Session 82: Round 2
8/31/24-9/2/24, rest 9/3, active 9/4
PC: Valda, Zektel, Brumdor, Cracaryn
Hench: Bazam, Taco, Crom, Zero, Nicky, Randy, Ricky
Bigtoe the Betrayer, the Kinslayer, the Wombat attacked Teutch tower and took it over just a day prior to this session’s scheduled date. The treasonous dwarf was focused on killing Teutch but also included in his orders provisions to capture or kill Zektel the Shaman. I could have run that in abstraction but with the date so close to the session I thought it would be more interesting to play it out.
We opened on the aerial combat between Bigtoe’s steampunk flying anime mech thing and Teutch’s aerial defense force of griffins and hippogriffs. The adventurers were out of the loop about why it was happening. Zektel’s troops were able to bring tidbits of recon during the first minutes of the session which drove their discussion about what to do.
Apparently there were kill squads out hunting henches and vassals of Teutch, including Zektel. The word was they would accept surrender from Zektel but he didn’t trust that at all and immediately planned to RUNNOFT. Zektel’s logic was that even if he could negotiate in good faith with a known backstabber, he certainly couldn’t do so if he was already in custody. Brumdor the Machinist, a known associate of Bigtoe’s, was trying to talk him into surrendering. Eventually the party agreed to let Brumdor talk to Bigtoe while they tried to get away.
Brumdor spoke with Bigtoe after the invader narrowly defeated Teutch’s hench Lockleaf in the dogfight over the Purple Tower. Bigtoe allowed Brumdor the opportunity to talk the shaman down before ratcheting up the pressure. He was in no condition or mindset to think about Zektel with Teutch still at large and his robot banged up from the battle.
In the meantime, the party used some magic to try to sneak away down towards Rushford, but the switchback leading to the river was guarded. They tried to talk their way past which failed and thought better of forcing their way through, even though they were pretty sure to win against some normal mercs. The group returned to the tavern to wait.
Brumdor delivered Bigtoe’s demands. Surrender or else. Zektel hated it but chose to abide. When more troops showed up under the command of Bigtoe’s henchman Augusta, Zektel went quietly with the party in tow. Augusta the Lawful Crusader was irritable with the whole thing, but did his duty and delivered them to Bigtoe in the lobby of Teutch tower where he lounged smoking a cigar and receiving reports of the aftermath of the battle. Once receiving an official renunciation of Teutch and allegiance to the purple tower, Bigtoe forgot about them and focused on finding Teutch. The party filed out and considered their next move.
The goal was a bag of any kind. They thought the Sphinxes might have been battling since last session’s ambush attempt and they figured to take advantage of whichever side was weakest. They traveled out to the Fallen Castle dungeon and found signs of battle with tufts of sphinx fur and scorch marks and blood everywhere. Cracaryn was able to track Meowster’s crew leaving the scene, but lost the trail due to the rugged terrain and penalties to tracking flying creatures.
After camping, the party decided to take a run at the hellhounds inside the dungeon. Zektel scouted with his spiritwalking and got a little turned around by trying to walk through 20ft walls. Eventually he determined that the hellhounds had suffered casualties during the sphinx battle and only had four. He was confident that using his protective magic that the party would be able to kill the remaining ones and take their loot.
They entered the dungeon and buffed up, doing their best to creep up on the hellhounds. Valda and Brumdor would hold the front line with immunity to fire while the rest shot from outside of the creatures’ breathing distance. The plan worked ok until one of them leapt over the frontline and breathed into Nicky the Nightblade’s face. She crumpled but that was it for the enemy who was defeated soon after.
The group got an impressive haul of treasure in the form of items, a little bit of cash, and bounced out of the dungeon and back to the Tower to end the session.
Musings:
The whole point of downtime activity, particularly with Patrons and other entities that do not play in sessions, is to generate gameable content. The latest war happening in downtime while the adventurers play in session has produced something, finally, for them to interact with live. That was cool, they got through it ok, and were even able to gain a bag.
Zektel’s former liege is at large, with the Shaman having access to his congregation and his head still. It remains to be seen how the rest of the war will play out and whether the Shaman and Machinist can coexist.
No comments:
Post a Comment