- Basically - the enemy Halflings can listen through the pipes, and the stabiliser for the dead man's switch is in the "control room".
- The party open the secret door to the next chamber and look across a pile of corpses...
- Cliffhanger-ish ending!
Total: 8000 exp
Roles:
- Carter the Chronicler and Paymaster (200 exp/level)
- Kitty the Expedition Leader and Chef (200 exp/level)
- Kitty the Expedition Leader and Chef (200 exp/level)
- Ollie the Cartographer and Quartermaster (200 exp/level)
- George the Vanguard and Triage (200 exp/level)
- George the Vanguard and Triage (200 exp/level)
Murders:
- The Alderman 10 exp)
- Shortshanks (10 exp)
- A cop (10 exp)
- A cop (10 exp)
- Another cop (10 exp)
Total: 40 exp
Treasure:
- The script
Total: 0 exp
Exp Totals:
- Carter / Nines, Level 4 Inheritor: 12193 (Level up at 18000)
- Kitty / Bulgur, Son of Borgar, Level 4 Barbarian: 11293 (Level up at 16000)
- George / Manrat Snels, Level 4 Ratman: 8418 (Level up at 14000)
Level Up! +1d6 HP! +1 to Saves! A whopping 16 Rats! +Backstory!
Level Up! +1d6 HP! +1 to Saves! A whopping 16 Rats! +Backstory!
- Ollie / Brie van der Hells, Level 3 Necromancer: 8318 (Level up at 9000)
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