Session 391 - Bubble City

Date: 26 November 1624

Moon Phase: Waning Crescent

Moon Face: Pocked Face

Zenith Deity: Alaunus

Returning Characters:
Brie van der Hells, Necromancer. The Bone Detector has logged on.

Bulgur, Son of Borgar, Barbarian. Now impossibly good at tossing.

Manrat Snels, Ratman. Cave enjoyer.

Nines, Inheritor. Alleged infant theft enthusiast.

Zeppelino, Goblin. Sweatshop inhabitor.

New Backstory:

- Zeppelino ran away from the sweatshop manufactory he was raised within, and in so doing he fell into a hole! Thankfully his pod-brother saw him begin to fall and clasped his hand. 
- Manrat chased a troupe of evil (and ethnically diverse don't worry about it) circus performers into a cave. When they refused to die in said cave, he chased them into a deadly post-apoc storm.

- Bulgur Son of Borgar earned his position of cow-wrangler via pure natural skill AND long-term training and knowledge. Perfect cowboy! The cows loved him! Alas, he abused his managerial status. +2 Int.

- Nines stole candy from a baby in a very literal sense. The baby didn't know who did it, the parents didn't know who did it, and yet the candy was gone. +1 Sleight of Hand

- Brie van der Hells discovered that her prom date asked her out from pity. When he leaned in for a kiss... the zombie she'd just summoned kissed back. The zombie ate him. We will never know his true intentions. Once per session, an NPC makes a romantic advance.

Events:

--- Sweet November Rain

- We open on the party outside, having finally decided to leave the Halfling village of Bunkertown.

- A sustained drizzle welcomes them to the outer wilds. It still sucks out here, but today they have agency. The world is theirs to mess with!

- They said they wanted to head towards Grendel, a big clockpunk town to the northeast, but on the way they spy a Marlingspike - one of the big knitting-needle towers of the Red Elves - and head there instead.

--- This is the Pit

- They travel across the overworld towards the landmark which is the Marlingspike (ie. can't get lost) and find themselves at the edge of a great pit.
- Zeppelino declares that this is some sort of alien mine from a former era. Sure?
- It's long, it's wide, it's deep. Classic strip mine situation. Nobody's mining it now in any case.
- They head off, yearning for the mines.

-- 117 Rainbow Beam Pierces the Heavens

- Did I mention that the light from the Marlingspike is a prismatic beam that pierces the clouds and ascends to the heavens? Not soon enough apparently. For what it's worth, the light from the Marlingspike is a prismatic beam that pierces the clouds and ascends to the heavens.

- The rain becomes mist.
- Our heroes perceive the Marligspike and the town thereof. It's a town of bubbles. Big bubbles. Big enough to live in were you a human-sized entity or nearabouts. In the centre of the town, the Marlingspike warps reality around itself. Defences are shifted.

- Nines and Brie go stealth. They do not wish to be perceived. The rest strut into town like this is normal.

--- The Church Beckons

- There's a sound like a bunch of jazz instruments doing a jam session. It's a jazz bass call to prayer!

- Fuck yea let's go to church! The church is a much bigger bubble than the houses! It's also frosted like frosted glass, but only below head height!
- Within the bubble it's kind of a church. It's an in-the-round setup, central island stage surrounded by pews. An altar in the very centre of the central stage. Two Red Elves standing in the middle of the stage, turning and hamming it up. Real straight man-funny man double-act vibe.
- Also at least one is Italian. Horrifying.

- The main Elf talks about the town. It's a mining town. They're very grateful to everyone for coming tonight. Very happy to see you all. That sort of thing!
- The prayers themselves are in Red Elvish, it's like going to a Latin Mass.

- The theme is life in death, death in life. Your life has no meaning without death, your death has no meaning with no life.
- Zeppelino spies some Goblins and goes to sit with them. They reject him for being too Goblin. They've accepted the Red Elvish ways and now shun the Goblin Religion.

--- Manrat Conversion Comes Up Against My Unpreparedness
- Manrat Snels, after talking to a Red Elf (name of Aelthrandiii'iiir) and considering his options, decides to becomes a convert to the Red Elf faith. Alas, I hadn't prepared for this despite this being a foreseeable outcome to the scenario. After a week there's now a Red Elf religion! Join today!

- The Red Elf that Manrat is talking to offers him a vial of "Red Cream". The first taste is free, apparently!

- The Goblins near Zeppelino judge that he's considering joining their Red Elf religion and offer shopping services. Also Red Cream is available for 500 obols and it becomes inert every time the Marlingspike surges at the end of the month. Immortality for an ongoing subscription! Who could say no??

- Meanwhile Nines never even entered the Church bubble and approaches the Marlingspike. It surges with rainbow energies.
- He vomits up a copy of himself and makes it touch the Marlingspike. The copy is immediately sucked into the skyborne energy. This is... concerning.

--- Welcome to the Suck

- On the stage, in the bubble church, a Red Elf is being murdered. It's the funny man to the straight man. Fans turn on in the stage as the straight man's knife comes down on the funny man's breastbone.
- The sacrifice turns into red salt and the salt is sucked down below the stage via the fans. Big surprise for the new folks!
- Bulgur runs at the stage in shock! Surely this isn't the plan! The priest nods solemnly and offers to take the party below to the processing chamber...

--- The Processing Chamber

- Bulgur follows the priest to the processing chamber. It's a big machine behind a big glass window that mixes the red salt with various reagents to create "Red Glop". Concerning. Looking into this.
- They fuck around with the chamber for a while. Eventually it becomes clear that it's not really a real machine, just a big nonsense thing that they show to newbies to make it look impressive.
- The party chokes the Red Elf priest to death. Brie seizes their Last Breath for necromancy reasons.
- The doors lock. After a while, the same Red Elf priest unlocks the door and walks in like nothing happened. He remembers his murder though!
- The priest seems kinda chill about all this? Also has a big puffy choke-resistant neck now. No worries.

- Manrat asks what happens if one touches the Marlingspike. Apparently it sends every branching timeline version of you up to the moon, but due to the Wheel of the Gods being back to full power only about 2% of the energies actually make it up there. Hmmm.

--- To the Shops!

- Zeppelino informs everyone that shopping is available now! Via his Goblin friends!

- Manrat tries borrowing loadsa money from Julgoor (the Greed demon, who is in town, who runs the shops) and then snorting some Red Dust to break his promises to pay it back. These mind tricks don't work on him, only money.

- Turns out Red Cream is useful and Red Glop isn't.
- Zeppelino acquires some Heavy Metal Stew from his goblin friends - it's full of arsenic and beloved by Blue Goblins apparently.

Total: 9000 exp

Roles:

- Carter the Chronicler and Cartographer (200 exp/level)
- Charles the Caller and Paymaster (200 exp/level)

- George the Vanguard (100 exp/level)

- Kitty the Chef (100 exp/level)

No murders or thefts, surprisingly!

Exp Totals:

- Carter / Nines, Level 5 Inheritor: 20985 (Level up at 36000)

- Kitty / Bulgur, Son of Borgar, Level 5 Barbarian: 18385 (Level up at 32000)

- George / Manrat Snels, Level 4 Ratman: 10618 (Level up at 14000)

- Charles / Zeppelino, Level 4 Goblin: 10951 (Level up at 16000)

- Ollie / Brie van der Hells, Level 4 Necromancer: 10118 (Level up at 18000)
Level Up! +1d4 HP! +1 to Saves! +Free Spell! +1 Mana! +Backstory!